rality of Belgium to the territory of the State
of Belgium.

These treaties expired in the year 1872, and the present German Empire
has never signed any treaty guaranteeing the neutrality of Belgium.
Moreover, between 1872 and 1914 Belgium became what is now termed a
world power; that is, it reached a population of nearly 9,000,000
people, it had a well-organized, well-equipped army of over 200,000 men
and powerful fortifications for its own defense; it had acquired and was
holding colonies covering 1,000,000 square miles of territory, inhabited
by 15,000,000 men, and it had active commerce, mediated by its own
marine, with many, if not all, parts of the world. Now, these things are
not at all compatible in principle with a specially guaranteed
neutrality of the State which possesses them. The State which possesses
them has grown out of its swaddling clothes, has arrived at the age and
condition of maturity and self-protection, and has passed the age when
specially guaranteed neutrality is natural.

From all these considerations, I think it extremely doubtful whether, on
the first day of August, 1914, Belgium should have been considered as
possessing any other kind of neutrality than the ordinary neutrality
enjoyed by all States not at war, when some States are at war. In fact,
it remains to be seen whether Belgium itself had not forfeited the
privilege of this ordinary neutrality before a single German soldier had
placed foot on Belgian soil. A few days ago I received a letter from one
of the most prominent professors in the University of Berlin, who is
also in close contact with the Prussian Ministry of Education, a man in
whose veracity I place perfect confidence, having known him well for ten
years. He writes: "Our violation of the neutrality of Belgium was
prompted in part by the fact that we had convincing proof that there
were French soldiers already in Belgium and that Belgium had agreed to
allow the French Army to pass over its soil in case of a war between
France and us." Moreover, in the British "White Paper" itself, No. 122,
is to be found a dispatch from the British Ambassador in Berlin, Sir E.
Goschen, to Sir Edward Grey, containing these words: "It appears from
what he [the German Secretary of Foreign Affairs] said that the German
Government consider that certain hostile acts have already been
committed by Belgium. As an instance of this, he alleged that a
consignment of corn for Germany had been placed