"It has been deeply impressed upon us," he said, "from what we have heard from India, that the wonderful wave of enthusiasm and loyalty which is now passing over that country is, to a great extent, based upon the desire of the Indian people that Indian soldiers should stand side by side with their comrades of the British Army in repelling the invasion of our friends' territories and the attacks made upon them."
Hardly less enthusiasm had been aroused on the previous day, August 27th, when Mr. Asquith moved:
"That an Address be presented to his Majesty praying him to convey to his Majesty the King of the Belgians the sympathy and admiration with which this House regards the heroic resistance offered by his army and people to the wanton invasion of his territory, and an assurance of the determination of this country to support in every way the efforts of Belgium to vindicate her own independence and the public law of Europe."
In supporting his motion the Prime Minister delivered an eloquent and moving speech, in the course of which he said:
"Very few words are needed to commend to the House the Address the terms of which will shortly be read from the Chair. The war which is now shaking to its foundations the whole European system originated in a quarrel in which this country had no direct concern. We strove with all our might, as everyone now knows, to prevent its outbreak, and when that was no longer possible to limit its area. It is all-important, and I think it is relevant to this motion, that it should be clearly understood when it was and why it was that we intervened.
"It was only when we were confronted with the choice between keeping and breaking solemn obligations, between the discharge of a binding trust and of shameless subservience to naked force, that we threw away the scabbard.
"The issue was one which no great and self-respecting nation, certainly none bred and nurtured as ourselves in this ancient home of liberty could, without undying shame, have declined. We were bound by our obligations, plain and paramount, to assert and maintain the threatened independence of a small and neutral State. Belgium had no interest of her own to serve, save and except the one supreme and over-riding interest of every State, great or little, which is worthy of the name, the preservation of her integrity and of her national life.