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Excerpt from The True Story of a Scrap of Paper
I protested strongly against that statement, and said that, in the same way as he and Herr von Jagow wished me to understand that for strategical reasons it was a matter of life and death to Germany to advance through Belgium and violate the latter's neutrality, so I would wish him to understand that it was, so to speak, a matter of life and death for the honor of Great Britain that she should keep her solemn engagement to do her utmost to defend Bel gium's neutrality if attacked. That solemn compact sim ply had to be kept, or what confidence could anyone have in engagements given by Great Britain in the future? The Chancellor said, But at what price will that compact have been kept. Has the British Government thought of that? I hinted to his Excellency as plainly as I could that fear of consequences could hardly be regarded as an excuse for breaking solemn engagements, but his Excellency was so excited, so evidently overcome by the news of our action, and so little disposed to hear reason that I refrained from adding fuel to the ?ame by further argument. As I was leaving he said that the blow of Great Britain joining Germany's enemies was all the greater that almost up to the last moment he and his Government had been working with us and supporting our efforts to maintain peace between Austria and Russia. I said that this was part of the tragedy which saw the two nations fall apart just at the moment when the relations between them had been more friendly and cordial than they had been for years. Unfortunately, notwithstanding our efforts to maintain peace between Russia and Austria, the war had spread and had brought us face to face with a situation which, if we held to our engagements, we could not possi bly avoid, and which unfortunately entailed our separation from our late fellow-workers. He would readily under stand that no one regretted this more than I.
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