Between the neutralized state and the creators of its neutrality there thus exist reciprocal obligations. The contracting powers between them undertake engagements whereby they guarantee to the neutralized state the privileged condition of enjoying permanent peace; while on the other side, the neutralized state accepts the obligations which protect the European balance of power. In that way, each of the contracting powers is bound not to attack the neutral state; not to invite it to abandon its peaceful attitude; to defend it against any power, co-contracting or not, which would compel it to abandon its neutrality. The inviolability of the neutralized territory is agreed upon by this means, for violation would mean for such a state a breach of its own neutrality. On the other hand, the neutralized state must itself defend its neutrality, and adopt all the measures needed for such defense. For this reason, international law holds that a neutralized state which commits an act of defense is not to be considered as being in state of war with the power which violates its neutrality.[23] Moreover, the neutral state must prevent troops or convoys of a belligerent power from passing through its territory.[24] Finally, such a state ought to remain a truly independent state, for if it places or allows itself to be placed in a position of dependence upon another power it destroys the European balance of power, the origin of its international status.
Some authorities on international law[25] maintain that in case of violation of the neutral territory by a belligerent, the contracting powers have not only the right, but the duty, to interfere ex officio, and to protect the neutral state by military power, even without the consent of the latter. On this point, however, opinion is divided.
Does the neutral possess the right to conclude alliances with a foreign power? This question is a little more difficult to determine exactly, but it may be settled in the following manner. Every alliance has in view the possibility of an armed conflict. It follows logically from this that the right of the neutral state to contract alliances corresponds very closely to its right of making war. If it is necessary to forbid such a state every alliance which would tend to draw it into an armed conflict with third parties, it ought to be granted without hesitation the right of concluding any understanding which should have for its sole object the protection of the nation against foreign aggression. And a defensive agreement tending to facilitate for the neutral state the carrying out of the part it is compelled to play in the maintenance of the European balance of power—the very basis of its neutrality—is certainly permissible, and, under certain circumstances, may even seem necessary; for example, when the neutral state seems too weak to resist by its own force a possibly powerful invasion. But it is obvious that the neutral state may never conclude either an offensive or a defensive alliance which would impose upon it the obligation of possible co-operation in the defense of a foreign territory. That is the true meaning of the permanent neutrality imposed on Belgium by the Treaty of London, and it will become clearer when we look at the subsequent facts of history.
In 1870, on the eve of the Franco-German War, Bismarck, with the object of alienating from France the sympathy of the neutral nations, and especially that of England, published a draft treaty, three or four years old, and in the handwriting of Napoleon III’s ambassador, whereby France was to annex Belgium. This publication aroused public opinion in England, and, giving expression to English feeling, Disraeli told Parliament that “the treaties on which are based the independence and neutrality of Belgium” had been concluded in the general interest of Europe and also with a very clear idea of their importance for England. He added: “It is a fundamental principle of the policy of this country, that the country situated along the coasts of Dunkirk to the North Sea islands should be possessed by free and prosperous states practising the arts of peace, in order that these countries should not belong to a great military power.” In conformity with these declarations the English government proposed to France and to Prussia to observe the guaranty by way of co-operation between the English forces and the forces of one of the belligerents against the other in case of the violation by the latter of the neutrality of Belgium. This arrangement was accepted on both sides, and laid down in the formal treaties dated August 9 and 11, 1870. Those special treaties were to be in force “during the war and for one year thereafter,” and the final paragraph expressly stated that, after this period, the regulations of the Treaty of London (1839) should be regarded as in force.[26] This treaty it was that was thought to protect Belgium when the country’s neutrality was violated by Germany on August 3, 1914.
CHAPTER XIII
INDEPENDENT BELGIUM
In 1832 King Leopold I married Louise-Marie, daughter of the French King Louis-Philippe, who, through her womanly virtues, had made herself greatly beloved. The first Queen of the Belgians died in 1850, leaving three children: Leopold, Duke of Brabant, who afterward became King Leopold II; Philippe, Count of Flanders; and Charlotte, who married Archduke Maximilian of Austria. Under the patronage of Napoleon III, Maximilian was for some years Emperor of Mexico, and 2,000 Belgian volunteers followed him into that country. Napoleon III abandoned him when political troubles broke out in Mexico, and, notwithstanding the stubborn resistance he offered to the army of the Republicans, Maximilian fell into the hands of his enemies and was shot at Queretaro in 1867 by order of Juarez. As a result of this tragedy Empress Charlotte became insane.
Meanwhile the first King of the Belgians had developed the economic resources of Belgium. He was determined in his policy of maintaining the permanent neutrality of the country, as imposed by the Treaty of London. He preserved very friendly relations with Queen Victoria of England, and the correspondence between the two sovereigns shows that the first King of the Belgians would have found in her a mighty protector in the hour of trial. In a letter dated from Buckingham Palace in 1852, Queen Victoria, dealing with the fear of a coup d’état on the part of “such an extraordinary man” as Louis-Napoleon—the future Napoleon III—asserted that any violation of Belgian neutrality would mean a casus belli for her government.
How strongly the throne of Leopold I was established among his own people was shown by the fact that during the Revolution of 1848, which nearly resulted in the overthrow of all the thrones of Europe, Belgium alone kept herself aloof from the European turmoil, and some French adventurers who had tried to cross the frontier and, with the help of some unpatriotic Belgians, to proclaim a republic on Belgian soil, were quickly disarmed in the skirmish at Risquons-Tout, near Mouscron, in West Flanders. King Leopold consistently regarded himself as a constitutional king, and won thereby the confidence and the respect of the nation. During his reign Belgium gave many proofs of her spirit of enterprise and economic vitality. In 1835 she constructed the first railway that existed on the Continent, connecting Brussels and Malines. The country likewise prepared itself for defense against foreign invasion, and built the fortifications of Antwerp, making this city the ultimate bulwark of national defense. In 1860, the octrois, a sort of communal customs levied upon entering Belgian towns, were abolished; and in 1863 the tolls of the Scheldt, paid to the Dutch by all vessels coming from Antwerp, were discontinued.
From a political point of view the old union of 1828 between Catholics and Liberals had disappeared. From 1847 the personnel of the ministries was no longer composed of members of both parties, but of representatives of one party only, to the exclusion of those of the other. The Liberals were in power from 1847 to 1855; the Catholics followed, and they in turn retired before a street riot in 1857; the Liberals again held power throughout the reign of Leopold I. The first King of the Belgians died on December 10, 1865.