Naturally, such troublesome and thorny matters had to be handed over to parliament to resolve. This was Prime Minister Kaepel's ultimate art of passing the buck. Besides, a territorial transaction was something the Dutch parliament could not be bypassed in.
Moreover, the Dutch parliament wielded considerable power. Before the war, Prime Minister Kaepel, a Pro-German figure, had even entertained the idea of joining the Central Powers. Yet that dangerous notion had been stopped by the Dutch parliament. In the end, the Dutch prime minister was Pro-German while the Netherlands maintained its neutrality—a blessing in disguise.
After the Dutch parliament's final deliberations, the result was naturally... approval of the transaction with East Africa. Once parliament nodded, the matter was essentially settled; even opposition from the Queen and the prime minister would have been useless.
As a small country, the Dutch mentality differed greatly from that of other nations, especially great powers such as Britain, France, and Germany. Even during the Netherlands' most powerful era, compared to the great powers of today, it had never become excessively swollen with pride.
Of course, the Dutch parliament agreed to the territorial transaction with East Africa mainly for two reasons: the Netherlands feared that East Africa might turn hostile, and Dutch interests would not suffer much loss.
East Africa was, after all, a world power. If it fell out with the Netherlands, Dutch parliamentarians found that prospect extremely dangerous. Better to do East Africa a favor.
Furthermore, the Netherlands had a strong commercial atmosphere. Most Dutch people cared only about practical benefits. After the Dutch parliament evaluated this territorial transaction, it concluded that not only would there be no losses, but that the Netherlands could instead make a handsome profit.
Naturally, this mainly referred to economic benefits. If territorial sovereignty and similar matters were taken