CHAPTER VI.

LESSER STATES OF WESTERN AND NORTHERN EUROPE: BELGIUM -NETHERLANDS-SWITZERLAND-SPAIN

PORTUGAL-DEN

MARK-SWEDEN-NORWAY.

BELGIUM.

THROUGHOUT 1924 M. Theunis remained the dominant personality in Belgian politics. He played a prominent part in bringing about the agreement on reparations reached at the London Conference in August, and in internal affairs succeeded in balancing the Budget. But he struggled unavailingly to reduce the ever-growing cost of living, and in consequence of this failure his position as Premier at the end of the year had become highly precarious.

In the course of the year it was found necessary, owing to the depreciation of the franc and the rise in prices, to introduce supplementary estimates. At the same time, owing to unusual traffic, the transport service had become accidentally disorganised, and, although left in the hands of the Government officials, it was placed under a special control. The critical economic situation. gave rise to an attack on the eight hours day from the side of the big employers. This was translated into political action by a Bill introduced by M. Devèze, leader of the Liberal Party, to allow time lost through stoppage to be made up by extra hours. The Minister of Labour, M. Moyersoen, brought in an alternative plan which increased working hours by 5 per cent. The members of his own party, the Christian-Democrats, declined to follow him in this step and instead united with the Socialists to defeat both projects by large majorities. This was the first sign of the existence in the Chamber of a democratic majority, and the first symptom of the break up of the Coalition of Liberals and Catholics on which the Government rested.

The overthrow of the Government was not long delayed. It came on the Franco-Belgian Convention for supplementing the new customs tariff, which was brought up for ratification in February. This was attacked on various grounds. The metallurgic and textile interests demanded for their products advantages analogous to those accorded to French luxury products. Some politicians desired a closer union between the two countries along with a system of preference. Others, including the Flemish Nationalists, feared what the Socialist leader M. Vandervelde called "the Portugalisation of Belgium by France," and recalled the indifference shown by M. Poincaré to the Belgian technical inquiries in the Ruhr. Some Flemish Nationalist deputies went so far as to speak of the French grip" on the maritime works of Bruges. The Catholic Minister, M. Renkin, and his followers criticised as merely apparent the French concessions, and vehemently denounced Article 7 which imposed prohibitive tariffs on Germany. The

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Socialists objected also to the proposed surtaxes on German imports, and found themselves at one with the Flemish Nationalists in an opposition to the occupation of the Ruhr. Outside of Parliament the campaign was carried on by the Nationalist group whose chief spokesmen, MM. Neuray and Nothomb in their influential organ La Nation Belge, skilfully utilised certain admissions of M. Jaspar, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to create prejudice against the agreement. The Press, too, echoed the protests of M. Renkin against the highly protectionist French tariff, and as a result, public opinion became distinctly unfavourable to the proposed Convention.

After having tried to secure a majority by promising certain concessions to the Flemish Nationalists, the Government solicited the Chamber's confidence, and M. Theunis carried the discussion on to the field of the general situation. All the Liberals except one voted in favour of the Convention; nevertheless it was rejected. A Cabinet crisis followed which lasted a fortnight. M. Theunis sought to characterise the rejection of the Convention as a blow to France and a triumph for Germany.

The King fearing for the Ruhr enterprise, avoided an appeal to the people, and ignoring the democratic majority, which certainly was highly composite, and which the Socialists would not have joined in any case to form a Ministry, entrusted M. Theunis with the task of forming a new administration (March 10). He produced a motley combination containing more Flemish Nationalist elements than the previous Cabinet, and destitute of any programme save a hopeless struggle against the high cost of living. The Catholic, M. Jaspar, was replaced at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Liberal M. Paul Hymans, who had resigned from the same office three years earlier, and in compensation the Liberal M. Louis Franck was replaced by the Catholic M. Henri Carton as Minister of the Colonies. The Ministerial declaration of policy dealt only with the cost of living and with the value of the franc, and its weakness was strongly criticised by the Opposition. M. Theunis proposed the imposition of new taxes to the amount of 400 million francs, but afterwards reduced the figure to 200 million. He also begged for a truce between parties on controversial questions, and the Liberals accordingly dropped two contentious measures which they had intended to bring forward-one on cremation, and the other on the laicising of the oath in the law-courts. The Right, however, persisted with its project for extending female suffrage to the provinces. The provincial councillors elect some forty members of the Senate; consequently, owing to the influence of the clergy over the women, such a law would ensure a Catholic majority in the Senate, which would lead to numerous conflicts between the two Assemblies.

