The Foreign Office was well advised in making the late
Sir James Headlam-Morley its historical adviser—a new post created for him and apparently discontinued at his death.
For the memoranda which he -wrote, some of which are now printed as Studies in Diplomatic History (Methuen, 10s. 6d.)
are exceptionally informing and suggestive. The three papers of 1922-5 on " The Problem of Security " are especially notable. The author regarded the maintenance of Belgian independence as no less important to us after 1918 than it was in 1914, and he felt that this should be made clear by our Government to all concerned. He says that Belgium in 1887 asked our Foreign Office what we should do if Germany violated her neutrality, and that she received no reply. He declares that in 1897 the German war plan included a march through Belgium, and though it was well known in Europe, yet
"never on any occasion during the ensuing seventeen years was a warning uttered by any responsible authority in this country, either to our own people or to the Continental nations, that we had obligations in respect to Belgium which still existed and which we proposed to honour. The result of this reticence was to produce a very real-doubt in the minds of the German nation and the German Staff as to our intentions. It seemed to them quite conceivable that we might, under some pretext or another, acquiesce in a German invasion of Belgium. This was, I venture to suggest, an essential. factor in the causes which led up to the eventual outbreak of the War. If we are equally remiss in the future, similar consequences will almost inevitably follow."
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