KING RT'

SBOOK

A TR IBU TE TO TH E BELGIAN

REPRESENTAT I VEMEN ANDTH ROUGH OU T TH EW ORLD

TELEGR APHC ON J U N C T I ON W I T H

TH E DAILY SK ET C H TH E GLAS GOW H ERALD

I N TR OD U C TI ON TO K ING ALB ER T’

S B O OKTH E immediate oh

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ect of this Book is to offer , in the names and by the pens ofa large group of the represen tative men and women of the civilised countries ,a tribute of admiration to B elgium ,

on the heroic and ever-memorable share she

has taken in the war which nor" convulses Europe , and at the same time to

invoke the world’

s sympathy , its nelp and its prayersfor the gallant little nation

in the vast sorrow of its present condition .

W ith nothing to gain by taking up arms , with no territory to annex ,no commerce

to capture , no injury to revenge , having neither part nor lot in any Europeanquarrel, desiring only to be left alone that she might pursue the arts of peace ,

Belgium found herself suddenly confron ted by the choice of allowing her soil

to be invaded by a powerful neighbour on his way to destroy his enemy , or ofprotecting her independence as a separate nation by the whole streng th of herarmed resistance .

Although one of the smallest and least aggressive of the countries of Europe , thedaughter among the nations , Belgium ,

true to her lofty political idealism,chose the

latter par t , not counting the cost , only realising that a ruthless crime was about tobe committed , and drawing the sword , after the sword had been drawn against her ,

in defence of her honour , her national integrity ,her right to be mistress in her

own house , her historic heritage of freedom and all the spiritual traditions ofher race .

I n doing this during the past fateful mon ths , Belgium has fought not only herown battle but also the battle of F rance , the battle of Great B ritain and the

battle of F reedom . By her brave stand against incalculable odds she has added

a new and inspiring chapter to the heroic anna ls of humanity andperhaps liftedto a higher level the future destinies of man .

But she has paid a terrible penalty . H er beautiful country has been laid waste .

H er harvests , which were ripefor the gathering , have been trodden into the earth .

H er villages have been given up to the flames. H er cities have been made toresound with the screams of shell and the cries of slaughter . H er historic monumen ts

,venerable with the associations of learning and piety ,

have been razed tothe ground . And ,

above all, Death has taken an awful to ll of her manhood onthe field of battle ,

while multitudes of her surviving people ,the very young , the

very old, the very weak,the very poor , all innocen t and all helpless, have been

driven forth on the verge of winter from their smoking , blackened and outragedhomes into an exile in foreign landsfrom which there can hardly be any hopethat many of them will return .

No more woeful and terrible spectacle of a country in utter desolation ever came

from earthquake , eruption or other convulsion of Nature in her wrath than hasbeen produced in Belgium by the hand of man . A complete nation is in ruin .

A whole country is in ashes . An en tire people are destitute , homeless and on

the roads . A little K ingdom , dedicated to liberty , has kept the pledge anddied for it .

As Belgium has thus become the martyr nation of the war , however great thesacrifices which the other Allies have had to make , it seems reasonable to expect.

A 5

that in view of her limitless and undeserved sufferings, the deepest feelings ofhuman nature will be stirred to an infinite pity ,

and that in the present dark hourof her utmost need the world will see that it is not more important that thematerial succour offood and clothing should befoundfor the bodies of her strickenand impoverishedpeople than that comfort and solace should be offered to theirsouls . Therefore this book ispublished as the united voice of the wor ld’

sgratitudeto Belgium for her unexampled heroism ,

and of its sympathy with her in the

heavy price she has to pay in discharging the sublime duty which Destiny laid

upon her offighting by our side for the liberties of all.

Especially it has been intended that the present volume should address itself, as

far as possible,to the K ing of the B elgians , who , from hisfirst moving appeal

to Great B ritain and to F rance , to help him to resist the gigan tic and uncon

scionable ambition which was preparing to stalk over his country ,down to the

last agony of his dauntless stand behind the fortresses of Antwerp ,has by his

matchless courage in C ouncil and on the battlefield, where he makes commoncause with his soldiers in the trenches

,displayed some of the noblest energies of

the human character , and sustained those highest traditions of Kingship which ,

among free nations , unite the people to the throne .

S uch is the aim and character of this book , and if so high an object has been insome measure achieved, it has only been by the ready and whole-hearted co

operation of the leaders of thought , of ar t and of action who are prominentthroughout the world for their love of justice and freedom . There are manythousands of such leaders in every coun try , fully capable of in terpreting ,

each inhis or her own way ,

the immense emotion which now fills the heart of humanityat the spectacle of Belgium

’

s sorrows but the exigencies of space in a single

volume have made it necessary to limit the number of con tributors whom it hasbeen possible to invite to join in this world’

s tribute to the martyr nation .

W ith the utmost care , and not without many misgivings about illustrious nameswhich wellmerited inclusion ,

a list was compiled ofprinces , statesmen ,churchmen ,

authors , artists , and composers of all civilised countries , except the coun tries ofour enemies , in the hope that each in his own medium ,

whether of word or pictureor song or story ,

might be impelled, according as the spirit moved him , to presen this view of B elgium

’

s sacrifice and of the measureless calamity which hasbefallen her .

The result is now offered to the public in the present volume , which it is hopedto publish in various editions

,and as nearly as possible simultaneously ,

in most

of the countries of the authors,especially F rance , Russia , I taly , and America ,

thus making it a work of international interest , calculated to be a moral inspiration to posterity and to take its place as one of the luminous pages in the world

’

s

histo

Neve

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rybefore , perhaps , have so many illustrious names been inscribed within

the covers of a single volume , but K ING ALBERT’

S BOOK has a significancewhich even transcends its distinction . Out of the storm of battle a great newspirit of brotherhood has been born into the world,

calling together the scatteredand dividedparts of it , uniting them in a single mind, a single sentiment , a single

purpose , so that here , in love ofjustice and in hatred of oppression ,speaking in

tongues butfrom only one soul, which enkindles the earthas with a holy fire , men and women of all civilised countries have drawn closerand clasped hands .

Nor is that everything I n sight and witness of this W orld- league of some ofthe spiritua l leaders of mankind , who labourfor and live by peace , and in memoryof this C ovenant of princes , statesmen , soldiers, sailors , teachers , pr eachers , andartists of the great and historic races, signed on the desecrated altar of a little

nation’

s liberty , is it too much to hope that the peoples they represen t may neveragain , from any narrower or less noble aims

, draw the sword against each otheras long as the world may last ?S o be it . God grant so may it be .

But meantime it is perhaps enough that as sons and daughters of many lands ,sufferers ourselves by a fratricidal war , we should bring to Belgium ,

in this

solemn momen t when her heart is cruelly and almost incurably wounded,the

expression of our love , our sympathy , and our unbounded admiration , as the

spiri tual message of the civilised world to the suffering millions 0 her people , inthe midst of the ruin and desolation which still lie heavy upon er even at this

sacred S eason when the holiest mirations of humanity are towards peace on

earth and good-will to men .

Belgians , in the person of your heroic young S overeign we salute you . The

statesmanship , the learning , the wisdom,the genius of the world lay their tribute

at your feet 'H ALL C AI NE

C hristmas 19 14.

The Editor of KING ALBERT’S BOOK on his own behalf andof the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph and its

associate newspapers , the Daily Ske tch and the GlasgowHerald,” makes grateful acknowledgmen t of the services of Mr .

G. Ralph Hall Caine as general organiser, of Mr . Ridgwell C ullurnas editorial assistan t , of Miss Florence Simmonds andMrs. MarieConor Leighton as French and I talian translators, and of Mr .

Desmond McAulzfle as compiler of the I ndex .

H e also desires to thank Professor Fitzmaurice-Kelly, Dr . H agbergW right, Mr . f . S . Co tton , Dr . Henry Bradley (Oxford) , andMr .

Edmund Gosse for valuable help in the transla tion of contr ibutionsin the lesser-known languages , as well as The Comple te Pressfor theadmirable craftsmanship displayed in the engraving

, the beau tifultypograph ical page , and the pr in ting, and also Mr . 7. E . H odderlVilliams , head of Messrs . Hodder and Stoughton , for his ownand his firm ’

s valuable services as general publishers if KINGALBERT’S BOOK.

The Editor feels that it would be presumption on his part to thankthe illustrious contribu tors

, the Belgian people and the wziversal

sentiment of the world will assuredly do tha t , but he trusts he maybe permitted to express his personal gratitude to his own distinguished colleagues , the ar tists, composers, and men and women ofle t ters in many countries, whose spon taneous and whole-hear tedresponse to his request have made it possible for him to profi ce this

I N D EX T O C ONT R I B U

ABBOTT, REV . LYMAN , D .D LL.D . , AmericanDivine editor of The Outlook

AGA KH AN , AGA SULTAN MAH OMED SH AH ,

G .C .I .E H on . LL.D . Camb .

head of the I smai li Mahomedans

ALVERSTONE. V I SCOUNT (S IR R I CHARDm u m

W EBSTER ) , G .C .M.G for thirteen years LordChief justice of Eng land

AMBER ALI , R T. H ON . (SYED) , H on . LL.D .

Cam b . , M.A . , C . I .E . member of the judicialCommittee of the Privy Council

ANGELL, NORMAN , author of The Great I llusionANOU TCH IN , D . , Russran scientistARCH ER , W ILLI AM , B ri tish man of lettersASH LEY , W . J . , B ri tish Econom ist, M.A . , M ComH on . Ph .D . B erlin

ASQU I TH , RT. H ON . H ERBERT H ENRY, B ritishS tatesman , Prime Mini ster and First Lord of theTreasury M.P . , X .C .

ATH ERTON , GERTRUDE F RANKLIN , Americannovelist

BACKER -LU NDE, JOHAN , Norwegian composerBADEN—POW ELL. LT .

-GEN . S I R ROBERT

STEPHENSON SMYTH , K C B . ,

BALFOU R , R T. H ON . ARTHUR JAMES ,

D .L. ; B ritish S tatesman

BALT IMORE , CARDINAL AR CHB I SHOP OF (JAMESGI BBONS )

BARANOVSK I , TOU GANE, Russian EconomistBAR CLAY, MR S . FLORENCE English novelistBARCLAY , S I R THOMAS , LL B . , Ph D Englishbarrister founder of the I nternation al Brotherhood A lliance

BAR R , S IR JAMES ,M.D . , LL

B ritish scien tistBAR ZIN I , LUI GI , I talian journalist and publicistBAZIN , RENE FRANCOI S N I COLAS MARIE ,

Frenchauthor JVI em bre de l

’

Acade’

m ie francaise, Docteuren Droit de l ’ U n iversi te’ de Paris

BELMONT, ALVA E . SMITH (MR S . O. H . P.

BELMONT) , American philan thropistBENCK ENDOR F F , LE Cosm e DE (ALEX ANDRE

Russian Ambassador in

London

BENNETT, ENOCH ARNOLD , British authorBENSON , ARTHUR CHRI STOPHER , English

authorBERESFORD , ADMI RAL LORD CHARLES W ILLIAMDE LA POER , G .C .V .O M.P. , Late C ommander of the British Channel Fleet

BERGSON , H ENRI LOUI S , Professor at the College ofFrance , Member of the I nsti tute , Ofiicer of theLegionof H on our, Ofiicier de l ’ I n structzon Publique

BERNH ARDT, SARAH , Fren ch actressB I RRELL, RT. H ON . AUGUSTINE , B ritish S tatesman

and author Chief S ecretary to the Lord-Lieutenan tB ISTOLF I , LEONARDO , I talian sculptorBLAND-SU TTON , S I R JOHN , EnglishsurgeonBOJER , JONAS , Swedish novelistBOOTH , W . BRAMW ELL, General of the SalvationArmy

PAGE

80

170

CH U R CH ILL. W INSTON , American novelistCH U R CH I LL, R T. H ON . W IN STON LEONARD

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TO R S

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BORDEN , RT. H ON . SI R R OBERT LAIRD , X C . ;

P rem ier of CanadaBOU RGET , PAUL, Fren ch poet, critic, and novelistMembre de l ’Acade

’

mie franeai seBRACCO, R OBERTO, I talian dramatistBRADDON , MARY ELIZABETH (MAR Y MAX W ELL)E nglish novelist

BRANTING. KARL H JALMAR , Swedish jo urnalisteditor of the S ocial Demokraten

BRASSEY, EARL (THOMAS BRASSEY) , G C .B

B ritish S tatesman Lord W arden of the CinqueBROCK , S I R THOMAS , British sculptorBR U CKMAN , W . L. , Dutch artist ; K n ight of theOrangehaussan Order

BRYCE, V I SCOUNT , RT. H ON . JAMES , O .M. ,

B riti sh S tatesman and author, formerlyH is Majesty ' s Ambassador Extraordi

nary and

P len ipoten tiary at W ashingtonBU RNAND S I R FRAN CI S COW LEY , B ritish dramatist : formerly editor of Punch

BU RN H AM, LORD , K C .V .O pri ncipal proprietorof the Daily Telegraph

BU RT , RT. H ON . THOMAS , B ritish S tatesmanCAINE. H ALL, English novelistCAMBON , PAUL , LL D . Oxon .

Can tab . , Edin . Fren ch Ambas sador to the Courtof S t. jamesCANTERBU RY, ARCHB I SHOP OF (THE MOST R EV .

RANDALLTH OMAS DAVI D SON ) , Prelate of the Orderof the Garter, G C .V .O R oyal Victorian Chain ,

D .D . , LL D .

CANTON , W ILLIAM , B ritish authorCAPU ANA, LU I c I , I talian novelistCAPU S , V IN CENT MARIE ALFRED , French author

and j ourn alist , Ofi cer of the Legion of H on ourCARLILE. R EV . W ILSON , Prebendary of S t. Paul’ sCathedral , Foun der and H on . Chief S ecretary ofthe Church A rmyCARNEGIE, ANDREW , LL.D . , American pub lici stformerly Lord R ector of S t. Andrews and AberdeenU n iversities B ursar of the Peace PrizeCARPENTER , EDW ARD English authorCH AMBERS , R OBERT W American authorCH ARTRES , ANN I E V I VANTI , I talian poetessCH ESTERTON , GILBERT KEITH , English journalist and authorCH I ROL, S IR VALENTINE , English journalist andpublicist ; formerlyforeign editor of The Time'sCH OATE, H ON . JOSEPH H ODGES , Am rican D iplomatist form erly U n i ted S tates A mbassador toGreat Britain Ambassador and F i rst Delegate ofthe U n ited S t

ates to ih: I n ternational PeaceConferen ce at The H ag

"e

CH OLMONDELEY, MARY , English n ovelistC H R I STENSSEN , JENS CHRI STIAN , ere-PrimeM in ister of DenmarkCH R ISTY, H OW ARD CHANDLER, American artist

IND EX T O C ONT R I BUT O R S

CLI FFORD , JOHN , M.A. , D .D . ; English‘

Noncon

formist M inisterCLIFFORD , MRS . W . K English novelist andplaywnghtCOLLI ER , H ON . JOHN , English painterCOR ELLI , MARI E, E nglish novelistCOU PERU S , LOUI S , Dutch n ovelistCOU RTNEY,

W ILLIAM LEONARD , MA . , LL.D

English author, editor of the Fortn ightly R eviewCOW EN , S IR FREDER I CK H YMAN , B ritish co m

poser ; H on . Mus . Doc . Cam bridge Umversity,

Edinburgh U n iversityCRANE. W ALTER , R .W .S English painterCommendatore of the Royal Crown of I talyCREW E. MARQUESS OF (ROBERT OFFLEY ASHBURTON CREW E-MILNES ) , X .C .

, (M A . , P S .A

H on . LL D . Cam b . ) B ri tish S tatesman Secretarv of State for I ndiaCR I CH TON—BROW NE , S I R JAMES ,

MD LL.D . ,

D S c R R S . , Lord Chancellor’ s Vi$itor Treasurerand Vice-President R oyal I n stitution of GreatB ritainCROOKES , PROFESSOR S I R W ILLIAM , OM R R S . ,

LL D . B ri tish S cien tist, Past Presiden t of theBritish AssociationCROOKS , W I LL, M.P. , E nglish Labour leaderCU R ZON OF KEDLESTON , EARL (GEORGENATHANI EL CURZON) , C .C S I . , C C I E . , M.A

F .R S D C .L LL.D B ritish S tatesman ; lateViceroy of I ndia

facing

DEBU SSY , CLAUDE , French composer Chevalierof the Legion of H on our

DELAND , MAR GARET, Ameri can n ovelistDE MORGAN , W ILLI AM FR END , Eng lish novelistDI CK SEE, FRANCI S BERNARD , English pain ter,R oyal Academician facing

DOBSON , H ENRY AUSTIN , LL.D . . English poet andessayist

DONNAY , MAUR I CE , French dramatist Member ofthe Fren ch Academy , Ofiicer of the Leg ion of H on our

DULAC, EDMUND , B ritish artist and illustratorEEDEN , VAN , Dutch authorE GAR , S I R EDW ARD K T , OM , Mus . Doc .

an tab . , H on . R A M Mus . Doc . Dunelm , Mus .

Doc . Oxon , and Mus . Doc . Yale , U .S .A . (honcausa) B ritish composer

ESH ER , VI SCOUNT (REGINALD BALIOL BRETT) ,G .C .B M.A. ; permanent member ofthe C ommittee of I mperial Defence R oyal Trustee,B ritish Museum

FAW CETT, MELI CENT GARRETT, LL.D . (H on .

St . Andrews) Englishpublicist ; President of theNational U n ion of W omen

’ s S uffrage S ocietiesFERRERO, GUGLIELMO I talian historianFILDES , S I R LUKE , R .A B ri tish pain ter facingF I SH ER , H ARRI SON , American artist and i llus~trator facingFI SH ER , H ERBERT ALBERT LAURENS, B ritishscholar M A LL.D . , F .B A . ; Fellow of N ew

College, Oxford, and Vice-Chancellor of the

U niversity of S hefiield

I O

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187

FI SH ER OF K ELVERSTON , LORD (JOHNARBUTHNOT) , O .M. , G C .V O Adm iralof the B ri tish Fleet , First S ea LordFLAGG , G . MONTGOMERY, American artist andillustratorFRANCE, JACQUES ANATOLE THI BAULT,

Frenchauthor Officer of the Legi on of H on our, Memberof the Fre nch Academy

GALSW ORTH Y, JOHN , English n ovelist, dramatist,and essayist

GARDINER , A . G . , English 3urn at'

ist ; editor ofthe Daily N ews

GARV IN , J . L. , English journalist ed itor of thePall Mall Gazette and the Observer

GERMAN , EDW ARD , English composerG I BSON , CHARLES DANA , American artist andillustratorGLADSTONE. V I SCOUNT,

R T. H ON . H ERBERT

JOHN , C .C M.G . , British S tatesman , est-Governor

General of S outh AfricaGOSSE, EDMUND , C .B . , LL.D . , English authorLibrarian to the H ouse of Lords

GOU LD , S IR FRANCI S CARRUTH ERS ,caricaturist

GR EY R T . H ON . S IR EDW ARD , B ritish S tatesman ,

K .G D C .L. , Secretary of S tate/or Foreign Affairs

B ritish

H AGGARD , S I R (H ENRY) R IDER , English n ovelistH ALSBU RY. EARL OF (H ARD INGE STANLEYGI FFARD ) , British S tatesman F .R S . , M.A

formerly Lord Chancellor of England

H ARDINGE OF PENSH U R ST , LORD. (CHAR LESH ARD I NGE) , G C .B Viceroy of I ndia

H ARDY, THOMAS , O .M. , Litt D . LL.D .

(Aberdeen ) ; E nglish poet and n ovelistH AR R I SON , FREDERI C , B ritish author ; H on .

Fellow Of‘

W adh am College , Oxford, H on . D C .L.

Oxford, H on . Litt .D . Camb ridge , H on . LL.D .

AberdeenH ERTZ , VERY REV . JOSEPH H ERMAN , Ph D

Chief Rabbi of the U n ited H ebrew Congregationsof the B ri tish Empire

H ERVIEU , PAUL ERNEST, French author ; hI embrede l

’

Académ ie francaise ,

’ Grand Ofi‘lcier de la

Legion d'

H onneur

H EW LETT , MAURI CE H ENRY , English n ovelistand poet

H ICH ENS , ROBERT SMYTHE , English journalistand n ovelist

H OW ELLS , W ILLIAM DEAN , American authorI BANEZ , V I CENTE BLASCO, Span ish n ovelistINOUYE, K ATSU NOSKE , japanese AmbassadorExtraordinary and Plen ipoten tiary , London

JELLI COE ADMIRAL S I R JOHN R USHW ORTH ,K C B K .C .V O. ; British sailor, Commanderm -Chief of the H ome FleetJ IMENEZ , D . ( M ON , Span ish poetJU SSERAND , JEAN ADRIEN ANTOINE JULES ,

French man of letters ; French Ambassador at

W ashingtonK EY, ELLEN , Swedish authorKIDD, BENJAMIN, Engl is h author

I ND EX TO C O NT R I BU T O R S

K I PLING, R UDYARD , B ri tish author N obel

Prizeman H on . LL D . MCGill U niversity, H on.

D .Litt. Durham and OxfordK ITCH ENER OF KH ARTOUM EARL (H ORATIO

H ERBERTK ITCHENER ) G C LE G .C .S .I C .C B . ,

OM G C M G . , K .P Secretary of S tate for W ar

A . KOU PRINE, Russian author

LANCE-MULLER , PETER ERASMUS , Dan ish com

poserLANKESTER , S I R E . RAY, B ri tish scientistK C .B . , MA . , D SC . , F R S . , Member of the

I n stitute of France , Foreign A ssomate of the

R oyal Academy of Sciences of B elg iumLANSDOW NE , MARQUESS OF ( l i e Y CH ARLESKEITH PET

’

l‘

Y-FITZMAURI CE) , B r . m i S tatesm‘

an

X .C G C S I C .C M G . form e r ly GovernorGeneral of I ndia and Foreign Se.. re:ar y

LARMOR , S IR JOSEPH , English mathematici anFellow and formerly S ecretary of the Royal S ociety

LAU R IER , RT . H ON S I R W ILFR ID , CanadianS tatesman G .C .M.G LL.D K .C . ; formerlyPrem ier of Canada

LAVEDAN , H ENRI , French author ; Oflici er de laLe

’

gion d’

H on neur , Membre de l’

Acade'

mie

francaiseLAVERY, JOHN , B ritish painter : R S .A. , R .H A

A .R .A , H .R O L. ; C hevalier of the Crown ofI taly and of Leopold of Belgium

LAW , RT. H ON . ANDREW BONAR ,

S tatesmanLEE, S IR S IDNEY , English author LL.D . , D .Litt

editor of the D ictionary of NationalB iography ; Professor of English Language and

Literature in the U n ivers ity of LondonLEH MANN , LIzA (MRS . H ERBERT BEDFORD )English composer

LLOYD-GEORGE, THE R T. H ON . DAVI D ,B ritish

S tatesman Chancellor of the ExchequerLOCKE, W ILLIAM JOHN , English novelist ; B .A .

(Can tab H on .

LOCKYER , S I R (JOSEPH) NORMAN , Britishscientist K .C B . , F .R S .

LODGE, S I R JOSEPH OLIVER , B ritish scien tist ;F R S D .Sc . London , H on . D .SC . Oxford,Camb ridge , Victoria, and Liverpoo l

LONDON B I SHOP OR (RT. REV . ARTHUR FOLEYW INN INGTON I NGRAM) , D .D LL.D .

LONDON , J ACK , American n ovelistLOTI PIERRE (LOUI SMARIE JULIEN VI AUD ) , Frend i

n ovelist ; Membre de l 'Acade’

mie franeaiseLOW , S IDNEY, B ri tish author and j ournalist ;M A . (Oxon )

LU CAS , S IR CHARLES , K C B . ,

LU CAS , SEYMOUR R A English painter facingLU GARD , LADY . English aufltor and journalist ;formerly head of the Colon ial Departmen t of

LUND , B I SHOP OF (GOTTFRIED B ILLING )MACI EI RA, ANTONIO, Portuguese Mi ni

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ster ofjustice and Foreign A!fairsMACKENZI E. S I R ALEX ANDER CAMPBELL. B ritishcomposer. Principal of the RoyalAcademy ofMusie

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34

M'

CORMI CK , ARTHUR DAVID , R I , ,

English artistMAETERLINCK . MAURI CE. Belgian poet and

I O.P. ,

MALAGODI , ORLINDO , I talian journalist ,

Leditor

of La Tr ibuna ,

"R ome

MARCONI , GUGLIELMO , Electrical engineerMASCAGNI , PIETRO , I talian composerMAX IM, SIR H IR AM STEVENS , CE ME ; Chevalier

of the Legion of H onourMEREJK OW SKY, DMI TRI , R ussian authorMESSAGER , ANDRE, French composer ; Director

of the Grand Opera, ParisMEYNELL. MRS . ALICE, English poetess and

essayistMONET , CLAUDE , French artistMUNOZ , DON LOPEZ, ex

-Foreign Secretary of SpainMU R RAY , GEORGE GILBERT A IME, B ri tishscholar Regine Professor of Greek in the U n ivers ity of Oxford

NANSEN , FRIDTJOF, G .C .V .O B .SC

PhD F .R .G .S Arctic explorerN I CH OLSON , W ILLI AM , English pain ter facingN I ELSEN , K AY, Dan ish artist facingNORTH CLIFFE.LORD (ALFRED CHARLES W ILLIAMH ARMSW ORTH) , English newspaper proprietor

NOVELLI , ERMETE, I talian ac tor and dramatist ,Commendatore of the Royal Crown of I taly

NOYES , ALFRED , English poet H on. Litt .D . YaleU niversity

PAGE

O'CONNOR , THOMAS POW ER , M.P. ; I rish S tatesman andjourn alist editor of T .P .

’

s journalOR CZY, TH E BARONESS (MRS . MoNTAc UE BAR

STOW ) , English playwright and novelistPADEREW SK I , I GNACE JAN , Polish pian ist andcomposer Commander of the Order of the Crown ofI taly

PANKH U RST . EMMELINE. H on . Treasurer of theW omen

' s S ocial and Political U n ionPAR I S ,

CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF (LEON ADOL

PRUS AME’

I‘

TE)PARKER S IR GILBERT, B ritish author ; D C .L ,

Litt D MP .

PAR R I SH , MAX FIELD , American artist facingPARTR IDGE , BERNARD , English artist cartoon ist

of Punch facingPENNELL, JOSEPH , artistPERES , R AMON D Span ish poetPERLEY, H ON . GEORGE H ALSEY , CanadianS tatesman

PETR I E. W I LLIAM MATTHEW FLINDERS , Egyptologi

'

st ; D .C L Litt .D . , LL.D . , Ph .D . , F .R .S .

F .B .A .

PH ILLPOTTS , EDEN , English noveli stPI NERO, SLR ARTHUR W ING , English dramatistFellow of the Royal S oci ety of Literature and

Member of the Academ ic CommitteePOLLOCK , RT. H ON . S I R F REDERI G I , LLD . ,

Fellow of the British Academy, H o n

Fellow of Corpus Christi College , OxfordPOYNTER , S IR EDW ARD JOHN , British painter

President of the RoyalAcademy facingI I

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I N D EX T O C O NT R I BUT Oi PAGE

PREVOST, MARCEL, French author Merri

ber of theFrench Academy

PROTH ERO, GEORGE W ALTE R . M A Litt .D

H on . LL.D . (Edin . and H arvard) editor of The

Quarterly ReviewRACKH A M, AR THUR , B ritish artist andillustrator

R AMSAY S IR W ILLIAM , B ritish scien tistF .R .S N obel pri zen ian

RAVEN -H I LL. LEONARD , British artistillustrator cartoon ist of Pun ch facingREAD ING , LORD (R T . H ON . R UFUS DANIEL

I SAACS ) , X .C . ; Lord Chief justice of

and

REDESDALE , LORD R EDESDALE OF (ALGERNONBERTRAM FREEMAN-MITFORD ) , Bri tish S tatesman G C .V O K C .B . , D .L.

REDMOND, JOHN EDW ARD , M.P . , I rish S tatesmanLeader of the I rish Party i n the H ouse of Commons

R EI D ,RT. H ON S IR GEORGE H OUSTON ,

K .C M G

K C H igh Comm issioner for AustraliaREIMS ,

CARDINAL ARCHB I SHOP OE (LOUI S H ENRYLUCON )

R EI NACH , SALOMON ,French author ; Membre de

l’

I nsti tut de FranceR I BOT , ALEX ANDRE F Fren ch S tatesman Mem

ber of the French S en ate Membre de l’Académ i'

e

francaise cl I'

Académi e des Scien ces Morales cl

Poli tiquesR I CH MOND , S IR W ILLIAM BLAKE, Britishpain terK C .B . , M.A R A .

R I C H EPIN , JEAN , French poet, romancer , confe’r encier, dramat ist ; Officier de la Legion d’

H onneur

Membre dc l'Acade'

m ie francaiseR I VIER E, BRI TON , R A D .C .I British pain terH on. F ellow of Oriel College, Oxford fac ing

ROBERTS , EARL, OF KAND AHAR , PRETOR IA ,AND

W ATERF ORD (FREDER I CK SLEI GH) British soldier,deceased G .C B G .C .S I , V .C K .G . , D C .L. ,

LL.D O.M Field-MarshalROLLAND , ROMAIN ,

French author hi embre da

C ansoil de direction de l'

E cole des H autes E tudes

R OMANONES ,CONDE DE , ext -Prime Al in i ster of

SpainR OSEBERY, EARL OF (AR CHIBALD PHILIPPR IMR OSE) British S tatesman ; K G . , K .T . , H on .

LL .D . Cam b F .R .S .

ROSTAND , EDMOND ,French dramatist ; JW embre

de l'

Acade'

mi'

e francaiseR U SSELL, S I R EDW ARD , English journalist and

essayist editor of the Liverpool Daily Post andMercury

RYLEY, MADELEINE LU CET’I‘

E, A iner ican authoressSAINT-SAENS CAMILLE , Fren chLLD . Camb D .Mus . Oxford

SALVIN I , TOMMASO , I talian ac tor Commendatoreof the R oyal Crown of I taly

SARAW AK , H .H . TH E R ANEE OF

SAR’

I‘

ORI O, GIULIO ARI STIDE ,I talian artist and

sculp tor

composer

E N D T H E

1 72

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I N D E X .

TAP'

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, H ON . W ILLI AM H OW ARD , American S tatesman , ex

-Presiden t of the U n ited S tates of AmericaTREE , S I R H ERBERT BEERBOHM , English actor

and managerTREVES S IR FREDER I CK BT British surgeon ;G .C .V .O C .B . , LL.D MD S ergean tS urgeon to the K ing

VALDES , ARMANDO PALACIO, Span ish novelistVER H ARREN , EMI LE , B elgium ' s national poetV INOGRADOF F , PROFESSOR PAUL, Russianscholar R B A . , Corpus Professor of j urisprudence Oxford U n iversity

YORK , ARCHB I SHOP OF (MOST REV. CosmoGORDON LANG ) , D D . , D .C .L LL.D .

ZANGW ILL, I SRAEL, B ritish author ; Presiden tof the J ewish Terri torial Organ isationT O

36

C O N T R I B U T O R S

R S

SEAMAN , S IR OW EN , M.A D .Litt . Englishpoet ; editor of Pun ch "

S H ANNON , JAMES JEBU SA, R .A A .R H A .

British portrait pain ter President of the S ocietyof Portrait Pain ters

S I CH EL,W ALTER ,M.A English author andbarrister

S I ENKI EW I CZ , H ENRYK , Polish novelist authorof Quo Vadis 9 "

S INCLAI R , MAY,English n ovelist

SMYTH , ETH EL, Mus . Doc , B ri tish composerSOLOMON ,

SOLOMON JOSEPH , R .A B ritishpain terSOTH ERN , EDW ARD H . , American actor '

SPENDER , J . ALFRED , English journalisteditor of the W estm in ster Gazette

SPI ELMANN ,MARION H Britishwriter on ar t Chevalier of the Order of Leopold

STANFORD , S I R CHARLES V ILLIER S , Bri tishcomposer M.A . , MU S . Doc D .C L LL D

Prof. of Music , Camb . U niv .

STEEL, F LORA ANN IE ,E nglish novelist

S U TRO, ALFRED , English author and dramat i st

W ARD , S I R ADOLPH US W ILLI AM, Litt .D LLD

F B A. Master of Peterhouse , CambridgeW ARD , MR S . H UMPHREY (MARYAUGUSTA) , English

n ovelistW ATERLOW , S I R ERNEST ALBERT,

B 'r . , R A .

E nglish landscape pain ter Presiden t of the RoyalS ociety of Pain ters in W ater C olours fac ing

W ATSON , W ILLIAM , E nglish poet ; H on . LL.D .

AberdeenW EBB , S IDNEY , LL.B H on . Professor of PublicAdmin istration , U n iversity of London

W ESTMINSTER ,CARDINAL ARCHB I SHOP OF

(FRANCI S BOURNE)W H AR

’

I‘

ON , EDI TH , American novelistW ILCOX , ELLA W HEELER , American poetessW INGA

’

I‘

E , LIEUT.

-GEN . S IR FRAN CI S R EG INALD ,

B ritish soldier ; K C B X .C M.C . ,

D S 0 DC L. S irdar of the Egyptian ArmyW YNDH AM, S I R CHARLES , English actor and

By T H E AR C H B I SH OP OF CANT ERBURYCAPABLE h istorians , men of insight and research

, w ill set themselves ,long hence , in the calm er air which distance lends , to tell afresh , for o ld

and young , the beginn ings of this dark and devastating war . Then thestory of Be lgium ’

s steadfastness to her plighted word of honour,and her

t ire less resistance to high-handed wrong— a resistance sustained w ith um

conquerable courage in face of ruth less and overwhe lm ing force— w illbecom e one of the go lden pages of the world ’

s sto ry . And the con temporary w itnesses of the enn obling fidelity thus

'

shown by the people of alittle land do we ll to record at the mom ent

,as in th is book

, their appreciationof a valour which was tested by a sterner st rain than even Thermopyla or

Sempach knew , and remained unshaken and unsullied to the,end . God

grant to these men and wom en,and to their children yet unbo rn , the grace

and power to garner hereafter , fo r the comm on good, the fru its of this

devot ion to the cause of liberty and of good faith , and of whatsoever makeslife worthier of our C hrist ian heritage .

By H . H . AGA KH ANI DEEM it a great privilege to be associated w ith this tribute to K ing Albert ,the hero ic m onarch of the martyr nation . The Moslem s of India and the

Brit ish Empire , 100 m illions in all, have watched w ith ever-deepen ingadm irat ion the unflinching stand of the Belgian King and people againstthe unprovoked attack of a terrible foe . H ad Belgium been guided bvconsiderat ions of material good and imm ediate interest she would haveaccepted the Kaiser ’s prom ise not to mo lest or injure if he was allowed an

undisputed passage to the F rench front ier for his troops . But this easy and

inglorious course was not contemplated even for a moment . Be lg iumunhesitatingly chose the path of honour and duty and made an irreparablesacrifice of material good for moral glory. Th is undying record of a greatrefusal has appealed to the best tradit ions and sen tim en ts of Moslems in

India, whose h istory affordsmany stirring examples of readiness to lose all,even life itself, for honour and duty . I can assure King Albert and his

glorious people that the Moslems of the British Empire fall beh ind no othernat ion in their profound and sincere sympathy w ith them in the countless sorrows and sacrifices wh ich cons titute the imperishable glory of

Belgium .

By EDMOND RO S TAND

Belgi'

que , c’

est ton front que l’

Aurore prefere IC eux- ld son t de

’

volus aux tenebres, qui n’

on t

Mi'

s l’

obus le plus grand dans le plus grand canonQue pour mieux empéclier l

’

Avenz’

r de sefai'

re

Trahi'

ssez l’

I de'

al et trai'

tons une afiai'

re ,

S ifile un Bethmann-H ollweg plus double que son nom.

Non di'

t un Roi sublime . Et , butant sur cc non ,

Le cheval d’

Atti’

la tout d’

un coup se deferre .

On s’

en tire , a di'

t le Bethmann , comme l’

on peut .Mai

'

s le Monde , admi'

rant qu’

un pays soi’

t en feu

Pour avoir cru que c’

est comme on doit qu’

on s’

en tire ,

Luttera tant qu’

un seulBarbarefera tort ,A ton voile .Maline , d ta couronne , S ire ,

D’

un seul point de dentelle et d’

un seulfleuron d’

or

By T H E RT . H ON . ARTH UR J . BALF OU RI AM asked to speak of Be lgium . I s it of Be lgium as she is

, or of Belgiumas she w ill one day b e I f the first , my theme would b e the greatest of

nat ional tragedies , but also the noblest . Nothing that can heighten our

sympathy or m ove our adm iration is wanting . The weakness of the victim,

the just ice of her cause , the greatness of her sufferings , and her unconquerable soul , have moved the wonder and pity of the world . And when we

turn from the victim to the oppressor , the tragic horror deepens . W e see

w rong heaped on w rong,and treachery on treachery. Faithless in design ing

his schem es , brutal in execut ing them ,he has ruthlessly trampled under

foot all laws but the law of the strongest . H e kn ows , it seem s,no other .

But the drama is not go ing to end w ith the trium ph of evil . W e are w it

n essing~no irremediable tragedy”

H appier days are yet to come . W rongshave indeed been done which noth ing can right sufferings endured wh ichnoth ing can repay. Yet the t im e w i ll sure ly com e , and come soon , when

Belgium ’

s wounds w i ll heal , when m orally and materially greater thanbefore , she w ill pursue in peace her high destiny, strong in th e m emoriesof an hero ic past , and in the affect ionate esteem of allwho love liberty and

adm ire valour .

I S

By H I S EXCELLEN CY M. PAUL CAMBONEN luttant avec héro

’

isme pour leur indépendance nat ionale et en s’

imposantnoblem ent les plus douloureux sacrifices pour la défense du dro it , ls peupleBelge et son ROI ont mérlté la reconnaissance et l

’

admiration du mondecm hsé, et ils se sont acquis une glo ire impérissable .

TRANSLATIONBy their heroic struggle for national independenceand their noble accep tance of the most terr ible sacrificesin defence of R igh t , the Belgian K ing andpeople haveearned the admiration and gra titude of the civilisedworld, and have won imperishable glory

By TH E COUNT DE BEN C KENDORF FS I , par l

’

héro’

isme déployé a la defense de son indépendance,la Belgique

s’

est acquise l’admiration du monde , c’

est de la reconnaissan ce que luido ivent tous les peuples auxquels importe le maintien de l’ordre social , surleque l repose la civilisat ion .

Sans hésiter , elle s’

est faite thampion de la condit ion prem iere 51 cc maintien ,

la sainteté des convent ions humaines et des traités , sans laquelle le prin cipede l ’etat moderne s

’

effondre .

A sa glo ire impérissable , laBe lgique est restée également fidele aux traditionsles plus reculées de ses peuples , et aux devo irs plus récents que la lor desnat ions lui impose .

If, by the heroism displayed in the defence of herindependence, Belgium has won the admiration of theworld, ad other nations owe her gratitude , that is ,all nations which value the main tenance of socialorder , on which civilisation is based.

she has played the par t of champion of the first condition of such main tenance the

sanctity of human obligations and of treaties,which the principle of the modern S tate wouldcollapse .

To her everlasting glory, Belgium has remainedfaithful to the most ancien t traditions of her people ,and to the more modern du ties that the law of na tionshas imposed upon her .

By H I S EXC ELLEN C Y KAT S U NOS KE INOUYETH E indom itable courage and patriot ic ardour w ith which Belgrum has

been exert ing herse lf to defend her liberty and independence against thewanton invasion of her territo ry by a powerful enemy has created the

greatest adm irat ion throughout the world . In Japan , where chivalry and

patriot ism reigns , Belgium’

s heroic defence has greatly aroused the sym

pathy of her people , and we jo in in the hope that her flag , adorned anew

w ith glory, w ill in no distant future be floating again triumphant ly throughout her domin ion .

16

By T H E EARL OF RO SEBE RYIT is a privilege to w rite about the Belgians and their King, who haveproved once more that Kingship is not dead , and that heroism still survives .

A short t im e ago a young prince ascended the throne of this happy and

peaceful kingdom , the hom e of industry, manufacture , and commerce , thegarden of the Con tinent , at the gates of which stood a guardian ange l arm edw ith the sword of Europe . I t m ight well seem that a career of secureprosperity lay before him and his subjects , who ,

to use an old Border phrase ,were dreading harm from no man

, but on ly w ishing to live in God’

s peaceand the King ’

s . I n an instant all this fair prospect was blackened . Prussia,wh ich had tw ice so lemn ly guaran teed the independence of the little kingdom ,

sudden ly poured her hosts into it , not as m ight be supposed to protect , butto destroy that independence . She thought , no doubt , that the Belgian swould bow to the necessity of such overwhe lm ing odds and subm it to the

invaders . She m istook her m en . King Albert and his people protestedw ith arm s in the ir hands . F or the m om ent they stemm ed the torrent .

Liege successfully resisted the enemy till overwhelm ing art illery poundedits forts to powder . Inch by inch the Belgians , headed by the King ,res isted , but the mass of invaders irresistibly ro lled over them . Brusselsthe capital and Antwerp the citade l had to b e successively abandoned . At

last , almost all the kingdom was subm erged,the Governm ent had to retire

to F rance , the King to his unbroken army. Meanwhile the German legionsl ike a ho rde of barbarians had ravaged , plundered , and destroyed the coun trythey had sworn to protect . The rage of being baffled had apparentlymaddened them . F o r the King and his Belgians at the cost of all theycher ished had retarded the mar ch of the invaders and nullified their plan s .

For the mom en t,Be lgium , all mapped out , as it was , for Prussian cannon ,

and swarm ing w ith Prussian spies , was the bulwark of Europe and of publiclaw . No t the resistance at Therm opylae to the m i llions ofXerxes was moresplendid , and Thermopylae on ly invo lved the sacrifice of a handful of m en ,

wh ile this has cost a coun try and a nation .

There have been three Kings of the Be lgians . The first , Leopo ld , steeredthe little kingdom w ith exquisite skill through dangers from w ithin and

from w ithout until he was hai led as the Nestor of Europe . The secondenergetically sustained and deve loped the comm erce and manufactures of

his realm w ith extraordinary success . But the th ird , Albert , has alreadyeclipsed his predecessors and ranks w ith William the S ilent , the indom itablechampion of the Low Countries .