Among the laws actually passed, the most important was the new customs tariff. Belgium has now two tariffs-a minimum and a maximum-the latter being double the former and re

served for imports from countries with which she is, so to speak, at war economically. A Bill for workmen's pensions with compulsory insurance was brought in. The Senate introduced some modifications, which were accepted by the Chamber, the Socialists allowing the Bill to pass as a pis aller. A Bill was also passed modifying the existing Rent Act, and resulting in an increase on rents of 125 per cent. Finally a law of "equalisation" was passed increasing the salaries of civil servants.

Towards the end of the first session the acquittal of Baron Coppée on the charge of having delivered goods to the Germans during the war led to some lively discussions in the Chamber on the question of an amnesty for persons imprisoned for dealings with the enemy.

Immediately after his accession to office, in January, Mr. MacDonald, the new British Premier, had sent Mr Massingham from London to Brussels to make unofficial investigations and assure the Belgian Ministers of the interest taken by the new Cabinet in the Belgian technical inquiries which had been shelved by the Reparations Commission. In consequence, M. Jaspar, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, left for Paris to bring these inquiries to the notice of M. Poincaré. On learning of the reports presented by the experts at Paris on April 9, the Belgian Government announced that it was prepared to accept the conclusions contained in them in order to arrive at an equitable settlement. The Belgian delegation had exercised a preponderating influence in the framing of the reports, and Mr. Dawes had paid a particular tribute to MM. Francqui and Houtart for their services. On the Belgian proposal the system of general conversations with a view to finding a basis of agreement was adopted. On April 28 MM. Theunis and Hymans had a preliminary exchange of views with M. Poincaré at the Quai d'Orsay. On May 2 the Belgian Ministers arrived at Chequers to discuss with Mr. MacDonald the possibility of making the Dawes Plan a basis for reparations. They laid before him the views of M. Poincaré on the question of seeking from Great Britain an undertaking to collaborate in laying down beforehand explicit sanctions to operate in case of German default. They laid stress on the reasons which the French and Belgian Governments had for mistrusting Germany, but failed to move Mr. MacDonald who, in his speech at York, had declared himself opposed to any sanction fixed in advance. Baron Moncheur, the Belgian Ambassador at London, brought the Ambassador of the United States and the Belgian Ministers together at the same table, where the latter learnt definitively that the American bankers were prepared to make the loan to Germany non-political in character by imposing on her an international commercial responsibility. Accordingly, in view of the aversion of the British Government to military sanctions, they pressed for the adoption of a system of financial and economic checks which they had elaborated. A few days later the French Government

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received, through its Ambassador in Brussels, M. Herbette, a detailed account of these conversations supplementing the brief note which had been transmitted by the British Government. A fortnight later the Belgian Ministers left for Milan. They met there Signor Mussolini, who reaffirmed his aversion for all coercive measures, and insisted again on the close relation between reparations and war debts. On his way back from Chequers to Paris, M. Herriot, on June 22 and 23, had two interviews with MM. Theunis and Hymans, in which he reported to them his conversations with Mr. MacDonald. After a practical discussion the French and Belgian Ministers agreed on the points they would discuss at the approaching Conference, at the same time touching on the problem of security and affirming jointly their purpose to secure the complete execution of the clauses relating to German disarmament. This interview had been preceded by a Council of Ministers in which M. Theunis had had to appease a number of critics from various groups-Catholics who mistrusted M. Herriot on account of his anti-clerical programme, Flemish Nationalists who were suspicious of French influence, and Nationalists who reproached the French Premier with being too friendly to Germany.

