"Please dispel any distrust that may subsist on the part of the British government with regard to our intentions by repeating most positively the formal assurance that even in case of armed conflict with Belgium, Germany will under no pretensions whatever annex Belgian territory." The reading of this telegram was greeted with derisive laughter by the members of the house. Premier Asquith continued: "We understand that Belgium categorically refused to assent to a flagrant violation of the law of nations. "His majesty's government was bound to protest against this violation of a treaty to which Germany was a party in common with England and must request an assurance that the demand made upon Belgium by Germany be not proceeded with and that Belgium's neutrality be respected by Germany and we have asked for an immediate reply. "We received this morning from our minister in Brussels the following telegram: "'The German minister has this morning addressed a note to the Belgian minister for foreign affairs stating that as the Belgian government has declined a well intentioned proposal submitted to it by the imperial German government the latter, deeply to its regret, will be compelled to carry out, if necessary by force of arms, the measures considered indispensable in view of the French menace.'" ENGLAND AND GERMANY AT WAR By 11 o'clock that evening England and Germany were at war. Their respective ambassadors were handed their passports and Great Britain braced herself for a conflict that was felt to threaten her very existence as a nation. CHAPTER VII. THE INVASION OF BELGIUM _Belgians Rush to Defense of Their Frontier--Towns Bombarded and Burned--Defense of Liege--Fall of Liege-- --Fall of Namur--Peasants and Townspeople Flee-- Destruction of Louvain_. At 10 o'clock on the night of August 2 German troops crossed the Belgian frontier, coming from Aix-la-Chapelle, or Aachen, temporary headquarters of the general staff, and the bloody invasion of Belgium, involving the violation of its neutral treaty rights, began. Simultaneously the German forces entered the independent duchy of Luxemburg to the south, en route to the French border, and also came in touch with French outposts in the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.