The sun., 1919-09-28
Bv r. CUNLIFFE.oWEN.


to her husband and to her mother,
the widowed Queen Emma. Both are
| Germans by birth and have remained
so in spite of their Dutch citizenship.
Queen Emma is a daughter of the
German former sovereign house OF
Waldeck, while the Prince Consort is
scion of the fallen Grand Ducal
dynasty of Mecklenburg- Schwerin.
He was serving as an officer of the
Prussian Jaegers of the Guard at Pots
dam until his marriage, and has con-
tinued the close intimacy which he
then formed with x-Emperor William
| de remains the typical Prussian Off
GER with all the prejudices. arrogance
md narrowmindedness or THAI particu
lar military caste. In Holland the peo-
| pie have always refused to take him to
| heir hearts. During the war his ad-
'ocacy of Germany's cause was so pro-
ncunced that the diplomatic repre-
sentatives of the Allies were compelled
to protest. He lost no opportunity of
abusing King Albert for fighting Ger
many, and of gloating over the suffer
ings of Belgium and of her royal
house.
wilheImina Is Influenced.
1t is idle to argue that Queen VIII
ielmina remained insensible to his in
hence. At any rate the court of The
, Hague was controlled thereby. The
entire atmosphere of the court was,
and is, pro-German. With regard to
, the Dutch aristocracy, the greater
PORTION thereof, particularly the terri
torial nobility, either own estates In
Germany, formerly occupied seats in
one or another of the German Houses
of Lords, by reason of their landed
possessions in the Vaterland, or else
are affiliated with the German aris-
tocracy by matrimonial alliances or
ancestry. If l recall all this, 1t is in
order to point out that in the refusal
of Holland to make any concession to
the just and moderate demands of Bel
GUM. it is in part due to the intense
bitterness entertained at the court of
The Hague against King Albert and
Queen Elizabeth. who some time ago
when questioned about her German
relatives, proclaimed that she had
CLOSED the door upon them for ever"
and that never as long as che lived
would she resume any sort OF inter-
course with them after the frightful
treatment to which Germany had SUBJ
jected the land OF her adoption, namely
Belgium.
These Are BelEium's Grievances.
As for Belgium's grievances against
Holland, they are based primarily on
the commercial rivalry of the Dutch
port of Rotterdam, with the Belgian
port of Antwerp. Injury to Antwerp
spells prosperity to Rotterdam. II
Antwerp can be put out Of business,
then Rotterdam becomes virtually the
only Continental seaport bordering ON
the English Channel and the southern
waters of the North Sea. That is why
the Dutch have always sought to OBJ
struct access from the sea to Antwerp,
even during the fifteen years or more
that Belgium was subject to the Dutch
crown, before achieving her indepen-
dence. Since then, despite her treaty
obligations, guaranteed and Endorsed
by Great Britain, FFance and Ger
many, Holland has pursued the same
selfish policy. All the lower portion
of the estuary OF the Scheldt passes
through territory that geographically
and racially should have been included
in Belgium at the time OF her organi-
zation as an independent kingdom, but
which had been left to Holland. The
Dutch have taken advantage of this to
not only refrain from either improv-
ing, or even maintaining, navigation
of the lower reaches of the Scheldt,
h&t~esAeS-ta-OreYen the Belgians from
taking any steps toward dredging or
deepening the river. The result of
this policy has been to hamper access
from the sea to Antwerp. to a very
alarming extent
Clients Progress Hampered.
The important city of Ghent for
hundreds of years past a great centre
of trade and industry, and also OF the
extensive network of the inland navi-
cation of Belgium, Is connected with
the sea for oceangoing shipping by
means OF a canal, Which finds its out
let in Dutch territory at Terneuzen,
near the mouth of the Scheldt. Hol-
land is bound by treaty obligations TO
keep her twenty miles of the Terneu-
zen Canal In proper state of repair.
She has refused to live up to her en-
9agements in the matter. with the re-
suit that whereas the Belgian stretch
OF the canal Il wide and deep enough