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KING ALBERT'S

BOOK

A TRIBUTE TO THE BELGIAN KING AND PEOPLE FROM REPRESENTATIVE MEN AND WOMEN THROUGHOUT THE

WORLD

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

IN CONJUNCTION WITH

THE DAILY SKETCH THE GLASGOW HERALD AJNT> HODDER AND STOUGHTON

INTRODUCTION TO KING ALBERT'S BOOK THE immediate object of this Book is to offer, in the names and by the pens of a large group of the representative men and women of the civilised countries, a tribute of admiration to Belgium, on the heroic and ever-memorable share she has taken in the war which nozv convulses Europe, and at the same time to invoke the world's sympathy, its help and its prayers for the gallant little nation in the vast sorrow of its present condition.

With 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 European quarrel, desiring only to be left alone that she might pursue the arts of peace, Belgium found herself suddenly confronted by the choice of allowing her soil to be invaded by a powerful neighbour on his way to destroy his enemy, or of protecting her independence as a separate nation by the whole strength of her armed resistance.

Although one of the smallest and least aggressive of the countries of Europe, the daughter among the nations, Belgium, true to 'her lofty political idealism, chose the latter part, not counting the cost, only realising that a ruthless crime was about to be 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 of her race.

In doing this during the past fateful months, Belgium has fought not only her own battle but also the battle of France, the battle of Great Britain and the battle of Freedom. By her brave stand against incalculable odds she has added a new and inspiring chapter to the heroic annals of humanity and perhaps lifted to a higher level the future destinies of man.

But she has paid a terrible penalty. Her beautiful country has been laid waste. Her harvests, which were ripe for the gathering, have been trodden into the earth. Her villages have been given up to the flames. Her cities have been made to resound with the screams of shell and the cries of slaughter. Her historic monu- ments, venerable with the associations of learning and piety, have been razed to the ground. And, above all, Death has taken an awful toll of her manhood on the field of battle, while multitudes of her surviving people, the very young, the very old, the very weak, the very poor, all innocent and all helpless, have been driven forth on the verge of winter from their smoking, blackened and outraged homes into an exile in foreign lands from which there can hardly be any hope that many of them will return.

No more woeful and terrible spectacle of a country in utter desolation ever came Jrom earthquake, eruption or other convulsion of Nature in her wrath than has been produced in Belgium by the hand of man. A complete nation is in ruin. A whole country is in ashes. An entire people are destitute, homeless and on the roads. A little Kingdom, dedicated to liberty, has " kept the pledge and died for it."

As Belgium has thus become the martyr nation of the war, however great the sacrifices 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 of human nature will be stirred to an infinite pity , and that in the present dark hour of her utmost need the world will see that it is not more important that the material succour of food and clothing should be found for the bodies of her stricken and impoverished people than that comfort and solace should be offered to their souls. Therefore this book is published as the united voice of the world's gratitude to 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 of fighting 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 King of the Belgians, who, from his first moving appeal to Great Britain and to France, to help him to resist the gigantic 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 Council and on the battlefield, where he makes common cause with his soldiers in the trenches, displayed some of the noblest energies oj the human character, and sustained those highest traditions of Kingship which, among free nations, unite the people to the throne.

Such is the aim and character of this book, and if so high an object has been in some measure achieved, it has only been by the ready and whole-hearted co- operation of the leaders of thought, of art and of action who are prominent throughout the world for their love of justice and freedom. There are many thousands of such leaders in every country , fully capable of interpreting, each in his or her own way, the immense emotion which now fills the heart of humanity at the spectacle of Belgium's sorrows ; but the exigencies of space in a single volume have made it necessary to limit the number of contributors whom it has been possible to invite to join in this world's tribute to the martyr nation. With the utmost care, and not without many misgivings about illustrious names which well merited inclusion, a list was compiled of princes, statesmen, churchmen, authors, artists, and composers of all civilised countries, except the countries of our enemies, in the hope that each in his own medium, whether of word or picture or song or story, might be impelled, according as the spirit moved him, to present his view of Belgium's sacrifice and of the measureless calamity which has befallen her.

The result is now offered to the public in the present volume, which it is hoped to publish in various editions, and as nearly as possible simultaneously, in most of the countries of the authors, especially France, Russia, Italy, and America, thus making it a work of 'international interest, calculated to be a moral inspira- tion to posterity and to take its place as one of the luminous pages in the world's history.

Never before, perhaps, have so many illustrious names been inscribed within the covers of a single volume, but KING ALBERTS BOOK has a significance which even transcends its distinction. Out of the storm of battle a great new spirit of brotherhood has been born into the world, calling together the scattered and divided parts of it, uniting them in a single mind, a single sentiment, a single 6

purpose, so that here, in love of justice and in hatred of oppression, speaking in many voices and many tongues but from only one soul, which enkindles the earth as with a holy fire, men and women of all civilised countries have drawn closer and clasped hands.

Nor is that everything. In sight and witness of this World-league of some of the spiritual leaders of mankind, who labour for and live by peace, and in memory of this Covenant of princes, statesmen, soldiers, sailors, teachers, preachers, and artists 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 represent may never again, from any narrower or less noble aims, draw the sword against each other as long as the world may last ? So 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 moment when her heart is cruelly and almost incurably wounded, the expression of our love, our sympathy, and our unbounded admiration , as the spiritual message of the civilised world to the suffering millions of her people, in the midst of the ruin and desolation which still lie heavy upon her even at this sacred Season when the holiest aspirations of humanity are towards peace on earth and good-will to men.

Belgians, in the person of your heroic young Sovereign we salute you. The statesmanship, the learning, the wisdom, the genius of the world lay their tribute at your feet.

HALL CAINE

The Editor of KING ALBERTS BOOK on his own behalf and on behalf of the proprietors of the " Daily Telegraph " and its associate newspapers, the " Daily Sketch " and the " Glasgow Herald" makes grateful acknowledgment of the services of Mr. G. Ralph Hall Caine as general organiser, of Mr. Ridgwell Cullutn as editorial assistant, of Miss Florence Simmonds and Mrs. Marie Conor Leighton as French and Italian translators, and of Mr. Desmond McAuliffe as compiler of the Index. He also desires to thank Professor Fitzmaurice-Kelly, Dr. Hagberg Wright, Mr. J. S. Cotton, Dr. Henry Bradley (Oxford), and Mr. Edmund Gosse for valuable help in the translation of contributions in the lesser-known languages, as well as The Complete Press for the admirable craftsmanship displayed in the engraving, the beautiful typographical page, and the printing, and also Mr. J. E. Hoddcr- Williams, head of Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton, for his own and his firm's valuable services as general publishers of KING ALBERT'S BOOK.

The Editor feels that it would be presumption on his part to thank the illustrious contributors, the Belgian people and the universal sentiment of the world will assuredly do that, but he trusts he may be permitted to express his personal gratitude to his own distin- guished colleagues, the artists, composers, and men and women of letters in many countries, whose spontaneous and whole-hearted response to his request have made it possible for him to produce this memorable book.

INDEX TO CONTRIBUTORS

ABBOTT, REV. LYMAN, D.D., LL.D., American Divine ; editor of " The Outlook " 168

AGA KHAN, AGA SULTAN MAHOMED SHAH, G.C.I.E., G.C.S.I., K.C.I.E., Hon. LL.D. Cainb. ; head of the Ismaili Mahomedans 14

ALVERSTONE, VISCOUNT (SIR RICHARD EVERARD WEBSTER), G.C.M.G. ; for thirteen years Lord Chief Justice of England 140

AMEER ALI, RT. HON. (SYED), Hon. LL.D. Camb., M.A., C.I.E. ; member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council 102

ANGELL, NORMAN, author of" The Great Illusion" 48

ANOUTCHIN, D., Russian scientist 187

ARCHER, WILLIAM, British man of letters 112

ASHLEY, W. J., British Economist, M.A., M.Com., Hon. Ph.D. Berlin 114

ASQUITH, RT. HON. HERBERT HENRY, British Statesman, Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury; M.P., K.C. 13

ATHERTON, GERTRUDE FRANKLIN, American novelist 104

BACKER-LUNDE, JOHAN, Norwegian composer 173 BADEN-POWELL, LT.-GEN. SIR ROBERT

STEPHENSON SMYTH, K.C.B., K.C.V.O. 176

BALFOUR, RT. HON. ARTHUR JAMES, F.R.S.,

D.L. ; British Statesman 15

BALTIMORE, CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF (JAMES

GIBBONS) 68

BARANOVSKI, TOUG/.NE, Russian Economist 186

BARCLAY, MRS. FLORENCE I-., English novelist 99 BARCLAY, SIR THOMAS, LL.B., Ph.D., English barrister; founder of the International Brother- Hood Alliance 66 BARR, SIR JAMES, M.D., LL.D.,F.R.C.P.,F.R.S.E. ;

British scientist 177

BARZINI, LUICI, Italian journalist and publicist 125 BAZIN, RENfc FRANCOIS NICOLAS MARIE, French author ; Membre de I' Academic francaise, Docteur en Droit de I' University de Paris 127

BELMONT, ALVA E. SMITH (MRS. O. H. P.

BELMONT), American philanthropist 98

BENCKENDORFF, LE COMTE DE (ALEXANDRE CONSTANTIXOVITCH), Russian Ambassador in London 16

BENNETT, ENOCH ARNOLD, British author 37

BENSON, ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER, C.V.O., English

author 102

BERESFORD, ADMIRAL LORD CHARLES WILLIAM DE LA PoER, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., M.P., Late Com- mander of the British Channel Fleet 40 BERGSON, HENRI Louis, Professor at the College of France, Member of the Institute, Officer of the Legion of Honour, Officier de I' Instruction Publique 59 BERNHARDT, SARAH, French actress 116 BIRRELL, RT. HON. AUGUSTINE, British Statesman and author ; Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland: M.P., K.C. I2T BISTOLFI, LEONARDO, Italian sculptor 176 BLAND-SUTTON. SIR JOHN, F.R.C.S., English

surgeon 80

BOJER, JONAS. Swedish novelist 170

BOOTH, W. BRAMWELL, General of the Salvation Army 98

PAGB

BORDEN, RT. HON. SIR ROBERT LAIRD, K.C. ;

Premier of Canada 24

BOURGET, PAUL, French poet, critic, and novelist ;

Membre de V Acadimie francaise 180

BRACCO, ROBERTO, Italian dramatist 169

BR ADDON, MARY ELIZABETH (MARY MAXWELL),

English novelist 112

BRANTING, KARL HJALMAR, Swedish journalist ;

editor of the " Social Dcmohraten " 154

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

British Statesman ; Lord Warden of the Cinque

Ports 175

BROCK, SIR THOMAS, K.C.B. ; British sculptor 73-6 BRUCKMAN, W. L., Dutch artist ; Knight of the

Orangehaitssan Order facing 72

BRYCE, VISCOUNT, RT. HON. JAMES, O.M.,

D.C.L. ; British Statesman and author, formerly His Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary at Washington 46

BURNAND, SIR FRANCIS COWLEY, British drama- tist; formerly editor of " Punch" 116

BURNHAM, LORD, K.C.V.O. ; principal proprietor of the " Daily Telegraph " 79

BURT, RT. HON. THOMAS, British Statesman 101

CAINE, HALL, English novelist 188

CAMBON, PAUL, G.C.V.O., D.C.L., LL.D. Oxon, Cantab., Edin. ; French Ambassador to the Court of St. James 16

CANTERBURY, ARCHBISHOP OF (THE MOST REV. RANDALL THOMAS DAVIDSON), Prelate of the Order of the Garter, G.C.V.O., Royal Victorian Chain, D.D., D.C.L., LL.D. 14

CANTON, WILLIAM, British author 152

CAPUANA, LUIGI, Italian novelist 171

CAPUS, VINCENT MARIE ALFRED, French author

and journalist, Officer of the Legion of Honour 120

CARLILE, REV. WILSON, Prebendary of St. Paul's Cathedral, Founder and Hon. Chief Secretary of the Church Army 98

CARNEGIE, ANDREW, LL.D., American publicist; formerly Lord Rector of St. Andrews and Aberdeen Universities ; Bursar of the Peace Prize 58

CARPENTER, EDWARD, English author 109

CHAMBERS, ROBERT W., American author 112

CHARTRES, ANNIE VIVANTI, Italian poetess 103

CHESTERTON, GILBERT KEITH, English journa- list and author 143 CHIROL, SIR VALENTINE, English journalist and

publicist ; formerly foreign editor of" The Times " 64 CHOATE, HON. JOSEPH HODCES, American Diplo- matist; formerly United States Ambassador to Great Britain ; Ambassador and First Delegate of the United States to the International Peace Conference at The Hague 33

CHOLMONDELEY, MARY, English novelist 62

CHRISTENSSEN, JENS CHRISTIAN, ex-Prime

Minister of Denmark 102

CHRISTY, HOWARD CHANDLER, American artist

facing 68

CHURCHILL, WINSTON, American novelist 142

CHURCHILL, RT. HON. WINSTON LEONARD SPENCER, British Statesman, First Lord of the Admiralty, Elder Brother of Trinity House 28

INDEX TO CONTRIBUTORS

PAGE

CLIFFORD, JOHN, M.A., D.D. ; English Noncon- formist Minister CLIFFORD. MRS. W. K., English novelist and

playwright

COLLIER, HON. JOHN, English painter jaciug 153 CORELLI. MARIE, English novelist 69

COUPERUS, Louis, Dutch novelist 187

COURTNEY, WILLIAM LEONARD, M.A., LL.D. :

English author, editor of the " Fortnightly Review" 73 COWEN, SIR FREDERICK HYMAN, British com- poser ; Hon. Mus. Doc. Cambridge University, Edinburgh University 6°

CRANE. WALTER, R.W.S., English painter;

Commendatore of the Royal Crown of Italy 118-9

CREWE, MARQUESS OP (ROBERT OFFLEY ASH- BURTON CREWE-MILNES), K.G., (M.A., F.S.A., Hon. LL.D. Camb.) ; British Statesman ; Secre- tary of State for India 21 CRICHTON-BROWNE, SIR JAMES, M.D., LL.D., D.Sc., F.R.S., Lord Chancellor's Visitor, Treasurer and Vice-President Royal Institution of Great Britain 56 CROOKES, PROFESSOR SIR WILLIAM, O.M.. F.R.S., LL.D. ; British Scientist, Past President of the British Association 52 CROOKS, WILL. M.P.. English Labour leader 79 CURZON OF KEDLESTON, EARL (GEORGE NATHANIEL CURZON), G. C.S.I., G.C.I. E., M.A., F.R.S., D.C.L., LL.D.; British Statesman; late Viceroy of India 2 7

M7 142

"3

32

109

80

170

DEBUSSY, CLAUDE, French composer ; Chevalier

of the Legion of Honour DELAND, MARGARET, American novelist DE MORGAN, WILLIAM FREND, English novelist DICKSEE, FRANCIS BERNARD, English painter,

Royal Academician facing

DOBSON, HENRY AUSTIN, LL.D., English poet and

essayist DONNAY, MAURICE, French dramatist ; Member of

the French A cademy, Officer of the Legion of Honour 137 DULAC, EDMUND, British artist and illustrator

facing

EEDEN, VAN, Dutch author ELGAR, SIR EDWARD, KT., O.M., Mus. Doc.

Cantab., Hon. R.A.M., Mus. Doc. Dunelm, Mus.

