Page:Emile Vandervelde - Three Aspects of the Russian Revolution - tr. Jean Elmslie Henderson Findlay (1918).djvu/269

 to the declaration added by Belgium to the general reply made by the Allies to President Wilson. There it is expressly stated that the nation which before the War only wished to live at peace with its neighbours has to-day no other aim than the establishment of peace and order. But that she insists on a peace which would assure the country legitimate reparation and the guarantee of future security.

The refusal of all annexation does not necessarily imply the maintenance of the territorial statu quo, we have already pointed out that the modification of frontiers seems legitimate to us when it conforms to the wishes of the inhabitants. With regard to Belgium we see two possible applications of this general principle.

There are in the neighbourhood of Stavelot several villages, at present attached to Prussia, which appear to wish to become Belgian again. The peace treaty would grant them their aspiration if this aspiration were clearly expressed.

In the same way the little state of Luxembourg, numbering hardly 200,000 inhabitants, provided that her return to