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304 Channel, and to concentrate it in the Mediterranean. It is true that we were under no Treaty obligation to assist France, but two or three members of the Cabinet had been pursuing a policy towards France for some years, unknown to the rest of their colleagues, which had encouraged France to believe that she could count upon our support in case of war. The definite alliance between France and Russia involved our commitment to the support of Russia through our commitment to France. The question of the invasion of Belgium was not the reason why we went to war. It provided a popular justification for our intervention, and turned popular criticism away from the action of the Government in secretly committing the country to France. Mr. Winston Churchill at Liverpool frankly stated that he gave his support to the war because he desired to assist France. The invasion of Belgium had above all other things influenced—and I think in a way rightly influenced—public opinion. In violating the neutrality of Belgium Germany had committed not only a great crime, but a great blunder.

Among other causes of the war was the character of our diplomatic service. We have for a century been trying to democratize our internal politics, but we have allowed the diplomatic service and the conduct of our foreign affairs to remain the same as in the days when the right of the people to political influence was not admitted by Parliament. The diplomatic service was as far removed from contact with the life of the people and from democratic institutions and influence as it was possible to be. It might be difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, but it was still more difficult for a poor man to enter the diplomatic service. Of the twenty last appointments to the diplomatic service, ten were the sons of peers, and the other ten belonged to the same social class. Ninety per cent, of those who had entered the Diplomatic Service in the last ten years were educated at Eton. There was a condition that no person could receive a nomination from the Secretary of State unless his parents or guardians could guarantee that he had a private allowance of not less than £400 a year. He must also serve two years abroad without salary. The main qualification for a candidate for the diplomatic service was that he must be able to deport himself agreeably in foreign high society. What sort of foreign policy are we likely to get so long as we leave its conduct to men like these, without any Parliamentary control whatever? There is the closest