Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-05-29
BY COUNT CARLO SFORZA,

Former Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs.
~ AUL HYMANS Is one of the half
u dozen Belgians whose names
are universally known to the
i world. For many years he has
been minister of foreign affairs
in his own country; and last March. by
the unanimous vote of his colleagues,
he was elected president Of the most
important of all Assemblies Of the
League of Nations-the Extraordinary
Assembly, convened to discuss the Sino-
japanese conflict.
At a diplomatic gathering Hymans is
one of those whose names the crowds
do not ask Everybody knows his ele-
CANT, brisk silhouette, his youngish face
in spite of his snowy hair-his ex-
IRENE courtesy his simple but dignified
poise.
The French-since Hyfnans' mother
tongue is French, despite his Flemish
name-suppose, after one or two con-
versations, that they know him as If he
were one of their own flock, from some
Mines or Havre.
How wrong they are! Only when
one has spent long months in Belgium
Goes one begin to realize the deep diff
ference between even refined Belgian
and the French.
The son of writer and a member
of the Belgian Parliament, Paul Hy-
mans, who had become lawyer, him.
self was elected member Of the Lower
House in 1900; since then he has been
constantly reelected.
His life has not been devoid of dra-
raatic incidents. But it also has had
a beautiful unity of thought and action.
| Like his father, like all the friends of
| his family, he has always belonged to
| that Liberal party which ever since 1880
has co-operated powerfully both in the
creation of Belgium and in the devel-
opment of that free Belgian life which
has resulted in the country's govern
ment being called republican mon
/ archy."
Before he came to the foreground OF
Belgian and international life, Hy-
mans had shown himself-and most
strikingiy-to be a political historian.
In 1898 he had been appointed pro-
fessor of comparative parliamentary
| history at the University of Brussels.
In l905-l9lO he published his main
work. The Life of Frere Orban," the
two volumes Of which are one Of the
most interesting contributions to the
history of Europe, especially during the
period of the French Second Empire.
No history of nineteenth century Europe
,, should be written without a deep knowl-
edge of Hymlns' work.
Named at Crucial Time.
On August 2. 1914. the day the Bel
gian government received the German
ultimatum, King Albert, anxious to
have all political opinions around him,
appointed Hymans Minister of State.
And in this capacity Hymans. the sole
representative of the opposition in
Parliament, sat on the Crown Council
which met at the Royal Palace during
the night of August 2 and was chosen
with two Catholic Ministers, to draft
the answer to the Germans.
On August 80 he left for America,
with the Socialist leader Vandervelce.
on a government mission-to submit
and explain to President Wilson the
first documents of the Belgian in
quiry into the atrocities OF the war IN
Belgium.
On his return from America he was
appointed Minister to London and. on
January /, 1918 Minister for Foreign
Affairs. AS such he represented Bel
GUM at the peace conference and was
one of the three Belgian signatories
of the Versailles treaty.
I consider it one of the good for
tunes of my life not to have been
obliged to take part in the Versailles
negotiations where pride was called