BELGIANS AND THE DUTCH

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 285, 28 August 1919, Page 5

BELGIANS AND THE DUTCH

HOT DISPUTE AT TREATY OF 1839

ALMOST A RUPTURE

By Telegraph-Press Association-Copyright Paris, August 2G. The dispute between the Dutch and Belgian delegations at the Commission for the revision of the Treaty of 1839 is so violent that tho Belgians have decided to return to Brussels. The French Foreign Office at the last moment' persuaded them to remain, pending the receipt of a report from the Dutch Minister in London. This report accuses the Belgians of constantly violating Dutch rights on-the Scheldt, ami points out that Holland will never permit the Schcldt to become the DutchBelgian frontier, inasmuch as the present' frontiers are the outcome of historic developments of Holland's positive right. Replying to tho Belgian demands, Holland declares that any attempt to enforce the proposed new boundaries will be regarded as a casus belli,—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

1839 TREATY EXPLAINED ; Holland acquired her sovereignty over j Belgium by the Treaty of Vienna, in j 1815, and lost it finally over these south- . em, or Flemish provinces in 1830, but - she recognised her loss only in 1839, when , she signed tho treaty which made Bel- , gium an independent and neutral Slate, whose neutrality was guaranteed bv tho various Powers of Europe. For reasons best known to herself Prussia then manoeuvred for Holland the nossession of the southern or Belgian shores of the great river which was the approach to Antwerp, and the Powers agreed that, as the neutrality of Belgium and her consequent security from further invasion was assured, she had no need of tho strategic frontier of the Meuse. The southern tongue of Limburg was therefore pjlowed to remain under Dutch sovereignty, though both ethnologically and ""onrnnhically forming part of the new Kingdom. In both cases the reasons for these anomalies having been permitted p'" l most obscure, and the possession by. , ■Holland of these two portions of Bel-, gium has long been felt as a grievous wound to Belgium's commerce and position. Nevertheless, until 1914, when tho then King of Prussia decided to tear up the treaty and violate Belgium's neutrality, no open protest had been made. Four years of war, however, on soil that shou'd have been inviolate, has caused the Belgian Government to trust rather in their own' might, than in flimsy "scraps of paper"; with the consent of the other contracting Powers,, the Treaty of 1839 has been denounced, and Belgium is now free to demand the rectification of her frontiers in accordance with her I'pogr-mh'cal and strategio_ necessities. But Belgium's hands are tied not only by the indifference of many of the Allies to what appears at first sjg'jt a purely Belgian Question, .but also by the promise, made to Holland in 1916 by Baron Beyens, then Belgian Foreisn Minister, that in any rectification of the frontiers which might be demanded at a later date, there should be no question of annexations of territory. This promise, as shown in the document read to the Dutch Senate on June 6,, has been,most loyally observed to Belgium's disadvantage. _ • The present claims made by Belgium are Sovereignty over the River Scheldt, the only approach to Antwerp, and over the dykes and' waterways of South Zeeland. It would have seemed simple to demand the southern bank of tho Scheldt in full sovereignty, especially as both geographically and racially as both geogranhicaly and racially it forms part of Belgium. In loyalty to her promise, however, Belgium has only asked for the river which leads to her chief seaport and for the right to control the dykes and canals bv means of which West Flanders can be fiooded without the enemy setting foot'on Belgian sou, and. alro the right of access by the.Zeela.nd Canal to tho mouth of the Scheldt for Ghent, which city stands so near the river and yet is' separated from' .it m tho tongue of Dutch territory along tho river bank. This claim, one would imagine, should be supported by the British Government when one remembers how prejudicially tho Dutch control of the Lower Scheldt affected us in the early days of the war. Bolgium also asks for arrangements which will enablo her to hold tho Meuse line of defence. This, though it does not affect England, immediately, is nevertheless of vital importance to Belgium and France. A glance at tho map will convince tho most sceptical that this line cannot, be held by Holland. That tongue of Limburg which forms the left bank of the*Meuse is geographically part of Belgium up to its northern neck; Maastricht and tho country north and south of it can be cut off from Holland by a singlo blow delivered either from Germany across tlie Meuse or direct along the Dutch irontier from Belgium. as it were, an ever-open door by wluch the Central Powers can invade Belgium and France, but a door which could no closed most effectually should- Belgium fortify the line of the Mouse and be able to forbid a passage, by way of Maastricht.