against the Belgian
frontier, every means of escape shut out by a ring of flame from
Prussian cannon. There was one way of escape. What was that? Violating
the neutrality of Belgium. What did they do? The French on that occasion
preferred ruin and humiliation to the breaking of their bond. [Loud
applause.] The French Emperor, the French Marshals, 100,000 gallant
Frenchmen in arms, preferred to be carried captive to the strange land
of their enemies rather than dishonor the name of their country.
[Applause.] It was the last French army in the field. Had they violated
Belgian neutrality the whole history of that war would have been
changed, and yet, when it was the interest of France to break the treaty
then, she did not do it.

"A Scrap of Paper."

It is the interest of Prussia today to break the treaty, and she has
done it. [Hisses.] She avows it with cynical contempt for every
principle of justice. She says: "Treaties only bind you when it is your
interest to keep them." [Laughter.] "What is a treaty?" says the German
Chancellor, "A scrap of paper." Have you any five-pound notes about you?
[Laughter and applause.] I am not calling for them. [Laughter.] Have you
any of those neat little Treasury one-pound notes? [Laughter.] If you
have, burn them; they are only scraps of paper. [Laughter and
applause.] What are they made of? Rags. [Laughter.] What are they worth?
The whole credit of the British Empire. [Loud applause.] Scraps of
paper! I have been dealing with scraps of paper within the last month.
One suddenly found the commerce of the world coming to a standstill. The
machine had stopped. Why? I will tell you. We discovered--many of us for
the first time, for I do not pretend that I do not know much more about
the machinery of commerce today than I did six weeks ago, and there are
many others like me--we discovered that the machinery of commerce was
moved by bills of exchange. I have seen some of them, [laughter,]
wretched, crinkled, scrawled over, blotched, frowsy, and yet those
wretched little scraps of paper move great ships laden with thousands of
tons of precious cargo from one end of the world to the other.
[Applause.] What is the motive power behind them? The honor of
commercial men. [Applause.] Treaties are the currency of international
statesmanship. [Applause.] Let us be fair--German merchants, German
traders, have the reputation of being as upright and straightforward as
any traders in the world, ["Hear,