I would not mention the reckless remarks made by Colonel
Seton Hutchison at the Nottingham Writers Club (suggesting that the late King Albert of Belgium was the victim of foul play) if full publicity had not been given to the matter in some of the newspapers. But the mischief having been done, I venture to ask— would Colonel Hutchison have dared to make any such remark about a member of the British Royal Family ? Would he not have been shouted down if he had done so ? And would any newspaper have reported his speech ? Probably the answer to all these questions is in the negative. -Yet it is infinitely more harmful to give publicity to such remarks when they have reference to a foreign monarch. The people of Belgium do not know how important or unimportant this Colonel Hutchison may be. All they know about him is that he is an Englishman receiving wide publicity in the English Press, and saying scandalous things about Belgium. Absurd as it may seem that remarks emanating from such a quarter should be treated seriously, none the less among Belgians, this is a bad mark against Britain.
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