Evening star., 1917-09-27
Germany and Belgium.

| Germany, it appears, has supplement-
ed its official note to the Vatican in
reply to the Pope's peace proposal by a
verbal communication made by the for
eign secretary at Berlin to the papal
nuncio at Munich, wherein the former
specified the conditions under which
! Germany was willing to conclude peace
on the basis of the evacuation of Bel
gium. 1t will be recalled that IN the
German reply to the Pope there was no
mention of Belgium or of any other dis
tinct proposed act of restoration or
reparation The fact that the subject
of Belgium was reserved for verbal
communication may give rise to sus-
picion that Germany did not wish to
commit itself in any way on this sub
iect. This may have been due to n
desire to reserve the theme for nego-
tiation. So long as the present pro-
posal is not reduced to the formality of
written statement Germany is not
committed to it irrevocably, and may
alter its terms of remuneration to ad-
just to the changing peace conditions.
The present proposal. for q renuncia-
ton of Belgium, is based upon certain
conditions which cannot be viewed as
in any wise acceptable. 1t is indicated
that Germany must have the right to
in Belgium. especially in Antwerp
Belgium must be required to give
guarantee "that any such menace as
that which threatened Germany in 1914
would in the future be excluded" to
quote the language of the news dis
match. Belgium must undertake to
maintain the administrative separation
of the Flemish and Walloon interests
introduced by Germany. In considera-
ton of these terms Germany would con-
tribute share of the compensation to
be paid to Belgium for war damages.
So far as the nature of the note is dis
closed it does not appear that Germany
conditions the restoration of Belgium
upon the return of the German colonies.
though that provision has been fire.
quently named of late as one of the as
sured bases of this restitution.
Germany's agreement to give up
stolen property on condition of being
allowed certain privileges of enjoyment
in that property in the future will be
viewed by the entente powers and by
the United States with no sympathy
whatever The restoration of Belgium
should be unconditional and complete.
contingent in no respect upon anv other
action. Germany's retention of the right
to develop her economic enterprises
would mean the German commercial
domination of Belgium. The phrase
Especially in Antwerp" means a desire
to make Antwerp in effect German
port.
The most impudent proposal in this
conditional agreement to yield Belgium
is that which would require that coun-
try to give a guarantee "that any such
menace as that which threatened Ger
many in 1914 would in future be e1-
cluded" Germany persists in the pre-
tense that she was menaced in 1914 on
her western boundary through a secret
design for an invasion by France
through Belgian territory. This is
known to be untrue. 1t is too late now
for Germany to set up the plea that
Belgium was invaded because it was
necessary to strike first to prevent
treachery on Belgium's part. The late
Chancellor Won Bethmann Hollweg
completely destroyed that defense when
he admitted that the invasion of Bel
GUM was an act of military necessity,
and that the treaty guaranteeing Bel
gums neutrality was but a scrap of
paper.