348     THE PARIS PEACE CONFERENCE, 1919, VOLUME V
of from 30 to 40 million francs a month to the Belgian Government.
There had been an increase in the cost of living amounting to 300
per cent; yet in spite of all these difficulties the country was quiet and
the working classes were maintaining order. Two things and two
things only made it possible to maintain this order, namely first the
good organization of the labour party and second the fact that the
Government was committed to obtain for the Belgian people a full
measure of Reparation and Indemnity. The working classes were
quiet because they relied upon the Government to ensure that Belgium
would be completely restored. If satisfaction were not given to this
expectation the very existence of the Belgian Government would be-
come impossible.
M. Van der Velde said that he could not be suspected of not belong-
ing to the party of moderation. He represented the working classes
of Belgium and he was no supporter of exaggerated
Comparison of
Belgium With  claims, but he demanded the fulfilment of the solemn
Serbia and Roumania .
promises which had been given to Belgium by her
Allies. He protested against the comparison of the position of Bel-
gium with that of Serbia or Roumania. The Allies rendered a great
service to Serbia when they came into the war, whereas Belgium, by
defending her neutrality, had rendered a great service to the Allies.
Belgium came into the war unconditionally, but Roumania came in
only on stipulated terms and on condition that she should obtain a
reward which was now assured to her. The other Allies were all
receiving territorial compensation and it would be an intolerable con-
clusion if Belgium were deprived of her just claims as the result of her
magnanimity in trusting only to the essential justice of her cause.
M. Van der Velde said that in 1917, just after the Russian revolu-
tion, he was speaking to the most extreme revolutionaries who objected
to the payment of an Indemnity of any sort, but even they made an
exception to their rule in favour of Belgium. Even the German
Chancellor, Bethmann Hollweg admitted that Germany must make
compensation for the wrong which had been done to Belgium. How
then could the Allies now refuse, seeing that the Belgian claims were
not so much for a privileged position as for the very existence of their
country. Mr. Lloyd George had said the other day that he felt a
thrill of pride at the distinction which had been drawn by M. Van
der Velde himself between the English and the Russian methods. If
Belgium were to continue to apply and develop the English method
of social reconstruction it was essential that the expectation of her
working classes should not be disappointed.