Transmitted to The London Times and Published Oct. 23.
The Times of Oct. 14 reproduces a long article from The North-German
Gazette commenting on the discovery in the archives at Brussels of a map
entitled "English Intervention in Belgium" and of a memorandum to the
Belgian Minister of War which goes to prove that in the month of April,
1906, the Chief of the General Staff, on the suggestion of the British
Military Attaché and with the approval of Gen. Grierson, had worked out
a plan of co-operation between British expeditionary forces and the
Belgian Army against Germany in the event of a Franco-German war. This
agreement is assumed to have been preceded in all probability by a
similar arrangement with the French General Staff.
The North-German Gazette also publishes certain passages of a report of
the Belgian Minister at Berlin in December, 1911, relating to another
plan of the Belgian General Staff, in which the measures to be taken in
case of the violation of Belgian neutrality by Germany are discussed.
Baron Greindl pointed out that this plan dealt only with the precautions
to be taken in the event of an aggression on the part of Germany, while,
owing to its geographical situation, Belgium might just as well be
exposed to an attack by France and England. The North-German Gazette
draws from this discovery the strange conclusion that England intended
to drag Belgium into the war, and at one time contemplated the violation
of Dutch neutrality.
We have only one regret to express on the subject of the disclosure of
these documents, and that is that the publication of our military
documents should be mangled and arranged in such a way as to give the
reader the impression of duplicity on the part of England and adhesion
by Belgium, in violation of her duties as a neutral State, to the policy
of the Triple Entente. We ask the North-German Gazette to publish in
full the result of its search among our secret documents. Therein will
be found fresh and striking proof of the loyalty, correctness, and
impartiality with which Belgium for 81 years has discharged her
international obligations.
It was stated that Col. Barnardiston, the military representative at
Brussels of a power guaranteeing the neutrality of Belgium, at the time
of the Algeciras crisis, questioned the Chief of the Belgian General
Staff as to the measures which he had taken to prevent any violation of
that neutrality. The Chief of the General Staff, at that time Lieut.
Gen. Ducarne, replied that Belgium was ready to repel any invader. Did
the conversation extend beyond these limits, and did Col. Barnardiston,
in an interview of a private and confidential nature, disclose to Gen.
Ducarne the plan of campaign which the British General Staff would have
desired to follow if that neutrality were violated? We doubt it, but in
any case we can solemnly assert, and it will be impossible to prove the
contrary, that never has the King or his Government been invited, either
directly or indirectly, to join the Triple Entente in the event of a
Franco-German war. By their words and by their acts they have always
shown such a firm attitude that any supposition that they could have
departed from the strictest neutrality is eliminated a priori.
As for Baron Greindl's dispatch of Dec. 23, 1911, it dealt with a plan
for the defense of Luxembourg, due to the personal initiative of the
Chief of the First Section of the War Ministry. This plan was of an
absolutely private character and had not been approved by the Minister
of War. If this plan contemplated above all an attack by Germany, there
is no cause for surprise, since the great German military writers, in
particular T. Bernhardi, V. Schlivfeboch, and von der Goltz, spoke
openly in their treatises on the coming war of the violation of Belgian
territory by the German armies.
At the outbreak of hostilities the Imperial Government, through the
mouth of the Chancellor and of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, did
not search for vain pretexts for the aggression of which Belgium has
been the victim. They justified it on the plea of military interests.
Since then, in face of the universal reprobation which this odious
action has excited, they have attempted to deceive public opinion by
representing Belgium as bound already before the war to the Triple
Entente. These intrigues will deceive nobody. They will recoil on the
head of Germany. History will record that this power, after binding
itself by treaty to defend the neutrality of Belgium, took the
initiative in violating it, without even finding a pretext with which to
justify itself.
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