And when the Belgians return , to what w ill they return ? The bare , ruin edremains of their sm iling country. H er fie lds ravaged , her villages burned ,her an cient monumen ts , the glory ofEurope as we ll as ofBelgium ,

destroyed .

F or long years , perhaps for ever , Belgium w ill remain a m onument of

infamy. W ar is a ruth less devouring m onster at best . But there is chivalrous war and there is devilish war , and the devastation of innocent Belgiumw ill long subsist as the capital example of the devilish . She has suffered

I 7

much in the past , she has often been the theatre of conflict , she has been thescene of great battles under Marlborough , she contains the field of W aterloo .

But she did not know what were the fiendish possibilit ies of warfare t illshe was invaded by a treacherous friend . There has been no deso lationlike it since the Th irty terrible Years which plunged Germ any into ruin .

But nearly three centuries have e lapsed since then ,centuries of culture ,

especially of German culture , in which w e hoped that we had progressedfar from the possibility of the recurrence of such horrors . W e were wrong .

German culture had taken a quick turn, and left civilisat ion , honour , and

ch ivalry far beh ind . The fruits of that culture are m ines sown broadcastin the ocean to destroy indiscrim inate ly enemy, neutral

, or friend , and

bombs to fall on peaceful cities to ki ll wom en and ch ildren . By the irfruits ye shall know them .

”

The Prussians indeed have abandoned the

Christian God, and subst ituted the worsh ip of a Pagan de ity which theycall F orce or Might ; Might to supersede Right and all other moral forces .

Of th is squalid ido l they are fortunate enough to ho ld the permanent proxybefore th is Mo loch ,

if they worship anything , the ir chiefs bow the knee .

I ts motto is H ate . I ts angels are Fury, Destruction ,and Rapine . I t has

apparently no honour , no faith ,no reverence . In its nam e they ravage ,

massacre , and plunder . Before its shrine they burn the ir treat ies as incense .

By its aid they hoped to subdue the world . Be lgium was the first victim .

But the harrying and devastation of Be lgium was on ly an incident . F rancecrushed , Russ ia humbled , H o lland annexed were , it would seem , on ly them ilestones on a triumphant march to the real

,suprem e object , the hum ilia

t ion and destruction of the British Empire . Even that m ight not be the

ultimate aim , for , w ith Europe prostrate , the libert ies and prosperity of

America would alarm the jealousy of the tyrant and call Mo loch once m oreinto requisit ion .

H ow our pract ical and prosaic nation has earned this stealthy and maskedbut determ ined hostility it is not easy to guess . And it is imposs ible to

believe that every German part icipates and approves of all that has beendone in their name . But in war criticism and dissent are always cr im inal ,and always silent .

The deso lation of Belgium was , then , it appears , on ly an incident in thissubterranean policy. That considerat ion is but litt le so lace to a ruinednat ion . The ir reward was to have been to become a Prussian province ,w ith all the liberty,

independence , and happiness that that position invo lvesto be in fact a second Posen or Alsace . But , as things are

,their on ly con

so lation ,bleak for the moment , but eternal , can be that they have been the

vanguard in a batt le of emancipat ion for the human race ,that they stood

forth alone and nailed to the flagstaff the simple assert ion of Right as againstMight , that they have imm ortalised themse lves and w ill stand eternally as

heroes . H istory w ill pay homage for all t ime , as we now , to the King and

the nation who sacrificed all but honour to preserve their own independenceand safeguard the liberties of Europe .

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By T H E RT . H ON . S I R EDW ARD GREYl, BART .

TH E wrongs done to Be lgium have brought hom e to us that we,must

spare nothing and if need be must spend everything to secure justice forher and freedom fo r us all.

W hat had the Be lgians done that the ir country should be invaded andravaged ? W hat provocat ion had a people given who threatened n o one

and wanted nothing , but to be let alone , to govern them se lves, to cult ivate

their own land and to deve lop peaceful comm erceLove of l iberty and independence is not crushed by oppression and force ,but set off by courage and suffering becom es an inspiration to its own

generation and is exalted to an imperishable place in history.

By LO RD H ARD I N GE,V I CE ROY OF I ND IA

By Telegraph from Delhi

NO nation has regarded w ith greater abhorrence than India the series of

crim es comm itted by Germans against their peaceful Be lgian brothers .

With the deep sympathy, fe lt for them'

by the people of India i t this hourof sorrow , is coupled their adm iration of the gallant resistance of their armyagainst the heaviest odds . May they be com forted by the thought thattheir sacrifice w ill not have been in vain when the oppressors of the weak

have been finally overthrown . India w ill never rest ti ll Belgium ’

s wrongshave been avenged .

By S I R RE G INALD W I N GAT EBy Telegraph from KhartoumON behalf of the inhabitants of the Sudan

,irrespect ive of race or creed,

I offer our respectful and un ited homage to Be lgium ’

s King , to the gallan tBelgian people and to Be lgium ’

s dead , who , in a materialistic age , havevindicated the supremacy of an ideal and thereby have testified that the

age of heroes is indeed n ot past .

I have the honour of personally know ing H is Majesty who cam e to the

Sudan shortly after his accession ,stayed w ith us for a few days , and visited

portions of the districts south of Khartoum .

I n the many talks I had w ith him ,I was part icularly struck w ith his h igh

ideals of Kingship and Governm ent— not on ly of his own Belgian subjectsbut of the vast areas of the Congo F ree S tate , in the advancem ent of wh ichhe takes a m ost humane and absorbing interest , and wh ich

,under his

direction ,have m ade such sensible strides in the direction of true civi lisation

and progress .

20

By TH OMAS H ARDY

SONNET ON TH E BELGIAN EX PATRIATION

I dreamt that peoplefrom the Land of C himes

Arrived one autumn morning with their bells ,

To hoist them on the towers and citadels

Of my own country , that the musical rhymes

Rung by them into space at measured timesAmid the market

’

s daily stir and stress,And the night

’

s empty starlit silentness,Might solace souls of this and kindred climes.

Then I awoke and lo , before me stood

The visioned ones , but pale andfull offear

F rom B ruges they came , andAntwerp , and Ostend,

No carillons in their train . Vicissitude

H ad left these tinkling to the invaders’

ear ,

And ravaged street , and smouldering gable-end.

By TH E MARQU E S S OF C REWESALUT ING w ith deep respect the gallant Belgians and their noble Sovereign

, we reflect that never in the world ’

s history has any nation, w ith so

s lender a pretence of reason ,been subjected to outrage so cruel and so

de liberate as that which has lately st irred the blood of civilised m ankind .

Those who begin by tear ing up a so lemn engagement have not far to descendin the m oral scale before they lay an innocent country waste ; but as an

English poet wrote when Lombardy was likew ise trampled by a foreignoppressor

And though the stranger stand,’

tis true ,~By force andfor tune

’

s right he standsBy fortune , which is in God

’

s hands,And strength ; which yet shall spring in you .

2 1

By CARD INAL BOU RNEIN all history it must be difficult to find an attack more brutal or less provoked than that made in August of this year upon the Be lgian people . But ,am id the un to ld sorrow of the weeks that have passed sin ce then

,the world

has been privileged to w itness a wonderful outburst of courage and hero ismwhich

,like the cause that has so purposelessly evoked it , is unparalle led

in the history of the nat ions . And the bravery of the Belgian people hasbeen centred and carried to its highest expression in the person of theirundaunted sovereign , Albert the F irst , King of the Belgians . No tribute ,therefore , could b e more acceptable to our Allies

,who indeed have made

them selves at the cost of imm ense suffering the very saviours of Europecivilisat ion ,

than that wh ich recogn ises in their King the inspiring force of

a resistance to injustice which has won the adm irat ion of the world .

By none is that tribute paid m ore gladly than by the Catholics of England .

To them in the sad days of religious strife and persecution F landers gave a

generous hospitality, which w ith w illing hearts they endeavour to repayto -day. W e recall how ,

in 1 561 , when the ancient Un iversities of our

country banished from the ir halls those who ventured still to maintain the

old allegiance to the H o ly See , it was at Louvain that the exiles found a

new hom e of learn ing , and set up therein two houses , to one of wh ich theygave the name of Oxford , and the other they called Cam bridge .

In m ore recen t happier t im es it is in Belgium that so many of our fellowcoun trym en have seen for the first t ime in act ion the living practice of the

Catho lic F aith . I t is to Belgium again that , often first among fore ign lands ,they have turned the ir steps , when they have been brought to understandand to accept an ew the authority in spiritual things of the Aposto lic Seeof Rom e . Be lgium , too ,

has sent to us successive generations of devotedpriests who ,

in town and coun try,have laboured w ith us in gathering in

the harvest that has been so plent iful since the second spring .

For these reasons,and for many others on wh ich the grateful m emories

of individuals may dwe ll , we jo in in offering to H is Majesty King Albertthe tribute of our thanks and praise , of our deepest sympathy, and of our

fervent prayer that the Divine Ruler of us all may soon restore peace tothe Belgian nat ion , and grant it renewed life and national prosperity farexcelling all that the past has known .

de j tlaam o.

By T H E EARL OF H ALSBU RYH rs MAJESTY TH E KING or TH E BELGIANS“H E has honour and courage— qualities that eagle-plume men

’

s souls and

fit them for the fiercest sun that ever melted the weak waxen rmnds that

flutter in the beam s of gaudy power .

”

22

By T H E MARQUE S S OF LAN S D OW NEI AM invited to add a few words to the tr ibute of adm irat ion wh ich the

compilers of th is book desire to lay at the feet of the King of the Be lgians .

On August 27, when both H ouses of Parliament passed unan imously3 reso lution conveying to H is Majesty the ir sympathy and adm irat ion , Iuttered the words wh ich are quoted be low . They were but a feebleexpression of my sent im ents and of the sen t im ents of those who listenedto them , but they were at all even ts spon taneous and sincere , and all that

has happened during the tw o m on ths which have since e lapsed has on lyserved to intensify the feelings wh ich prompted them .

All who are lovers of liberty , all who can appreciate the virtue of self-sacrifice ,all who are able to admire patriotism and who entertain respect for treaty

‘

obligations , must feel that B elgium has rendered to the civilised world a signal

service by what she has done . If she had been inspired by less glor ious ideals ,if her standard of honour had been less high , it might have been easy for her toevade these responsibilities and to escape the terrible penalties which have fallenupon her through her observance of them . She might have urged that this

dispute had arisen over a question which was far removed from her and her

interests . She might have dwelt upon her own comparative weakness as com

pared with the streng th of the Great Powers who are engaged in this colossalstruggle . She might have urged that events were moving so rapidly that therewas not time for her friends to range themselves at her side when the strugglebegan . She might have dwelt upon the ruinous consequences to herself and to

her people of a llowing thefirst act of this drama to be played upon B elgian soil.

But she did none of these things. She never faltered in her sense of what sheowed to her own position as an independent S tate . W hen the bribe was ofiered

to her she knew how to thrust it on one side . She advanced two simple propositions— first , that to accept the German proposal meant the sacrifice of herhonour as a nation second,

that shefelt able , in case her territory was violated,to defend her own neutrality . My Lords, no simpler , no more dignified re

joinder could, I venture to say ,have been given to the inducements which the

German Government did not hesitate to dangle before Belgium as the price ofher dishonour .

W e know how gallantly Belgium did defend the neutrality of her soil. She has

emerged from the struggle bruised but indomitable .

And I venture to think that she has come out of this , the first phase of a greatwar , with a halo of reputation of which any mighty Empire might well be proud .

If we had been merely disinterested spectators of these events the conduct ofBelgium would have claimed our applause and our admiration . But we are

not mere spectators . W e are the comrades in arms of B elgium ,we are her

allies, we are associated with her in this vast enterprise

,in which our country

23

has so tremendous a stake , and therefore it is that we have to Offer to Belgiumnot merely our admiration ,

but o ur gratitude , for the great achievement whichshe has accomplished.

The noble Marquess dwelt in eloquent words upon the price which the peopleof Belgium have had to pay for these great achievemen ts . I t has indeed beena terrible price . W e can , at any rate , offer to them the whole-hearted sympathyof our people . And I will take upon myself - to say this whatever else mayhappen during the course of the war- and it is a war in which there will be no

doubt stirring episodes and great feat? of arms— nothing can happen which willmore affect public opinion in this country than the conduct of Belgium in thisshort period of time . W hatever else is forgotten ,

that episode will remaing raven upon the hearts of the people of this coun try . I believe there is not aman or woman within it who does not pray that in the fullness of time wemay be able to give practical proof by our deeds of the gratitude , the sym

pathy , and the admiration which in feeble words we are seeking to expressthis evening .

By T H E RT . H ON . S I R ROBE RT BO RDENBy C able

FOR the crim e of defending its territories against unprovoked invasion bya Power pledged to ho ld them invio late

, Be lgium has , w ith suprem e fort itude ,endured sufferings and sacrifices almost surpassing the imagination and

m oving all human ity to an infin ite compassion .

As long as the Love of Liberty shall endure , as long as the character and

greatness of a nation shall be measured by its ideals , the valour and hero ism ,

the faith and devot ion of the Belgian People and of their King shall dwe llin the m em ory of m en

,and shall be the exemplar and inspiration , not of

Belgium alone , but of the world.

By J O H N REDMONDTH E Irish nat ion has many strong and tender ties w ith Belgium . W e owe

her a debt of gratitude for the past , and there is no nation in the worldwh ich has been m ore profoundly touched than Ire land by the extraordinarygallantry of the Be lgian people and their brave Sovereign . W e Irishm en

are all glad to know that m en of our race have been at the front help ingBe lgium to defend her in tegrity and independence

, and Ire land sends toKing Albert

‘

an expression of her deepest sympathy and adm iration .

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By ALF RED N OYE S

TH E REDEMPTION or EUROPE

Beyond all nights that ever were.

The C ross was broken . B lood-stained might

Moved like a tiger from its lair

And all that heaven had died to quell

Awoke , and mingled earth with hell.

F or Europe,if it held a creed

,

H eld it through custom , not through faith .

C haos returned, in dream and deed.

Right was a legend Love— a wraith

And Thatfrom which the world began

W as less than even the best in man .

God in the image of a Snake

Dethroned that dream ,too fond, too blind,

The man-shaped God whose heart could break,Live

,die

,and triumph with mankind.

A Super-snake,a j uggernaut ,

Dethroned the highest of human thought .

The lists were set . The eternalfoe ,W ithin us as without grew strong ,

By many a super -subtle blow

I n Ar t and Thought , till nought seemed true

But that soul-slaughtering cry of New

25

The one sure light , the one sure way ,

The onefirm base of LibertyThe onefirm road that men have trod

Through C haos to the Throne of God.

Choose ye , a hundred legions cried,Dishonour or the instant sword

Ye chose . Ye met that blood-stained tide .

A little kingdom kept its wordAnd, dying , cried across the night,H ear us , 0 earth , we chose the Right

W hose is the victory Though ye stood

Alone against the unmeasuredfoe

By all the tears, by all the blood

Thatflowed, and have not ceased toflow

By all the legions that ye hurled

Back,thro ’

the thunder-shaken world

By the old that have not where to rest,By lands laid waste and hearths defiled

By every lacerated breast,And every mutilated child,

W hose is the victory Answer ye ,W ho

,dying , smiled at tyranny

Under the sky’

s triumphal arch

The glories of the dawn begin .

Our dead , our shadowy arm ies march

E’

en now , in silence , through Berlin

Dumb shadows , tattered blood-stained ghosts ,But cast by what swift fo llowing hosts

And answer,England

I At thy side ,Thro ’

seas of blood , thro’

m ists of tears ,Thou that for Liberty hast died

And livest , to the end of years

And answer , Earth F ar ofl,I hear

The pecans of a happier sphere

The trumpet blown at Marathon

Resounded over earth and sea,

But burn ing angel lips have blown

The trumpets of thy LibertyFor who , beside thy dead , could deem

The faith,for which they died , a dream

Earth has not been the sam e sin ce then .

Europe from thee rece ived a soul ,W hence nat ions m oved in law ,

l ike m en,

As m embers of a m ight ier who le ,Ti ll wars were ended . I n that day ,

S o shall our children ’

s children say .

By EARL CURZ ON OF KEDLE STONW H ATEVER the future may have in store for Belgium ,

her nam e and that

of her hero ic Sovereign,King Albert

,w ill for ever shin e out in h istory for

the noble stan d which they have made on behalf of her own independence,of internat ional honour , and of the libert ies of mankind .

For her fort itude she has paid the penalty of a suffering unequalled in m odernhistory, inflicted by an enemy, to whose crue lty an cient history scarce lyaffords a paralle l .Neverthe less Belgium by her conduct , and still more by her example

, has

rendered a price less service to humanity ,for she has once more taught the

world the sublime truth that national honour is preferable to nationalsecurity, and that , though the body may b e destroyed the spirit is immortal .For the m om en t a crown of thorns has been pressed down upon her temples ,but Europe , nay, the civilised world , w ill see to it that she is healed of her

grievous wounds and some day, let us hope before long , she w ill live againin the recovered prosperity of her people , and the adm iring gratitude of

27

By T H E RT . H ON . WIN ST ON S . CH URCH I LLAT this m om ent when their cities ar e captive , their country under the

yoke , their governm ent and army forced into exile , the Be lgian nat ion isexert ing an influence upon the destin ies of Europe and of mankind beyondthat of great States in the fullness of prosperity and power ; and from the

abyss of presen t grief and suffering Be lgium looks out w ith certainty to a

future more brillian t than any which she could ever have planned .

By F REDER I C H ARR I S ONIT was the chief glory of ancient Athens , even when it was acknow ledgedby the civilised world to stand first in poetry, art , e loquence , and grace ,that the m en of Athens had been the first to w ithstand and defeat theterrible Mede in battle .

”

So , the m en of Be lgium have been the first todefy and stem the torrent over F rance of the German host wh ich thoughtitself invincible and went forth to dom ineer in Europe .

H istory te lls us that if the m illions of Xerxes could have crushed Greecethe h igher civilisation of mankind would have been arrested . Just so ,

m odern civilisation would have been set back if the Kaiser ’s m i llions hadbeen suffered to make the ir procession along the Meuse in triumph and

could have reached Paris according to the tim e - table of Potsdam . F rance ,Britain ,

Europe owe an imperishable debt to Belgium , that her hero icconstancy and valour preven ted this m onstrous catastrophe even at the costof the ir lives , their hom es , and their children .

I t is the first duty of the Allies to restore the noble people who sacrificedthem se lves for us —for peace— for freedom— for human ity.

I n all m odern h istory there is no example of a martyrdom by a who lenation— so cruel— so generous— so valiant . W hen F rance , Britain ,

Russiashall have crushed out th is conspiracy against human ity, when m ilitarismis extinct in Germany— extinct for ever in the world— whatever m ay havebeen the victories and the ach ievem ents of the Allies— still for all t im e the

hero ism of the Be lgian people who first bore the brunt of the terribleMede (as the orators would say at Athens) w i ll stand highest in the recordof valour .

By V I S COUNT E S H E RI SH OULD not have ven tured to w rite in KING ALBERT ’S BOOK wereit not that my father- in - law ’

s nam e,

Sylvain Van de W eyer ,”

standsw ith that of Lord Palm erston at the head of the scrap of paper , so con

temptuously scorned by the German Chancellor .

The Be lgian patriots of 1830 who offered the throne to King Leopo ldwould have gloried in the steadfast valour of his grandson ,

and in the

imm ortal sufferings of the nation they helped to call into being .

28

By T H E CARD INAL AR C H B I S H OP OF PAR I SC ’EST de toute mon am e que j

’

offre mon homm age a la vaillante nationBelge et ason m agnan im e Souverain

,Sa Majesté Albert I“ .

Mis en dem eure de fouler aux pieds la foi jurée ou de subir une invasionsanglante et ruineuse , le Roi des Be lges et son peuple ont répondu PlutOt

la m ort que la souillure Pour résister a la vio lence in ique et barbaredont ils sont victim es

,ils ont lutté et luttent encore avec um courage que

rien n’

abat , ils supportent sans défai llance les pires calam ites . H onneuraeux lLeur hér01sme est digne de toute adm iration , et leurs souffrances m éritenttoute sympathie . So ldats tombés en grand nombre sur les champs debataille , innocents m assacres

,villes et villages incendie

’

s,m onum ents

détruits , populat ions exilées : tous les malheurs fon t de la Be lgique une

nation martyre , et excitent la compassion de tous les nobles coeurs .

Nulle part cette sympathie ne saurait etre plus vive qu ’

en F rance .

En se sacrifiant pour de’

fendre son honneur et son indépendance , la Belgiquea barre le chem in al’envahisseur qui voulait écraser la F rance . Par lae lles

’

est acquis des dro its impérissables ala reconnaissance de tous les F rancais .

Ceux- ci ne seront po int ingrats .

Avec les Belges et avec les Anglais, nos glorieux all1es

,nos arm ées com

battront jusqu’

au bout pour chasser l’envahisseur . Nous aurons a cmur

de ven ir largem ent en aide anos freres en détresse . Enfin nous supplieron sle Dieu des justices de prendre en m ains la cause de ce peuple , si fidele au

Christ et a son Eglise , et de lui rendre , avec un territoire libéré et um

patrimo ine de glo ire agrandi,la paix et la prospérité .

TRAN SLATION by Florence SimmondsFrom the dep ths of my soul I ofi

'

er my homage to thevalian t Belgian na tion and to her magnanimousSovereign ,

H is Majesty Alber t I .

Faced with the alternative of spurmng their pledgedword or s ubmi t ting to a bloody and ruinous i ,

nvasionthe King of the Belgians and his people rephed .

Death before dishonour I n their resis tance tothe iniquitous and barbarous violence of which theyare the vic tims

,they have struggled and are still

s truggling with unconquerable courage— they endurethe wors t calamities without flinching . All honourto them !Their heroism is worthy of the highest admirationand their sufferings claim the sympathy of the wholeworld. Soldiers fallen in vas t numbers on the fieldof ba t tle , innocen t creatures massacred, towns and

villages burn t to the ground, monumen ts destroyed,popula tions exiled such are the horrors that have

29

made Belgium the Martyr Nation, and stirred the

compassion of all noble hear ts .I n no country is this sympathy deeper than in France .

By sacr ificing herself in defence of her honour and

independence , Belgium blocked the invader ’s passagewhen he aimed at crush ing France. By so doingshe has earned imperishable rights and the gratitudeof all French people .

They will not be ungrateful.W i th the Belgians and the English ,Allies

,our armies will figh t to the end to drive ou t

the invader ; W e shall make it a poin t of honour tocome generously to the assis tance of our bro thers indistress . Finally, we shall pray to the God of jus ticeto uphold the cause of a people so faithful to Chris tand to H is Church , and to gran t them peace and

prosperity in afree land with an increased patrimonyof glory .

By P I E RRE LOT IDEux PAUVRES PETITS OISILLONS DE BELGIQUEUN soir , dans une de nos villes du sud, um train de réfugiés belges venait

'

d’

en trer en gare , et les pauvres martyrs un aun descendaient lentem ent,

exténués et ahuris , sur ce quai inconnu ,des fran cais les attendaien t pour

les recuei llir . Trainant avec eux que lques hardes prises au hasard,ils

étaient m ontés dans ces vo itures san s m em e se demander ou e lles les con

duiraient , ils étaient m onte'

s dans la hate de fuir , d’

éperdfim ent fuir devan tl’

horreur et la m ort , devan t le feu ,devant les indicibles mutilat ions et les

vio ls sadiques , - devant tout ce qui ne semblait plus possible sur la Terre,

mais qui couvait encore , parait-il, au fond des piétistes cerve lles allemandes,

et qui tout acoup s’

était déversé , sur leur pays et sur le notre , comm e um

dern ier vom issem en t des barbaries origine lles . I ls n’

avaient plus ni village,

mi foyer , ni fam ille , ceux qui arrivaient lasans but , comm e des e’

paves , et

la détresse effarée était dans les yeux de tous . Beaucoup d’

enfants , de

pet ites filles , dont les paren ts s’

étaient perdus au m ilieu des incendies ou

des batail les . Et aussi des aieules , maintenant seules au m onde , qui avaientfui san s trop savo ir pourquo i , ne tenant plus avivre mais poussées par umobscur instin ct de conservation ; leur figure

,a celles-la, n

’

exprimait plusrien , pas m eme le désespoir , comme si vrairnent leur ame était part ie et

leur tete vidée .

Deux tout petits , perdus dans cette foule lam entable,se tenaient serre

’

s par

la main ,deux petits garcons , visiblem ent deux petits freres , l

’

ain é , quiavait peut- etre cinq ans , protégeant le plus jeune qui pouvait bien en avo irtro is . Personne ne les réclamait , personne n e les connaissait . Commen t

avaient - ils compris , trouvés tout seuls , qu’i l fallait monter dans cc train ,

eux

aussi , pour ne pas m ourir ? Leurs vétem ents étaien t convenables et ils

portaien t des pet its bas de laine bien chauds on devinait qu’

ils devaientapparten ir ades parents modestes , mais so igneux ; sans doute étaien t-ilsfils de l

’

un de ces sublim es so ldats be lges , tombés heroiquement au champd

’

honneur,et qui avait dfi avo ir pour eux ,

au mom ent de la m ort , une

supreme pensée de tendresse . I ls ne pleuraien t m em e pas , tant ils étaientan éan tis par la fatigue et le somm ei l ; apeine s

’ils tenaient debout . I ls

étaient incapables de répondre quand on les questionnait , mais surtoutils ne voulaient pas se lacher , non . Enfin le grand aine , crispant toujourssa main sur celle de l ’autre , dans la peur de le perdre , prit tout a coupconscience de son réle de protecteur et trouva la force de parler ala dam e

abrassard penchée vers luiMadam e dit - il, d

’une toute petite vo ix suppliante et dej‘

a a mo itie’

endorm ie,Madam e

,est - cc qu ’

on va nous coucher P Pour le mom en t,

c’

était tout ce qu’

ils étaient capables dc souhaiter encore , tout cc qu’

ils

attendaient de la pitié humaine : qu ’

on voulut bien les coucher . Vite on

les coucha, ensemble bien entendu ,et ils s

’

endorm irent aussitét , se tenant

toujours par la m ain et presses l’

un contre l’

autre , ala m em e m inute plongéstous les deux dans la tranquille inconscience des somm eils enfan tins .

20

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By T H E R I G H T H ON . DAV I D LLOYD GEORGEIT has been the privilege of little nations at different periods in the historyof the world to render some signal service to civilisation . That dutyBelgiumhas now been called upon to render to European civilisation

,and nobly has

she an swered the call .I t is her hero ism that has forced Prussian Junkerdom

,its character

,and its

design s , into the light of day. As long as it intrigued against F rance , Russia,o r Britain , it m ight have cont inued to take cover under som e plausible ;diplom atic pretext ; but to assail Belgium it had to com e into the open ,

where its arrogance,its brutality, and its aggressiveness becam e m an ifest

to the w orld . I t was Belgian valour that exposed the sin ister character ofPrussian m ilitarism ,

and when that m enace is finally overthrown the most

honourable share in the trium ph w ill b e due to Belgian sacrifice .

Th is unfo rtunate country is now overwhe lm ed by the barbarian flood but

when the sanguinary de luge subsides Belgium w ill em erge a great and a

glorious land wh ich every lover of liberty w ill honour , and every tyranthencefo rth shun .

By EARL K I T C H ENER OF KH ARTOUMI S INC ERELYhope that th is book may accomplish its twofo ld object ofbearing further test im ony to our adm irat ion of the courage and devotionto duty shown by King Albert and his Army, and of securing material helpand com forts for the Belgians who have suffered so terribly at the hands ofan invading enemy

By F R I DT JOF NAN SENIT is a great privilege to have obtained such an opportun ity as this bookaffords of expressing the deepest sympathy of the cit izen of a small nationfor the gallant people and the noble King and Queen of Belgium .

I t is n eedless to say that o ne’

s heart goes out to th is people whose fate isthe most crue l tragedy of m odern history . But w ordS

‘

seem weak and of

litt le value when one th inks of the distress of a splendid people who havefought so nobly and sacrificed so much for their freedom and their country.

W I LLIAM W AT S ON

H I S MAJESTY KING ALBERTReceive , from one who hath not lavishedpraise

On many Princes, nor was ever awed

By Empire such as grovelling slaves applaud,

W ho cast their souls into its altar-blaze ,Receive the homage that a freeman pays

To Kinghoodflowering out ofManhood broad,

K inghooa’

that toils uncovetous of laud,

Loves whom it rules, and serves the'

realm it sways .

F or when Your people,caught in agony

’

s net,

Rose as one daun tless heart,their K ing was found

W orthy on such a throne to have been set,

W orthy by such as They to have been crownedAnd loftier praise than this did never yet

On mortal earsfrom lips of mortals sound .

By T H E H ON . J O S EP H H . C H OAT EU NDER the gallan t lead of the hero ic Be lgian King , his down—troddenand afflicted people have been fight ing for liberty,

and to m ain tain the

plighted faith of nat ions , which guaran teed it to them . Those who wereguilty of an awful breach of faith

,confessed the ir crim e W hile in the act of

comm itt ing it , and pleaded n ecessity,to abso lve them from all law

,a plea

which the who le civilised world refuses to accept .

F or their bo ld stand for right and duty, the Be lgians , guiltless’

of all offence,

have been overwhe lm ed by numbers,trampled in the dust , and reduced to

starvation, their hom es destroyed , their who le country devastated and

converted into a human slaughter-house .

I n th is sad plight,they have deserved and are receiving the sympathy and

the helping hand of people of every civilised nation in this hour of their diredistress .

I am glad to know that my countrym en are sending material re lief to thesufferers , and W ith it the hearts of our people go out to them and theirbrave King , in human sympathy,

unfeigned and un restrained .

As neutrals , by international law and by our own law , our hands are t iedand w i ll remain so . But our hearts go whither they list .

By S I R WILL IAM RAM SAYEVERY scientific m an who is not a Teuton (and I hope and trust many .

who are of German race) deplores the barbarity,incredible if it w ere not

true , w ith which Belgium has been treated .

'

W e had hoped that the un iversality of the spread of science

,both pure ,

'

and applied to industry, w ouldhave made it impossible for any nation to revert to barbarism ,

and to destroywhat it has taken so many centuries to Create , The scientific achievem ents

of the Be lgians has always stood on the h ighest plan e to quote on ly twoinstances , taken from my own subj ect , the nam e of Stas , in pure scien ce ,and of So lvay, in applied science , are am ong the m ost illustrious in theirparticular Spheres , wh ich the w orld has ever produced .

W e can on ly extend to the Be lgians our m ost heartfe lt sympathy, and assurethem , in the person of the ir Sovereign , that w e shall spare no effort , whenthe tim e com es , to aid Be lgium to regain that place am ong the nationswhich she has filled w ith so much credit In the past . Complete restitut ionof all she has lost w ill be impossible ; but much can

, and no doubt w ill b edone to recompense her for having , alone and unaided

,repe lled for a t ime

successfully the I nvasion of barbaric hordes , and enabled the progressiveraces of Europe to repe l the incursions of those who would subject themto an era of retrogression in Arts , Science , and Literature .

By T H E H ON . W I LL IAM H . TAF TTH E heart of the world should go out to the poor people of Belgium .

W ithout being in any respect a party to the con troversies of the war , theircoun try has been m ade the battle-ground of the greatest , and in som e

respects the m ost destruct ive war in h istory. Any m ovem ent to relievetheir distress has my profound sympathy.

B y S I R W . B . R I CH MOND ,R .A.

T H E CROW N OF PEACESweet Peace rises out of the flames of W ar which give way to her benignB eauty . she brings with H er an immortal crown which she presents to a

B rave K ing and People who have saved Europe from Barbarian hordesby their sacrifice and heroism .

DEDICATED TO TH E GREAT KING OF TH E NOBLE BELGIANS ,W H O HAVE SAVED EUROPE FROM TH E BARBAR IANS .

In respect ,

36

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By ARNOLD BENNETTTH E RETURNTW ENTY years ago I learn t one day by chance that the first-class returnfare from London to Ostend by steam er was on ly half a guinea. I hadalways imagined that the C ont inen t ” could on ly be visited by rich people ,

— certain ly not,by clerks . F or m e it was a region beyond the borders of

my hopes for ages to com e . The fact that the cost of reach ing the Con tinentfrom London was much less than half of the cost of reach ing my own hom e

in the Midlands struck m e such a blow in the back as wakes up am an dozingon the high - road and sends him staggering forward on his way.

At the ear liest opportun ity I boarded the Ostend steam er , somewhere nearLondon Br idge , and saw ,

first , the marve ls of the Port of London . I hadlived in London several years and never realised that it was a port— to saynoth ing of be ing the largest port in the world . I next realised , tossing inthe sm all steam er at sea, that Great Britain really was an island

— a fact w ithwhich I had hitherto been on ly inte llectually fam iliar , from enforced studyof a schoo l geography. These were rem arkable experien ces , but they werenaught in comparison w ith the sensation of first seeing a fore ign land . Idescried a lighthouse , a long line of pale hotels , and the grandiose outlinesof the Kursaal . I said to myself w ith awe

That is the Con t inentI t seem ed fabulous , dream - like

,impossible . The steamer touched the quay,

threw out ropes , and was m oored . I stepped ashore . I was on Be lgianso i l , the first foreign so il my feet had ever touched . I saw strange arch itecture ,

strange costum es I heard strange sounds and strange languages .

Everyth ing was romantic . Even the tram car was inexpressib ly romant icthe postm en w ith their litt le horns w ere fantast ic , and the cafés each a quaintparadise of good cheer . I was so m oved by the sheer romance of the affairthat I could not speak . I said to myselfI actually am on the Con tinent .

”

I could hardly believe it . I t was too good , and too astounding , too overwhe lm ing , to b e true .

Yet it was true . And after a tim e I grew som ewhat accustom ed , thoughnever entire ly accustom ed

,to the fee ling— though since then I have lived

on the Cont inen t for m any years .

My em ot ion as I first walked about in Ostend ( looking no doubt a queerenough uncouth gaping English figure) was one of the em otions that I couldnot conce ivably forget , one of the major formative em otions of my who lelife . And therefore , among all the cities and countries of the ContinentOstend and Be lgium ho ld a un ique position in my souven irs . I have goneto Belgium frequently since then . I have entered by sea at Antwerp , andby train from Paris , and I have sailed right into Bruges in my yacht— and

each t im e I have had the sam e thrill , recalling my first visit .

F rom Ostend , on that first visit , I went to Bruges , and there understoodfor the first t im e what a h istorical city of art could b e . Bruges was to me

0'

37

in credible in its lofty and mellow completeness . I t was a town in a storyits inhabitants were characters out of un read novels ; its ch im es were magicfrom the skies . I t had not a street that was not a vision . Even the railwaystat ion at Bruges had some of the characterist ics of a cathedral . Thenceto Ghent , where the sam e kind of wondrous picturesqueness was un ited tothe spectacle of comm erce Thence to Brusse ls— the capital . W hatboulevards , what parks , what palaces , what galleries , what cafés , and aboveall W hat restauran ts ! The symm etry and the e legance of the civic organ ism !England held nothing like it . I had imagined nothing like it . A con

tinental capital I felt as though I could live in Brusse ls for ever .

Thence to Malines , of the unequalled carillon . Thence to Antw erp , a kindof complem entary and utterly different sister-capital to Brusse ls .

Thence southwards to Roulers w ith its industry, and the un ique Ypres ,w ith its cloth-hall and its ramparts . Thence to Namur , w ith the firstglimpse of the Meuse ! Thence to Dinant , w ith its cliffs and its

tower , and on to little Anseremm e, where one could have a bed and four

meals and a bathe in the Meuse for four francs a day ! The who lecountry was a museum of architecture , art , and history. I t was full of theamen ities of civilisation . Everywh ere were parks and music . I n each townwas an opera, and galleries contain ing masterpieces .

In twenty- four days— and n ights

— I saw it all, with a most ridiculous inexpen siveness , and on the even ing of the twenty

-fourth day I embarked at

Ostend again . I hated to leave Belgium . The prospect of plain ,unpoetic

England was offensive to m e . But I had to go . And when I reachedLondon , strange to say, I began to perceive what awonderful place Londonwas . Belgium has taught me to appreciate London . Moreover there wasa peculiar feel about London and England . I t was the feel of the city to itsown cit izen , and of the coun try to its native .

And now , what I im agine is the ultimate return , by Ostend , by Zeebrugge ,by Antwerp , and by the trains from the south

, of exiled Belgians intoBe lgium ! Their thrill w ill far outdo the thrill of the eager ingenuoustourist . I imagine the ir gaze from the sea towards the whiteness of Ostend ,and from the Scheldt towards the steeples of Antwerp . They w ill passthrough emotions— at once tragic and triumphant , terr ible and exquisitesuch as fate has accorded to no other people in the modern age .

‘

Confrontedby ruin and deso lation , appalled by the imm ense task of reconstruction that

lies before them , saddened by the reco llect ion of indescribable woe , im

poverished and bereaved but not enfeebled , they w ill be heartened by theobstinate courage wh ich through every disaster has kept them a nation , and

by the living splendid hope of the future . Not into a museum w ill theybe entering , but into a house and an environment which the ir ancestorsand they themselves created , and of wh ich they profoundly comprehend the secret sign ificance , and wh ich ,

however defaced and blackened ,they w ill slow ly restore again to the full expression of the soul of a

nation .

38

And I seem to be alr eady present at a great , unexampled , sacred occasionof so lemn rejo icing in Brusse ls , and to stand am id silent crowds on the

pavem ent of the BoulevardAnspach , wh ile the young veterans of the Be lgianarmy go by, and the cann ons , and the flags , and then the youthful King ,w ith his Queen ,

a crowned monarch who has earn ed a nation’

s affect ionperhaps more nobly than a nation ’

s affection ever was earned before . And

there is a vast deafen ing cheer , that shakes the tears out of the eyes . And

in every chastened and bursting heart lies like a m iraculous solace the new

proved conviction that righteousness prevai ls .

By S I R J O S EPH LARMO RTH E Belgian nation has sacrificed herself without measure , n0t only for thesake of her own independence

,but to assert the right of the States of Europe

each to pursue her own national development , free from the pressure of an

iron mould imposed by ruthless foreign dom ination . In the Middle AgesF landers was a centre of art and learn ing and industry, in a Renaissancewhich vied w ith the revival in Italy. She has now enhan ced her right tothe possession of her great monuments of the past by a new renown . The

burn ing light of her patriot ism , now shin ing upon the world , has created a

new and unwavering faith in the nobility of her dest iny, which the tragedyof her present m isfortunes w ill keep ever bright . W e can look forward w ithconfidence to a renewed and transfigured Belgium , occupying in the future ,under her heroic dynasty, an honoured place in the fam i ly of the free nationsof Europe .

By MADELE INE LU C ETT E RY LEY

To TH E V I CTORs BELONG TH E SPOILS

The Victor true is he who conquersfear ,W ho knows no time save now— no place but here .

W ho counts no cost— who only plays the game ,To him shallgo the prize— Immortal F ame l

To the I llustrious Ruler and his GallantLittle Nation , whose heroism and braveryare surely unparalleled in the whole ofour W orld ’

s H istory , I bow my head in

39

By T H E RT . H ON . A . BONAR LAW

IN July of this year there was no part of the world more peaceful andprosperous than the little country of Be lgium . There the monuments ofan cien t art

,of learn ing and of piety stood out in bo ld re lief in the m idst

of an industrial deve lopm ent wh ich was scar cely equalled , which was no

where surpassed in any country in the world .

In a moment,almost w ithout warn ing , this sm iling garden of industry was

turned into a scene of bitterest deso lation,not by a convulsion of nature

but by the cruelty of man . I n a struggle which was not sought by them ,

which no forbearan ce o r w isdom on the part of their rulers could haveaverted , the Be lgian people , by what they have done and by what they haveendured , have won for them se lves imm ortal fam e .

But for the unexpected and hero ic resistance of the small Belgian Army,the German hosts would have hurled them se lves against the F rench Armybefore it had been m obilised . Belgium averted a terrible disaster to us andto our Allies , but at what a cost to herse lf P She is for the mom en t a nationwithout a fatherland but the soul of the nation is living still

, is living inher brave so ldiers , is living in King Albert , who has shown to the modernworld what can be done by a H ero -King .

As a nat ion we long for a successful end to this terrible war , which is fillingwith m ourn ing so many of our hom es

,but it can never end t ill the wrongs

of Belgium have been avenged and expiated .

By ADMI RAL LO RD CH ARLE S BERE S F ORDTH E con science of the who le civilised world is shocked at the odiousbarbarit ies perpetrated on the gallan t Belgian nat ion by the ruthless ,cowardly, and savage action of Germany in her efforts to smash Belgium ’

s

independence .

The Be lgians have been fight ing a batt le for liberty, humanity, and civilisation they have also been fighting a batt le for the F rench as well as theBritish , and though thousands of her best have been killed and wounded ,and her civil populat ion ,

including women and ch ildren,have been driven

from their hom es and martyred in the cause of their country, her youth are

still fight ing for just ice and freedom .

W hen th is w icked war is over , the first duty of the allies must b e to enforceevery compensation that is possib le from the brutal nat ion that has ravagedBe lgium .

Germ any has scorned the laws of God and man ; her fiendish savagerieshave proved that Germ an m ilitarism is a disgrace to humanity.

Sympathy, respect , and adm iration for Belgium is un iversal and in ternat ionalin the crue l wrongs she has suffered for the cause of liberty and the rightsof small States .

40

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42

Et,tranquillo exp ress . com me fe - rait u - na me

les berce

loin tain .

en leur tom

By F LO RA ANN I E STEELSUNRISETH E shells had been shrieking and scream ing all day long but now that

the dusk had fallen they w ere silent .

So on this All Souls ’

n ight the moon could rise , still , si lvery, serene overthe ruined village . And the co ld , rem ote radiance softened the charredglow of still burn ing rafters to coo l glimmerings , and made the litt le trailsof smoke rising from them show l ike incense seeking the star-strewn sky.

C arven stones heaped h igh in weird shapeless piles showed where for countless generations the village church had stood ; and h igh amongst these

rose the stone C rucifixion let into the wall beh ind the altar , wh ich a

generation of m en,long since past and gone , had hewn out of a so lid block.

So it stood still erect , a sorrowful figure to wh ich those count less generationsof pat ient people had brought their hopes , their fears , their sins , theirsuccesses , and their fai lures .

The altar itself was shattered , but the steps remained , and on them— seekingthe shelter of a h igh piled heap of debris from the tower— lay three figures .

One was crumpled up face downwards almost as it had first fallen . Anotherw ith helpless loose-hanging arm sate limply on the top step . The thirdhad craw led to the very foot of the C ross and lay restfully its head upona splintered stone .