Doc. Oxon, and Mus. Doc. Yale, U.S.A. (hon.

causa) ; British composer 84-91

ESHER, VISCOUNT (REGINALD BALIOL BRETT),

G.C.B., G.C.V.O., M.A. ; permanent member of

the Committee of Imperial Defence ; Royal Trustee,

British Museum 28

FAWCETT, MILLICENT GARRETT, LL.D. (Hon. St. Andrews) ; English publicist ; President of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies FERRERO, GUGLIELMO, Italian historian FILDES, SIR LUKE, R.A., British painter facing FISHER, HARRISON, American artist and illus-

facing

HERBERT ALBERT LAURENS, British M.A., LL.D., F.B.A. ; Fellow of New Oxford, and Vice-Chanctllor of the

trator FISHER, scholar ; College,

University of Sheffield IO

FISHER OF KILVERSTONE, LORD (JOHN 7° ARBUTHNOT), O.M., G.C.B., G.C.V.O. ; Admiral

of the British Fleet, First Sea Lord 48

FLAGG, G. MONTGOMERY, American artist and

illustrator facing 128

FRANCE, JACQUES ANATOLE THIBAULT, French author ; Officer of the Legion of Honour, Member of the French Academy 161

GALSWORTHY, JOHN, English novelist, dramatist, and essayist 53

GARDINER, A. G., English journalist ; editor of the " Daily News " 74

GARVIN, J. L., English journalist ; editor of the " Pall Mall Gazette" and the " Observer" 74

GERMAN, EDWARD, English composer 139

GIBSON, CHARLES DANA, American artist and illustrator 97

GLADSTONE, VISCOUNT, RT. HON. HERBERT JOHN, G.C.M.G., British Statesman, ex-Governor- General of South Africa 48

GOSSE, EDMUND, C.B., LL.D., English author ; Librarian to the House of Lords 57

GOULD, SIR FRANCIS CARRUTHERS, British caricaturist 1 72

GREY, RT. HON. SIR EDWARD, British Statesman, K.G., D.C.L., Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 20

HAGGARD, SIR (HENRY) RIDER, English novelist 112 HALSBURY, EARL OF (HARDINGE STANLEY

GIFFARD), British Statesman ; F.R.S., M.A. ;

formerly Lord Chancellor of England 22

HARDINGE OF PENSHURST, LORD (CHARLES

HARDINGE), G.C.B ; Viceroy of India 20

HARDY, THOMAS, O.M., Litt.D. (Camb.), LL.D.

(Aberdeen) ; English poet and novelist 21

HARRISON, FREDERIC, British author; Hon.

Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford, Hon. D.C.L.

Oxford, Hon. Litt.D. Cambridge, Hon. LL.D.

Aberdeen 28

HERTZ, VERY REV. JOSEPH HERMAN, Ph.D.;

Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations

of the British Empire 70

HERVIEU, PAUL ERNEST, French author; Membre

de I' A cademie francaise ; Grand Officier de la

Ldgion d'Honneur 47

HEWLETT, MAURICE HENRY, English novelist

and poet 55

HICHENS, ROBERT SMYTHE, English journalist

and novelist 105

HO WELLS, WILLIAM DEAN, American author 112

IBANEZ, VICENTE BLASCO, Spanish novelist 159

INOUYE, KATSUNOSKE, Japanese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, London 16

54 JELLICOE, ADMIRAL SIR JOHN RUSHWORTH, 131 K.C.B., K.C.V.O. ; British sailor, Commander- 36 in-Chief of the Home Fleet 117

JIMENEZ, D. RAMON, Spanish poet 122

168 JUSSERAND, JEAN ADRIEN ANTOINE JULES, French man of letters ; French A mbassador at Washington 134

KEY. ELLEN, Swedish author 176

140 KIDD, BENJAMIN, English author 66

INDEX TO CONTRIBUTORS

KIPLING, RUDYARD, British author; Nobel Prizeman ; lion. LL.D. McGill University, Hon. D.Litt. Durham and Oxford 19

KITCHENER OF KHARTOUM, EARL (HORATIO HERBERT KITCHENER), G.C.I.E..G.C.S.I..G.C.B., O.M., G.C.M.G., K.P. ; Secretary of State for War 32

A. KOUPRINE, Russian author 187

LANGE-MtlLLER, PETER ERASMUS, Danish com- poser 156

LANKESTER, SIR E. RAY, British scientist; K.C.B., M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S., Member of the Institute of France, Foreign Associate Oj the Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium 144

LANSDOWNE, MARQUESS OF (HENRY CHARLES KEITH PETTY-FITZMAURICE), British Statesman ; K.G., G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G. ; formerly Governor- General of India and Foreign Secretary 23

LARMOR, SIR JOSEPH, English mathematician ; Fellow and formerly Secretary of the Royal Society 39

LAURIER, RT. HON. SIR WILFRID, Canadian Statesman ; G.C.M.G., LL.D., K.C. ; formerly Premier of Canada 52

LAVED AN, HENRI, French author; Officier de la Ugion d'Honneur, Membre de I'Academie fraticaise 1 15

LA VERY, JOHN, British painter; R.S.A., R.H.A., A.R.A., H.R.O.L. ; Chevalier of the Crown of Italy and of Leopold of Belgium facing 20

LAW, RT. HON. ANDREW BONAR, M.P. ; British Statesman 40

LEE, SIR SIDNEY, English author; LL.D., D.Litt., F.B.A. ; editor of the Dictionary of National Biography ; Professor of English Language and Literature m the University of London 92

LEHMANN, LIZA (MRS. HERBERT BEDFORD), English composer no

LLOYD-GEORGE, THE RT. HON. DAVID, British Statesman ; Chancellor of the Exchequer 32

LOCKE, WILLIAM JOHN, English novelist; B.A. (Cantab.), Hon. A.R.I.B.A. 68

LOCKYER, SIR (JOSEPH) NORMAN, British scientist ; K.C.B., F.R.S. 146

LODGE, SIR JOSEPH OLIVER, British scientist ; F.R.S., D.Sc. London, Hon. D.S^. Oxford, Cambridge, Victoria, and Liverpool 56

LONDON, BISHOP OP (Rx. REV. ARTHUR FOLEY WINNINGTON INGRAM), D.I.. LL.D. 82

LONDON, JACK, American novelist 122

LOPEZ, MUNOZ, ANTONIO, Ex-Foreign Secretary of Spain 145

LOTI, PIERRE (Louis MARIE J ULIEN VIAUD), French novelist ; Membre de I'Academie francaise 30

LOW, SIDNEY, British author and journalist ; M.A. (Oxon.) 51

LUCAS, SIR CHARLES, K.C.B., K.C.M.G. 52

LUCAS, SEYMOUR, R.A. ; English painter facing 120

LUGARD, LADY, English author and journalist ; formerly head of the Colonial department of " The Times " 169

LUND BISHOP OF (GOTTFRIED BILLING) 127

MACIEIRA, ANTONIO, Portuguese Minister of Justice and Foreign Affairs 150

PAGE

MACKENZIE, SIR ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, British

composer, Principal of the Royal A cademy of Music 34 M'CORMICK, ARTHUR DAVTD, R.I., I.O.P.,

F.R.G.S.; English artist facing 176

MAETERLINCK, MAURICE, Belgian poet and

dramatist 188

MALAGODI, OLINDO, Italian journalist; editor

of "La Tribuna," Rome 175

MARCONI, GUGLIELMO, Electrical engineer 130

MASCAGNI, PIETRO, Italian composer 167

MAXIM, SIR HIRAM STEVENS, C.E., M.E.; Chevalier

op (he Legion of Honour 140

MEREJKOWSKY, DMITRI, Russian author 186

MESSAGER, ANDRE, French composer; Director

of the Grand Opera, Paris 41

MEYNELL, MRS. ALICE, English poetess and

essayist S°

MONET, CLAUDE, French artist 56

MURRAY, GEORGE GILBERT AIME, British scholar ; Regius Professor of Greek in the Univer- sity of Oxford 83

NANSEN, FRIDTJOF, G.C.V.O., D.Sc., D.C.L..

Ph.D., F.R.G.S. ; Arctic explorer 32

NICHOLSON, WILLIAM, English painter facing 182 NIELSEN, KAY, Danish artist facing 104

NO RTHCLIFFE, LORD (ALFRED CHARLES WILLIAM

HARMSWORTH), English newspaper proprietor 78

NOVELLI, ERMETE, Italian actor and dramatist;

Commendatore of the Royal Crown of Italy 155

NOYES, ALFRED, English poet ; Hon. Litt.D. Yale

University 25

O'CONNOR, THOMAS POWER, M.P. ; Irish States- man and journalist ; editor of " T.P.'s Journal " 185

ORCZY, THE BARONESS (MRS. MONTAGUE BAR- STOW), English playwright and novelist 135

PADEREWSKI, IGNACE JAN, Polish pianist and composer ; Commander of the Order of the Crouln of Italy 133

PANKHURST, EMMELINE, Hon. Treasurer of the Women's Social and Political Union 67

PARIS, CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF (LEON ADOL- PHUS AMETTE) 29

PARKER, SIR GILBERT, British author ; D.C.L., Litt.D., M.P. 92

PARRISH, MAXFIELD, American artist facing 112

PARTRIDGE, BERNARD, English artist ; cartoonist of " Punch " facing 164

PENNELL, JOSEPH, artist facing 140

PERES. RAMON D., Spanish poet 132

PERLEY, HON. GEORGE HALSEY, Canadian Statesman 15*

PETRIE, WILLIAM MATTHEW FLINDERS. Egypto- logist; D.C.L., Litt.D., LL.D.. Ph.D., F.R.S., F.B.A. 92

PHILLPOTTS, EDEN, English novelist 62

PINERO, SIR ARTHUR WING, English dramatist ; Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Member of the Academic Committee 51

POLLOCK. RT. HON. SIR FREDERICK, LL.D.. D.C.L. ; Fellow of the British Academy, Hon. Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford 133

POYNTER, SIR EDWARD JOHN, British painter; K.C. V.O., President of the Royal A cademy facing 24

II

INDEX TO CONTRIBUTORS

Member of the

M.A., Litt.D.,

; editor oj " The

PAGE

170

52

64 36

172

129

?8 24 126

71

PREVOST, MARCEL, French author

French Academy PROTHERO, GEORGE WALTER,

Hon. LL.D. (Edin. and Harvard)

Quarterly Kevieie"

RACKHAM, ARTHUR, R.W.S., British artist and illustrator facing

RAMSAY, SIR WILLIAM, British scientist ; K.C.B., F.R.S. ; Nobel prizeman

RAVEN-HILL, LEONARD, British artist and illustrator ; cartoonist of " Punch " facing

READING, LORD (RT. HON. RUFUS DANIEL ISAACS), K.C.V.O., K.C. ; Lord Chief Justice of England

REDESDALE, LORD REDESDALE OF (ALGERNON BERTRAM FREEMAN-MITFORD), British States- man ; G.C.V.O., K.C.B., D.L.

REDMOND, JOHN EDWARD, M.P., Irish Statesman ; Leader of the Irish Party iit the House of Commons

REID, RT. HON. SIR GEORGE HOUSTON, K.C.M.G., D.C.L., K.C. ; High Commissioner for Australia

REIMS, CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF (Louis HENRY LUCON)

REINACH, SALOMON, French author ; Membre de I'lnslilut de France I31

RIBOT, ALEXANDRE P., French Statesman ; Mem- ber of the French Senate ; Membre de I' Academic franfaise et I' Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques 133

RICHMOND, SIR WILLIAM BLAKE, British painter ; K.C.B., M.A., R.A. facing 40

RICHEPIN, JEAN, French poet, romancer, conferen- cier, dramatist ; Officier de la Ltgion d'Honneur ; Membre de V Academie franfaise 106

RIVIERE, BRITON, R.A., D.C.L., British painter ; Hon. Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford facing 56

ROBERTS, EARL, OF KANDAHAR, PRETORIA, AND WATERFORD (FREDERICK SLEIGH), British soldier, deceased; G.C.B., G.C.S.I., V.C., K.G., D.C.L., LL.D., O.M. ; Field-Marshal 55

ROLLAND, ROMAIN, French author ; Membre du Conseil de direction de tEcole des Hautes Etudes Sociales 107

ROMANONES, CONDE DE, ex-Prime Minister of Spain 168

ROSEBERY, EARL OF (ARCHIBALD PHILIP PRIMROSE), British Statesman; K.G., K.T., Hon. LL.D. Camb., F.R.S. 17

ROSTAND, EDMOND, French dramatist ; Membre de I' Academic franfaise 15

RUSSELL, SIR EDWARD, English jaurnalist and essayist ; editor of the " Liverpool Daily Post and Mercury" 1 17

RYLEY, MADELEINE LUCETTE, American authoress 39

SAINT-SAENS, CAMILLE, French composer ;

LL.D. Camb., D.Mus. Oxford 128

SALVINI, TOMMASO, Italian actor ; Commendalore

of the Royal Crown of Italy 166

SARAWAK, H.H. THE RANEE OF 52

SARTORIO, GIULIO ARISTIDE, Italian artist and

sculptor 49

SEAMAN, SIR OWEN, M.A., D.Litt. ; English

poet ; editor of " Punch " SHANNON, JAMES JEBUSA, R.A., A.R.H.A. ;

British portrait painter ; President of the Society

of Portrait Painters facing

SICHEL, WALTER, M. A., English author and barrister SIENKIEWICZ, HENRYK, Polish novelist ; author

of " Quo Vadis?" SINCLAIR, MAY, English novelist SMYTH, ETHEL, Mus. Doc., British composer SOLOMON, SOLOMON JOSEPH, R.A. , British painter

facing

SOTHERN, EDWARD H., American actor SPENDER, J. ALFRED, English journalist;

editor of the " Westminster Gazette " SPIELMANN, MARION H., F.S.A., F.R.S.L.; British

writer on art ; Chevalier of the Order of Leopold

STANFORD, SIR CHARLES VILLIERS, British composer ; M.A., Mus. Doe., D.C.L., LL.D., Prof, of Music, Camb. Univ. STEEL, FLORA ANNIE, English novelist SUTRO, ALFRED, English author and dramatist

TAFT, HON. WILLIAM HOWARD, American States- man, ex-President of the United States of America

TREE, SIR HERBERT BEERBOHM, English actor and manager

TREVES, SIR FREDERICK, BT., British surgeon ; G.C.V.O., C.B., LL.D., M.D., F.R.C.S. ; Serjeant Surgeon to the King

VALDES, ARMANDO PALACIO, Spanish novelist VERHAEREN, EMILE, Belgium's national poet VINOGRADOFF, PROFESSOR PAUL, Russian scholar; F.B.A., Corpus Professor of Jurispru- dence Oxford University

WARD, SIR ADOLPHUS WILLIAM, Litt.D., LL.D., F.B.A. i Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge

WARD, MRS HUMPHRY (MARY AUGUSTA), English novelist-

WATERLOW, SIR ERNEST ALBERT, BT., R.A. ; English landscape painter ; President of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours facing

WATSON, WILLIAM, English poet; Hon. LL D. Aberdeen

WEBB, SIDNEY, LL.B., Hon. Professor of Public Administration, University of London

WESTMINSTER, CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF (FRANCIS BOURNE)

WHARTON, EDITH, American novelist

WILCOX, ELLA WTHEELER, American poetess

WING ATE, LIEUT.-GEN. SIR FRANCIS REGINALD, British soldier; G.C.V.O., K.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O., D.C.L. ; Sirdar of the Egyptian Army

WYNDHAM, SIR CHARLES, English actor and manager

YORK, ARCHBISHOP OF (MOST REV. GORDON LANG), D.D., D.C.L., LL.D.

COSMO

ZANGWILL, ISRAEL, British author; President of the Jewish Territorial Organisation

PAGB

123

1 60 162

46

141

67

52 136

74 132

124

43 123

36 93

146

179 80

65

81 75

48

33 66

22

165

48

20

77 70

163

END

O F 12

THE

INDEX

T O

CONTRIBUTORS

10. Bobning Sitmt,

fC.

