BELGIUM.

EXTRACTS FROM A SPEECH DELIVERED AT THE QUEEN'S HALL TO COMMEMORATE THE ANNIVERSARY OF BELGIAN

INDEPENDENCE, JULY 21ST, 1917.

WE are here to-day on the anniversary of the independence of the people who have rendered such unforgettable services to the independence of Europe. The world will never forget the services rendered by Belgium to international right, for the great battles of Europe during recent centuries have been fought on her soil. Belgium is the gateway between the Central Powers and the West, and modern statesmen had devised the plan-if I may use the phrase of putting Belgium out of bounds and thus preserving the liberties of Europe by making it impossible either for an aggressive France to destroy Germany or an aggressive Germany to destroy France. The Treaty of the Neutrality of Belgium was one of the pediments of the public law of Europe. Belgium was the gatekeeper of European liberty-the highest, the most onerous, the most dangerous trust ever imposed on a people. Faithfully, loyally, have the Belgian people discharged their trust to Europe. If I may quote from an historic document-a document which is part of the history of the world, the reply

of the Belgian Government to the German Ultimatum-there is nothing that more clearly states, not merely the duty of Belgium to Europe, but the way in which you Belgians have discharged that duty :

"The Belgian Government, if they were to accept the proposals submitted to them, would sacrifice the honour of the nation and betray their duty towards Europe." A great answer, greatly kept.

What were the German proposals? They were the proposals of the assassin who approached a man and said, "Open unto me your gates, so that I may take your peaceful neighbour at a disadvantage." What manner of mind must men possess when they suggest such an infamy to anybody? Belgium, as an honourable people, rejected it with disdain, and great will be their status for evermore in the story of the world.

The Agony of Belgium.

But Belgium has suffered for performing her high duty and keeping her high trust. She has suffered the unbridled savagery of the conqueror, the men who are committing outrages in France and in Belgium that Attila had not the fine cruelty to devise; the pirates of the high seas who are sinking unarmed merchant vessels and passenger ships and drowning women and children. That fury has been concentrated for three years upon Belgium. Three years of oppression, of humilia

tion, of servitude, of anxiety, of agony. But at the end Belgium will be greater than she ever was. Her sacrifice will be her discipline; her fortitude will be her redemption. In the words of your heroic King, "A country defending itself is respected by all. That country will not perish.'

Three years even of agony-are not long in the life of a nation, and the deliverance of Belgium is assuredly coming, and when it comes that de liverance must be complete. France owes it, Britain owes it, Europe owes it, the civilisation of the world owes it to Belgium that her deliverance shall be complete.

The German Chancellor's Speech.

There is a new thrown the old

What have we in the way? Chancellor. The Junker has Chancellor into the waste-paper basket with his scrap of paper and they are lying there side by side. You will not have to wait long before Junkerdom will follow. What hope is there in his speech of peace-I mean an honourable peace, which is the only possible peace? It is a dexterous speech, a facing-all-ways speech. There are phrases for those who earnestly desire peacemany. But there are phrases which the military powers of Germany will understand-phrases about making the frontiers of Germany secure. That is the phrase which annexed Alsace-Lorraine; that is the phrase which has drenched Europe with blood from 1914; that is the phrase

which, if they dare, will annex Belgium; and that is the phrase which will once more precipitate Europe into a welter of blood within a generation unless that phrase is wiped out of the statesmanship of Europe.

There are phrases for men of democratic mind in that speech-many. He was calling men from the Reichstag to co-operate with the Government; they were even to get office, men of all parties and men of democratic sentiment. But there were phrases to satisfy the Junkers-to other men nothing. There was to be no parting with Imperialistic rights. Ah! They will call men from the Reichstag to office, but they will be not Ministers, but clerks. It is the speech of a man waiting on the military situation, and let the AlliesRussia, Britain, France, Italy, all of them-bear that in mind. It is a speech that can be made better by improving the military situation. If the Germans win in the West, if they destroy the Russian army in the East, if their friends the Turks drive Britain out of Mesopotamia, if the U-boats sink more merchant ships, then that speech, believe me, means annexation all round and military autocracy more firmly established than ever. But, on the other hand, should the German army be driven back in the West, be beaten in the East, and should their friends the Turks fail in Baghdad, and the submarines be a failure on the high seas, that speech is all right. We must all help to make that a good speech. There are possibilities in it of excellence. Let us help Dr. Michaelis;

let us give our assistance to the new Chancellor to make his first speech a real success. But for the moment it means that the military party have

won.

I want to repeat in another form a statement which I made before. What manner of Government they choose to rule over them is entirely the business of the German people themselves; but what manner of Government we can trust to make peace with is our business. Democracy is in itself a guarantee of peace, and if you cannot get it in Germany, then we must secure other guarantees as a substitute. The German Chancellor's speech shows, in my judgment, that those who are in charge of affairs in Germany have for the moment elected for war.

Belgium Must Be Restored.

There is no hope for Belgium in that speech. It is not even mentioned. The phraseology is full of menace to Belgium. All that about making their frontiers secure which took Metz and Strassburg away, and will take Liége and the control over Antwerp again-that is not a phrase of good omen for Belgium. All that about the necessity of seeing that the economic interests of Germany are secure means that, even if they restore Belgium, their restoration will be a sham. The determination of the Allies is this, that Belgium must be restored as a free and an independent people. Belgium must be a people and not a Pro