The German press has been attempting to persuade the public
that if Germany herself had not violated Belgian neutrality,
France or Great Britain would have done so. It has declared
that French and British troops had marched into Belgium before
the outbreak of war. We have received from the Belgian
Minister of War an official statement which denies absolutely
these allegations. It declares, on the one hand, that "before
Aug. 3 not a single French soldier had set foot on Belgian
territory," and, again, "it is untrue that on Aug. 4 there was
a single English soldier in Belgium." It adds:
"For long past Great Britain knew that the Belgian Army would
oppose by force a 'preventive' disembarkation of British
troops in Belgium. The Belgian Government did not hesitate at
the time of the Agadir crisis to warn foreign Ambassadors, in
terms which could not be misunderstood, of its formal
intention to compel respect for the neutrality of Belgium by
every means at its disposal, and against attempts upon it from
any and every quarter."
The "Agreement" of 1903.
The third inclosure is this British official communiqué: