If you are a Dutchman from Utrecht, and you read something in the Utrechtsch Provinciaal en Stedelijk Dagblad, you know it must be true. Last week this leading provincial newspaper of the Netherlands shocked the rich burghers of quaint old Utrecht—and shocked Europe—by chargin, that a most nefarious secret military agreement was entered into on July 7, 1927, by France and Belgium (with Great Britain sitting in) and is still in force.
Disquieting to all Europeans was Dagblad's assertion that Belgium stands committed to mobilize a minimum of 600,000 men, and France a minimum of 1,200,000 for immediate joint action to repel aggression against either state by Germany, Italy or Spain. Such an agreement—declared by Dagblad to run for 25 years—might indeed stir profound uneasiness. But worse still, according to Dagblad, the General Staffs of France and Belgium plan to seize the offensive, in any future war with Germany, by advancing their troops across the Dutch province of Limburg. Thus Limburg would be "violated," as was Belgium!
No sooner had the Utrecht story broken last week, than it was declared by Foreign Office statesmen in Brussels and Paris to have been "entirely falsified." This, however, did not satisfy Queen Wilhelmina's large, stiff-necked, smugly garbed Foreign Minister, Jonkheer Beelaerts Van Bloklund (TIME, Aug. 27), long since nicknamed by correspondents "Blunt Beelaerts." From London, where he chanced to be last week, the Jonkheer instructed Her Majesty's diplomatic representatives in France and Belgium to demand official confirmation or denial of Dagblad's charges. Rarely has a news "scare story" been taken so seriously by a phlegmatic minister of the Dutch Crown.
Presently the Foreign Minister of King Albert of the Belgians—M. Paul Hymans —declared in the Belgian Chamber of Deputies with empressement:
"The alleged military agreement is a lie and an audacious falsehood! It was the work of a criminal!" A similar disclaimer was soon issued by French Foreign Minister Aristide Briand. None the less the responsible Dutch press of Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague continued to display alarm. The extreme view was taken by Amsterdam's potent Socialist daily Volk. After graphically prophesying the "Violation of Limburg" by English troops, its editor sarcastically observed: "And this is the same England which in 1914 declared war because of the violation of Belgium's neutrality!"