“As regards the single exception which I have referred, I have received the following report from the Chief of the General Staff:  In respect to French complaints of violations of her frontiers, only one case is admitted.  Against express orders an officer with a patrol from the 14th Army Corps crossed the French frontier on August 2nd.  Apparently they were shot down; only one man has returned.  But long before this single instance occurred, French airmen had penetrated into Southern Germany and dropped bombs, and French troops had attacked our frontier-protection-troops in the Schlucht Pass.  Up till now our soldiers have confined themselves entirely to protecting the frontier.

“So far the report from the Chief of the General Staff.

“We are now in a position of self-defence, and necessity knows no law![21] (Cries of ‘Quite right!’) Our troops have occupied Luxembourg, perhaps they have already entered Belgium. (Loud applause.) That is a breach of international law.  The French Government, it is true, had declared in Brussels that they would respect Belgian neutrality so long as their opponent respected it.  But we knew that France stood ready to invade it. (Cries of indignation.)

[Footnote 21:  This sentence seems so important that I give the original:  “Wir sind jetzt in der Notwehr, und Not kennt kein Gebot!”]

“France could wait, we could not; and a French attack in our flank on the Lower Rhine might have been disastrous for us.  Thus we were compelled to ignore the protests of the Luxembourg and Belgian Governments.

“The injustice which we commit thereby, we shall try to make good again as soon as our military goal is attained.  Anyone who fights for the highest, as we do now, may only think of how he may hack his way through. (Hurricanes of applause; long continued hand-clapping in the whole house and on the tribune.)

“Gentlemen, we are standing shoulder to shoulder with Austria-Hungary.  Concerning England’s attitude, the declaration made by Sir Edward Grey in the House of Commons yesterday has made the standpoint which the English Government takes up quite clear.

“We have declared to the English Government that as long as England remains neutral, our fleet shall not attack the North Coast of France.  Further, that we shall not disturb the integrity and independence of Belgium.  I repeat this declaration before the whole world and I may add that if England will remain neutral, we are prepared—­assuming mutual treatment—­to undertake no hostile operations against France’s commercial marine. (Applause.)

“Gentlemen, so much for events up till now!  I repeat the words of the Kaiser:  ‘We enter the struggle with a clear conscience!’ (Great enthusiasm.) We are fighting for the fruits of our labours in peace, for the heritage of a great past, and for our future.  The fifty years are not yet ended within which Moltke said we should stand at arms to defend the heritage and the achievements of 1870.  The hour of great trial has struck for our nation.  But we look forward to it with absolute confidence. (Tremendous applause.)