rt, near Brussels. The corporal states that he saw two French and
one English officer in Brussels on July 26th, and eight French soldiers
on July 29th.

The statements of three French soldiers, prisoners of war in Germany,
are also cited; these men maintain that they entered Belgium on the 31st
of July and the 2nd of August.

With regard to this "evidence," we must note that Grasshoff is a German
official, the corporal a German spy, and that the Frenchmen have made
these statements in a prisoners' camp, a place where they were exposed
to the temptation of German gold and the influence of Teutonic bullying.
Lastly, the Berlin General Staff has recorded that the German armies
first came in touch with French troops on August 19th, near Namur.]

Moreover Germany's excuse for invading Belgium is given in the title of
this chapter. Had Germany possessed any proof that French officers in
disguise were organizing preparations in Belgium, or that French airmen
had crossed the latter's territories in order to drop bombs by Wesel,
etc., then Bethmann-Hollweg would have had no reason to admit in the
Reichstag that his country was committing a breach of international law.
Under such circumstances Belgian neutrality would no longer have
existed; the Chancellor, instead of "necessity," could have pleaded
justification and the world could scarcely have withheld its approval.

In the early hours of August 4th the Germans crossed the Belgian
frontier, although the _Cologne Gazette_ had published a notice three
days before announcing that Germany had no intention whatever of taking
the step, and that no German troops were near the frontier.

General von Emmich immediately issued this proclamation in French: "To
my great regret German troops have been compelled to enter Belgian
territory. They are acting under the compulsion of unavoidable
necessity, for French officers in disguise have already violated Belgian
neutrality by trying to reach Germany, via Belgium, in motor-cars.[94]

[Footnote 94: One wonders what military purpose these officers had in
view. They would have been inevitably arrested at the German frontier.
The fable was made public by Wolff's Agency, and has been ridiculed even
by the German Press, _vide_ pp. 96-7.]

"Belgians! it is my most ardent desire that it may yet be possible to
avoid a struggle between two peoples which up till now, have been
friends, formerly even allies. Remember the glorious days of La Belle