ch from others. They are not at all
sensational. But they seemed at the time, and they seem still, to have a
certain significance as indications of the psychology of the people with
whom we were then in nominal friendship.

Three requests were made to me for the forwarding of important
communications to Brussels under cover of the diplomatic privilege of
the American Legation. The memoranda of the dates and so on are in the
Chancellery at The Hague, so I cannot refer to them. But it is certain
that the requests came shortly after the beginning of the war, in the
first or second week of August, 1914, and the content and purport of
them are absolutely clear in my memory.

The first request was from Berlin for the transmission of a note to the
Belgian Government, renewing the proposition which the Potsdam gang had
made on August 2: namely, that Belgium should permit the free passage of
German troops through her neutral ground on condition that Germany would
pay for all damage done and that Belgian territory would not be annexed.
(Off. Dip. Doc., p. 402.) King Albert had already replied, on August 3,
to this proposition, saying that to permit such a passage of hostile
troops against France would be "a flagrant violation of international
law" and would "sacrifice the honor of the nation." (Off. Dip. Doc., p.
421.) After such an answer it did not seem to me that the renewal of the
dishonorable proposal was likely to have a good effect. Yet the Berlin
note was entirely correct in form. It merely offered a chance for
Belgium to choose again between peace with the friendship of Germany and
dishonor attached, and war in defense of the neutrality to which she was
bound by the very treaties (1831, 1839) which brought her into being. I
had no right to interpose an obstacle to the repetition of Belgium's
first heroic choice. I pointed out that, not being accredited to the
Belgian Government, I was not in a position to transmit any
communication to it. But I was willing to forward the note to my
colleague the American Minister in Brussels, absolutely without
recommendation, but simply for such disposal as he thought fit.
Accordingly the note was transmitted to him. [Footnote 7]

[Footnote 7: My colleague, Honorable James W. Gerard, Ex-Ambassador to
Germany, has referred to this in his very interesting book, "My Four
Years in Germany," p. 136.]

What Whitlock did with it I do not know. What answer, if any, Belgium
made I do not k