The great authorities upon foreign policy to whom
I have been accustomed to listen, such as Lord Aberdeen and Lord
Palmerston, never to my knowledge took that rigid and, if I may
venture to say so, that impracticable view of the guarantee. The
circumstance, that there is already an existing guarantee in force,
is, of necessity, an important fact, and a weighty element in the
case, to which we are bound to give full and ample consideration.
There is also this further consideration, the force of which we
must all feel most deeply, and that is, the common interests
against the unmeasured aggrandizement of any power whatever.
The treaty is an old treaty--1839--and that was the view taken of it in
1870. It is one of those treaties which are founded, not only on
consideration for Belgium, which benefits under the treaty, but in the
interests of those who guarantee the neutrality of Belgium. The honor
and interests are, at least, as strong today as in 1870, and we cannot
take a more narrow view or a less serious view of our obligations, and
of the importance of those obligations, than was taken by Mr.
Gladstone's Government in 1870.
I will read to the House what took place last week on this subject.
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