File No. 763.72119/1856
The Minister in Belgium ( Whitlock) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 11, 10.50 a.m.]
136. My despatch [telegram] No. 133, dated July 15, 7 p.m.1 Count Torring, having been informed of the Belgian Government’s request that his visit be postponed, said to the Dutch Minister at Berne on the 20th July that he hoped that the Belgians would reply to his question reported in my despatch aforesaid and significantly added that he had just come from Hertling. The Belgian Government has instructed Peltzer, its Minister at Berne, to say to his Dutch colleague, for repetition to Torring, that the two speeches of Hertling on the 11th and 12th July, in which the Chancellor referred to Belgium as a pawn in German hands, had given rise to such universal reprobation, not only in the Belgian mind, but in Allied and [neutral?] nations, that, so long as such a view was held by Germany, no further communication was possible. The British Government has informed the Belgian Government that it feels that any clear proposals that may be submitted by Germany should not be rejected without consultation with the Allied Powers.