It was this situation that faced the House of Commons
on Tuesday when Mr. Ramsay MacDonald brought up a motion for the creation of a Parliamentary Committee of Foreign Affairs, which could discuss the Ruhr with similar Committees from the French and Belgian Chambers. It is not quite clear whether the official Labour Party took this as a serious constructive proposal or merely as a peg on which to hang a new discussion. At all events, the House took it as the latter. Nobody seemed to think the idea a particularly good one, and the Mime Minister" was easily able to show that it would not work. But the discussion was interesting. Mr. MacDonald had a forcible phrase in speaking about some Members who considered that we could watch the great European play from the stalls or gallery—" That was an absurd position. We were on the stage, and we could not come off the stage however much we might wish it." This . was an attitude which found considerable favour in the House,
