ar to come about
hoping, with the help of the Entente, to destroy the vitality of
England's greatest European competitor in the markets of the world.
Therefore, England and Russia have before God and men the responsibility
for the catastrophe which has fallen upon Europe. Belgian neutrality,
which England pretended to defend, was nothing but a disguise.

On the evening of Aug. 2 we informed Brussels that we were obliged, in
the interest of self-defense and in consequence of the war plans of
France, which were known to us, to march through Belgium, but already,
on the afternoon of the same day, Aug. 2, before anything of our action
in Brussels could have been known in London, the British Government
promised France unconditional assistance in case the German fleet should
attack the French coast. Nothing was said about Belgium neutrality.

How can England maintain that she drew the sword because we violated
Belgian neutrality? How could the British statesmen, whose past is well
known, speak at all of Belgian neutrality? When, on Aug. 4, I spoke of
the wrong which we were committing with our march into Belgium it was
not yet established whether the Belgian Government at the last moment
would not desire to spare the country and retire under protest to
Antwerp. For military reasons I cannot go into whether there was the
possibility of such a development on Aug. 4.

As to the guilt of the Belgian Government, many indications were already
known at that time, but there were no positive and written proofs. Now,
however, that it is demonstrated by documents found in Brussels how the
Belgians surrendered their neutrality to England the entire world knows
two facts.

One is that when our troops on the night of Aug. 3-Aug. 4 entered
Belgian territory they were on the ground of a State which had given up
its neutrality long ago. The other is that, not for the sake of the
neutrality of Belgium, which she had herself undermined, did England
declare war on us, but because she believed that she would be able to
master us with the help of two great Continental powers.

Since Aug. 2, since her promise to assist France, England was no longer
neutral, and was actually at war with us, and the argument that the
declaration of war was a sequel to the violation of Belgian neutrality
is nothing but a piece of play-acting performed to mystify the English
people and neutral States.

Now that the Anglo-Belgian war plans are unveiled in their sm