Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-01-05

rome and the Domain National were in
tended to be reserved for Belgium, and
that the revenues of both of them were
Indispensable to the due accomplishment
of Belgium's duty toward the Free State
when 1t should become her colony.
There was no mention or suggestion of a
private company taking over the Do
maine. and, consequently, benefiting by
its revenue, nor was there any sugges-
ton that the king looked upon the Do
maine as his private and personal prop
erty to be bequeathed to his family. And
the revenue, it should be borne in mind
is no small consideration.
The Domaine de la Couronne-which
was created in virtue of a decree in 1896
which decree was made known in 1902,
but never published in full-is nearly ten
times as large as Belgium and accord
ing to no less an authority than NJ Cat
tier, the value of its rubber produce alone
averages ST, 100000 per annum. and even,
according to Comte De Smet De Naeyer
one of the strongest supporters of the
king sovereign, the revenue is a little
comes of this revenue? Just what the
king pleases The Free State does not
get cent from it. Yet. in the face of
these facts, the king sovereign has placed
this source of revenue for Belgiums flu
ture colony beyond her reach by handing
over these revenues to private com
pany for all time
During the memorable debate of De-
cember. 1906 the then prime minister.
Comte De Smet De Naeyer, was asked
whether tne statements, made in the king
Sovereign's letter of the previous June
constituted specific conditions or merely
wishes. The premier's reply was that
they constituted serious advice c'des rec
concentrations sole neles'D. Thus. what
the king had himself declared "indispen-
col ,Ia'1 do, Ii
the eXigencies of parliamentary debate,
to be merely piece of serious advice
The king was not pleased with the state
ment of his premier, and still less with
the subsequent vote of the chamber.
There can be no doubt in view of the
statutes of the new company, that it
can do exactly as it pleases with the
Domaine Under these circumstances ii
is not easy to see what remains to Bel
GUM after the decree of July p. 1907. of
Domaine which the king declared to
be Indispensable to her Those who
have followed his majesty's career will
give him credit for. knowing better than
any man how to run his own business.
The documents containing the conditions
on which the Belgian parliament is in
vited to decide whether it will accept
the treaty of cession are now published.
They consist. in the first place, of the
report OF the plenipotentiaries commits
stoned to draw up the treaty-a master
piece of special pleading, covering ninety
six pages-and, in the second place, tire
annexes referred to in tine treaty con-
sisting of POI pages of DEGREES and sta
tistics in very small type 1t is clear.
therefore, that a full appreciation of the
contents must be matter of several
days. Meanwhile it is easy to indicate
the points which will provoke the most
violent opposition. No doubt nearly
every page will provide additional objec- |
lions as time goes on.
Most of the information TO be derived
from the DEGREES has never before been
published. though their contents have |
been suspected; hence the whole thing |
partakes of the nature of a bombshell, the |
arrival of which proves even worse than
was expected by those who have been |
anxiously watching its approach