BELGIUM: Kingly Statecraft

Six months ago, young, vigorous Leopold III, Statesman-King of the Belgians, took up the mantle of his Foreign Minister, crossed over to London and closeted himself with Whitehall officials (TIME, April 5). Three days later the curly-haired Leopold took the boat train for Brussels, carrying with him assurances that Great Britain, and France as well, would release Belgium from the Locarno Treaty obligations of 1925 and the Anglo-Franco-Belgian agreement of March 19, 1936 by which Belgium promised to help defend Britain and France against attack. Chief feather in the Diplomat-King’s cap was agreement of the British and French Governments to maintain their end of the pact, namely, to aid Belgium if attacked.

His Majesty had given timely warning of his venture into statecraft, had announced in a speech the winter before that he was resolved to “follow a policy exclusively and entirely Belgian” (TIME, Oct. 26). So long as Germany remained helpless and disarmed by the Treaty of Versailles, the best bet for Belgium had been as an ally of France, but now that Germany has burst her bonds such an alliance would only antagonize the Reich. After His Majesty’s trip to London it remained to secure for Belgium whatever treaty pledges Germany might be willing to make, but Leopold III judged it indiscreet for the King of the Belgians to do anything so sensational as visit Adolf Hitler. Last week routine diplomatic procedure to get the best deal Belgium could obtain as quietly as possible climaxed when, a handsome scrap of paper was handed by the German Foreign Minister, portly, grey-mustached Diplomat-of-the-Old-School Baron Constantin von Neurath in Berlin to sleek, smart Belgian Ambassador Viscount Jacques Davignon.

“The German Government,” read the official text, “is ready, just as are the British & French Governments, to grant assistance to Belgium in case she should become the object of aggression or invasion. … It confirms its determination under no circumstances to impair such inviolability & integrity and at all times to respect Belgian territory except, of course, in case of an armed conflict . . . in which Belgium should participate in military action directed against Germany.”

The phrase “military action directed against Germany” refers to Belgium’s obligations under the League Covenant to support military sanctions against a state declared an aggressor. European observers opined that delay in concluding the new agreement has been caused by Berlin efforts to edge Belgium away from the League. These failed because, as a price for the Anglo-French release, Belgium had promised to stick by her League commitments.

Belgium has thus resumed approximately what was her status in 1914, but Belgians close to the King say he anticipates no important warfare on the part of Germany for at least the next two years, and even then rather eastward against Russia, than westward in the direction of France and Belgium. Nazi newsorgans hailed their Government’s new pledge to Belgium last week as a “Hitler victory,” dwelt upon what they seemed to consider an important fact: in case France and Belgium had attacked Germany as allies their combined onslaught would have been along 300 miles of the German frontier, whereas today an attack by France alone would be along only 200 miles of Nazidom’s frontier. Smiled smug, portly Belgian Foreign Minister Paul Henri Spaak: “Belgium has every reason to rejoice over the declaration Germany has made. It is an important contribution to peace.”