Alexander Fuehr
THE NEUTRALITY OF BELGIUM
1915
Footnotes
1. Quoted by R. Dollot, Les Origines de la Neutralité de la Belgique et le Système de la Barrière, Paris, 1902. text
2. Quoted by R. Dollot. text
3. Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, 3d ser. 203, page 1703. text
4 Quoted from F. Delaisi La guerre qui vient, Paris (1911), Page 25. ("La frontière de l'Empire britannique en Europe, ce n'est pas le Pas de Calais, c'est la ligne de la Meuse.") text
5. British and Foreign State Papers, 1814-15, No. 2, Annexe 2 to Protocol of January 28, 1815. text
6. Hertslet, Map of Europe by Treaty, Vol. 11, page 872. text
7. Map of Europe by Treaty, Vol. II, page 874. text
8. Boulger, History of Belgium, Vol. II, page 271.text
9. Brodrick and Fotheringham, The Political History of England, Vol. XI, page 387.text
10. Papers Relative to the Affairs of Belgium, presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty, 1833, Protocol No. 10. text
11. Protocol No. 11. text
12. Protocol No. 12. text
13. "Notes sur la Neutralité in the Revue du Droit International," 2e sér., tome 2 (1900), page 609. The quotations of Prof. Nys are from F. de Martens' Recueil de Traités et Conventions conclus par la Russie avec les Puissances étrangères, tome XI, pages 442 and 447. text
14. See page 26 and following. text
15 La dernière négociation de Talleyrand in the Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, tome 2 (1901-2), pages 573-594, and tome 3, pages 237-281. text
16. Sir Lytton Bulwer's Life of Viscount Palmerston, Vol. II, page 35, text
17. Sir Lytton Bulwer's speech on Aug. 1, 1870---Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, 3d ser. 203, page 1356. text
19. It may be noted here in passing that, in order to make it quite impossible that a hostile expedition against England could be sent out from Antwerp, England arranged at the Conference that the mouths of the Scheldt were given to Holland, in consequence of which arrangement no belligerent man-of-war can issue from Antwerp without violating Dutch territorial rights. text
20. Protocols Nos. 14 and 15 of February 1. text
21. The French writer, Raymond Guyot, says of Prince Leopold: "He was English by heart and by nationality, tho not by descent, widower of an English Princess, he was the candidate of the British Cabinet. For this reason even Russia did not care for him. France had the same repugnance, and General Sebastiani, French Minister of Foreign Affairs, openly acknowledged these sentiments. He even went so far as to say one day (on January 8, 1830 to Mr. Gendebein, Envoy of the Provisory Government of Brussels: 'If Leopold puts one foot into Belgium, we shall fire cannon balls at him."' (Cf. Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, Paris, 1901, tome 2, page 592.)
King Leopold's marriage with Princess Louise, by which, instead of a son, a daughter of Louis-Philippe ascended the Belgian throne, took place in August, 1832. text
22. Protocol 26. text
23. In detail, the Twenty-Four Articles which form Annex A of Protocol 49 (page 414) deal with the following subjects: Art. I, composition of Belgian territory; Art. II, limits of Belgian territory in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; Art. III, territorial indemnity to Holland in the province of Limbourg; Art. IV, limits of Dutch territory in the province of Limbourg; Art. V, necessity of agreement with Germanic Confederation and Nassau; Art. VI, reciprocal renunciation of territory; Art. VII, Belgium to be an independent and perpetually neutral kingdom; Art. VIII, drainage of waters of the two Flanders; Art. IX, navigation of Scheldt and Meuse; Art. X, reciprocal use of canals; Art. XI, use of commercial roads; Art. XII, new roads or canals in Belgium; Art. XIII, division of public debt; Art. XIV, Antwerp solely port of commerce; Art. XV, works of public utility to belong to state in which they are situated; Art. XVI, sequestrations in Belgium against political offenders removed; Art. XVII, liberty of transfer of residence; Art. XVIII, right of "option"; Art. XIX, "sujets mixtes"; Art. XX, nobody to be molested on account of political conduct during the revolution; Art. XXI, pensions and allowances; Art. XXII, claims of Belgians against Dutch private establishments; Art. XXIV, evacuation of territories, etc., assigned to the other state. text; appendix A
24. Annex D to Protocol 52. text
25. Protocol No. 54. text
26. Protocol No. 55. text
27. Protocol No. 57. text
28. Papers relative to the Affairs of Belgium, B, page 151 text
29. Papers relative to the Affairs of Belgium, B, page 91. text
30. Hertslet, Map of Europe by Treaties. text
31. Hertslet, Vol. II, page 921. text
32. Ibid., page 924. text
35. The Neutrality of Belgium, in the North American Review for December, 1914. text
36. In the preface to book of Dr. Dollot, quoted from on page 14. text
37. Revue de droit international et de législation comparée, 2e série, tome VII, pages 33-52. text
38. See page 125 and following. text
39. British Accounts and Papers. Vol. LXX, Franco-Prussian War, Further Correspondence, III, No. 63. text
40. British Accounts and Papers, No. 90. text
41. See page 151 and following. text
43. See page 52 and following. text
44. See page 146 and following. text
