Although some members of the Cabinet were inclined on the outbreak
of this most miserable war to make military preparations, others,
Lord Granville and I among them, by no means shared that disposition,
nor I think was the feeling of Parliament that way inclined. But the
publication of the Treaty has altered all this, and has thrown upon
us the necessity either of doing something fresh to secure Belgium,
or else of saying that under no circumstances would we take any step
to secure her from absorption. This publication [text of a projected
agreement between the French and Prussian Governments] has wholly
altered the feeling of the House of Commons, and no Government could
at this moment venture to give utterance to such an intention about
Belgium. But neither do we think it would be right, even if it were
safe, to announce that we would in any case stand by with folded arms
and see actions done which would amount to a total extinction of public
right in Europe.