J

By THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY CAPABLE historians, men of insight and research, will set themselves, long hence, in the calmer air which distance lends, to tell afresh, for old and young, the beginnings of this dark and devastating war. Then the story of Belgium's steadfastness to her plighted word of honour, and her tireless resistance to high-handed wrong — a resistance sustained with un- conquerable courage in face of ruthless and overwhelming force — will become one of the golden pages of the world's story. And the contem- porary witnesses of the ennobling fidelity thus shown by the people of a little land do well to record at the moment, as in this book, their appreciation of a valour which was tested by a sterner strain than even Thermopylae or Sempach knew, and remained unshaken and unsullied to the end. God grant to these men and women, and to their children yet unborn, the grace and power to garner hereafter, for the common good, the fruits of this devotion to the cause of liberty and of good faith, and of whatsoever makes life worthier of our Christian heritage.

/oju

By H. H. AGA KHAN

[ DEEM it a great privilege to be associated with this tribute to King Albert, the heroic monarch of the martyr nation. The Moslems of India and the British Empire, 100 millions in all, have watched with ever-deepening admiration the unflinching stand of the Belgian King and people against the unprovoked attack of a terrible foe. Had Belgium been guided by considerations of material good and immediate interest she would have accepted the Kaiser's promise not to molest or injure if he was allowed an undisputed passage to the French frontier for his troops. But this easy and inglorious course was not contemplated even for a moment. Belgium unhesitatingly chose the path of honour and duty and made an irreparable sacrifice of material good for moral glory. This undying record of a great refusal has appealed to the best traditions and sentiments of Moslems in India, whose history affords many stirring examples of readiness to lose all, even life itself, for honour and duty. I can assure King Albeit and his glorious people that the Moslems of the British Empire fall behind no other nation in their profound and sincere sympathy with them in the count- less sorrows and sacrifices which constitute the imperishable glory of Belgium.

By EDMOND ROSTAND

Belgique, c'est ton front que I'Aurore prefere ! Ceux-ld sont devolus aux tenebres, qui n'ont Mis lobus le plus gros dans le plus gros canon Que pour mieux empecher VAvenir de se faire I

" Trahissez V Ideal et traitons une affaire," Siffle un Bethmann-Hottweg plus double que son nom. " Non I " dit un Roi sublime. Et, butant sur ce non, Le cheval d'Attila tout d'un coup se de'ferre.

" On s'en tire," a dit le Bethmann, " comme Von pent. ' Mais le Monde, admirant qu'un pays soit en feu Pour avoir cru que c'est comme on doit qu'on s'en tire,

Luttera tant qu'un seul Barbare jera tort,

A ton voile, M aline, a ta couronne, Sire,

D'un seul point de dentelle et d'un seulfleuron d'or I

By THE RT. HON. ARTHUR J. BALFOUR I AM asked to speak of Belgium. Is it of Belgium as she is, or of Belgium as she will one day be ? If the first, my theme would be the greatest of national tragedies, but also the noblest. Nothing that can heighten our sympathy or move our admiration is wanting. The weakness of the victim, the justice of her cause, the greatness of her sufferings, and her unconquer- able soul, have moved the wonder and pity of the world. And when we turn from the victim to the oppressor, the tragic horror deepens. We see wrong heaped on wrong, and treachery on treachery. Faithless in designing his schemes, brutal in executing them, he has ruthlessly trampled under foot all laws but the law of the strongest. He knows, it seems, no other. But the drama is not going to end with the triumph of evil. We are wit- nessing no irremediable tragedy. Happier days are yet to come. Wrongs have indeed been done which nothing can right ; sufferings endured which nothing can repay. Yet the time will surely come, and come soon, when Belgium's wounds will heal, when morally and materially greater than before, she will pursue in peace her high destiny, strong in the memories of an heroic past, and in the affectionate esteem of all who love liberty and admire valour.

15

By HIS EXCELLENCY M. PAUL CAMBON

EN luttant avec heroi'sme pour leur independance nationale et en s'imposant noblement les plus douloureux sacrifices pour la defense du droit, le peuple Beige et son Roi ont merite la reconnaissance et 1'admiration du monde civilise, et ils se sont acquis une gloire imperissable.

TRANSLATION

By their heroic struggle for national independence and their noble acceptance of the most terrible sacrifices in defence of Right, the Belgian King and people have earned the admiration and gratitude of the civilised world, and have won imperishable glory.

By THE COUNT DE BENCKENDORFF

SI, par I'heroi'sme deploye a la defense de son independance, la Belgique

s'est acquise I'admiration du monde, c'est de la reconnaissance que lui

doivent tous les peuples auxquels importe le maintien de 1'ordre social, sur

lequel repose la civilisation.

Sans hesiter, elle s'est faite champion de la condition premiere ace maintien,

la saintete des conventions humaines et des traites, sans laquelle le principe

.de 1'etat moderne s'effondre.

A sa gloire imperissable, la Belgique est restee egalement fidele aux traditions

les plus reculees de ses peuples, et aux devoirs plus recents que la loi des

nations lui impose.

TRANSLATION

If, by the heroism displayed in the defence of her sanctity of human obligations and of treaties, without

independence, Belgium has won the admiration of the which the principle of the modern State would

world, all other nations owe her gratitude, that is, collapse.

all nations which value the maintenance of social To her everlasting glory, Belgium has remained

order, on which civilisation is based. faithful to the most ancient traditions of her people,

Without hesitation, she has played the part of cham- and to the more modern duties that the law of nations

pion of the first condition of such maintenance — the has imposed upon her.

By HIS EXCELLENCY KATSUNOSKE INOUYE

THE indomitable courage and patriotic ardour with which Belgium has been exerting herself to defend her liberty and independence against the wanton invasion of her territory by a powerful enemy has created the greatest admiration throughout the world. In Japan, where chivalry and patriotism reigns, Belgium's heroic defence has greatly aroused the sym- pathy of her people, and we join in the hope that her' flag, adorned anew with glory, will in no distant future be floating again triumphantly through- out her dominion.

16

By THE EARL OF ROSEBERY

IT is a privilege to write about the Belgians and their King, who have proved once more that Kingship is not dead, and that heroism still survives. A short time ago a young prince ascended the throne of this happy and peaceful kingdom, the home of industry, manufacture, and commerce, the garden of the Continent, at the gates of which stood a guardian angel armed with the sword of Europe. It might well seem that a career of secure prosperity lay before him and his subjects, who, to use an old Border phrase, were " dreading harm from no man, but only wishing to live in God's peace and the King's." In an instant all this fair prospect was blackened. Prussia, which had twice solemnly guaranteed the independence of the little kingdom, suddenly poured her hosts into it, not as might be supposed to protect, but to destroy that independence. She thought, no doubt, that the Belgians would bow to the necessity of such overwhelming odds and submit to the invaders. She mistook her men. King Albert and his people protested with arms in their hands. For the moment they stemmed the torrent. Liege successfully resisted the enemy till overwhelming artillery pounded its forts to powder. Inch by inch the Belgians, headed by the King, resisted, but the mass of invaders irresistibly rolled over them. Brussels the capital and Antwerp the citadel had to be successively abandoned. At last, almost all the kingdom was submerged, the Government had to retire to France, the King to his unbroken army. Meanwhile the German legions like a horde of barbarians had ravaged, plundered, and destroyed the country they had sworn to protect. The rage of being baffled had apparently maddened them. For the King and his Belgians at the cost of all they cherished had retarded the march of the invaders and nullified their plans. For the moment, Belgium, all mapped out, as it was, for Prussian cannon, and swarming with Prussian spies, was the bulwark of Europe and of public law. Not the resistance at Thermopylae to the millions of Xerxes was more splendid, and Thermopylae only involved the sacrifice of a handful of men, while this has cost a country and a nation.

There have been three Kings of the Belgians. The first, Leopold, steered the little kingdom with exquisite skill through dangers from within and from without until he was hailed as the Nestor of Europe. The second energetically sustained and developed the commerce and manufactures of his realm with extraordinary success. But the third, Albert, has already eclipsed his predecessors and ranks with William the Silent, the indomitable champion of the Low Countries.

And when the Belgians return, to what will they return ? The bare, ruined remains of their smiling country. Her fields ravaged, her villages burned, her ancient monuments, the glory of Europe as well as of Belgium, destroyed. For long years, perhaps for ever, Belgium will remain a monument of infamy. War is a ruthless devouring monster at best. But there is chival- rous war and there is devilish war, and the devastation of innocent Belgium will long subsist as the capital example of the devilish. She has suffered

much in the past, she has often been the theatre of conflict, she has been the scene of great battles under Marlborough, she contains the field of Waterloo. But she did not know what were the fiendish possibilities of warfare till she was invaded by a treacherous friend. There has been no desolation like it since the Thirty terrible Years which plunged Germany into ruin. But nearly three centuries have elapsed since then, centuries of culture, especially of German culture, in which we hoped that we had progressed far from the possibility of the recurrence of such horrors. We were wrong. German culture had taken a quick turn, and left civilisation, honour, and chivalry far behind. The fruits of that culture are mines sown broadcast in the ocean to destroy indiscriminately enemy, neutral, or friend, and bombs to fall on peaceful cities to kill women and children. " By their fruits ye shall know them." The Prussians indeed have abandoned the Christian God, and substituted the worship of a Pagan deity which they call Force or Might ; Might to supersede Right and all other moral forces. Of this squalid idol they are fortunate enough to hold the permanent proxy ; before this Moloch, if they worship anything, their chiefs bow the knee. Its motto is Hate. Its angels are Fury, Destruction, and Rapine. It has apparently no honour, no faith, no reverence. In its name they ravage, massacre, and plunder. Before its shrine they burn their treaties as incense. By its aid they hoped to subdue the world. Belgium was the first victim. But the harrying and devastation of Belgium was only an incident. France crushed, Russia humbled, Holland annexed were, it would seem, only the milestones on a triumphant march to the real, supreme object, the humilia- tion and destruction of the British Empire. Even that might not be the ultimate aim, for, with Europe prostrate, the liberties and prosperity of America would alarm the jealousy of the tyrant and call Moloch once more into requisition.

How our practical and prosaic nation has earned this stealthy and masked but determined hostility it is not easy to guess. And it is impossible to believe that every German participates and approves of all that has been done in their name. But in war criticism and dissent are always criminal, and always silent.

The desolation of Belgium was, then, it appears, only an incident in this subterranean policy. That consideration is but little solace to a ruined nation. Their reward was to have been to become a Prussian province, with all the liberty, independence, and happiness that that position involves ; to be in fact a second Posen or Alsace. But, as things are, their only con- solation, bleak for the moment, but eternal, can be that they have been the vanguard in a battle of emancipation for the human race, that they stood forth alone and nailed to the flagstaff the simple assertion of Right as against Might, that they have immortalised themselves and will stand eternally as heroes. History will pay homage for all time, as we now, to the King and the nation who sacrificed all but honour to preserve their own independence and safeguard the liberties of Europe. 18

By RUDYARD KIPLING THE OUTLAWS *

Through learned and laborious years They set themselves to find

Fresh terrors and undreamed-of /ears To heap upon mankind.

All that they drew from Heaven above Or digged from earth beneath,

They laid into their treasure-trove And arsenals of death,

While, for well-weighed advantage sake,

Ruler and ruled alike Built up a faith they meant to break

When the fit hour should strike.

They traded with the careless earth,

And good return it gave ; They plotted by their neighbour's hearth

The means to make him slave.

When all was readied to their hand They loosed their hidden sword

And utterly laid waste a land Their oath was pledged to guard.

Coldly they went about to raise To life and make more dread

Abominations of old days, That men believed were dead.

They paid the price to reach their goal

Across a world inflame, But their own hate slew their own soul

Before that victory came.

Copyright in the United States of America by Rudyard Kipling, November 1914.

19

By THE RT. HON. SIR EDWARD GREY, BART.

THE wrongs done to Belgium have brought home to us that we must

spare nothing and if need be must spend everything to secure justice for

her and freedom for us all.

What had the Belgians done that their country should be invaded and

ravaged ? What provocation had a people given who threatened no one

and wanted nothing, but to be let alone, to govern themselves, to cultivate

their own land and to develop peaceful commerce ?

Love of liberty and independence is not crushed by oppression and force,

but set off by courage and suffering becomes an inspiration to its own

generation and is exalted to an imperishable place in history.

"2 •

By LORD HARDINGE, VICEROY OF INDIA By Telegraph from Delhi

NO nation has regarded with greater abhorrence than India the series of crimes committed by Germans against their peaceful Belgian brothers. With the deep sympathy, felt for them by the people of India in this hour of sorrow, is coupled their admiration of the gallant resistance of their army against the heaviest odds. May they be comforted by the thought that their sacrifice will not have been in vain when the oppressors of the weak have been finally overthrown. India will never rest till Belgium's wrongs have been avenged.

By SIR REGINALD WINGATE

By Telegraph from Khartoum

ON behalf of the inhabitants of the Sudan, irrespective of race or creed,

I offer our respectful and united homage to Belgium's King, to the gallant

Belgian people and to Belgium's dead, who, in a materialistic age, have

vindicated the supremacy of an ideal and thereby have testified that the

age of heroes is indeed not past.

I have the honour of personally knowing His Majesty who came to the

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

portions of the districts south of Khartoum.

In the many talks I had with him, I was particularly struck with his high

ideals of Kingship and Government — not only of his own Belgian subjects—

but of the vast areas of the Congo Free State, in the advancement of which

he takes a most humane and absorbing interest, and which, under his

direction, have made such sensible strides in the direction of true civilisation

and progress.

By THOMAS HARDY

SONNET ON THE BELGIAN EXPATRIATION

/ dreamt that people from the Land of Chimes 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 times Amid the market's daily stir and stress, And the night's empty starlit silentness, Might solace souls oj this and kindred climes.

Then I awoke : and lo, be/ore me stood The visioned ones, but pale and full of fear ; From Bruges they came, and Antwerp, and Ostend,

No carillons in their train. Vicissitude Had left these tinkling to the invaders' ear, And ravaged street, and smouldering gable-end.

I

By THE MARQUESS OF CREWE

SALUTING with deep respect the gallant Belgians and their noble Sove- reign, we reflect that never in the world's history has any nation, with so slender a pretence of reason, been subjected to outrage so cruel and so deliberate as that which has lately stirred the blood of civilised mankind. Those who begin by tearing up a solemn engagement have not far to descend in the moral scale before they lay an innocent country waste ; but as an English poet wrote when Lombardy was likewise trampled by a foreign oppressor :

And though the stranger stand, 'tis true,

By force and fortune's right he stands ;

By fortune, which is in God's hands, And strength, which yet shall spring in you.

B** 21

By CARDINAL BOURNE

IN all history it must be difficult to find an attack more brutal or less pro- voked than that made in August of this year upon the Belgian people. But, amid the untold sorrow of the weeks that have passed since then, the world has been privileged to witness a wonderful outburst of courage and heroism which, like the cause that has so purposelessly evoked it, is unparalleled in the history of the nations. And the bravery of the Belgian people has been centred and carried to its highest expression in the person of their undaunted sovereign, Albert the First, King of the Belgians. No tribute, therefore, could be more acceptable to our Allies, who indeed have made themselves at the cost of immense suffering the very saviours of European civilisation, than that which recognises in their King the inspiring force of a resistance to injustice which has won the admiration of the world. By none is that tribute paid more gladly than by the Catholics of England. To them in the sad days of religious strife and persecution Flanders gave a generous hospitality, which with willing hearts they endeavour to repay to-day. We recall how, in 1561, when the ancient Universities of our country banished from their halls those who ventured still to maintain the old allegiance to the Holy See, it was at Louvain that the exiles found a new home of learning, and set up therein two houses, to one of which they gave the name of Oxford, and the other they called Cambridge. In more recent happier times it is in Belgium that so many of our fellow- countrymen have seen for the first time in action the living practice of the Catholic Faith. It is to Belgium again that, often first among foreign lands, they have turned their steps, when they have been brought to understand and to accept anew the authority in spiritual things of the Apostolic See of Rome. Belgium, too, has sent to us successive generations of devoted priests who, in town and country, have laboured with us in gathering in the harvest that has been so plentiful since the second spring. For these reasons, and for many others on which the grateful memories of individuals may dwell, we join in offering to His Majesty King Albert the 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 to the Belgian nation, and grant it renewed life and national prosperity far excelling all that the past has known. « . /

fy 4

By THE EARL OF HALSBURY

His MAJESTY THE KING OF THE BELGIANS

" HE has honour and courage — qualities that eagle-plume men's souls and fit them for the fiercest sun that ever melted the weak waxen minds that flutter in the beams of gaudy power."

