LEOPOLD III. OF BELGIUM

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21176, 27 July 1940, Page 11 (Supplement)

LEOPOLD 111. OF BELGIUM

Betrayal of Allies :: Some Light on the Mystery

(Belgian Correspondent of the Manchester Guardian)

IN THE WHOLE chequered history of the Low Countries has Belgium had to face so tragic a moment as this. At the order of King Leopold, the whole of the Belgian Army, built up and wellequipped at tremendous sacrifice, has suddenly capitulated before the invader, leaving the British and French Armies, almost at the mercy of the enemy. The shock to all Belgians, both at home and abroad, must be terrible indeed. Yet, to those who had eyes to see, premonitory Signs of the Present Tragedy must have been discernible for several years past. To the Belgian people King Leopold has all along been something of a mystery man ever since he succeeded his father on the throne. In complete contrast to Albert, the soldier king, brave, loyal, democratically minded, the beloved of all his people, young Leopold never succeeded in establishing any relationship of real intimacy and trust between himself and the Belgian people. In the first year of his reign the beautiful figure of Queen Astrid shed a warm light of human sympathy on the royal couple. But after the young Queen’s tragic death Leopold seemed to sink deeper and deeper into a kind of sombre isolation. Soon rumours filtered through of his growing wilful and authoritarian disposition. It was noticed that in all his public statements, v<hfle paying lip-se>rvice to the Constitution and the principle of liberty, he carefully avoided using the word “democracy.” In 1536 he came for the first time out into the open on the question of foreign policy. He summoned a Cabinet meeting and gave it a lecture on his conception of what ought to be international policy. That was the origin of the socalled policy of independence, of the severing of all contractual and even moral ties with Belgium’s allies in the previous war and of the attitude of complete impartiality as between Hitler, Germany, and the Western democracies. All that followed in the succeeding years was Merely a Logical Consequence and practical application of the new principles then proclaimed by King Leopold, of which M. Spaak, as Foreign Minister, made himself the most zealous executor. The great argument was that that policy would prevent Belgium from being involved in the European war whose shadow was threateningly rising on the horizon and also that it was the means of maintaining moral unity as between the Flemish and Walloon populations. Actually it can be affirmed that the new policy had not its source of inspiration in any considerable section of public opinion either Flemish or other. It was imposed from above, for a long time in the teeth of violent opposition from important sections of public opinion which saw in it chiefly a deliberate abandonment of the principles of collective security still regarded by many Belgians as the surest and possibly only real safeguard of the existence of all small nations. But the argument that the policy of independence would avert war and that it was essential to keep the Flemish population loyal to the country Hammered In So Persistently sr.d so effectively that vocal opposition to it was gradually silenced. Those who dared to object and to criticise were decried as disloyal warmongers. At the same time strong and persistent

efforts were made in many quarters and in a large section of the press to represent Leopold 111 as something more than a simple constitutional King and rather as a sort of “leader” of his people in the totalitarian sense, while the idea of a socalled “authoritarian monarchy” was ever louder proclaimed. The paper which shouted the praise of Leopold most demonstratively day by day was Degrelle’s “Pays Reel.” During the first eight months of the war this paper systematically printed ultra-royalist articles side by side with its Open Propaganda For Germany. Whilst various newspapers were suspended or suppressed for their alleged anti-neutral or pro-Allied attitude, the shocking proGerman propaganda of the Roxist and ether Fascist papers enjoyed a strange immunity and seemed to have mysterious and influention protection. And yet it was absolutely beyond doubt and apparent even to the most casual observer that the sympathy of the overwhelming majority of the Belgian people, both Flemish and Walloon, was entirely with the Allies. Well-informed persons in Belgium, including many Cabinet Ministers, past and present, have often been wondering who exactly were the people that were influencing the mind of King Leopold—it is significant of the thoroughly undemocratic atmosphere in which high quarters in Belgium have been living for years that hardly anybody could pretend to give to this question any confident answer. That Italian influence must have been very strong at the Brussels royal palace few people doubted who had any knowledge of the forceful character of Princess Marie Jose, the sister of King Leopold and wife of the Italian Crown Prince. Rumours of the Influence of Certain Pro-Fascist Courtiers and authoritarian generals have been current for years. Others have speculated as to the influence of the Queen Dowager Elisabeth, a Bavarian princess by birth and rather conspicuously active of late. It seems to be widely believed in this country that King Leopold was a particularly popular ruler in his country. That is far from true. It would probably be more correct to say that he was distinctly unpopular with large sections of the population, who instinctively distrusted his aloofness and authoritarian tendencies. It is a great misfortune for the country that the political leaders thought it patriotic to cover those tendencies with their authority instead of standing up to them. From the outbreak of the European war those tendencies assumed ever more definite form. There is excellent reason to belieye that on many critical occasions since last September King Leopold took vital matters into his own hands and that Cabinet Ministers, and sometimes even the Prime Minister himself, were held in ignorance of important decisions of national policy taken by the ruler and his private advisers. Nevertheless, as the Gathered Over the Belgian Sky there were sharp controversies in Parliamentary quarters as to whether Belgium should not call in the preventive help of the Allies against the approaching danger, or at any rate make definite staff arrange ments ensuring that the Allied help shruM not come too late to save an im poll ant part of the country from invasion W< new know that far graver issues were ,involved in this controversy than the me. occupation of one or two Belgian provinces.