The London Conference, which opened on July 16, was the logical sequel of this policy. Through its means Belgium saved herself from the possibility of a war in the Ruhr, from a further depreciation of her exchange, and from being abandoned by all her Allies except France. To secure these benefits she resigned the pledge of the Ruhr in consideration of annuities which in four years will rise to two and a half milliards of francs. In order to seal the agreement, MM. Theunis and Herriot announced their decision to abandon immediately one of the occupied zones.

During the year Belgium signed several commercial treaties, the principal being those with Austria, Japan, and Canada. Certain private individuals are favourable to the resumption of economic relations with Russia, which perhaps would choose Antwerp as the port of sale for its exports. The Soviet delegates, however, who arrived in Brussels in October, did not obtain favourable consideration from the Belgian Government for their proposals. Of particular importance is the provisional agreement concluded on October 24 with France. So urgent was the necessity for such an agreement that on the morning after the rejection of the Convention in February, the Government charged Baron de Gaiffier d'Hestroy, Belgian Ambassador at Paris, to resume the conversations. These were interrupted by the French elections, but were taken up again under the Herriot Ministry. The modus vivendi ultimately arrived at strikes particularly at luxury articles, and has put an end to a petty customs war.

At the end of the year all parties were actively preparing for the General Election officially fixed for May, but which a new

Cabinet crisis may hasten on. The Socialists, who are the chief Opposition Party, have little to fear from the Communists, and have rallied to their standard all the malcontents. They have attacked the Government on the ground of the cost of living and the fiscal régime, and have pointed out that in the end the Government has been obliged to adopt their programme of disarmament against Germany. The Catholic Party, which is most unwilling to enter the election under a Theunis Ministry, is a prey to serious divisions. Some of its members desire to strengthen the alliance with the Liberals, and to purge the party by the expulsion of the Christian-Democrats and the Flemish Nationalists. Others aim at uniting all the diverse fractions in the name of their common principles. A third group desires a rapprochement with the Socialists after the elections. M. Alois van de Vyvere, Catholic Minister of Economic Affairs in the third Theunis Cabinet, has resigned his post in order to cement the fractions of the Right. All the Catholics place on their programme the "fight for the schools," along with a demand for subsidies from the Treasury for private schools, and opposition to the new taxes, except for purposes of election tactics. They are mainly insistent on the women's vote in the provincial election, a Bill for which they managed to place on the order of the day just before the close of the last session of the Chamber.

Serious dissensions exist also in the Liberal Party. The followers of M. Devèze want to choose their allies according to circumstances. Some are dissatisfied with the coalition with the Catholics and the abandonment of the programme of laicisation. The mistakes of the reactionary anti-democratic majority have brought into being the Radical-Socialist Party. The Middle Class Party owes its birth to the cabals of the Electoral Committees. Finally, the Nationalist Party has maintained its strength at the cost of all the others.

Whatever the results of the elections in Spring, 1925, may be, so much is certain, that public opinion in Belgium during the year has veered to the Left.

THE NETHERLANDS.

The year 1923 had closed without bringing appreciably nearer a solution of the political crisis caused by the action of the Second Chamber on October 26 in rejecting the Navy Bill, some of the Roman Catholic members having voted with the Left [vide ANNUAL REGISTER, 1923, p. 235]. In the first days of 1924 the leaders of the three parties of the Right, who had been requested by the Queen, after several other attempts had failed, to form a new Cabinet, expressed to her their inability to accomplish the task. Thereupon the Queen informed M. Ruys de Beerenbrouck that she was unable to accept his resignation. Thus it seemed for the moment that the crisis would be ended by sacrificing, not, as was generally expected, the Coalition, but