22

By THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE

I AM invited to add a few words to the tribute of admiration which the compilers of this book desire to lay at the feet of the King of the Belgians. On August 27, when both Houses of Parliament passed unanimously a resolution conveying to His Majesty their sympathy and admiration, I uttered the words which are quoted below. They were but a feeble expression of my sentiments and of the sentiments of those who listened to them, but they were at all events spontaneous and sincere, and all that has happened during the two months which have since elapsed has only served to intensify the feelings which 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 jor treaty obligations, must feel that Belgium has rendered to the civilised world a signal service by what she has done. Ij she had been inspired by less glorious ideals, if her standard of honour had been less high, it might have been easy for her to evade these responsibilities and to escape the terrible penalties which have fallen upon 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 strength of the Great Powers who are engaged in this colossal struggle. She might have urged that events were moving so rapidly that there was not time for her friends to range themselves at her side when the struggle began. She might have dwelt upon the ruinous consequences to herself and to her people of allowing the first act of this drama to be played upon Belgian soil. But she did none of these things. She never faltered in her sense of what she owed to her own position as an independent State. When the bribe was offered to her she knew how to thrust it on one side. She advanced two simple pro- positions— -first, that to accept the German proposal meant the sacrifice of her honour as a nation ; second, that she felt 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 of her dishonour.

We 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 great war, 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 of Belgium would have claimed our applause and our admiration. But we are not mere spectators. We are the comrades in arms of Belgium, we are her allies, we are associated with her in this vast enterprise, in which our country

2.3

has so tremendous a stake, and therefore it is that we have to offer to Belgium not merely our admiration, but our gratitude, for the great achievement which she has accomplished.

The noble Marquess dwelt in eloquent words upon the price which the people of Belgium have had to pay for these great achievements. It has indeed been a terrible price. We can, at any rate, offer to them the whole-hearted sympathy of our people. And I will take upon myself to say this : whatever else may happen during the course of the war — and it is a war in which there will be no doubt stirring episodes and great feats of arms — nothing can happen which will more affect public opinion in this country than the conduct of Belgium in this short period of time. Whatever else is forgotten, that episode will remain graven upon the hearts of the people of this country. I believe there is not a man or woman within it who does not pray that in the fullness of time we may 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 express this evening.

By THE RT. HON. SIR ROBERT BORDEN

By Cable

FOR the crime of defending its territories against unprovoked invasion by

a Power pledged to hold them inviolate, Belgium has, with supreme fortitude,

endured sufferings and sacrifices almost surpassing the imagination and

moving all humanity to an infinite 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 heroism,

the faith and devotion of the Belgian People and of their King shall dwell

in the memory of men, and shall be the exemplar and inspiration, not of

Belgium alone, but of the world.

By JOHN REDMOND

THE Irish nation has many strong and tender ties with Belgium. We owe her a debt of gratitude for the past, and there is no nation in the world which has been more profoundly touched than Ireland by the extraordinary gallantry of the Belgian people and their brave Sovereign. We Irishmen are all glad to know that men of our race have been at the front helping Belgium to defend her integrity and independence, and Ireland sends to King Albert an expression of her deepest sympathy and admiration.

24

By ALFRED NOYES THE REDEMPTION OF EUROPE

. . . donee templa refeceris.

Under which banner ? It was night

Beyond all nights that ever were. The Cross was broken. Blood-stained might

Moved like a tiger from its lair ; And all that heaven had died to quell Awoke, and mingled earth with hell.

For Europe, if it held a creed,

Held it through custom, not through faith. Chaos returned, in dream and deed.

Right was a legend ; Love — a wraith ; And That from which the world began Was 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 Juggernaut, Dethroned the highest of human thought.

The lists were set. The eternal foe,

Within us as without grew strong, By many a super-subtle blow

Blurring the lines of right and wrong In Art and Thought, till nought seemed true But that soul-slaughtering cry of New !

New wreckage of the shrines we made

Thro? centuries of forgotten tears . . . We knew not where their scorn had laid

Our Master. Twice a thousand years Had dulled the uncapricious Sun.

Manifold worlds obscured the One ;

25

Obscured the reign of Law, our stay,

Our compass through this darkling sea,

The one sure light, the one sure way, The one firm base of Liberty ;

The one firm road that men have trod

Through Chaos 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 word ;

And, dying, cried across the night,

Hear us, O earth, we chose the Right !

Whose is the victory ? Though ye stood Alone against the unmeasured foe ;

By all the tears, by all the blood

That flowed, and have not ceased to flow ;

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,

Whose is the victory ? Answer ye,

Who, dying, smiled at tyranny :

Under the sky's triumphal arch The glories of the dawn begin.

Our dead, our shadowy armies march E'en now, in silence, through Berlin ;

Dumb shadows, tattered blood-stained ghosts,

But cast by what swift following hosts ?

26

And answer, England ! At thy side,

Thro' seas of blood, thro' mists of tears, Thou that for Liberty hast died

And livest, to the end of years !— And answer, Earth I Far off, I hear The pceans of a happier sphere :

The trumpet blown at Marathon

Resounded over earth and sea, But burning angel lips have blown

The trumpets of thy Liberty ; For who, beside thy dead, could deem The faith, for which they died, a dream ?

Earth has not been the same since then.

Europe from thee received a soul, Whence nations moved in law, like men,

As members of a mightier whole, Till wars were ended. . . . In that day, So shall our children's children say.

<^^/O-rf

^

By EARL CURZON OF KEDLESTON

WHATEVER the future may have in store for Belgium, her name and that

of her heroic Sovereign, King Albert, will for ever shine out in history for

the noble stand which they have made on behalf of her own independence,

of international honour, and of the liberties of mankind.

For her fortitude she has paid the penalty of a suffering unequalled in modern

history, inflicted by an enemy, to whose cruelty ancient history scarcely

affords a parallel.

Nevertheless Belgium by her conduct, and still more by her example, has

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

world the sublime truth that national honour is preferable to national

security, and that, though the body may be destroyed the spirit is immortal.

For the moment a crown of thorns has been pressed down upon her temples,

but Europe, nay, the civilised world, will see to it that she is healed of her

grievous wounds ; and some day, let us hope before long, she will live again

in the recovered prosperity of her people, and the admiring gratitude of

mankind.

27

By THE RT. HON. WINSTON S. CHURCHILL

AT this moment when their cities are captive, their country under the yoke, their government and army forced into exile, the Belgian nation is exerting an influence upon the destinies of Europe and of mankind beyond that of great States in the fullness of prosperity and power ; and from the abyss of present grief and suffering Belgium looks out with certainty to a future more brilliant than any which she could ever have planned.

By FREDERIC HARRISON

IT was the chief glory of ancient Athens, even when it was acknowledged by the civilised world to stand first in poetry, art, eloquence, and grace, that the men of Athens had been " the first to withstand and defeat the terrible Mede in battle." So, the men of Belgium have been the first to defy and stem the torrent over France of the German host which thought itself invincible and went forth to domineer in Europe. History tells us that if the millions of Xerxes could have crushed Greece the higher civilisation of mankind would have been arrested. Just so, modern civilisation would have been set back if the Kaiser's millions had been suffered to make their procession along the Meuse in triumph and could have reached Paris according to the time-table of Potsdam. France, Britain, Europe owe an imperishable debt to Belgium, that her heroic constancy and valour prevented this monstrous catastrophe even at the cost of their lives, their homes, and their children.

It is the first duty of the Allies to restore the noble people who sacrificed themselves for us — for peace — for freedom — for humanity. In all modern history there is no example of a martyrdom by a whole nation — so cruel — so generous — so valiant. When France, Britain, Russia shall have crushed out this conspiracy against humanity, when militarism is extinct in Germany — extinct for ever in the world — whatever may have been the victories and the achievements of the Allies— still for all time the heroism of the Belgian people who " first bore the brunt of the terrible Mede " (as the orators would say at Athens) will stand highest in the record of valour.

By VISCOUNT ESHER

I SHOULD not have ventured to write in KING ALBERT'S BOOK were

it not that my father-in-law's name, " Sylvain Van de Weyer," stands

with that of Lord Palmerston at the head of the " scrap of paper," so con-

temptuously scorned by the German Chancellor.

The Belgian patriots of 1830 who offered the throne to King Leopold

would have gloried in the steadfast valour of his grandson, and in the

immortal sufferings of the nation they helped to call into being.

28 L

By THE CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS

C'EST de toute mon ame que j'offre mon hommage a la vaillante nation

Beige et a son magnanime Souverain, Sa Majeste Albert Ier.

Mis en demeure de fouler aux pieds la foi juree ou de subir une invasion

sanglante et ruineuse, le Roi des Beiges et son peuple ont repondu : " Plutot

la mort que la souillure ! ' Pour resister a la violence inique et barbare

dont ils sont victimes, ils ont lutte et luttent encore avec un courage que

rien n'abat, ils supportent sans defaillance les pires calamites. Honneur

a eux !

Leur heroi'sme est digne de toute admiration, et leurs souffrances meritent

toute sympathie. Soldats tombes en grand nombre sur les champs de

bataille, innocents massacres, villes et villages incendies, monuments

detruits, populations exilees : tous les malheurs font de la Belgique une

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

Nulle part cette sympathie ne saurait etre plus vive qu'en France.

En se sacrifiant pour defendre son honneur et son independance, la Belgique

a barre le chemin a 1'envahisseur qui voulait ecraser la France. Par la elle

s'est acquis des droits imperissables a la reconnaissance de tous les Fran9ais.

Ceux-ci ne seront point ingrats.

Avec les Beiges et avec les Anglais, nos glorieux allies, nos armees com-

battront jusqu'au bout pour chasser 1'envahisseur. Nous aurons a coeur

de venir largement en aide a nos freres en detresse. Enfin nous supplierons

le Dieu des justices de prendre en mains la cause de ce peuple, si fidele au

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

patrimoine de gloire agrandi, la paix et la prosperite.

' TRANSLATION by Florence Simmonds

From the depths of my soul I offer my homage w the made Belgium the Martyr Nation, and stirred the

valiant Belgian nation and to her magnanimous compassion of all noble hearts.

Sovereign, His Majesty Albert I. In no country is tkis sympathy deeper than in France.

Faced with the alternative of spurning their pledged By sacrificing herself in defence of her honour and

word or submitting to a bloody and ruinous invasion, independence, Belgium blocked the invader's passage

the King of the Belgians and his people replied : when he aimed at crushing France. By so doing

" Death before dishonour ! " In their resistance to she has earned imperishable rights and the gratitude

the iniquitous and barbarous violence of which they of all French people.

are the victims, they have struggled and are still They will not be ungrateful.

struggling with unconquerable courage — they endure With the Belgians and the English, our glorious

the worst calamities without flinching. All honour Allies, our armies will fight to the end to drive out

to them ! the invader. We shall make it a point of honour to

Their heroism is worthy of the highest admiration come generously to the assistance of our brothers in

and their sufferings claim the sympathy of the whole distress. Finally, we shall pray to the God of Justice

world. Soldiers fallen in vast numbers on the field to uphold the cause of a people so faithful to Christ

of battle, innocent creatures massacred, towns and and to His Church, and to grant them peace and

villages burnt to the ground, monuments destroyed, prosperity in a free land with an increased patrimony

populations exiled : such are the horrors that have of glory.

By PIERRE LOTI

DEUX PAUVRES PETITS OISILLONS DE BELGIQUE

UN soir, dans une de nos villes du sud, un train de refugies beiges venait d'entrer en gare, et les pauvres martyrs un a un descendaient lentement, extenues et ahuris, sur ce quai inconnu, ou des fran9ais les attendaient pour les recueillir. Trainant avec eux quelques hardes prises au hasard, ils etaient montes dans ces voitures sans meme se demander ou elles les con- duiraient, ils etaient montes dans la hate de fuir, d'eperdument fuir devant 1'horreur et la mort, devant le feu, devant les indicibles mutilations et les viols sadiques, — devant tout ce qui ne semblait plus possible sur la Terre, mais qui couvait encore, parait-il, au fond des pietistes cervelles allemandes, et qui tout a coup s'etait deverse, sur leur pays et sur le notre, comme un dernier vomissement des barbaries originelles. Ils n'avaient plus ni village, ni foyer, ni famille, ceux qui arrivaient la sans but, comme des epaves, et la detresse effaree etait dans les yeux de tous. Beaucoup d'enfants, de petites filles, dont les parents s 'etaient perdus au milieu des incendies ou des batailles. Et aussi des aieules, maintenant seules au monde, qui avaient fui sans trop savoir pourquoi, ne tenant plus a vivre mais poussees par un obscur instinct de conservation ; leur figure, a celles-la, n'exprimait plus rien, pas meme le desespoir, comme si vraiment leur ame etait partie et leur tete videe.

Deux tout petits, perdus dans cette foule lamentable, se tenaient serres par la main, deux petits garcons, visiblement deux petits freres, 1'aine, qui avait peut-etre cinq ans, protegeant le plus jeune qui pouvait bien en avoir trois. Personne ne les reclamait, personne ne les connaissait. Comment avaient-ils compris, trouves tout seuls, qu'il fallait monter dans ce train, eux aussi, pour ne pas mourir ? Leurs vetements etaient convenables et ils portaient des petits bas de laine bien chauds ; on devinait qu'ils devaient appartenir a des parents modestes, mais soigneux ; sans doute etaient-ils fils de Tun de ces sublimes soldats beiges, tombes heroiquement au champ d'honneur, et qui avait du avoir pour eux, au moment de la mort, une supreme pensee de tendresse. Ils ne pleuraient meme pas, tant ils etaient aneantis par la fatigue et le sommeil; a peine s'ils tenaient debout. Ils etaient incapables de repondre quand on les questionnait, mais surtout ils ne voulaient pas se lacher, non. Enfin le grand aine, crispant toujours sa main sur celle de 1'autre, dans la peur de le perdre, prit tout a coup conscience de son role de protecteur et trouva la force de parler a la dame a brassard penchee vers lui :

' Madame," dit-il, d'une toute petite voix suppliante et deja a moitie endormie, " Madame, est-ce qu'on va nous coucher ? " Pour le moment, c'etait tout ce qu'ils etaient capables de souhaiter encore, tout ce qu'ils attendaient de la pitie humaine : qu'on voulut bien les coucher. Vite on les coucha, ensemble bien entendu, et ils s'endormirent aussitot, se tenant toujours par la main et presses 1'un centre 1'autre, a la meme minute plonges tous les deux dans la tranquille inconscience des sommeils enfantins. . . . 30

Une fois, il y a longtemps, dans la mer de Chine, pendant la guerre, deux petits oiseaux etourdis, deux minuscules petits oiseaux, moindres encore que nos roitelets, etaient arrives je ne sais comment a bord de notre cuirasse, dans I'appartement de notre amiral, et, tout le jour, sans que personne du reste cherchat a leur faire peur, ils avaient volete la de cote et d'autre, se perchant sur les corniches ou sur les plantes vertes.

La nuit venue, je les avais oublies, quand 1'amiral me fit appeler chez lui. C'etait pour me les montrer, et avec attendrissement, les deux petits visiteurs, qui etaient alles se coucher dans sa chambre, poses d'une patte sur un frele cordon de soie qui passait au-dessus de son lit. Bien pres, bien pres Tun de 1'autre, devenus deux petites boules de plumes qui se touchaient et se confondaient presque, ils dormaient sans la moindre crainte, comme tres surs de notre pitie. . . .

