Anxiety respecting Holland's neutrality was not yet wholly dispelled. Nobody doubted the firm resolve of the Dutch Government to maintain its right to hold aloof from the war, but certain misgivings were entertained as to the adequacy of the troops stationed in the district where the violation of territory by the Germans was most probable. Some months previously Dutch Limburg, possessing only a few squadrons of cavalry, was practically defenceless. Since then a number of infantry battalions were stationed along the frontier from Maastricht to Venloo, together with several companies of the local Landwehr. If, as many military men believed, these troops were the only obstacle to a German advance in Holland, they constituted an inducement rather than a deterrent, it was thought. German spies and secret agents were still numerous and audacious. Ten days before the declaration of war all trees near the sources of water in the forest of Soignes, outside Brussels, had notices posted up in German, with the words, "Potable water." The Mayor of Brussels had these placards removed, but they were afterwards found posted up anew. On August 12th when a representative of _The Daily Telegraph_ was leaving the American Legation, he saw two municipal guards arresting a lady, whom they politely conducted to the police-station. His chauffeur cried, "That's no lady. He is a German spy." A couple of men hearing this rushed up and attempted to maltreat the prisoner, but the guards protected their charge effectually. At the station the prisoner, who looked quite collected, was found to be a male German agent possessed of apparatus for cutting telegraph wires and also of compromising documents. Belgian treatment of Germans, said the correspondent, whether civilians or prisoners, erred on side of humanitarianism if it erred at all. On the night of August 12th the Press Bureau stated: Of the twenty-six German army corps the bulk have now been definitely located, and it is evident that the mass of the German troops are concentrated between Liège and Luxemburg. The number known to be on the Western side proves that in the Eastern theatre of war the frontier, as far as Germany is concerned, is comparatively lightly guarded, unless by reserve troops.