Paris, May 29, The Belgian Foreign Minister, M. Paul-Henri Spaak, in an exclusive interview with the United Press last night, said King Leopold, King of the Belgians, had decided last Saturday to order the Belgian armies, in his role of commander-in-chief, to cease fighting.
M. Spaak said that after a stormy scene with the King, four members of the Belgian Cabinet—The Premier, M. Hubert Pierlot, the Minister of National Defence, Lieut-Gen, Henri Denis, the Minister of the Interior, M. A. Vanderpoorten, and M. Spaak—quit the Wynondal Castle, near Thorout, Belgium, declaring their complete discord with the King's desire to surrender unconditionally and proclaimed their intention to continue the war against Germany.
As far as the Cabinet knows, M. Spaak said, King Leopold is still free and is not a prisoner of the Germans. But they had had no word from him since Saturday at 5 a.m., he said. At that time he invited the ministers to remain with him and proclaimed his intention to stay in Belgium, regardless of what happened.
The King gave his Cabinet to understand that in surrendering he would ask the privilege of residing at a Belgian castle near the coast, "King's Order Ilegal M. Spaak said the Cabinet could not dethrone a King, nor could a Belgian King unseat a cabinet. The Belgian constitution, which was specially framed to curb the King's royal prerogatives, protected the democratic institution by obliging the King to obtain the signature of a minister to all royal acts and decrees. Thus, the Cabinet contends, the King's decree ordering the Belgian Army to lay down their arms is illegal, because, even as Commander-in-Chief, the King needs the signature of a minister before his orders can be legal.
For that reason there is no question of replacing King Leopold or the establishing a regency or a republic, M. Spaak continued, He said there would be no change in the status of the three royal children, who will be watched over by the Cabinet, and the 1,500,000 Belgian refugees, whose new seat of Government in exile will be Poitiers, only a few miles from the castle where the two princes and the princess live with their royal tutors.
300,000 May Be Raised M. Spaak, physically worn out after three sleepless nights, received a United Press correspondent immediately after M. Pierlot had defined the cabinet's policy in a radio broadcast and pledged that Belgium would continue prosecuting the war.
M. Spaak predicted that Belgium will be able to raise between 250,000 and 300,000 troops, who will fight under the Belgian flag, though there will be a great shortage of trained officers.
"The King's decision was given at Wynondal Castle at 5 a.m. Saturday," M. Spaak said in describing the meeting between cabinet members and King Leopold. "He invited the cabinet to his residence and told us frankly the latest military reports showed the Belgian Army was taking the brunt of the attack and was suffering heavy losses and his decision was that the Belgian Army should withdraw from the war.
"We made a last effort to convince the King to listen to our pleas, quit the army and go either to France or England, leaving the active field command to the Belgian General Staff. The King refused and said he had no intention of quitting Belgian soil and invited us to remain with him to await the Germans' arrival.
"In the face of the King's formal declaration he had no intention of leaving Belgium, we told him frankly we did not share his views on surrender and we begged him to leave with us immediately. Our efforts were futile, so at 5 a.m., when it was daylight, we quit the castle and went to Dunkirk, where, amid an air raid, we embarked safely and reached another French port."—United Press.
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