Ambassador Bertie telegraphed from Paris that he had presented to M. Viviani, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Grey's inquiry concerning France respecting Belgian neutrality.
"He is urgently anxious as to what the attitude of England will be in the circumstances [which may arise from Germany's ultimatum to Russia.]"
The German Embassy is packing up.
In a supplementary telegram Bertie informed Grey:
"French Government are resolved to respect the neutrality of Belgium, and it would be only in the event of some other power violating that neutrality that France might find herself under the necessity, in order to assure defense of her own security, to act otherwise. This assurance has been given several times. President of the Republic spoke of it to the King of the Belgians, and the French Minister at Brussels has spontaneously renewed the assurance to the Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs to-day."
France. Raymond Poincaré, President of France, informed George V that Germany was pushing forward military preparations, especially on the French frontier, while France had till now confined herself to indispensable precautionary measures.
"We are, in spite of the moderation of the Government of the Republic and the calm of public opinion, on the eve of the most terrible events.
"From all the information which reaches us it would seem that war would be inevitable if Germany were convinced that the British Government would not intervene in a conflict in which France might be engaged; if on the other hand, Germany were convinced that the entente cordiale would be affirmed, in case of need, even to the extent of taking the field side by side, there would be the greatest chance that peace would remain unbroken.
"It is true that our military and naval arrangements leave complete liberty to your majesty's Government, and that, in the letters exchanged in 1912 between Sir Edward Grey and M. Paul Cambon, Great Britain and France entered into nothing more than a mutual agreement to consult one another in the event of European tension, and to examine in concert whether common action were advisable.
"But the character of close friendship which public feeling has given in both countries to the entente between Great Britain and France, the confidence with which our two governments have never ceased to work for the maintenance of peace, and the signs of sympathy which your majesty has ever shown to France, justify me in informing you quite frankly of the impressions of all France.