Page:Paul Samuel Reinsch - Secret Diplomacy, How Far Can It Be Eliminated? - 1922.djvu/104



ward Grey until later. He did not state how much later.

We know from official sources that Colonel Bar- nardiston proceeded to Belgium and had inter- views with the Chief of the Belgian General Staff concerning combined operations in the event ef a German attack directed against Antwerp. Colo- nel Barnardiston confided to the Belgian Chief of Staff that his Government intended to move the British base of supplies from the French coast to Antwerp as soon as the North Sea had been cleared of all German warships. When the Bel- gian documents were published in Germany, it was attempted by the press to represent these con- versations as an actual convention. These con- sultations occurred during the first quarter of 1906.

From an official source comes the statement that in July, 1911, the British Government informed the German, that on certain contingencies, Great Britain would support France (if Germany should demand the whole of French-Congo and Agadir as a naval base). What actually happened at this time has never been fully revealed.

In April, 1912, the British military attache at Brussels informed the Belgian General Jungbluth that Great Britain had 160,000 men availa