request an assurance that
the demand made upon Belgium by Germany be not proceeded
with and that Belgium's neutrality be respected by Germany
and we have asked for an immediate reply.

"We received this morning from our minister in Brussels
the following telegram:

"'The German minister has this morning addressed a
note to the Belgian minister for foreign affairs stating that as
the Belgian government has declined a well intentioned proposal
submitted to it by the imperial German government
the latter, deeply to its regret, will be compelled to carry out,
if necessary by force of arms, the measures considered indispensable
in view of the French menace.'"

ENGLAND AND GERMANY AT WAR

By 11 o'clock that evening England and Germany were at war. Their
respective ambassadors were handed their passports and Great Britain
braced herself for a conflict that was felt to threaten her very
existence as a nation.

CHAPTER VII.

THE INVASION OF BELGIUM

_Belgians Rush to Defense of Their Frontier--Towns Bombarded
and Burned--Defense of Liege--Fall of Liege--
--Fall of Namur--Peasants and Townspeople Flee--
Destruction of Louvain_.

At 10 o'clock on the night of August 2 German troops crossed the Belgian
frontier, coming from Aix-la-Chapelle, or Aachen, temporary headquarters
of the general staff, and the bloody invasion of Belgium, involving the
violation of its neutral treaty rights, began. Simultaneously the German
forces entered the independent duchy of Luxemburg to the south, en route
to the French border, and also came in touch with French outposts in the
provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.

The events that followed in Belgium furnished a genuine surprise to
the world. Instead of finding the Belgian people indifferent to the
violation of their territory and the Belgian army only a slight obstacle
in the road to Paris, as was probably expected by the German general
staff, a most gallant and determined resistance was offered to the
progress of the German hosts. The army of the little State was quickly
mobilized for defense and its operations, while ineffectual in stopping
the Kaiser's irresistible force, delayed its advance for three
invaluable weeks, giving time for the complete mobilization of the
French and for the landing of a British expeditionary force to
co-operate with the latter in resisting the German approach to Paris.

Just across the Belgian border lay the little to