File No. 763.72119/131
The Consul at Havre (Osborne) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 1.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that the daily newspapers of Havre in their issues of February 17, 1916, contain a communication made to them by the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at Sainte-Adresse in relation to an important declaration made on February 14, 1916, [Page 18] to the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs concerning the participation of the Belgian Government in the peace negotiations at the close of the present war.
I have the honor to give below a translation of the communication in question, which is in the French language:
On Monday, February 14, the Ministers of France, Great Britain, and Russia, accredited to the King of the Belgians, visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belgium at Sainte-Adresse, and Prince Koudacheff, speaking on behalf of his colleagues, addressed the Minister of Foreign Affairs as follows:
Excellency: The Allied powers, signatories to the treaties guaranteeing the independence and the neutrality of Belgium, have decided to renew to-day, by a solemn pact, the engagements which they assumed toward your country, heroically faithful to its international obligations.
Consequently, we, the Ministers of France, Great Britain, and Russia, duly authorized by our Governments, have the honor to make the following declaration:
The Allied powers and guarantors declare that, when the time comes, the Belgian Government shall be invited to participate in the negotiations of peace and that they will not terminate hostilities until Belgium shall be reestablished in her political and economic independence, and liberally indemnified for the losses which she has sustained. They will extend their aid to Belgium in order to insure her commercial and financial restoration.
Baron Beyens replied as follows:
The Government of the King is profoundly grateful to the governments of the three powers that have guaranteed the independence of Belgium, of which you are the representatives accredited to it, for the generous initiative which they have taken in making to it to-day this declaration. I express to you its warm thanks. Your words will have a vibrant echo in the hearts of the Belgians, whether they be fighting at the front, suffering in the invaded country, or awaiting in exile the hour of deliverance, all with an equal courage. The new assurances which you have just given me will confirm their unshaken conviction that Belgium will be raised from her ruins and restored to her complete political and economic independence. I am certain that I interpret their sentiments when I say to you that you must have full confidence in us, just as we have confidence in our loyal guarantors, for we are all resolved to fight energetically with them until the triumph of right, in the defense of which we have sacrificed ourselves without hesitation, after the unjustified violation of our beloved Fatherland.
The Minister of Italy, speaking on behalf of his Government, announced to Baron Beyens that Italy, although not among the powers guaranteeing the independence and the neutrality of Belgium, made it known that she had no objection to the making of the foregoing declaration by her allies.
For its part, the Japanese Government made an identic communication.
I have [etc.]