III. The above documents are given additional significance by a report made in 1911 by Baron Greindl, Belgian Minister in Berlin, to the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, from which it appears that this representative of the Belgian Government in Berlin was familiar with the plans above set forth and protested against them, asking why like preparations had not been made with Germany to repel invasion by the French and English. Taken together, these documents show that _the British Government had the intention, in case of a Franco-German war, of sending troops into Belgium immediately--that is, of doing the very thing which, done by Germany, was used by England as a pretext for declaring war on Germany_. They show also that the Belgian Government took, in agreement with the English General Staff, military precautions against a hypothetical German invasion of Belgium. On the other hand, the Belgian Government never made the slightest attempt to take, in agreement with the German Government, military precautions against an Anglo-French invasion of Belgium, though fully informed that it was the purpose of the British Government to land and dispatch, across French territory into Belgium, 160,000 troops, without asking Belgium's permission, on the first outbreak of the European war. _This clearly demonstrates that the Belgian Government was determined from the outset to join Germany's enemies._ [Illustration: MR. AND MRS. WINSTON SPENCER CHURCHILL A Recent Photograph of the Head of the British Admiralty.] [Illustration: QUARTERMASTER GENERAL VON STEIN Germany's Official War News Is Issued Through the Office of the Quartermaster General. (_Photo from Brown Bros._)] DOCUMENT NO. 1 Report of Gen. Ducarme, Chief of the Belgian General Staff, to the Belgian Minister of War "_Confidential_ Letter to the Minister Concerning the Confidential Conversations. "BRUSSELS, April 10, 1906. "Mr. Minister: "I have the honor to report to you briefly about the conversations which I had with Lieut. Col. Barnardiston and which have already been the subject of my oral communications. "The first visit took place in the middle of January. Mr. Barnardiston referred to the anxieties of the General Staff of his country with regard to the general political situation, and because of the possibility that war may soon break out. In case Belgium should be attacked, the sending of about 100,000 troops was provided for. "The Lieutenant Colonel asked me how such a measure would be regarded by us. I answered him, that from a military point of view it could not be but favorable, but that this question of intervention was just as much a matter for the political authorities, and that, therefore, it was my duty to inform the Minister of War about it. "Mr. Barnardiston answered that his Minister in Brussels would speak about it with our Minister of Foreign Affairs.