45. To quote here only a few expert opinions on the subject: P. Fauchille wrote: "The annexation of the Congo is essentially incompatible with the neutrality of Belgium" (Revue de droit international public, 1895). Despaguet declared: "The annexation of the Congo would be of such nature as to compromise the neutrality of Belgium" (Revue bleue of June 23, 1894). Other non-German statements expressing the same opinion may be found in the Revue de droit international et de législation comparée, serie 2, vol. 7, page 33, footnote. text
46. The treaty of cession was adopted by the Belgium Parliament by an act of legislation of October 18, 1908. text
47. The Neutrality of Belgium, in the North American Review for December, 1914. text
49. See page 200 and following. text
51. That marginal note, clearly visible as such in the fac-simile reproduction of the document (plate after page 220), is inserted in parenthesis, in the above translation, page 76. text
53. The British Review, Vol. III, No. 2. text
56. The name "Maubeuge" in particular recalls the following startling revelations of the widely circulated French newspaper, Gil Blas, in its issue of February 25, 1913:
"A contemporary of Eastern France contains most remarkable disclosures. In Eastern military circles, it is discussed that the fortress of Maubeuge, situated near the northeastern frontier of France, close to the railway line Paris-Cologne, receives, since several weeks, great quantities of English ammunition. Maubeuge is of the greatest military importance. In the plan of campaign of the French General Staff, it is the point of concentration of the allied Anglo-French troops, which, in case of war, will be commanded by the English General French, under the French Generalissimo Joffre. It is known that the English cannons do not use the same kind of projectiles as the French cannons. Therefore, both governments have agreed to lay in store, already in peace time, on French territory, such quantities of ammunition as will be necessary for the English artillery." text
57. The official press-communiqué in the North German Gazette of September 30, 1914, reproduced in the Appendix, page 217. text
58. Aktenstuecke zum Kriegsausbruch, compiled by the German Foreign Office, part 3, No. 27. text
59. Belgian Gray Book, No. 21, which is, evidently, a somewhat "edited" protocol concerning the oral complaint of the German Minister to the Belgian Foreign Department. The objection of the Belgian official quoted therein, viz.: that, since the French hostile acts complained of had been committed on German soil, they did not concern Belgium, is quite irrelevant because it does not meet Germany's complaint that those hostile French acts had been committed under violation of Belgium's neutrality.
Sworn testimonials to the effect that large bodies of French troops were actually operating on Belgian territory before the German army invaded Belgium have, subsequently, been published by the Imperial Government. Three affidavits of French prisoners of war, containing detailed information to that effect, are included in the Appendix, pages 230-235. text
60. "The following passage in the Chancellor's speech of December 2, 1914: "Even then the guilt of the Belgian Government was apparent from many a sign, although I had not yet any positive documentary proofs at my disposal." (Appendix, page 227). text
61. "Belgian Gray Book, No. 22. text
62. Ibid., No. 25. text
63. British White Papers, No. 155. text
64. Belgian Gray Book, No. 27. text
65. See Appendix, page 219. .... text
66. See Appendix, page 228. ....text
67. Belgian Gray Book, Nos. 31-34. text
68. Ibid., No. 40. text
69. Ibid., Nos. 48, 49, and 52. text
70. British White Papers, No. 114. text
71. Ibid., No. 123. text
72. Belgian Gray Book, No. 11 where the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs remarks very mysteriously that, on July 31, Sir F. Villiers transmitted to him that communication from Sir Edward Grey "which he was desirous of being in a position to place before me since several days" (qu'il souhaitait être à même de m'exposer depuis plusieurs jours). text
73. British White Papers, No. 153 text
74. British White Papers, No. 85. text
75. Ibid., No. 157. text
76. British White Papers, No. 159 and No. 53. text
77. Ibid., No. 159. text
78. On August 6, 1914, in the House of Commons, the Prime Minister, Mr. Asquith, declared : "If I am asked what we are fighting for, I reply in two sentences. In the first place, to fulfil a solemn international obligation which , if it had been entered into between private persons, in the ordinary concerns of life, would have been regarded as an obligation not only of law but of honor which no self-respecting man could possibly have repudiated. I say, secondly, we are fighting to vindicate the principle which in these days when force, material force, sometimes seems to be the dominant influence and factor in the development of mankind,---we are fighting to vindicate the principle that smaller nationalities are not to be crushed in defiance of international good faith, by the arbitrary will of a strong and over-mastering Power." (M. P. Price, The Diplomatic History of the War, Appendix, page 101.) text
79. The essay, The Essential Points of Belgian Neutrality, in the New York Times of December 27, 1914. text
80. A number of interesting verdicts of this kind are contained in the pamphlet England on the Witness Stand, published by The Fatherland, New York (1915).