All was still as the grave . Then sudden ly, waveringly, came a man’

s vo iceI t

’

s a long , long way to T ipperary.

”

The chant ended in a sort of sob , as the seated figure on the top step roseto its feet unsteadily.

I seed ’

im m ove , murmured the Englishman , an’ I ’

oped he was a

deader . So he stood , looking down on the crumpled figure . Must b ebeastly oneasy,

”

he cont inued . Lordy ain ’

t’

e like the bumbadeer arter’

e got one from C harpenteer .

” Then he paused ; so after a space lookedback and called out

H i you there , F renchy Wake up , Jacko , and give a h’

arm w ith thisGerman bloke , there

’

s a decent chap .

”

The man who rested his head on the splintered altar-stone sate up , show ingh imself a long- limbed

,broad-shouldered Breton , kindly but uncompre

hending . The gestures of the other , however , w ere sufficient added to theexplanation :

’

E ain ’

t com fy, see you ,Jacko and

’

e ain ’

t got long t’

er b e

comfortable ; so let ’

s’

eft’

im 11

Jean the Breton nodded at John the Englishman and half craw led , halflimped , down the steps to lend an aid. Together the two wounded m en

dragged the third to more fitt ing rest , where on his back he could breatheeasier , for he was shot through the lungs but in the process the he lm et

he had worn fe ll off and ro lled , glinting and clanking , into the shadows .

’

E m ieuox comm ’

ca,” remarked Jean the Breton approvingly in his

Beastly unbecom in’

things ,’

elmets , said John the Englishm an in his .

4 3

But Johan the German on ly opened his blue eyes on his enem ies and drewin a long gasping breath . They none of them understood each other ’sspeech ,

but something o lder than the Tower of Babel had given them

comprehension and was to give them m ore .

For som ething e lse besides the he lmet had fallen from its place in that

laborious journey up the altar steps . The wounded German had torn histun ic open in his first agon ised fight for breath and from it had slipped a

cheap locket attached to a cheap chain , and ho lding a cheap photographcheaply co loured— the photograph of a fair-haired baby .

By . gum ! Ain ’

t it l ike my kid,

”

muttered John the Englishman , and

from his khaki tun ic he drew another cheap locket .

And Jean the Breton ,not to b e outdone , fo llowed suit in his blue coatee .

So there in the st ill , silvery, serene moon light showed three fair-haired ,blue-eyed baby faces , fram ed in tawdry pinchbeck but the faces w ere thefaces of imm ortality— the symbo l of the race .

Mon p’

tit fils ,”

murmured Jean the Breton fondly. Mon p’

tit Jean .

H e llo Jacky my boy,

” ch irruped John the Englishman , trying to hidethe ache in his heart under a sm ile .

But Johan the German on ly ro lled his head from side to side and his lipsmoved as if he would have said Vater . ” Perhaps he was thinking of his

country. Perhaps his dying car had become more acute to the sounds thatmatter

,and he was forestalling the little wailing cry which after a space

rose fitfully am ong the ruins , Faster Faster Faster FasterThe cry of a ch ildYes the wail of a sturdy little F lem ish fellow of two , who cam e totteringlyover the scattered stones w ith his bare feet . H e wore a quaint litt le n ightgarm ent ; so ,

in the hurry of flight , he must have been left behind asleep .

But now , awake , his insistent Faster ! F aster ! Faster ! ”

was like the

cry of a plover luring danger from her n est .

I n the next five m inutes John the Englishman’

s wounded arm forgot itself,and Jean the Breton ’

s splintered knee and w rist secured so lace , but Johanthe German

’

s w istful eyes were all he could place at the service of the litt lelad,

unt il as the pit iful wailing would not cease , a trembling hand po intedwaveringly to a haversack ,

and once again the unwritten unspoken wordbrought comprehension . The litt le F lam and munching away contentedlyat a concentrated German sausage ration gave his nam e shylyw ith a sm ileas Jan— pi ’ou ’

Jan .

”

Mon p’

tit gars— mon Jean , murmured the Breton ecstatically , and fellto dream ing of a cottage among apple orchards .

Kids is terrible sim ilar pronounced the Englishman w ith awe in his

vo ice , and fe ll to dream ing of a tenem ent-flat h igh up among the ch imneys .

But the German’

s dazed m ind could not get beyond a vague insistentdream , and his blood-stained lips m oved as if he would have said Vater .

”

H e was evidently go ing fast , and all th ings worth having in this life— loveand loyalty— were bound up in that word .

44

St ill w ith one final effort he po inted to the th ick overcoat which they hadspread over him and motioned they should wrap the drowsy ch ild in it .

They did not say him may he was too far gone for that .

But I ain ’

t agoin’

to disturb you ,sonny,

”

said John the . Englishm

cheerfully. There ’

s room of a litt le um beside you— so creep in ,Jackie .

Ses prieres expostulated Jean the Breton he was a devout Catho lic .

N ’

oublies pas tes prieres , m on p’

tit Jean .

”

And the little fellow understanding the man’

s clasped hands murmuredsom ething sleepily. No one understood the words

, but their spirit— the

spirit of father and son— was in the hearts of the listeners .

And on e of them saw further to that spirit than the others , gave a long gasp ,and lay st ill .H e

’

s off , pore chap ,said John the Englishman

,but let be Creep

in, sonny

—

you’ll both rest the better mayhap .

”

Jean the Breton looked at the dead face that lay so close to the child’

s and

crossed h im se lf as he murmured the dim ittance prayer . wh ich sends a soulto find freedom .

After that the m oon , still , silvery, serene , shone on a silent group about thefeet of the Christ w ith its eternal m essage of forgiveness , of reconciliat ion ,

of imm ortal fatherhood and sonship .

So the silent n ight passed,t ill in the east the blood- red glow of dawn

heralded another dreadful day, and incarnadined the crown of thorns uponthe Sorrowful Brow .

And alm ost w ith the glow cam e the shriek, the scream of the first she llfired by the advancing Germans as a precaut ion lest the village should havebeen reoccupied during the n ight .

I t did not disturb the s leepers . The cars of one were deaf to str ife for ever,

and the child , in Childhood ’

s deep dream less sleep , slept on . The two

others lying e ither side , used to long days and n ights of such hellish devilishtumult , on ly st irred , and,

half conscious , threw each a protecting arm acrossthe dead man and the ch ild .

The sw ift crackle passed , the sharp resounding explosion was over ere itcould be realised

,sending out a fierce rain of scattering shrapnel .

After that there was no sound save the soft breathing of litt le Jan as he laysecure beneath dead protecting arms , his head pillowed on his dead enemy

’

s

heart .

And as the ch ild slept the sun rose and turned the incarnadined crown of

thorns upon the bowed head of the Son ofMan into a crown of go ld .

By V I S COUNT BRYCEALL honour to the Belgian King and the Belgian People . No king andno nation ,

not even the o ldest and the strongest nation , has shown moredign ity and gallantry than Be lgium , which is among the youngest and thesmallest in area of European States .

W hen Be lgium was erected into a kingdom in 1832 ,many doubted whether

a real nat ion could be formed by linking together the F lem ish element and

the W alloon e lement , races that had different characteristics and spokedifferent languages . But Belgium has grown to be a truly un ited nation

,

consolidated by a fervent patriot ism . She has produced many men of

literary and art istic gen ius , poets and jurists and scho lars andm en of science ,painters who have renewed the great traditions of Rubens and Vandyck.

The principles of constitutional liberty have taken root and flourished amongher citizens , andher annals have been adorned by not a few capable and highm inded statesmen . H er peasantry, laborious and resourceful , have broughther so il to a wonderful pitch of product iveness , wh ile a skill and enterprisehave made some among her manufacturing industries second to none in

Europe . Peace and prosperity have re igned such as these regions had not

seen since the days of Duke Ph ilip the Good , nearly five centuries ago .

All this peace and prosperity have been sudden ly and ruthlessly torn fromher . H er fie lds have been laid waste , her cities burned . Treasures of Arthave been destroyed and the people have been reduced to poverty or drivenforth as helpless refugees . All this Belgium has suffered because she refusedto forfeit her independence and betray the pledge of neutrality she had given ,

a pledge which was the very foundation of her independen ce . Confron tedby arm ies ten t imes their strength ,

her King and people risked everythingfor H onour , and everything save H onour they have lost . But H onour isthe greatest th ing . I t has won for them the adm iration of the world . I t

will be a glorious m em ory to them and their children when freedom and

independence , peace and prosperity,have been restored , as they must b e ,

and we trust soon w ill b e , restored .

W e in Britain salute the gallant King and the gallant Armywhich st ill fightshero ically on ,

reduced to less than one- third of its strength . W e sorrowat their sufferings . W e w ill not rest t ill those sufferings are ended and the

invader has been expelled . And we thank them for the example they have setto all Europe and to the generat ions yet to come . H istory records no finerexample sin ce Thermopw of untarn ished fidelity and undaunted courage .

By H ENRYK S I ENK I EW I C ZBy TelegraphLES malheurs passent , la glo ire reste et immortalise . H onneur al’héro

’

ique

nat ion et ason héro’

ique Souverain .

4 6

By PAUL H ERV I EU

IL etait , une fo is , un Roi et une ReineOui

, ce sera le conte des fées le plus émouvant qui se puisse écrire , et leplus édifiant , que la tres véridique histo ire de S .M. le Roi Albert I er et deS .M. la Rein e ElisabethCette noble quiétude dans le dévouement aux taches quotidiennes , cettepureté fam iliale dans laquelle ils vivaientTout acoup , l

’

intervention du Diable , avec ses offres et ses m enacesLes souverains et le Peuple de Belgique commun iant aussitOt dans le sentim ent de l

’

honneur et de l’

héro'

ism e .

L’

invasion scele’

rate , et l’

innomb rable légion d’

esprits infernaux qui crachentle soufre , déversent les trombes de fer , font pleuvo ir le feu et les dem euresdes cités se transforrnant en co lonnes tronquées de cim etiéres ; et des

innocents devenus partout des suppliciés et le Roi et la Reine qui n ’

ont

plus pour royaume qu’

une dune sur le rivage et autour d ’

eux les restesvaillants de leur arm éeEnfin ! Enfin ! C e revirement du sort que souhaite ardemment toutel’

humanité digne de ce nom ,et que l

’

autre m eme sent aujourd ’

hui s ’

ap

procher d’une marche sure .

A cet endroit du conte , 21 cc passage de haute légende , oh comme les mains

des enfants battront , dans leur amour inn é de la justice ! Et le visage deshonnétes parents rira d’

approbation et de conscience satisfaite .

Et ceux qui , dans l’

aven ir,mettront , a contempler les Arm es royales , la

pieuse adm iration qui siéra, y verront apparaitre une Rose triomphante ,accompagnant le Lion de Belgique , pour l

’

immortelle un ion de S .M. la

Reine Elisabeth dans la loire de S .M. le Roi Albert I“ .gW W

TRANSLATION by Florence S immondsOnce upon a time there lived aKing andaQueenIndeed, it would be the most touching and edifyingfairy- tale imaginable , this true story of H .MAlbert I and H .M. Queen Elisabeth !I t would tell of their quie t and noble devotion to theirell;i tasks, of the purity of their happy family

1 e

S uddenly, the Devil would in tervene, with his threats

Then we should hear of the Sovereigns and the peopleof Belgium agreeing at once in their sense of honour

Then the das tardly invasion , and the innumerablehost of infernal spirits breathing out sulphur , belchingtorren ts of iron ,

and raining fire city dwellingstransformed in to the shat tered columns of ceme teriesinnocent creatures tortured and victimised and the

47

K ing and Queen with their kingdom reduced to a

sandhill on the shore , and the remnan t of their valiantarmy round them .

And at las t , at las t ! That turn of the tide which allhumanity worthy of the name desires soand wh ich even the baser sort now sees toapproach ing.

At this poin t in the story , at this page of the legendarytale

,how the children would clap their hands , with

all that love of jus tice innate in childr en , and how thefaces of worthy paren ts would beam with the approvalof sa tisfied consciencesAnd in the f uture, those who con template the RoyalArms with the pious admiration due to them

,will see

a blooming Rose side by side with the Lion of Belgium ,

typifying the immortal share of H .M Queen Elisabethin the glory ofH .M. Albert I .

By ADM I RAL LORD F I S H E R OF K I LVER STONETH E Lord God of recompences shall sure ly requite .

One poor girl of n ineteen was found stripped , outraged and dead .

Special C orrespondent of TH E TIMES (Oct . 25 ,

By V I S COUNT GLAD ST ONETH E best tribute to King Albert and his gallant Belgians from all to whom

Opportun ity falls , lies In personal effort and service to re lieve multitudes ofm en ,

wom en , and children who are suffering because of Belgium ’

s heroicsacrifice for Liberty and International Justice .

By NORMAN ANGELLBELGIUM has done this great service for all of us she has shown how

great a little country may be and how little a great one may becom e . She

has shown that the real nobility of patriotism is not amatter ofw ide territoryand po litical power and does not need to b e nourished by these things ;while the action of Germany towards Belgium has shown that power andsize may well destroy all that makes patriotism worth wh ile .

By ELLA W H EELE R W I L C OX

BELGIUMRuined Destroyed Ah no though blood in rivers ran

Down all her ancien t streets though treasures manifold

Love-wrought , time-mellowed, and beyond the price of goldAre lost , yet Belgium

’

s star shines still in God’

s vast plan .

Rarely have kings been great , since kingdomsfirst began

Rarely have great kings been great men ,when all was told .

But, by the lighted torch in mailed hands , behold

Immortal Belgium’

s immortal king , and man .

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By AR I ST I D E SARTOR I OUN0 scrittore tedesco ha reso noto , come i so ldati dell ’ impero germanicoport ino n ello zaino F aust e Zaratustra. I l bagaglio é significativo , perchéMephistofeles é il nonno di Zaratustra e questi derivé dall ’ avo que ll ’ indo lefilosofica, sprone ad ogn i vio lenza e che , fatta scuo la in German ia, sapp iam o

r insaldi ora cosi la disciplina della so ldatesca imperiale .

Eviden tem en te i so ldati non si trovano sui campi di battaglia per fare un

corso di letteratura,e si inspireranno ai concett i morali dei Vade mecum

,

”

anziché a quelle be llezze estetiche che rendono imm ortali quei capo lavori e ,com e lo provano duram ente oggi i be lgi , lo proveremmo noi italian i , qualora

gl’

irnperi centrali uscissero vittoriosi dalla lotta irnmane essi costringerebbero l’I talia al vassallaggio ed il nostro paese sarebbe , con tutta probab ilita,ann ientato

,derubato ,

distrutto . Liberat i dall ’ incubo dell ’ alleanza,noi

italian i abbiam o assist ito sdegnat i allo strazio del Belgio ,paese neutrale ,

paese d ’

arte , di co lturae d’

industria, con il quale fin dalla rinascenza avemmo

contatt i spirituali , e che,com e noi, guadagno la sua indipendenza a prezzo

di enorm i sacrifici.Ma le ossa di F riedrich Nietzsche , che si corruccIo vendendo la German iaaddormen tata in un sogno pacifista, dovevano esultare ne lla tomba, scavatapoco lon tano da quella dell ’ o limp ico Goethe arrivo l’epoca de lla vio lenzaconquistatrice ; ora noi sappiamo come la civilta tedesca camm ini o ltre iconfini con Mephistophe les e Zaratustra an imatori . E cosi

,com e Mephis

topheles , al so ldo de ll ’ imperatore ben iam ino di Dio ,inven tava le sorpren

denti arm i guerresche , il gen io tedesco appresta quei terribili ordigni diguerra contro i quali né le fortezze , né le citta, né i m onumen t i , né le scuo leresiste ranno piu . E cosi

,com e Faust fattosi sognatore umanitario , attendeva

l’

investitura delle terre guadagnate con l’

aiuto diabo lico , 94 professoritedeschi proclamano alm ondo civile il buon diritto della conquista imperiale

,

sulla quale riverserebbero il superfluo della loro co ltura.

Meph istopheles , dice il poema, brucio la casa, la ch iesa ed il giardino di duepover i vecch i , iquali infast idivano l

’

espandersi del felice regno di Faust . I duevecchi , insieme ad un ospite

, morirono arrostit i , quali neutri di numero tre .

Ma sarebbe desiderabile sapere il giudizio del vecch io buon Dio su quegliaviatori che , sorvo lando le citta

,vi uccidono donne

,vecch i e fan ciulli

,

perche il caso non fu contemplato né da Meph istophe les , né da Zaratustra.

Faust li deve vedere dal paradiso . I l dottore,in procin to di morire

, si

penti ascese ai piedi del trono di Maria Vergine , e ll trovo quella preclarainte lligenza d’

. Gretchen ,che nel frattempo aveva uccisa la madre , soffocato

il figlio dell’

amore ed era m o rta pen tita.

Esaltat i da queste edificanti letture,i so ldat i tedeschi devono considerarsi

quali arcangeli , con tro que lle F iandre catto liche , che e laborarono la lorom orale , contemplando la virtu nelle irnmagini sante de ll

’

arte lat ina.

Ma sia b enedotto e glorificato il tuo sacrificato ,o Be lgio ero ico

, né spento ,né vinto Ti sei levato contro l’imperialismo barbaro invadente nel nome

de lla scienza e della co ltura Salve tu nei seco li o Belgio ero ico

49

Qualche cosa di bestiale m inaccia la gloria del m ondo C he il tuo sanguerinsaldi , come un battesim o

,la nostro fede nella civilta latina

, e ci sospingacontro il torpido ed oscuro impero ,

che pare scaturito dalle oscure caligin idell ’ Asia primordiale 0 del m edio evo europeo

afl '

luL KpQ/flof fli)

TRANSLATION by Florence SimmondsA German writer has informed us that the soldiersof the Empire carry Faust and Zarathustra in theirknapsacks . These possessions are significant , forMephistopheles was the grandfather of Zarathus tra ,

and the lat ter inherited from his ancestor that philosophical temper which incites to every kind of violence .

I t has created a school in Germany , and as we know ,

is now a factor in the discipline of the Imperialsoldiery .

I t is obvious that soldiers do not come to the battlefield to take a course of literature they find iaspiration in the moral axioms of their vade mecum

rather than in the wsthetic beau ties that make thesemas terpieces immortal. The Belgians have had direproof of this, and we Italians would have a like experience, if the cen tral European Empires should issuevictorious from the ru thless conflict . I taly wouldbecome their vassal, and in allprobability our coun trywould be plundered, ravaged, and annihila ted. De

livered from the incubus of the alliance, we I talianshave looked on with indignation at the torture ofBelgium

, a neu tral country, a land of art, of culture andof industry, with which we have had spiritual relationssince the period of the Renaissance, a land which likeour own won her independence by immense sacrifices .But the bones of Friedrich N ietzsche, who raged at

the sigh t of a Germany sunk in pacifis t slumber,mus t ex ult in the grave where they lie not far fromthose of the Olympian Goethe the epoch of con

quering violence has begun we know now thatGerman culture, inspired by Mephistopheles and

Zarathustra,regards no boundaries thus , asMephis

topheles, at the behest of the Emperor, tha t Benjaminof the Almigh ty, inven ted astounding military weapons,so the Teu tonic genius has prepared thoseengines of war which neither fortresses , cities , publicbuildings , nor schools can withstand. And just as

By AL I CE MEYNELL

TH E H EROI c LANGUAGE

W hen our now living languages are dead,

W hich in the classes shall be treasured

W hich will the masters teach

Kepler ’s, and Shakespeare ’

s , and thy word, thy phrase ,Thy grammar , thou heroic , for all days ,

0 little F lemish speech I50

Faus t in the guise of a humanitarian dreamer , awaitedthe possession of territories acquired by diabolical aid,so 94 German professors proclaim to the civilisedworld the equity of Imperial conquest , on the victimsof which they propose to pour ou t the superfiuity oftheir culture.

Mephistopheles , says the poem ,burnt the church

the house , and the garden of two poor old people,which obstructed the expansion of Faust ’s happykingdom . The two old people, together with a guest,were roas ted alive ( three neutralsBut it would be well to know the judgmen t of the Godof Ages upon those aviators , who , flying over cities,murder women , old men ,

and children, for such a casewas not dealt with either by Mephistopheles orZarathustra. Faust must behold them from his placein Paradise. The doctor repen ted at the approachof death ascending to the steps of the Virgin ’sthrone, he found there the noble intelligence ofGretchen , who in the mean time had killed her mother,strangled her child, and died repentan t .Exalted by this edifying reading, what archangelsthe German soldiers must consider themselves compared with those Catholic Flemings

,who have

elaborated their morality,con templa ting virtue in

the sacred images of Latin art B lessed andglorifiedbe thy sacrifice , O heroic Belgium , neither quenchednor vanquished Thou didst rise against Imperialbarbarism , invading thee in the name of science and

culture . Hail to thee throughou t the ages , heroicBelgiumB ru tality menaces the glory of the world. May thyblood, like bap tismal waters, revive ourfaith in Latincivilisation, and spur us on agains t the dark and

heavy Empire, that migh t well have issued from the

gloom of primordial Asia or the medie val ages of

By S IDNEY LOW

FROM TH E BODY OF TH IS DEATH

She is not dead Although the spoiler ’s hand,

Lies heavy as death upon her though the smart

Of his accursed steel is at her heart ,And scarred upon her breast his shameful brandThough yet the torches of the Vandal band,

Smoke on her ruinedfields, her trampled lanes,H er ravaged homes and desolatedfanes,

She is not dead but sleeping ,that wronged land.

0 little nation , valorous andfree,Thou shalt o

’

erlive the terror and the painC all back thy scattered children unto thee

,

S trong with the memory of their brothers slain ,

And risefrom out thy charnel-house , to be

Thine own immortal, radiant S elf again .

By S I R ART H UR P I NEROTo ALBERT TH E BRAVEENGLAND honours and salutes you ,

Sir . Inspired by your true patriotism , your splendid courage , your hero ic soul , Little Be lgium has become

for all time Great Belgium . Betrayed , outraged , exiled, you and your

people prove yourse lves to be unconquerable . Such a spirit cannot bequenched . Beside it , the flam es lighted by your barbarous enemy show paleand impotent .

Sir , the pangs of Belgium ’

s rebirth are terrible but the shrieks of travailreach the ears of a just H eaven . The hour is at hand when the cries of

agony shall die down when the rich meadows of your new -born kingdomshall respond to the caress of the sun w ith a sm ile like the sm ile of an infantwhen you shall lead the remnant of your indom itable army back in triumphto w itness the glory of your coun try

’

s re- creation . T ill that m om ent,

whatever her fortunes in other fields , England w ill know no rest , no con

tentm ent , not one part icle of gladness .

SI

By S I R W I LL IAM CROOKESONE ’

S sym pathy w ith and adm iration of the gallant Belgian nation and

their valiant King are on ly to b e paralleled by the horror and detestat ionone feels for the ir un iversal enemy— the m odern H uns .

To express my fee lings I would go to the Bible or to Shakespeare for an

apt quotat ion ,and I do not think the fo llow ing words from Isaiah (ch .

can be improved on as a prophet ic statem ent of the depth of the moderncatastrophe and Of prospect ive com fort to the afilicted ruler

that the Lord shall give thee rest fromandfrom the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve

,

thou shalt take up this parable against the King of Babylon ,and say ,

H ow hath the oppressor ceased I the golden exactress ceased The Lordhath broken the staff of the wicked,

and the sceptre of the rulers , H e who

smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke , he that ruled the nationsin anger , is persecuted and none hindereth .

By S I R C H ARLE S LU C ASTH E cause Of Belgium is the cause of allwho ho ld that nations have a rightto live . Terrible are the sufferings Of this present time , but com ing generations w ill stand up and call the land and the people blessed .

By G . W . P ROT H E ROMY tongue hath sworn unsworn remains my m ind .

Th is is the motto Germ any has chosen for herself it is not the motto Of

Belgium— or of England .

By H . H . T H E RANEE OF SARAW AKW ORDS cannot express the immense feeling of adm iration and sympathyI fee l for the King and his people in this frightful calam ity which has overtaken them— a fee ling that , outside Germany, must be paramount in the

hearts of m en and women all over the world .

By S I R W ILF RED LAUR I E RBy TelegraphYOUR own Introduction to KING ALBERT ’S BOOK is a most eloquenttribute to the hero ism of the King and people Of Be lgium . N0 o ther wordsare needed from m e . My share w ill b e to assist as far as in my power maylie the diffusion of the book among the Canadian people .

52

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women,of litt le ch ildren and the very beasts Brother ! W e ho ld !

But the black flood ro lled over and on . There,down in its dark tumult ,

beneath its cruel tumult , I saw men st ill w ith arm s linked women on theirknees

,clinging to earth ; little ch ildren drift ing— dead , all dead ; and the

beasts dead . And the ir eyes were still open facing that death . And abovethem the savage water roared . But clear and high I heard the Vo ice callBrothers H o ld Death is not W e live And, fronting the edge

of the flooding waters , I saw the shades Of those dead , w ith arms yet linked ,and heard them crying Brother W e ho ldThen cam e Oblivion .

W hen once more I dreamed , it was light . The plain was free of darkness ,free Of waters . The River , shrunk and muddied , flowed again within itsbanks . And Dawn was breaking but the stars were still alight .

At first it seemed to m e that on ly trees stood on that‘

plain but then ,in the

ground m ist fast clearing , I saw the form s of m en and women ,children ,

beasts and I m oved am ong them , looking at their faces— not those broadand prosperous faces whose eyes were banded w ith invisibility, but gravew ith suffering , carved and strong . And all their eyes , lifted to the sky,

were shin ing .

W h ile I stood thus watching , the sun rose , and heaven brightened to fullmorn ing . And, amazed , I saw that the stars had not gone in , but shone

there in the blue , crystals Of immortality.

And above the plain ,clad in the hues of spring , I heard the Vo ice call

Brothers Beho ld I The Stars are lit for ever !

By MILL I C ENT GARRETT FAWC ETTTH E Belgian people have given the world an example Of hero ic courageand self-devotion wh ich w ill rank in h istory w ith the great deeds Of all time .

Let no one say that Be lgium ,devastated and martyred as she is , has ceased

to exist . H er nationality is stronger , her vitality is more intense than it hasever been . Every Belgian , m an , woman , and child , bears h imse lf proudlyto -day because of his nationality.

Unto each man his handiwork, unto each his crownThejust F ate gives

W hoso takes the world’

s life on him, and his own lays down

H e , dying so , lives.

I t should be the very first concern of the Allies at the end of the war to see

that Belgium remains a free and independent nation .

54

By T H E RT . H ON . EARL ROBE RT S OF KANDAH ARMY adm irat ion for the part Belgium has played in the war now be ing wagedagainst aggression ,

dishonourable contempt OfTreaty Obligations , falsehood ,and injustice , knows no bounds . I feel most strongly that Great Britainowes Be lgium a deep debt Of grat itude which it w ill be difficult to repay.

Inspired by the noble example of their King , the Be lgians arrested the firstonslaught of the Germ ans , and thus gave us t im e to ward Off the pun ishm ent

we so richly deserve for our neglect to prepare to defend our own in terests .

Little Be lgium has shown to the great nations of the earth that a brave and

un ited people , daring everyth ing and prepared to suffer anything in the

sacred cause of liberty, can resist successfully overwhe lm ing numbers fora long t im e , and materially help towards victory in the end. In the terriblestruggle st ill raging , to the Be lgians must b e awarded the palm for free lyand fearlessly Offering them se lves as the first bulwark against the invadinghordes Of Germ any. Glorious has been their stand , and priceless the tim e

and the advantage gained thereby. NO acknow ledgm en t of their splendidexample can be too liberal . NO adm iration too lavish ,

no compensat ion forthe loss and m isery they have endured , too generous .

They have fought hero ically for a sacred pr inciple against frightful Odds .

They have suffered up to the lim it Of hum an enduran ce . God grant thatthere m ay b e yet in store for them a bright and prosperous future , and a

permanent place in the van Of Civilisation and F reedom .

By MAU R I CE H EW LETT

FROM ENGLAND

OMEN of mickle heart and little speech ,

S low ,stubborn countrymen of heath andplain ,

Now have ye shown these insolent again

That which to C aesar ’s legions ye could teach ,

That slow-provok’

d is long-

provok’

d. May each

C rass C aesar learn this of the K eltic grain ,

Until at last they reckon it in vain

To browbeat us who hold the W estern reach .

F or even as you are , we are , ill to rouse ,Rooted in C ustom , Order , C hurch , and K ingAnd as youfightfor their sake ,

so shallwe ,

Doggedly inch by inch ,and house by house

S eeing for us too there’

s a dearer thingThan land or blood— and that thing LIBERTY. Allafer/112.1

55

By S I R OL IVE R LOD GETH E world is the richer fo r the experience of the past few months , and

Be lgium has inscribed its nam e on an eternal ro ll Of honour— the ro ll ofthose who have died in ho lding a pass against overwhe lm ing Odds .

H uman ity blesses the hero ic struggle for freedom Of the Belgian nationfor w ithout the ir aid the face Of Europe would have been changed pastredemption ,

and theEarth m ight have been subject to a brutal and into lerabledom inance . W e have w itnessed in our own generation on e Of the classicalcontests of the world and the tale w ill go down to remote posterity— a

tale of deep infamy and lofty honour— re lating how at this t im e the powersOf evil were frustrated , and how the ho liest cause em erged , stricken butvicto rious ,~ —triumphing as always through grievous pain .

By ‘C LAUDE MONET

TRES honoré de l’Occasion qui m ’

est Offerte , de pouvo ir crier toute mon

adm irat ion a l’

héro’

ique Belgique , et d’

adresser tres respectueusem ent la

m em e adm iration au noble et vaillan t roi de la nation Be lge .

Vive la Belgique Vive les Alliés Vive la F rance

TRANSLATION 9 AI feel myself grea tly honoured by the opportun ity 6 f 4 4 0ven me to express all my admira tion of heroicBelgium , and to ofl

'

er a like admira tion to the nobleand valian t K ing of the Belgians .Long live Belgium ! Long live the Allies Longlive France

By S I R JAME S CR I CH TON BROW NEBELGIUMBELGIUM ,

a stripling Kn ight in the shin ing arm our Of Truth and W ith

the flash ing blade Of Right , w ithstood the first fierce onslaught of the mon

Strous and fire -belching Dragon that has grown up in Central Europe and

unco iled itself to devour the world . Scorched , wounded , trodden on , the

stripling has never blanched nor quailed but has given pause to the Dragon

and t im e to the strong m en to awake from slumber in which ,but for him ,

they m ight have been sm itten down . W hen , am idst the execrations of

mankind , the Dragon is driven back to his lair and chained there for a

thousand years , then ,for all that t im e , w ill wom en , w ith tears in their

O

eyes ,

tell their ch ildren of the stripling ’

s agony and men w ith st iffened smews

recall his valiant deeds .

Laud and hom age to Be lgium bravest Of the brave , lealest Of the leal , andloving care and succour too , that healing and so lace may come to him .

56

By EDMUND G O S S ETH E BELGIAN PoETsONE by one , like the apparitions that rose and po inted at Macbeth , the

arts and sciences , the am en ities and the pieties Of Be lgium defile in a bloodbo ltered line , and accuse their murderer Of foul and treacherous offences .

To a single phantom I would speak to -day. W hile others call for vengeanceon Germ any for other w ickedness , I would speak in anger and pity Of a

murdered literature . Incredible as it sounds , a literature , the art iculateimagination of a people , may b e destroyed . After the battle Of the W hiteMountain , the flourishing and gen ial literature of Bohem ia was ann ihilatedby the Austrians , and it lay in ashes for one hundred and fifty years . Such ,

if Germany had her brutal w i ll , would b e the fate of poetry and prose inthe LOW Countries to -day, and although the inevitable hour Of reckon ingand rest itution cannot for ever be delayed , at the present moment her

enem ies have succeeded in si len cing the w r itten vo ice of Belgium . I f theyhave not silenced it , at least they have dispersed it on the w ings Of the w ind .

I t has no longer an abiding-place w ithin its own borders it sounds , so faras it still sounds at all, in the piteous murmurs Of an exi le .

Modern literature in Belgium is a creat ion Of our own t imes . I t dates from1880 , when a generation Of young m en started it under the leadership Of a

youth who lived but n ine years more to w itness the progress Of his work ,

Max W aller , whose name w ill always demand the honour due to precursors .

Waller founded a review , La j eune Belgique , in wh ich his m ost bri lliantcontemporaries , t ired of the nullity of the in te llectual life Of their forbears ,developed ideas and forms of expression which trans lated for the first t ime

the peculiar emotions and graces Of the F lem ish temperam ent . Theychose the F rench language for their expression

,and they all were in sym

pathy w ith the Latin gen ius , although they were careful never to denationalise them se lves , and never to abandon the vehement or mystical attributesproper to the country of their birth . I n less than thirty-five years , Belgiumhas placed herse lf in the forefront Of the creative literary nations Of Europe .

This is not the place , nor m ine the hand , to an alyse or describe the ach ievements of Belgian literature . But it is man ifest to every one that it is in

poetry that its success has been m ost em inent . In the few words which I amprivileged to say here , I w ill attempt no more than to bend in affectionand homage towards our adm irable and stricken brethren , the poets Of

Belgium . Two Of them , through a m erciful Providence,have been spared

by an early death from drinking the bitter cup . W e name in honour theharbinger Of the brilliant company , the ecstatic CHARLES VAN LEERBERGH E,whose pen was dipped in m oon lit dew , whose ethereal gen ius translatedinto verse all that was most delicately in harm ony w ith the spiritOf the Old F lem ish i llum inators , whose pictures Of Paradise seem paintedby an inspired monk on the vellum fly

- leaves of a m issal. W e name

GEORGES RODENBACH,in whom the me lancho ly Of F landers , above all the

grey beauty of Bruges , found so tender an interpreter .

57

But chiefly to the living we proffer our reveren t and indignant sym pathy.

Driven from their homes , their books scattered , their manuscripts burned ,they are but as beaut iful autumn leaves in the blast of the Teuton war -gods .

W e greet the noble EMILE VERH AEREN , the first Of the living poets Of Europe .

I n him the re ligious intens ity of Belgium has taken a different expressionfrom that of the mystics . H e has not shrunk , in his abundant and various

yet em inent ly consistent product ive work , from ce lebrat ing many sides of

the national character . H e blows through bronze and he breathes throughsilver , and if we would understand the life and so il of Belgium

,toute la

F iandre , we must go to th is inspired andmultiform m ind for our instruction .

Th irty-five years ago , three young m en who w ere students at the Co llegeSain te-Barbe at Ghent , determ ined to devote their lives to the creation Of

a poetical drama in Be lgium ; they w ere Van Leerberghe , Le Roy, and

Maeterlinck . The who le world has subm itted to the fascinat ion OfMAUR ICEMAETERLINCK . A Parisian admirer unw ise ly introduced him as the

Belgian Shakespeare .

”

H e is , on the con trary, the one and on ly BelgianMaeter linck . W e greet w ith emot ion other nam es , less un iversally recognised. Brusse ls is the mother of ANDRE FONTAINAS

,whose enchan ted

gardens are like the backgrounds of Rubens ’ pictures . F rom AntwerpMAX ELSKAMP has brought his idylls Of a peaceful F landers . Let m e not

forget that Liege has sen t us the tender and tremulous ALBERT MOCKEL ,

nor that Louvain ,t ill the hour Of her desecration , was proud Of the ac

complished talent ofALBERT G IRAUD .

I f I nam e no m ore , it is due to ignorance o r lack Of space . Our protestis not in favour of these great nam es alone , but of the who le intellectualcivilisat ion Of Be lgium ,

so flourishing and so vivid in the peace Of a month

or two ago ,now hum iliated and trampled like an autumn rose under the

hoof of a bull .

By ANDREW CARNEG I EASSUREDLY the people Of Belgium have shown themse lves worthydescendan ts of the ir an cestors whom Julius Caesar honoured thus Omnium

fortissimi sunt Belgae. King Albert has proven h im self possessed Of courage ,wh ich is one Of the essentials of high character , wh ich Farquhar thusdescribes

C ourage the highest gift , which scorns to bendTo mean devicesfor a sordid end.

C ourage— an independent sparkfrom H eaven’

s bright throne ,By which the soul stands raised , triumphant , high , alone .

y d58

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H AIL !A H YMN TO BELG IUM

POEM BY

JOH N GALSW ORTH Y

MU S I C BY

F REDER I C H . C OW EN.

Vows .

PI ANO

ORGAN.

N.B.- If it is desired to sing this as a. simple H ymn , theMelody of the ard verse should be omitted and the words song to the opening eight

bars , as in the l et and 2nd verses.60

4 . Land of Bel - gium earth and sky For ev er more shall

61

By EDEN PH I L LPOTT S

To BELGIUMC hampion of human honour , let us laveYourfeet and bindyour wounds on bended knee ,Though coward hands have nailedyou to the tree

And shedyour innocen t blood and dug your grave ,Rejoice and live Your oriflamme shall wave

W hile man has power to perish and befree

A golden flame of holiest Liberty ,

Proud as the dawn and as the sunset brave .

Belgium ,where dwelleth reverencefor right

Enthroned above all ideals where yourfate

Andyour supernalpatience andyour mightMost sacredgrow in human estimate ,

You shine a star above this stormy night ,

Little no more , but infinitely great .

By MARY CH OLMONDELEYPOLYDORE IN ENGLANDW H EN Po lydore cam e to stay w ith us he did no t com e alone . H e was

accompan ied by Nestor Maria and Ren é and Ach i lle and poo r Jan , who was

not a so ldier at all,but had been wounded while lending a han d in the

trenches .

But som ehow the o thers on ly form ed a background to Polydore . Polydore

invar iably m et the eye first , from the m om en t when a jaded Red CrossOfficial handed him and his compan ions over to us at a roadside station .

I t was Polydore who advan ced to m eet us , the o thers making a litt le bunchbeh ind him . Polydore , w ith his dusky complexion and round , grey,

‘

im

passive,unw inking eyes , am azed at noth ing

,at once constituted him self as

spokesman Of the party, interpreter and expert on matters Of etiquette .

Possibly he may have fe lt that this position was his due as he was the on lyone Of the con t ingent in full Belgian un iform . Dark blue coat , w ide lightblue trousers

,and peaked cap . Nestor Maria and Achille wore English

sweaters w ith their blue trousers . Jan , Of course ,had no un ifo rm ,

on ly a

we ird English cheap suit rather; too t ight in the waist . None of them exceptPolydore had a peaked cap . But all five were wound up in enorm ouswoo llen comforters .

62

All five had been ser iously wounded , and had come to us to recruit afterbeing discharged from the hospital at E But though René and Achi llewere lam e they w ere in the best Of spirits , as w ere Nestor Maria and Polydorehim self

,though st ill som ewhat pallid and worn - looking . On ly Jan never

sm iled and hardly spoke a word . H e had no news of his Old mother , lastheard Of at Ostend .

Our guests had brought no luggage w ith them ,except a packet of English

picture post cards presented to Polydore in hospital , and one pipe amongthe five .

They obeyed Polydore’

s direct ions implicitly, why, I know not . Whenthey retired to their carefully tucked-up beds , he m ade them all creep intothem from the top ,

w ithout open ing them at the side . This cannot havebeen quite easy for Ren é and Achi lle w ith their bad legs , but theyaccomplished it neverthe less . After two days , Polydore courteously inquired how much longer they would have to drink our terrible Englishm edicine w ith their breakfasts . Th is was the strong tea we had given them .

Coffee was substituted for it , and sm iles w reathed every face . Even Jansaid a word or two in F lem ish wh ich sounded like approval .The on ly thing in our establishment wh ich surprised even Polydore was

the mow ing mach ine on the lawn . That am azed them all, and they werenever t ired of watching it . They walked round the garden w ith us , at leastPolydore did , while the o thers fo llowed at his hee ls , wh ile Polydore adm iredthe roses d’

Egypte and the gueules de lion sti ll flowering in the autumn beds .

They were all po liteness itself, but I think they m ight have become ratherbored w ith English country life if it had not been for Private Dawkins of

the W est Lowshires . Dawkins was also just out of hospital and was re

cruiting at his mother ’s cottage in the village,and he walked up

,erect and

so ldier- like in his khaki , to call on his allies . A difference of languagepresented no difficulties . Immediate and agreeable intercourse was established and present ly Dawkin s and Polydore set out together , of coursefo llowed by the others the English so ldier looking very slim in his khakiputtees compared w ith the low , broad , sturdy, blue - trousered figures Of his

compamons In arm s .

Dawkins took his com rades to call on every cottage in the village , and

introduced them to the entire circle of his acquaintan ce,including his

mother . Mrs . Dawkins , I found afterwards , was much impressed byPolydore

’

s ignoran ce .

The pore critter ,”

she to ld m e,

actually thought the clothes - line was a

te lephone . But lor , mum ,I soon made him understan d . I brought out a

kitchen rubber and a peg , and made him fas ten it on the w ire , just to teachhim . H e

’

s sharp enough,is Po lly Dor , and such a si lly nam e for a man .

”

As he grew to know us better , Polydore to ld us many tales Of the fightingin Belgium , the others sitt ing round , and jo in ing in like a chorus . W ith a

perfect ly impassive face he recounted how on one occasion when the dykesMignonette and Snapdragon .

63

were Opened , the Germ ans , after losing all the ir guns , had been forced toseek refuge in the trees , where he and René had assisted in capturing who lebatches Of them , sitting in strings in the branches l ike enorm ous barn -doorfow ls .

But he and his com rades recounted other incidents too ghast ly to be w rittenhere . H e had seen— Nestor Maria had seen— Achille had seen— the dusky ,impassive faces darkened sudden ly . H ands were clenched , grey eyes

blazed . W e had to draw them back to less grievous topics and make

Polydore describe to us once m ore the con temptible fire Of the Germ an

in fantry. W e were shown exact ly how the Germans fired from the hip ,

w ith no effect at all. And then Polydore waved Ren é forward and madehim stand in front Of us , expanding his chest , while he laid his hand on the

second button Of Ren é ’s tattered blue coat , and explained to us that when

a Be lgian so ldier fires at the enemy he always h its him exactly there , on thechest— always .

Our Be lgian so ldiers did not stay many weeks w ith us . They thrivedexceedingly, and present ly the ir country called them . Dawkins was sent

fo r the same day. And the last I saw Of Polydore was lean ing out Of a

third- class rai lway carriage w indow w ith Dawkins, waving his peaked cap

to us , w ith the o thers in a little bunch behind him . W e had m ade searching inquiries before they left , and found that Jan ’

s m other was safe at

Alexandra Palace , where she had arrived clutching five coffee-pots as her

entire luggageSO good-bye Polydore and Nestor Maria and Achille and Ren é and Jan .

