Count Gerald O'Kelly de Gallagh to Desmond FitzGerald (Dublin)
(Confidential)

A Chara,

You will remember when I was in Ireland last Spring, after lunching with the Governor General, I asked you for a document certifying that both myself and my wife had been officially presented. This document was necessary before we could be presented at the Belgian Court. Well, a Court ball took place last week and you will be interested to hear that at last the presentation in question was achieved. The application was in the first instance put in by Sir George Graham, who was very pleasant over the whole thing, though rather worried as to what uniform I should wear. When I told him that our official uniform was just plain evening dress, he appeared to be quite satisfied - Indeed he could not well have been anything else, insofar as the matter could hardly be said to be a direct concern of his - but that was not the end of the matter. When I received the official invitation from the Grand Maréchal de la Cour, this invitation was sent through the Embassy and bore on it the legend 'Uniforme ou habit de cour'. In a moment of friendly zeal on my behalf, which I believe to have been genuine (since our interview last month we are now figuratively all over each other) Sir George immediately sent down the first secretary to the office of the Grand Maréchal to point out that in the case in question, my uniform is merely evening dress. He told me over the telephone that he did this so as to make sure that I should have no difficulty in being admitted in the event of my coming in evening dress. The Grand Maréchal was absent, but his No. 2, the Comte Guy d'Oultremont, was very emphatic in stating that evening dress could not be recognised as uniform for anybody other than a member of the corps diplomatique. He advanced many cogent reasons for this ruling, all of them based on the sanctity of tradition. When the first secretary returned to the British Embassy, Sir George rang me up, told me of the conversation with d'Oultremont and suggested that if I had not a court suit available, I should compromise by wearing a military uniform, had I still possessed one as a relic of my British Army days. I thanked him for his efforts on my behalf and accepted his suggestion that I should make any demarches I wished myself with the Palace authorities. I need not tell you that the suggestion of appearing at the Court ball in British uniform appealed more to my sense of the ridiculous than of the fitting. The whole thing appeared to me to be a storm in a tea-cup, but still when you are in Rome you must do as Rome does. Fortunately the Court ball was put off from the 27th of January to the 2nd of February, owing to the death of Cardinal Mercier and this gave me time to get my bearings. Knowing the democratic tendency at present in control of the Affaires Etrang?s, I took the opportunity of mentioning the case to Rolin, the chef de cabinet. As I expected he jumped saying: 'Qui vous a dit ca? Mais c'est parfaitement idiot!' He then prepared to attack the Palace authorities by telephone, but in the meantime, not having the smallest confidence in the outcome of the intervention, I made my own arrangements and was finally presented in full court dress. I confess that this dress is such that apart from the court hat which I had to my credit and the striped waistcoat which my butler has to his, it would be hard to tell one from the other.

A very noticeable feature in the Court ball was the fact that none of the Socialist ministers was present. In all there were about 3000 guests and I think I met there everybody whom I knew. The invitations were for 8.15. Presentations did not take place until, I should say about 9.30 and at 11 o'clock both myself and my wife were very glad to get home.

The entertainment is of a very national nature in this sense that all phases of public life, with the notable exception of the socialists, are represented. The entire corps diplomatique attend in full regalia. Most of the official world is there, from heads of the Departments down to comparatively junior officials, while of course, the noblesse, the bar, finance, the army and the universities are much in evidence.

Personally I am of opinion that the abstention of the socialist element is in the nature of a sop to the extreme doctrinaire element in the party, because, as I have stated, the Bal de la Cour appears to foreigners at all events as an extremely democratic festival.

The local temperament is fond of display and if there were a republican regime in force to-morrow, I am perfectly convinced that there would soon be found a suitable substitute for the Bal de la Cour which would probably be christened 'Bal du Président'.

To come back to the personal question, I am very glad indeed that we went and were seen there, because many persons could not understand why we were not there before and seemed to consider that the British Embassy were keeping us out.

