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Show BELGIUM SEEKS FOLLjfiEEOOi No Longer Content With Status of Guaranteed Neutral State. WASHINGTON, Nov. 12. The Belgian legation, in an official statement today, announced that Belgium will no longer submit to a status of "guaranteed neutrality," neu-trality," like that which existed before the war. It aspires to "complete independence: inde-pendence: to the rights common to all I free peoples." "A return to 'the status quo of 1833,' " the statement said, will entail a perpetual intrusion by Germany upon the domestic life of the nation, and create a situation 'intolerable to public opinion and, certain to cause serious difficulties.' "The note of December 24. 1917," said the statomont addressed by the Belgian government to the pope in reply to the pontifical message advances as one of the Indispensable conditions of a just peace as far as Bolgtum is concerned, 1 political, economic and military indc-! indc-! pendence without condition or restriction.' Opposes Neutrality. "Theoe words arc explicit. Tile Belgian Bel-gian government is opposed to the re-I re-I establishment of obligatory, permanent ! neutralization which would fetter its free- I dotn of action without Insuring peace to the nation. It aspires to complete Independence, Inde-pendence, to the rights common to all free peoples. "This status wlil free Belgium from F foreign control, and give her the right to make such arrangements for the defense as would seem, under the given condi- ttons, to he most effective and to regulate, regu-late, furthermore, according to her own interests, her economic relations. "Belgium must be allowed freedom to ; determine her own destiny; she must be I free to adopt of her own volition a polioy w'.dch shall keep her outside of the great j fl international competitions and permit tier, l, if some new danger should threaten, to l take any necessary measure to defeat S; the hostile designs directed against her. Fears Teuton Malignity. I'M "The future of the country will depend , i on the wisdom and the will of tile nation, J j as well as upon the constant interest of '1; all the great powers in a free, strong II Belgium. The interest of the powers in jib tue maintenance of her independence Is 101 a substantial and durable guarantee to 111 which treaties add but formal extent con- ftrmatlon. What weight and what confl-VI confl-VI deuce, for example, could Belgium attach 10 'he renewal by Germany of an agree-1 agree-1 I "ent which has been brutally and cvnl-; cvnl-; I cally broken? Such a promise would bo ll purely derisive. . (I "Moreover, the events of the last four Jl years render a return to the status quo m of 1S39 impossible. It would entail a per- W petual Intrusion by Germany upon the T domestic life of the nation. The enemy, J the Invader, the occupant of yesterday B would not fail to keep jealous watch over the execution of the obligations which he had imposed upon the country and would subject it to a regime of superintendence super-intendence and investigation Intolerable 10 public opinion, and certain to cause serious difficulties." |