And may the world go well w ith you

By S I R VALENT INE CH I ROLIT is a privilege to jo in in any tribute to King Albert and his people . KingAlbert is the on ly sovereign whose royal t itle is not a territorial one . H e

is styled King , not Of Belgium but Of the Belgians as if it had.

been preordain ed that though a ruthless conqueror m ight rob him for a tim e of h is

kingdom,none should ever rob him of his kingship . Never perhaps more

proudly than tod ay, when his Governm ent has been compelled to seekrefuge on the hospitable so il Of F rance and he h im se lf, at the head of his

indom itable army,is fight ing close to the F rench fron t ier for the last inch

of Be lgian territory , has King Albert vindicated his right to a splendidtit le : King Of the Belgians , hero ic head of an hero ic people .

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By S I DNEY W EBBH UMANITY has found , after many a wound and countless ineffectualstruggles , that Law is the Mother Of Liberty. Now Belgium has beentortured by ruthless power . May it b e so far not in vain that all the peoplesOf the earth may learn that only in the building up of a really effect iveInternational Law can

'

national liberty be secured .

By BENJAM IN K I D DNO tribute which civilisation is able to make can m eet the debt which thehuman spirit owes to the Belgian people and to King Albert for ever .

When the tempter asked the Be lgian people to b e his accomplice againstF ran ce and Offered Belgium a price for her soul , King Albert , backed byhis unan imous people , in stan tly took the terrible decision and gave firm lythe an swer by which our common human ity has been ennobled .

I t is an imm ortal story Of Right rendered invin cible through the crucifixionof a People .

By S I R T H OMAS BARCLAYTH E vio lation of Belgium ’

s neutrality is a co llective crime , including everycrim e that dishonours the individual : murder , robbery, arson , perjury,false pretences , broken faith ,

etc .

I t is murder , not war , to wage bloodshed on those against whom there isno grievance . I t is robbery to take from the innocen t as from the guilty,and arson to burn down their hom es . I t is worse than perjury w ithoutprovocation to break a so lemn prom ise and vio late the trust Of others .

The magn itude Of Germ any’

s crim e has not yet been realised by the German

national conscience,but

,sooner or later , it w ill be realised and then all

honest and truth- loving Germans , at present vict im s of de liberate m isrepresentation , w ill feel the hum iliation Of having forfeited the respect andconfidence Of mankind . They w ill see in all its blackness a crim e whichw i ll go down to posterity as one Of the foulest deeds of all t im e— a treacherousbreach Of faith coupled w ith a ruthless crue lty un surpassed in history. Nocasuistry w i ll redeem the Germ an people from the con sciousness Of havingprovoked and deserved the curse of an unoffending people and the unqualifiedreprobat ion Of the who le civilised world .

66

THEMARCH OF THE W OMEN.

TO the King of the Belgians and his heroic people who , believing in right ratherthan in might , fought against overwhelming odds in defence of their honour andfreedom— even as women in England are fighting to win theirs— undyinggratitude , and everlasting glory

By EMMEL INE PANKH URSTTH E wom en of Great Britain w ill never forget what Belgium has done for

all that w omen ho ld most dear .I n the days to come mothers wi ll tell their children how a small but greatsouled nat ion fought to the death against overwhe lm ing Odds and sacrificedall things to save the world from an into lerable tyranny.

The story of the Be lgian people’

s defence of F reedom w ill inspire countlessgenerat ions yet unborn .

By CARD INAL G I BBON SI GLADLY subscribe my nam e to KING ALBERT ’S BOOK .

By W I LL IAM J . LOCKETo H is H eroic Majesty the King of the Belgians,S IRE ,

One F ifth Of November more worthy to live in the shuddering m em ory ofman than the ann iversary wh ich w e English ce lebrate— one F ifth OfNovember , three hundred and thirty- eight years ago , the w in try dawn broke uponAntwerp burned and butchered by a so ldiery who ,

”

as the great Am ericanhistorian says , seemed to have cast Off even the vizard Of human ity. H ell ,

”

he adds , seemed emptied Of its fiends .

”

TO-day a so ldiery as ruthlessand as bestial has en tered the gates ofAntwerp after spreading a deso lationthrough your fair land such as Alva and his fo llow ers

, supreme productsof a race then braggart too Of its culture ,

”

had neither the wit to devisenor the ferocity to execu te . More than three hundred years ago your countryfought for everything that man ho lds dear , everything that man ho lds sacred .

Against fearful Odds she fought the greatest fight for Liberty that the world tillthen had seen . In that stupendous struggle , wom en , Oldm en

,and children

had all been combatants , and all therefore incurred the vengean ce Of

the conqu erors .

”

TO-day, S ire , your foes , mo lested by naught but thechivalrous resistance Of your arm ies , have wreaked a vengeance thrice moredamnable . Three hundred years ago your country ,w ith unparalleled hero ism ,

triumphed over the powers Of darkness and established herself in Europe as

one of the centres of inspiration in all that matters to the soul Ofmankind . She

now , once more , has fought even a m ore glorious batt le for Liberty than inthose far-Off days . She has struck an immortal chord that vibrates and

shall vibrate through the un ited heart Of the Anglo-Saxon , Lat in , and S lavraces— races who

,in that sublimated expression Of Life to which we give

the nam e of Art , a term embracing all man ifestat ions of spiritual discoveryfrom a song to a cathedral

,have abhorred Teuton ic ideals . And as in those

far-Off days , your noble country, secure in her own integrity, and, now ,

inspired by the wondering adm iration Of the civilised world , once m oreshall triumph and once more shall play a prouder part than ever among thenations Of the earth .

For yourse lf, S ire , what more fitting tribute can a humble writer lay at yourfeet than the words of the Anglo -Saxon h isto rian regarding your predecessorand exemplar , the great saviour Of your country three hundred years ago

H e went through life bearing the load Of a people ’

s sorrows upon hisshoulders , w ith a sm iling face . H e was the guiding star of a great nation .

”

68

By MAR I E CO RELL I

FOR BELGIUM An I nvocation

What shall we do for our S ister in the day when she shall be spoken of

If she b e a wall , we w i ll build upon her a palace Of silver .”

Solomon

Maker of H eaven andEarth ,

Thou,who hast given birth

To moving millions of pre-destined spheres ,Thou ,

whose resistless might

Resolves the W rong to Right

Missing no moment of the measuredyears ,Behold, we come to Thee

W e lift our swords, unsheath’

d,towards Thy

Look down on us , and see

Our S ister-Nation , ruined and undone

Martyredfor nobleness , for truth and trust

H elp us , 0 God, to raise her from the dust

Be Thou our witness, Lord

W e swear with one accord

Swift retribution on her treacherousfoe

H er bitter wrong is ours,And heaven

’

sfull-armedpowersShall hurl her murder er to his overthrow

Upon her broken wallA silver palace of sweet peace shall rise

At that high F estival

W hen Victory’

s signalflashes through the skies

But— until then —welcome the fiercestfrayW efightfor F reedom God, give us The Day

By T H E ARCH B I S H OP OF YORKTH E King and people Of Belgium were the first to meet the shock of thisterrible war in to wh ich Europe has been plunged . They w ere the first togive proof of the spirit of hero ic se lf-sacrifice bywh ich alone it can be carriedthrough . I t was their honour to lay down the ir national life for theirfriends . I t must be our honour to restore that nat ional life to them , securedfrom m enace , en riched and ennobled by the splendid sacrifice which ithas made .

By T H E REV . DR . J OH N CL I F F ORDTH E BELGIAN PEOPLE AND THEIR KINGAGAIN and again as I have read the sto ry Of the unparalleled explo its Of

the Belgians and the ir King , the words of the prophet Isaiah have come to

me : A man shall be as a hiding-place from the w ind and a covert fromthe tempest as rivers Of water in a dry place and as the shadow of a greatrock in a weary land .

”

The outstanding hero of th is stupendous war isKing Albert . H e has been a refuge for his people in this day Of troubleand tragedy . Never has he hesitated from first to last . There has beenno vacillation . H is complete se lf-abnegat ion has been matched by the

magn ificence of his valour . H e has stood his ground all the way through ,

and is sti ll the strong , steadfast soul in whom his suffering people trust .

H e has led w ith courage and w isdom and se lf- sacrifice . H e is the greathero of a nat ion of heroes , the brave leader of a brave and gallant people .

By the clearest right , he goes to his place by the side ofLeon idas andW illiamthe S i lent , King Alfred and Oliver Cromwe ll , and all the other real kingsof m en . H is noble and beautiful character , chivalrous spirit and who lesouled work w ill en rich the human race for ever . TO him ,

and his people ,we Offer the m ost glow ing adm iration and the sincerest gratitude , for um

forgettable service rendered to all the generations of m en ,by undaunted

resistance given to an unscrupulous and barbaric invader .

By T H E C H I E F RABB IONLY that nation can be called cultured which adds to the spiritual assetsof human ity which by its living and, if need be , by its dying , vindicatesthe eternal values Of life— conscience , honour , liberty. Judged by this test ,two Of the litt lest of peoples , Judeea in ancient times and Be lgium to -day,

and not their m ighty and ruthless oppressors , are among the chief defendersOf culture ,

cham pions Of the sacred heritage Of man .

Israel, that has endured all things , suffered all things , and survived all things ,

believes w ith a perfect faith that Belgium ,fighting for the Spirit , is as

indestructible as the Spirit .

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Gand , Bruges , Anvers , toutes ses villes si prosperos , si pacifiques , Bruxe lles ,sa capitale , sont tombées l

’une apres l ’autre sous les coups de l’ennem i dixfo is supérieur en nomb re

,sans que son invincible constance so it e

’

b ran lée .

I l Offre maintenant au m onde le spectacle po ignant qu ’

on n’

avait pas vu

depuis les invas ions des Barbares , d’

un peuple chassé de ses foyers , et

réduit al’ém igration pour échapper aumjoug qu’i l n e veut pas subir .

Plein de confiance en sa cause et en son Dieu , il attend que la victo ire re

vienne sous ses étendards qui son t ceux m em es de la justice et de la liberté .

La guerre actue lle a mon tré au monde que dans cc pet it pays de Be lgiquehabite nu grand peuple .

Au Roi des Be lges , a son arm ée , a son peuple , nous Offrons respectueusem ent

l’

hommage de notre adm iratioh et de notre reconnaissan ce .

Ou’

il so it perm is au Cardinal Archevéque de Re im s d ’

adresser aussi unsalut fraterne l au vén érable et i llustre Archevéque de Malines , SE . le

Cardinal Mercier . Tous deux au retour du Conclave , nous avon s trouvéferm ée la po rte de nos diocéses envahis . Nous n

’

y sommes ren trés quepour pleurer sur les ruines et nous aurions pu , sur nos diocéses ravages et

sur nos cathédrales incendiees.

de Malines et de Re im s , chanter les lamen ta

tions du Prophéte sur les décimb res fuman ts de Jerusalem et de son Temple .

Associés dans la douleur , nous le somm es aussi dans la priere pour implorerla protect ion du Cie l en faveur de nos deux peuples , qui , de tout tempsfreres dans la foi catho lique , le seront désormais dans le souven ir dessouffrances partagées et par les liens d

’une am itié infrangible .

TRANSLATION (abridged)I associate myself whole-heartedly with the happilyconceived tribu te of admiration and respectful sympathy you propose to offer to K ing Albert , his army ,and his people .

Yes, all honour to the K ing of the Belgians ! All

our hearts go ou t to this noble prince , who now per

sonifies to the whole world oppressed Righ t , who ,undaunted by the rage of a mighty adversary , and

uncrushed by reverses , stands hke a rock to defendthe independence of his coun try .

All honour to the Belgian army ! There was a

universal cry of astonishmen t and admiration whenit was known tha t , confron ted suddenly with the mostformidable army in Europe, it was holding the

legions of its mighty foe in check at Liege and at

Namur , breaking his onslaugh t , frustrating his planof attack , andpreventing himfrom taking the initia tiveon which he had reckoned. Forced at last to giveway before numbers , it fell back upon Antwerp , andwhen it had to evacuate this last bulwark , it was notto lay down its arms , it came to take its place betweenthe armies of France and England, and share withthem the perils of war , while awaiting the hour whenit should share with them the honours of the fina lvic tAll honour to the Belgian people .

72

They have shown

themselves wor thy of the K i ’

ng s confidence in theirpatr iotism . They nobly ratified their pri’

nce s attitudeby a generous accep tance of the sacrifices of war .

The call to arms of every able bodied man , the siegeand bombardmen t of their fortresses, the devas tationof their towns and lands , the destruc tion of theirmonuments and works of ar t, the sever ities of an

enemy infuria ted by their resistance reverses not lesspainful because they had been foreseen , they bore all

with noble courage and resignation . Liege , Namur ,Tournai, Ghent, B ruges , An twerp, all their peacefuland prosperous cities, and Brussels

,their capital,

have fallen one after the other under the at tacks ofan enemy that ou tnumbered them tenfold, and stilltheir unconquerable spiri t is unshaken .

They now offer the poignan t spectacle , unknown sincethe days of barbarian invasion ,

of a people drivenfrom their homes, and obliged to emigrate to escape a

domina tion they refuse to accep t .Confiden t in their God and their cause, they awaitthe re turn of victory to their standards , the bannersofjustice and of liberty . This war has shown Europetha t lit tle Belgium is the land of a great people .

To the K ing of the Belgians , to his army, and to hispeople, we respectfidly offer our tr ibute of admirationand gratitude .

By W . L . COURTNEY

BY TH E NORTH SEA

Death and S orrow and S leepH ere where the slow waves creep ,

This is the chan t I hear ,The chant of the measureless deep .

W hat was S orrow to me

Then, when the young life free

Thirstedfor joys of earth ,

F ar from the desolate sea

W hat was S leep but a rest ,Giving to youth the best

Dreams from the ivory gate ,

W hat was Death but a tale

Told to faces grown pale ,W orn and wasted with years

A meaningless thing to the hale

Now their sad message I keep ,Tossed on the wet wind

’

s breath,

The chan t of the measureless deep .

By S I R T H OMAS BRO C KAID FOR TH E FALLENI OF FER my picture as a small tribute to the splendid courage and fo rt itudeshown by the Be lgian people in upho lding the honour and in tegrity of the ircountry, offering as they do an example to the W ho le world .

I t is our first duty to re lieve the irterritory is once m ore free from the

73

By J . L . GARV INW E in England would rather be blotted out of the book of nations thanthat Belgium should not be lifted up from ruin and gloriously restored .

To that cause w e have pledged our all, and unti l our pledge is redeem ed insuch sort that the justice of an overruling God shall b e made man ifestthrough us

,n ever can we know soul ’s comfort in our own land spared by

war nor cease our efforts to succour the bitter need of a deso late peopleand to hearten that little indom itable army of freedom and honour underits noble and be loved young King . No words of ours can be worthy of

them and we can never do enough . The resistance of Belgium w ill live as

one of the great legends of the w orld , and I firm ly be lieve that its spiritualsign ificance can on ly deepen w ith centuries . Noth ing that w e th ink of as

hero ic,tragic

,inspiring in the past , or as confirm ing our faith that the best

shall conquer the worst , exceeds what F lem ings and W alloons over therehave dared , suffered , and done in the twentieth cen tury. They have madethe name of their country an immortal word like Marathon the trumpetof a prophecy that the reign of public law and peace shall yet be stablishedupon the invio lable faith of treaties and that the sanct ity of a scrap of papershall be m ightier than Krupp guns .

By A . G . GARD INERWH ATEVER the course of the war

, whatever the fate of Europe , it is inKing Albert that the future w ill see the m ost human ,

the m ost knightlyfigure of this T itan ic struggle .

Be lgium has died for freedom ,for our freedom ,

for the freedom of the

world . Let us see that she rises again triumphant from her tears and ashes .

And if righteousness endures beneath the sun she w i ll rise .

By J . A . S PENDERSYMPATH Y with Be lgium must be m ingled w ith envy— envy of the nob lecourage and match less national spirit which , in the hour of her affliction ,

make her great among the peoples of the world . She has fought the

Thermopylae of the allied cause and it remains for her -brothers- in -arm s

to see that her sacrifice is rewarded and her country restored . Our hom ageto the brave King who has dared all for the honour and liberty of the peoplecomm itted to his charge .

fl. M74

By MR S . H UMPH REY W ARDALL SAINTS ’

DAY,19 14

I have been wandering through the English fields, and under the Englishwoods in a last lingering blaze of summer , before the w inter com es . All

day the sun has been clear in heaven all last n ight the moon shone w ithouta cloud . The oaks are st ill— the majority of them— defiantly green as thoughthey challenged a tyrant and where the woods lie close and thick in the

basins of the h ills , they show sharp patterns of deep green and flam ing go ld ,patterns of Nature ’

s finest weaving . Amethyst and go ld , the beeches ;am ethyst , blue , and go ld , the distances and here and there a yew , vio len t lyblack, or a hedgerow elm , its rounded leaf masses topped w ith ye llow ,

or

oh the comm on— furze-bushes , alive w ith blossom . The chi ldren are in

the park picking up acorns and walnuts a green woodpecker is paying hisautumn visit to the lawn before my w indow , pecking and stabbing for dearlife ; the friendly robins sing round the house ; slow ly, slow ly, the sun

s inks into the qu iet m ists that rise towards it and the glorious day w illsoon be done .

Thus goesAll Saints ’

Day in this valley of the C hilterns . And, meanwhile ,how goes it 1 50 m iles away , where Belgians , F renchmen

,and Englishm en

are fighting in the blood- stained trenches of W est F landers No blood here ,n o h int of it l- save where the sun strikes the deep carpet of fallen beechleaves , and the bright co lour start les our sad thoughtS u But there , men are

pouring out the ir blood like water and all that , in this quiet English scene ,w e dare picture to ourse lves of horror , of devilish pain and destru ction ,

com es nowhere near the truth . F renchmen and Englishm en, close ly inter

linked , from west to east,from the sea to the Vosges , front ing the hideous

onslaught of m en , in whom a world uprisen sees a branded race— traitorsto civilisation and to human ity And far to the north-west , in land hardlydistinguishable from the sea, which has been won from the sea by infin itelabour , there are thin lines of m en in the Belgian trenches , ho lding the

pass against the barbarian , as truly as any Greek did at Therm opylae .

Yet here are no blue mountains looking on . On ly fiat grey land , and

feature less grey sea,and that grey advancing flood , where the Belgians have

called in the sea to fight w ith them,and have given him in paym ent their

hard-won fie lds,their dykes , and villages , to keep in trust fo r a nation of

heroes , t ill the battle is won . They to ld us to ho ld the trenches for 24hours we held them ; then they said , H o ld them 48 hours m ore ,

’

and

w e have done it . So ran one of the m ost soul-st irring m essages of war everw ritten . They have done it And now the English and F rench have come

up , and the little army which has saved the left w ing and protected Calaismay fall back a wh ile to count its dead . One in three ,

they say— one in

three Shall we not write over the fallen Belgian s what was written overthe Spartan dead at Platma

These men having set a crown of immortal glory on their own land , werefo lded in the dark cloud of death . Yet being dead , they have not died ,

75

seeing their fam e in battle hath raised them up'

for ever from Forgett ingand the Grave .

”

W hat can we do , w e Englishwomen at home in our she ltered island,for this

hero ic litt le nation that has he ld the pass P Day and n ight the flee ing armyof wom en and ch ildren , of old men and boys passes northward to H o lland

,

and westward over the sea to England . The other n ight , in a Londonsocial sett lement , which has been large ly given over to the refugees , awoman

I know watched the in com ing stream— peasants in the ir sabots, small

bourgeois , carrying w ith them a few last possessions,ch ildr en weary to death

and wai ling for food . But English hands were proud to wait on them , and

English brains to plan for them . H ere were a father and mother and sevenchildren from Louvain— who had been tramping and h iding in the F lem ishfie lds for days and n ights . The m other was on the po int of m atern ity.

There was no accomm odat ion for her in the sett lem ent , where the large halland the gymnas ium have been turned into wards for m en and wom en

resp ective ly, of the peasan t class , and the separate rooms looking out on

the garden have been m ost ly assigned to the e lderly m en and wom en of the

educated professional type . Much perplexity, acco rdingly ,as to the poor

expectant m other,in the m ind of the kind Scotch lady who is the house

keeper of the sett lem ent ! But , sudden ly , she rem embers an address inKen sington ; she flies to the telephone ; she calls up a house in Queen ’

s Gate ,

and its m istress . Did you say the o ther day you would take in Belgianwom en for the ir confinem ent P “ Certain ly ! H ave you got such a caseThe note of joyful eagerness in the vo ice was unm istakable through the tube .

Details are given . All right . I w ill bring my motor round directly .

”

And in an hour o r so from her arrival,the dazed and wearied wom an , w ith

another Be lgian woman and her litt le boy of three to keep her company,

are speeding in a luxurious m otor to the house in Queen ’

s Gate . A warmroom ,

a com fortable bed, nurse , clothing , food— everything is ready I n

a few days the poor soul’

s trouble is over , and the pretty babe lies peacefullybeside its rest ing m other . F or three days Then the soul of the peasantwoman W ho waits on others , and is never waited on , rebe lled . I am alwaysup

,madam e , in three days .

”

Th is t ime, take five You were so worn

out Most unw illingly , the t ired body rests a few m ore days and then

the who le fam ily goes to a cottage ready for them , in an English village,

the children go to schoo l , the who le village becom e their protectors and

friends , the F lem ings learn a few words of English , the English a few wordsof F lem ish ,

kindness and gesture do the rest , t ill , occasionally, an interpretercom es round and promotes a more sat isfacto ry intercourse .

But am ong the in com ing throng on this October n ight there are figures of

another type . A m other and three daughters— the w idow and children of

a Belgian ofiicer— soft- spoken ,refined wom en

, flying in terror from Antwerp ,

with a few scan ty parce ls of luggage , plus a grey parrot — who is no soonerset down in the room s allotted to them , than he vents his opin ion on the

discomforts of the journey in som e vigorous cursing of Guillaume

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The sett lement she lters them all for a week or two and then they becom e

the honoured guests of an English country house , be longing to one of the

most distinguished of English so ldiers,and his w ife

,one of the gen t lest of

English ladies .

I f tender sym pathy can soo the the private and public grief of such exiles ,the irs should indeed be soothed ; and m ercifully, three out of th is partyof four are young , and to the young it is natural to sm i le when the facesround them are all kindness , and a tragic flight has becom e an adven ture

,

which would be on ly delightful — but for that low coast - l ine , and that greysea

,those ruined towns , those woun ded m en

, that are in the m inds of us all

Thus all over England , and all over hospitable H o lland,the fugit ives spread ,

hands of we lcom e and pity are stretched out,and the great exile goes on

in term inably . But the hours are pass ing , and the hours of darkness are

slow ly, slow ly,handing on the torch to the hours of hope and dawn . Steadily

the H uns retreat steadily the defenders of freedom and civilisat ion pressthe ir way forward over the ruined and bloodstained land . Sure ly, w ith thespring , the Be lgian life-wave w ill turn hom eward again I t w ill flow backin to the waste places and the scourged hero ic land w ill bloom again w ithyoung life , and peaceful labour , and hom e joy. The dead

, the dead w ill notb e there —save in our hearts that m ourn . But they rest in the Lord , and

the ir works shall fo llow them . A litt le nation has become for all t im e a

song and a sto ry, to refresh and kindle the ho ly spirit of man — s o that

when these evil days are over , and we count up the score, we shall not put

what has happened in Be lgium , during these autumn mon ths,am ong the

tragedies of history , but rather among the imperishable triumphs of the soul .

fi at/

7fi t /had

By S I R CH ARLE S W YND H AM

F rom Shelley’

s“H ellas

Let the tyrants rule the desert they have madeLet thefree possess the Paradise they claimBe the fortune of our fierce oppressors weighedW ith our ruin , our resistance , and our name

Our dead shall be the seed of their decay ,

Our survivors be the shadow of their pride ,

Our adversity a dream to pass away ,

Their dishonour a remembrance to abide

77

By LORD NORT H CL I F F ETH E Christm as message we all w ish to send across the North Sea 13 this

that we British w ill fight to the end and work to the end for the King of

Be lgium and the Be lgian people , because we be lieve that for all tim e in

the world quiet hom es and noble lives and surer peace w ill spring fromthe seed of their sacrifice .

The noble king of a true democracy has fought with his people againstm ilitary tyranny and the lust of power

, as rarely king o r nation has foughtbefore . Even in the m idst of suffering and loss too great for words Belgiummay feel that the fruits w ill surpass the sacrifice and all the world one dayshare in the Be lgian victory.

By S I R EDWARD I . POYNTER , BART . ,P.R .A .

NOT on ly for myse lf but for the body of which I am president I have no

hesitat ion in affirm ing that all my co lleagues of the Royal Academy are

w ith me in the horror we fee l at the treatment wh ich the unoffending population of Belgium has received at the hands of the barbarous hordes of

Prussians who have devastated that beautiful and peaceful countryoutrages of the most savage kind infl icted under pretences invented for theoccasion by that race wh ich has proved itself so prolific of lies and spies .

But above all this do w e adm ire the magn ificent bravery w ith wh ich the

Be lgians have w ithstood the onslaught of overwhelm ing numbers : for itis to the ir splendid courage , under their hero ic King , in bearing the firstbrunt of the treacherous Prussian attack that the world owes it that the

vast German schem e of conquest has hitherto fai led .

By LORD REDE SDALETo the King of the Belgians ,

S IRE,

F ighting on behalf of the who le world— a H ero at the head of an hero icpeople— Your Majesty has made the cruellest sacrifices . The world w illnot fo rget .

S ire , you have lost much-

you have won Imm ortality.

I have the honour to b e ,S ire ,

Your Majesty’

s

Most obedient humble servant ,

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By EM I LE VER H AEREN

A sa Majesté Albert I",Roi des Belges ,

S IRE ,

C ’

est peut- etre , depuis les be lles journées de L1ege ,la prem 1ere vraie jo ie

que l’

on m e perm et d’

éprouver en m e priant de vous rendre hommage .

Vous etes,acette heure , le seul roi du m onde que ses sujets al’unan im ité

,

sans exception aucune ,aim ent et adm irent de toute la force de leur ame .

C e‘

so rt un ique est le v6tre,S ire . Aucun conducteur d’

homm es me l ’eutau m em e po int que vous , sur la terre .

Malgré l’

imm ensité du deuil qui vous entoure,il m e semble que vous avez

le dro it de vous en réjouir . D’

autan t que votre compagne , Sa Majesté laReine

,partic ipe avotre rarissim e privilege .

S ire,votre nom sera désormais tres grand . Vous vous etes a tel po int

confondu avec votre peuple que vous en dem eurez le symbo le . Son couragesa ténacité

,sa douleur tue , sa fierté

,sa grandeur future , son immortalite

résident en vous . Notre am e profonde est la v6tre . Vous etes nous tousen étant vous seul . Et vous le resterez .

Plus tard,lorsque vous rentrerez dans votre Be lgique reconquise et infinim ent

glorieuse , vous n’

aurez qu’

a parler , S ire , pour que les quere lles baissen tde ton et que les antagon ism es s

’

évanouissent . S i bien qu’

apres avo irété ce lui qui maintien t et defend vous serez ce lui qui rapproche et

reconcilie .

S ire,croyez 51 m on respect fervent .

2 0n d . %mTRANSLATION by Florence Simmonds

This request to pay my respectful homage to you hasgiven me the first real pleasure I have been perm it tedto feel since the good days of Liege . At this momen tyou are the one king in the world whose subjects ,withou t excep tion

,unite in loving and admiring him

with all the strength of their souls . This unique fateis yours, Sire . No leader of men on earth has had itin the same degree as you .

I n spite of the immensity of the sorrow surroundingayou,

I think you have a righ t to rejoice , and the moreso as your consort , H er Majesty the Queen , sharesthis rare pr ivilege with you .

S ire, your name will be grea t thr oughou t the ages to

By S I R J O H N BLAND - S UTT ON

I sin in envying his nobility .

C ould I be anything I wished ,I would wish me only he .

”

are in such perfect sympathy with yourpeople that you will always be their symbol. Theircourage

,their tenacity , their stifled grief, their pr ide ,

their future greatness , their immortality all live inyou . Our hearts are yours to their very depths .Being yourself, you are all of us . And this you willremain .

La ter on ,when you return to your recaptured and

glorious Belgium ,you will only have to say the word

,

Sire, and all disputes will lose their bit terness and all

an tagonisms fade away . After being our strengthand defender , you will become our peacemaker and

reconciler .W ith deepest respect,

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Belgian un iversities to wh ich our hearts are go ing out to—day— the friend

of Erasmus in the chair of St . Peter . I t may seem alm ost idle in these daysof bloodshed and destruction to look back for half a thousan d years . But

w ith the stilhi ess as w ell as with the profound earnestness of the noblestpart of Belgian spiritual l ife from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centurymay well be compared the sustained efforts for peace between the nationswhich long seem ed one of the most hopeful signs in the public life of the

latter half of the n ineteenth century and in the early years of our own ;and in these efforts Be lgian statesmen and publicists have notably taken

what may be called a leading part .

For the sake of the long historical connection between the two peoples ;for the sake of the deep compassion and the h igh adm irat ion to which the

Belgian s have become ent itled by what they have suffered and what theyhave done in the dark days of the present , and for the sake of the peacewh ich they and we have at heart— w e have we lcom ed am ong us the subjectsof our King ’

s kinsman and ally,and we pray for their restoration , in God

’

s

good time , to their own fair and gracious land .

a c L/M

By T H E R I GH T . REV . B I S H OP OF LONDON ,D .D . ,

LL .D .

TH E real difficulty of writing about Belgium is to find language adequateto express in the first place the scandalous injust ice of her treatm ent .

W hatever any other State may have done , or not done , Belgium had doneabso lute ly nothing to deserve this treatm ent ; she had maintained herneutrality w ith perfect impart iality, and her treatm ent w ill be consideredone of the crim es of history.

But , if language is inadequate to describe the injustice of her treatm ent ,

who can describe the pathos of that fleeing multitude , homeless , ruined ,and in terror of the ir lives ? The heart of the world goes out to them in pity.

But , w ith pity is m ingled the deepest adm iration . Led by their splendidKing , they have given an example of sublim e courage and unfl inchingvalour which has ennobled the world . They have shown that the soul of apeople can b e unconquerable wh ile its who le territory is ravaged and its

towns and villages are in flam es . I t must b e the prayer of every lover ofjustice in the world that the Great God in H eaven may avenge the wrongsand reward the courage of the Be lgian people .

By P RO F E S SO R G I LBE RT MURRAYI SAW yesterday a regiment of Brit ish cavalry returning from mancr uvres ,

every man of them wearing the co lours of a foreign nation . That is not a

comm on sight . Som etimes the so ldiers of a conquered people have beenforced to w ear foreign co lours , but they would not wear them w ith prideas these m en did . Sometim es the so ldiers of a w eak and oppressed peoplehave been

’

proud to w ear the co lours of som e great and conquering Powerwhich was its ally. But these m en were wearing the co lours of a small andunfortunate nation ,

a nation in exile , whose lands are ravaged , its towns

destroyed , and its territory in the occupat ion of the enemy. I t is not for

any material or worldly reason that Brit ish so ldiers are proud to wear Be lgianco lours it is because Belgium in a t im e of terrific trial has done what weall should b e most proud to have done , and has become an emblem to all

the world of freedom and hero ic courage .

The sufferings of Belgium would be enough in themselves , and m ore thanenough , to constitute a claim on all the he lp that we can give . Every one

adm its the claim . I n the town where I w rite it is not on ly well- to -do

people who are offering every kind of he lp and hospitality. Shops fromtim e to t im e refuse to take money when they hear that the goods they havesupplied are for the Belgians . Artisans and tradesm en com e and offer towork in the ir spare hours without paym ent . I n the last few days the townworkm en in one very poor neighbourhood have offered food and lodgingrent free for a year ; the agricultural labourers in small villages haveclubbed their penn ies together and ren ted and furn ished cottages . The

sam e spirit is to b e found all over Englan d .

Now it is not m ere sympathy, not m ere pity for m isfortune , that has stirredour who le nat ion like this . There is that in it , of course but still m orethere is adm iration and grat itude . And we are grateful not on ly becauseBe lgium stood , as a matter of fact

,between us and the first fury of the

German onslaught , but because Belgium has raised our ideal of human lifeand taught us to expect greater things of the world .

W e did not know that our comfo rtable liberal-m inded western civilisat ionhad in it this heart of hero ism . W e had read of the heroes and martyrs of

histo ry , and we felt w ith a m isgiving that they were perhaps out of date .

Life was no doubt easier now and less crue l but it seem ed looser in qualityand woven of cheaper mater ial . W e have been shaken out of that falseresignat ion . W e have discovered that the days of crue lty are by no m eans

past and, just when the shock of that discovery cam e

,Be lgium rose and

showed us that the days of hero ism are not past e ither . She stands as an

example to all nations who doubt whether national life is a thing worthsuffering for , to all individuals who doubt their own value as free souls or

the ir capacity for facing danger or m artyrdom . Consciously or uncon

sciously there has com e to each m an’

s heart a secret m essage,raising his

confidence in him se lf and bracing all his facult ies The Be lgian s havedone these things : why should not I

83.

CAR ILLON(POUR GRAND ORCHESTRE) POUR ACCOMPAGNER

C H ANTONS ,BELGES . C H ANTONS

PonmE

D’EMI LE CAMMAERTS

MU S IQU E PAR

EDW ARD ELGAR, O.M

ASSOC IE DE L’ACADEM IE ROYALE DE BELG IQU E .

Im onumen t .

Allegro (CI

. circa OP. 45 .

z?

PIANO.

Copyrig ht , MCMX I V. , by E lkin (é Co., Ltd.

84 All R ights reserved.

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j?”

grandioso.

Tutti.

Chantons, Belges, chantons,Méme si les blessures saignent, meme si la. voix se base ,

Plus haut que la tourmente, plus fort que les canons,Chantons l’orgueil de nos défaites,

Par cc beau soleil d’automne ,

Et la joie de t ester honnétes

Quand la lacheté nous sertu t si bonneson du tam

Meme si les eux brfilent .el le. téte s

’

gate ,

En chantant notre gloire.

Dan - sons, Bel - gee, den - sons,

87

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Avec des branches de hétre , de hétre flamboyant,Au son du tambour,

Nous couvrirons les tombes de nos enfan ts.

Nous choisirons un jour,Comme celui-Ci,Oil les peupliers tremblent doucement

Dans lo vent,Et ou l

’odeur des feuilles mortes

Embaume les bors,Comme aujourd’

hui,Afin qu

’1ls empmt ent

a-basLe parfum da pays.

prise de Brux elles, de Ma lines, De Namur, de Li‘

ege, de Lou vain ,

de leur entrée triomphale, la-bas ,A Berlin

Chan tons, Belges, chantons,Meme si les blessures saignent et si la voix se brise,

Plus haut que la tourmente, plus fort que les canons,Meme si les blessures saignent, meme si la coeur se brise,Chantons l’espoir et la hmne implacable.Par 06 beau soleil d’

automne,Et la tierté de t ester charitablesQuand la. Vengeance nous sera1t si bonne 1

9 1

By S I R G I LBERT PARKERIT is given to som e m en and som e peoples now and again in the world ’

s

h istory to represent mankind at its truest,its highest and best ; to offer

upon altars of liberty the blood of sacrifice for all m en in all theworld ; and to pledge for human ity once again devotion to eternal th ings .

This is what the Belgian King and the Be lgian people have done . A

m on strous , destroying legion of terror and tyran ny moved upon them out

of the n ight , offered them gain and go ld if they would forswear their bond ,and give freedom to the legions of an Emperor to whom the ink of honourand the pledged paper w ere no obstacles to the march of ambition . Belgium

,

its King and people , preferred death to dishonour . The ir way was the

ancient way— to lose the who le and gain the ir own souls . Th is they did ,and wh ile T im e te lls its story the torch that Belgium lighted w ill burn , and

the hand of the King that held it aloft w ill b e honoured am ong m en .

Oh ,happy are allfree peoples too strong to be dispossessed,

But blessed are they among nations that dare to be strong for the rest .

/’ D

By S I R S I DNEY LEE

TH E King of the Belgians and his brave army have set an example whichlends human ity a new glory. Their hero ic resistance to the who lly un

m erited wrongs which brute strength has forced upon them has shedfresh radiance on the h istory of the civilised world . I n spite of the crue lsuffering which the ruthless enemy has sown broadcast through the land ,in spite of all the waste and deso lation which German so ldiers have inflictedw ithout pity or remorse

, Belgium ,its ruler and its people , may find hope

and conso lat ion in the know ledge that the just ice of their cause is

recogn ised wherever truth and right prevail , and that the honour of all

honourable m en is pledged to secure for them due reparation of theirunconscionable wrongs .

By PRO F E S SOR W I LL IAM F L INDER S PET R IELL .D . ,

PH .D .

TO the Be lgian Nation and its Noble Leader , I present the most sincereH omage to its Bravery ,

Respect for its unflinching Fo rt itude ,Grat itude for its saving of England and F rance ,W ishes fo r its speedy resettlem ent ,

H opes that by its sufferings it may be perfected in true greatness .

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RULER : I shouldn ’

t wonder . By the by , I should like to keep you nearm e to -night . Your hump may bring m e luck . I have to make a

m om en tous decision . Now listen to m e . I trust you—

you have avai ledyourself of my perm ission to b e truthful . I do not trust all my ser

vants . W ill you look to the w in e to -n ight !The CH IROPODIST cringesassent ] The royal Dukes and my Min isters are to dine at my table .

Be near m e to -n ight , my l ittle hunch-back .

!The CH IROPODIST kisses the royal toes in deep obeisance .

The RULER OF A GREAT PEOPLE exits to his dressing- room .

The CH IROPODIST rises]CH IROPODIST I t has com e— the day,

their day,my day God ofmy fathers ,

keep m e from madness . Mother,ho ld my hand from out of your

grave You said it should b e My hunger can b e stilled— I can alm ost

straighten my back w ith pride . !H e crosses himself beneath the image

of the Virgin ] H e lp m e in my hour . There are two roads— wh ichshall I take ? I have learned to flatter— it is my profession— I havewalked across the plank— I am there— my ambition , my little ambitioncan be requited . I have blackm ailed the world— I am in its palace .

The open road is in fron t of m e at last . I can move step by step , as

others have done , nearer the thron e— and then,who knows ? But

there is ano ther road— the road where human ity to ils or trudges— the

road my father and m other trod when I was a little child . I t was the

revo lution— my m o ther was torn from my father’

s arm s— before hiseyes she was degraded by the so ldiery— then they shot him for an

anarchist . This hump of m inch a so ldier struck m e w ith his gun— myshoulder shattered . I n our exile every night my mother would strokemy back while she prayed that God would straighten m e . She starvedthat she m ight sprinkle my hump w ith ho ly water . And here I am

what I am . Th is is my m om ent— shall I fall to ease,to com fort , and

conven ience ? I whose father shrieked for freedom as he fe ll . Th iswar— I can prevent it . I see it com ing ou— I am not blind as those thatm ake war— war for the van ity of a King , who made God in his own

image . W ar for greed of comm erce . H undreds , thousands , m illionsof lives w ill be lost to satisfy the lust of five m en C an five hundredyears of happiness compensate for one year ’s spo il of am onarch ’

s sportAn Empero r of the Shambles declares war to make a madman

’

s ho liday .

I can hear the yells of the poor de luded men in the trenches— theycall it glory ! I can see the ir stark bodies mangled and tw isted in the

frozen mud— they call it glory I can sm ell the stench of the ir decaywafting disease through the land in the spring that is com ing— theycall it glo ry ! I can read the outpourings of the ir h ire ling professors .

I hear Christ ’s priests chanting their blessings on the ho locausts— theycall it glo ry ! The moan s of millions of m others go up to God

,um

heeded by m an . My m ind is a m irage of ruined cathedrals , of de

vastated homes , of spectres of fam ished peoples— all these I see — they

call it glory My litt le hand can stay all this . !H e takes from his boxthe little bottle labelled H ere is my ally— a few drops of thisin his liqueur to - n ight

, and it is done . !H e tastes the poison ] Revengeis sweet I shall be the undying benefacto r of mankin d . After all, heis only one man ,

like myself. H e who cuts the corns of a monarchknows the equality of man . Murder— yes . To kill one man is to be a

murderer— to kill ten thousand is to be a hero S trange is the logic ofthe world W hat is he then who m urders one to save m illions !H e

takes up his paraphernalia and exits]!The scene changes to the private dining- room of the greatRULER . S eated round the table are PR INCES

,CAB INET

M IN ISTERS , a PROFESSOR ,and a PR IEST . I t is the end of

dinner . There are signs of debauchery . The RULER ,

steeped in wine , gazes before him with pale eyes . Papersare in fron t of him and an ink-stand , into which he dips hispen irresolutely . The clock strikes twelve .

W AR MIN ISTER : At twelve the decision was to b e given— it has alreadystruck .

A PRINCE Octavian , sign .

!The RULER hesitates and takes a liqueur from the hands ofthe now resplendent CH IROPOD IST]

PR IME M IN ISTER I t is t ime to sign , your Majesty.

RULER I am thinking .

PRIME M IN ISTER A King should never think , your Majesty, when he knowshis power . I t is two m inutes past the hour— history is rushing by.

You are two m inutes less powerful than you were at m idn ight .

W AR M IN ISTER Might is right .

RULER I s Might always right !Turning to elderly PR IEST ] Father , youhave often to ld m e that the true divine right of kings is peace . W hat

did you say in your sermon during the Peace Conference I f the sacredhead of the State were to pronounce h im self to the world as the leaderof Peace— if he w i ll declare h im self— if he w i ll proclaim that the highestprerogat ive of kings- that the ir true Divine right is universal peaceif in his greatness he w ill carry th is ideal into effect , then he w ill godown the cen turies not on ly as King of his land , no t on ly as Emperorof the globe , but as the temporal saviour of mankind . Those wereyour words , father Sure ly God is good .

PRIEST Yes , your Majesty,very good . But now we are talking war . The

needs of your people sanct ify the sacrifice of your ideals .

RULER I am wondering , at what po int a King is just ified for the sake of

his country in sacrificing his ideals . !H e takes another liqueur ]PR IEST : H is conscience must decide .

