SYMPATHY WITH BELGIUM. (Hansard, 27 August 1914)

*THE MARQUESS OF CREWE

My Lords, I desire now to move— That an humble Address be presented to His Majesty praying him to convey to the King of the Belgians the sympathy and admiration with which this House regards the heroic resistance offered by his Army and people to the wanton invasion of his territory, and an assurance of the determination of this country to support in every way the efforts of Belgium to vindicate her own independence and the public law of Europe. We must all feel that it is the least that we can do in all the circumstances to pay our tribute to the constancy and the honour shown by Belgium and her people. By her action Belgium has ranged herself by the side of the small nations famous in history who have received a crown of glory and credit from their resistance to overwhelming forces. Belgium has ranged herself by the side of Athens and Sparta against Persia, with Switzerland against the whole force of the Roman Empire, and with her forbears of Flanders and the Netherlands against the might of Spain.

It is hard for any of us—I am sure I feel that it is hard for me—to force into our minds full realisation of the events with which this last month has been crammed. It is hard indeed to realise that it is not a calendar month ago since the declaration of war by Austria on Servia made all of us wonder whether the time had come at last when the great calamity of a European conflict could no longer be deferred. That was on 510 July 28. And on July 29 the German Government, through our Ambassador at Berlin, made the notorious proposal to us so familiar now to every one in this country, and which has been so correctly characterised by all who have alluded to it. It was on the following day—July 30—that Sir Edward Grey sent the reply not less familiar, which has been like the sound of a trumpet in the ears of all Englishmen ever since. The next day France and Germany were asked whether they would respect that neutrality of Belgium which they had solemnly agreed to protect; and on the same day Germany intimated that it was impossible for her to send a reply, because a reply might give some indication of the military movements which she might feel compelled to take. On the same day France, with no word of demur, announced her intention of respecting the neutrality of Belgium; and, still on the same day, Belgium declared that she would defend her neutrality to the last.

Two days later Germany violated the neutrality of Luxemburg, of less direct concern to us than the violation of the neutrality of Belgium, but in itself an outrage against the public law of Europe. On August 4 the King of the Belgians issued an appeal to those who had guaranteed the neutrality of his kingdom for their diplomatic support; and on the same day the German Government sent to Belgium a bid for their acquiescence in the violation of their neutrality—once more indignantly refused by Belgium. It was on the same day that report reached us that the Germans had entered Belgian territory, and accordingly that same day we sent our Ultimatum to Germany. The House will remember that what I have spoken of as the bid by Germany for Belgian acquiescence in the violation of her neutrality was an offer at the end of the war to respect the independence and integrity of Belgium. That might be taken to mean that Belgium, acquiescing now, at the end of the war would become a German protectorate. We cannot, therefore, be surprised that the offer received no attention.

We pass now to the military operations that took place. On that same day the attack began upon Liége, and it continued with the greatest possible violence and was met by the stoutest possible resistance 511 until August 11, when the Germans entered the town of Liége. But the forts of Liége, all honour to them, still held out, and the town has thereby made herself a great historic name. It is important to note, in telling this brief story of the heroic Belgian resistance, what the effect has been upon the war as a whole. There was published by our Press Bureau here on August 15 a statement which makes it clear what that effect was. They said that the resistance of the Liége forts and the intervention of the French Cavalry had had the result of detaining the Germans for eight days on the line of the Meuse, with the result that the French had been able to carry out their mobilisation and concentration without hindrance. That, my Lords, is the great, the almost incalculable, service which the heroic resistance of Belgium has rendered to the operations of the Allies with whom we are ranged. It has always been notorious that the value of time, owing to circumstances with which we are all acquainted, was immense to France and her Allies, and that time, in a measure which even the most sanguine could hardly have ventured to think possible, has been given by the noble resistance of Belgium. Since then, as the House knows, the Belgian Government withdrew to Antwerp on August 17, and on August 20 the German troops occupied Brussels.

But, my Lords, this is not the whole story. It is not only a story of a military invasion encountered with courageous resistance by an inferior military force. It is impossible not to notice what has been authoritatively stated of the conduct of the invaders when we are considering what Belgium has gone through and paying her our respectful tribute. On the highest authority—that of the Belgian Foreign Office—a statement has been published giving details, carefully authenticated as far as possible in the circumstances, of conduct by the invading army contrary to all the laws and usages of war. These statements have been carefully examined by judicial and other high authority, and they must therefore be distinguished from the reports, some of them I dare say unauthenticated or exaggerated, of which so many have appeared in the Press. These reports, which have been published in this country and in Belgium, are supported by evidence which would be held to be conclusive in a Court of Law.

