they, and they alone, who can bring a remedy to the mischief which is going on. You have a form of Government which in many points is purely democratic, and you must take it with the incidents which naturally adhere to it, and one of these incidents is publicity of deliberation. The Cabinet is the authority which decides in the first instance, and it decides in secret, and it rightly maintains its secrecy to the utmost, but the authority to which you must appeal from the Cabinet is the people, and their deliberations are conducted in the open field. If they are to be rightly:informed, you must deal fully and frankly with the subjects which form the basis of their determination. It is, no doubt, a drawback so far as it goes, but it is a drawback you must face, and you cannot help it if Foreign Powers overhear, so to speak, the privileged communications between you and those by whose verdict you must stand. You cannot suppress the argument because somebody else outside hears it and you may be adversely affected by it. You might as well say that you will allow a trial to go wrong, because counsel hesitated to tell the jury the whole truth as it appeared to him, lest some one outside should be offended or discouraged by the language used.']
(4) Mr. A. J. Balfour, speaking, March 19, 1918, on the motion ‘That, in the opinion of this House, a Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs should be appointed, representative of all parties and groups in the House, in order that a regular channel of communication may be established between the Foreign Secretary and the House of Commons, which will afford him frequent opportunities of giving information on questions of Foreign policy and which, by allowing Members to acquaint themselves more fully with current international problems, will enable this House to exercise closer supervision over the general conduct of Foreign affairs.':
'He'—the speaker immediately preceding—'endeavoured to regard … the conduct of our foreign affairs as a practical question for practical men, to be dealt with, not according to abstract formulae, but according to the real necessities of the situation. … What is the business of the Foreign Office of this country and of every other country in its aspect of an international machine? It does not pursue strange and
