Although my right hon. Friend has gently insinuated that on this occasion my silence might be golden, I venture for a moment to ask the indulgence of the House for one or two reflections upon the settlement which the Chancellor of the Exchequer has just announced. I am sure we are all much gratified by the result which has been achieved, and I for one congratulate the Government upon the patience and ingenuity through which they have arrived at a settlement so satisfactory to all of us, and I hope also to those on the other side of the Atlantic. There are many of us who I am sure are very greatly relieved that we have evaded the embarrassment of default. I say that not merely on the high moral ground to which my right hon. Friend the Member for Darwen (Sir H. Samuel) has referred, or on account of the traditions of this country in the past, but also upon a more sordid consideration. We cannot refuse to recognise that default is apt to be contagious. We are after all the greatest creditor nation in the world with a great number of debtors who would be delighted to take advantage of our example to fail in their obligations to us. Accordingly, from a point of view which is purely selfish, I am sure it is a good thing that we have been enabled to evade that trouble.

I am glad, of course, that the settlement has taken the shape which the Chancellor of the Exchequer has described, not merely because it represents a view which I have ventured to put before the House from time to time, and as recently as a month ago, but also because it represents a considerable alleviation in the burden of our obligations at the present time. One has to recollect that America is prepared to take the silver which we propose to transfer to them at 50 cents to the ounce, and I am perfectly certain that the Chancellor of the Exchequer has been able to acquire the silver with which he proposes to pay our debt at a much less price than that—that is if those who have been acting for him have been at all ingenious in their purchases. Accordingly, the amount which we are about to pay has been genuinely mitigated. By the generosity of the American President the amount has been mitigated to some extent and that is a consideration which is perhaps worth reference. May I add one other reflection? We have been too apt to forget in this House the conditions in which the American public have been for some time conducting their consideration of our debt question. We have not, I am sure, always remembered the difficulties of their position and the trouble which their statesmen had in recommending any cancellation of debt to their people. I do not propose to dwell upon that subject any further except to say that in looking to the future the greatest help we can give towards a solution of this great problem is co-operation with the United States in that policy by which the welfare of their country may be retrieved and their sense of wellbeing may be restored.