Belgium's One Man Cabinet

From Our Correspondent Back Front Belgium
A Belgian Cabinet of one man is in England. It is Liberal Minister of Health M. Marcel-Henri Jaspar.
He has issued a statement in London. it runs: "Belgium will continue the war, trusting in the word of Great Britain and the Empire, which she has called to her aid.
" My aim," he added, " is to put all the considerable resources at our disposal at the service of the British Empire. for honour and liberty. Belgians. who are free and know their duty, will gather round me."
I consider it of importance to the British cause that the truth about this matter should be told, for, unless that truth is known, Britain will unwittingly make an enemy of true Belgium for all time.
This assumption of State authority by M. Marcel H. Jaspar has an air of usurpation. The Belgian Government will undoubtedly endeavour to carry on from without against the Nazi oppressor, but it is not likely that M. Jaspar will be the person entrusted with that mission.
M. Jaspar is but one, and among the least, of a Cabinet of fourteen. His ministry is the least of all Belgian ministries, one created only four years ago purposely to provide a scat in the Cabinet for Socialist Leader Emile Vandcrveldc and appease his wrath.
His party, the Liberal Party, is the least Of the three State parties, holding only one-sixth of the seats in the Chamber, whereas the Socialists hold two-sixths and the Catholic groups three-sixths.
ANTI-CLERICAL LIBERAL
M. Jaspar is not a Catholic. He is an anti-clerical Liberal. Accordingly he has no title to speak for a nation that is entirely Catholic, and nothing else but Catholic. good ones and lax ones.
I welcome this opportunity to reaffirm that Belgium is an overwhelmingly Catholic country. Catholic in spirit, in ideal, and in practice, The Belgian Constitution allows for no State religion. All religions arc
equal. free, and State-supported. Yet despite this free field and support for other religions, there are none—save, of course, the Jewish communities and divers congregations for foreign non-Catholic residents.
The Belgians, to their credit, remain staunch to the Catholic faith, and have no time or care for substitute creeds. They are divided into good Catholics and lax ones. Liberals and Socialists mostly are indifferent Catholics who usually make their peace with God before death.
The Belgian Liberal Party has many truly eminent statesmen. But M. Marcel Jaspar has no title to eminence. He is one of junior rank with some political pull or intrigue that pushes him into Cabinet after Cabinet.
Violent campaigns have been waged in the Belgian press against the presence or M. Marcel Jaspar in the Government. His financial record, it was thundered out in the headlines, was not of the standard entitling him to hold Cabinet rank and Government authority.
THEY BOXED HIS EARS When, as Minister, he paid an official visit to the Brussels Bourse, the assembled stockbrokers, carrying on their business on the floor of the Bourse, uproariously hooted him. One stockbroker soundly boxed his
earsh
The Ministry of Health over which he odes has a record that is unpalatable. Cleated solely to seat veteran Socialist Leader Emile Vandervelde in the Cabinet it was a hotbed of Socialist endeavour to nationalise and State control the human holy. That fierce pioneer of Socialism staffed it with his creatures.
Principles that outraged the Catholic moral standard were embodied in its plan and procedure. The Belgian medical profession rose up against it and press and public opinion raged with indignation. In vain. But they were silenced and overlooked by Dr. Imianitoff, son of a Russian Jew imrhigrant, the idol of the Socialist Party. the director of the Health Ministry. Finally, the Belgian Medical Association proved victoriously that the young Jewish Dr. Imianitoff's titles to practice as a doctor were irregular. Denounced as an impostor, he was condemned and now languishes in a Belgian prison.
There will lee no elation in Belgium when it transpires that it is M. Marcel H. Jaspar who has elected himself to be the champion of their " liberty and honour."