What appears to be the biggest piece of treachery in modern times took place when King Leopold III of the Belgians, against the advice of his own Cabinet, and without informing his All his intentions, announced his decision to surrender and ordered the Belgian troops to lay down their arms. The decision to surrender is in itself bad enough, but that he should have done so without warning the Allies and thus permitting them to make the best dispositions to meet the new situation created, places the whole affair in a most sinister light. Admiral Sir Roger Keyes, who has been in close liaison with the Belgian King, has appealed that judgment shall be suspended upon a very gallant officer until all the facts are known. But the main facts are already known. Nineteen days ago when the Germans commenced their invasion of the Low Countries King Leopold appealed to the Allies for assistance. Tt was given within the space of a few hours. In the days of fighting which followed, the Belgians showed their mettle ce-operating with the Allies and covering their colours with imperishable glory. Then suddenly out of the clear blue sky comes the news of this unconditional surrender by a King whose Ministers claim he is acting unconstitutionally. The Army obeyed his orders, nevertheless, and, before the Allies knew what was happening, their left flank was exposed to further German onslaught without adequate preparations having been made to face such a contingency. Was it part of the unconditional surrender by King Leopold that the Allies should be kept uninformed of his intention to surrender until it was an accomplished fact? It is quite believable that the tortuous minds of the Nazi leaders would conceive of such an idea, but utterly unbe-heyable that King Leopold could so have sacrificed his honour as to have entered into any such agreement. And yet that seems to be the only possible conclusion, for that is wherein the treachery lies. Had he informed the Allied command of what he proposed doing, it would at least have placed them upon their guard, and the fact that he did not do so must be the most telling portion of that indictment which history now sees levelled against him.
It is inconceivable that the son of so great and valiant a man as King Albert could have reached such a grave decision in the manner he has. Perhaps he was overwhelmed with the sight of the sufferings of his own people. So also was his father. He, however, stood with his people bravely with the Allies through all the dark months which had to pass before victory came in sight, and he, together with them, emerged from the struggle with his country restored. Now according to the enemy pronouncement, Belgium has ceased to exist. It will never reappear if the Allies fail in this holy war against the massed forces of evil. The Belgian Cabinet and that portion of Parliament, which is in France, and has denounced the King's action, fully realize that, and, though the Belgian army as such has ceased to have any practical interest for the Allies, Belgions in France are rallying to their support. Never has a King so falsely represented the spirit of a people, and the only conclusion at all sympathetic to him is to be drawn from the belief that the great tragedy in his personal life influenced him in his official capacity in this unfortunate manner. Of the gravity of the situation there must be no minimizing. The Allies must brace themselves to hear further bad news in the days to come. The task of ex-tricoting their forces still in north-east France will be attended with the gravest difficulties, and it may be that the losses in that area will be even graver than they are at the present. Critical as the situation is it is not hopeless. The Allies are determined that this one battle shall not decide the outcome of the war, and the partial defeat of the British Expeditionary Force will not daunt the British but stir them to greater and more far-reaching efforts. So also with France. The stirring radio address of the French Premier was in itself an. inspi Yet he merely toid the truth when he spoke of the great ability of the French people to rise to the greatest heights when the outlook seemed blackest. That is equally true of the British, and those who vividly remember the last war will recall how in the face of every discouragement, the French and the British met their difficulties in the only manner which could make victory po:
They will continue to do so now.
It is as well to endeavour to assess what has happened and what may follow in northeast France. At the commencement of the battle it was announced that the Allies including Belgium had rather more than a million men in the field there. There apparently remain French and British troops somewhere in the neighbourhood of 750,000. or perhaps a little more. Their defeat and capture, if that does occur, would deprive the remaining Allies of a large body of men but by no means sufficient to preclude them from being able to continue to offer resistance. At the most, only a minor portion of the British Forces would be lost, and a few ch divisions. The greater part of the sh Forces is still intact, and growing But the fighting in this area has not yet terminated. Whatever the outcome, it may confidently be expected that the Allies will continue to make the enemy pay as dearly as he has in the past for whatever advantages he may gain, and, if reports of casualties which they have suffered up to the present are in any way related to the facts, it may still prove to be the case that the enemy though gaining a territorial success will have paid a greater price than have the Allies in resisting him. While it is natural that the greatest attention should be paid at present to the operations on land it must never be forgotten that the enormous pressure of the Allied fleets through the blockade, which has forced Herr Hitler to embark upon this mad gamble, is still being ruthlessly applied, and that its effect is being heightened by the manner in which the Germans are making huge inroads into their stores of war material. Thus the same factors, the operation of which was expected to contribute greatly to the Allied victory, still exist, and are still exerting terrific pressure on the enemy. The latter by forcing the issue in the manner he is, is endeavouring to outrun the constable. The chances that he will succeed are not particularly favourable, and the Allied heads, though bloody, are still unbowed and are likely to remain so throughout this contest.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.