79 quotes found
"The real father of the Atlantic Alliance was Stalin. It is he who has the right to a monument in each of our countries."
"There are only two types of states in Europe: small states, and small states that have not yet realized they are small."
"NATO was a triumph of organization and effort, but is was also something very new and very different. For NATO derived its strength directly from the moral values of the people it represented, from their high ideals, their love of liberty, and their commitment to peace. But perhaps the greatest triumph of all was not in the realm of a sound defense or material achievement. No, the greatest triumph after the war is that in spite of all of the chaos, poverty, sickness, and misfortune that plagued this continent, the people of Western Europe resisted the call of new tyrants and the lure of their seductive ideologies. Your nations did not become the breeding ground for new extremist philosophies. You resisted the totalitarian temptation. Your people embraced democracy, the dream the Fascists could not kill. They chose freedom. And today we celebrate the leaders who led the way—Churchill and Monnet, Adenauer and Schuman, De Gasperi and Spaak, Truman and Marshall. And we celebrate, too, the free political parties that contributed their share of greatness—the Liberals and the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats and Labour and the Conservatives. Together they tugged at the same oar, and the great and mighty ship of Europe moved on."
"Although most western European leaders had reservations about the concept of a full European federation, a majority of them, especially among Christian Democrats, agreed that the ECSC created a foundation to build on. Even Winston Churchill, back as British prime minister after the 1950 elections, had called for a “United States of Europe,” though he had doubted that the British Commonwealth would be part of it. In 1956 a committee under Belgian foreign minister Paul-Henri Spaak set out proposals for what a year later became the Treaty of Rome, creating the European Economic Community (EEC). The EEC built directly on the ECSC. It had the same member states and the same supranational approach to economic integration. But it had a much wider remit, and would, over the generation that followed, remake western Europe as a unifying economic zone."
"A people needs air, broad horizons, an ideal which charms its imagination and makes its heart beat; reduce it to household calculations, to the politics of party interests, it will disintegrate and corrupt itself."
"The doctrine of state ownership of land established since 1890 is the exact opposite of free trade, the new doctrine is reprehensible, going against both the natural rights of the indigenous people who will be deprived, and the rights of the Imperial powers as determined in the act of Berlin."
"The desert reveals its secrets; the great mystery of interior Africa is revealed day by day."
"Everything seems to indicate that a decisive hour has sounded in the history of the world, the hour when an almost virgin continent and ignored races will cooperate in the work of humanity."
"Wherever this regime has been applied in one form or another, it has led to economic stagnation and decline and political revolt."
"The King isolates himself and becomes less and less accessible to our advice."
"You may want to, Sire, but then you will find someone other than me to carry out such a will."
"From a moral point of view, there is a way to whitewash negroes, and to this view Africa undoubtedly presents the largest field that can be cultivated."
"Belgium only does pure philanthropy."
"The more we increase in numbers, the more we starve and become poorer. ... Either our population will shrink, or our territory will expand."
"The King is no longer the same; the change of character and spirit observed in him for two or three years is accentuated and makes fear of a catastrophe, at a time when he had only to let it go to be a remarkable King, perhaps to become a large figure."
"By the end of 1892, all the King's collaborators during the first and second phases of Belgian work in the Congo had therefore ceased to participate. M. van Eetvelde, who had increasingly isolated himself from them, remained alone in possession of the sovereign's confidence, with the sole program of being the passive instrument of his designs. This third phase of the administration of the state of Congo affected all signs of impending dissolution."
"Honest man, great citizen, modest servant of the country, who was always in pain, rarely in the spotlight, and who has not been replaced."
"Freedom of trade and navigation in the Congo Basin, exclusion from any differential treatment, assimilation of foreigners to nationals in civil and commercial terms, prohibition of entry rights for twenty years, condemnation of trafficking. There is only one downside: the African work does not have the international character that he would have liked."
"Emile Banning's ideology was based on "three noble principles": God, Freedom and Fatherland."
"The Christian inspiration from Chateaubriand and the love for nature underline Banning's romantic character. At the same time, Banning shared in the colonial ideology of Brialmont and Lambermont, which seemed rather based on a positivist principle: the 'struggle for life' of little Belgium. Emile Banning developed another positivist variant based on the inequality of races and peoples. Each race or people, which in the course of history had established a territory for itself, largely determined its historical fate, but could also suffer its fate. Banning thus formed a vision of history based on the organic needs of peoples. The Germanic race was at the same time the great example for Banning because of their growing self-esteem and romantic nation-building, and the great ogre, because their recent state growth could have negative territorial consequences for small Belgium."
"Emile Banning was a young man who, like the king, had a limp and went on to create a furore as a romantic imperialist of the most dangerous sentimental kind. … Banning's liberalism was of the kind that sought to divide people into races, then formulate the true historical fate for each race, a belief that was already degenerating into a fertilizer that fueled the growth of racist fascism in Europe."
