Pardon me. Let me go on a moment to the three or four lines in his speech before those I have quoted. I am astonished that the right hon. Gentleman should like to have those lines quoted, in a sense of relief to him, because they are the gravamen of the case against him. Three or four lines previously, which I carefully omitted to put to him till this moment, he used these words: Perhaps the worst feature of all in the agreements which the right hon. Gentleman has made is this: That if ever we get more from those annuities and German reparations than our payments to the United States we have to reduce the amount of the annuities to be received from our Continental debtors."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 16th April, 1929; cols. 120–1, Vol. 127.] It was to that, he said, "We have never subscribed." Let us see where we are. The right hon. Gentleman said the policy of the Labour party is to welcome a general cancellation of all these debts. How does he reconcile a wish for the general cancellation of all these debts with this strident assertion that he will insist, if he has the power, on reclaiming more from ruined Europe, wring harsher terms from ruined Europe, from Germany, from all the other countries on the Continent, even over and above the sums of money that we have undertaken to pay in our duty to the United States? That is the point which I am going to invite, and which the Government invite, the Leader of the Opposition to deal with.

We have had seven years of these arrangements on the Continent of Europe. Ever since the Balfour Note was written this country has been able to go into any international gathering with clean hands and a good conscience. There has not been any foreign country, even poor little countries from whom we had to demand payment of their war debts, countries which appealed in piteous terms for mitigation, to which we have not been able to say, "We have never taken and never will take a penny more from Europe than what is required, on the other hand, from ourselves." That has been the foundation of the decent relations of the people of this island and the Government of this country with all the Governments of Europe, and it has been, if not the sole foundation, at least the underlying principle, the accepted condition, of every one of those steps which have been taken in order to place the affairs of Europe on a more peaceful and solid basis. At this very moment in the international discussions which are proceeding among the Committee of Experts, of which, as my right hon. Friend has said, such high hopes are entertained—whether they will be realised or not I cannot tell—there is a recognition on the part of others and an assertion on the part of this country that the principles of the Balfour Note must be maintained; and, above all, we place the proud principle that we ourselves will make no profit or advantage out of this. We will take no more from our Allies or from our beaten enemies than is required to pay our obligations. And here is the right hon. Gentleman, who comes forward as an advocate of a peaceful policy, who tries to make out that he and his party represent the true spirit of the League of Nations, deliberately saying that if the Labour party have power and office they will hold themselves free to repudiate the agreements that we have made with Italy and with France under which no more will be taken from them than is required by the United States, and will use his power, so far as he can, in order to extract larger sums of money and make a profit out of those terrible transactions.

There is one other remark which I must make before I sit down. The right hon. Gentleman used a word, a most offensive word, about a friendly nation and our nearest neighbour. He accused that nation of being "bilkers," or of "bilking"—an offensive, slang term from the gutter, used in order to convey hatred and contempt for a nation with whom we have the closest, most intimate and friendly relations, and with whom we have been through the most terrible ordeal of history. What is the use of using such a term? If any Member of a Government had used such an expression about a nation with whom we have relations, undoubtedly it would have been considered a fatal step in his career, and I think we have a right to ask of the Leader of the Opposition some similar attempt to preserve courteous relations between us and the—[An HON. MEMBER: "Russians."] We have no relations with the Russians.