PROFESSOR : Ideals are on ly ofli cial ideals when they have concrete foundat ions . Ideals must be backed by cann on , or left alone . W ith all

subm ission to your Majesty, man is but a brute — we all devour each

95

other if we can . Our rivals are sunk in the sloth of what is calledhuman itarian ism . The n ew re ligion of so - called thinkers and fee lersthreatens to becom e a force wh ich m ay so m iseducate the masses

,that

the workm en of the world m ay sweep away our own Culture of in

tellectual materialism by a un iversal strike for peace . This new’

movem en t

,whose praise is be ing sung by poets and seers , must be thrott led

before its growth shall have becom e a m enace to our fatherland . Al

ready the people are singing the hym ns of the new re ligion of human ityin secret places . Socialism is rife in our land . Now is the m om ent

to crush it for a hundred years and so preserve the ancient dynasty of

which your Majesty is God’

s chosen head,and secure the supremacy

of our race .

!Great cheers ring out from the Square from many thousand

voices . H ere and there angry imprecations too are heard.

The cheers come nearer and nearer and the jingle-jingle ofapproaching cavalry is heard below ]

RULER Are they cheering m e

CHORUS OF M IN ISTERS AND PR INCES !surrounding the RULER] They are

cheering the war . They are cheering the Prince— he waves his handto them .

RULER Ingrates— is my popularity then wan ingPR IME M IN ISTER !his watch in hand] You are twe lve m inutes and fifteen

seconds less popular than you w ere at m idn ight,your Majesty .

RULER !twisting the quill pen in his hand] That is the vo ice of the peoplePR IEST Vox populi , Vox Dei

W AR M IN ISTER I t is the vo ice of the Army

!The royal DUKES and M IN ISTERS , PR IEST , andPROFESSORsurround the RULER ,

cajoling ,flattering ,

and brow-beatinghim in turn . A military band blares out the National H ymn

in which a hundred thousand voices join . RULER takes the

pen once more nerving himself to the great effort , hebeckons to the CH IROPODIST , who makes to serve the liqueur]

CH IROPODIST Now is my m om en t !Taking from his pocket the little bottlelabelled Poison ,

”

he is about to pour it into the glass when a royal DUKEapproaches him with something glittering in his hand]

ROYAL DUKE !to CH IROPODIST) I n recogn it ion of your valuable servicesH is Majesty desires m e to confer upon you the order of the Go ldenLamb

,of the second class . !Pins decoration on his breast ]

CH IROPOD IST !overcome , mechanically as in a dream ,he clasps the bauble

in his hand,then hesitates , gasping] 0 Mother , Mother !

RULER I t is war

CH IROPOD IST Let it rip !H e spills the poison on thefloor ]!The RULER OF A GREAT PEOPLE signs the U ltimatum .

The CH IROPODIST shrugs his hump ]TH E CURTAIN FALLS .

96

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By GENERAL BOOT HS IRE

,

H ave this conso lat ion in the suprem e agony of your dynasty and of yourpeople , that you have en thused w ith new life and force the great principlethat m en ought not on ly to love their coun try , but the ir kind .

W e of the Salvat ion Army prayGod that H is great Salvation may strengthenyou ever to honour H im in Mercy and Righteousness .

By P REBENDARY W I L S ON CARL I LEDAVID has fought Go liath . The victory is not yet , but it is com ing . TheGod of Batt les w ill avenge H is shattered houses

, the burned and ruinedhom es

,the trampled harvest fie lds , the slaughtered

, outraged , torm ented,

exiled people , for their cry has reached H im in H is H o ly Place . Thoughthe t im e b e long , we shall m ost sure ly see a new Be lgium arise from theashes of war , purified , made m ore noble and strong

,uplifted by the fiery

trial . And although so m any of her so ldiers,and others of her bravest and

best , must sleep un til the Archangel shall sound réve illé, yet their blood

has not been shed in vain , for the ir spirit lives for everm ore . God givestrength to Be lgium ’

s King , people , and Allies to fight on in this righteouscause un ti l complete victory crowns the struggle , m ade ho ly by the bloodand tears of so great a multitude .

By ALMA E . BELMONTIN expressing my sympathy w ith the Belgian nat ion ,

I am compe lled tosay there can b e no being from any realm calling itself human but feels itsvery life-blood pulsate w ith grief and its heart overflow w ith love for thegreat manhood of this stricken nation . W ords seem poor and lam e . Th isdisplay of courage

,this w ill to carry Right against Might , this defence of

coun try and hom e,calls for act ion

,im itat ion .

W hat is any nation,what are any people do ing , who stand idly aside , and

by the ir inert ia and fear of injury to them se lves , perm it murder , pillage ,and w ilful destruct ion of a land of peace , of honest industry, of a God

fearing race W hat are we do ing in W ashington W here is our boastedcivilisat ion ? W here is Christ ian ity ? I s not our brother be ing annihi

lated ? W hy is not our hand stretched out to sh ie ld him ? H ow muchlonger w ill the strong and m ighty stand aside and see the brave and freetrampled under foot by a m onster power intoxicated w ith ar rogance If

the Un ited States be lieves in dem ocracy if she stands for States ’ rightsif she be lieves in the defence of nat ional honour and po litical liberty, the

crim e comm itted against Belgium demands such act ion from our greatRepublic that th is murderous carnage shall stop .

98

By F LO RENCE L . BARCLAYIN H oc VINCETo H is Majesty the K ing of the BelgiansS IRE,AS my con tribution to the tribute of un iversal sympathy and adm irationnow presented to Your Majesty, I have been asked to w rite a short story,bearing upon the great even ts of the past m onths .

I n humbly accept ing this privilege , I cannot but be conscious that this isnot a t im e for fict ion therefore the sto ry which I now have the honour ofoffering to Your Majesty is fact —true in its main details— given as it reachedm e , in the sublim e simplicity of a soldier ’s letter from the fron t .

=l= =l= =X< 38

During the masterly retreat of the allied forces after the batt le of Mons , a

young Brit ish oflicer was ordered to round up stragglers in a small town ,

wh ich had just been evacuated by our troops .

There was no time to lose . The enemy,in overwhelm ing force , was sweep

ing down upon the defenceless place . Shells were falling on all sides .

The distant rumble of a re lent less approach drew , every mom ent nearer .

The young officer , march ing his litt le company rapidly along the desertedstreets , crossed a cobbled square

,and cam e upon a mun icipal building

,

temporarily converted into a hospital .H e stepped w ith in .

Any m en here ,able to march ? he began— then paused abruptly and

looked around him .

There was no quest ion of stragglers,here .

Scores of wounded and of dying lay he lpless upon the floor , each wherehe had been hurriedly placed .

A little party of Brit ish Red Cross nurses moved among them ,do ing their

utmost to tend , re lieve ,and com fort .

W h ile the tall youth in khaki stood silent in the doorway, a shell shrilled overthe building

,crashed into a house close by, and burst w ith a deafen ing no ise .

A mom ent of tense silen ce . Then a Tommy laughedIt ’ll save the doctors trouble , if a few of them things come in here , he

said . Do our amputat ing for nothing , they w illThe S ister in charge of the litt le band of English nurses chanced to be

knee ling near the door , support ing the head of a dying lad . H e pushedaway the cup she was ho lding to his lips and gazed into her face , suddenterror in his eyes .

They won’

t shoot on the Red Cross , w ill they,nurse P he whispered .

Ain ’

t w e safe under the flagH er quiet sm ile w as reassuring . Perfectly safe , my lad. Don ’

t you worry.

Drink this,and lie still . ”

Then,looking up , she saw the young officer standing in the doorway.

H e raised his hand in salute .

I suppose there is nothing I can do ,he said . I am rounding up stragglers

99

and marching them out . But nobody here could do any m arching . ShallI take a m essage through for you P I

’ll send back he lp,if possible .

”

Knee ling there , w ith the dying boy’

s head upon her arm ,she looked steadily

at him ,and it struck him that he had never before m et eyes so full of a calm

and steadfast courage .

W e are all right she said,slipping a fo lded jacket beneath the head she

was support ing quite all right — do ing famouslyBut the next m om ent she was beside him in the doorway, and had caughthim by the arm .

Don ’

t go she wh ispered . F or God ’

s sake , don’

t go I need helpand you must help m e .

”

Do you want to get out of this P asked the young officer , speakinghurri edly, and very low .

The Englishwoman looked at him .

Oh , I say, I b eg your pardon Of course I know you wouldn’

t leave them .

Te ll m e how I can he lp . W hat can I do PListen , she said . There is not a m om ent to lose . Did you notice

the roof of th is building,as you crossed the square ? There ’

s a flagstaffand cord , all complete but no flag . Do you understand P No Red Crossflag . And the Germans are beginn ing to shell the town . You must findm e a Red Cross flag , and ho ist it , before you goThe young officer stood beside her , uncertain ,

perplexed ; dismay in his

hon est eyes .

I’

m awfully sorry, he said . But I have no Red Cross flag ; and, for

the life of m e , I don’

t know where to get one .

”

“Then you must make one ,

”

she urged . W e have over a hundred woundedmen under this roof .” She shook him by the sleeve . Can ’

t you contrivesome th ing P Can ’

t you think of som ething P Can ’

t you make m e a Red

Cross flag PThe b oy stood for a mom ent in stem thought . All the man in him awoke ,

eager to m eet this woman’

s desperate need .

H is eye travelled slow ly round the bare,unfurn ished hall . At length it

res ted on the floor .

Su dden ly he started . She saw him hesitate . Then his face grew firm and

pu rposeful .Give m e half a sheet

,he said

,and som e bandages .

H e he lped her to tear the sheet in two .

At sound of the sharp rending , many eyes turned their way.

H e spread the sheet upon the floor , and he ld out his hand for the bandages .

Give m e som e pins ,”

he said , huskily ; plenty of them . Then leavethe rest to m e . Th is is my job .

”

All at once she knew W hat he was go ing to do and she , who had t im es

w ithout number faced unspeakable sights w ithout flinching ,turned away

wh ile, stooping

,he dipped the bandages in the blood wh ich lay in pools

upon the floor .

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By J . C . C H R I STEN S SEN

BELGIENS Strobne vakker den storste Medfolelse i vort Fo lk . H vis den

belgiske Konge og haus F o lk ikke foar Oprejsunig for alt , hvad de nu m on

lide,da synes , at Retfordigheden trmdes ned, og at Talen om den eoropaiske

Kultur m on forstumm e . Vovire Folelsen oproves son m eget m ere , sorn vise lv er et lille F o lk, der altid m on appellere til Retfordigheds folelsen ogH ojsindet hos andre .

TRANSLATION by C . A . BangThefate of Belgium awakes zn our nation the greatest talk abou t the European Kultur must become mu te.

sympa thy . If the Belgian K ing and his people do Our feelings are roused so much the more as we ournot get redress for all they are now sufiering ,

’

then I t selves are also a small nation ,who must always appeal

seems to us that justice is trampled down and that all to the righteousness and highnzindedness of others .

By T H E R '

r . H ON . SYED AMBER AL I

I DES IRE to express my deepe st sympathy for the undeserved sufferingsof the Be lgian nat ion . I cannot help fee ling that Be lgium , which had

wronged no one and simply stood on her own rights , has been crue llytreated by a powerful nation to whom she m ight naturally have looked forprotection and help . One searches in vain for any justificat ion for the

ruth lessness w ith which the arm ies of Germany, who claim ed to stand inthe forefront of the civilised world , have conducted themse lves in unhappyBe lgium . The coun try devastated , ancient seats of learn ing rendereddeso late

,the people driven from their hom es for refuge in distant lands

make the heart throb w ith infin ite sorrow and pain .

The sorrow I fee l for her is shared by the who le world— no less by Moslemsthan by Christians.

By ART H UR C . BEN S ONABOVE all w e must keep in the forefront of our m inds the immense debtwe owe to Be lgium for her staunch fide lity and for the suprem e hero ismof her army. Never has a small and peaceable nation risen m ore nobly toa great occasion . W e must ease the strain upon Be lgium by every m eans

in our pow er , we lcom e and comfort her refugees , house them ,feed them ,

take them to our hearts and we must also reso lve that when the t im e comes

we must undergo any sacrifice to repay them for their splendid public spiritand their generous sacrifices . W e cannot heal their griefs or rem ove theirsufferings ; but we can do all that hum an kindness and liberality can do

to atone for the sicken ing w rongs which have been done them ,and show our

grat itude for the loyalty which has indeed been faithful unto death . God

bless and reward Be lgium

102

By ANN I E V IVANT I CH ARTRE S

TH E BROKEN ROSE

To K ing Albert

Shy , youthful , silent— and misunderstood

The sceptre in thy handS eemed b ut aflower the F ates had tossed to thee ,And thou wert called, perchance half-scornfully ,

Albert the Good.

T0-day thou standest on a blackenedgrave ,Thy broken sword still lifted to the skies .

Thy pure andfearless eyes

Gaze in to Death’

s grim visage unappalledAnd by the storm-swept nations thou ar t called

Albert the Brave .

Tossed on a blood—red sea of rage and hate

The frenzied world rollsforward to its doom .

But high above the gloom

F lashes thefulgent beacon of thy fame ,The nations thou hast saved exalt thy name

Albert the Great=X= 36 3k

Albert the good, the brave , the gr eat, thy land

Lies at thy feet , a crushed and morien t rose

Trampled and desecrated by thy foes.

One day a greater Belgium will be born ,

But what of this dead Belgium wracked and torn

W hat of this roseflung out upon the sand

Behold Afar where sky and waters meet

A white- robed F igure walketh on the

(Peace goes before H im and her face is sweet .)

H e sees the dead rose lying in the sand,

H e lifts the dead rose in H is holy handAnd lays it at H is breas t .

O broken rose of B elgium ,thou ar t blest

By GERT RUDE AT H E RTONW E have experienced so many em otions in America in the course of thisterrible war that it would be difficult

,had not Germany vio lated the neu

trality of Be lgium ,to assert defin itely what has been our dom inant sensation .

But , as it is , I think I can safe ly speak for my countrymen,and state that

n othing has so horrified us and aroused our indignation and sympathiesas the crue l fate of this valian t litt le country.

Above all, no chapter of the war , as yet presented to us,has so excited our

adm iration as well as our profound respect . W e are the on ly country ,ow ing to our geograph ical posit ion as we ll as to our facilities , that has beenable to look at all sides of the European imbroglio from the beginn ing and

propaganda has made no impression whatever upon us . W e have had theOppo rtunity to make up our own m inds , and, who lly out of order as thiswould appear in certain quarters , we be lieve ourselves to be quite equal tothis feat w ithout exterior assistance . W e know ,

am ong many other things ,that the magn ificent resistance at Liege upset all the long-matured plans of

the Germ an W ar Office, and that had Be lgium proved e ither w eak or

ignoble , the histo ry of the war would be very different reading to -day.

I venture to say that every town in the Un ited States , big and litt le , has itsBe lgian re lief society, even if it does not spread beyond the dim ensions of

the weekly sew ing circle ; and that the most consistent democrat in the

country takes off his hat to King Albert of Belgium . The Am ericans are

always alert to recogn ise aMAN , and are capable of being quite indifferentto the niche presented to him by dest iny. W hat he does in that n iche isthe po int . If the result of this upheaval is a great European Republic (Irefer of course to the Continent) I feel positive that if the people of the

Un ited States of Am erica were allowed to vote , the popular candidate wouldbe King Albert of Belgium .

104

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By ROBERT H I C H EN STH E END OF L ITTLE BELGIUMW H EN war began and the Germ an army appeared before the forts of Liege ,the world said , This w i ll be the end of litt le Belgium .

”

There was deeppity in all hearts , but w ith it was m ingled a certain sense of the impotenceof the t iny nation confronted by the brutal m ight of Germ any.

I heard two m en in a London street discussing the question of the Open ingwar and the tragic situation of the Belgians . One of them , w ith a twist ofhis shoulders , said , W hat on earth can they do P The other man replied ,The right thing , and that

’

s what they’re go ing to do .

”

The little nation had decided . The guns of Liege Opened fire . The

martyrdom of Be lgium ,

”

as it has been called , began . Men , wom en , and

even chi ldren were slain . Villages and cities were burned . Thousandsw ere wounded tens of thousands w ere rendered home less .

And people said , Unhappy BelgiumW here has that exclamat ion not been uttered ? Even in Germ any it has

com e from the lips of Germ ans , and from t im e to t im e the ruler of Germanysent to the ruler of Belgium suggestions of peace . H aven ’

t you had

enough of do ing the r ight thing P The answer was NO .

”

And m orehuman be ings were slain , and more villages w ere burned , and m orefam ilies were driven out hom eless and starving to live how and where theycould .

But people said no more , Unhappy BelgiumStrangely, as the tragedy deepened and darkened , the world almost ceasedfrom pitying .

“W onderful Be lgium ! ”

we said . And the days and the

n ights w en t by, and the roar of batt le drew nearer to our coasts . And

still the Be lgians wen t on obstinately do ing the right thing . Antw erpfe ll .The Belgian army avo ided capture and retreated . All that was left of itwas said to have passed into F rance , and the English papers announcedthat it would “ rest for awh ile to recover spirit and strength after itsterrible trials and exert ions .

Not m any hours later the world knew that it was still in Belgium ,attacking

the German armyw ith fierce tenacity,and giving splendid he lp to the Allies .

I ts King was w ith it , and its Queen was not far off

S ince then people speak of Glorious Be lgiumThe pilgrim age has been accomplished and the peaks have been gained .

H ow then can we pity Be lgium ?

I w ent am ong the crowds of refugees at F olkestone , and sat in the m idstof sick Be lgian so ldiers . I talked to old and young , to non - combatants and

fighting m en,and I gathered from my experiences a dom inant impression ,

wh ich was not an impression of despair . Misery of the body there was .

But the far deeper, the far m ore terrible m isery of the soul was so seldom

apparent that it could not b e said w ith truth ,Th is is a nat ion in despair .

This is a ruined nat ion .

105

The simple fact is that through all th is tragedy Belgium has been uphe ld bythe splendid know ledge that litt le Belgium is no m ore . W hen the firstshot was fired from the forts of Liege a little nat ion died , but a nat ion that

is great was born .

By J EAN R I C H EPIN

AU PEUPLE BELGE ET A SON ROI

EN place de la fausse grande nation ,qui prétendait asservir toutes les autres

et les m odeler a l ’image de ses cuistres matines de tort ionnaires , c’

est toi,vaillant

,loyal , gén éreux et sublime petit pays , don t il faut ériger l

’im age en

exemple a tous les pays . Peuple don t l’histoire est une incessan te leconde labeur

,d

’

indépendance et d’

héro’

ism e peuple dont la terre est la pluspeuplée du m onde ; peuple ou fleurissent a la fo is toutes les cultures ,matérie lles et m orales , l

’

industrie,le commerce , les arts , les lettres peuple

des be lles cathédrales , des splendides hOtels de ville , des musées incomparables ; peuple comptan t parm i ses fils le poete et philosophe Maeterlinck qui vient de vouer l ’am e allemande a l’exterm ination ,

et le noblebourgm estre Max qui t int tete aVon der Go ltz , et enfin le magnan ime Roi

Albert , qui dort dans la tranchée apres y avo ir fait le coup de feu avec ses

so ldats , le Roi Albert , parfaite incarnation de l’

ame be lge ; O peuple desbons travailleurs , des grands art istes , des braves guerriers , peuple de vraishomm es , c

’

est toi qui portes , acette heure de l’

histoire , dans tes po ings demartyr et de héros , le palladium de l’H umanité.

TRANSLATIONTo the Belgian People and to their King,I n place of tha t false great nation ,

which aspired tosubjugate all others and mould them in the imageof its own ideal— a combination of pedan t and inqza

'

sitor— it is thine image, 0 valiant , loyal, generous,and sublime lit tle land

,which should be set up as an

example to all other coun tries . People whose historyis a perpe tual lesson of labour, independence , and

people whose country is the most denselypopulated in the world people among whom every kindof culture , material and moral, flourishes industry ,commerce, ar t

,and le t ters people of beau tiful

106

cathedrals , of splendid town-halls,of incomparable

museums people counting among your sons thepoet andphilosopher Mae terlinck , who has condemnedthe German spiri t to extermination the noble Burgomaster Max

,who held out agains t Von der Goltz

and lastly , the magnanimous K ing Albert, who sleepsin the trenches afterfighting in them with his soldiers,K ing Albert , the perfec t incarna tion of the Belgiansoul. 0 people of good workers , of great ar tis ts, ofbrave warriors

,people of true men ,

it is you who atthis hour of history bear the palladium of Humanitym your mar tyred and heroic hands .

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guilleret et rian t —ce lui- la connait aussi les dest in ées du peuple qui enfantaU lenspiegel, et il regarde sans crainte

,m em e aux heures les plus sombres ,

l ’aurore prochaine des jours de richesse et de liesse .

La Be lgique peut etre envahie . Le peuple belge me sera jamais ni conquismi soum is . Le peuple be lge ne peut m ourir .

A la fin du récit de T i ll U lenspiegel, alors qu’

on le cro it m o rt et qu ’

on va

l’

enterrer , il se réveille

Est-ce qu’

on en terre , dit- il, U lenspiegel l’

esprit , Nele le coeur de la mereF landre Dormir

,soit mais mourir , non Viens

,Nele

Et ilpartit avec elle , en chantant sa sixieme chanson . Mais nul ne sait oiiil chanta sa derniere .

TRANSLATION by Florence SimmondsBelgium has jus t writ ten an Epic

,the echoes of which

will resound throughou t the ages . Like the threehundred Spartans

,the li t tle B elgian army holding at

bay for three mon ths the gigantic hosts of GermanyLeman— Leonidas the Thermopw of LiegeLouvain , burn t like Troy the deeds of King Albertsurrounded by his valian t men what legendarygrandeur already encircles these figures, whosetale history has not yet completed ! The heroismof this people who, withou t a murmur

,sacrificed

everything for honour, burst like a thunderclap uponus at a time when the spiri t of victorious Germany u asoffering to the world a concep tion of political realism ,

resting stolidly on force and self- in terest . I t was

the liberation of the oppressed idealism of the W est .And it seemed a miracle that the signal should havebeen given by this lit tle nation .

Men call the sudden appearance of a hidden realitya miracle . The shock of danger brings ou t the truecharacter of individuals and na tions . W hat revelations this war has made in those around us ,aye , even among those nearest and dearest to us !W ha t heroic hearts and what savage beasts ! Theinner soul reveals itself . I t is no new soul.In this crucial hour Belgium has seen the hiddengenius of her race suddenly emerge . The couragethat she has shown during the las t three mon ths evokesadmiration it should not surprise any one who , inthe pages of history, has felt the vigorous sap of herpeople flowing through the ages . Small in space and

numbers, she is one of the greatest nations in Europe

in her abounding vitality . The heroism of the

Belgians of to-day is the same as that of the FIemingsof Courtrai . The men of that province never feared Are they going to bury U lenspiegel the soul,to oppose their powerful neighbours , the K ings of Nele

,the heart of Mother Flanders ? Sleep ,

France or Spain— now heroes and now victims , perhaps ; but die , no ! Come, Nele ,

”

said.

he .

Arteveldes or Egmonts . Their soil, u atered by the And he departed with her , singing his Sixthblood of millions of warr iors , is the most fertile in song . But no one kn ows where he sang his

Europ e in the harvests of the soul. From it sprang last .

108

the art of modern painting, which the school of the

Van Eycks spread throughou t the world at the timeof the Renaissance, and the art of modern music, ofthat polyphony which thr illed through France,Germany

,and I talyfor nearly two cen turies . I t has

given us the great poetic efilorescence of our timesand the two writers who most brillian tly representFrench literature in the world

,Mae terlinck and

Verhaeren , are sons of Belgium . They are the

people who have suffered most and have borne theirsufferings most bravely and cheerfully the MartyrNation of Philip I I and of K aiser W ilhelm and

they are the people of Rubens , the people of Kermessesand of Till U lenspiegel.H e who knows that amazing epic re- told and sung byCharles de C aster The heroic , joyous, and gloriousadventures of U lenspiegel and Lamme Goedjak,those two Flemish worthies who migh t take theirplaces side by side with the immortal Don Quixoteand his Sancho Panza— he who has seen thatdauntless spirit at work

,rough and facetious , rebel

lious in gr ain , always in opposition to establishedpowers

, accepting all hardships and emerging fromthem gay and smiling— believes in the fu ture destiniesof the nation tha t gave birth to Ulenspiegel, and evenin the darkest hours willfearlessly await the approaching dawn of grea t and happy days .Belgium may be invaded. The Belgian people willnever be conquered nor crushed. The Belgian peoplecanno t die .

At the end of the story of Till U lenspiegel, when theythink he is dead

,and are going to bury him,

he wakes”P

AU ST I N D OBSON

BELGIUM

F or Right notMightyoufought . The foe ,C hecked in his wild W orld-overthrow ,

Ravaged, with his remorseless band,

Your ancien tfanes andpeaceful land,

Thinking to crush you at a blow

You are not crushed— as well we know

Ifyou are trodden,

’

tis to grow

Nor shall they fail at last who stand

F or Right , not Might

GOD speedyou, Belgium Time will show

H ow large a debt to You we owe

To You, through all reverses grand

Men stretch to-day a grateful hand

GOD speedyou still— ia weal and woe

F or Right , notMight

By EDWARD CARPENTE RTo TH E LAND AND PEOPLE OF BELGIUMAFTER all

,dear Land and People of Belgium ,

do not be dismayed by all

this that has come upon you , but have good courage and hope for the future .

Mad vio lence and monstrous warfare m ay truly have damaged and crippled

your body but they have not destroyed , and I do not think that they w illdestroy, your soul . Perhaps indeed your Spirit w ill rise all the clearer andmore commanding out of this great fire of suffering .

If being small and w ithout material power you have by your devotedso lidarity and democratic courage drawn the adm irat ion and respect of allthe peoples of the earth

, you have already in so do ing inspired us w ith an

idea wh ich perhaps neither the science Of Germ any nor the wealth of

England nor the gen ius of F rance nor the vast resources of Russia couldalone have won for us— the be lief that the power which ultimately ru les theworld proceeds from the generosity of a nat ion ’

s heart rather than fromthe force of its armam ent .

I t may be that th is be lief, born of your act of devotion and hero ism ,w ill

one day becom e the salvation of Europe , and bring to its distracted peoples—instead of endless vio lence and jealousies— the gift of true culture and

109

PoembyEthel Clifford . S ONGTo be sungbyMadame

‘Clar aButt

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By M I S S BRADDONW H AT can I say of Albert , the King P W hat can I think of him

, exceptwhat we are all saying in these dreadful hours , except what we are all thinking, with thoughts too deep for tears P To whom can we compare him PH e has no paralle l in the story of the nations

,no parallel in Romance or

Legend . H e stands alone on a h ideous page Of the world ’

s h istory, and

w ill so stand t ill the last hour of recorded t im e, sublim e and adorable , with

the halo of saints and m artyrs round his head .

By W I LL IAM DEAN H OWELL STH E proposed tribute is part of the debt of honour and reverence which isdue from the who le w orld to that m ost nobly hero ic people and the Princewho has shown himself worthy of them . The tragedy of the ir great litt leland is of a pathos m atch less in the h istory of the past and in the futurewhen , as we all hope , the m ilitary spirit of Germany shall be brought low ,

I be lieve the Germans them se lves w i ll share our horror of the ruin theyhave wrought among its hom es and shr ines .

By S I R H . R I D ER H AG GARDTH E deso lation of Be lgium is perhaps the most appalling world-crimeSince the wrecking of the Netherlands by Alva. That in iquity was fo llowedby the decay of Spain while , in the end

,H o lland recovered and grew great

in freedom . I t may we ll b e that the eternal laws of Justice shall work insuch fashion that a like judgm ent w ill fall upon the proud head of Germ anyand that a like triumph awaits her victim .

By WILL IAM ARCH ER

TH E BIG AND TH E GREAT

W hen they to H istory’

sjudgment-seat shall come ,W hich will shine glorious in the eyes of men ,

H ig e Germany or heroic BELGI UM

W hich will be hailed Great , W ilhelm or ALBERT, then

By ROBERT W . C H AMBE R SBy C able

GOD bless Be lgium and the Allies They fight for decency and civilisation .

I I Z

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plus somm e il , mi pour e lle , mi pour moi. At least I th ink that is whatcam e through those white teeth ,

o r very near it,fifty years ago .

And Marie m ay be turned of seventy if W e ll — if German Culturehas spared her . But neither she nor any other Louvainoise w ill evers leep the better now for the music of the bells , nor any guest of hers b ekept awake an hour . F or the old hoste lry,

I take it , is a heap of ashes ,and the sound of the carillon is ended for ever .

By PRO F E S SOR W . J . AS H LEYBEFORE this fateful year the cit ies of Belgium had already done greatth ings for human ity. The man who could pass across the market-placefrom the statue of Van Arteve lde , the art isans ’

hero of the Middle Ages, to

the home of Vooruit , that noble working- class undertaking of to -day, w ithouta touch of emotion ,

m ust have been of sluggish im agination . No one ,

again ,who knew how Ypres , in the age of the Renaissance ,

taught the W ho lewestern world to reform its treatm ent of the poor , could look w ithoutprofound respect at the comm emorat ive fresco in its Cloth H all . Originalityof social insight is st ill alive in the land for it was from Ghent that them odern State learned in recent years to think out practicable m easures of

insurance against unemploym ent .

I t was w ith thoughts like these— fresh , also ,from the reading of Quetelet ,

the organ iser and inspirer of social statist ics— that I went for my ho liday inBelgium , a week before the war . I could not but reflect that it is not to thegreat States alone , w ith their vast scien tific and adm in istrative apparatus

,

that the student of social conditions must look for example and guidance .

And w ith m e I took one of the vo lumes of Pirenne ,an historical scho lar of

whom any country m ight w ell be proud , and read how Belgium had growninto un ity under the H ouse of Burgundy,

and how , through the harshexperience of cen turies , had been deve loped the soul of a nation . I wasidly wondering whether indeed this was so , and whether Be lgium wouldever have an opportun ity to assert and display its essential independence ,

when the m obilisation came . Let m e confess— I do it w ith hum il ity— I

could not at first take it seriously . I knew there had for som e t im e been a

m ilitary party in Germ any which talked of marching into F rance throughBelgium ; but I was confident Germ an statesmanship would keep thisparty in check . Germ any could never be so unw ise , I thought , as to putitself in the w rong w ith the world by infringing Belgian neutrality. But

I was blinded by partiality. The little country was on ly too we ll justifiedin arm ing itself against the gian t . And w ith tragic rapidity, also , eventsshowed how ent ire ly right Pirenne had been that out of different races ,Roman ce and Teuton ic , combin ing the characteristics of opposing peoples ,had been . created a strong and se lf- re liant individuality am ong the nat ions ,determ ined to b e m aster in its own house , ready to risk everything to beitse lf.

By H ENR I LAVEDANK ING ALBERTLE Roi Albert est la plus grande figure du temps présent . I l poss

’

ede

l’

Imm ortalité sans avo ir eu beso in de m ourir et en y étant toujours pret .

Devenu comm émorat if en um jour de sainte révo lte , il a conquis , de son

vivant,la suprémat ie de la statue . Le marbre et le bronze , an im és , sont

en lui , et l’

ombre du laurier ne quitte pas son front .

Son nom ,quand on le prononce , le place aussitOt debout sur un socle ou

l’

exhausse au sommet d ’une co lonne .

I l dom ine . On le vo it de partout , de tous les horizons , parmi les embrasem ents de la guerre , et au-dessus .

Pur et beau comm e une idée , fort et doux comme une foi, calme et ardentcomm e une vo lon té , grave comm e une religion

,digne comme um devo ir ,

muet comm e um chef, sachan t se taire , surtout dans le bruit , et puis parlerpour dire les seuls mots décisifs qui sont les commandem ents du Dro it etla consigne de l’H onn eur , personnage Shakespearien d

’

histoire et de légende ,de reve et de réalité , de flamm e et de m elancho lie , d

’

épopée et de poésie ,pr ince erran t et confiant , cavalier de la sublime Cro isade qui va, le long desdunes de l ’exil , sans m eme chercher a deviner Oi‘I Dieu le conduit par labride roi- Chevalier , roi-paladin ,

roi simple-so ldat qui n ’

a plus que son

peuple épars et son arm ée en lam beaux , roi san s royaum e enfin . Albertsans- terre , Albert de Belgique et de F rance est

‘

a cette heure cependant leplus fam eux , le plus aim é , le plus puissant des ro is , car c

’

est sur nos espritset sur nos coeurs transportés de reconnaissan ce qu ’i l re

’

gne , d’une facon

abso lue , et qu’il étend son magique pouvo ir . Vo i la son empire , spiritue l

et m oral , indestruct ible et sans lim ites , ce lui que l’

on ne peut pas lui enleveret qui lui restera, m eme apres qu

’

avec notre aide il aura regagné et agrandil ’autre , son terrestre royaum e .

Qu’

a- t- il afaire d’

ailleurs , pour le m om ent , de trOne et de palais P PartoutOu il passe , il est chez lui, recu , salué par l ’amour et le respect des nationscivilisées , fi

‘

eres de l’

accueillir . Tous ceux dont il a embrassé le prem ierla cause commune , se regardent comme les fideles sujets de la Majesté ,deux fo is sacrée .

11a pour sceptre son épée sans tache,il est le H éros dont la tete nue et libre

dans la batai lle dépasse soudain la couronne pour appartenir a l’étoile !Vive ajamais Albert I“ ,

notre sauveur , monarque adm irable et douloureux ,tout resplendissan t d’

ide'

al

TRANSLATIONK ing Alber t is the greatest figure of the time . H e

has achieved immor tali ty wi thou t dying, and by

being alway s ready to die .Commemorating as he does a day of ho ly revolt , hehas won the supremacy of the statue while s till living .

Marble and bronze have awakened to life in him ,

and the shadow of the laurel wreath is always on hisow .

The very mention of his name evokes him standingon a pedestal, or exalted to the summit of a column .

H e domina tes the scene . W e see him everywhere,from all horizons , amids t and above the smoke and

Pure and beau tiful as an idea, strong and gen tle as

faith , steadfast and arden t as will, gr ave as religion ,

dignified as du ty , taciturn as a chieftain , knowing1 1 5

how to keep silence, especially in tumult , and thenhow to speak the decisive words which are the com

and reality , fire and melancholy, epic and poemwandering and trustf ul Prince , horseman of a sublimecrusade , advancing on the dunes of exile , asking not

whither God is leading him by the bridle— knigh tking, paladin-king , plain soldier- king, who possessesno thing bu t his sha t tered army , and his flying people— this King withou t a kingdom , Albert Lackland,Albert of Belgium and of France , is at present themost famous , the best beloved, the most mighty ofkings, for he reigns , an absolu te monarch and holdsmagic sway over our grateful hear ts . This is hisempire

,spiritual and moral, indestructible and

By SARAH BE RNH ARDT-VIVE le RoiAlbert H éros pur Martyr de la foi jurée I l S

’

est avancé ,suivi de son tout pet it peuple — Si grand au devant de la horde innombrabledes Barbares .

Refusan t tous les dons , rejetant toutes les promesses , impassible a toutesles m enaces des jours et des nuits il a ter m en échec les forbans allemands .

Jamais 1a F ran ce me pourra oublier sa dette de reconnaissance . Maisl ’heure du triomphe approche ; et la Victo ire qui t ient dans ses mainsglorieuses la balance de la Just ice donnera au Roi Albert et ason vaillantpeuple une large part de territo ire allemand .

Et les peuples germ ains soum is aux belges apprendront enfin ce que sont

l’

honneur et l’

humanité .

Long live K ing Albert ! Spotless hero ! Martyr tohis pligh tedfaith H e wen t for th , followed by all hislittle people— the lit tle people tha t is so great l— tomeet the innumerable hosts of the Barbar ians .Refusing all gifts, rejecting all promises , daun tless inthe face of threats , for days and nights he held theGerman freeboo ters in check . Never will Franceforget her deb t of gratitude ! But the hour of tr iumphapproaches and Victory, who holds the scales ofj us tice in her glorious hands , will give King Albertand his valian t people a large shareterritory .

Thus Germans under the rule of Belgium will at lastlearn something of ho nour and humanity .

By S I R F . C . BURNANDI AM deeply grateful for this Opportun ity of expressing my heartfelt sympathy w ith King Albert , his brave so ldiers , and his undaunted people , inth is t ime of fearful trial .

I I O

limitless, a domain that cannot be taken from him ,and tha t he will hold even after he has re

gained and extended his terrestr ial kingdom with ourhelp .

W hat need has he at the momen t of throne or palaceW herever he passes , he is at home

,received and

salu ted by the love and respect of civilised nations ,proud to greet him as their guest . All those whosecommon cause he was the firs t to defend, look uponthemselves as the faithful subjects of his twice sacred

H is scep tre is his untarnished sword he is the Herowhose free, bare head in bat tle towers above the

crown and touches the stars .Long live King Alber t I , our saviour, admirable and

suflering K ing, magnificen t in his idealism

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sagacity could not so lve— solve_

with honour , w ith dign ity. But he neverhad to confront a problem such as has been so lved by his grandson and likem inded statesm en and subjects . The so lut ion has been simple honestyand valour , rising from the leve l of m ere S tate prudence into the empyreanof h ighest enthusiasm and virtue .

W hen Be lgium was threatened on ce before ,Mr . Gladstone , w ie lding as he

then did almost abso lute ly the m ight of Britain,stood by her side as an

honoured and honourably pro tected sm all State . But that seem ed essen

tially an act of British power and rect itude— the conscious fulfilm en t of a

grand pledge of redemption .

Now,the sen t imen t of the situation is differen t— an in teresting con trast

harm on ious but in another schem e and key of harmony. Britain indeed hasbeen as true as her great statesman declared she would b e to the littlekingdom ; but the kingdom ,

dim inut ive in S ize,has shown itself co lossal

in strenuous honour and public virtue .

Be lgium passes in to h istory a Splendid paragon of ideal and agon isedhero ism— hero ism for world-w ide right as we ll as a hero ism of patriotisma hero ism devoted to the purgation of power from the curse and blight ofsin ister aggression , of sanguinary rapine , of dom ineering usurpat ion .

By W ALT E R C RANE

To BELGIUM

W e measure not in numbers or in land

The greatness of a people , but the testI s in the hour of peril, when they breast

H ard strokes offate , and dauntlessly withstand

A strong and ruthlessfoe , whose armoured hand,

F oresworn ,is stretched to smite and seize their best ,

Spoiling a bleeding coun try , sore distrest ,Laid waste by ravagers withflaming brand.

Through blood and tears , from noble cities razed,

Shines Belgium’

s name unvanquished,brave and clear

,

Resplenden t writ in H onour'

s runes of gold,

W ho stoodfor F aith and F reedom unamazed,Defending Right , without reproach or fear ,As kindred with the hero- race of old.

1 18

By ALF RED C APU S

ON prend une idée tres juste de la valeur et de la noblesse d’

Albert IRoides Belges , si on le compare aGuillaume I I . Le plus effroyable carnagedes temps modernes , la bataille de l

’Yser,nous en fourn it l’occasion .

L’

Empereur d’

Allemagne , c’

est le trage’

dien sin istre— analis artifex pereo ,

a dit un de ses pairs— qui de son estrade a jeté ases so ldats l’ordre de m ourir

jUSqu’

au dern ier , afin d’

assurer le succes du dern ier dram e sort i de son

imagination ,La Prise de C alais .

Le Kaiser me recule devant aucun m assacre pour n etre pas sifflé par son

peuple . Mais nous avons l’ardente conviction que tout ce sanglant cabo tinage finira dans la malédiction et les huées .

Quel con traste avec l ’autre rive de l’Yser ! Ici , pas de maitre donnant ases sujets des ordres de m ort . C ’

est un Roi ala tete de son arm ée, um chef

de race .

L’

histoire les confrontera tous les deux : le puissant Kaiser qui conduitquatre m illions de so ldats ala curée , et le jeune Roi vaincu aqui il ne resteplus sur le sol de son pays que la place de dresser sa ten te .

Mais dejal’un et l ’autre on peut les m esurer , tant les événem ents les éclairentd ’une tragique lueur . Le prem ier a fait piétiner par ses chevaux une fiere

et pacifique nation . Dans sa rage de n’

avoir pu la dom pter , il en arrive aux

plus m onstrueux efforts et il espere encore une fo is faire trembler le mondeavec ses dern iers gestes de fureur .

R ien que de simple,au contraire , d

’

aise , d’

humain , chez le jeune Roi deBelgique . Adm irable et claire figure qui a surgi tout acoup dans cette crise

pathe’

tique de la civilisat ion pour incarner l’

ide'

e de patrie , la Justice et le

Dro it Et on dirait que le dest in s’

est plu alam odeler en grace et en noblesseafin de l

’

opposer aux traits rudes et au rictus des barbares .

A very true idea of the worth and nobility ofAlbert IK ing of the Belgians , may be ga thered by compar inghim to W illiam I I . The most frigh tful carnage ofmodern times, the Ba t tle of the Yser , gives us theopportunity .

The Emperor of Germany is the sinister tragedianqualis artifex perco ,

as one of his peers said— w hofrom his throne gave the order to his soldiers to die ,even to the last man , to ensure the success of the la testdrama emana ting from his fer tile imagina tion The

Taking Of Calais .

The Kaiser flinches before no massacre to avoid thederision of his people . But it is our firm convictionthat all this bloody stage-strut ting will end in cursesW hat a con trast is to be found on the other bank ofthe Yser No master here giving his subjects ordersto die Here we have a K ing at the head of hts army ,

120

History will confron t these two the mighty Kaiserleading his four million soldiers to slaughter , and the

young conquered K ing, who has no thing left of hiscoun try save the spot on which his ten t is pitched.

But their measure may be already taken , so clearlyhave even ts shed their tragic light on them . The

first has trampled underfoo t a proud and peacefulnation . I n his rage at not being able to subdue ithe has resorted to the most monstrous expedien ts andhe still hopes to make the world tremble at his finaldeeds offuryI n the young Belgian King, on the other hand , we

find perfect simplicity , cheerfulness , and humanityhis admirable and luminous figure has emerged

suddenly in this pathetic crisis of civilisation as theincarna tion of Patriotism , of j ustice , and of EquityAnd it may well be thought that Destiny delighted tomodel him with grace and nobili ty as a con trast to therude features and sardonic gr imaces of the Barbarians .