Et ces pauvres petits beiges, endormis cote a cote, m'ont fait penser aux deux oisillons perdus au milieu de la mer de Chine. C'etait bien la meme confiance et le meme innocent sommeil ; — mais des sollicitudes beaucoup plus douces encore allaient veiller sur eux. . . . .-— >>

6 t

TRANSLATION by Florence Simmonds Two POOR LITTLE BELGIAN FLEDGLINGS At evening in one of our southern towns, a train full of Belgian refugees ran into the station, and the poor martyrs, exhausted and bewildered, got out slowly, one by one, on the unfamiliar platform, where French people were waiting to receive them. Carrying a few possessions caught up at random, they had got into the carriages without even asking whither they were bound, urged by their anxiety to flee, to flee desperately from horror and death, from unspeakable mutilation and Sadie outrage — from things that seemed no longer possible in the world, but which, it seems, were lying dormant in pietistic German brains, and had suddenly belched forth upon their land and ours, like a belated manifestation of original barbarism. They no longer possessed a village, nor a home, nor a family ; they arrived like jetsom cast up by the waters, and the eyes of all were full of terrified anguish. Many children, little girls whose parents had disappeared in the stress of fire and battle ; and aged women, now alone in the world, who had fled, hardly knowing why, no longer caring for life, but moved by some obscure instinct of self-preservation.

Two little creatures, lost in the pitiable throng, held each other tightly by the hand, two little boys obviously brothers, the elder, who may have been five years old, protecting the younger, of about three. No one claimed them, no one knew them. How had they been able to understand, finding themselves alone, that they too must get into this train, to escape death ? Their clothes were decent, and their little stockings were thick and warm ; clearly they belonged to humble but careful parents ; they were, doubtless, the sons of one of those sublime Belgian soldiers who had fallen heroically on the battle-field, and whose last thought had perhaps been one of supreme tenderness for them.

They were not even crying, so overcome were they by fatigue and sleepiness ; they could scarcely stand. They could not answer when they were questioned, but they seemed intent, above all, upon keeping a tight hold of each other. Finally the elder, clasping the little one's hand closely, as if fearing to lose him, seemed to awake to a sense of his duty as protector, and, half asleep already, found strength to say, in a suppliant tone, to the Red Cross lady bend- ing over him : " Madame, are they going to put us to bed soon ? " For the moment this was all they were capable of wishing, all that they hoped for from human pity : to be put to bed. They were put to bed at once, together, of course, still holding each other tightly by the hand, and nestling one against the other, they fell at the same moment into the tranquil unconsciousness of childish slumber.

Once, long ago, in the China Sea, during the war, two little frightened birds, smaller even than our wrens, arrived I know not how, on board our iron-clad, in our admiral's cabin, and all day long, though no one attempted to disturb them, they fluttered from side to side, perching on cornices and plants. At nightfall, when I had forgotten them, the admiral sent for me. It was to show me, not without emotion, the two little visitors, who had gone to roost in his room, perched upon a slender silken cord above his bed. They nestled closely together, two little balls of feathers, touching and almost merged one in the other, and slept without the slightest fear, sure of our pity. And those little Belgians sleeping side by side made me think of the two little birds lost in the China Sea. There was the same confidence, and the same innocent slumber; — but a greater tenderness was about to watch over them.

31

By THE RIGHT HON. DAVID LLOYD GEORGE IT has been the privilege of little nations at different periods in the history of the world to render some signal service to civilisation. That duty Belgium has now been called upon to render to European civilisation, and nobly has she answered the call.

It is her heroism that has forced Prussian Junkerdom, its character, and its designs, into the light of day. As long as it intrigued against France, Russia, or Britain, it might have continued to take cover under some plausible, diplomatic pretext ; but to assail Belgium it had to come into the open, where its arrogance, its brutality, and its aggressiveness became manifest to the world. It was Belgian valour that exposed the sinister character of Prussian militarism, and when that menace is finally overthrown the most honourable share in the triumph will be due to Belgian sacrifice. This unfortunate country is now overwhelmed by the barbarian flood ; but when the sanguinary deluge subsides Belgium will emerge a great and a glorious land which every lover of liberty will honour, and every tyrant henceforth shun.

By EARL KITCHENER OF KHARTOUM I SINCERELY hope that this book may accomplish its twofold object of bearing further testimony to our admiration of the courage and devotion to duty shown by King Albert and his Army, and of securing material help and comforts for the Belgians who have suffered so terribly at the hands of an invading enemy.

By FRIDTJOF NANSEN

IT is a great privilege to have obtained such an opportunity as this book

affords of expressing the deepest sympathy of the citizen of a small nation

for the gallant people and the noble King and Queen of Belgium.

It is needless to say that one's heart goes out to this people whose fate is

the most cruel tragedy of modern history. But words seem weak and of

little value when one thinks of the distress of a splendid people who have

fought so nobly and sacrificed so much for their freedom and their country.

By WILLIAM WATSON To His MAJESTY KING ALBERT

Receive, from one who hath not lavished praise On many Princes, nor was ever awed By Empire such as grovelling slaves applaud,

Who cast their souls into its altar-blaze,—

Receive the homage that a freeman pays

To Kinghood flowering out of Manhood broad, Kinghood that toils uncovetous of laud,

Loves whom it rules, and serves the realm it sways.

For when Your people, caught in agony's net,

Rose as one dauntless heart, their King was found

Worthy on such a throne to have been set,

Worthy by such as They to have been crowned ;

And loftier praise than this did never yet

On mortal ears from lips of mortals sound.

By THE HON. JOSEPH H. CHOATE

UNDER the gallant lead of the heroic Belgian King, his down-trodden

and afflicted people have been fighting for liberty, and to maintain the

plighted faith of nations, which guaranteed it to them. Those who were

guilty of an awful breach of faith, confessed their crime while in the act of

committing it, and pleaded necessity, to absolve them from all law, a plea

which the whole civilised world refuses to accept.

For their bold stand for right and duty, the Belgians, guiltless of all offence,

have been overwhelmed by numbers, trampled in the dust, and reduced to

starvation, their homes destroyed, their whole country devastated and

converted into a human slaughter-house.

In this 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 dire

distress.

I am glad to know that my countrymen are sending material relief to the

sufferers, and with it the hearts of our people go out to them and their

brave King, in human sympathy, unfeigned and unrestrained.

As neutrals, by international law and by our own law, our hands are tied

and will remain so. But our hearts go whither they list.

33

ONE WONEVER TURNED HIS BACK Alexander c

{Irom'Asolando") Mackenzie.

Allegro (J- 69) r^

,

motto moderate, alia mwria..(0- 100) "

One who never turned his back but marched breastforward, N?ver doubteddoudswodd break

wrong would triumph.

Never dreamed though nghtvrere wors

P *

Held we fall

accelerando

Are baffled 1,0 fight better,

• * • • ^^B_ _ • •

By SIR WILLIAM RAMSAY

EVERY scientific man who is not a Teuton (and I hope and trust many who are of German race) deplores the barbarity, incredible if it were not true, with which Belgium has been treated. We had hoped that the univer- sality of the spread of science, both pure, and applied to industry, would have made it impossible for any nation to revert to barbarism, and to destroy what it has taken so many centuries to create. The scientific achievements of the Belgians has always stood on the highest plane ; to quote only two instances, taken from my own subject, the name of Stas, in pure science, and of Solvay, in applied science, are among the most illustrious in their particular spheres, which the world has ever produced. We can only extend to the Belgians our most heartfelt sympathy, and assure them, in the person of their Sovereign, that we shall spare no effort, when the time comes, to aid Belgium to regain that place among the nations which she has filled with so much credit in the past. Complete restitution of all she has lost will be impossible ; but much can, and no doubt will be done to recompense her for having, alone and unaided, repelled for a time successfully the invasion of barbaric hordes, and enabled the progressive races of Europe to repel the incursions of those who would subject them to an era of retrogression in Arts, Science, and Literature.

By THE HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT

THE heart of the world should go out to the poor people of Belgium. Without being in any respect a party to the controversies of the war, their country has been made the battle-ground of the greatest, and in some respects the most destructive war in history. Any movement to relieve their distress has my profound sympathy.

By SIR W. B. RICHMOND, R.A.

THE CROWN OF PEACE "

Sweet Peace rises out of the flames of War which give way to her benign Beauty : she brings with. Her an immortal crown which she presents to a Brave King and People who have saved Europe from Barbarian hordes by their sacrifice and heroism.

DEDICATED TO THE GREAT KING OF THE NOBLE BELGIANS,

WHO HAVE SAVED EUROPE FROM THE BARBARIANS.

In respect,

36

By ARNOLD BENNETT THE RETURN

TWENTY years ago I learnt one day by chance that the first-class return fare from London to Ostend by steamer was only half a guinea. I had always imagined that "the Continent" could only be visited by rich people, —certainly not by clerks. For me it was a region beyond the borders of my hopes for ages to come. The fact that the cost of reaching the Continent from London was much less than half of the cost of reaching my own home in the Midlands struck me such a blow in the back as wakes up a man dozing on the high-road and sends him staggering forward on his way. At the earliest opportunity I boarded the Ostend steamer, somewhere near London Bridge, and saw, first, the marvels of the Port of London. I had lived in London several years and never realised that it was a port — to say nothing of being the largest port in the world. I next realised, tossing in the small steamer at sea, that Great Britain really was an island — a fact with which I had hitherto been only intellectually familiar, from enforced study of a school geography. These were remarkable experiences, but they were naught in comparison with the sensation of first seeing a foreign land. I descried a lighthouse, a long line of pale hotels, and the grandiose outlines of the Kursaal. I said to myself with awe : " That is the Continent ! "

It seemed fabulous, dream-like, impossible. The steamer touched the quay, threw out ropes, and was moored. I stepped ashore. I was on Belgian soil, the first foreign soil my feet had ever touched. I saw strange archi- tecture, strange costumes ; I heard strange sounds and strange languages. Everything was romantic. Even the tramcar was inexpressibly romantic ; the postmen with their little horns were fantastic, and the cafes each a quaint paradise of good cheer. I was so moved by the sheer romance of the affair that I could not speak. I said to myself : ' I actually am on the Continent."

I could hardly believe it. It was too good, and too astounding, too over- whelming, to be true.

Yet it was true. And after a time I grew somewhat accustomed, though never entirely accustomed, to the feeling — though since then I have lived on the Continent for many years.

My emotion as I first walked about in Ostend (looking no doubt a queer enough uncouth gaping English figure) was one of the emotions that I could not conceivably forget, one of the major formative emotions of my whole life. And therefore, among all the cities and countries of the Continent Ostend and Belgium hold a unique position in my souvenirs. I have gone to Belgium frequently since then. I have entered by sea at Antwerp, and by train from Paris, and I have sailed right into Bruges in my yacht — and each time I have had the same thrill, recalling my first visit. From Ostend, on that first visit, I went to Bruges, and there understood for the first time what a historical city of art could be. Bruges was to me

c** 37

incredible in its lofty and mellow completeness. It was a town in a story ; its inhabitants were characters out of unread novels ; its chimes were magic from the skies. It had not a street that was not a vision. Even the railway- station at Bruges had some of the characteristics of a cathedral. . . Thence to Ghent, where the same kind of wondrous picturesqueness was united to the spectacle of commerce . . . Thence to Brussels— the capital. What boulevards, what parks, what palaces, what galleries, what cafes, and above all what restaurants ! The symmetry and the elegance of the civic organism ! England held nothing like it. I had imagined nothing like it. 'A con- tinental capital ! " I felt as though I could live in Brussels for ever. . . . Thence to Malines, of the unequalled carillon. Thence to Antwerp, a kind of complementary and utterly different sister-capital to Brussels. . . . Thence southwards to Roulers with its industry, and the unique Ypres, with its cloth-hall and its ramparts. . . . Thence to Namur, with the first glimpse of the Meuse ! . . . . Thence to Dinant, with its cliffs and its tower, and on to little Anseremme, where one could have a bed and four meals and a bathe in the Meuse for four francs a day ! . . . The whole country was a museum of architecture, art, and history. It was full of the amenities of civilisation. Everywhere were parks and music. In each town was an opera, and galleries containing masterpieces.

In twenty-four days — and nights — I saw it all, with a most ridiculous in- expensiveness, and on the evening of the twenty-fourth day I embarked at Ostend again. I hated to leave Belgium. The prospect of plain, unpoetic England was offensive to me. But I had to go. And when I reached London, strange to say, I began to perceive what a wonderful place London was. Belgium has taught me to appreciate London. Moreover there was a peculiar feel about London and England. It was the feel of the city to its own citizen, and of the country to its native.

And now, what I imagine is the ultimate return, by Ostend, by Zeebrugge, by Antwerp, and by the trains from the south, of exiled Belgians into Belgium ! Their thrill will far outdo the thrill of the eager ingenuous tourist. I imagine their gaze from the sea towards the whiteness of Ostend, and from the Scheldt towards the steeples of Antwerp. They will pass through emotions — at once tragic and triumphant, terrible and exquisite- such as fate has accorded to no other people in the modern age. Confronted by ruin and desolation, appalled by the immense task of reconstruction that lies before them, saddened by the recollection of indescribable woe, im- poverished and bereaved but not enfeebled, they will be heartened by the obstinate courage which through every disaster has kept them a nation, and by the living splendid hope of the future. Not into a museum will they be entering, but into a house and an environment which their ancestors and they themselves created, and of which they profoundly compre- hend the secret significance, and which, however defaced and blackened, they will slowly restore again to the full expression of the soul of a nation. . . .

38

And I seem to be already present at a great, unexampled, sacred occasion of solemn rejoicing in Brussels, and to stand amid silent crowds on the pavement of the Boulevard Anspach, while the young veterans of the Belgian army go by, and the cannons, and the flags, and then the youthful King, with his Queen, a crowned monarch who has earned a nation's affection perhaps more nobly than a nation's affection ever was earned before. And there is a vast deafening cheer, that shakes the tears out of the eyes. And in every chastened and bursting heart lies like a miraculous solace the new- proved conviction that righteousness prevails.

By SIR JOSEPH LARMOR

THE Belgian nation has sacrificed herself without measure, not only for the sake 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 domination. In the Middle Ages Flanders was a centre of art and learning and industry, in a Renaissance which vied with the revival in Italy. She has now enhanced her right to the possession of her great monuments of the past by a new renown. The burning light of her patriotism, now shining upon the world, has created a new and unwavering faith in the nobility of her destiny, which the tragedy of her present misfortunes will keep ever bright. We can look forward with confidence to a renewed and transfigured Belgium, occupying in the future, under her heroic dynasty, an honoured place in the family of the free nations of Europe.

By MADELEINE LUCETTE RYLEY To THE VICTORS BELONG THE SPOILS !

The Victor true w he who conquers j 'ear, Who knows no time save now — no place but here. Who counts no cost — who only plays the game, To him shall go the prize — Immortal Fame !

To the Illustrious Ruler and his Gallant Little Nation, whose heroism and bravery are surely unparalleled in the whole of our World's History , / bow my head in respectful homage.

By THE RT. HON. A. BONAR LAW

IN July of this year there was no part of the world more peaceful and prosperous than the little country of Belgium. There the monuments of ancient art, of learning and of piety stood out in bold relief in the midst of an industrial development which was scarcely equalled, which was no- where surpassed in any country in the world.

In a moment, almost without warning, this smiling garden of industry was turned into a scene of bitterest desolation, not by a convulsion of nature but by the cruelty of man. In a struggle which was not sought by them, which no forbearance or wisdom on the part of their rulers could have averted, the Belgian people, by what they have done and by what they have endured, have won for themselves immortal fame.

But for the unexpected and heroic resistance of the small Belgian Army, the German hosts would have hurled themselves against the French Army before it had been mobilised. Belgium averted a terrible disaster to us and to our Allies, but at what a cost to herself ? She is for the moment a nation without a fatherland ; but the soul of the nation is living still, is living in her brave soldiers, is living in King Albert, who has shown to the modern world what can be done by a Hero-King.

