Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-01-25

ton f0f the wrong comuhtteus
Had belgium Bad FAITH IN Mind.
when ] spoke, I already had GER
tain Indications. hut no absolute proof
upon which TO 4nsc q public aecusa.
ton ihat Belgmm long before mad
abandoned i,s neutrality ia its 'rela-
tons with England Nevertheless. !
took GTmany's responsibilities 10
ward the neutral satates 30 seriously
that ! smoke frankly Of the wrong
committed by Germany
WHAT wan the British altitude on
the same question ?r asked the cham
cclior.
'fhe day before my conversation
with Ambassador Ooschen, Sir Ed
ward Grey British secretary Of state
for foreign affairs. had delivered his
well known speech In parliament. In
which, though he had not stated OK
pressly that England would lake part
in The war. lie had left the matter n
little doubt.
TIames Great Britain.
'One needs only TO read his speech
through carefully TO learn the reason
for Englnnd's Intervention In the war
Amid all his beautiful phrases about
lsngland's honor ana England's Obli-
eatlona. we find II over and over
aeain expressed that England's inter-
osts--its own Interests cah for par
ticipation IN The war for It Is not in
England's interests that a victorious
and, therefore, stronger. Germany
should emerge from the war.
"This old principle Of English poll
cy--to take as the sole criterion 81
its actions its private interests. re-
gardless Of right, reason or consid-
cratlons OF hnmanity--ls expressed IN
the speech Of Gladstone's IN 1870, on
Belgian neutrality. from which Sin
Edward quoted.
English Views, Disscctcd.
mr. Gladstone then declared that
he was unable TO subscribe TO the doc
trine that the simple fact OF the ex-
istence Of a guarantee Is binding on
every party thereto. irrespective alto
gether of tho particular position in
which IL may find itself at time
when the occasion for action on the
guarantee arrives; and he referred TO
such English statesmen as Aberdeen
and Palmerston as supporters Of his
views.
England drew the sword" said the
chancellor, "only because IL believed
Its own Interests demanded IL. Just for
Belgian neutrality II would never have
entered the war
THAT Is what meant when / told
Sir William Goschen in that last in
teryiew when we sat down to talk the
matter over privately, man TO man.
that among THE reasons which had
impelled England to go into the war
the Belgian neutrality treaty had for
her only the value OF scrap Of
paper
His Work Had Been for Peace.
II may have been a bit excited and
aroused,1 said tho chancellor. "Who
would not have been at seeing the
hopes ana the work of the whole
period Of my chancellorship going for
] recalled to the ambassa-
dor my efforts for years to bring
about an understanding between Eng
land and Germany; on understanding
which, / reminded him, would have
made a general European war impos-
sible and which absolutely would have
the peace Of Europe.
such an understanding the chan
cellor inter1ected parenthetically
would have formed the basis on
which we could have approached the
United States as a third partner. but
England had not taken up this plan |
and through its entry into the war
had destroyed forever the hope OF It's
I'm comparison with such mo- /
nentous consequences was the treaty |
not a scrap of paper? England ought |
'eally to cease harpng on this theme
n Belgian neutrality" said the
chancellor.
What Documents Disclose.
Documents on the Anglo-Bekum |
agreement, which have been
ound I'm the meantime. show plainly !
nough how England regarded this
neutrality As you know, we found
n the archives Of the Belgian foreign
'ffce documents which showed that
england In 1911 was determined 10
brow troops into Belgium without
he assent of the Belgian government
war had then broken out. In 9TH
r words. to do exactly the same thing
OF which. with all the pathos of vir-
uous indignation, il now reproaches
Germany.
I'm some later dispatches Sir Ed
Yard Grey, believe. informed Bel
ium that he did not believe England ,
you'd take such a step because he did
ot think English public opinion ,
'ould justify that action. And still I,
eople in the United States wonder /,
hat characterized as a scrap of pa !
er the treaty whose observance ac- ]
ording to responsible British states
ien should he depended on The /,
leasure of British public opinion
treaty which England had long (
lnee undermined with its military
with Belgium.
What II Means 20 England.
Remember, too, that Sir Edward {
rey expressly refused TO assure us l
England's neutrality even In the S
font that Germany respected Bel I
an neutrality. IL
y can understand. therefore, the a
nglish displeasure at my character
alton OF the treaty of 1889 as a scrap I
paper for this scrap Of paper was
p England extremely valuable. FUR I
shing an eNcase before the world
n emharking in the war.
4 hope. however, that in the
niteds states you win see clearly that =