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By T H E RT . H ON . AUGU S T I NE B I RRE LLW H EN first asked to write som ething fo r this book it seem ed a pit iful taskto sit down and string together a few phrases about a crim e

,

‘

so he inous , sohorrifying , and perpetrated under our eyes , as this attempted murder of

peaceful and prosperous Be lgium . W e saw the crim e comm itted and m ean

to avenge it or disappear . To shed ink over -such an episode is hardlyapposite— not pens but pikes is the m otto of to -day. And yet who wouldnot do anything he could to assuage so great a grief and to compassionateso excruciating a sorrow PThe other day in Ire land whilst arranging for the temporary occupation of

Be lgian refugees of a comm odious , sturdily built , and happily half-emptycountry house w ith a spacious m edimval- looking refectory, large and airydorm ito ries and a private chapel

,in a word

,aw orkhouse , I noticed , standing

by and hearken ing to our talk , an aged but still bright- eyed pauper lean ingover his pitch-fork . Recogn ising in him the legitim ist of the establishm ent

,

the Bourbon of the workhouse , I expressed to him the hope that he wouldextend a kindly we lcom e to these poor exiles for a few days , whilst o therarrangem ents were being made for the ir accommodation . The old man

replied w ith eagern ess , and w ith that splendid command of the Englishlanguage wh ich be longs alm ost exclusive ly to the Ir ish poor , that he wason ly wait ing to rise to the level of a great opportun ity. I t would thereforeseem as if there w ere a part for all of us— and if it be but a small part , we

yet must do it , wh ilst deploring its littleness .

Be lgium had hardly entered into the fullness of her inheritance when th isgreat trouble befe ll her . I n trade and comm erce

,in industrial l ife she had

indeed already made for herse lf a great nam e . She had a Black Countryalmost fit to compare w ith our own . H er iron and flax hadm ade her fearedin Birm ingham and necessary to Be lfast , and wherever cheap contracts ,honourably perform ed , are held in reverence , there the name of Be lgiumstood high in m en

’

s regard . A thrifty,pract ical people , fully abreast w ith

all the troublesom e problems of peace we kn ew them to b e , but in otheraffairs appertain ing m ore to the realm of taste and spirit , Belgium was alsofast forging ahead , vying w ith F rance and altogether eclipsing Germany.

Poets , art ists , nove lists , philosophers , and theo logians , as w e ll as scho larsand mathematicians , were carving for Be lgium a foremost place among thenat ions .

One cannot but wonder what w ill be the effect of this catastrophe uponthe gen ius of F landers . Blood and tears are powerful ingredients in the

manufacture of manhood , and it may w ell be that in due t ime those who

com e after th is blood-stained age w ill b e able to see in the masterpieces of

the new F lem ish ar t and literature som e traces of the hero ic reso lve and

fierce determ inat ion to bear cruel m isfortune we have w itnessed w ith so

much adm iration .

I Z I

By J UAN RAMON J IMENEZA SU ALTEZA REAL LA PR INCESA MAR i

'

A

POR el te le’

grafo sin hilos , te mando ,t ierna Princesa

,como regalo de Pascua

,

m i inm enso corazon de hombre bueno . Dignate recibirlo en tus brevesmanecitas ce lestes .

i Si te pudiera servir de algo gDe qué te serviria P ! De bala,para hacer

huir de tus jardines a los terribles rubios rapados de Prusia ? iPues cargacon el, i con m ucha polvora un espan table obus del 52 l

! De globo , para espiar el descuido de los campam entos enem igos, <5 las

secretas marchas contra tu palacio fino ? iPues embarca en él tu esperanza,y vete sobre el propio Berlin , que yo soplaré desde aqui , obstinadam ente ,

a dos carrillos

aDe insospechado submarino ? Pues échalo al agua honda, y que sea el

asombro de las enorm es ballenas de hierro que tremo lan el negro,el blanco

y el rojo por el picado y luctuoso Baltico .

i Pero no 1 Todo esto es m alo , y poco grato a una Princesa de Bélgica y a

un poeta de Espafia. Que m e corazon te sirva de sem illa de amor . S iemb ralo en el campo de este otono ,

arado por los canones y que , a la mastemprana pr im avera, brote de su sangre cl arbo l puro de la paz.

“s

o

l e mn

TRANSLATION by Prof . Fitzmaurice-KellyTo H er Royal H ighness the Princess Mar ie

,

Gentle Princess , as a Christmas gift I send thee bywireless telegraphy the whole large heart of a kindlyman . Deign to take it in thy small angel-hands .Could I but be of use to thee W hat could I be forthee ? A bulle t . to dr ive from thy gardens the fearsome , blonde Prussian plunderers ? W ell, load withit— not sparing powder — a terr ible 52 howitzer !An air -ball, to spy out some oversight in the enemy ’slines , or his fes tive march on thy charming palaceW ell, place all thy hopes aboard, and be wafted

on it to Berlin itself, for I shall blow it resolu telyfrom here , with bo th cheeks puffed ou tAn unsuspected s ubmarine n ell, cast it in deepwaters , and may it be the dread of the

whales from which the black,white , and

on the raging, mournful BalticBut no All this is evil, displeasing to a BelgianPrincess and to a Spanish poe t . Let my heart befor thee the seed of love . Sow it in the cannonploughed au tumn fields , and in the earliest springtimemay there risefrom its blood the virginal tree ofpeace

By JACK LONDONBy C able

BELGIUM is rare , Be lgium is un ique . Among men arises on rare occasiona great man

,a man of cosm ic import ; am ong nat ions on rare occasion

ar ises a great nat ion ,a nat ion of cosm ic import . Such a nation is Be lgium .

Such is the place Be lgium attained in a day by one m ad,magn ificent , hero ic

leap into the azure . As long as the wo rld ro lls and m en live ,that long w ill

Be lgium be rem embered . All the human world ow es , and w ill owe Be lgiuma debt of grat itude , such as was n ever earn ed by any nation in the H istoryof Nat ions . I t is a m agn ificen t debt , a proud debt that all the nations of

m en w ill sacredly acknow ledge .

1 22

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By LU I G I BARZ I N I (To represen t the C orriere della S era , Milan)IL Belgio é caduto ,

m a ha conquistato il cuore del Mondo .

La Causa be lga é cosi nobile e cosi pura, che essa assum e ne lla coscienzadegli uom in i una maesta trionfale che n essuna sconfitta dim inuisce . I l

Be lgio atterrato ,calpestato ,

disfatto dal gigantesco n em ico , rappresen ta pursempre qualche cosa d

’

invincibile il Dir itto . Difendendo fino alla m ortela sua liberta, il Be lgio ha difeso il piu sacro patrim on io di tutt i i popo licivili si e battuto per un principio che é fondam ento di vita in ogn i nazionem oderna ha dato il suo sangue non per un interesse suo m a per un idealeche e anche nostro . La sconfitta lo innalza e 10 glorifica com e il Mart iriosantifica e sublima la vittima et la sua fede .

I l Be lgio ha m esso l’

Indipendenza al di sopra dell ’ Esistenza. Non ha

contato i nem ici , non ha calco lato la probabilita ha visto so ltanto la giust izia e la sant ita della sua causa. H a compiuto questa cosa sublim e :

combattere senza speranza. Ma, a mano a mano che sotto al galoppo degli

Ulan i dei territori be lgi si staccavano dal corpo vivo de lla Nazione , e che,

sempre piu avanti , a ferro e a fuoco ,da cittaa citta, avanzava in esorabile

la pesante marea teuton ica, a mano a m ano che il Be lgio impicco liva,noi

lo vedevam o piu grande .

Avant i al m ondo amm irato sorgeva un Be lgio nuovo . Dove noi non

avevamo visto che un picco lo paese pacifico , inerm e , calco latore ,industrioso

,

trascurabile en tita nei conflitti de lle nazion i,abbiam o sent ito improvisa

m ente palp itare lo spirito di una grande razza. Abbiam o avuto la rivelazione inaspettata di um popo lo che , condotto dal suo Re valoroso ,

riuscivaad assum ere de lle proporzion i dom inant i per il suo ero ism o , per la sua

lealta, per la sua generosita, pur perdendo lembo a lembo il dom in io sullasua terra insan guinata. Ai nostri occhi il Belgio ingigant iva sulle rovinestesse del Be lgio .

La grandezza di un popo lo é ne lla sua an ima.

Noi consideriam o il destino del Be lgio con una commozione in fondo allaquale vibra un senso di so lidarieta. Milion i e m ilion i di uom in i di ogn inazione e di ogn i st irpe si sono sent it i ferire dai co lpi infert i spietatam ente

al popo lo be lgo e alla gloria seco lare de lla sua cultura, e dividono con luido lori , passion i e speranze . Si e form ato com e un sen tim en to di cittadinanza belga in ogn i persona di cuore . E da tutt i i Con t inen ti va verso ilBe lgio un onda imm ensa di affetto e di augurio com e verso una patria idealedevastata e do len te .

TRANSLATIONBelgium has fallen , bu t she has conquered the heartof the whole world.

The Belgian Cause is so pure and so noble that tothe conscience of mankind it has assumed a victoriousmajesty which no defea t can minimise . Belgium

,

overthrown ,trampled upon and des troyed by her

gigan tic enemy, still represen ts a thing invincibleRigh t . Defending her liberty to the death , Belgium

has defended the sacred patrimony of all civilisedpeoples she has fought for a principle wh ich is thebasis of life in every modern na tion she has givenher blood, not for her individual in terests , bu t for anideal which is also ours . Defeat ennobles and glorifiesher

, as martyrdom sanctifies and exalts the victimand his faith .

Belgium has set Independence above Existence . She

1 25

did not coun t her foes , nor calcula te her chancesshe saw only the jus tice and sanctity of her cause .

She understood tha t sublime thing to fight withouthope . But as one by one , Belgian territo ries aresevered from the living body of the na tion beneaththe gallop of Prussian Uhlans as the heavy Germanflood rolls on inexorably, carrying fire and swordfrom city to city as Belgium dwindles from day today ,

we behold her greater and ever grea ter .A new Belgium burst upon the sigh t of an admiringworld. W here we had seen only a lit tle peacefulcoun try , calculating, indus trious and unarmed, a

negligible quan tity in the strife of nations , we heardthe mighty stirring of the spirit of a grea t race . W e

witnessed the unexpected revela tion of a people who ,

proportions by virtue of the ir heroism , their loyalty,and their generosity

,the while their bloodstained

terr i tory was torn from them strip by strip . W e saw

a colossal Belgium rising from the ruins of Belgium .

The grea tness of a people is in its soul.W e wa tch the fate of Belgium with an emotion underlaid by a strong sense of solidarity . Millions ofmen of every na tion and of every race have feltthemselves wounded by the impious blows dealt atthe Belgian people and at the ancien t glories of theirculture these millions share their anguish , theirpassion and their hopes . A sense of Belgian citizenship has grown up in every feeling heart . Andfromall con tinen ts an immense wave of affection and goodwill se ts towards Belgium as to an ideal land, stri cken

led by their valian t K ing, assumed commanding and devastated.

By T H E RT . H ON . S I R GEO RGE RE I DTH E Parliament and Governm en t of Australia

,nobly represent ing the

fee lings and w ishes of the people of the Comm onw ealth,have given a

magn ificent proof of the unbounded adm iration and sympathy they fee lfo r the people of Belgium ,

having authorised a grant of two and a halfm illions of fran cs in aid of the m ovem en t to lessen the sufferings of that

hero ic people . The fo llow ing Reso lut ion was passed by the AustralianSenate and H ouse of Representat ives

That in the opinion of this H ouse a sum of J£100 ,000from the C onsolidated

Revenue F und should be made payable as a grant-in-aid to Belgium in

grateful acknowledgmen t of the heroic services the citizens of that countryhave rendered mankind in defence of their national right to live in peace intheir own country and that H is Excellency the Governor-General be invitedto transmit this Resolution to the S ecretary of S tate for the C olonies .

The Right H onourable Andrew F isher , M.P.,Prim e Min ister and Treasurer ,

directed m e, as H igh Comm ission er , to hand over the above am ount to the

Imperial Governm en t,wh ich I did , and the fo llow ing acknow ledgment was

addressed to m e by the head of the Imperial Government

My dear S ir George , — I have to acknowledge with much gratitude the

cheque for J£100 ,000 which you have been good enough to hand to me .

I esteem it a great honour to be the medium for transmitting to our gallan t

Belgian allies,to alleviate the calamities which the war has brought upon

their people , this munificen t expression of the good-will and fellow feelingof the C ommonwealth of Australia . Yours very sincerely ,

H . H . Asquith .

I have never perform ed a m ore agreeable duty . They may cease to be

allies,and regain the ir neutrality again , but the Belgians w ill remain in our

loving regard a kindred people whose full rights and national existence thewho le Brit ish Empire w ill always defend .

1 26

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By CAM I LLE SA I NT - SAEN SA PERSONAL MEMORY OF KING ALBERTC ’EST chez un autre am i de la F rance ,

chez un autre Albert I“ ,chez son

Altesse Sérén issime le Prince de Monaco , que j’

eus l’honneur d ’etre présenté aLeurs Altesses Royales le Prince et la Princesse Albert de Be lgique ,

futurs souverains . Grands amateurs de musique ,ils m e firent le plus

gracieux accue il et tém oignérent le désir de m’

entendre sur l’

orgue de la

Cathédrale de Monaco , exce llent sans doute mais de pet ite dim ension ,plus

apte al’accompagn em ent des vo ix qu’

al’

execution proprem ent dite . Je fis

de m on m ieux et l’

indulgence des auditeurs fit le reste . Le Prince et la

Princesse se prom enaient sur la Cote -d’

Azur dan s un e m inuscule autom obilea deux places

,offrant le tableau charmant du m énage le plus uni dan s le

bonheur le plus parfait . La Pr incesse était toujours vétue avec la plusgrande simplicité , cette in im itable sim plicité des grandes dam es . Elles

’

amusait beaucoup aprendre des cliches j ’etais souvent le po in t de m irede son appare il et j ’eus m em e le grand honneur , asa demande , de form erun groupe avec son noble époux .

T res grand,sve lte , élégant , réservé , parlan t d

’une vo ix douce avec lenteur ,le Roi des Be lges déconcerte au prem ier abord comm e un e én igme aquine le connait pas , il semble avo ir m is sur son visage , sur toute sa personne ,

un vo ile impenetrab le . Or,il n

’

y a pas de vo ile ,il n

’

y a pas d’

én igm e .

C ’

est avec le m em e aspect de fro ideur et d’

insensib ilité qu ’il se revele , dansla conversat ion ,

causeur le plus affable,homm e de prem ier o rdre ayant

tout étudié , tout approfondi, a qui rien n

’

est étranger . C ’

est a lui , n’

en

doutez pas , qu’

est due la supérior ité don t l’arm ée Belge a donn é des preuvessi éclatantes dans la lutte inégale et glorieuse contre l

’

Allemagne . Sans

rien perdre de sa tranquillité , le j eune souverain connu jusqu’

a present

comm e um diplomate,un savan t

,un art iste , s

’

est réve’

lé tout a coup , al’

étonnem ent et al’

adm iration du m onde un héros .

Et cette gracieuse Rein e,d

’

apparen ce si frele , si delicate , quelle indomptableénergie e lle am ontré clans son triple rOle de souveraine , d

’

épouse et de m ereQue lle grande figure fera dans l’histo ire ce couple royal , qu

’

illum ine la

double auréo le de la jeunesse et du martyre

TRANSLATION (abridged)

Very tall, slender , elegan t , and reserved, speakingslowly in a softly modulated voice , the K ing of the

Belgians is somewhat disconcerting and enigmaticalat first . To those who do not know him

, he seemedto have drawn an impenetrable veil over his face and

his whole person . Now ,as a fact , there is no veil

and no mystery . Under this superficial aspec t ofcoldness and insensibility , he reveals himself in in

timacy as the most affable of conversationalists , a manof the highest abilities, who has studied much

,gone

deeply in to all manner of subjects , and knows something of everyth ing . There can be no doubt that to1 28

him the Belgian army owes the efficiency of which ithas given such brilliant proof in its unequal and

glorious struggle agains t Germany . W ithou t anyloss of h is habitual tranquillity, the young sovereign ,

known hitherto as a diplomatist , a scien tist , and an

artis t,revealed himself suddenly, to the surprise and

admiration of the world, as a heroAnd the graceful Queen ,

so fragile and delica te inappearance

,wha t indomitable energy she has shown

in her triple role of sovereign ,wife , andmo ther !

W hat great figures this royal couple , glor ified by thedouble aureole of you th and mar tyrdom , wi ll be in

the pages of history !

L e S y hp Tgy or T.“ d iv W m “

Fo r“‘

Bfi LG I VM .

SYMPAT H YBy J MONTGOMERY Fu se

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Belgium then gave the world its great surprise . H er little army, un

expectedly called to batt le , w ithstood for many days the most carefullyprepared onslaught of as powerful and efficient a m ilitary machine as had

ever been seen . Every day, indeed every hour and even every m inutegained , was adm ittedly of the utmost consequence . The imm ediate rushinto F rance was stopped for a t im e . Before they had hacked their waythrough Liege , the apostles of the latter-day civilisat ion had learn t that thesoul of a nat ion is a very effective fighting force and that this e lemen tarytruth had been om itted from the precise m ethodical calculations of the

German m ach ine . They did n ot forget , because apparent ly they did n ot

know ,in these days of m odern scient ific developm en t of warfare (the days

of Zeppelins,arm oured cars and Krupp siege gun s) that a small army led

and inspired by great and noble thoughts could ho ld up even the m ightyarmy of Germany. The sacking and burn ing of Louvain

, the destructionof Malines , Term onde

,and the many thousand homes of Be lgium , the

devastat ion of the who le country,the killing of its inhabitants and the

horrible atrocities recorded in the reports of the Be lgian Comm ission , all

in pursuan ce of the po licy of frightfulness ,”

have not added laure ls to thebrow of Germany they w ill b e found in the records where all m en m ayread . Not conten t w ith defying the e lem en tary basic principles of International Law by its breach of faith

,it has further shown its contempt for

aught but m ight by ruth less outrages upon the laws and customs of civilisedwarfare . I t is in th is scorn of right and adoration of m ight that the tragedyof Germ any is to b e found . Even if it could have won the m ost triumphantvictories its nam e would still b e blackened for ever . But no defeats ,however decisive

,can take from the Be lgian people the m emory of their

h igh-souled resistance . N0 suffering , however poignant , can depr ive themof the spiritual elation of their defian ce . So long as great deeds are sungand noble purposes are exto lled , the hero ism of the Belgians and their Kingw ill b e he ld up to the wonder of the world .

By GUGL IELMO MARCON IALMOST does the war lose part of its horror and sorrow when the un

exampled hero ism ,pat ience , and fortitude of the Belgians and their King

rise in their effulgent light before the m ind ’

s eye . The m aterial loss and

damage sustain ed by this brave little nation may perhaps never b e repaid ,but of her people we m ight say w ith Longfellow ,

Noble souls through dust and heatRise from disaster and defeat

The stronger .

”

130

By GUGL I ELMO F ERREROTERRIBILE e la prova m a

,dopo le dovute riparazion i , imm ensa sarala

gloria del Be lgio,e grandissim a la autorita del suo Re . Offrendosi , mart ire

intrepido ,alla rabbia teuton ica,

il Be lgio ha risvegliata la coscienza m oraledel m ondo ,

che, gia troppo stordita dalla cupidigia,

dalla sete dei piaceri ,dall ’ orgoglio del sapere e de lla ricchezza, avrebbe altrim en t i corso il perico lodi smarrirsi interam en te tra le ferocie e i furo r i di questa guerra terribile .

I l m ondo ha capito,vedendo una forza ubr iaca d ’

orgoglio straziare a quelmodo un picco lo popo lo innocen te

,che il lavoro

,la ricchezza,

il sapere , ilcoraggio ,

la potenza non bastano occorre ai popo li,com e ai singo li uom in i ,

conoscere pure che cosa e onore,lealta

,giust izia, fede , veracita. Percib

dopo la sicura V ittor ia de lle coalizion e,dopo la rein tegrazione so lenne del

popo lo be lga n ella sua terra e n el suo diritto ,incomincierauna nuova gloria

de ll ’ Europa, e una glo r ia piu be lla ,la cui prima pagina sara stata scritta,

con il suo sangue piu prezioso ,dal Be lgio . Eviva il Be lgio

TRANSLATIONDire is the ordeal, bu t when due reparation has beenmade

,great will be the glory of Belgium,

and grea tthe au thority of her K ing ! Belgium

,an in trepid

martyr, ofiering herself to the fury of the Teu ton , has

awakened the moral conscience of the world— tha tworld which

,dulled by cupidity

,by thirst for pleasure ,

by the pride of wealth and knowledge , might otherwisehave been reduced to chaos in the furzes andferocztiesof this terrible war . W hen the world saw a Grea tPower drunk with pride , thus torturing a small, in

offensive nation,it unders tood that work and wealth

and knowledge and courage and psufiicient peoples as well as individuals need toknow the worth of honour , loyalty , jus tice, faith , and

tru th . And therefore , after the certain victory ofthe coalition

,after the solemn restora tion of Belgian

territory and Belgian righ ts, a new and fairer glory

will begin for Europe its first page, writ ten in itsmost precious blood

,will tell the story of Belgium .

Long live Belgium 1

By SALOMON RE I NAC HS I la Belgique devait etre un jour une province allemande ,

l’

infamie du

partage de la Po logne palirait dans l’

histoire acOté de ce lle qui n ’

aurait de

nom dans aucune langue . On a pu dire de la Po logne qu’

e lle expiait ses

divisions , ses com plaisances pour des vo isins puissan ts et perfides ; que

peut- on dire de la Belgique , sinon qu’

e lle a souffert pour le dro it et p ourl’

honneur , qu’

e lle a fait de son corps un rempart con tre la barbarie et le

parjure , qu’

e lle s’

est laissée martyriser et broyer plutOt que de se salir POn dira tout ce la, comm e on le dit a cette heure

, m ais a une Belgiqueconso lée , vengée et infinim ent grande . C e pet it pays de plaines cc sont les

Thermopyles de l’

Europe Et l ’homm e héro’

ique qui a l’

honneur sans pare ilde combattre en roi pour la plus juste des causes , pour la plus n oble despatries , dites s

’

il n’

est pas plus digne d’

adm iration que Leon idas

TRANSLATIONShould Belgium ever become a province of Germany ,the infamy of the partition of Poland would be

eclipsed in his tory by one which no language couldadequa tely stigma tise . I t may be not unjustly saidof Poland tha t she atoned for her dissensions , hercomplaisance to false and powerful neighbours ,

whatcan be said of Belgium ,

save that she has suffered forRight and Honour, tha t she has given her body as a

rampart agains t barbarism and perjury , that she has

preferred martyrdom and ruin to a stain upon herhonourAll this willbe said again ,

as people are saying it to-day ,

bu t it will be said to a Belgium comfor ted, a Belgi umavenged, and infinitely grea t . This little coun tryof plains is the Thermopylce of Europe And thatheroic man who has the supreme honour offigh ting , as

a K ing, for the most jus t of causes , for the noblestof coun tries —is he not more admirable than Leonidas

1 3 1

By RAMON D . PEREsQUEL beau reve d

’etre l’auteur d ’une grande épopée ! Quelle sublim e

réalité d’

en etre le héros C ’

est avec une imm ense pitié que j’

ai suivi,les

larm es aux yeux , les explo its de ce jeune et vaillant Roi,guidant cc petit

peuple de Belgique que 1’

H isto ire m ettra a coté des plus adm irables nationset je suis fier d ’

avo ir pleuré , par la seule raison que comprendre la b eauteet l

’

he’

ro’

ism e c ’

est l’

humb le con so lat ion de ceux qui n ’

ont pu etre des hérosou créer des beautés parfaites éclatan tes .

La Belgique possédait des poetes profonds , touchants , au vol audacieuxelle peut se vanter aussi d’

avoir l’

audace du beau geste, ala saveur antique ,

qui offre la vie pour garder l’indépendance et la dign ité . L’

Espagne a nu

peu le dro it d’

adm irer cette ombre en deuil qui passe , fiere au m ilieu desruines

,et m oi, le dern ier des écrivains espagno ls , je la salue avec ce grand

fr isson que fait maitre , dans tout homm e de cmur , cc qui est grandiose et

noble autant que terrible .

TRANSLATION by Florence SimmondsH ow splendid to dream of being the au thor of a grea tepic H ow sublime to be actually the hero of such awork W ith tears in my eyes , and an immense pityin my heart , I havefollowed the exploits of tha t youngand valian t K ing, guiding the lit tle coun try ofBelgium ,

which H istory will rank among the mos t admirableof nations and I am proud of having wep t , becauseto understand beau ty and heroism is the humbleconsolation of those who cannot be heroes , or crea teperfect and glorious beau ty .

Belgium possessed deep and moving poets , capable ofdaringfligh ts she may also claim to have ven turedupon a noble and daring ac tion in the an tique spirit ,offering life itself to safeguard independence and

dignity . Spain has some prescrip tive righ t to admirethis mourning shadow

,passing proudly among

the ruins,and I

,the leas t of the Spanish writers ,

salute her with the thrill tha t every feeling heartmust feel in the presence of what is grandiose and

noble as well as terrible .

By M. H . S P I ELMANNTH E indom itable people which in the past em erged unchanged and um

changeable from the foreign flood ,‘

Span ish,Austrian

,and Napo leon ic

loyal to its blood and staunch in the m ain tenance of its histor ical character—w ill make good triumphan t ly to the end. I ts Art , the expression of its

ideals and the pageant of its soul , has ever remained unspo iled and unco louredby stranger dom ination .

Belgium ’

s hero ic leader personifies her spirit . Superb in the business of

war , he has proved his convict ion that the peaceful arts are not less truly theexpression of lts being . I t is fitting , therefore , that acclaim ed by the civilisedwo r ld , ido lised by his grateful and adm iring country, and consecrated inthe lustre of his hero ism

,he should b e destined to become henceforth an

imm ortal theme of his country’

s Art and Letters .

1 32

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By M . J U S S E RANDLES grands carnages in ternationaux se faisaient plus rares , les triomphes dela force brutale plus difficiles d

’

aucuns comm encaient ales cro ire chosesdu passé des accords avaient été signés adm ettant que de peuple apeuple ,

comm e d ’

homm e a hom e,pourrait régn er la Justice .

Dans le passé , les férocités barbares dans l ’aven ir , 1a Justice .

A la Belgique , pet ite par le territo ire , grande par le emur , laborieuse lettrée ,stricte observatrice des traités , pays de travailleurs , de penseurs , d art istes ,aux villes célebres par leur industrie et leur beauté

, Liege naquit Gretry,

Louvain ou professa Vesale, Anvers ou Rubens mourut , l

’

alternative fut

offerte . Prendrait- elle part i pour le passé ou pour l ’aven ir pour la F orceBrutale ou la Justice La F orce Brutale était debout , avec ses promesses et

ses m enaces serait- ce 1a tranquillité , la prospérité— la soum ission ; ou

ser ait- ce les ravages , les executions sanglantes , les dévastations , peut- etrela m ort ?A la Be lgique fre

'

m issan te , alaBe lgique ensanglan tée ,alaBelgique m ouran te ,

mais qui ne m ourra pas , tro is fo is , quatre fo is , l’

alternative fut présentée .

Nulle souflrance , si atroce fut- e lle , douleur de femm es et d’

enfants , de

pauvres gens sans foyer , sans pain , sans aute ls , me put changer 1a déterm inat ion de la Be lgique et de son Roi pour eux il n ’

y avait m em e pas d’

alter

nat ive un devo ir est um devo ir et il faut le remplir , c’

est tout . U ne fo isde plus

, et sous nos yeux , David s’

est dressé devant Go liath .

Le jour viendra ou, avec le reste du m onde , l’

ennem i m em e s’

inclinera

devant tan t de vertu,enviera une si pure glo ire , qui est ce lle du Roi comm e

du plus humble de ses sujets ; Roi digne d’

un tel peuple , peuple digned

’

un tel Roi.

/ M %

TRANSLATION by F lorence SimmondsGreat in ternational slaughter had become rare , and thetriumph of bru te force a difficult mat ter some beganto look upon them as things of the pas t ; agreemen tshad been signed, admitting tha t be tween nation and

na tion , as be tween man and man , fustice migh t reign .

I n the past,there were barbarous ferocities in the

fu ture there would be justice .

The alterna tive was offered to Belgium , a countrysmall in exten t, bu t great of heart , industrious ,le t tered, a stric t observer of treaties , a land of workers ,thinkers , and artists , of towns famous for their ac

tivities and their beau ty Liege which gave usGretry , Louvain where Vesalius taugh t , Antwerpwhere Rubens died. W ould she range herself on the

side of the Pas t or of the Presen t , the side of br utalMigh t or of j ustice B ru tal Migh t was afoot , withhis promises and threats would she have tranquillity ,

1 34

prosperity— and submission or rapine , bloody execu

tions,devastation , perhaps death

Thrice , four times was this alterna tive presen ted toquiver ing and bleeding Belgium , a Belgium dying,bu t not to die . No suffering, however atrocious , noteven the agony of women and children and of poorfolk withou t homes, withou t bread, and withoutaltars

,could shake the determination of Belgium and

of her K ing for them the alternative did not evenexist a du ty is a du ty , and mus t be performed,tha t is all. Once more, and this time before our eyes ,David rose up against Goliath .

The day will come when with the rest of the worldthe enemy will pay homage to such virtue , and willenvy the stainless glory of the K ing and of the humblestof his subjects , a King worthy of such a people , a

people worthy of such a King .

By T H E BARONE S S O RCZYSUNLIGHT AND SH ADOW SBeing Extrac ts from the Diary of Nurse Bellamy of the Volun tary Aid

Detachmen t at Ladrock October 14 th .

MY pet Be lgian wounded is m aking very litt le progress . H is heart doesn ’

t

seem to b e in it . I don ’

t th ink that he m eans to get w ell . H e is so surethat he w ill never see his w ife and little children again . H e won

’

t be

com forted . I w ish I could understand all that he says , but he is a W alloonand hardly knows any F rench .

October 1sth .

To -day w e have m oved his b ed close to the w indow , and turned it so thathe can watch the ch ildren when they com e out of schoo l . They scrambleon the railings and peep in at him

,and he sm i les at them ,

Oh ! so pathetically it n early breaks my heart to see him .

October 16th .

I got on better w ith my poor w ounded W alloon to-day. I kn ow now that

his w ife and five little chi ldren w ere at Lie’

ge , and why he is so sure that hew ill never see them again . W hen I try to com fo rt him ,

he just looks at me

w ith utter hope lessness in his eyes , and makes w ith his lim p,emaciated

han ds pathet ic gestures indicat ive of the horrors wh ich he has seen

wom en m urdered— ch ildren mutilated J’

ai vu , madam e he says ,

J 3 1 V“October 17th .

Great excitem ent at Ladrock to -day. F ive hundred Belgian refugeesarrived early this m o rn ing and w e at the V .A .D . are hoping that there w i llbe a few among them who speak a word o r two of English and F lem ish or

W alloon , so as to act as in terpreters between us and our wounded .

October 18th .

My poor wounded W alloon has been watching the children through the

w indow all the mo rn ing , and I watched w ith him fo r a litt le wh ile . One

w ee m ite ran and brought som e flow ers which she held t ight ly squeezedin her very grimy little fist

,and these she he ld out at arm

’

s length to the

sick man whom she could see through the w in dow . The sight of the

flowers and of the child seem ed to cheer him . H e sm iled and I openedthe w indow to take the flowers from the t iny tot . The autumn air was

very sweet and balmy, and when I had thrown the w indow w ide open,I

stood as ide so that my wounded m an should get a good view of the streetand a good wh iff of fresh air . I watched him as he gazed out in his usualpathetic

,hopeless way, when sudden ly a change cam e over his face . Before

I could stop him he had half- raised h im se lf out of bed and stretched out

his arm s then he fell back w ith a loud cry upon his pillow .

The sister ran to my res cue and I left her to look after him for a mom ent ,

wh ilst I — moved by a strange in tuit ion— lean ed out of the w indow and lookedout into the street . A m e lancho ly litt le crowd of m en

,women

,and ch ildren

were wandering aim lessly along the pavem en t , turn ing w ide , inquiring eyes

on our quaint little provincial street,so typical of an English country town .

I 3S

One woman, young and m ore than ordinarily wretched- looking

,had four

litt le children clinging to her skirts , and she carried a wee m ite, w rapped

in a ragged shaw l in her arm s .

I t was instinct in m e , of course , intuition ,inspirat ion— whatever you like

to call it . Certain it is that I threw every thought of order and regulationsto the w ind , left my post in the ward , ran out into the street , and to the

poor woman’

s utter aston ishm ent and bew ilderm ent seized her by the hand ,and dragged her incontinent ly into the V .A .D . hospital and into our downstairs ward . Nobody said a word , for the sam e in spirat ion or intuitionhad com e to every one of us then every one of us at least who happenedto be watching our poor W alloon so ldier at the mom ent . The woman

gave one cry and ran straight to him,the ch ildren scrambling after her as

best they could . But he made no sound , on ly stretched out his arms and

she fell sobbing across the b ed.

October 29 th .

My pet Belgian wounded has just left the hospital to go to a convalescenthom e in the neighbourhood . H is w ife and children w ill remain in Ladrockduring that t im e . H e got we ll wonderfully quickly , and she is such a n icelitt le woman . The children are darlings , and he is so proud of them .

By EDW ARD H . S OT H E RN

ELISABETH OF BELGIUMS ilent we look on her allpitifulW ho

,stooping to the lowly Mary

’

s mien ,

Rises beyond the station of a queenAnd, humble , wears a saintly aureole .

Laving the bleeding feet and making wholeThe battle-broken and the plague-struck clean .

No diadem shall match the myrtle green

W hich crippled hands shallprofler as their dole .

Poor shattered hearts and weary weeping eyes

Pulse to thy name and search the darkfor thee .

Thefamished and storm- beaten scan the skies

And cry ,as from a second C alvary ,

My God My God H ast thouforsaken meDay breaks H e is here .

”

Thy steady voice replies .

M / fi

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sont pillés , incendies , les femm es , les enfan ts , les vie illards massacrés , oubien mutilés avec des raflinem en ts q ue n

’

imaginerait pas uh gorille , l’

animal

lubrique et féroce . D ’ici sous les yeux des rapports , des tém o ignages :quand on les connaitra, quand ils seron t publiés , dans leurs détails , le mondeen t ier , le m onde civilisé , frém ira d

’

horreur

Cependant un roi jeune , charm ant, et brave est dans les camps

,dans les

tranchées,a coté de ses so ldats une reine brave et vaillante est aupres de

son Chevalier .

>X= S? =ll<

C et apres-m idi,dans un Paris d’

automne vo ilé de brumes,um groupe de

j eun es gen s parcourt les rues . L’

un d ’

eux porte le drapeau aux tro is bandesverticales , rouge ,

jaune , no ir , les couleurs de l’

an cien com té de Braban t et

de la Revolution qui triompha en 1789 du régime autrichien . A l’

extrém ité

de la hampe um bouquet de roses blanches . Le peuple de Paris regardeavec un sourire et un e émotion fraterne ls ces jeunes gens qui demain seron tso ldats , com battront pour la deliveran ce de leur pays .

11 y a un siecle ,en 1813 , les conscrits de F rance s

’

appelaient les MarieLouise .

” Con scrits et vo lon taires be lges , du nom de votre re ine,devenue

be lge par la couronne et par le coeur , me pourrait-on pas vous appe lerLes Elisabeth

TRANSLATION (abridged) by Florence SimmondsT H E ELI SABETH S

I love the chimes of thine an tique ci ties ,0 ancien t land tha t guards its homely manners ,Noble Flanders , where the frozen North warmsitself in the sun of Castille , and ma tes with the Sou th .

Even before the Grea t W ar , we all loved Belgium,

whose history has so often mingled with our own we

loved her gen tle and hospitable people we loved her ,because in the midst of nations in arms , she seemedto symbolise the safety of peace . O Belgiumland of dark coalfields, of golden ,

sandy beaches , ofeen meadows sle canals , and coun tless ancien ttowns full of architectural marvels beau tifulcathedrals , like masses of solid stone lofty belfries ,whose bells rang ou t at the approach of the enemy tosummon the burghers who for cen turies had united tobat tle for their liberties old markets and town halls ,whose fafades of stone and gold show us the Goth icstyle in its tertiary grace and richness silen tnunneries . Belgium , like I taly , is one of the sacredfatherlands of Ar t . There are three Latin verseswhich tell us some thing of this sor t Brussels is proudof her noble men ,

An twerp of her wealth , Ghen t of hercords round the neck (her burghers) , Bruges of

her fair maidens (fam osis puellis) , Louvain of herdoctors

,and Mechlin of her madmen . But these

cities were also proud of Sain t Gertrude , Sain t Bavon ,

1 38

This afternoon , a group of young men were marchingthrough the misty streets of au tumnal Paris . One

of them bore aflag with three vertical str ipes of red,

yellow,and black , the colours of the ancient County of

Braban t and of the Revolution of 1789 which overthrew the Austrian re’gime . At the top of the

standard was tied a bunch of white roses . The peopleof Paris looked with a smile and with brotherlyemo tion at these you ths

,who to-morrow will be soldiers

fighting for the liberation of their coun try .

A cen tury ago , in 1813 , the French conscripts calledthemselves the Marie-Louises ." B elgian conscriptsand volun teers migh t you not be aptly christenedThe Elisabe ths , ” after your Queen , who has become

a Belgian by her crown and heart ?

and Sain t Rombaud,their s tately squares , their ancien t

guildhalls , and their Old Masters , Hubert and fanVan Eyck , Roger Van der W eyden , Memling, GerardDavid, and Quin ten Ma tsys , admirable artistswhose immortal wor ks are an invoca tion of real andpassionate pa triotism . I say immortal works , bu tis this a word to use when the Barbarians are inpossession H ow many monumen ts are no w bu theaps of ruins ! Mechlin and Louvain , your gaychimes will vibrate no more in the clear air Abomin

able war , which has made us weep alike for men and

stones

By V I S COUNT ALVERSTONEI H AVE for many years enjoyed the friendship of Belgians distinguishedin science , jurisprudence , literature , and educated culture . My heart hasbeen deeply grieved at the crue l fate which has befallen their nat ion the

result of what is , in my opin ion , the most w icked action of which anyciv ilised nation has ever been guilty.

Germany can never remove this stain on her honour .

To every subject of the Be lgian Crown ,and to the ir gallant King

,I humbly

offer my true and heartfe lt sympathy .

By S I R H I RAM S . MAX IMIN the m idst of the w ickedest and m ost disastrous war that the world hasever known

,w e cannot fail to realise that civilisation demands the complete

e lim ination of that system of governm en t whereby it is possible for one

se lfish m an ,m ere ly for the gratificat ion of his own van ity and ambition ,

to cause such an infin ite am ount of suffering and destruct ion .

All honour and glo ry to the gallant Be lgian nat ion and her brave and nobleK in

W orgls fai l to express the great sym pathy that must b e fe lt everywhere forthe terrible sufferings that have been inflicted on this valian t litt le countryin her noble struggle to m ain tain her honour and independence .

Thou shalt live , thou shalt prosperThrough thy united unity .

W ith heart and twice in chorus we uniteF or K ing , for Law and Liberty .

”

fé fl d/ M/ K

By H . A . L . F I S H ERSO long as a respect fo r right survives upon this planet it w ill b e rememberedthat the King of a tiny nation once vindicated the public law of Europeagainst the brutal aggression of a m ighty Power , know ing well that it wouldbe for his hero ic subj ects to sustain the first furies of the attack and to

endure the certain crue lt ies of a temporary conquest . I t w i ll be rememberedthat the capture of fort s and cit ies , the defeat of arm ies , the murder ofwom en

and children ,the burn ing of a cathedral and a library fam ous throughout

the civilised world , ne ither weaken ed his reso lut ion nor broke the spirit ofhis people ,

and that he and his fought on tenaciously to the end, savingthe honour and libert ies of Europe by their act of desperate and inspired

1va our

/l 4 K W

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By MAY S IN C LA I R

F IELD AMBULANCE IN RETREAT

I

A straightflagged road,laid on the rough earth ,

A causeway of stonefrom beautiful city to city ,

Between the tall trees , the slender , delicate trees ,Through theflat green land,

by plots offlowers , by black canals thick with heat .

I I

The road-makers made it well

Offine stone , strong for thefeet of the oxen and of the great F lemish horses ,Andfor the high waggons piled with corn from the harvest .

But the labourers are few

They and their quiet oxen stand aside and wait

By the long road loud with the passing of the guns , the rush of armoured cars

and the trarnp of an army on the marchforward to battleAnd, where the piled corn-waggons wen t , our dripping Ambulance carries home

I ts red and white harvest from thefields .

I I I

The straightflagged road breaks in to dust , in to a thin white cloud,

About thefeet of a regimen t driven back league by league ,Rifles at trail

,and standards wrapped in black funeral cloths . Unhasting ,

proud in retreat ,They smile as the Red C ross Ambulance rushes by .

(You know nothing of beauty and of desolation who have not seen

That smile of an army in retreat .)They go and our shining ,

beckoning danger goes with them ,

And our joy in the harvests that we gathered in at nightfall in thefields

And like an unloved hand laid on a beating heart

Our safety weighs us dow n.

Safety hard and strange stranger andyet more hard,

As , league after dying league , the beautiful, desolate Land

F alls backfrom the intolerable speed of an Ambulance in retreatOn the sacred

,dolorous W ay .

N (Z

“£c W

14 1

By W I N ST ON CH URC H I LLONCE translated into action ,

the ideas of Von Tre itschke and of Bernhardihave been repudiated by the civilised world . These ideas are peculiarlyrepugnant to Am ericans . Militarism , and m onarchy which has in it anytouch of abso lut ism ,

have always incurred on this side of the Atlan ticsuspicion and dislike ; a grow ing , en lightened po rtion of our populat ionperce ive an added m enace to the world ’

s peace and true prosperity in that

m ilitan t , nationalised commercialism wh ich has been so deftly woven bythe Germ ans into the m onarch ical prin ciple , in the hope of pro longing thelife of that pr in ciple . This nat ionalised comm ercialism , m oreover

,is a

logical consequence of the econom ic doctrine of en lightened se lf- in terest,

the adaptability ofwhich to m odern conditions is being seriously challenged .

I n th is m ongrel code of m odern Germany n ot on ly is Nietzsche m isrepresen ted— but even Christ . I t is a code in which the finest spirits of Germanyfind no place nor does it contain any hint of that new econom ics of human

needs for wh ich the w orld ow es so large a debt to Germany herself .F or the German people the people of Am erica, like the people of GreatBritain ,

have a sincere affection . The obsession of such a nat ion is diflicultto understand . W e can on ly h0pe that the time is not far distan t whenGerm any w ill awake to her better se lf.

