I wish to express my gratitude to His Majesty for the appointment to the Senate which I humbly accept. I shall use my remaining years to serve the Belgian people to the best of my abilities.
I also thank His Majesty for the appointment to the Royal Order of the Lion. I accept this honour as a recognition not of my work but of the tireless work of the members of my Ministry of Commerce who laboured over those 20 years to keep the wheels of industry turning.
Finally, I wish to thank the Prime Minister for the nominations to the above honours. His persistence is greatly appreciated and I wish him all the best during these difficult times.
Sir Edmund Burke (KL)
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Colonial Supervision bill, as revised: Nay
Savarin's Colonial Proposal: Aye
Firstly, I must join others in extending congratulations to our armed forces. As I have previously remarked, our Army and Navy are the shining light in the abysmal administration of M. de Lannoy, due in no small fact that they were the products of more capable governments which predated the current cabinet. The BSU greatly appreciates the service of our soldiers and sailors who should not be misled by the reactionary propaganda which only seeks to manipulate their affections for the reactionaries own malevolent purposes. I agree that Generals Thadee and van Buskirk ought to be recognised for their outstanding service. My son, Etienne, can speak of nothing but the brilliance of the execution of Plan Telamon which must surely stand out in the annals of military history. However, I would strongly counsel against adopting any titles such as "Victor of Sokot" given the likely public association with similar titles bandied about by the conservative madman van der Goltz.
More importantly, it is a sad indictment of the Cabinet of M. de Lannoy that in less than 5 years he has managed to undo the good work of the previous 25 years. It is the sickest of jokes to appoint my father, who guided Belgium through the Reconstruction, resulting in full employment, at the very time when we are forced to consider the necessity of unemployment benefits following the RU mismanagement of our workforce and factories.
Unfortunately the current administration has adopted the all too familiar tune of blaming others for the problems they have created. They curse the symptoms of social unrest when they are the disease which has inflamed the body politic of Belgium. Through their incompetence and self serving policies, through their blithe disregard for the fellow man, through their failure to consider the Socialist cure of State Capitalism, they have wrought havoc on the once healthy industrial powerhouses of Flanders and Wallonia. I weep when I consider the depths to which we have come. And instead of taking the initiative, we are reduced to knee jerk reactions of token reforms and social repression. As one who fought with my father during the Exile in the 1860's, I fear that the leopard has still not changed its spots.
Frederic Burke
BSU