BELGIAN NEUTRALITY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1598, 15 November 1912, Page 5

BELGIAN NEUTRALITY.

DIVISION AMONG. THE POWERS. By Telegraph-Press ABaociatioh-Oopyrig-ttt . '~'.'■ Brussels, November 13. , '■:■ The Prime Minister, M. de Broqueville, in a statement in Parliament,' said the Powers guaranteeing Belgian indepondenoe were divided into opposing camps, arid Belgium must therefore rely on herself.' The Government was anxious, and he hoped Parliament would vote money for the necessary measures to defend the country's independence. This declaration, has made a profound impression. ' . . . THE STATUS OF BELGIUM. The status of Belgium as a neutral State is denned by three treaties concluded a< - London on April 19, 1839. In the first of these the contracting parties were Great Britain, Austria, Prance, Prussia," and Russia on the one part and the Netherlands on .the other. By Artiole I of. this treaty. , the King, of the Netherlands : ' ". . . undertakes immediately to conclude a treaty with his Majesty-the King of the Belgians, embodying the Articles appended to the Present Act, and to observe them in common accord under the auspices, of the Courts of Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, and Russia.' Article VII of the annexe provides: "Belgium' ... shall become a State, independent and perpetually neutrals She shall always observe this same neutral"| ity towards other States." The second treaty, is that concluded between Belgium and the Netherlands, providing for the separation ofHhe two countries, and consisting of the articles drawn up under the auspices of Great Britain; Austria, France, Prussia, and Russia, of which Article VII has been quoted above. In these two treaties the independence and neutrality of Belgium arc recognised by. the five Powers and by the Netherlands, but it is- by the third treaty that this state is guaranteed. To this treaty the Government of the Netherlands was not a party. It was concluded between the five Powers on the- one hand and Belgium on the other.. According .to Article I the" Sovereigns of Great: Britain,' Ail*. .tria-Hungary, Prussia, Russia, and the King of the French. ' ■' .'", ".. . . declare that the Articles annexed' hereto and forming the text of the treaty concluded this day between his Majesty the King of the Belgians, his. Majesty tho King of the Netherlands, and the Grand Duke of Luxemburg, shall be considered to have the eamo force and weight as if they were textually inserted in the present Act, arid, shall be thns placed under the guarantee of their said Majesties."