New Britain herald., 1914-08-28
WHY ENGLAND IS
 FIGHTING GERMANY
Kaiser Rated Great bTitdn's Pledge
 to Belgium of No Account.

the form of a white paper the report 1 of Sir William Goschen, the former an bassador at Berlin, on the rupture | of diplomatic relations with Ger l many.
 The report is dated August 8 and l says that in accordance with instruc- tions of August from Sir Edward Grey secretary of state for foreign l affairs, the ambassador called on the German secretary of state, Gottl1eb Won Jagow. He inquired whether Belgian neutrality.
 Herr Von Jagow." the report con tinues, lat once replied that he was sorry to say his answer must be no, as in consequence of the German troops having crossed the frontier that morning, Belgian neutrality had al- ready been violated. Herr Won !. Jagow again went into the reasons why the imperial government had been obliged to take this step, name ly, that they had to advance into France by the quickest and easiest way, so as to be able to get well ahead with their operations and endeavor to strike some decisive blow as early as possible. It was matter of life or death for them, as, if they had gone by the more southern route, they could not have hoped, in view of the paucity of roads and the strength of the fortresses, to have got through without formidable opposition, entail ing great loss of time.
 ''This loss of time would mean time gained by the Russians for the bring ing up of their troops to the German frontier. Rapidity of action was the German asset, while that of Russia was the inexhaustible supply of troops
 ''I pointed out to Herr Won Jagow that this fait accompli of the. viola ton of the Belgian frontier rendered, as he would readily understand, the situation exceedingly grave, and l asked him whether there was still not time to draw back and avoid possible consequences which both he and I would deplore.
 sHe replied that for reasons he had given me it was now impossible for him to draw back
 The British ambassador proceeded to the German foreign office again the same afternoon and informed the sec- retary of state that unless the irn- perial government could give assur- ances by 12 o'clock that night they would proceed no further with the violation of the Belgian frontier and stop their advance, he had been in- structed to demand his passports and the imperial government that his n1aJ- esty's government would have to take all steps in their power to uphold neutral Belgium and the observance of the treaty to which Germany was as much a party as Great Britain. Empire Demanded Move. "Herr Won Jagow,'' says the report, replied that to his great regret he could give no other answer than that which he had given me earlier in the day, namely, that the safety of the empire rendered it absolutely neces- sary that the imperial troops should advance through Belgium.
 "I gave his excellency written summary of your telegram and point ing out that you had mentioned 12 o'clock as the time when his najesty's S government would expect an answer, asked him whether, in view of the 1 terrible consequences which would necessarily ensue, it was not possible even at the last moment that their answer should be reconsidered. He replied that if the time given were i even twenty-four hours or more his answer must be the same.
 Expressed Great Regret. "I said that in that case I should l have to demand my passports. ''The interview took place about 7 l o'clock. In a short conversation 1 which ensued Herr Von Jagow e1-
 pressed his poignant regret at the 1 crumblng of his entire policy ana that of the imperial chancellor, which
 had been to make friends with Great
 Britain and then through Great Brit l ain to get closer to France.
 T said that this sudden end to l my work in Berlin was to me, also,
 a matter of deep regret and disap- l stand that under the circumstances i majesty's government could not i have acted otherwise than they had l done.''
 | Chancellor Excited.
 The ambassador then went to see
 the imperial chancellor, Dr. Won
 Bethmann-Hol and he found him
 in a very excited condition
 "The chancellor says the report DcSdI d IldIduSuO, "uASA ldoICO | about twenty minutes. He said the
 step taken by Great Britain was
 terrible to a degree. Just for a
 word, 'neutrality'-a word, which in
 war time had been so often disre.
 garded; just for a scrap of paper
 Great Britain was going to make
 war on a kindred nation, who de.
 sired nothing better than to be
 friends With her. All his efforts ir
 that direction had been rendered use.
 .ess by this last terrible step, and the
 policy to which, as I knew, he haG 1 devoted himself since bis accession