A BELGIAN CENTENARY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20930, 21 July 1931, Page 8

A BELGIAN CENTENARY.

If the records of the four years from 1914 to 1918 were eliminated from the history of the past century, the hundredth anniversary of the Kingdom of Belgium, which falls to-day, would have a much milder interest. It is true this part of the Low Countries has been historic ground for many centuries. The title of the "Cockpit of Europe" was not gained for nothing. Yet, despite all that the course of events , had held, enduring to the end of the Napoleonic wars, by 1914 memories of the role Belgium had played in the wars and the diplomacy of Europe were growing faint. A near neighbour of Great Britain, a densely populated country of flourishing industries and industrious peasants, it scarcely seemed to count in the interplay of diplomatic forces that regulated international relations in what now seem those far-off days. Then, suddenly, the storm of 1914 broke, For a space on the fate of Belgium the fate of the civilised world seemed to turn. Whether Britain and the Empire could have remained aloof from the great conflict is a doubtful question. Without the invasion of Belgium there would havo been delay, there might have been considerable delay, before a decision was reached. In the period of waiting, who knows what

progress Germany might have made with the plans, to drive on Pans, overwhelm France, and then turn her full weight upon Russia? Violation of Belgian neutrality, solemnly pledged in 1838, settled the issue and settled it swiftly. For Britain and the Empire the die was cast. Germany's disregard of her covenant, and the cynical ."scrap of paper" disclaimer which accompanied it, not only-threw the might of the Empire in the scales then and there, but inspired a fervour of moral indignation which gave the early British war effort its chief impetus. The rights and wrongs of these early days of the, war are still being tirelessly dissected, but the pivotal role of Belgium can never be eliminated. That reason giv6s to-day's centenary the interest it would not otherwise have had.