Scott turned his paper into a pacifist weapon against entering the war, and he lobbied the cabinet as well. His leaders denounced a "conspiracy to drag us into a war against England’s interests”, arguing that it would amount to a "crime against Europe" and warning that it would "throw away the accumulated progress of half a century". On Tuesday 4 August 1914 - the day the king declared war - David Lloyd George told Scott "Up until last Sunday only two members of the Cabinet had been in favour of our intervention in the war but the violation of Belgian territory had completely altered the situation".