Evening star., 1914-10-08

guarantee the integrity of the king
dom and its POSSESSIONS
| could Belgium, without being false
to her duties of neutrality. take up the
| position which the German government
| calls friendly neutrality y'?@That is te
| say. could she allow the German armies
territory? Can the German govern
ment itself answer that question?
1T is enough to reread the converse
tion given above between the British
| ambassador and the German secretary
| of state to come to a clear conclusion
in that respect. If the violation OF
Belgian territory was to procure sc
signal an advantage to Germany that
she had no fear of bringing on war
| with England to attain it, then for Bel
| German troops must have meant the
certainty Of fatal consequences for
| France. Thus, for Belgium to have
yielded to the German ultimatum
siderable advantage on Germany to the
detriment of the other belligerent,
and would have constituted a breach
of neutrality.
Germany concludes her note tend; ny
tions already defined, to evacuate Bel
gian territory at the conclusion OF
peace. If Belgium behaves in a hostlle
manner (that is to say, If she does ner
duty), Germany will be obliged to con, J,
slider Belgium as an enemy. She Wou!o
then leave the ultimate arrangement =
of the relations of the two states 70
the decision of arms-in other words,
| If Belgium does not agree to vloiate
an enemy, and adds veiled threat OF
annexing a part or the whole OF her
territory.
"The moral fiber of nations is not al
ways measured by their size or & power. Ter
answer bears witness to her love o.
justice and to her respect Of the right.
She would rather die with honor tnan
"That was made clear by the an
swer Of her government. The answer
was as follows:
"aThe German note has been pain
The Intentions which the note at
tributes to France are in contradiction
to the formal declarations when were
made to US on the 1st of August in the
contrary to our expectatie!.I;I:Frafnfaea al aa1 Is
about to violate the neutrality OF Bei-
GUM, Belgium would be prepared 10
fulfill it's neutrality obligations, ana
the most vigorous resistance. me
treaties of 1889, confirmed by the trea-
ties of 1870, commit to the guarantee
of the powers, and notabl to the gov.
Prussia, the independence and neutral
ity of the kingdom of Belgium
Necessity Knows No Law"
1.-The chancellor of the German en-
pire said in a sitting of the reichstag
the 4th of August: We are in state
of legitimate defense. Necessity knows
no law. Our troops have occupied Lux
emburg and have perhaps already pen
etrated into Belgium. This Is against
the law of nations. France, 1T is true,
Rr.,tc n
determined to respect the neutrality OF
Belgium as long as her adversary re-
spects it. but we know that France
was ready to invade Belgium. France
can afford to wait; we cannot. A
French attack on our flank in the re-
gion of the lower Rhine might have
been fatal. 1t is for that reason that
we have been compelled to ignore the
Luxemburg and Belgium. The injus-
tice which we thus commit we will re-
pair, as soon as our military object has
been attained
ut has been shown above how much
value can be attached to the assertion
of the alleged intention of France to
invade Belgium. That intention. and
the realization of that intention belong
exclusively to Germany and they must
be left in her possession. This is eSpe-
cially the case in view of the fact that
the military dispositions undertaken by
France, absolutely refute the allega-
tions Of the German chancellor. So
true is this that when the violation of
Belgian territory became an accom-
pIished fact, and when the King of Bel
gium appealed under the terms of the
treaty Of 1889 for support in maintain
ing the neutrality of Belgium which
these powers had guaranteed. France
was so little prepared to invade Bel
gium that it took her more than ten
days to get her troops into the coun-
try.
"The world is familiar with the way
Germany has repaired in Belgium the
Injustice of which she was guilty to
use the words of the German chancel-
lor.
Under the pretext that her troops
were attacked by civilians and even
under no pretext at all. whole villages
have been razed to the ground. I'M
portant towns whose boast it was tc
represent part OF the common inheri-
| tance of civilization were not spared