The Brit ish Empire is fighting as truly for the Gérman people as for her own .

Under the circum stan ces , our pity and sympathy for the Belgian people,

and our indignation at what we must deem the ruthless destruction of that

nat ion to sat isfy German mi litarist , commercial , and monarch ical am bit ionare overwhelm ing .

I can conce ive of no greater rebuke to this ambition than that man ifestedby the con tributions which to -day are be ing poured out by the world at

large to care for those Belgians who have so ruth lessly and so needlesslybeen deprived of their hom es and possessions . No aid was ever givenm ore w i llingly . W e give it , indeed , as a just debt to a gallant people to

whom the world ow es, and w ill ever ow e , m ore than it can pay— to a people

who have sacrificed the ir all in the cause of progress and liberty .

The name of their hero ic sovereign , King Albert , w ill hencefo rth be w rittenw ith those of the great liberators of the world .

By MARGARET DELANDLiberty- loving Am erica is st irred by the profoundest sympathy for the

fam ilies of the gallant Be lgians who are giving their lives that Liberty maylive she has on ly adm irat ion for the King who , in the face of overwhelmmgodds , is leading his people where honour calls . She can never forget herdebt of gratitude to the martyr-nat ion whose King and people are givingall that they possess that the Spirit of F reedom may not who lly perish fromtheir land .

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long lines of street in which it is impossible to say whether he has combinedthe w indows that exist , or spared the w indows that never existed. H e

cannot make anything except a w indow ; for a w indow is simply a ho le .

W hen he has blown everything to atom s, when no stack or stone stands

about us fo r m any m iles , he w ill say, w ith an insane simplicity I havemade the largest w indow in the world .

”

By S I R E . RAY LANKE S T E RI ESTEEM it a h igh privilege to b e allowed to express to H is Majesty KingAlbert and to the hero ic people of Be lgium my . heart -fe lt adm iration fortheir incomparable valour . W ith a courage and se lf- sacrifice unparalleledin h istory they held back,

on ly a few weeks ago , the treacherous attack on

the ir coun try by the German hordes— a deed by wh ich the designs of the

ruth less Enemy of Europe against Br itain and our be loved ally F rance wereeffectually checked and frustrated . The barbarous crue lties in which the

defeated Germ ans have ven ted the ir rage on Be lgium have filled everyBriton w ith the desire to assuage her anguish and to exact from W illiamof Prussia the full price of his unspeakable brutality.

All human ity glories in the reve lation to it,at this crisis , of another man ,

a man who is worthy to b e King , a King who has fought side by side w ithhis people , ready to give his life rather than lose his honour , to die ratherthan accept the sham eful bribes of the German bully .

My know ledge of Be lgium and my fr iendsh ip w ith her people date fromthe t im e when fifty years ago , intent on geo logical studies , I visited the

excavat ions in progress for the new fort ificat ions of Antwerp and was the

guest in the old Un iversity buildings of Louvain of the great naturalistProfessor P . J . Van Beneden . H is son , a youth of my own age , becam e

my life- long and int im ate friend . I n later years , when Edouard VanBeneden had becom e professor at the Un iversity of Lie

'

ge and attainedworld-w ide celebrity by his discoveries in bio logical scien ce , I stayed w ithhim in that flourish ing city and he , in turn , was my guest in Oxford and in

London . I have had m any friends among Be lgian naturalists, some con

nectedw ith the wonderful museum in Brusse ls , others who sought co llaborat ion w ith m e in my own laboratory— and I have the honour of be ing a foreignAssociate of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium . Thus , I do not

write here w ith an adm irat ion and affect ion n ew ly called into being but asan old and favoured com rade , who is fam iliar w ith the glories of ancientF landers and the splendid achievem ents of her sons in science and in art .

I ven ture to render my homage to King Albert and his people as one who

know s and loves the unconquerable spirit , the unswerving fidelity,of the

free and independent Belgian folk .

144

By DON ANT ON I O LOPE Z MUNO ZEJEMPLO REDENTORPARA escribir una pagina en honor de Bélgica, para llorar por sus hijosmuertos , por sus fabricas deshechas , por sus cam pos arrasados , por sus

m onumentos destruidos , por sus hogares sin fam ilia y sus fam i lias sin hogar ,por la augusta paz de su trabajo perdida

, por sus hor izontes de esperanzacerrados a la luz , por la aterrado ra so ledad de sus alm as sin refugio , sin

térm ino en sus do lores , sin el bendito patrimon io de sus tradiciones afect ivas ,un ico sostén en las humanas luchas , basta ser hombre . Si, basta ser

hombre y es en todo caso doble estimulo ser hijo de Espafia, la patria delQuijote que encarna 1a exaltacion del ideal y vibra con ecos de am or en

todos los ambitos del mundo ,para rendir hom enaje a un pueblo que por

el ideal sacrifica la V ida, dando umejemplo que harasent irse a la H uman idadredim ida y orgullosa.

Rey Alberto ,desdichado ti

’

i, que aun ofreciendo el pecho en las avanzadas

,

no has podido impedir que tu nacion sea dego llada en lucha desigual perodichoso tI

'

I, que con la espada en la diestra eres la im agen viva del hero ism o

tallada en carne por la inspiraciOn gen ial de tu pueblo , com o seras mafiana

la m uerta imagen inmortal tallada en piedray en bronce por la adm iracion delos siglos . Y dichoso tamb ie

’

n,porque al t iempo m ism o que tt

’

I fuiste caudilloen la brecha,

la Re ina ha sido en el hospital y en el campo el ange l de lapiedad simbo lo ti

’

i de la fortaleza en el combate ,sim bo lo e lla de la ternura

y de la paz del alma que const ituia la caracteristica del culto y laboriosopueblo belga dandose asi test im on io de como el trabajo civilizador , lejosde am enguar la virilidad del temperam ento ,

lo dispone al arranque en todaocasion gloriosa.

Bélgica,nacion de héroes y de mart ires , has caido al go lpe de la fuerza ;

pero sobre la fuerza que hunde has puesto la dign idad que glorifica has

caido pero no has muerto y aunque no revivieras sobre tu t ierra adorada,

reviv iras eterna en el am o r de todos los corazones . La conciencia humana

serat I'

I hogar y tu templo .

TRANSLATION by Prof. Fitzmaurice-KellyTo be a man is enough to write a page in honour ofBelgium to lamen t her slaugh tered ones

,her ruined

indus tries , her devas ta ted meadows , her demolishedmonumen ts

,her homes un tenan ted

,her homeless

ch ildren, the augus t peace of all her efforts vanished,the hor izon of hope cu t off from ltght , the appallingsolitude of her unsheltered popula tion whose woes areillimitable

, and who ar e bereft even of the sacredinheritance of fond traditions— the one mains tay inhuman con tests . Yes, to be a man is enough . And,in any case, for every son of Spain , the land of Don

Quixote, incarnating the exalta tion of the ideal andthrilling with echoes of love throughou t the world,there is a double obligation to pay homage to a racethat surrenders life for its ideal, and sets an example

which will make humanity feel proud and consciousof its redemption .

Unhappy thou , K ing Albert , who , though imper illingthy hfe in the vanguard, hast not availed to save thyna tion from succumbing in an unequal conflictYet happy thou who , sword in hand, ar t the livingimage of the heroism made bodily manifest by the

dominan t inspira tion of thy people ! To-morrowthou shalt see its mu te , immor tal form sculp tur ed instone or bronze for the admira tion of all agesHappy too ,

inasmuch as , at the very time when thouwas t foremost in the breach

,thy Queen was the angel

of mercy in the hospital or field ! Thou the symbolof valour in the bat tle She the symbol of thattenderne ss and peace of spirit so cha racteris tic of the

14 5

refined and hardworking Belgian people And thusproving that civilising labour, so far from diminishingmanliness of soul, fosters its impe tuous fire .

Belgium, na tion of heroes and of mar tyrs , thou has tfallen beneath t he blows of Migh t , bu t above tha toverwhe lmingforce thou hast set aglorifying splendour !

Thou has t perished, bu t thou hast bequea thed us anexample of how men die in the cause of jus ticeEven if thou wert not to be born anew on thy consecratedsoil, thou wilt live for ever in the love of all men ’shear ts . The conscience of humanity shall be thydwelling and thy temple .

By S I R NORMAN LO C KYERMEN of science have been accustom ed to look upon German m ethods ineducat ion and applied science as worthy of im itation

,and in my address as

President of the Brit ish Associat ion in 1903 I po inted 0t the serious dangerwe were runn ing in allow ing them to outstrip us in these directions . But

we now know that their guiding spirit was not the advance of civilisationbut the provision of m eans for the destruction of all who opposed the

inordinate am bition of the ruling class for world power .The story of the bravery wh ich King Albert and his nation have shown in

sacrificing everyth ing rather than honour w ill be handed down fromgenerat ion to generat ion , a m onum ent to a great people .

The present is one of m isery and suffering beyond all preceden t,brought

about by unexam pled brutality in waging war by m eans of destruction,

rapine , crue lty, and lies rather than by the best generalsh ip and fight ingpower . But a t im e w ill soon com e when Be lgium w ill rise like a t nix

from its ashes and she m ay conso le herse lf w ith the thought that even inthe distant future it w ill be recogn ised that the h isto ry of the world has beenennobled by her deeds and her determ inat ion to defend her honour . H er

effo rts w ill be chron icled as a bri llian t chapter in the annals of the human

race .

By S I R F RED E R I C K T REVE S

W ith grave

Aspect he rose , and in his rising seemed

A pillar of state deep on hisfront engraven

Deliberation sat,andpublic care

Andprincely counsel in hisface yet shoneMajestic though in ruin

—PARAD ISE LOST .

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3 Plus calme.

14 8

By ANTON IO MAC I E I RA

Ejulgareis qual e’

mais excelenteS e ser do mundo rei, se de talgente .

LU Iz DE CAMOES , Luziadas , Canto I , estancia 10

A BARBARIE multiplicada pe la sciencia ou seja a accao alema, assim

definida ha pouco e com rigor scien tifico por M. Boutroux , tornou agon isan te o grande povo de uma pequena nacao . Essa barbaric civilisada faltoua fé dos tratados , trucidou , incendiou , matou , depo is de tentar o subornodo povo laborioso que entregue ao seu progresso ,

sem ambigOes externas ,n ! o dando razfio a Odios nem odiando , jamais pretextara a feroz arremet idado imperialisimo divinizado .

Nem rigor de formulas , nem deveres de human idade , nem simples piedade ,nem in tuit ivo sen timento artist ico ou seja nem direito, nem ideiaslib eraes

,nem lagrimas de inocentes , nem respeito pela beleza— nada poude

detel-a

N ’

essa tragedia form idavel que abriu ferida larga e funda em todas as almas

piedosas , existe amais adm iravel licao que um povo pode dar em fulguracOesde honr a— licao que de onvil-a a alm a se arranca em convulsOes de dor , e

que de pensal-a 0 espirito se alevanta na mais profunda e afectiva e grata

das adm iracOes .

Grande povo na paz como na guerra, a Belgica ! Nacao de herois queembargaram essa avancada fulm inan te que tentou esmagar a vida da F ranca— a vida de nés todos— e impedir o esforco protector da Inglaterra, dignaco laboradora na defeza das nossas vidas Nacao estrem ecida, re licario dasmaiores d6res sofridas sob o peso das m aiores injusticas

Sobre esse glorioso Paiz caem as sagradas b encaos dos que amam a liberdadequerendo-a para todos , dos que adoram a belesa das ideias e da forma com

a art istica paixao das almas simples .

A Belgica é a nacao exemplar da dOr glorificada.

O imperialismo alemao nao venceu a Belgica, porque a d6r dos povos 1150

se vence a dor dos povos fo rtalece-os .

Onde quer que esteja o valoroso Rei dos Be lgas , estaa Belgica onde quer

que esteja essa figura de nobre Rainha que errou pe lo territorio da sua

Patria sempre bem perto de cada alma dos epicos lutadores que a defendiam ,

esta a Be lgica.

E se a Be lgica existe na guerra m oralm ente mais querida, mais armada, mais

respeitada, mais forte com o seu territorio devastado , os seus monum entos

arrasados e 0 seu povo sem lar na paz, que nao tardara, ela ficaramoral ematerialrnente o padrao das nacoes que sabem lutar por sua honra, em defezapropria e das grandes causas da human idade .

C idadao de uma Patria gloriosa que ama o seu territorio como a propriacarne republicano de in teligencia e de sent imento , esta hom enagem que

presto comovidamente ao bravo e alto representante do Grande Povo ,ao

150

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By W I LL IAM CANT ONIT has now been for m onths , it w ill be for centuries , one of the gloriousth ings of history,

that In th is world-war it was one little nation, which had

no ambit ion to serve , which had much to lose , but which was in trepid and

unbribable,that flung itse lf across the first rush of a great empire

, and he ldit in check single-handed . I t was overborne by the weight of brute m illionsits storied cities , its prosperous villages , its fruitful fields were looted ,drenched w ith blood , ru ined by fire yet it fought on alone

,w ith unshaken

faith it was never defeated . I ts very reverses were mater ial and m oraltriumphs ; the success of its amazing courage and tenacity is visible to dayin the gigantic battle front of the Allies from the sea to the Vosges .

Every drop of blood that Be lgium has shed has been a testimony to the

heaven ly Powers ; a vindicat ion of the world ’

s ideals Of liberty , justice ,

mercy , honour , chivalry ; an appeal to the conscience of Christendom .

Yes,and every outrage of the drunken and un clean hordes of Berlin has been

a cry to H eaven for vengeance . Our mater ial debt to Be lgium is enormousour moral debt is beyond calculation . And these are not our debts only,but the debts of the world .

The hero isms of old days rise before m e— Leon idas at Thermopylae , ourown Byrhtno th ho lding Blackwater ford be low Maldon , the Sw iss peasan tsw ith the ir boulders and tree- trunks at Morgarten . They are dim shadowsbeside this little people , whose wom en and children are hero ic . I see the irKing in the trenches , sharing the dangers and hardsh ips of his com radesin arms

,inspiring them w ith the cheerfulness of an indom itable soul . And

I see another king , frantically fussing from front to front under the protection of the Red Cross , and sleeping at n ight , when he can sleep , in a

huge iron cage encircled by a swarm of Uhlans and a guard of airm en .

H is iron cage ! The words evoke another m emo ry. Out of the far pastI hear the vo ice of a greater Kaiser , scared by a dream of the night

Behold,a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven he cried

aloud, and said thus , H ew down the tree , and cut ofi his branches shake

ofi'

his leaves, and scatter his fruit let the beasts get away from under it ,and the fowlsfrom his branchesNevertheless leave the stump of his roots in the earth , even with a band ofiron and brass, in the tender grass of thefield and let it bewet with thedew

of H eaven ,and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth .

Let his heart be changed from man’

s, and le t a beast

’

s heart be givenunto him ; and let seven times pass over him

The same watchers and ho ly ones still look out of the clouds . Surelyno man

, whatever his love of peace and horror of war , can consent toany end of th is unprovoked and barbarous aggression but a fight to the

fin ish and when the tribunal of the nations sits in judgm ent , t o anyplea of m istaken pity or of high po licy, of diplomatic expediency, or of

kinship to stay the hand of just ice and retribution .

1 52

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By H JALMAR BARNT ING

MIN personliga byllning at Belgien betyder sé litet . Darfor vill jag berattaom m itt fo lk .

Sverge var forutbestam t att se m ed tyska ogon pavarldskrisen . Tyskarna

firo vara stamfrander , dit gar vara fOrb indelsers tataste nat , fran Tysklandharsvensk odling starkast paverkats . Vara ledande klasser beundra tysk

ordning och plikttrohet , de underordnades disciplin och landets valdiga

materiella uppsving . Och var arbetarrOrelse vaxte som tysk planta, innanden slog helt rot och formades om efter den svenska jorden néir Sverges

arb etare ar 1909 kiimpade sin storstrejks viildiga fOrsvarskamp ,gavo oss

tyska broder ett maktigt stod . Och naturligt lystrade Sverge t ill den forstatyska fOrkunn elsen tsardOmet ar fredstOraren , Europas fara— vi svenskarha ju sett pa nara hall F in lands besvurna sjalvstyrelse forintas , medan deryska m ilitarfOrlaggningarna dar Okats och vart eget land utsatts fOr nar

ganget ryskt spioneri.

Men sh kom folkréittsb rottet mot Be lgien . For oss , som sjalva vilja till det

yttersta bevara vér n eutralitet , kandes det sorn en stot mot eget hjarta. Det

vande hela stamningen hos vart fo lks djupa leder , och det var som om

t .o .m . i den m est tysksinnade delen av var press stammorna fOrlorade sin

sjalvsakra klang . Och ju hardare framfarten b lev , ju m er genomtéget togkaraktéir av en harjande erOvrares invasion , desto starkare vaxte svenska

hjartans sympati for det lilla tappra folk, som hOll ut for ratt och frihet

ofOrskrackt , utan att rakna krossande Overmakts tal.

Mahanda vann tysk strategi , trots att den m issraknat sig pa m otstandet ,magon fordel av inb rottet Over folkrattsskyddat land . Men det finns makter

i varlden , som pa langden betyda m er an strategi .Makortsynt smaklokhet rakna ut Belgien borde ha stannat vid ett forstamotstand,

tillrackligt att market a dess neutralitet . Noj, m itt i fOrOdelseoch fOrtvivlan maste det svaras nu forst , nar Be lgiens unga nation visat

att den tagit fadernas offerm od helt i arv , nu forst ar dess frihet , dess sakraplats bland fo lkens b rOdrakedja oryggligt tryggad fo

'

r tider som komma.

Att Be lgiens hela folk , ej minst dess socialistiska arbetarklass , satt in $21

oandligt mycket m er an lama ord—protester , det har gjort dess sak helig fo!

r

alla man och kvinnor varlden runt , vilka annu akta ratt och frihet .

DarfOr : he ll Belgien ! Och m in varm aste Onskan som svensk maste blidenna skulle en dag, mot vad vi hOppas och till trots for den folkfred visoka forbereda, vart eget neutrala land hotas av Valdet , ma vi da veta att

endraktigt folja Be lgiens lysande fOredOm e , segerbetryggande m itt i skenbarundergang H allre do an bli S lav ,

”

Sager ett friesiskt ord. Det ar samma

anda som i var svenska biskop Thomas’

sang fran 1 5 de seklet

F rihet tir det basta ting ,

som sb'

kas kan all vc'

irlden kring ,

ty frihetfo'

ljer dra .

154

My personal homage to Belgium means so lit tle .

Therefore I will speak abou t my people .

Sweden was predestined to look upon the worldcrisis with German eyes . The Germans are ourkinsmen . To them goes the closest network of ourcommunications , the stronges t influence on Swedishculture has come from Germany . Our upper classesadmire the German orderliness , sense of du ty, the

discipline of the subordina te classes among the peopleand the enormous ma terial growth of the coun try .

Our labour movemen t grew as a German plan tbefore it took root in and was reshaped forthe Swedish soil. And when the Swedish workersfought their great defensive ba t tle in the generalstrike of 1909 ,

their German brethren gave them a

powerful support . Naturally enough Sweden was

ready to listen to the first German proclama tionTsarisrn is the peace disturber, the danger of

all Europe .

”

W e Swedes had had the oppor tunityto see how the confirmed self-governmen t of F inland had been destroyed, we had seen how troopconcen trations in tha t country had been increased,while our own had been subjected to a system ofintrusive Russian espionage .

But then came the crime agains t I n terna tional Law,

the violation of Belgium’s neu trality . For us , we

who intend to defend to the very u tmost our neu trality ,it was like a thrus t directed against our own heart .I t changed altogether the feelings among the broadranks of our nation . Even in the most Germanophilepart of the newspaper press it seemed as if the voiceshad lost their note of self-confidence . The more ru thless the me thods becarne ,

the more the marchthro ugh assumed the character of a ravaging con

queror’

s invasion , the stronger grew the

in Swedish hear ts for the lit tle brave nation that

By E RMETE NOVELL IGodi barbaric . Poiche se

’

sz‘

grandeC he per Mare e per term batti l

’

ali

E per l’

I nferno il tuo nome si spande lUNA nube nera, densa, m inacciosa, incombe sulla terra gittando sovr

’

essa

rovinosa pioggia di sangue e grandine di fuoco Guerra ! Quan t imort i . quant i lutt i . quante lagrime d ’insanabile do lore !Guerra Guerra ! I n queste angosciose tenebre nelle qualibranco liamo atton it i e smarriti , un punto lum inoso rimane , a speranza diun domani di So le ; il sublime Mart irio del Be lgio

,unico forse nella storia

dei popo li ' Mart irio che Insegna ora e insegnera no’

secoli futuri com e un

popo lo conscio de lla forza dei proprii diritti possa cambiare uno sconfitto

nella piu grande gloriosa Vittoria

I SS

undaunted held on for righ t and liber ty withou tcoun ting the crushing superiority of numbers .Perhaps German strategy, in spite of it having miscalculated the resistance

,won some advan tage through

the invasion of an in terna tionally pro tected coun try .

But there are powers in the world which after all

coun t more than stra tegy.

Short-sighted wiseacres may calcula te that Belgiumough t to have yielded after afirst resis tance sufficien tto mark her neu trality . No , in the mids t of destruction and despair, it mus t be said Only now , whenthe young Belgian na tion has shown how thoroughlyshe has taken over from her ancestors the heritageof courage and power of sacrifice , only now is herliberty , her place in the chain of brother-na tionsirrevocably secured for all time . Tha t the wholeBelgian nation , her socialistic working class not

leas t , has staked so much more than feeble protestsof words has made her cause sacred to all those menand women in the whole world, who still value jus ticeand liber ty .

Therefore .H ail to Belgium And my sincerestwish as a Swede mus t be this if in spite of the

hope we cherish and the peace be tween the na tionswe are trying to prepare

,the day should arrive

,

when our own neutral coun try is threatened by violation, may we then unanimo usly follow the magnificen texample of Belgium , securing victory in the midstof apparen t ruin . Rather die than become a

slave,says

spiri t as in the song from the fifteen th cen tury byour Swedish Bishop Thomas

Liberty is the best of all things

that can be sought in the who le world,Because with liberty comes honour.

P. E . LANGE-MULLER

Pdolce.

Passai.

eres. ep oco stringendo.

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By V IN CENT E BLAS C O IBANEZEL REY C ABALLEROEN Espafia llamamos asi a Alberto I de Bélgica.

Nuestra época o frece dos clases de soberanos a la atencion publica.

Los hay que estudian sus gestos y palabras como si fuesen actores , adoptandoposturas teatrales , haciendo m il cosas a la vez, queriendo en todos losin stantes recibir el incienso de la adm iracmn y asombrar a las gentes .

Quemarian m edio mundo si esto pudiese dar nuevo brillo a su glorianeron iana. En fuerza de locuras pueden llegar a infundir m iedo ,

peronunca am or ui verdadera adm iracion .

Alberto I no ha pensado jamas en deslumbrar a nadie , no conoce las actitudesescén icas , su deseo era vivir en una paz laboriosa rodeado de su pueblo detrabajadores , y en todos los mom entos ha seguido una vida recta, tim ida ylarga a la vez, como las lineas de su cuerpo . Es um héroe sin desearlo ni

buscarlo el héroe mas grande y mas simpatico de todo el siglo XX . Es

cl rey caballero .

”

El resorte de su hero ismo no fue el amor a la glo ria ni tampoco las ambicionesde conquista. Pué el deber , el cumplim iento de la palabra dada, el respetode los propios derechos , todas las virtudes modestas y sélidas de las

gentes de bien .

Plegandose a las exigencias del fuerte hubiese sido fe liz. Es cierto que esta

fe licidad la hab ria pagado con la deshonra ; pero hay tantos deshonradostriunfantes Aleman ia agradecida a su obediencia le hab ria sosten idosiempre . Tranquilidad

, abundancia, proteccion ; la vida sum isa y biencebada del an imal dome

’

stico que reconoce un dueno . Pero a estas ventajasposit ivas que hubiesen tentado a los mas , prefirié los viejos idealism os en

los que aun creen algunos ; el honor , la libertad , el odio al atrope llo , laindependencia de su patria.

Este general improvisado ha sabido hacer la guerra como no la harian muchosprofesionales . Su tenacidad hero ica al frente de um pueblo pequeno yvaleroso , ha quebran tado desde el pr imer momento el monstruoso empujealeman .

Gloriosa epopeya la de Bélgica y su rey caballero EMuchos de sus conciudadanos murieron . El vive porque la Muerte no quiso su persona. Manejocom o simple art illero los canones de Amberes bajo una lluvia de m etralla.

Tomo el fusil de um so ldado é h izo fuego en las tricheras de la infanteria.

Los be lgas han perdido sus casas e'

l casi ha perdido su reino .

No recordeis como modelos inim itables de cab’

alleria a aque llos reyes sin

corona, de la Edad Media, vagabundos y desgraciados , que la poesia y el

drama han hecho interesan tes . Nuestra e'

poca de vulgar positivismo tienefiguras mas romanticas .

Alberto Sin -Tierra vale mas que todos los monarcas S in-Tierra de la historia.

Estos perdieron la corona por hechos de fam ilia y ambiciones de conquista.

I 59

El rey caballero se ve sin reino por la libertad , por el derecho , por no haberconsentido los atrope llos del fuerte .

Ycon la noble tristeza del h‘éroe repe lido pero jamais derrotado , que sabeque la razén va con él , se mantiene en un rincon de F landres , al frente deun pufiado de bravos , para que vea el mundo com o lucha un hombrepacifico convert ido en guerrero por las exigencias del honor , come perece

,

si es preciso , el prim er ciudadano de unamonarquia democratica en defensade su dign idad .

=X= =X= 3k 3?

U m periodista 10 VIO a la caida de la tarde,asomado a una ventana del H otel

de Ville de Furn es , con templando la puesta del sol, sonando tal vez.

Parecia triste . Contemplaba m e lancolicamente el astro moribundo .

I ba a llegar la noche y con e lla la sombra, las horas de incert idumbre , lashoras de desesperacion .

Pero la noche no es eterna y después de e lla viene otra vez el dia, con um

nuevo sol.

TRANSLATION (abridged)TH E NOBLE K ING

This is wha t we in Spain call Albert of Belgium .

Our period ofi'

ers to public a t ten tion two diflerenttypes of monarchs .

Some there are who rehearse their actions and wordsas if they were actors , adopting theatrical poses,trying to do a thousand diflerent things at once ,seeking at every momen t to receive the incense of theadmiration of the people and to astonish the popularmind. They would burn down half the world if tha tcould add to their Nero-like glory and make themmore renowned. The force of their madness maysucceed in inspiring terror, bu t never in excitingaffection or genuine admiration .

Albert never thought of dazzling any one ; he is notfamiliar with theatrical poses his wish was to livein peace and industrial prosperity, surrounded by hishard-working people , and at all times he has led a

good and uprigh t life , gen tle and liberal at the sametime , like his own phy sical traits . H e has become a

hero withou t wishing or seeking to become one the

grea test and most at trac tive hero of the en tire twentieth cen tury . H e is the noble K ing.

”

Q at

This sovereign , so sudden ly called to lead his army ,in spite of his inexperience , was able to conduc t thewar as many old campaigners could not have done .

H is heroic tenacity at the head of a small bu t bravena tion was able from the very first mornent to driveback the terr ible German onslaugh t and to break itsmight .W hat a glor ious epic is this episode of Belgium and

her noble king Many of his subjects perished. H e

still lives because Death wished to spare him . Like a

simple gunner, he served the guns of An twerp under ahail of leadfrom the machine guns of the foe . Taking160

the rifle of a soldier , he fought among the ranks ofhis own infantry as their comrade .

The Belgian people have lost their homes , he hasalmost lost his kingdom .

Do we not recall those inimitable models of chivalry ,

the uncrowned kings of the Middle Ages, wandering and unfortunate , bu t renowned in poetry and

drama Our period of ordinary material proseholds still more roman tic heroes in its records .Albert the Landless is worth more than all the

Landless Monarchs of h istory . They lost theircrowns through deeds of their own or of their families,desire of conquest and fur ther power . The NobleK ing sees his kingdom lost for liberty , for justice , forbrave resistance to the dicta tes of overbearing force .

And with the noble sadness of the hero who may bedefeated bu t is never conquered, who knows that hehas righ t on his side , he s tays in a corner of Flanders,at the head of a handful of courageous souls , enablingthe whole world to see how a man of peace fightswhen he has been forced to become a warrior throughthe necessities of honour, how , if it be needful, thefirst citizen of a democratic monarchy will know howto die in defence of his own nobility .

i t

A journalis t caught sight of him one afternoon as the

twilight fell, leaning from a window in the C ity Hallin Fumes , watching the set ting sun , dreaming perchance .

H e appeared sad, and he watched the sinking God ofDay with an aspect of deep depression .

The night was coming, and with i t darkness , the hoursof uncer tain ty , the hours when despair is nigh .

But the nigh t is not eternal, and when i t is gone,there comes another day,

bringing with it a new

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By ANATOLE F RANCELE ROI ALBERTIL est né avec l ’am e d

’

un héros et d’

un juste . Des son avénem ent au tréne ,

il était estim é (j’

ai pu m’

en assurer) de tout son peuple , respecté de tousles part is po litiques et sociaux , et de ceux- la m em e qui , d

’

ordinaire,se

mon trent le m o ins disposes a s’

incliner devant 1a prerogative royale . I l

inspirait confiance a tous . On lui reconnaissait um esprit de dro iture de

sagesse , de just ice , de douceur . On aimait cette sim plicité qui lui etait

nature lle et qui chez un prince revele presque toujours um caractere supérieura la fortune .

Tres jeune encore , une terrible épreuve fondit soudain sur lui et sur son

peuple et lui fourn it l’

occasion de donner sam esure . Quand , par un atten tat

monstrueux , les allemands violérent la neutralité de la Belgique , le Roi

Albert me s’

inclina pas devant 1a force et me se borna pas a protester con trecette vio lat ion des traités les plus sacrés . I l tira l ’epee et ne se contenta pasd

’

un simulacre de défense ; il ne jugea pas que l’

honneur belge put se

sat isfaire par une dem onstration d’

un jour . Sourd aux prom esses de

l’

envahisseur comm e il l ’avait été ases menaces , il Vit sans palir les barbaresfondre sur lui , et m ettre afeu et asang umpays coupable seulement d

’

avoir

obéi aux lo is de l’honneur . Le RoiAlbert opposa aux innombrables hordesdu Kaiser la pet ite arm ée belge et son épée claire et pure , tirée pour une

juste cause . 1] se m ontra digne de son peuple son peuple se mon tra dignede lui . La Belgique t int l’Allemagne en échec et montra cc que peuven tdes braves gens qui combattent pour le dro it .

Dans cette guerre sain te , le Roi Albert se révéla bon chef et bon so ldat .

On le Vit , dans une batterie aAnvers , po inter lui-m em e une piéce et atte indreune posit ion qu ’

on croyait hors de portée . Ailleurs , dans la tranchée , arm éd

’

un fusil,il fit le coup de feu au coté de ses fantassins . Qu ’il est beau le

spectacle donn é par cc jeune prince qui égale en sagesse les m ei lleurssouverains , en courage les plus rudes troupiersEt ces grandes act ions du peuple belge et de son roi n

’

auront pas été ac

complies en vain . C e n’

est pas en vain qu’

Albert et la Belgique en arm es

auront fait de Liege les Therm opyles de la civilisation europe'

enne . I ls ont

brisé l’élan des barbares , co -Opéré puissamm ent a la victo ire des alliés ,assuré le triomphe du dro it et de la liberté .

Mon pays a contracté envers le Roi Albert et son peuple une dette de t e

connaissan ce qu ’il t iendra‘

a jam ais pour sacrée . 11 y paraitra quand , deconcert avec ses nobles alliés , apres le triomphe , il s

’

efforcera de constituerune Europe harm on ieuse .

TRANSLATION by Florence SimmondsK ING ALBERTH e was born with the soul of a hero and of a righteousman . From the momen t of his accession to the thronehe was esteemed (I say this on good au thor ity)by his whole people , and respected by all political

and social par ties , even by those least inclined toreverence the royal preroga tive . H e inspired confidence in all

,and the tru th

,wisdom , jus tice , andmildness

of his spirit were unam'

mously recognised. H is naturalsimplici ty was at trac tive— that simplicity which in a

161

prince nearly always indicates a charac ter moreexalted than his rank .

W hile he was s till quite young , a terrible catas trophefell suddenly upon him and his people and gave himan oppor tunity ofproving his quali ty . W hen Germanyviola ted the neutratity of Belgium by a monstrousa t tack , K ing Albert did not bow to violence, and wasnot con ten t merely to protes t against this infringemen tof the most sacred treaties . H e drew his sword, andthis with no idea of a simulacrum of defence . H e

did not think that Belgian honour could be satisfiedby a brief demons tration . Deaf to the promises of theinvader as he had been to his threats , he did not blenchwhen he saw the barbarians bear down upon him ,

bringing fire and sword in to a coun try guilty only ofhaving obeyed the laws of honour . K ing Albertopposed the lit tle Belgian army

, and his pure and

shining sword, drawn in a just cause , to the K aiser ’sinnumerable hordes . H e showed himself wor thy ofhis people his people showed themselves worthy of

By WALTER S I C H ELTo KING AND PEOPLE

All the great things have been done by the lit tle peoples — DEM !

S ire,K ing of men ,

disdainer of the mean ,

Belgium’

s inspirer , well thou stand ’

stfor all

She bodes to generations yet unseen

F reedom andfealty —K ingship s coronal.

Nation of miracles , how swift you start

To super-stature of heroic deedsS o brave , so silen t beats your bleeding heart

That ours , e’

en in theflush of welcome , bleeds .

No sound of wailing . Look,above , afar ,

Throbs in the darkness with triumphant myA little yet an all-commanding star ,

The morning star that heralds forth the day .

162

I n this holy war King Albert showed himself a goodleader and a good soldier . H e was seen at An twerpin a bat tery , laying a gun himself, and hit ting an

objective which was supposed to be ou t of range .

At another poin t he was found in the trenches , armedwith a rifle , and shoo ting side by side with his infan trymen . H ow fine is the spectacle of this young Prince ,who rivals the best kings in wisdom and the roughesttroopers in courageThese great deeds of the Belgian K ing and peoplewill not have been done in vain . Not in vain willAlbert and Belgium in arms have made Liege the

Thermopylce of European civilisa tion . They havebroken the rush of the barbarians , con tribu ted largelyto the victory of the Allies , and ensured the triumphof r igh t and liberty .

My coun try owes a debt of gratitude to King Albertand his people which they will ever hold sacred.

This will be eviden t , when , in concert with our nobleAllies , she will work for the constitu tion of a har

monious Europe, after ourfinal triumph .

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w ith stee l , or shatter their faces w ith devilish explosives, as in this twentieth

century of the Christ ian era.

Now,whatever he the rights or wrongs of war , one thing seem s clear . The

weapons are w rong . My young friend , w ith his fine- spun brain and hisspir itual de light in Milton ’

s harm on ics , ought not to b e ann ihi lated by a

piece of raw matter . One does not fight a Sevres vase w ith a stone . Bringup your Ch inese vase an you w ill , and let the battle be of beauty . There isa horr ible expression ,

food for powder —

you w ill find it in all languagesthat are really civilised . I t implies that the masses are so coarse in texture

,

are carcasses so gross and sub -human,that their best use is to be thrown to

the guns— a provident ial fire -screen for the finer classes . Democracy w illin due tim e take note of this conception . But in its rude way the phraseshadows forth a truth— the truth that , for all who have passed beyond thean imal stage ,

the war of tooth and claw is ant iquated . Our war , if warthere be ,

must be conducted w ith weapons suitable to the dign ity of the

super-beast who has been so laboriously evo lved, suitable to the spirit

which through innum erable aeons has been w inn ing its way through the

welter of brute impulses . No t for man the slaver of the serpent, the fangs

of the tiger . And shelling is on ly the ejection of a deadlier slaver,the bayonet

on ly a fiercer fang . I t seems fut ile to have evo lved from the brute if ourbrain -power on ly m akes us bigger brutes . The man behind the guna 1 5

- inch gun that hurls a ton of m etal for tw e lve m iles— is a w ilder andm o re m onstrous beast than ever appeared even in the antediluvian epoch

,

and that he should no t b e kept safely stuffed in a museum like the pterodactyl is an into lerable anachron ism . A world in which w ith one m ovemen t

of his paw he can kill off a who le congregation of Milton -worshippers is a

world wh ich should have been n ipped in the nebula. No ,if fighting there

must b e,let my young friend fight against Nietzsche-worshippersfl let the

lucid lines of the Pur itan poet confound the form less squadrons of the

Pagan dithyrambist . Brain against brain ,soul against soul

,thought against

thought, art against art , m an , in short

,against m an— there lies the fight of

the future . I f my young friend w ere a man of science , he would be keptawake not by the Germ an torpedoes but by the German treatises were heon ly a tailor

,he should never throw away his yard-stick for a lance but

w ith his good old scissors cut out the T euton ic tailor .After such civilised fashion

,indeed , the Anglo -German con test has long

been raging,and the German has been w inn ing all along the line . H is

pat ience,his industry,

his n ice study of his customers , has everywhereswept the Englishm an aside . Before his music the Briton fe ll— ih worshiphis drama invaded us triumphant ly. W hy was Germany not conten t w iththis victor ious cam paign , w ith th is campaign worthy of human beings ?German influence

,German Kultur— it is spread by peace , not by the sword .

T o German Un iversit ies shoals of Russian studen ts flocked as to shrines ,humble feudatories of German scho larsh ip

,German thoroughness . To

the barbarous regions , where an Ovid m ight still lamen t his exile,they

164

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By COMMENDATORE T OMMASO SALV IN IA1. BELGIO E AL 500 RE

AL Re del Be lgio , novello Agide Spartano ,é dovuta l’amm irazione e

l’

omaggio di tutti i popo li civili . U n van itoso coronato invasore,distrusse

la tranquilla, laboriosa Nazione Be lga, dedita so ltanto al progresso intellettuale e comm erciale , ricca d

’

opero d ’

arte , di classici monum enti e diflorida invidiabile industria.

Quella Nazione fu crudelmente straziata, perdendo in una doverosa, ero icadifesa, gran parte dei suo i figli, massacrat i dal ferro

, dal fuoco e dal piomboTeuton ico . Oh , quan ta prom etten te energia sacrificata

E nulla v ’

era da inco lpare né al Sovrano ,né al suo popo lo

I l Belgio ,essendo neutrale , non poteva permettere il passaggio nel suo

stato alle truppe Alemanne , con l’

intento di muover guerra alla F rancia.

Non doveva né doteva permetterlo , e questa fu la cagione dell ’ assassinainvasione della German ia contro il diritto delle gent i .Onta all

’ invasore e onore alla nazione Belga ed al suo magnan imo Re

I o sono sicuro che la parte inte llettuale e um an itaria de lla German ia non

pub che disapprovare il contegno e la condotta del m ilitarismo Prussianoche ruppe con la forza de lle arm i trattat i politici stipulat i con le altre Potenze ,mancando cosi a doveri garantit i sul suo onore .

Deploro che l’

I talia, la Spagna, la Rumen ia

,la Grecia e la Bulgaria, non si

siano un ite alla Russia, all’ Inghilterra, alla F rancia

,al Portogallo , alla

Serbia e al Giappone per pun ire la superchieria e la prepotenza dellaGerman ia e dell ’ Austria-Ungheria.

Vi‘

e perb da noi un antico proverbio che difficilmente fallisce e dice Dio

non paga il sabato .

”

Attendiamo dunque la resa dei conti del buon Dio .

E m entre ci sanguina i1 cuore pensando al sacrifizio e alla sciagura di quelnobile popolo , alziamo un inno di Gloria al Capo di que ll

’

Armata, che con

tanto ero ism o e con amm irabile abnegazione , difese i sacrosant i diritti dellaGiustizia e dell ’ Uman ita.

TRANSLATION (abridged)All civilised nations offer he re their tribu te of homageand admiration to the King of the Belgians , thatmodern Spartan Agis .A vain-glorious invading monarch has destroyed thepeace of the industrious Belgian nation , a na tiondevoted to in tellectual and commercial progress , richin works of ar t, in classical monumen ts , andflourishingby virtue of her enviable industry.

And this was in no wise the fault of the K ingnor of his brave people . For the Belgians ,persisting in their neu trality

,could not allow the

German troops to march through their coun try tothe conquest of France . They could not and thevwould not .W hereupon Germany carried ou t her criminal andbru tal invasion , defying the righ ts of nations . Shame

166

on the invader ! All honour to the Belgian peopleand to their noble K ingI feel sure that even in Germany the in tellectual andhumane minority can but disapprove in the dep ths of theirhearts that Prussian militarism , which by sheer bru teforce has viola ted political treaties with other Powers ,andfailed to keep an undertaking rooted in honour . ”I deplore the fac t that Italy, Spain, Roumania,

Bulgaria, andGreece have not joined England, Russia,

France,Servia ,

Por tugal, and japan to punish theinsolence and treachery of Germany and Austria

But there is an old I talian proverb which is rarelywr ong DIO non paga il sabato GOD doesnot pay every Saturday, ” i.e . H e punishes in H isown good time .) Therefore we mus t await the

judgmen t and sen tence of our Lord.

fit

PIETRO MASC AGN I

Andante mexto .

di tr is tezza .

calando . rall e dim . sosten uto . lamen toso .

a: Ped.

eres . ed un p oco anima to.

By CONDE DE ROMANONE SLE monde de la civilisation attend avec anxiété les résultats de ces terriblesévénem ents , qui lui feront connaitre le sort reservé ala Belgique . Cettepetite nation

,petite jusqu

’

au jour de son malheur,et de son abattem ent ,

mais aujourd ’

hui d ’une grandeur m orale qui n ’

a jamais été surpassée dansl’

histoire ,ne pourra pas disparaitre ,

ne pourra pas perdre sa souveraineté .

Si ce la venait aarriver , il faudrait adm ettre que le bon dro it et la justice ne

sont plus de nos jours les principes de l’existence des peuples civilisés ;cc serait , en plus , une terrible lecon que ceux- C i ne pourraient jamais oublier .Pourquo i tan t de so llicitudes , tan t d

’

énergies depensées aaccroitre les forcesmorales et materie lles d’

un pet it territo ire , pour le transform er en une

nation m odele , digne de tous les respects,de toutes les considerations !

Pourquo i tant d’

eflorts pour avancer sur la vo ie du progrés , de la liberté , ‘

du respect aux dro its d’

autrui, si le dro it du plus fort do it prim er en dern ierlieuI ] vaudrait m ieux vivre cette vie d

’

independence sauvage des peuples quisont encore en dehors de toute civilisation .