On the 5th of the month, we went to a reception of the American Embassy. It is always good to be seen at the American receptions, because particularly since they have acquired the Palais d'Assche for an Embassy, the American prestige and influence here both socially and officially is considerably increased. This is also largely due to the personality of the present Ambassador and his wife, who recently showed us several unmistakable signs of friendliness. A couple of days afterwards, I was present at a reception by Madame Jules Destrée. Her salon usually assembles politicians and intellectuals of the liberal and socialist colours. Her husband was once Minister of Education here and was formerly Minister in Petersburg. He is one of the leading intellectual lights of the socialist party. At the same time his relations are fairly catholic and one meets all shades in his house. Funnily enough, the first person who came up to me there and asked to be introduced is the new Chef du Protocole at the Affaires Etrangères, Monsieur Papeians de Morchoven. I am to see him again one of these days for a longer informal chat. I told him that his Department had probably been worried by my existence, in the past, but it is significant that when taking over control, he should go out of his way to approach me personally.

Last Friday night, I attended a lecture at the Gaulois given by Monsieur Maurice Despret, President of the Banque de Bruxelles. Taxation has been drawn very high in Belgium recently, partly owing to its weight and partly to what Despret claims to be its inequitable incidence, a good deal of feeling has been roused in financial, commercial and industrial circles, that is to say, in about half the population of Belgium and Monsieur Despret has launched a campaign for the institution of what would correspond to a Geddes Committee for reform of Belgian finances, as well as for the reduction of current expenditure. He has been carrying the firey cross around various towns in Belgium recently and his lecture at the Gaulois obtained a full house. Various Government Committees have been set up from time to time to study questions of national economy, but they have all had more or less a party colour and Despret is out for a non-party committee consisting of at the most five men who could justly be described as national figures in the worlds of finance, industry, commerce, cooperation and officialdom. He claims that such a committee should be given full authority to hear evidence and not only to study possibilities of Departmental economy, but also to study reforms in the whole method of raising revenue. He claims that the report of such a committee could not be ignored by either the Government or Parliament and cites as an example the operation of the Geddes Committee in England. He is founding a Ligue de l'Intér?Public for which he is inviting membership. This Ligue is at present being boosted in a number of papers and is intended to serve as the medium whereby the public can keep contact with the Committee in question. Despret's lecture achieved a great success in the Gaulois, as indeed his lectures achieved a great success wherever he has delivered them. At the same time, I am not prepared to state as yet what is the general opinion in the country concerning the necessity for such a Ligue or the efficacity of Mr. Despret's remedy for the admittedly bad condition of Belgian finance. Nine tenths of the audience, in the Gaulois at all events[,] were of the higher bourgeoisie and military elements. Industry and finance and the liberal professions were strongly represented as well as the Belgian fascist committee. Under the circumstances it is not surprising that any manifestation which could be used as a stick to belabour the present coalition Government would be welcome. The military and the fascist element are particularly aggrieved with the Government's army policy at the moment, which is one of retrenchment. Yesterday several regiments were disbanded and their standards solemnly handed in to the Musée de l'Armée. In this the policy of the Belgian Government is similar to that of practically all European Governments since the war. There is no doubt that there was a good deal of popular sentiment aroused by the sight of the passing of these troops, but at the same time, I do not believe that there would be any popular demand against the disbanding of the troops, though the occasion yesterday was seized upon by certain groups to manifest against the prime minister, the Vicomte Poullet, who is a catholic, but who is accused of having sold the Catholic party to the socialists. The anti-Poullet manifestation went to the extent of his being spat upon by the crowd, but it is hard to tell how far this reflects more than a party attitude.

There has been a crisis in the Minist? de la Défense Nationale for some time past, because, owing to the programme of reforms sanctioned by the coalition cabinet, it had been determined to reduce the period of service of the conscripts to six months. The Minister for War, the General Kestens, resigned a couple of weeks ago and it was popularly stated in the conservative press that he resigned because of his opposition to this measure. At the same time, there seems to be no doubt that the m tive which he gives himself for his resignation is the application of the six months service to the 1926 recruits instead of to the 1928. His resignation was followed by that of the chief of the staff and in the meantime the prime minister has taken over ad interim the Ministry of Defence. That is the situation as it stands and I confess that I do not anticipate any immediate trouble.

The Government are confronted with an imperative necessity to effect economies and that they should cut down the army in the circumstances, particularly with a semi socialist Government in power was perfectly obvious. On reading through the latter part of this letter I find myself rubbing my eyes and wondering if I have been writing to you about Belgium, or if you have been writing to me about Ireland within the last couple of years. If fellow feelings have the value that is usually ascribed to them the 'relations' between Belgium and Ireland ought to be very cordial.