As a nation we long for a successful end to this terrible war, which is filling with mourning so many of our homes, but it can never end till the wrongs of Belgium have been avenged and expiated.

By ADMIRAL LORD CHARLES BERESFORD

THE conscience of the whole civilised world is shocked at the odious

barbarities perpetrated on the gallant Belgian nation by the ruthless,

cowardly, and savage action of Germany in her efforts to smash Belgium's

independence.

The Belgians have been fighting a battle for liberty, humanity, and civilisa-

tion ; they have also been fighting a battle for the French as well as the

British, and though thousands of her best have been killed and wounded,

and her civil population, including women and children, have been driven

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

still fighting for justice and freedom.

When this wicked war is over, the first duty of the allies must be to enforce

every compensation that is possible from the brutal nation that has ravaged

Belgium.

Germany has scorned the laws of God and man ; her fiendish savageries have proved that German militarism is a disgrace to humanity. Sympathy, respect, and admiration for Belgium is universal and international m the cruel wrongs she has suffered for the cause of liberty and the rights of small States.

40

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By FLORA ANNIE STEEL SUNRISE

THE shells had been shrieking and screaming all day long ; but now that the dusk had fallen they were silent.

So on this All Souls' night the moon could rise, still, silvery, serene over the ruined village. And the cold, remote radiance softened the charred glow of still burning rafters to cool glimmerings, and made the little trails of smoke rising from them show like incense seeking the star-strewn sky. Carven stones heaped high in weird shapeless piles showed where for count- less generations the village church had stood ; and high amongst these rose the stone Crucifixion let into the wall behind the altar, which a generation of men, long since past and gone, had hewn out of a solid block. So it stood still erect, a sorrowful figure to which those countless generations of patient people had brought their hopes, their fears, their sins, their successes, and their failures.

The altar itself was shattered, but the steps remained, and on them — seeking the shelter of a high piled heap of debris from the tower — lay three figures. One was crumpled up face downwards almost as it had first fallen. Another with helpless loose-hanging arm sate limply on the top step. The third had crawled to the very foot of the Cross and lay restfully its head upon a splintered stone. All was still as the grave. Then suddenly, waveringly, came a man's voice :

' It's a long, long way to Tipperary."

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

' I seed 'im move," murmured the Englishman, " an' I 'oped he was a deader." So he stood, looking down on the crumpled figure. " Must be beastly oneasy," he continued. " Lordy ! ain't 'e like the bumbadeer arter 'e got one from Charpenteer." Then he paused ; so after a space looked back and called out :

' Hi ! you there, Frenchy ! Wake up, Jacko, and give a h'arm with this German bloke, there's a decent chap."

The man who rested his head on the splintered altar-stone sate up, showing himself a long-limbed, broad-shouldered Breton, kindly but uncompre- hending. The gestures of the other, however, were sufficient added to the explanation : " 'E ain't comfy, see you, Jacko ! and 'e ain't got long t'er be comfortable ; so let's 'eft 'im up."

Jean the Breton nodded at John the Englishman and half crawled, half limped, down the steps to lend an aid. Together the two wounded men dragged the third to more fitting rest, where on his back he could breathe easier, for he was shot through the lungs ; but in the process the helmet he had worn fell off and rolled, glinting and clanking, into the shadows.

'E mieuox comm' 93," remarked Jean the Breton approvingly in his patois. " Beastly unbecomin' things, 'elmets," said John the Englishman in his.

43

But Johan the German only opened his blue eyes on his enemies and drew in a long gasping breath. They none of them understood each other's speech, but something older than the Tower of Babel had given them comprehension and was to give them more.

For something else besides the helmet had fallen from its place in that laborious journey up the altar steps. The wounded German had torn his tunic open in his first agonised fight for breath and from it had slipped a cheap locket attached to a cheap chain, and holding a cheap photograph cheaply coloured — the photograph of a fair-haired baby. ' By gum ! Ain't it like my kid," muttered John the Englishman, and from his khaki tunic he drew another cheap locket.

And Jean the Breton, not to be outdone, followed suit in his blue coatee. So there in the still, silvery, serene moonlight showed three fair- haired, blue-eyed baby faces, framed in tawdry pinchbeck ; but the faces were the faces of immortality — the symbol of the race.

Mon p'tit fils," murmured Jean the Breton fondly. " Mon p'tit Jean." ' Hello ! Jacky my boy," chirruped John the Englishman, trying to hide the ache in his heart under a smile.

But Johan the German only rolled his head from side to side and his lips moved as if he would have said " Vater." Perhaps he was thinking of his country. Perhaps his dying ear had become more acute to the sounds that matter, and he was forestalling the little wailing cry which after a space rose fitfully among the ruins, " Faster ! Faster ! Faster ! Faster ! " The cry of a child !

Yes ! the wail of a sturdy little Flemish fellow of two, who came totteringly over the scattered stones with his bare feet. He wore a quaint little night garment ; so, in the hurry of flight, he must have been left behind asleep. But now, awake, his insistent " Faster ! Faster ! Faster ! " was like the cry of a plover luring danger from her nest.

In the next five minutes John the Englishman's wounded arm forgot itself, and Jean the Breton's splintered knee and wrist secured solace, but Johan the German's wistful eyes were all he could place at the service of the little lad, until as the pitiful wailing would not cease, a trembling hand pointed wavenngly to a haversack, and once again the unwritten unspoken word brought comprehension. The little Flamand munching away contentedly at a concentrated German sausage ration gave his name shyly with a smile as Jan— pi'ou' Jan."

' Mon p'tit gars— mon Jean," murmured the Breton ecstatically, and fell to dreaming of a cottage among apple orchards.

Kids is terrible similar ! " pronounced the Englishman with awe in his ice and fell to dreaming of a tenement-flat high up among the chimneys. Germans dazed mind could not get beyond a vague insistent ream, and his blood-stained lips moved as if he would have said " Vater " tie was evidently going fast, and all things worth having in this life-love and loyalty— were bound up in that word 44

Still with one final effort he pointed to the thick overcoat which they had

spread over him and motioned they should wrap the drowsy child in it.

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

" But I ain't agoin' to disturb you, sonny," said John the Englishman

cheerfully. " There's room of a little un beside you — so creep in, Jackie."

" Ses prieres ? " expostulated Jean the Breton ; he was a devout Catholic.

" N'oublies pas tes prieres, mon p'tit Jean."

And the little fellow understanding the man's clasped hands murmured

something sleepily. No one understood the words, but their spirit — the

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

And one of them saw further to that spirit than the others, gave a long gasp,

and lay still.

" He'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 himself as he murmured the dimittance prayer which sends a soul

to find freedom.

After that the moon, still, silvery, serene, shone on a silent group about the

feet of the Christ with its eternal message of forgiveness, of reconciliation,

of immortal fatherhood and sonship.

So the silent night passed, till in the east the blood-red glow of dawn

heralded another dreadful day, and incarnadined the crown of thorns upon

the Sorrowful Brow.

And almost with the glow came the shriek, the scream of the first shell

fired by the advancing Germans as a precaution lest the village should have

been reoccupied during the night.

It did not disturb the sleepers. The ears of one were deaf to strife for ever,

and the child, in childhood's deep dreamless sleep, slept on. The two

others lying either side, used to long days and nights of such hellish devilish

tumult, only stirred, and, half conscious, threw each a protecting arm across

the dead man and the child.

The swift crackle passed, the sharp resounding explosion was over ere it

could be realised, sending out a fierce rain of scattering shrapnel.

After that there was no sound save the soft breathing of little Jan as he lay

secure beneath dead protecting arms, his head pillowed on his dead enemy's

heart.

And as the child slept the sun rose and turned the incarnadined crown of

thorns upon the bowed head of the Son of Man into a crown of gold.

45

By VISCOUNT BRYCE

ALL honour to the Belgian King and the Belgian People. No king and no nation, not even the oldest and the strongest nation, has shown more dignity and gallantry than Belgium, which is among the youngest and the smallest in area of European States.

When Belgium was erected into a kingdom in 1832, many doubted whether a real nation could be formed by linking together the Flemish element and the Walloon element, races that had different characteristics and spoke different languages. But Belgium has grown to be a truly united nation, consolidated by a fervent patriotism. She has produced many men of literary and artistic genius, poets and jurists and scholars and men of science, painters who have renewed the great traditions of Rubens and Vandyck. The principles of constitutional liberty have taken root and flourished among her citizens, and her annals have been adorned by not a few capable and high- minded statesmen. Her peasantry, laborious and resourceful, have brought her soil to a wonderful pitch of productiveness, while a skill and enterprise have made some among her manufacturing industries second to none in Europe. Peace and prosperity have reigned such as these regions had not seen since the days of Duke Philip the Good, nearly five centuries ago. All this peace and prosperity have been suddenly and ruthlessly torn from her. Her fields have been laid waste, her cities burned. Treasures of Art have been destroyed and the people have been reduced to poverty or driven forth as helpless refugees. All this Belgium has suffered because she refused to forfeit her independence and betray the pledge of neutrality she had given, a pledge which was the very foundation of her independence. Confronted by armies ten times their strength, her King and people risked everything for Honour, and everything save Honour they have lost. But Honour is the greatest thing. It has won for them the admiration of the world. It will be a glorious memory to them and their children when freedom and independence, peace and prosperity, have been restored, as they must be, and we trust soon will be, restored.

We in Britain salute the gallant King and the gallant Army which still fights heroically on, reduced to less than one-third of its strength. We sorrow at their sufferings. We will not rest till those sufferings are ended and the invader has been expelled. And we thank them for the example they have set to all Europe and to the generations yet to come. History records no finer example since Thermopylae of untarnished fidelity and undaunted courage.

By HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ

By Telegraph

LES malheurs passent, la gloire reste et immortalise. Honneur a 1'heroique

nation et a son heroi'que Souverain.

46

By PAUL HERVIEU

IL etait, une fois, un Roi et une Reine . . .

Oui, ce sera le conte des fees le plus emouvant qui se puisse ecrire, et le

plus edifiant, que la tres veridique histoire de S.M. le Roi Albert Ier et de

S.M. la Reine Elisabeth !

Cette noble quietude dans le devouement aux taches quotidiennes, cette

purete familiale dans laquelle ils vivaient . . .

Tout a coup, 1'intervention du Diable, avec ses offres et ses menaces . . .

Les souverains et le Peuple de Belgique communiant aussitot dans le senti-

ment de 1'honneur et de I'heroi'sme.

L'invasion scelerate, et rinnombrable legion d'esprits infernaux qui crachent

le soufre, deversent les trombes de fer, font pleuvoir le feu ; et les demeures

des cites se transformant en colonnes tronquees de cimetieres ; et des

innocents devenus partout des supplicies ; et le Roi et la Reine qui n'ont

plus pour royaume qu'une dune sur le rivage et autour d'eux les restes

vaillants de leur armee ;

Enfin ! Enfin ! Ce revirement du sort que souhaite ardemment toute

1'humanite digne de ce nom, et que 1'autre meme sent aujourd'hui s'ap-

procher d'une marche sure.

A cet endroit du conte, a ce passage de haute legende, oh ! comme les mains des enfants battront, dans leur amour inne de la justice ! Et le visage des honnetes parents rira d'approbation et de conscience satisfaite. Et ceux qui, dans 1'avenir, mettront, a contempler les Armes royales, la pieuse admiration qui siera, y verront apparaitre une Rose triomphante, accompagnant le Lion de Belgique, pour rimmortelle union de S.M. la Reine Elisabeth dans la gloire de S.M. le Roi Albert Ier.

TRANSLATION by Florence Simmonds

Once upon a time there lived a King and a Queen . . . King and Queen with their kingdom reduced to a

Indeed, it would be the most touching and edifying sandhill on the shore, and the remnant of their valiant

fairy-tale imaginable, this true story of H.M. army round them.

Albert I and H.M. Queen Elisabeth ! And at last, at last ! That turn of the tide which all

It would tell of their quiet and noblf devotion to their humanity worthy of the name desires so ardently,

daily tasks, of the purity of their happy family and which even the baser sort now sees to be surely

life . . . approaching.

Suddenly, the Devil would intervene, frith his threats At this point in the story, at this page of the legendary

and his offers . . . tale, how the children would clap their hands, with

Then we should hear of the Sovereigns and the people all that love of justice innate in children, and hmo the

of Belgium agreeing at once in their sense of honour faces of worthy parents would beam with the approval

and heroism. of satisfied consciences!

Then the dastardly invasion, and the innumerable And in the future, those who contemplate the Royal

host of infernal spirits breathing out sulphur, belching Arms with the piom admiration due to them, will see

torrents of iron, and raining fire ; city dwellings a blooming Rose side by side with the Lion of Belgium,

transformed into the shattered columns of cemeteries ; typifying the immortal share of H.M. Queen Elisabeth

innocent creatures tortured and victimised ; and the in the glory of H.M. Albert 7.

47

By ADMIRAL LORD FISHER OF KILVERSTONE " THE Lord God of recompences shall surely requite."

Jeremiah, chap. 51, verse 56.

" One poor girl of nineteen was found stripped, outraged and dead."

Special Correspondent of THE TIMES (Oct. 25, 1914).

By VISCOUNT GLADSTONE

THE best tribute to King Albert and his gallant Belgians from all to whom opportunity falls, lies in personal effort and service to relieve multitudes of men, women, and children who are suffering because of Belgium's heroic sacrifice for Liberty and International Justice.

By NORMAN ANGELL

BELGIUM 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 become. She has shown that the real nobility of patriotism is not a matter of wide territory and political power and does not need to be nourished by these things ; while the action of Germany towards Belgium has shown that power and size may well destroy all that makes patriotism worth while.

By ELLA WHEELER WILCOX BELGIUM

Ruined ? Destroyed ? Ah no ; though blood in rivers ran Down all her ancient streets ; though treasures manifold Love-wrought, time-mellowed, and beyond the price of gold

Are lost, yet Belgium's star shines still in God's vast plan.

Rarely have kings been great, since kingdoms first 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.

48

By ARISTIDE SARTORIO

UNO scrittore tedesco ha reso noto, come i soldati dell' impero germanico portino nello zaino Faust e Zaratustra. II bagaglio e significative, perche Mephistofeles e il nonno di Zaratustra e questi derive dall' avo quell' indole filosofica, sprone ad ogni violenza e che, fatta scuola in Germania, sappiamo rinsaldi ora cosi la disciplina della soldatesca imperiale. Evidentemente i soldati non si trovano sui campi di battaglia per fare un corso di letteratura, e si inspireranno ai concetti morali dei " Vade mecum," anziche a quelle bellezze estetiche che rendono immortali quei capolavori e, come lo provano duramente oggi i belgi, lo proveremmo noi italiani, qualora gl' imperi centrali uscissero vittoriosi dalla lotta immane ; essi costringereb- bero 1'Italia al vassallaggio ed il nostro paese sarebbe, con tutta probabilita, annientato, derubato, distrutto. Liberati dall' incubo dell' alleanza, noi italiani abbiamo assistito sdegnati allo strazio del Belgio, paese neutrale, paese d'arte, di coltura e d'industria, con il quale fin dalla rinascenza avemmo contatti spirituali, e che, come noi, guadagno la sua indipendenza a prezzo di enormi sacrificl.