"For him to colonize was above all to civilize."
"My dear Mr. Banning, I am returning the 2nd sheet to you. I find this of extreme interest. You would have to read many volumes to acquire the geographical notions that you have so condensed into a few pages. I read this with great charm. You're giving the matter a nice boost. I have no comments to make. I made a small cross at the top of page 28, because I thought it was better to put "revise" instead of "revis" or "undertook" instead of "undertakes." A thousand friendships. (s) Jules Van Praet."
"It's my ruin you stipulate and you can't want it."
"I want it to be and it will be."
"The slave trade has another character; it is the very denial of every law, of all social order. Man-hunting constitutes a crime of high treason against humanity. It ought to be repressed wherever it can be reached, on land as well as by sea."
"No doubt whatever exists as to the strict and literal sense which should be assigned to the term in commercial matters. It refers exclusively to traffic, to the unlimited power of every one to sell and to buy, to import and to export products and manufactured articles. No privileged situation can be created under this head, the way remains open without any restrictions to free competition in the domain of commerce, but the obligations of local Governments do not go beyond that point."
"It is experience, which will then inspire the interested Powers with the most favourable resolutions for the development of commercial progress in their possessions."
"Those who want to know my thoughts will always be able to do so: it will suffice for them to consult my work."
"It was no coincidence that dictated my choice. Peace was definitively signed, the country's political constitution in full force, but Belgium was still looking for its ways in the commercial field. That’s where the point was."
"When Leopold had an idea in his head, it was impossible to make him quit."
"With regard to the industrial and commercial relations that China seeks to create in Europe, and the agents that it would like to recruit there for internal works or its administration, Belgium can offer it resources equal to those of the States of first order. In addition, the country's situation, its essentially peaceful character, precludes any possibility of political conflict."
"Mistrust of the foreigner is still at the bottom of the minds of the Chinese. One way if not to destroy, at least to mitigate these prejudices, would be to put the study committee under a neutral banner. The committee would be made up of capitalists and industrialists eager to prepare for the success of lucrative enterprises or of politicians willing to serve the cause of civilization with their help."
"Feelings of humanity and commiseration erupt on their own when we deliberate with our feet in the blood."
"The ivory issue worries me more and more. I am not forgetting any of the considerations that Your Majesty has deigned to point out to me, but commerce will want to be reassured as to the limits of competition."
"Never have I had the impression of such a moral and civic downfall. In no country, not even the last of the last, what is happening here would be possible."
"There is no such thing as exclusively national thinking. The work intended to benefit science and humanity necessarily interests everyone, but Belgium and its Sovereign will indirectly derive honor and great moral benefit from it; in this sense, there is a truly and usefully Belgian thought. We do not have a view of colonial acquisition, but over time trade will undoubtedly find its value there as well."
"He even carried on me the paternal feeling, that his bachelor's heart could not find to spend."
"It is difficult in each case and in each of these innumerable projects, to determine with rigorous precision what was the role of Lambermont; but always, we will see him intervening as a political or legal adviser, pointing out the possible steps of clerics, opening the eyes of the Prince to difficulties he had not perceived, channeling his ardor in the direction of realism and 'efficiency."
"From the start of his career, Lambermont sensed that the Chinese Empire could one day become a vast field for our activity and offer us virtually inexhaustible resources."
"The choice of Baron Lambermont, secretary general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, collaborator and intimate adviser to the King, consummate diplomat and world celebrity, was appropriate. It was to him that in 1874 the King had said: “I would like to do something in Africa; I've been thinking about this for a few days now and would like you to help me. Here are my first impressions, think about it. I know your talent and your sagacious and devoted mind; I know that the day you get down to it, I will be able to count on you. peaceful and humanitarianism is my only concern.""
"What is lacking to Lambermont's glory is a book signed with his name, summarizing his doctrine and the lessons of his experience. But if one searched the archives of the Foreign Ministry, one would find countless reports, a multitude of notes and instructions written by his hand or at his dictation. It is hoped that their counting will tempt some historian who will undertake to write the annals of the Leopoldian period."
"I have no other desire than to leave Belgium bigger, stronger and more beautiful."
"Belgium is a boiler that needs valves."
"At the moment, neither the Spanish, the Portuguese, nor the Dutch are willing to sell. I intend to discreetly inform myself if in Africa if there is nothing to do."
