In any case, if Alsace and Lorraine are turned with the German Rhine Provinces into a neutral State, I do hope that we shall have the common sense not to guarantee either its independence or its neutrality.

If we do so, within ten years we shall infallibly be dragged into a Continental war.

We have a whim about Belgium, one day it will prove a costly one; we cannot, however, afford to indulge in many of these whims..