In an "interview" in the New York World, and in
a lecture at Brooklyn, Herr Hamburg declared that Germany would not give up Belgium, or the parts of France and Poland which she occupies, unlese she were allowed to expand outside Europe and Britain conceded the "freedom of the seas." He indicated Morocco and Madagascar as countries which would be more useful to Germany than to France. But by far the most interesting and important fact is that Herr Dernburg tried to place on Britain the responsibility for the continued occupation of Belgium. If Britain granted the freedom of the seas (a ridiculous phrase, which implies that Britain is a sort of bullying monopolist), Germany would retire from Belgium. Otherwise Germany would establish permanently a fortified base on the Channel. All this, of course, is a flat contradiction of the promises made about Belgium by Germany at the beginning of the war.
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