Declaration of Sainte-Adresse
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The Declaration of Sainte-Adresse was a diplomatic announcement made on 14 February 1916 by the principal Allied powers of the First World War (Britain, France and Russia). It was also supported by Italy and Japan. The declaration stated that the powers would refuse to sign any peace treaty ending the war that left Belgium, a neutral power at the war's start, without "political and economic independence". It was extended in April 1916 to also cover the Belgian Congo.
The majority of Belgium had been occupied by the Germans in the early stages of the First World War. A government-in-exile had been established at Sainte-Adresse in France. A minister in the cabinet, Paul Hymans, worried that his nation would not be allowed to participate in any peace treaty negotiations following the end of the war. He worried that, in the absence of a Belgian representative to argue against it, the great powers would permit Germany to retain some Belgian territory.[1] This was despite Britain, one of the principal Allied countries, entering the war to defend Belgium's neutrality (as established by the 1839 Treaty of London). British prime minister H. H. Asquith had committed to the restoration of Belgian territory as a principal war aim in a London Guildhall speech of 9 December 1914.[2] A further assurance was made by British foreign minister Edward Grey in August 1915 that Britain would insist upon restoration of full Belgian independence in any peace negotiation.[3]
Following the Italian entry into the war in May 1915, with territorial expansion promised by the Allies in the Treaty of London, Belgium considered renouncing her neutrality to secure similar rewards. However this was considered unacceptable by the Belgian government and the Allies. On 20 December the Belgian cabinet directed the foreign minister, Baron Napoléon-Eugène Beyens, to seek a commitment from the Allies to a Belgian seat at any peace conference and to continue to safeguard her neutrality. Beyens visited Paris to meet with the French government but before he could visit London the British set in motion their own plans. The British had been spurred on by the Belgian concerns over the peace conference and were also keen to counter defeatism in occupied Belgium and to reinvigorate support for the war in Belgian king Albert I.[4] Britain also thought a conciliatory gesture was advisable following their opposition to the American supply of food to occupied Belgium, arguing that it assisted Germany.[5]
