w plainly enough how England regarded this neutrality. As you know,
we found in the archives of the Belgian Foreign Office documents which
showed that England in 1911 was determined to throw troops into
Belgium without the assent of the Belgian Government if war had then
broken out--in other words, to do exactly the same thing for which,
with all the pathos of virtuous indignation, it now reproaches
Germany.

"In some later dispatch Sir Edward Grey, I believe, informed Belgium
that he did not believe England would take such a step because he did
not think English public opinion would justify that action. And still
people in the United States wonder that I characterized as a scrap of
paper the treaty whose observance, according to responsible British
statesmen, should be dependent on the pleasure of British public
opinion--a treaty which England itself had long since undermined with
its military agreements with Belgium!

"Remember, too, that Sir Edward Grey expressly refused to assure us of
England's neutrality even in the event that Germany respected Belgian
neutrality.

"I can understand, therefore, the English displeasure at my
characterization of the Treaty of 1839 as a scrap of paper, for this
scrap of paper was for England extremely valuable, furnishing an
excuse before the world for embarking in the war.

"I hope, however, that in the United States you will see clearly
enough that England in this matter, too, acted solely on the principle
of 'right or wrong, my interest.'"

The Chancellor during the conversation had twice risen to take a few
impatient steps about the room. He spoke calmly enough, but with an
undercurrent of deep feeling, particularly when he mentioned his
efforts for an understanding with England and the world peace which he
had hoped would come from them based on an agreement between Great
Britain, Germany, and the United States, and with a note of thorough
conviction as to the justice of the German position toward Belgium.

II.

SIR EDWARD GREY'S REPLY.

London, Jan. 26.--Sir Edward Grey, the British Secretary of State for
Foreign Affairs, today authorized the following statement in reply to
an interview obtained with Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, the German
Imperial Chancellor, by a representative of The Associated Press and
published in London on Jan. 26 and in the United States on Jan. 25:

"The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs authorizes the publication
of the following obser