Interesting interviews with several prominent Englishmen, including G. B. Shaw, were published in Collier's for June 12, 1915. text
81. Belgian Gray Book, No. 60. text
82. Belgian Gray Book, No. 65. Austria was again not consulted, although that country declared war against Belgium only on August 28. text
83. Ibid., Nos. 68 and 69. text
84. Ibid., No. 71. text
85. Berger-Levrault Editeurs, Paris, 1913. text
86. This forecast that England would "forestall a Belgian appeal for assistance" (ira au devant de l'appel de la Belgique) is, possibly, something more than a strange coincidence in thought with the bold assertion of Col. Bridges that England would have sent her troops to Belgium, even if the latter country should not have asked for them (page 87). text
87. The Case of Belgium in the Present War, published for the Belgian Delegates to the United States by the MacMillan Co., 1914, page 3. text
88. See page 47, where it is clearly set forth that the Eighteen Articles which style themselves "preliminaries" were nothing but a draft of a separation treaty between Belgium and Holland which was flatly repudiated by the latter country. The reason why the Belgian Delegation has seen fit to give this out as a "treaty" is obviously this, that those "preliminaries" contained a specific guarantee of the Powers with regard to Belgium's neutrality, while the treaties of 1839 contain merely a general collective guarantee concerning the provisions of the Twenty-Four Articles. text
89. See page 107, footnote 1 ........text
92. Belgian Gray Book, No. 22. text
93. M. P. Price, Diplomatic History of the War, Appendix, page 93. text
97. The only other exception is that the mutual assurances for peace and friendship (Art. XXVI of the treaty of November 15, 1831) were not repeated, which is quite consistent with the international custom to make such assurances only in the first treaty with a new Power. text
98. See pages 37 and 46..... text
99. See pages 49 and 55..... text
100. Le droit international, les principes, les théories, les faits, Bruxelles (1912), Vol I, page 424. text
101. Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, 3 series, Vol. 187, page 1922. text
102. Hansard, Vol. 188, page 968. text
103. British White Papers, No. 148. text
104. Hansard, Vol. 188, page 969. text
105. Hansard, Vol. 187, page 79. text
107. Quoted in J. B. Moore's Digest of International Law, Vol. V, page 319. text
108. M. P. Price, Diplomatic History of the War, Appendix, page 93. text
109. A Treatise on International Public Law, Sects. 394 and 395. text
110. Lectures on International Law, page 352. text
111. In Fortnightly Review, N. S. (1870), page 715. text
112. Bismarck, His Reflections and Reminiscences, London (1898), Vol, II, page 270. text
113. Edition Tauchnitz, Vol. III, page 203. text
114. To cite here only one example: When, in 1870, there was raised in the House of Commons the question concerning the validity of the Treaty of Paris of 1814, by which the House of Bonaparte had been perpetually excluded from the French throne, the British Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs replied that that treaty had to be considered "a dead letter" (see Hansard, 3d ser., 203, p. 152). Though that treaty had not been formally abrogated, neither England nor any other signatory Power considered it binding and enforceable when Napoleon III made himself Emperor of the French, because those conditions which prevailed when the Treaty of Paris was concluded had changed. text
116. Etudes de droit international et de droit politique, 2e série, Page 133. text
117. F. de Lannoy, Les origines diplomatiques de l'Indépendance belge.---Louvain, 1903. text
118. Statistics are taken from the World Almanac for 1914, and Whitacker's Almanack for 1915. text
119. Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, 3d ser., 187, page 1924. text
121. Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, 3d ser., 203, page, 1701. text
122. Hansard, 3d ser., 203, page 1762. text
123. Ibid., page 1760. text
124. Ibid., page 1753. text
125. Ibid., page 1777. text
126. Hansard, 3d ser., 203, page 1743. text
127. Ibid., page 1753. text