TRANSLATION by Florence SimmondsThe world of civilisation awaits with anxiety the

results of the terrible even ts which will make knthe fa te reserved for Belgium . This lit tle nation ,

small un til the day of her disaster and overthrow,

bu t now possessing a moral greatness unsurpassed inhistory

,cannot disappear, cannot lose her sovereignty .

If such a thing could happen ,we should have to

admit that R igh t and j us tice are no longer the

principles of existence among civilised peoples itwould further be a terrible lesson tha t these couldnever forget . W hy should so much care, so much

By D R . LYMAN ABBOTTW H ATEVER may b e our various opin ions respecting the merits of thisterrible war in Europe there can b e no question that Be lgium , which so far

has been perhaps the chief sufferer , is abso lutely innocen t of any offence .

The war has swept over her land , cities have been destroyed , homes deso latedand thousands of Be lgians killed , because she refused to disregard her ownprom ise but chose rather to battle brave ly in a desperate endeavour tomaintain that neutrality to which she and the Powers of Europe werepledged . The needs of the Be lgians appeal to all lovers of their fellow -m en

whatever their race , their religious creed , or their sympathies in this war .

168

energy be expended in increasing the moral and materialforces of a small territory , and transforming it intoa model na tion ,

worthy of all respect and consideration— why should such efforts be made to further itsadvance on the path of progress , liberty , respect forthe righ ts of others , if in the last resort the righ t ofthe strongest is to prevail ?I n this case it would be bet ter to live the life of savageindependence proper to people as yet ou tside the paleof civilisation .

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By LADY LU GARD

I AM honoured in be ing allowed to express my profound respect for a

nat ion wh ich has lifted contemporary history in one step from the

commonplace to the hero ic . The tim es have sudden ly becom e great . I t

is the prayer of all our hearts that we may be great w ith them . F or Be lgiumthe prayer is already an swered— she has become a great nation . In materialruin she has risen to spiritual conquest so complete that the world lies at

her feet . No enemy can deprive her of this triumph . H er young Kinghas reason to b e proud and glad . So long as history is to ld it w ill b e re

m embered that under his leadership Belgium as an entire nation was readyto face martyrdom for her faith . She has suffered a martyrdom which ,

by its detail of horror and brutality, seems to be m isplaced in the history ofcivilisat ion . And the faith for which she has suffered is not her faith alone— it is our faith too . I t is faith in honour , faith in truth ,

faith in courage ,just ice , liberty— faith in all that renders human re lat ions sacred ,

tender ,and inspiring . F or this common faith w e are prepared to stand . The

nations fee l , the ir Governm en ts have said , that arm s cannot b e laid downunt il this faith has been vindicated . W ith its vindication must com e the

ult imate V ictory of Be lgium and her reinstatement upon a new and higherplane of nat ionality.

I t has been happily given to England wh ile waiting in confidence for thatday to take her part in offering to the stricken Belgian population such he lpas hospitality and sympathy can give . My own humble part has been to

share w ith others in this work of conso lat ion . I t has been at once our

com fort and our privilege . W e know , alas too we ll , how litt le it is ,human ly speaking , possib le to assuage the unparalle led sufferings in the

presence of wh ich we find ourse lves . But as we have moved dai ly in them idst of sorrow s wh ich must have touched a heart of stone , and have notedw ith grow ing adm irat ion the magn ificent fo rt itude , the simplicity, the

grat itude for kindness rece ived w ith which they have been borne ,the hope

has becom e convict ion in our hearts that the noble prom ise w ill yet againbe fulfi lled They that sow in tears shall reap in joy and he that goeth on

his way w eeping and beareth forth good seed shall doubtless com e againw ith joy and bring his sheaves w ith him .

”

Shall doubt less —I t is for

that doubt less that I believe our who le nation is prepar ed to maintainthe fight while there is aman or a woman left in the Brit ish Empire .

By ROBE RT O BRAC C OIN questo momento storico ,

il Belgio la nazione agon izzante — é lapiu grande nazione d’

Europa.

TRANSLATIONAt this historic momen t , Belgium a nation in itsagony — is the greatest nation of Europe .

By MARC EL PREVO S TA L

’

INSTANT tragique ouum souverain d ’

Europe déchainait la barbaric ,um autre souverain s

’

est levé , qui a dechaine l’héroi'

sme . Et soudainl’

héro’

ism e a gagné les peuples , de proche en proche — ces -vieux peuplesoccidentaux qu ’

on disait trop civilisés pour aflronter la mort en souriant .

Glo ire 21 Albert , Roi des Belges , qui nous a re’

vélé la valeur de nos ames

TRANSLATIONAt the trag ic momen t when one Sovereign of Europe the na tions —these old W estern nations that werewas unleashing the dark powers of barbarism ,

another though t too civilised to smile at the menaces of Death .

Sovereign arose who freed the powers of heroism . Glory to King Albert , K ing of the Belgians , who hasAnd all at once the spirit of the hero permeated revealed to us the value of our souls .

By J ONAS BOJ ERW e are at last in for an epoch of hero ism , the King again taking the supreme

place among his nation . The storm has swept awayParliament and speakers,

Governm ent and e lect ions, parties and party programm es . On ly one thingremains

, a m onumen tal thing— the nation and the nation ’

s father .

King Albert,rich when his coun try was wealthy— happy when Belgium

flourished— poor when his kingdom was sunk in ruins— a refugee in hisland when his own countrym en were dr iven away from hearth and home .

Brave among the braves,wounded among the wounded , but for ever

standing erect as a symbo l of the vitality of his people , who had on ly dreamedto live and work on the plains of F landers .

~

H e was too proud to become

a martyr , too strong to ask for pity he bo ldly faced destruction ,uncon

querab le because justice and the future are on his side . There where heshows h imse lf refugees find a hom e , the fatherless a brother

,the hom eless

a fatherland,the desperate a leader whom they can trust and who is full of

faith . H e is the man who has given the faded glories of royal crowns a

new splendour he is the on ly one in this gigantic fight who bears on his

forehead the stamp of divine innocence .

At his side stands his w ife, a woman who from being Queen over a realm

rises to become the H o ly Mother of a nat ion .

By F REDE R I K VAN EE DENH omage and sympathy fo r the Belgians and the ir King .

170

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litte’

raire was fo llowed by a m ilitary fete , given by the Brussels garrison inaid of the vict im s of the earthquake ; proud young so ldiers took part inequestrian exercises , and in the evo lut ions of quick-firing batteries .

think w ith horror how many of those young figures have disappeared ,mowed down by the treacherous war thrust on them by the Germans ;

and I think too how many wr iters like Paul André , Georges Eckland , H en ryDavignon ; poets like Em ile Verhaeren , Georges Marlon , Auguste Vierset ,The

’

o . H annon painters and sculptors like Edm ond Piccard , XavierMallery, F erd . Georges Lemmors , H en ry W autiers ; musicians l ike PaulGilson ,

Em ile Mathieu , Victor Ruffin— I take the first names that come

into my head— I th ink how many of these , sudden ly transformed intocombatants , have paid w ith their lives for the patriotic ardour of their hearts .

Neverthe less , how marve llous is the revelation of that stricken ,devastated ,

and starving Belgium , pressing round her noble King and her gent le Queen ,

and almost forgett ing her own pains in those of the elect couple , those livingsymbo ls of a land vio lated but not vanquished .

And how I suffer at the repression of the H ymn of Praise I would fain pourout to them by the horrible spectacle of the barbarian invasion , wh ich freezesthe words on my lips , and confounds my thoughtsYet this is powerless to overcom e my steadfast faith in the speedy adventof a glorious and complete reconquest .

And w ith a heart overflow ing w ith this hope , and a hand trembling w ithem otion I w riteLong live King Albert Long live Queen Elisabeth Long live heroicand immortal— Belgium

By S I R F . CARRUT H E R S GOULDW H EN the story of the terrible European W ar which is now raging comes

to be w ritten in the calm dispassion of impart ial judgm en t , it w ill w ithoutdoubt be recogn ised that no nobler page in history can be found than that

which records the hero ic se lf-sacrificing stand wh ich martyred Be lgiummade

, not m erely to protect herse lf against unscrupulous and brutal aggre ssion ,

but to assert her sacred right to her independence and to protestagainst be ing made a passive too l for furthering the wanton and w ickeddesigns of German m ilitary dom inan ce over Europe .

W ar in the twent ieth cen tury,and after n ineteen hundred and fourteen

years of Christ ian ity , seem s a monstrous outrage on civilisation , but we in

this country,in spite of our hatred of war , fee l that Christ ian ity itse lf would

have been still m ore foully outraged if w e had not reso lved to draw the

sword , and to the best of our power to stand by Be lgium and her hero icm onarch and his gallant people , and to assert the eternal principles of

Justice and H onour .

172

S H E COMES NOTW ORDS BY

H ERB ERT TRENC HMU S I C BY

JOH AN BAC KER -LU NDE

Andant e len to.

Vows .

She comes when Noon xs on the ro ses ,

PI ANO.

She comes not to the

But when Night is on the hlllS and the great

173

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By ELLEN KEYSOME months ago Belgium was fertile and fair beyond expression . I t was

the land of calm ly flow ing rivers , grand forests , w ide fie lds : beautiful atevery t im e and glorious when w rapped in the golden m ists of summersunset . I t was the land of splendid old towns , where the belfries madethe heart glad w ith music , and where great works of art— by masters old

and new— filled the soul w ith joy.

Now Belgium is full of sorrow and m isery. The garden is changed into a

desert . A great number of the people are dead a still greater number arewandering in exile in foreign lands . F or the remainder— for King as forbeggar— life is a tragedy too deep for tears . This fate has overcome Bel

gium because the world is st ill ruled by force , not by just ice .

But the name of Belgium is now engraved in the conscience of the world.

H uman ity can have no peace in sight of the fate of this people . That fatemust be changed or we shall w itness such a defeat for our h igher ideals , sucha loss for the great principles which our best m en and women have livedor died for , that we ought to resist this defeat and be on our guard againstthis loss w ith as much energy as we should use in the defence of our own

country.

By LEONARD O B I STOLF I

TH E sublime sacrifice of the Belgian people w ill consecrate the bloodstained earth of its martyrs as an altar reared by the hands of Death to thepure and invio lable beauty of Life .

By L I EUT .- GENE RAL S I R ROBERT BADEN -POWELL

IT would be trite to quote David against Go liath in the case of gallant littleBe lgium standing up to the ogre of Prussian Militar ism

,but that histo ric

fight had its counterpart recen tly where a peaceful , hard-working littletailor was set upon by a big , beery loafer . The neighbours , out of pityand sense of fair play , were prepared to run to the rescue , when they stoodback to cheer , for the little man stuck up , on his own ,

to the bully, andpunched him and tr ipped him and held him down t ill he lp arrived . I n a

moment the insign ificant little worker had changed into the hero of the

villa e .

Thefe are two things above all others which Britons , down to the verylowest am ong them ,

inherently appreciate , and those are Pluck and Fair Play .

That is why their sympathy is hot and strong for the plucky little nationwhich stood up as a champion for liberty and fair play against the overwhelm ing tide of brute-force .

176

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by brute force . I have never liked German methods , but I have alwaysgiven them full credit for their perseverance and ability. Unfortunatelywe have all been too apt to accept the German at the face value put on byhimself w ithout carefully exam in ing his intrinsic merit or demerit as thecase may be . Germany has produced no gen ius , there is no scope forindividualism ,

her work is the co llective w isdom of commonplace savants ,she has never produced nor is ever likely to produce a super-man

, there hasbeen no evo lut ion of the h igher and nobler nature of man , the race has not

received that internal push , as Bergson would say, which has carried lifeby more and more complex form s to higher and higher dest in ies . Therehas been no cult ivat ion of the spirit of altruism , that highest product of

human evo lut ion which is shown by sympathy w ith our fellow -beings intheir suffering . On the contrary the worst and m ost brutal characteristicsof the H uns were evo lved and developed in the F ranco -Prussian W ar of

1870 ,and have now been perpetuated in an even more accentuated form in

the presen t war . The German Emperor emulates and out-H erods the

conduct ofAtt ila, the Scourge of God.

”

W hen , 0 God, when can suchscourges be elim inated P Surely their existence can be of no value to the

higher evo lution of the race . The blasphem ous speeches of this monarchcan have no divine san ction ,

and should not be allowed to m islead a deludednat ion the on ly beneficial effect which they can have may be to lead theguilty to their destruction .

The Allies have shown their manhood and the capacity to rule , we mustnot therefore rest satisfied w ith the conquest of Germany, the establishment

of peace and the rehab iliment of Belgium , but we must also raise imperialraces whose influences w ill be felt for good throughout the world . W e mustraise healthy, vigorous manhood and womanhood , men and women who w illho ld their own in the battle of life w ith any other nations— we wan t nationsof stalwarts . This can all be rapidlyattained by in telligent art ificial se lection ,

and the nation which produces the finest noblest,and most inte llectual race

w ill win in the long run . Bacon said The principal po int of greatnessin any State is to have a race ofm ilitarym en .

”

H e did not then contemplatethe Pruss ian braggadocio . W e are gett ing more peaceable since Bacon ’

s

days . Som e are preach ing peace , eternal peace , forgett ing that there hasbeen a constant and incessan t struggle on the earth since the first appearanceof life thereon , and the surest way of any nation preserving the peace is tobe always ready for a fight . I f the Allies had been ready Germany wouldnot have attacked them . The health of a nation is its m ost valuable asset ,

and I should like to see every man between the ages of 20 and 60 able tohandle a rifle and a bayonet , and, if needs be , take part in the defence of

his coun try .

In King Albert we have a worthy ruler of an imperial race , and I hope hemay live long to rule over such a self- reliant and noble people .

178

By ARMANDO PALAC IO VALDESLA LEYENDA DEL REY ALBERTO

En los siglos venideros las madres contara’

n a sus hijos en las largas nochesde inveirno la leyenda del rey Alberto .

”

UNA vez era un rey, hijos m i'

os, que reinaba sobre um pequefio pueblo

industrioso , noble y bravo . Y este rey era noble entre los mas nobles ybravo entre los mas bravos . Cerca de él vivia un gigan te temeroso quereinaba sobre un gran pueblo de guerreros . Este gigante manteni

'

a en

suspension y espan to a cuantos le rodeaban y rebosaba de poder y de orgullo .

Ademas poscia un cahon maravilloso , grande como una catedral , con cl

cual arrasaba los campos y pulverisaba las ciudades . Vecino del pequefiopueblo vivia otro rico y fe liz que cl gigante codiciaba.

Déjam e pasar por tus estados ,”

le dijo un dia a nuestro rey. Quieroaplastar y reducir a la servidumbre a esa nacién que cerca de ti se halla.

Si me dejas el paso libre tendras dinero , participaras del botin que recoja,algunos de los estados de esa nacion pasaran a tu poder . Si no me 10 dejasarrasaré tu p

ueblo y sere’

is todos esclavos .

No pasaras sino sobre nuestros cadaveres , respondio el rey valeroso .

Mi pueblo , que es uno de los mas prosperos del orbe , est ima mucho sus

fabricas, sus riquezas , sus grandes ciudades , sus herniosos monumentos ,

pero estima mas su honra. Las piedras pueden colocarse otra vez las unassobre las otras pero g quien alzarade sus ruinas el honor derrumbado PGuarda tu dinero , toma el rm

'

o y el de m is compatriotas si te hacefalta, arrancanos si quieres la vida, haznos esclavos . No lograras hacernosvilesEntonces el gigante cruel cayo sobre aquel dim inuto pueblo , destruyé sus

ciudades , quemo sus aldeas , dego llé a muchos de sus habitantes y sembré

po r doquier el espanto y la desolaciOn .

El reymagnanimo sal io de sus estados , pero i caso extrafio los encontromucho mayores . Todos se declaraban sus vasallos . Donde quiera queiba se le aclamaba como a un emperador victorioso . Las mujeres deshojaban flores sobre su cabeza

,los hombres agitaban sus sombreros gritando

1Viva cl reyAl fin

, rodeado de un pufiado de so ldados hero icos , penetro nuevamente

en sus es tados y comenzo la reconquista . Muchos hombres le ayudaron ,

los unos con su espada, los otros con su pluma, los otros con sus oraciones .

Los ange les del cielo le abrian paso . Y palmo a palmo en lucha tenaz ysangrienta se fue apoderando de su perdido reino . Cuando al cabo logrosentarse otra vez sobre su trono , el un iverso entero dejé escapar nu gritode alegria. Porque la justicia habia quedado triunfan te , la ley de Dioscumplida y cl poder de las tin ieblas vencido

.

I

l

i i

jos m ios , este rey fue después dichoso sobre la tierra y ahora lo es en el

c ie 0

I 79

ARMANDO PALACIO VALDES

TH E LEGEND OF K IN G ALBERTIn the com ing ages , during the long w inter

evenings, mo thers will tell their children

The Legend of K ing Albert .

Once upon a time , my children ,there was a King

who reigned over a small, industrious , noble and

valian t race and this K ing was the noblest of the

noble, and the bravest of the brave . Near him there

lived a dreadful gian t who ruled over a great race ofwarriors . This gian t kep t all those abou t him in

awe and fear, and he abounded in power and pride .

Moreover , he had a wonderful cannon ,the size of a

cathedral, with which he made havoc of the coun tryside and gr ound cities in to dus t . This small na tionhadfor its neighbour another state— a rich and happys ta te

,which the gian t coveted.

Le t me pass through your dominions , ’ he said one

day to our King. I wan t to des troy and enslavetha t nation which dwells nigh you . If you let methrough

,you shall have wealth you shall share the

plunder that I get ; some of the provinces of thatnation shall come under your sway . Should you notlet me through , I will crush your people and youshall all be slaves . ’You shall not pass— excep t over our dead bodies , ’answered the valian t K ing . My people , one of themost prosperous on earth , sets gr eat s tore by its

By PAUL BOURGETLE R01 ALBERTLA guerre , a travers tant d epreuves , et de si affreuses , réserve du mo inscc bien fait aux peuples et aux individus qui acceptent virilem ent sa tragiquene

'

cessite l’

éducation par la resistan ce,en sorte que cc form idable élém ent

de destruction peut devenir um élém ent fécond de reconstruction . La

guerre procure aux gens de cceur um autre bienfait celui de l’exemple adonner et arecevo ir , en sorte encore que cette sanglante ouvriere de discordel ’est aussi d’un ion . Elle resserre d’

un lien plus étro item ent noué le faisceausocial

,

‘

a l’

heure m em e ou l’

on cro it qu ’

e lle va le briser . L’

exemple , quandil est celui du devo ir sur le champ de bataille

,rallie d’

un tel élan les vo lon tésautour du drapeau C ’

est le supérieur m ode lan t sur lui l’inférieur , le courageredressant la défaillance , la force servant de regle ala faiblesse , l

’

énergique

devenu une prédication vivante . I l m ontre en lui cc que peut l ’homm e

quand il veut , ce que vous pourrez , vous , son camarade , si vous voulez . Et

vous voulez . Braver le danger , souffrir, mourir , ces m ots n

’

avaient

pour vous , héritier comblé d’une société heureuse , qu

’

une sign ification si

lo intaine ! La guerre en a fait en que lques jours une réalité terrifiante .

Aurez-vous 1a force de l’affron ter P Vous en doutez . Et vo ici qu ’

nn autre ,180

monumen ts bu t it loves honour more . You can

again pile s tones one upon the o ther bu t, if honour

be uproo ted, who can raise it from its ruins K eepyour money if that is what you wont, take mineand my people ’s I Take our lives l Enslave us !You willfail to make us baseThen the cruel gian t fell on tha t tiny race, destroyedits cities

,burned its hamle ts

,slew many of its in

habitan ts , and spread fear and misery everywhere .

The high-minded K ing setforth from his dominions ,but— marvellous to tell — he found them growinglarger . All proclaimed themselves his vassals .W herever he wen t , he was hailed as though he werea triumphan t conqueror . W omen scat tered flowerson h is head ; men waved their ha ts

,and

Long live the K ingAt las t , surrounded by a handful of heroic soldiers ,

he made his way once more into his Kingdom , andbegan to win it back again . Many helped himsome with their swords

,some with their pens , others

with their prayers . The angels of heaven opened upa path for him . And

,after a desperate and bloody

struggle , inch by inch , he kep t on recovering his lostK ingdom . W hen , at las t , he came to his throneagain ,

the whole world raised a shou t of exulta tion .

For jus tice had triumphed, God’s word was fulfilled,and the powers of darkness were vanquished.

My children , this K ing was happy afterwards onearth , and is now happy in heaven .

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la, devan t vous , déplo ie cette force , fro idement , tranquillement . U ne

contagion éman e de son attitude . C e qu ’i l a pu faire , vous le ferez. Et

vous marchez au danger , vous voulez souffrir , vous savez mourir . C’

est le

m iracle du sacrifice , qu’il se multip lie dans tous ses témoins . C e m iracle ,

nous y assistons a chaque jour , a chaque heure , depuis ces tro is mo is .

C ette propagat ion de la flamme sacrée , c’

est vraiment la course de la torchedont parle Lucrece

Et quasi cursores virtutis lampada tradunt ,dirais-je en osant subst ituer au vitai du texte cc mot de virtus que les Romains ,ces so ldats-nés , chargeaient d

’

un tel sens

Parm i ces porteurs de l’

héro'

i'

que flambeau ,aucune figure me 111 emeut

autant que ce lle du Prince pour qui ma patrie la F rance n’

aura jamaisune reconnaissance assez frém issante . Je veux parler de cc RoiAlbert dontla personnalité magnifique a donné son sens le plus haut acette dure guerre .

Sans lui , sans le peuple belge , e lle n’

eut été qu ’

nn cataclysme m ondial d ’unesign ificat ion indécise . Je lis bien dans des art icles et des discours que nousassistons aune lutte entre la Démocrat ie et la F e

’

odalité, que nous avon srepris la tradit ion des vo lontaires de 92 . C ette phraséologie ne corresponda rien d’

exact . C e n’

est pas comme démocrates que nous nous battons .

Les Anglais n’

ont pas cessé d’

étre la m onarch ie et l’

aristocratie seculaires

qu’

ils étaient avant le 2 aout 19 14 , et nous autre F ran cais nous défendonsnotre sol, tout s implement . L

’

Allemagne n’

est pas davantage une féodalité .

C e n’

est pas nu groupe de hobereaux que nous avons devant nous , c’

est

tout une nation de comm ercants , d’

industriels , de paysan s , d’

ouvriers .

Ne prenons pas au sérieux cette prétendue opposition de la S ozial Democratie qualifiée justement par nu révo lutionnaire plus logique de ph ilistinism

'

e pet it bourgeo is .

”

C e pays veut dom iner les autres pays et d ’

abord

conquérir la F rance,envahir ses champs , ses m ines , ses vignob les , ses

usines , son argent . Cette lutte brutale pour la vie d’

un cOté, pour l’

hégé

mon ie de l ’autre,s

’

est éclairée tout acoup d’

un rayon d’

idée . C ’

est nu Roi

Albert que nous le devons . Aucune des lecons de cette guerre n’

est pluséclatan te . C ’

est l’

exemple projetant sa lum iere a la fo is dans le mondemoral et dans le m onde po lit ique . Je voudrais dire pourquo i en

que lques mots . Je m’

excuse de commenter des faits connus de tous . I ls

me seron t jam ais assez rapportés , parce qu’

ils n e seront jamais assez

m édités .

Voulez-vous que nous repren ions le Livre blanc , cette brochure qui devraitetre t irée ades m illions d’

exemplaires et m ise entre toutes les mains P Lespires utopistes y apprendraient

‘

a penser juste sur les origines de la guerre .

I l contient , on le sait , la correspondance du gouvernement britann ique et

de ses agents pendant cette crise du 20 juillet au 4 aout . Elle se composede cent so ixante et une pieces . Rien que le nume

’

ro d’

:0rdre sous leque ls

’

mscrit la prem iere depeche re lat ive a la Belgique a que lque chose depathétique . C

’

est le cent quinzieme Les cent quatorze .télégrammes

M 181

précédents se sont échangés entre Londres , Pe’

trograd,Berlin

,Paris , Rom e .

Les grandes puissances causent entre e lles avant d’

engager la redoutablepartie . La toute petite Belgique est absente de ces conversat ions . Qu

’

a-t

e lle de commun avec les in téréts en jeu P Elle entret ient , dira son m in istredes affaires etrangeres , ala date du 1 aout encore , des rapports exce llen tsavec ses vo isins et e lle n

’

a aucune raison pour suspecter leurs intentions .

”

Au F oreign Ofiice de Londres , on est m o ins rassuré . Cette depeche num érotée1 14 exprim e l

’

inquiétude de Sir Edward Grey,lequel annonce au m in istre

anglais aBruxelles qu ’i l a demande'

aux gouvernements francais et allemandsi chacun d ’

eux était décidé arespecter la neutralité de la Belgique .

” Ce lleci , résolue elle-m em e a main ten ir cette neutralité , n e s

’

e'

m eut pas . Ellerepose sur la foi d

’

un traité contresigné par l’

Angleterre , l’

Allemagne et

la F rance . Le 3 aout , le gouvernement allemand lui rem et une note

demandant le libre passage pour ses arm ées sur son territo ire , m oyennantquoi l’Allemagne s

’

engage a m ain ten ir l’in tégrite'

du royaum e et de ses

possessions . S inon la Be lgique sera traitée en ennem ie . Le RoiAlbert a

douze heures pour répondre . Devant cet ultimatum ,il n

’

hésite pas . I l

sait que l’

armée allemande est une force terrible . I l connait l’

Empereur

Allemand . I l sait que l’

orguei lleux , apres une telle démarche , me reculeraplus . Son trOne est en jeu ,

plus que son trOne les sept m i llions d’

fim fs ,

que lle éloquence prennent les vulgaires term es de statistiques danscertaines circonstances qui lui sont confiées il vo it en esprit ce beaupays inde

’

fendable ces charbonnages , ces carrieres , ces usines , ces filatures ,ces ports , cette florissante industrie épanouie dan s ces plaines ouvertes qu ’ilne pourra pas préserver . Mais il s ’

agit d’

un traité il y a sa signature .

Répondre oui a l’

Allemagne , c’

est trahir ses co - signataires , le F ran cais et

l’

Anglais . C ’

est manquer a l’engagem ent pris , se déshonorer , soi et son

peuple , et le Roi dit non . Le reste est connu .

C et héro’

ism e de la probité , c’

est celui du Regulus antique retournant £1Carthage et au supplice pour ten ir la paro le donnée . Mais c ’

est aussi ce luidu comm ercant qui n e veut pas etre banqueroutier et qui vend tout maison ,

m eubles , linge ,argenterie pour faire face a ses engagem ents . C est ce lui

du fils qui se ruine pour payer les dettes de son pére . A que l prix ccpacte aura- t- il été tenu . Y avez- vous pensé P demandaitM. de Bethmann

H o llw eg aSir Edward Goschen . J’

entends le Roi Albert répondre : C e

n’

est pas mon affaire . 11 y a laun chiffon de papier , comme vous dites .

Mon nom est dessus . Ce la suffit .

”

Turenne aussi , comme on lui reprochaitun jour de remplir une prom esse faite ades vo leurs Je t iens paro le aM . de Turenne

,repliqua

- t-il. Cette fidélite’

du roi belge et de son peupleavec lui au chiffon de papier ,

” qu ’

elle est simple et qu ’

elle va lo in C e

sera l’honneur aussi de l’Angleterre de l’

avo ir comprise et partager . I l ne

s’

agit plus lad’une idéo logie contestable , comm e de savo ir si la Démocratie

est supérieure ala F éodalité ou le Socialism e au C apitalisme , vaines billevesées apiper le naif Demos . I l s

’

agit d’

un contrat , et a son propos , detous les contrats , d

’

un acte signé , donc de tous les actes signés et , comme

1 82

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la propriété repose , par definition , sur nu contrat , il s’

agit de toutes les

propriétés , donc de tous les rapports possibles en tre les homm es et du

fondem ent m em e de la société . Oui,c ’est l’ordre social tout en t ier que le

RoiAlbert a défendu quand il a prononcé son non possumus . C ’

est l’

ordre

social tout ent ier que M . de Bethmann a ren ié , quand il a craché sur lechiffon de paper .

” C ’

est l’

o rdre social tout entier que l’

Empereur allemand a piét in é quand il a franch i la front iere be lge . C ’

est l’

ordre socialtout en tier que la F rance a salué au H avre dans les personn es des m in istresdu Roi Albert . On raconte que cet adm irable Prin ce avait toujours sur sa

table,clans son cabinet de Bruxelles , un vo lum e de no tre Le Play. Combien

ce Maitre de la Réform e qui a si fortem en t insisté sur le réle essent iel desautorités sociales eut été fier d

’

avoir um pareil disciple Combien ému dcvo ir ce chef entrainer son peuple , et cc peuple le suivre ,

avec une si gén éreuseunan im ité dans la défense du principe qui est la pierre angulaire de lacivi lisat ionLe roi Albert a fait plus . Le Prem ier Anglais l’a reconnu dans um de ces

discours , comm e les orateurs britann iques en prononcent des qu’

ils se

m euvent dans la grande ligne de leur h isto ire . I f y eut jadis une Europede petits Etats et don t le m orce llem ent rendait plus difficile un choc m on

strueux d’

énorm es masses humaines,tel que ce lui auque l nous assistons

aujourd ’

hui . M . de Bismarck fut l’ouvrier , gén ial et funeste , qui acheva dedétruire cette Europe si prudemm ent aménage

’

e . La Be lgique est un des

rares pet its Etats qui aient survécu . Si nous voulons,la tempete finie

,

établir une paix durable , c’

est cette po lit ique des pet its Etats qu ’il nousfaut reprendre . Um des monarques de la coalition le disait avec bien de lasagesse al’un de nos m eilleurs ambassadeurs : La tache des alliés c ’

est de

ram ener l’Europe ala période antébismarckienne . La besogne de guérisonest la, non pas dans d

’

inefficaces et chim ériques proclamations d’

un pacifisme

final , non pas dans le redoutable projet d’une plus grande un ificat ion alle

m ande sous étiquette républicaine . I l importe a l ’aven ir du m onde civiliséqu ’i l n ’

y ait plus une Allemagne,mais des Allemagnes , une mosa

'

ique de

petits états et non plus le bloc amalgam é par la main puissan te du chancelierde fer . Mais pour qu

’

une parei lle Europe so it viable , 1a condit ion sine qua‘

non est que le respect de l’

indépendance des petits Etats so it le prem ierart icle de son code . C ’

est cet autre principe , fondem ent et garantie dufutur équilibre international que les Be lges ont convié les Anglais et nousautres F rancais a défendre avec eux

,nous ramenan t , nous aussi , dans la

grande ligne de notre histo ire . La vie ille monarch ie fran caise n’

a jamais eu

d’

autre programme et la vérité po litique se trouve rencontrer la véritésociale dans le geste du roi. 11 l

’

a fait ce geste , si sim plement ! Depuisces longues et dures semaines qu ’il a vu ses villes bombardées , ses banquesranconnées , ses sujets massacres , ses m in istres ob ligés de demander nu asileala F rance , pas une fo is il n

’

a proféré une plainte , et , correspondance sublime da coeur des sujets au creur du Prin ce

, pas une parole de regret n’

a été

entendue qui trahisse une défai llance du peuple envah i . U ne vo lonté183

invincible au service d ’une pensée juste , connaissez-vous un spectacle quiéveille dans l’fime un plus male sursaut de respect et , s

’

i'l est possible,

d’

émulation P Miche let disait dc Kleber qu ’il avait une figure si m ilitaireque l

’

on devenait brave en le regardant . Du RoiAlbert , on pourr ait direque l

’

on devient plus honnete homme , rien qu’

en pensant alui.

W ar, in the mids t of its awful and manifold trials ,

bestows at least one benefit on the na tions and individuals who accep t its tragic necessi ty in a manlyspirit that of education by endurance, which maymake this formidable elemen t of destruc tion a fertileelemen t of reconstruction . W ar has yet anotherbenefit to offer to men of good will tha t of theexample to be given and received, by means of whichthis bloody ar tificer of discord becomes also an agen tof union . I t binds the social sheaf more closelytogether, at the very momen t when it seems abou t tosca t ter it . Example , when it is the example of du tyon the bat tle -field,

rallies all energies round the

standard with ex traordinary vigour '

The superiormodels the inferior upon himself, courage reammates

despair, str ength becomes the rule for weakness , thestou t of heart is a living sermon . H e shows whatman can do if he will, what you , his comrade ,

could

do if you would. And you will.— To brave danger ,to sufi

’er

, to die- to you, fortuna te heir of a happyage , these words had such a remote significanceI n a few days war made them a terrible reality.

W ould you have strength to face it You doubtedit . But another , close to you , showed this strength ,calmly and quietly . H is at titude was con tagious .W hat he can do , yo uwill do . You go out to meetdanger , you are willing to suffer , you will be able todie . I t is the miracle of sacrifice tha t it multipliesin all who witness it . W e have been seeing thismiracle every day , every hourfor the last three mon ths .

This propagation of the sacred flame is really the

handing on of the torch of which Lucre tius speaksEt quasi curso res vir tu tis lampada tradun t ,

I would ven ture to say ,replacing the vitai

'

of the textby that word to which those born soldiers , the Romans ,gave such deep meaning virtus 1

Among these bearers of the heroic torch , no figure isto me so touching as that of the Pr ince to whom mycoun try

,France, can never be too passiona tely

gra teful. I speak of that King Albert whose splendidpersonality has given the highest meaning to thisstern war . W ithout him ,

and withou t the Belgianpeople , it would have been but a universal ca taclysm

Q 0 3 Q O

King Albert has done more . The First of Englishmen

184

has recognised this in one of those speeches Britishorators make when they are moving on the great linesof their history. Europe was formerly a collectionof small Sta tes , the fragmentary na ture of whichmade the monstrous onslaught of immense humanmasses such as tha t we are witnessing to-day verydifiicult . Prince B ismarck was the sinister geniuswho destroyed this pruden tly arranged Europe.

Belgium is one of the few small sta tes that survived.

If when the storm is over we wish to establish a

lasting peace , we mus t re turn to this policy of smallStates . One of the Sovereigns of the Coalition wiselysaid to one of our best Ambassadors The task ofthe Allies is to br ing Europe back to the an te-Bismarckian period. The cure lies in this direction ,

not in ineffectual and ch imerical proclama tions ofdefini tive peace, nor in the redoubtable project of a

greater unification of Germany under a republicanlabel. I t is essen tial to the fu ture of the civilisedworld tha t there should be no longer a Germany, bu tseveral Germanys , a mosaic of small States, insteadof the block amalgamated by the migh ty hand of theIron Chancellor. But to ensure the existence of sucha Europe, it is a sine quanon that thefirst ar ticleof its code should be the independence of small States .I t was this principle , the basis and the guaran tee offuture international equilibrium ,

tha t the Belgianscalled upon the English and the French to defendwith them ,

thus bringing us too back to the grea ttradition of our his tory . The old French monarchywas faithful to this principle , and political tru threcogm

'

sed social tru th in the King’s ac tion . Thisac tion he performed with the greatest simplicity.

Throughou t the long , hard weeks in which he hasseen his towns bombarded, his banks robbed, hissubjec ts massacred, h is Minis ters compelled to seekasylum in France , he has not u t tered a single complain t , and such has been the sublime sympathybetween the heart of the Prince and the heart of hispeople , that not a word of regre t has been heardrevealing the despondency of an invaded people . An

invincible will, serving a true conception— could anyspectacle stir the soul to more virile respect and,

if possible , emulation ? Michele t tells us K leberhad such a martial air tha t those who saw him

became brave . Of King Albert it may be said thateven thinking of him makes one a bet ter man .

https://www.forgottenbooks.com/join

By M . D . MEREJKOW SKYTranslatedfrom the Russian by C . Hagberg W righ t , LL.D.

To TH E BELGIAN PEOPLEW E do not say to you

—H ave courage . No courage could be greater thanthat which you have shown . But we say to you

— H ave faith . Yoursufferings have not been in vain they have awakened the conscience of thepeoples . F rom henceforth your land , drenched w ith the blood of yoursons

,shall be a H o ly Land from henceforth your cause shall be the cause

of H uman ity. To w ipe away the tears from your eyes , to heal your wounds ,to restore a hundred- fo ld that wh ich has been taken from you ,

this the

peoples have so lemn ly sworn— to this they have pledged the ir honour , andthat oath w ill be kept . W e desire no so lace while you remain deso late , wedesire no liberty wh ile you remain in bondage

, we desire no victory until

you have conquered . I n the day when the victors triumph , the first crownshall be yours and H uman ity shall bestow it upon you . All nations shallmake way for you , and in the forefront you shall en ter the prom ised land .

By M . T OUGAN BARANOV SKYTransla ted from the Russian by C . Hagberg W righ t , LL.D .

To BELGIUM AND H ER K ING

IN the life of a man as in the l ife of a Nation , Evil is closely interwovenw ith Good . W ithout Evil there would be no Good— for Good is nothingm ore than the vanquish ing of Evil .F rom this po int of view Evil not on ly serves Good but is also , as it were ,the invariable basis of its act ivity. Great h istorical crimes , like those of

wh ich we are eye-w itnesses to-day, have their place in the triumphant

onward march of eternal truth . The more terrible the crime , the morebeautiful and the more dazzling the power of that good which overcom es it .

W as not the C rucifix-ion essential to the everlasting victory of Jesus And

shall not the picture of Belgium ruined and laid waste by her foes be gravenfor ever on the pages of human histo ry P Shall not our rem ote descendan tsmake songs and legends about the glorious country of King Albert whichhas given proof of supreme courage and unconquerable spirit in the awfulhour of barbarian invas ion P And shall not Belgium by her example inspireH uman ity throughout the ages to do deeds of hero ism and to battle for truth .

H enceforth King Albert be longs to all of us , he is our common possession ,

like one of those spiritual heroes who raise the value of the who le ofmankind .

And after many,many years ,when every trace of the present bloody struggle

has van ished , when the nam es of the battle-fields and the great commandersare forgotten , when all the horrors w e are now living through seem but far

off legends , when the proudest temples and palaces of our era have crumbledinto dust , the image of the noble King shall still continue to inspire the poet .

186

By A . KOUPR INETransla ted from the Russian by H enry Bradley , LL.D.

.NOT applause , not adm iration , but the deep eternal gratitude of the who lec ivilised world is now due to the self-denying Belgian people and the irnoble young Sovereign . They first threw them selves before the savageb east , foam ing w ith pride , maddened w ith blood . They thought no t of

their own safety , nor of the prosperity of their houses , nor of the fate of

the high culture of their country,nor of the vast numbers and cruelty

o f the enemy. They have saved,not on ly their fatherland , but all Europe ,

the cradle of intellect , taste , science , creat ive art , and beauty ; they havesaved from the fury of the barbarians , trampling in their inso lence , the bestroses in the ho ly garden of God. Compared w ith their modest hero ism ,

the deed of Leon idas and his S partans who fought in the pass of Therm opyles falls into the shade . And the hearts of all the noble and the goodb eat in accord w ith the ir great hearts .

No,never shall die or lose its power a people endowed w ith such a noble

fi re of blood , w ith such feelings , that inspire it to confront bereavem ent ,

sorrow , sickness , wounds to march as friends , hand in hand , adored Kingand simple cottager , m an and woman

,poor and rich ,

weak and strong,

aristocrat and labourer . Salutation and humblest reverence to them

By M. D . ANOU T C H IN

W H O now,save the Germans , would not compassionate poor Be lgium ,

small,but at the sam e tim e great , utterly devastated and depopulated fo r

this so le reason— that she has dared to remain loyal and to defend her so i lagainst the unrighteous invasion of barbarians .

One would have to be a W i lliam I I , represen ting the worst side of Teuton icm ilitarism , to dare name the noble country a traitor . W e Europeansadm ire the hero ism of the Belgians and the ir kn ight ly King .

Let us hope that w ith the un ited forces of England , Russia, F rance , Be lgium ,

S erbia, and Japan ,the enemy of good faith and human ity w ill b e utterly

broken . I n all these emergencies the device now or never is not to be

forgotten , and the sword shall not be sheathed unti l the Kaiser acknowledgesh imse lf beaten .

By LOU I S COUPE RU STOW ARDS noble Belgium

,vict im of a world- tragedy, all sympathies

stretch out like maternal hands, eager to soothe her quivering griefs . To

her noble Sovereigns , King Albert and Queen Elisabeth ,a chorus of con

so lation raises this cry Despair not , for sooner or later the victim is alwaysavenged by Justice and Dest iny.

187

By H ALL CA INE

GREAT BRITAIN

Not tha t she’

s old andfull of days , 0 God,Not that she keeps the round Earth ’

s wealth in fee,

Not that her sons, forthfrom their native sod

H ave borne herflag as far as man has trod ,

Not that her arm isfeared nor yet theflood

Of her avenging wrath , her ancien t bloodNot therefore is she mighty , O my God.

But that asMother of Nations , strong yet meek,H er strength is given her to protect the weak,

And that she cries o ’

er any child of ThineAt any wrongful blow of any S tate,

Because her soul is outraged she is m ine

Therefore it is that God made B ritain Great .

Reply to Rossetti’s Refusal of Aid Between Nations .

MAET E RL IN C KTo the Editor of K ING ALBERT

’

s BOOK

IL ne m’

appartien t pas de cé'lébrer en cc m om en t la gloire de ma petite

patrie . Vous l ’avez fait du reste de si adm irable facon , avec une eloquencesiprecise et sibe lle qu

’i l n ’

ya rien aajouteravotre Introduct ion . Vos paro lesm

’

on t ému jusqu’

aux larm es . Elles nous apportent le plus haut témo ignageque l

’

on puisse espérer clans l’histoire parcequ’

elles son t prononcées au

nom d’

un grand peuple pour qui l’honneur , la loyauté , la fidélité aux

engagem ents so lennels , le courage silencieux , tenace et invincible , fure-nt

toujours les lo is m emes de la vie . De tout mon Occur , m erci l

4—4 mI t is notfor me to sing the glor ies of my little coun try highest testimony we can hope for in history, for theya t this momen t , and indeed you have done so yourself speak in the name of a gr eat people to whom honour ,with such a true and noble eloquence that it would be loyalty

, faith to solemn covenants,and silen t

drfiicult to add anything to your I ntroduction . Your tenacious , invincible courage have always been the

all my hear t, thank you

T H E E N D O F K I N G A L B E R T ’

S B O O K