Evening star., 1915-01-27
SIR EDWARD GREY
ON CAUSE Of WAR
British Foreign Minister Re-
plies to German ChanceIIor's
Recent Interview.
DENIES "scRAP OF PAPER"
WAS ENGLISH DOCTRINE
Tells Why Plans for Defense of Bel
gium Was Made
Necessity.


Grey. the British secretary OF state for
foreign affairs. has authorized the fol-
lowing statement in reply to an inter
view with Dr. Won Hcthmanu- IIollweg.
the German imperial chancellor, OBJ
taincd by representative of the AS
sociatcd Press and published in London
January 25:
The secretary of state for foreign
affairs authorizes the publication of
the following observations upon the
report Of an interview recently grant
cd by the German chancellor to an
American correspondent: 1t is not sur
priSinS that tho German chancellor
should show anxiety to explain away
his now historic phrase about Il treaty
being a mere scrap of paper
The phrase has made deep impress
sion because the progress of the world
largely depends upon the sanctity of
agreements between individuals aud
between nations, and the policy dis
closed In Herr Won BetlunannU Uon
wegs phrases tends to debase the legal
and moral currency of civilization.
What German Chancellor Said.
What the German chancellor said
was that Great Britain in requiring
Germany to respect the neutrality of
Belgium was going to make war just
for a word, just for a scrap of paper
that is, that Great Britain was making
II mountain out Of Il molchill. He now
asks the American public to beneve
that he meant the exact opposite of
what he said, that it was Great Brit
ain who really regarded the neutrality
of Belgium as mere trifie and that it
was Germany who took her responsible
tiles toward the neutral states so seri-
ously.'
The arguments by which Herr Won
Bethman HollweE seeks to establish
the two sides of this case are in fiat
contradiction of the plain facts.
First. the German chancellor al
leSes that England in 1911 was de-
termined to throw troops into Bel
gium without the assent of the Belgian
government This allegation is abso-
documents found in Brussels which re-
cord conversations between British
and Belgian officers i'll 1906 and again
i'll 1911.
Informal in Character.
The fact that there is no note of
these conversations at the British war
Office or the foreign office shows that
they were of purely informal charac-
ter, and that no military agreement of
any sort was at either time made be-
tween the two governments. Before
any conversations took place between
the British and the Belgian officers it
was expressly laid down on the British
side that discussion of the military
possibilities was to be addressed to the
manner in which, In case of need, Brit
ish assistance could be most effectually
afforded to Belgium for the defense of
her neutrality. and on the Belgian side
marginal note upon the record tx
plains that the entry of the English
into Belgium would only take place
after the violation of our (Belsian)
neutrality by GERMANY
'AS regards the conversat ton of 1911,
the Belgian officer said to the British
officer: You could only land in our
country with our consent: and in 1913
Sir Edward Grey gave the Belgian gov
ernment Il categorical assurance that
no British government would violate
the neutrality of Belgium, and that so
long as it was not violated by any
other power we should certainly not
send troops ourselves into their terri
tory
The chancellor's method of msusing
documents may be illustrated in this
connection. He represents Sir Edward
Grey saying he did not believe Eng
land would take such step because
he did not think English public opinion
would justify such action
What Sir Edward Grey actually
wrote was: I said that l was sure that
this government would not be the first
to violate the neutrality of Belgium,
and I did not believe that any British
government would be the first to do SO,
nor would public opinion here ever ap-
prove of it,.