Mr. Macdonald says that in his opinion this talk about the violation of
Belgian neutrality, from the point of view of British statesmen, is
absurd, because as long ago as 1870 the plans for the use of Belgium,
both by France and by Germany--in other words, the violation of its
neutrality--were in the British War Office, and that Mr. Gladstone rose
in his place and said he was not one of those whose opinion was that a
formal guarantee should stand so far in thwarting the natural course of
events as to commit Great Britain to war; and that has been the
announced and avowed policy of Great Britain all the way down since
1870, and that therefore talk about the violation of Belgian neutrality
is a mere pretext.
That is another instance of this secret agreement that goes on, which so
commits a man like Sir Edward Grey that in the pinch, when the German
Ambassador substantially proposed to yield everything to him and asked
him for his proposition, he cannot make any.
These facts are in the "White Paper." As far as I know, no editor in the
United States who claims to have studied thoroughly that "White Paper"
has ever brought this out, and they had not been published in that paper
at the time when Sir Edward Grey and Mr.
Pages:
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344