The Chancellor of the German Empire said in a sitting of the Reichstag
on the 4th of August:
We are in a state of legitimate defense _Necessity knows no law_.
Our troops have occupied Luxemburg and have perhaps already
penetrated into Belgium. This is against the law of nations.
France, it is true, has declared to Brussels that she is determined
to respect the neutrality of Belgium as long as her adversary
respects it, but we know that France was ready to invade Belgium.
France can afford to wait; we cannot. A French attack on our flank
in the region of the lower Rhine might have been fatal. It is for
that reason we have been compelled to ignore the just protests of
the Governments of Luxemburg and Belgium. The _injustice_ which we
thus commit we will _repair_ as soon as our military object has
been attained.
It has been shown how much value can be attached to the assertion of the
alleged intention of France to invade Belgium. That intention, and the
realization of that intention belongs exclusively to Germany and they
must be left in her possession. This is especially the case in view of
the fact that the military dispositions undertaken by France absolutely
refute the allegations of the German Chancellor.
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