Ma le ossa di Friedrich Nietzsche, che si corruccib vedendo la Germania addormentata in un sogno pacifista, dovevano esultare nella tomba, scavata poco lontano da quella dell' olimpico Goethe ; arrive 1'epoca della violenza conquistatrice ; ora noi sappiamo come la civilta tedesca cammini oltre i confini con Mephistopheles e Zaratustra animatori. E cosl, come Mephis- topheles, al soldo dell' imperatore beniamino di Dio, inventava le sorpren- denti armi guerresche, il genio tedesco appresta quei terribili ordigni di guerra contro i quali ne le fortezze, ne le citta, ne i monumenti, ne le scuole resisteranno piu. E cosl, come Faust fattosi sognatore umanitario, attendeva 1'investitura delle terre guadagnate con 1'aiuto diabolico, 94 professor! tedeschi proclamano al mondo civile il buon diritto della conquista imperiale, sulla quale riverserebbero il superfluo della loro coltura. Mephistopheles, dice il poema, brucio la casa, la chiesa ed il giardino di due poveri vecchi, i quali infastidivano 1'espandersi del felice regno di Faust. I due vecchi, insieme ad un ospite, morirono arrostiti, quali neutri di numero tre. Ma sarebbe desiderabile sapere il giudizio del vecchio buon Dio su quegli aviatori che, sorvolando le citta, vi uccidono donne, vecchi e fanciulli, perche il caso non fu contemplate ne da Mephistopheles, ne da Zaratustra. Faust li deve vedere dal paradiso. II dottore, in procinto di morire, si pentl ; ascese ai piedi del trono di Maria Vergine, e li trovo quella preclara intelligenza di Gretchen, che nel frattempo aveva uccisa la madre, soffocato il figlio dell' amore ed era morta pentita.

Esaltati da queste edificanti letture, i soldati tedeschi devono considerarsi quali arcangeli, contro quelle Fiandre cattoliche, che elaborarono la loro morale, contemplando la virtu nelle immagini sante dell' arte latina. Ma sia benedetto e glorificato il tuo sacrificio, o Belgio eroico, ne spento, ne* vinto ! Ti sei levato contro I'imperialismo barbaro invadente nel nome della scienza e della coltura ; Salve tu nei secoli o Belgio eroico !

49

Qualche cosa di bestiale minaccia la gloria del mondo : Che il tuo sangue rinsaldi, come un battesimo, la nostro fede nella civilta latina, e ci sospinga contro il torpido ed oscuro impero, che pare scaturito dalle oscure caligini dell' Asia primordiale o del medio evo europeo !

TRANSLATION by Florence Simmonds A German writer has informed us that the soldiers of the Empire carry Faust and Zarathustra in their knapsacks. These possessions are significant, for Mephistopheles was the grandfather of Zarathustra, and the latter inherited from his ancestor that philo- sophical temper which incites to every kind of violence. It has created a school in Germany, and as we know, is now a factor in the discipline of the Imperial soldiery.

It is obvious that soldiers do not come to the battle- field to take a course of literature ; they find in- spiration in the moral axioms of their vade mecum rather than in the (esthetic beauties that make these masterpieces immortal. The Belgians have had dire proof of this, and we Italians would have a like experi- ence, if the central European Empires should issue victorious from the ruthless conflict. Italy would become their vassal, and in all probability our country would be plundered, ravaged, and annihilated. De- livered from the incubus of the alliance, we Italians have looked on with indignation at the torture of Belgium, a neutral country, a land of art, of culture and of industry, with which we have had spiritual relations since the period of the Renaissance, a land which like our own won her independence by immense sacrifices. But the bones of Friedrich Nietzsche, who raged at the sight of a Germany sunk in pacifist slumber, must exult in the grave where they lie not far from those of the Olympian Goethe ; the epoch of con- quering violence has begun ; we knozv now that German culture, inspired by Mephistopheles and Zarathustra, regards no boundaries ; thus, as Mephis- topheles, at the behest of the Emperor, that Benjamin of the Almighty, invented astounding military weapons, so the Teutonic genius has prepared those terrible engines of war which neither fortresses, cities, public buildings, nor schools can withstand. And just as

Faust in the guise of a humanitarian dreamer, awaited the possession of territories acquired by diabolical aid, so 94 German professors proclaim to the civilised world the equity of Imperial conquest, on the victims of which they propose to pour out the superfluity of their 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 happy kingdom. The two old people, together with a guest, were roasted alive (three neutrals !) But it would be well to know the judgment of the God of Ages upon those aviators, who, flying over cities, murder women, old men, and children, for such a case was not dealt with either by Mephistopheles or Zarathustra. Faust must behold them from his place in Paradise. The doctor repented at the approach of death ; ascending to the steps of the Virgin's throne, he found there the noble intelligence of Gretcken, who in the meantime had killed her mother, strangled her child, and died repentant. Exalted by this edifying reading, what archangels the German soldiers must consider themselves com- pared with those Catholic Flemings, who have elaborated their morality, contemplating virtue in the sacred images of Latin art ! Blessed and glorified be thy sacrifice, O heroic Belgium, neither quenched nor vanquished ! Thou didst rise against Imperial barbarism, invading thee in the name of science and culture. Hail to thee throughout the ages, heroic Belgium !

Brutality menaces the glory of the world. May thy blood, like baptismal waters, revive our faith in Latin civilisation, and spur us on against the dark and heavy Empire, that might well have issued from the gloom of primordial Asia or the medieeval ages of Europe.

By ALICE MEYNELL THE HEROIC LANGUAGE

When our now living languages are " dead," Which in the classes shall be treasured ?

Which will the masters teach ?

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

O little Flemish speech !

By SIDNEY LOW

" FROM THE BODY OF THIS 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 brand ;

Though yet the torches of the Vandal band,

Smoke on her ruined fields , her trampled lanes, Her ravaged homes and desolated fanes,

She is not dead but sleeping, that wronged land.

O little nation, valorous and free,

Thou shall o'er live the terror and the pain ; Call back thy scattered children unto thee,

Strong with the memory of their brothers slain, And rise from out thy charnel-house, to be

Thine own immortal, radiant Self again.

By SIR ARTHUR PINERO To ALBERT THE BRAVE

ENGLAND honours and salutes you, Sir. Inspired by your true patriot- ism, your splendid courage, your heroic soul, Little Belgium has become for all time Great Belgium. Betrayed, outraged, exiled, you and your people prove yourselves to be unconquerable. Such a spirit cannot be quenched. Beside it, the flames lighted by your barbarous enemy show pale and impotent.

Sir, the pangs of Belgium's rebirth are terrible ; but the shrieks of travail reach the ears of a just Heaven. The hour is at hand when the cries of agony shall die down ; when the rich meadows of your new-born kingdom shall respond to the caress of the sun with a smile like the smile of an infant ; when you shall lead the remnant of your indomitable army back in triumph to witness the glory of your country's re-creation. Till that moment, whatever her fortunes in other fields, England will know no rest, no con- tentment, not one particle of gladness.

By SIR WILLIAM CROOKES

ONE'S sympathy with and admiration of the gallant Belgian nation and

their valiant King are only to be paralleled by the horror and detestation

one feels for their universal enemy — the modern Huns.

To express my feelings I would go to the Bible or to Shakespeare for an

apt quotation, and I do not think the following words from Isaiah (ch. 14),

can be improved on as a prophetic statement of the depth of the modern

catastrophe and of prospective comfort to the afflicted ruler :

In the day that the Lord shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, thou shalt take up this parable against the King of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased ! the golden exactress ceased ! The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers, He who smote the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and none hinder eth.

By SIR CHARLES LUCAS

THE cause of Belgium is the cause of all who hold that nations have a right to live. Terrible are the sufferings of this present time, but coming genera- tions will stand up and call the land and the people blessed.

By G. W. PROTHERO

" MY tongue hath sworn ; unsworn remains my mind."

This is the motto Germany has chosen for herself ; it is not the motto of

Belgium — or of England.

By H.H. THE RANEE OF SARAWAK

WORDS cannot express the immense feeling of admiration and sympathy I feel for the King and his people in this frightful calamity which has over- taken them — a feeling that, outside Germany, must be paramount in the hearts of men and women all over the world.

wfjr

By SIR WILFRED LAURIER

By Telegraph

YOUR own Introduction to KING ALBERT'S BOOK is a most eloquent

tribute to the heroism of the King and people of Belgium. No other words

are needed from me. My share will be to assist as far as in my power may

lie the diffusion of the book among the Canadian people.

JUSTICE

By SOLOMON J. SOLOMON. R.A.

By THE RT. HON. EARL ROBERTS OF KANDAHAR

MY admiration for the part Belgium has played in the war now being waged against aggression, dishonourable contempt of Treaty obligations, falsehood, and injustice, knows no bounds. I feel most strongly that Great Britain owes Belgium a deep debt of gratitude which it will be difficult to repay. Inspired by the noble example of their King, the Belgians arrested the first onslaught of the Germans, and thus gave us time to ward off the punishment we so richly deserve for our neglect to prepare to defend our own interests. Little Belgium has shown to the great nations of the earth that a brave and united people, daring everything and prepared to suffer anything in the sacred cause of liberty, can resist successfully overwhelming numbers for a long time, and materially help towards victory in the end. In the terrible struggle still raging, to the Belgians must be awarded the palm for freely and fearlessly offering themselves as the first bulwark against the invading hordes of Germany. Glorious has been their stand, and priceless the time and the advantage gained thereby. No acknowledgment of their splendid example can be too liberal. No admiration too lavish, no compensation for the loss and misery they have endured, too generous. They have fought heroically for a sacred principle against frightful odds. They have suffered up to the limit of human endurance. God grant that there may be yet in store for them a bright and prosperous future, and a permanent place in the van of Civilisation and Freedom.

By MAURICE HEWLETT FROM ENGLAND

O MEN of mickle heart and little speech, Slow, stubborn countrymen of heath and plain, Now have ye shown these insolent again That which to Ccesar's legions ye could teach, That slow-provok'd is long-provoked. May each Crass Ccesar learn this of the Keltic grain, Until at last they reckon it in vain To browbeat us who hold the Western reach. For even as you are, we are, ill to rouse, Rooted in Custom, Order, Church, and King ; And as you fight for their sake, so shall we, Doggedly inch by inch, and house by house ; Seeing for us too there's a dearer thing Than land or blood— and that thing LIBERTY.

55

By SIR OLIVER LODGE

THE world is the richer for the experience of the past few months, and Belgium has inscribed its name on an eternal roll of honour — the roll of those who have died in holding a pass against overwhelming odds. Humanity blesses the heroic struggle for freedom of the Belgian nation ; for without their aid the face of Europe would have been changed past redemption, and the Earth might have been subject to a brutal and intolerable '..ominance. We have witnessed in our own generation one of the classical contests of the world ; and the tale will go down to remote posterity — a tale of deep infamy and lofty honour — relating how at this time the powers of evil were frustrated, and how the holiest cause emerged, stricken but victorious, — triumphing as always through grievous pain.

By ^CLAUDE MONET

TRES honore de 1'occasion qui m'est offerte, de pouvoir crier toute mon

admiration a 1'heroi'que Belgique, et d'adresser tres respectueusement la

meme admiration au noble et vaillant roi de la nation Beige.

Vive la Belgique ! Vive les Allies ! Vive la France !

TRANSLATION /* /? *> V/ ^ - .

I feel myself greatly honoured by the opportunity U- « ** *• *" * r •

given me to express all my admiration of heroic Belgium, and to offer a like admiration to the noble and valiant King of the Belgians. Long live Belgium ! Long Uve the Allies ! Long live France !

By SIR JAMES CRICHTON-BROWNE

BELGIUM

BELGIUM, a stripling Knight in the shining armour of Truth and with

the flashing blade of Right, withstood the first fierce onslaught of the mon-

strous and fire-belching Dragon that has grown up in Central Europe and

uncoiled itself to devour the world. Scorched, wounded, trodden on, the

stripling has never blanched nor quailed but has given pause to the Dragon

and time to the strong men to awake from slumber in which, but for him,

they might have been smitten down. When, amidst the execrations of

mankind, the Dragon is driven back to his lair and chained there for a

thousand years, then, for all that time, will ~vomen, with tears in their eyes,

tell their children of the stripling's agony and men with stiffened sinews

recall his valiant deeds.

Laud and homage to Belgium ! bravest of the brave, lealest of the leal, and

loving care and succour too, that healing and solace may come to him.

56

By EDMUND GOSSE

THE BELGIAN POETS

ONE by one, like the apparitions that rose and pointed at Macbeth, the arts and sciences, the amenities and the pieties of Belgium defile in a blood- boltered line, and accuse their murderer of foul and treacherous offences. To a single phantom I would speak to-day. While others call for vengeance on Germany for other wickedness, I would speak in anger and pity of a murdered literature. Incredible as it sounds, a literature, the articulate imagination of a people, may be destroyed. After the battle of the White Mountain, the flourishing and genial literature of Bohemia was annihilated by the Austrians, and it lay in ashes for one hundred and fifty years. Such, if Germany had her brutal will, would be the fate of poetry and prose in the Low Countries to-day, and although the inevitable hour of reckoning and restitution cannot for ever be delayed, at the present moment her enemies have succeeded in silencing the written voice of Belgium. If they have not silenced it, at least they have dispersed it on the wings of the wind. It has no longer an abiding-place within its own borders ; it sounds, so far as it still sounds at all, in the piteous murmurs of an exile. Modern literature in Belgium is a creation of our own times. It dates from 1880, when a generation of young men started it under the leadership of a youth who lived but nine years more to witness the progress of his work, Max Waller, whose name will always demand the honour due to precursors. Waller founded a review, La Jeune Belgique, in which his most brilliant contemporaries, tired of the nullity of the intellectual life of their forbears, developed ideas and forms of expression which translated for the first time the peculiar emotions and graces of the Flemish temperament. They chose the French language for their expression, and they all were in sym- pathy with the Latin genius, although they were careful never to denationa- lise themselves, and never to abandon the vehement or mystical attributes proper to the country of their birth. In less than thirty-five years, Belgium has placed herself in the forefront of the creative literary nations of Europe. This is not the place, nor mine the hand, to analyse or describe the achieve- ments of Belgian literature. But it is manifest to every one that it is in poetry that its success has been most eminent. In the few words which I am privileged to say here, I will attempt no more than to bend in affection and homage towards our admirable and stricken brethren, the poets of Belgium. Two of them, through a merciful Providence, have been spared by an early death from drinking the bitter cup. We name in honour the harbinger of the brilliant company, the ecstatic CHARLES VAN LEERBERGHE, whose pen was dipped in moonlit dew, whose ethereal genius translated into verse all that was most delicately in harmony with the spirit of the old Flemish illuminators, whose pictures of Paradise seem painted by an inspired monk on the vellum fly-leaves of a missal. We name GEORGES RODENBACH, in whom the melancholy of Flanders, above all the grey beauty of Bruges, found so tender an interpreter.

57

But chiefly to the living we proffer our reverent and indignant sympathy. Driven from their homes, their books scattered, their manuscripts burned, they are but as beautiful autumn leaves in the blast of the Teuton war-gods. We greet the noble EMILE VERHAEREN, the first of the living poets of Europe. In him the religious intensity of Belgium has taken a different expression from that of the mystics. He has not shrunk, in his abundant and various yet eminently consistent productive work, from celebrating many sides of the national character. He blows through bronze and he breathes through silver, and if we would understand the life and soil of Belgium, toute la Flandre, we must go to this inspired and multiform mind for our instruction. Thirty-five years ago, three young men who were students at the College Sainte-Barbe at Ghent, determined to devote their lives to the creation of a poetical drama in Belgium ; they were Van Leerberghe, Le Roy, and Maeterlinck. The whole world has submitted to the fascination of MAURICE MAETERLINCK. A Parisian admirer unwisely introduced him as " the Belgian Shakespeare." He is, on the contrary, the one and only Belgian Maeterlinck. We greet with emotion other names, less universally recog- nised. Brussels is the mother of ANDRE FONTAINAS, whose enchanted gardens are like the backgrounds of Rubens' pictures. From Antwerp MAX ELSKAMP has brought his idylls of a peaceful Flanders. Let me not forget that Liege has sent us the tender and tremulous ALBERT MOCKEL, nor that Louvain, till the hour of her desecration, was proud of the ac- complished talent of ALBERT GIRAUD.