"Thanks for explanations. Since Belgian nationality is useless, isn't it better to travel an African traveler who will have more authority than me? Fear of increasing financial embarrassment. Nevertheless am at the disposal of the King, but of course I will never be under the orders of a foreigner"
"I thought about it carefully and I remained convinced that there is no place in Belgium that it could be more desirable for me to represent than Antwerp. ... I have always been imbued with the conviction that matters which particularly affect the prosperity of Antwerp should have a large part in the care of the government. Belgium had its era of commercial activity, because at that time it had ready-made means of selling the products of its manufactures. I think that the efforts of the government must tend to restore life to maritime trade, to multiply the means of exchange with overseas countries, to replace the colonial outlets which we have lost, to facilitate commercial relations with a liberal legislation."
"Always tell the truth, even if it should make him jump out of his shoe."
"His Majesty has long been imbued with the immense utility which would result for Belgium from the possession of some commercial establishment outside her territory, outside the European continent. This thought constantly preoccupied the King."
"There is no longer a single government that colonizes. There is only individual colonization."
"He was not the result of an eminent virtue: a small dose of male selfishness, coupled with a certain contempt or rather a slight disdain for women, always kept him away from the sacrament of marriage."
"No one knows if Leopold I made Van Praet, or if Van Praet made Leopold I."
"He is hardly interested in foreign matters, except when they are of direct and immediate interest to the country."
"Van Praet and Devaux were not concerned with the Congo. They both expressed a desire to be kept out of the "African adventure." For Mr. Van Praet, laden with years and involved for half a century in the history of the dynasty, this abstention was natural. As for his nephew, he had not concealed from the King, with his usual frankness, the disappointments and the dangers he faced. The prevailing opinion at court was that the founding of a colony was beyond the strength of the Sovereign of a small country and that he would encompass his private fortune, without being able to create anything lasting. ... He (Leopold II) did not try to overcome Mr. Devaux's disbelief and did without his services."
"A man of struggle and controversy, discussed and often vilified by the small press, I have always been an embarrassment to those who have employed me. My character and my faults are not an obstacle to my useful service in the active army, but they will make me ill-suited to fulfill the duties of the King's aide-de-camp which require extreme reserve and prudence."
"Beyens for Tonkin, certainly did not encourage him, he just obeyed."
"Did he believe in Tonkin, and in the advantages it could offer for Belgium? It is permissible to doubt it, and even to believe the contrary."
"I am the most opposed to these dreams of settlements. ... I am convinced that these are companies that can only lead to setbacks of all kinds. ... I'm telling you this to explain my extreme coldness on the subject."
"I am dragged in spite of myself in this damn Africa business; a toy which, it is true, will hurt no one; which excites geographers, but which will make people laugh here."
"Everything you say about Tonkin. is very fair, this one is a dangerous toy."
"The King decreases his alms. All of this. All the money saved goes to Africa. What will it be like when you have conquered Tonkin?"
"I think sire, that you would be wrong to give the slightest publicity to this writing, and even to communicate it to the person who asked you for it."
"I am not telling you this, Monsignor, in the interest of the project that I am going to defend in the chamber and in front of the country, but in your personal interest. Believe me, Monsignor, we are entering an era where a Prince cannot be too circumspect and cautious. Avoid getting into our discussions and our controversies, avoid taking sides in our struggles."
"I'm still working, but we have to start by putting forward a diplomatic arrangement. This point obtained, we would have a good chance of success. For the moment, the Belgian shipping word in China should not be used at any price."
"A Prince must not speak the language of the tribunes and proclaim absolute principles in terms which are likely to deeply offend those who are of another opinion than his own."
"Whatever my desire to acquire a colony for Belgium, I hardly regret the impossibility in which I am to act. I do find that our position is only getting worse."
"The stay in Madrid having made me lose the few illusions I still had about the Philippines affair, I asked and already obtained, several months ago, permission to no longer deal with it and since then, I had never heard of it again."
"His conduct will very soon give rise to a very lively debate; or it will justify itself and it will be very good to use; or he will fail to do so and, in this case, we will be glad to have no connection or relationship of any kind with a compromising ally."
"Obviously, we are leaving the humanitarian and scientific plan to risk a business whose commercial aspects seem to lack sufficient bases, and which, on top of that, seems fraught with national and international difficulties."
"Both peers gain each other's trust. Leopold gives Jules Greindl new courage."
"The King wants a colony, and Greindl is only aiming for commercial expansion"
"Nothing that impressed Africa was foreign to him. Without needing to go and look there, he knew the dark continent, as if he had been its explorer, and he followed step by step the discoveries, which he noted in his prodigious memory and on the maps displayed on it. Table."
"The prevailing opinion at court was that the founding of a colony was beyond the strength of the Sovereign of a small state and that he would swallow up his private fortune, unable to create anything lasting. The King sought for the execution of his designs collaborators possessed of the faith which he himself had and which lifts mountains."
"But it would not be reckless to say that from the start the King dreamed of founding a Belgian colony. Many times I have heard him say, when the Independent State emerged from its swaddling clothes like a newborn baby trying to walk: "I work there for Belgium"."