An item reported that in the opinion of the newspaper Croix was the Belgian cabinet seriously intending to create an own navy. The Belgian king was very interested in this topic and Zeebrugge was to become the naval base. Another newspaper the Indépendence Belge wished that the clerical newspaper Croix was well informed while she thought a navy could not be missed for a sufficient defence. Belgium was a colonial power (1) and had to secure the connections with the colony, to defend her coastal line and made sure that she controlled the fairway to Antwerp.
Note
1. In 1876 was at Brussels the International African Association founded by the Belgian king Leopold II with as purpose to execute humanitarian projects in Central Africa in what on 1 July 1885 became the Congo Free State and later the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Between 1885 and 1908 it was in fact private property of Leopold and than annexed by the Belgian government on 15 November 1908 as Belgian Congo. This annexation was caused by international protests against the extremely worse living conditions. In the period 1902-1931 possessed Belgian also a concession in the Chinese harbour Tianjin. Except for realizing an electricity network and the construction of tramway was this every lasting concession of a territory not really explored.
