Does the neutral possess the right to conclude alliances with a foreign power? This question is a little more difficult to determine exactly, but it may be settled in the following manner. Every alliance has in view the possibility of an armed conflict. It follows logically from this that the right of the neutral state to contract alliances corresponds very closely to its right of making war. If it is necessary to forbid such a state every alliance which would tend to draw it into an armed conflict with third parties, it ought to be granted without hesitation the right of concluding any understanding which should have for its sole object the protection of the nation against foreign aggression. And a defensive agreement tending to facilitate for the neutral state the carrying out of the part it is compelled to play in the maintenance of the European balance of power--the very basis of its neutrality--is certainly permissible, and, under certain circumstances, may even seem necessary; for example, when the neutral state seems too weak to resist by its own force a possibly powerful invasion. But it is obvious that the neutral state may never conclude either an offensive or a defensive alliance which would impose upon it the obligation of possible co-operation in the defense of a foreign territory. That is the true meaning of the permanent neutrality imposed on Belgium by the Treaty of London, and it will become clearer when we look at the subsequent facts of history. In 1870, on the eve of the Franco-German War, Bismarck, with the object of alienating from France the sympathy of the neutral nations, and especially that of England, published a draft treaty, three or four years old, and in the handwriting of Napoleon III’s ambassador, whereby France was to annex Belgium. This publication aroused public opinion in England, and, giving expression to English feeling, Disraeli told Parliament that “the treaties on which are based the independence and neutrality of Belgium” had been concluded _in the general interest of Europe_ and also with a very clear idea of their importance for England. He added: “It is a fundamental principle of the policy of this country, that the country situated along the coasts of Dunkirk to the North Sea islands should be possessed by free and prosperous states practising the arts of peace, in order that these countries should not belong to a great military power.” In conformity with these declarations the English government proposed to France and to Prussia to observe the guaranty by way of co-operation between the English forces and the forces of one of the belligerents against the other in case of the violation by the latter of the neutrality of Belgium. This arrangement was accepted on both sides, and laid down in the formal treaties dated August 9 and 11, 1870. Those special treaties were to be in force “during the war and for one year thereafter,” and the final