Restoring Peace With Italy
"Unfortunale Geneva Pact"
From a Belgian Correspondent
For some time past, English and French papers have been talking of peace propositions in which either the Belgian government or the Belgian royal family have taken the initiative.
Such rumours arc still published in spite of denials from court authorities,
The Nation Beige writes: "We have always thought that the attitude of Belgium towards the Italo-Ethiopian conflict would never be quite defendable without, on the part of the government, a direct, bold and energetic intervention, at a well-chosen moment in view of facilitating a reconciliation.
"Such an intervention is not only to be desired for itself; it constitutes an absolute duty for those responsible for the international policy of Belgium.
A Friend of Italy
"If, up to a point, our signature to the unfortunate Geneva pact compels us to obey the dangerous instructions of the League of Nations and to associate ourselves in particular with the policy of sanctions to the detriment of our own interests and to the peril of European peace, it is incornprehensible that a friend Of Italy, under obligations to that country, should show such docility.
"Let it not be said that Belgium is too weak and small a nation to interfere. M. van Zeeland has already twice intervened in debates at Geneva.
"If a third gesture, as sensational as the first, as praiseworthy as the second, could seize hold of a policy designed to restore that peace which for three months has been virtually withheld from this part of the world, what merit, what honour, what advantage would be ours!"