Sir Irving Albery and Sir Archibald Southby did not push
their amendment to a division ; to do so would have been to challenge a vote of confidence upon the whole conduct of the war. But it was clear enough that they had behind them a body of House of Commons opinion composed of men and women whose loyalty to Mr. Churchill and whose will for victory are wholly beyond suspicion. If, as I trust will happen, the subject is revived again solely on its own merits, then the Government will find arrayed against them a resolute cohort whose criticism will not be without effect. That, after all, was the "chord that Hampden smote." That, after all, is one of the main purposes for which the House of Commons exists. We are there, even in war time, to defend the liberties of the subject ; we are also there to see that the precautions which must be taken against aliens are fair and just precautions. November 26th, 1941, is a date of which the House may well feel proud. I had only one regret. I regretted (for the first time I may add) the absence from the diplomatic gallery of a pale, puckered, irritable and conceited face. The face of Herr von Ribbentrop.
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