The claims which Belgium will make at the Allied conclave
on the Peace terms are now clearly, though unofficially, foreshadowed. She desires to recover the frontier strip, including Malmedy, annexed by Prussia in 1815 ; the portion of Limburg, including Maestricht, assigned to Holland in 1831 and 1839 ; and the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, arbitrarily severed from the Belgian province in 1831 and 1839. Further, Belgium demands the right to use the Schelde in war or in peace, so that Antwerp may not again be cut off from help by sea, as it was in 1914. The unneutral action of the Dutch in allowing a large part of the German army in Belgium to escape the Allies by passing through Dutch Limburg, taking their plunder with them, has naturally annoyed the Belgian Government, which has informed Holland that it will retaliate by sending war material and troops up the Schelde to Antwerp. The Dutch by their excessive subservience to the enemy have forfeited the sympathy of the Allies, but there is no disposition to deal unfairly with them.
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