The Security of Belgium The visit of King Leopold to
London will inevitably focus attention on one of the most difficult of the political problems in Western Europe. Belgium, most intelligibly, feels the peril of the position in which she stands as guarantor of France under what remains of the Locarno Treaty, or rather the temporary agreement between Britain, France and Belgium which followed Germany's denunciation of the treaty a year ago. King Leopold's statement regarding that at a meeting of the Belgian Cabinet was necessitated by the unwillingness of the country, particularly the Flemish section of it, to contemplate the prospect of being drawn into war as an ally of France. Belgium does not repudiate her obligations as a member of the League of Nations, though she is alarmed at the possible consequences to her of even the passive acceptance of Article XVI of the Covenant, requiring her, as that might, to give passage across her territory to foreign troops acting on behalf of the League. Neither does she welcome Herr Hitler's offer to guarantee her integrity on condition of her maintaining neutrality ; she has been so guaranteed by Germany before. She desires to have her independence guaranteed, and she is prepared to defend her own frontiers against a violation of it, but she is unwilling to accept liabilities through a mutual guarantee to France or anyone else. It is obviously essential for her to keep out of war if she can, but geography is against her. She has special relations with her immediate neighbours, but her wisest course may be to remain bound simply by her Covenant obligations, with Article XVI limited as it was by the interpretation put on it by the Locarno Powers in 1925.
