Even if by agreement she admitted the violation
of her neutrality, it is clear she could only do so under duress. The
smaller States in that region of Europe ask but one thing. Their one
desire is that they should be left alone and independent. The one thing
they fear is, I think, not so much that their integrity but that their
independence should be interfered with. If in this war which is before
Europe the neutrality of one of those countries is violated, if the
troops of one of the combatants violate its neutrality and no action be
taken to resent it, at the end of the war, whatever the integrity may
be, the independence will be gone.
I have one further quotation from Mr. Gladstone as to what he thought
about the independence of Belgium. It will be found in "Hansard," Vol.
203, Page 1,787. I have not had time to read the whole speech and verify
the context, but the thing seems to me so clear that no context could
make any difference to the meaning of it. Mr. Gladstone said:
We have an interest in the independence of Belgium which is wider
than that which we may have in the literal operation of the
guarantee. It is found in the answer to the question whether, under
the circumstances of the case, this country, endowed as it is with
influence and power, would quietly stand by and witness the
perpetration of the direst crime that ever stained the pages of
history, and thus become participators in the sin.
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