Mr. Bell next asked whether the Allies would have treated
Belgium differently during the war if there had not been an over- whelming demand upon their humanity. Lord French said that from a .purely military point of view the right thing would have been to apply the blockade to Belgium since it had become enemy territory. But this could not be done for the sake of the Belgian people. On the contrary, Britain and France had contributed about £22,000,000 for Belgian relief, and the Allies had also em- ployed ships which were badly needed elsewhere to carry food to Belgium. In one month thirty-four voyages had been made fiom. the Western Hemisphere to Belgium, and • in the whole course of the relief work twelve ships had been lost through the illegal warfare of the Germans. All the time the Germans had been seizing and exporting food, raw material, and machinery from Belgium. In addition to that, they had robbed the Belgians of some £10,000,000. The Allies, in fact, had relieved Germany of her obligation under international law to feed seven million Belgians. If they had not done this, the Germans would have known what it meant to have a starving population on their lines of. com- munication.
Previous page
