He explicitly stated that, after
their expiration,
the respective parties, being parties to the Treaty of 1839,
shall fall back upon the obligations they took upon themselves
under that treaty.
After Gladstone had finished speaking the leader of the opposition,
Disraeli, took the floor and pointed out that, as a general proposition,
when there is a treaty guarantee so explicit as that expressed
in the Treaty of 1839, I think the wisdom of founding on that
another treaty which involves us in engagements may be open to
doubt.
But he accepted Gladstone's statement
as the declaration of the Cabinet, that they are resolved to
maintain the neutrality and independence of Belgium, I accept
it as a wise and spirited policy, and a policy, in my opinion,
not the less wise because it is spirited.
Gladstone then replied, saying that the reason the Government had not
made a general declaration of its intentions regarding Belgium was that
much danger might arise from such a declaration and that inadvertently
they might have given utterance to words
that might be held to import obligations almost unlimited and
almost irrespectively of circumstances.
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