On the 4th of August, in the Reichstag, in the course
of his address, Von Bethmann-Hollweg said:--

Gentlemen, we are now in a position of necessity [energetic
assent]; and necessity knows no law. (Not kennt kein Gebot.)
[Energetic applause.] Our troops have occupied Luxemburg
[energetic "Bravo"]; perhaps they have already entered
Belgian territory. [Energetic applause.] Gentlemen, this is
in contradiction to the rules of international law. The
French Government has declared in Brussels that it is willing
to respect the neutrality of Belgium so long as it is respected
by the enemy. But we knew that France stood prepared for
an inroad. ["Hear, hear," from right.] France could wait,
but we could not. A French inroad on our flank on the
Lower Rhine could have been fatal to us. [Energetic assent.]
So we were forced to set aside the just protests of the Lux-
emburg and Belgian Governments. ["Quite right!"] The
wrong--I speak openly--the wrong that we now do we
will try to make good again as soon as our military ends
have been reached. When one is threatened as we are, and
all is at stake, he can only think of how he can hack his way
out. [Long, stormy applause and clapping from all sides of
the House.]

In regard to the statement of Von Bethmann-
Hollweg that he knew "France stood prepared for an
inroad" (through Belgium), one can only say that so
far as indicated by the facts and all available docu-
ments, Von Bethmann-Hollweg was misinformed by
the military authorities of Germany.

The fate of the Belgians and of the Armenians will
stand out as the two greatest tragedies of the war.

Belgium has about one fourteenth the population
and one fourteenth the wealth of the United States, the
per capita wealth being about the same. But Belgium
produces less than one third of the food it requires. It
is a country rich in coal and iron. Its foreign trade is

-115-