From the Foreign Department to the German Minister
The Hague
,
August 17, 1914.
Your Excellency: By your note of 15th instant
your excellency has been so kind as to inform me of the misery which the
war and its ravages will bring over the inhabitants of a large part of
Belgium, as well as of the relief which the Queen’s Government could
give, at the proper moment, by means of sending food held in readiness
for the purpose. At the same time, your excellency intimated to me that
the chief German Army authorities are on their part prepared to furnish
the means of transport for such supplies.
Limiting myself for the moment to notifying your excellency of the due
receipt of the aforesaid note, I most emphatically assure you that the
Queen’s Government received this communication with the greatest
sympathy; it was struck by the careful endeavor to spare the Belgian
population as much as possible the inseparable miseries of war.
Accept, your excellency [etc.]
Both this note and the one appended hereunder were addressed to his
excellency Von Müller,
Extraordinary Ambassador and Minister Plenipotentiary of His
Majesty, the Emperor of Germany.
The Hague
,
October 3, 1914
.
Your Excellency: In my note of August 17
last I had the honor of interpreting to your excellency the feelings
of lively sympathy with which the Queen’s Government had received
your statement that the Imperial Government was prepared to furnish
the railway accommodation for the eventual transport through the
Netherlands of foodstuffs for the population of southern
Belgium.
The Belgian Government, to whom I addressed myself on the subject,
gratefully accepted our proposal to in case of need supply the rural
population of the region between the Meuse and the French frontier
with foodstuffs. It, however, pointed out that the duty of providing
these foodstuffs rested on Germany. This remark was likewise made by
France and Great Britain, who further opposed the execution of our
plan, which in their opinion would endanger our neutrality, in
connection with the fact that Germany, by evading the duty of
supplying the population with foodstuffs, would dispose of so much
the more for her own army.
Under these circumstances the Queen’s Government regrets to be
obliged to renounce the aforesaid plan.
Accept, your excellency [etc.]
J. Loudon
