the violation of that neutrality by some other Power forced it to do
so in self-defence.

The Belgian Government, for its part, hastened to assure the British
Minister at Brussels of its determination to resist with might and main
should its territory be invaded.

At Berlin, however, the Foreign Secretary eluded Sir Edward Goschen's
questions. He said that he must consult the Emperor and the Chancellor.
In his opinion, any answer would entail the risk, in the event of war,
of partly divulging the plan of campaign. It seemed doubtful to him,
therefore, whether he would be able to give a reply. This way of
speaking was perfectly clear in its ambiguity. It did not puzzle Sir
Edward Grey for a moment. On the following day he declared to the German
Ambassador that the reply of the German Government was a matter of very
great regret. Belgian neutrality, he pointed out, was highly important
in British eyes, and if Belgium was attacked, it would be difficult to
restrain public feeling in his country.

On the same day, August 1, in accordance with instructions from my
Government, I read to the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs (at the
same time giving him a copy) a dispatch drafted beforehand and addressed
to the Belgian Ministers attached to the Powers that had guaranteed our
neutrality. This dispatch affirmed that Belgium, having observed, with
scrupulous fidelity, the duties imposed on her as a neutral State by the
treaties of April 19, 1839, would manifest an unshaken purpose in
fulfilling them; and that she had every hope, since the friendly
intentions of the Powers towards her had been so often professed, of
seeing her territory secure from all assault, if hostilities should
arise near her frontiers. The Belgian Government added that it had
nevertheless taken all the necessary steps for maintaining its
neutrality, but that, in so doing, it had not been actuated by a desire
to take part in an armed struggle among the Powers, or by a feeling of
distrust towards any one of them.

Herr Zimmermann listened without a word of comment to my reading of this
dispatch, which expressed the loyal confidence of my Government in
Germany's goodwill. He merely took note of my communication. His silence
did not surprise me, for I had just learnt of Herr von Jagow's evasive
reply to the British Government concerning Belgium; but it bore out all
my misgivings. His constrained smile, by the way, told me quite as much
as his refusal to sp