800.51W89 Belgium/217: Telegram
The Ambassador in Belgium (Gibson) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 21—1:25 p.m.]
98. I have learned from a very confidential source how the Belgian default came about. A brief report may be useful in understanding possible future developments.
On December 13th it was informally decided by the Cabinet that the payment would be made the 15th. Technical arrangements were made to effect the payment and an official note to that effect appeared in the afternoon papers. The King was so informed and gave his approval in the afternoon.
The last meeting of the outgoing Cabinet was then held to record a definite decision on this and other matters. Theunis, Minister of War, claimed that he had not been consulted, completely lost his temper and set out to make the Cabinet reverse its decision. Having failed to win over his colleagues by financial arguments it appears that he threatened to overthrow the new ministry by appealing to Parliament sooner than face new governmental upsets. The entire Cabinet capitulated but only after angry interchanges which have left much bad feeling and resulted in Theunis being left out of the new Cabinet.
The Cabinet decision was communicated to the Belgian Ambassador in Washington before the King was informed. On learning of this he was indignant, first, because of the way he had been ignored in reversing a decision of such importance and, second, because of what he considers a decision disastrous to Belgian credit. He expressed himself forcibly on the whole subject and said he proposed to attend yesterday’s Cabinet meeting and demand action and as far as possible remedy the harm already done. Unfortunately his anger seems to have cooled in the interval and, although he gave definite orders as to being consulted in the future and expressed himself as to the stupidity on the action taken, he did not as I am informed make any demands for remedial action.