Britain’s epic troubles reclaiming her independence from Europe — Prime Minister May is on the brink of a no-confidence vote as we write this — remind us of one of our favorite dinner parties. Adults were at the table, plus some children. When conversation turned to the Middle East, one of the adults exclaimed that George Washington had, in his Farewell Address, warned against “foreign entanglements.”

“Actually,” one of the children interjected, “he didn’t warn against foreign entanglements.”

“Of course, he did,” said one of the adults.

“No, he didn’t,” the youngster insisted.

So we resorted to the Internet to check exactly what our first president had said. He turns out to have been dilating on the advantages of America’s physical separation. Then Washington wondered: “Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity with the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?”

“You see,” the youngster explained, “Washington wasn’t warning against all ‘foreign’ entanglements. He was worried about Europe.”

Understanding why gets easier by the day, as the world watches Britain make its lunge for independence. It has been more than two years since Britons voted for Brexit, and the escape from Europe has turned into a parliamentary purgatory. With the half-measures endorsed this week by Prime Minister May and her cabinet, the government is riven and the outcome is still in doubt.

What is not in doubt is the catastrophe of Britain’s decision to join the European Union in the first place. It is increasingly difficult, moreover, to conclude that Mrs. May has been operating in good faith. It was an error in the wake of the Brexit vote in 2016 for Britain to choose as premier a woman who had opposed Brexit in the referendum. What in the world were the Tories thinking?

Our own sentiments are with the former foreign minister, Boris Johnson, who emerged from his years covering the European Union for the Daily Telegraph as a comprehender of how hostile the EU is to British and American values. He characterizes the compromise that Mrs. May has put forward — remaining in the customs union and large parts of the single market — as “vassal state stuff.”

Mr. Johnson has always been a master at understatement. Mrs. May’s Brexit, he avers, would mean that “for the first time in a thousand years Parliament will not have a say in the laws that govern this country.” Another visionary Brexit-backer, Jacob Rees-Mogg, is calling the deal “blackmail,” asking for Mrs. May to resign, and seeking to force a no-confidence vote.

We keep returning to this story because of our conviction that America’s interest lies in an independent Britain and in the survival of the ideas of English and American liberty. They are different from European concepts. We don’t mean to suggest that Europe is without redeeming features. It’s hard, though, to see Europe as the custodian of liberty and a guardian against the state.

This is no doubt why President Trump was so ornery when Mrs. May reached him as he was on his way to France. Mr. Trump, according to the Washington Post, questioned Mrs. May over Brexit. He’s previously warned that her truckling to Europe will make it harder for us to reach a bilateral accord with Britain, lest we, too, be held hostage to the European customs union and single market.

Mr. Trump also exploded, according to the Post’s account, over Mrs. May’s preparedness to stay with the articles of appeasement with Iran. No wonder. This stems from the same flaw she exhibits in respect of Europe. Not that the mandarins in Brussels are the same as the Ayatollahs who rule Iran; they are not the same. The weakness Mrs. May’s government exhibits, though, is similar as to Europe and Iran.

Which brings us back to George Washington. The entanglement he warned against was with Europe. He did, though, go on to declare that “our true policy” was to steer against “permanent alliances” with “any portion of the foreign world.” The EU is an entanglement. The North Atlantic Treaty is an alliance. Both bear watching, a conclusion American voters reached and marked in the election of 2016.