128. Descamps, La neutralité de la Belgique, quoted by the Norwegian statesman, F. Hagerup, in his essay La neutralité permanente (Revue générale de droit international publique, Vol. XII, pages 577-602). The original was not accessible to me. text
130. Belgian Gray Book, No. 12. text
131. Belgian Gray Book, Enclosure to No. 12. text
133. Elements of International Law (1908), page 243. text
134. L'évolution de la neutralité en droit international, par M. le Chevalier Descamps, in the Bulletins de l'Académie Royale de Belgique, 3e sér., Vol. 35, page 674. text
135. La situation internationale des chemins de fer du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg, in the Revue de droit international public, Vol. XII (1905), page 429 text
136. Oppenheim, International Law (1905), Vol. I, page 142. text
139. Reprinted in England on the Witness Stand, New York (1915), page 725. text
140. See Appendix, plate after page 220. .......text
141. La Neutralité de la Belgique, Edition officielle du Gouvernement belge, Paris, Berger-Levrault (1915), page 151. text
142. Concerning the myth of the "strategical railways" which has been disseminated in neutral countries like so many other myths, I wish to invite the reader to convince himself by a good railway map whether the allegations are in any way warranted. There are, in all, four railway lines crossing the German-Belgian frontier and five more passing from Germany to Belgium via Luxembourg. But there are not less than 22 between France and Belgium!
An American railroad man whose sympathies are, evidently, not with Germany, writes in this respect, in a letter to the Editor of the Evening Sun (published in its issue of February 12, 1915) the following: "Let us be fair about the German railways. These were not originally constructed for strategic purposes, but were built for traffic requirements. The Belgium-Luxembourg wedge dips into Germany in a southeasterly direction. The main tourist travel is between Berlin and Paris. To avoid crossing Luxembourg and Belgium would entail a loss of two hours on express trains. Germany's great iron ore district is near the Duesseldorf-Essen manufacturing district, and Antwerp and Rotterdam are the nearest world ports, hence the direct railways across Belgium and Holland. A railroad man can readily see the advantage of Germany's leasing the small railroad mileage of Luxembourg main lines as an adjunct to the greater German system, enabling the latter to standardize track bridges and signals to conform to its own.... The great importance of the German railways as a factor in war, as shown by your editorial, was brought about by a thorough study in the interests of complete industrial development, the means wherewith to pay. That such railways can be used in war by the German Government with such consummate efficiency in detail is to its credit." (Signed) Luis Jackson, Upper Montclair, N. J. text
143. See page 83 and following. text
144. See page 219. .......text
145. Rights of War and Peace, Vol. II, Chap. 2, Par. 7. text
146. Ibid., Vol. II, Chap. 2, Par. 10. text
147. The Law of Nations in Time of Peace, Oxford Univ. Press (1861), page 144, Section 99. text
148. Law of Nations, Section 102, page 149. text
149. International Law, Chap. 10 (CCXI). text
150. Elements of International Law (1908), page 93. text
151. Principles of International Law (1805), page 501. text
152. Neutralization, Oxford (1911), page 49. text
153. Quoted from the New-Yorker Staats-Zeitung of Dec. 22, 1914. text
154. Notes sur la neutralité in the Revue de droit international et de législation comparée, 2e série, Vol. III, page 39. text
155. A Treatise on International Law, page 273. text
156. See page 92 and following. text
157. M. P. Price of Trinity College, Cambridge, The Diplomatic History of the War, page 77. text
158. M. P. Price, The Diplomatic History of the War, Appendix, page 8. text
160. In Britain and the War (reprinted in England on the Witness Stand, New York (1915), page 39). text
161. Belgian Gray Book, No. 44. text
162. J. B. Scott, Texts of the Peace. Conferences at the Hague, Boston (1908), page 23 and following, and F. P. Myers, The Record of The Hague, Boston, 1914. text
