§ I did not object to that telegram the other day, but let me say one word to my hon. Friend (Mr. Kennedy Jones). I object to the information on which it was based. I saw the telegram, and you must remember that these things, when they are sent abroad, become international questions. France sees it, America, Italy, and Germany. I am told that it was sent because of information which came from "a reliable source."
Mr. KENNEDY JONESIt was sent from the information put forward in an interview in the "Westminster Gazette," which was said to have been supplied by a high and distinguished authority.
§ The PRIME MINISTERWell, really, I wish my hon. Friend had explained that to the 370 Members.
§ The PRIME MINISTERIt was an article, anonymous I think, in the "Westminster Gazette." I am much obliged to my hon. Friend, but before he gave that answer he ought to have compared notes with my hon. Friend opposite (Lieutenant-Colonel Claude Lowther).
Lieutenant-Colonel LOWTHERMay I say that the telegram was sent with only one object, and that was to strengthen the hands of the representatives Great Britain at the Peace Conference.
§ The PRIME MINISTERI never doubted the bona fides of those who sent the telegram—not for a moment. I am only complaining of the "reliable source." My hon. Friend has given the "reliable source." He said it was a telegram from Paris, received by my hon. Friend, not the "Westminster Gazette." Really they ought to have compared notes? I blame their solicitor.
§ The PRIME MINISTERNot at all!
§ The PRIME MINISTERIt may do some good, before I have done with it. Will my hon. Friend do me the credit of believing that even Ministers have sources of information? I know the "reliable source," and I will tell the House something about it. There were peace terms 2952 published in November as a model for us to proceed upon. In those peace terms there was not a word about indemnities, not a word about the cost of the War. Reparation—yes, in the strictest and narrowest sense of the term, but no reparation for lost lives, no reparation for damaged houses, not even at Broad-stairs. That was in November. We were not at that time to try anybody responsible for the War. We were to try those who had been guilty of offences against the law, but the tribunals must be German. That is the "reliable source "! Now we must have everything—the cost of the War, damage to all sorts of property—hanging everybody all round, especially members of the Government! In December there were hundreds of thousands of newspapers circulated freely, at somebody's expense, among the soldiers in France, asking them to return candidates. If those candidates had been returned, the two peace delegates in Paris now would certainly not have been the Foreign Secretary (Mr. Balfour) and myself, but perhaps Mr. Ramsay Macdonald and Mr. Philip Snowden. Who issued that appeal? The "reliable source."
§ 2.0 P.M.
§ The PRIME MINISTERI happen to know, and the hon. Gentleman is the last man who would have treated that as a "reliable source," because he knows something about it. At the beginning of the Conference there were appeals to everybody all round to support President Wilson and his great ideals. Where did these come from? From the same "reliable source" that is now hysterically attacking all those great ideals. Just a few weeks ago there was a cartoon in one of these papers representing Bolshevism as a mere bogey, and I as a person trying to frighten the working classes with that mere bogey. Now it is no longer a bogey; it is a monster, and I am doing my best to dress it up as an angel. That is the same "reliable source." Reliable! That is the last adjective I would use. It is here to-day, jumping there to-morrow, and there the next day. I would as soon rely on a grasshopper.
Still, I am prepared to make some allowance—even great newspapers will forgive me for saying so—and when a man is labouring under a keen sense of disappointment, however unjustified and 2953 however ridiculous the expectations may have been, he is always apt to think the world is badly run. When a man has deluded himself, and all the people whom he ever permits to go near to him help him into the belief that he is the only man who can win the War, and he is waiting for the clamour of the multitude that is going to demand his presence there to direct the destinies of the world, and there is not a whisper, not a sound, it is rather disappointing; it is unnerving; it is upsetting.
Then the War is won without him. There must be something wrong. Of course it must be the Government! Then, at any rate, he is the only man to make peace. The only people who get near him tell him so, constantly tell him so. So he publishes the Peace Terms, and he waits for the "call." It does not come. He retreats to sunny climes, waiting, but not a sound reaches that far-distant shore to call him back to his great task of saving the world. What can you expect? He comes back, and he says, "Well, I cannot see the disaster, but I am sure it is there. It is bound to come." Under these conditions I am prepared to make allowances; but let me say this, that when that kind of diseased vanity is carried to the point of sowing dissension between great Allies, whose unity is essential to the peace and happiness of the world, and when an attempt is made to make France distrust Britain, to make France hate America, and America to dislike France, and Italy to quarrel with everybody, then I say that not even that kind of disease is a justification for so black a crime against humanity.
I apologise for taking up the time of the House, but I am bound to do it; and I must tell the House why. I have been in France for weeks. Here nobody takes notice of this thing—everybody knows it. But it is not the case in France. They still believe in France that the "Times" is a serious organ. They do not know that it is merely a threepenny edition of the "Daily Mail." On the Continent of Europe they really have an idea that it is a semi-official organ of the Government. That shows how long these traditions take to die out. I want them to know what all this means. I am doing this in the interests of good will. That is my only apology for taking notice of that kind of trash, with which some of these papers have been filled during the last few weeks.