when I go out, things began to
happen. I came back to find the Minister and de Leval wrestling with a
big one.

A curious telegram had come from The Hague, quoting the text of a
message which the German Government desired us to present to the Belgian
Government. Here it is in translation, a truly German message:

The fortress of Liege has been taken by assault after a brave
defense. The German Government most deeply regret that bloody
encounters should have resulted from the attitude of the Belgian
Government toward Germany. Germany is not coming as an enemy into
Belgium; it is only through the force of circumstances that she has
had, owing to the military measures of France, to take the grave
decision of entering Belgium and occupying Liege as a base for her
further military operations. Now that the Belgian army has upheld
the honour of its arms by its heroic resistance to a very superior
force, the German Government beg the King of the Belgians and the
Belgian Government to spare Belgium further horrors of war. The
German Government are ready for any compact with Belgium which can
be reconciled with their conflicts with France. Germany once more
gives her solemn assurance that it is not her intention to
appropriate Belgian territory to herself and that such an intention
is far from her thoughts. Germany is still ready to evacuate
Belgium as soon as the state of war will allow her to do so.

Of course we were loath to present anything of the sort, but the thing
had to be handled carefully. After some pow-wowing I went over to the
Foreign Office with the message and saw Baron van der Elst. I told him
seriously that we had received a very remarkable telegram which
purported to contain a message from the German Government; that it bore
no marks of authenticity, and that we were not sure as to its source;
but that we felt that we should be lacking in frankness if we did not
show him what we had received. He seized the message and read it
through, his amazement and anger growing with each line. When he had
finished, he gasped for a minute or two and then led me into the next
room to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. Davignon, to whom he
translated the telegram aloud. When they had finished discussing the
message and I had a pretty clear idea as to the Belgian attitude toward
the proposal--not that I had had any real doubt--I asked