"May I ask whether or not we are to understand that the Government arrived at no decision upon this par- ticular question? Is the right honorable gentleman not aware that this new definition of the two-Power stand- ard is a question of supreme importance, and that in arriving at our standard of naval strength previous Governments had regard to the power of the fleets of other countries?"
The Prime Minister replied only :
"I think this question shows the inconvenience of dealing with these matters by way of question and an- swer. ' '
In December, 1912, Lord Hugh Cecil made the fol- lowing inquiry:
"There is a very general belief that this country is under an obligation, not a treaty obligation, but an obligation arising out of an assurance given by the Min- istry in the course of diplomatic negotiations, to send a very large armed force out of this country to operate in Europe. That is the general belief. It would be very presumptuous of any one who has not access to all the facts in possession of the Government
The Prime Minister interrupted him with: "I ought to say that it is not true." Lord Cecil thereupon expressed his satisfaction for having elicited this explanation, "because," he stated, "it was certainly widely believed that the Gov-