512 I need not say that I do not propose to examine into any of the details of those statements. Nor is this any time for us who, as a nation, are engaged in this struggle to give utterance to any sort of threats, or to engage in any kind of prophecies as to what may be the outcome of this tremendous war. But this I do say, that history plainly tells us that no nation has ever outraged public law, or has systematically conducted war by inhuman and brutal methods, without sooner or later paying for it. The time, or the form of punishment or of reparation that may be exacted, it is, of course, impossible to predict; but we do venture to declare that any nation that so conducts itself pays for it soon or late, and pays to the uttermost farthing. It is our part to see that the sword is not sheathed until the fullest assurance is obtained that these great wrongs will be redressed to the full. I am certain that in saying this, and also in expressing in the terms of the Motion our cordial sympathy with the Belgian nation and our determination to do everything that we can, as a nation, to vindicate the independence of that country and the public law of Europe, I shall have the full concurrence of your Lordships' House.

§ *THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE

My Lords, I ask leave to second the Motion which has just been made by the noble Marquess opposite. Those who sit on this side of the House will agree with me when I say that we are glad that the noble Marquess made this Motion this evening, whilst the events to which he has referred are still fresh in our minds, and did not postpone it till a later time. The noble Marquess gave us an interesting outline of the history of the war during the last two or three weeks. It could only be a sketch, but it was a sketch amply sufficient to establish the fact that the conduct of the Belgian Government, of the Belgian 513 Army, and of the Belgian people has been of a kind to deserve the tribute of admiration and sympathy which we desire to lay at their feet this evening.

All who are lovers of liberty, all who can appreciate the virtue of self-sacrifice, all who are able to admire patriotism and who entertain respect for Treaty obligations, must feel that Belgium has rendered to the civilised world a signal service by what she has done. If she had been inspired by less glorious ideals, if her standard of honour had been less high, it might have been easy for her to evade these responsibilities and to escape the terrible penalties which have fallen upon her through her observance of them. She might have urged that this dispute had arisen over a question which was far removed from her and her interests. She might have dwelt upon her own comparative weakness as compared with the strength of the Great Powers who are engaged in this colossal struggle. She might have urged that events were moving so rapidly that there was not time for her friends to range themselves at her side when the struggle began. She might have dwelt upon the ruinous consequences to herself and to her people of allowing the first act of this drama to be played upon Belgian soil. But she did none of these things. She never faltered in her sense of what she owed to her own position as an independent State. When the bribe was offered to her she knew how to thrust it on one side. She advanced two simple propositions—first, that to accept the German proposal meant the sacrifice of her honour as a nation; second, that she felt able, in case her territory was violated, to defend her own neutrality. My Lords, no simpler, no more dignified rejoinder could, I venture to say, have been given to the inducements which the German Government did not hesitate to dangle before Belgium as the price of her dishonour.

We know how gallantly Belgium did defend the neutrality of her soil. She has emerged from the struggle bruised but indomitable. Even now we read of the renewal at Antwerp of the same gallant resistance which characterised her initial defence of the position at Liége, and I venture to think that she has come out of this, the first, phase of a great war with a halo of reputation of which any mighty Empire might well be proud.

514 If we had been merely disinterested spectators of these events the conduct of Belgium would have claimed our applause and our admiration. But we are not mere spectators. We are the comrades in arms of Belgium, we are her allies, we are associated with her in this vast enterprise, in which our country has so tremendous a stake, and therefore it is that we have to offer to Belgium not merely our admiration, but our gratitude, for the great achievement which she has accomplished. It is not easy for a civilian to estimate the value of what Belgium has contributed to the first phases of the war. This at any rate we may say without fear of contradiction, that it is due to her that the great aggressive movement which might have carried everything before it was effectually checked at the outset. It is not uninstructive to compare what has happened during these first days of the war which is now raging with the events which took place at the beginning of the war of 1870; and if, as I believe, the situation now is a very different one from the situation in 1870 it is, I venture to say, to Belgium that we owe it. It was owing to the readiness of Belgium to sacrifice herself upon the altar of duty that the Allies have gained in this war a period of some two or thee weeks the value of which to us is, I will venture to say, incalculable. But for that delay it would not have been possible for the French Government to complete their mobilisation in time; it would not have been possible for them to bring over their troops in time from Africa; it would not have been possible for them to complete the defences of their fortresses and military positions. And Lot only is that so. But for the time thus gained it would not have been possible for the British Expeditionary Force to take its place, as it did, in the first great battle of this campaign; and we have learned from the gallant Field-Marshal who now holds the seals of the War Office how magnificently that force acquitted itself at what was probably one of the most critical moments in the whole of this campaign.

The noble Marquess dwelt in eloquent words upon the price which the people of Belgium have had to pay for these great achievements. It has indeed been a terrible price. We can, at any rate, offer to them the whole-hearted sympathy of our people. And I will take upon myself to say this. Whatever else may happen 515 during the course of the war—and it is a war in which there will be no doubt stirring episodes and great feats of arms—nothing can happen which will more affect public opinion in this country than the conduct of Belgium in this short period of time. Whatever else is forgotten, that episode will remain graven upon the hearts of the people of this country. I believe there is not a man or woman within it who does not pray that in the fulness of time we may be able to give practical proof by our deeds of the gratitude, the sympathy, and the admiration which in feeble words we are seeking to express this evening.