If I name no more, it is due to ignorance or lack of space. Our protest is not in favour of these great names alone, but of the whole intellectual civilisation of Belgium, so flourishing and so vivid in the peace of a month or two ago, now humiliated and trampled like an autumn rose under the hoof of a bull.

By ANDREW CARNEGIE

ASSUREDLY the people of Belgium have shown themselves worthy descendants of their ancestors whom Julius Csesar honoured thus : Omnium jortissimi sunt Beiges. King Albert has proven himself possessed of courage, which is one of the essentials of high character, which Farquhar thus describes :

Courage the highest gift, which scorns to bend

To mean devices for a sordid end.

Courage— an independent spark from Heaven's bright throne,

By which the soul stands raised, triumphant, high, alone.

58

By HENRI BERGSON

Le Daily Telegraph veut bien me demander mon sentiment sur la Belgique et sur le Roi Albert. Je cherche en vain, je ne trouve pas de mots pour exprimer mon admiration. Je m'incline en proie a une emotion profonde et je salue respectueusement.

Un petit peuple s'est trouve tout a coup en presence d'une des plus for- midables armees de la terre. On lui demandait simplement la permission de passer ; on lui rendrait, disait-on, son territoire intact ; on respecterait son independance. L 'cut-on fait ? Je ne sais, mais ce petit peuple etait libre de le croire. Et s'il cut declare qu'il cedait a la force, qu'il acceptait 1'inevitable, nous 1'aurions plaint, nous n'aurions pas ose le blamer. Mais non ! il a resiste a ce qui paraissait irresistible ; il a fait par avance le sacrifice de tout ce qu'il avait et de tout ce qu'il etait : ses villes et ses villages, sa fortune et sa vie, il a tout donne a une idee, a la conception heroique qu'il s'etait faite de 1'honneur. Gloire a lui ! gloire a son roi ! J'ai dit, j'ai enseigne pendant longtemps que 1'histoire etait une ecole d'immoralite. Je ne le dirai plus, apres 1'exemple que la Belgique vient de donner au monde. Un acte comme celui-la rachete les plus grandes vilenies de 1'humanite. II fait qu'on se sent plus fier d'etre homme. Sera-t-il permis a un professeur de philosophic d'ajouter qu'on se sentira plus fier, desormais, d'etre philosophic ? Le roi Albert s'est adonne aux Etudes philosophiques. Leur doit-il quelque chose de sa force d'ame et de son genereux idealisme ? Je le voudrais, car la philosophic recueillirait alors quelque chose de sa gloire. Deux fois, au cours de 1'histoire, elle a brille sur un trone ; et, les deux fois, elle aura ete associee a la plus haute vertu. Elle inspira jadis le stoi'cisme de Marc Aurele. Elle sourit aujour- d'hui avec amour a 1'heroi'sme simple et sublime du Roi Albert.

TRANSLATION by J. 5. C.

The Daily Telegraph has been pleased to ask of me done for honour. Glory to her ! Glory to her king !

to say what I feel about Belgium and King Albert. I I have said and I have taught for long that history

have searched in vain to find words adequate for express- was a school of immorality. I shall say so no more,

ing my admiration : I can only bow my head, a prey after the example that Belgium has just given to the

to profound emotion, and offer a respectful homage, world. A deed like this redeems the worst meannesses

A small nation found herself suddenly confronted by of mankind. It makes one feel more proud of being

one of the most formidable armies in the world. They a man.

asked of her merely permission to pass through ; they May it be permitted to a professor of philosophy to

would restore to her, so they said, her territory add that it makes one feel more proud henceforth of

untouched ; they would respect her independence, being a philosopher ? King Albert has followed

Would they have done so? I know not, but the small philosophical studies. Is it to them that he owes

nation was free to believe them. And if she had something of 'his strength of soul and his noble idealism ?

declared that she yielded to force and accepted the I could wish so, for philosophy would then share in

inevitable, we might have pitied but we should not his glory. Twice in the course of history has philo-

have dared to blame. Far otherwise ! She has sophy shone from a throne, and on both occasions it

resisted what seemed irresistible ; she has sacrificed, will have been associated with the highest virtue.

at once all that she had, all that she was : her towns In ancient times philosophy inspired the stoicism of

and her villages, her wealth and her li'e, she has Marcus Aurelius. It smiles lovingly to-day on the

given all for an idea, for the heroic belief that it wat simple and sublime heroism of King Albert.

59

HAIL!

Toici.

A HYMN TO BELGIUM

POEM BY

JOHN GALSWORTHY

MUSIC BY

FREDERIC H. COWEN.

Moderate sostenuto.

1. Men of Bel-gium! Hon-our's own! Ye who saved the Ho - ly Grail, Ye who died for Moderate sostenuto. J=62.

PIANO

OH OBGAIT.

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Free- dom's Crown, Hail, ye brave, for ev - er: hail! 2. Wives of Bel-gium! who to Death

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Paid the toll of Mo-ther's wail, Bound with wid- owed sor - row's wreath The brows of Death, ye * ' N^-J-E=[

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bars, as in the 1st and 2nd verses.

60

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ter-ror, yet with eyes un - dazed, — Smiled on at Hope — ye sweet - hearts : Hail!.. Maids of

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tell thy tale. The morn - ing comes Thou shalt not die !

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61

By EDEN PHILLPOTTS To BELGIUM

Champion of human honour, let us lave

Your feet and bind your zvounds on bended knee, Though coward hands have nailed you to the tree

And shed your innocent blood and dug your grave ,

Rejoice and live ! Your oriflamme shall wave While man has power to perish and be free— A golden flame of holiest Liberty,

Proud as the dawn and as the sunset brave.

Belgium, where dwelleth reverence for right

Enthroned above all ideals ; where your fate

And your supernal patience and your might Most sacred grow in human estimate,

You shine a star above this stormy night,

Little no more, but infinitely great. *-«r<je^. P

By MARY CHOLMONDELEY

POLYDORE IN ENGLAND

WHEN Polydore came to stay with us he did not come alone. He was accompanied by Nestor Maria and Rene and Achille and poor Jan, who was not a soldier at all, but had been wounded while lending a hand in the trenches.

But somehow the others only formed a background to Polydore. Polydore invariably met the eye first, from the moment when a jaded Red Cross official handed him and his companions over to us at. a roadside station. It was Polydore who advanced to meet us, the others making a little bunch behind him. Polydore, with his dusky complexion and round, grey, im- passive, unwinking eyes, amazed at nothing, at once constituted himself as spokesman of the party, interpreter and expert on matters of etiquette. Possibly he may have felt that this position was his due as he was the only one of the contingent in full Belgian uniform. Dark blue coat, wide light blue trousers, and peaked cap. Nestor Maria and Achille wore English sweaters with their blue trousers. Jan, of course, had no uniform, only a weird English cheap suit rather too tight in the waist. None of them except Polydore had a peaked cap. But all five were wound up in enormous woollen comforters.

62

All five had been seriously wounded, and had come to us to recruit after

being discharged from the hospital at E . But though Rene and Achille

were lame they were in the best of spirits, as were Nestor Maria and Polydore himself, though still somewhat pallid and worn-looking. Only Jan never smiled and hardly spoke a word. He had no news of his old mother, last heard of at Ostend.

Our guests had brought no luggage with them, except a packet of English picture post cards presented to Polydore in hospital, and one pipe among the five.

They obeyed Polydore's directions implicitly, why, I know not. When they retired to their carefully tucked-up beds, he made them all creep into them from the top, without opening them at the side. This cannot have been quite easy for Rene and Achille with their " bad " legs, but they accomplished it nevertheless. After two days, Polydore courteously in- quired how much longer they would have to drink our terrible English medicine with their breakfasts. This was the strong tea we had given them. Coffee was substituted for it, and smiles wreathed every face. Even Jan said a word or two in Flemish which sounded like approval. The only thing in our establishment which surprised even Polydore was the mowing machine on the lawn. That amazed them all, and they were never tired of watching it. They walked round the garden with us, at least Polydore did, while the others followed at his heels, while Polydore admired the roses d'Egypte and thegueules de lion * still flowering in the autumn beds. They were all politeness itself, but I think they might have become rather bored with English country life if it had not been for Private Dawkins of the West 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 soldier-like in his khaki, to call on his allies. A difference of language presented no difficulties. Immediate and agreeable intercourse was estab- lished and presently Dawkins and Polydore set out together, of course followed by the others ; the English soldier looking very slim in his khaki puttees compared with the low, broad, sturdy, blue-trousered figures of his companions in arms.

Dawkins took his comrades to call on every cottage in the village, and introduced them to the entire circle of his acquaintance, including his mother. Mrs. Dawkins, I found afterwards, was much impressed by Polydore's ignorance.

1 The pore critter," she told me, " actually thought the clothes-line was a telephone. But lor, mum, I soon made him understand. I brought out a kitchen rubber and a peg, and made him fasten it on the wire, just to teach him. He's sharp enough, is Polly Dor, and such a silly name for a man." As he grew to know us better, Polydore told us many tales of the fighting in Belgium, the others sitting round, and joining in like a chorus. With a perfectly impassive face he recounted how on one occasion when the dykes

* Mignonette and Snapdragon.

63

were opened, the Germans, after losing all their guns, had been forced to seek refuge in the trees, where he and Rene had assisted in capturing whole batches of them, sitting in strings in the branches like enormous barn-door fowls.

But he and his comrades recounted other incidents too ghastly to be written here. He had seen — Nestor Maria had seen — Achille had seen — the dusky, impassive faces darkened suddenly. Hands were clenched, grey eyes blazed. We had to draw them back to less grievous topics and make Polydore describe to us once more the contemptible fire of the German infantry. We were shown exactly how the Germans fired from the hip, with no effect at all. And then Polydore waved Rene forward and made him stand in front of us, expanding his chest, while he laid his hand on the second button of Rene's tattered blue coat, and explained to us that when a Belgian soldier fires at the enemy he always hits him exactly there, on the chest — always.

Our Belgian soldiers did not stay many weeks with us. They thrived exceedingly, and presently their country called them. Dawkins was sent for the same day. And the last I saw of Polydore was leaning out of a third-class railway carriage window with Dawkins, waving his peaked cap to us, with the others in a little bunch behind him. We had made search- ing inquiries before they left, and found that Jan's mother was safe at Alexandra Palace, where she had arrived clutching five coffee-pots as her entire luggage.

So good-bye Polydore and Nestor Maria and Achille and Rene and Jan. And may the world go well with you !

By SIR VALENTINE CHIROL

IT is a privilege to join in any tribute to King Albert and his people. King Albert is the only sovereign whose royal title is not a territorial one. He is styled King, not of Belgium but of the Belgians ; as if it had been pre- ordained that though a ruthless conqueror might rob him for a time of his kingdom, none should ever rob him of his kingship. Never perhaps more proudly than to-day, when his Government has been compelled to seek refuge on the hospitable soil of France and he himself, at the head of his indomitable army, is fighting close to the French frontier for the last inch of Belgian territory, has King Albert vindicated his right to a splendid title : King of the Belgians, heroic head of an heroic people.

By PROFESSOR PAUL VINOGRADOFF

THE RECORD OF BELGIUM

IN addressing the King of an heroic nation it is natural to recall to mind some striking memories of its past in which its temper and character have been revealed in former ages. It seems clear to us, outsiders, that the life of the Belgian people has been in many respects an exceptional manifestation of energy and courage. As far as we can look back into dim antiquity, we find the country occupied by Celtic tribes which, in the opinion of a great expert, Caesar, were conspicuous for their political aptitude and prowess in war. The Roman Conquest of this region proved to be more than a military accident — it impressed a great part of the population with the indelible stamp of Romance culture and contributed powerfully to form the Walloon racial group.

The Franks brought in a fresh Teutonic element : it survives in the Flemings and, as in the case of the Saxons and Danes of England, it widened the outlook and the range of action of the nation without forcing the country into the narrow groove of purely Germanic development. In the economic Renaissance of Europe during the later MiddleAges Flanders took the lead with the astonishing outburst of industry in Ghent, Ypres, and other cities — and the progressive movement was reflected not only in the output of their wares but also in the sturdy spirit of the redoutable burgher arrays. In the Renaissance of learning and arts Belgium has taken its place with the Van Eycks and Memling far ahead of many populous kingdoms : Bruges shares with Florence and Nuremberg the glory of emulating Athens in the wealth of its civic culture.

In the centuries of statecraft and absolutism the valleys of the Scheldt and of the Meuse became the battle-ground of European sovereigns, but the transition to a better age is marked again by a momentous act of the Belgian people — by the rising against the benevolent despotism of Austria. The settlement of 1830 was more than a casual fabrication of cunning diplomats : it has brought together elements diverse in race but united by creed, by cultural aspirations and by a spirit of stubborn independence. King Albert is fortunate to stand at the head of such a people and the Belgians can well be proud of a King who embodies in a full measure the best virtues of the nation.

In ages to come travellers will look with pious emotion on the sites of Liege, Louvain, Antwerp, the shores of the Yser, and if at the close of this terrible war a prize were to be adjudicated to the most valiant nation, as the Greeks did in their war of independence against the Persian King, the prize would surely fall by unanimous consent to Belgium. If there is justice in the world and a meaning in history, Belgium will arise out of the ashes, like Phoenix, in renewed vigour and splendour.

65

By SIDNEY WEBB

HUMANITY has found, after many a wound and countless ineffectual struggles, that Law is the Mother of Liberty. Now Belgium has been tortured by ruthless power. May it be so far not in vain that all the peoples of the earth may learn that only in the building up of a really effective International Law can national liberty be secured.

By BENJAMIN KIDD

NO tribute which civilisation is able to make can meet the debt which the human spirit owes to the Belgian people and to King Albert for ever. When the tempter asked the Belgian people to be his accomplice against France and offered Belgium a price for her soul, King Albert, backed by his unanimous people, instantly took the terrible decision and gave firmly the answer by which our common humanity has been ennobled. It is an immortal story of Right rendered invincible through the crucifixion of a People.

By SIR THOMAS BARCLAY

THE violation of Belgium's neutrality is a collective crime, including every crime that dishonours the individual : murder, robbery, arson, perjury, false pretences, broken faith, etc.

It is murder, not war, to wage bloodshed on those against whom there is no grievance. It is robbery to take from the innocent as from the guilty, and arson to burn down their homes. It is worse than perjury without provocation to break a solemn promise and violate the trust of others. The magnitude of Germany's crime has not yet been realised by the German national conscience, but, sooner or later, it will be realised and then all honest and truth-loving Germans, at present victims of deliberate mis- representation, will feel the humiliation of having forfeited the respect and confidence of mankind. They will see in all its blackness a crime which will go down to posterity as one of the foulest deeds of all time — a treacherous breach of faith coupled with a ruthless cruelty unsurpassed in history. No casuistry will redeem the German people from the consciousness of having provoked and deserved the curse of an unoffending people and the unqualified reprobation of the whole civilised world.

66

THE MARCH OF THE WOMEN.

Ethel Smyth,, Mua.tooc.

TO the King of the Belgians and his heroic people who, believing in right rather than in might, fought against overwhelming odds in defence of their honour and freedom — even as women in England are fighting to win theirs — undying gratitude) and everlasting glory /

By EMMELINE PANKHURST

THE women of Great Britain will never forget what Belgium has done for

all that women hold most dear.

In the days to come mothers will tell their children how a small but great-

souled nation fought to the death against overwhelming odds and sacrificed

all things to save the world from an intolerable tyranny.

The story of the Belgian people's defence of Freedom will inspire countless

generations yet unborn.

By CARDINAL GIBBONS

I GLADLY subscribe my name to KING ALBERT'S BOOK.

By WILLIAM J. LOCKE To #M Heroic Majesty the King of the Belgians, SIRE,

One Fifth of November more worthy to live in the shuddering memory of man than the anniversary which we English celebrate — one Fifth of Novem- ber, three hundred and thirty-eight years ago, the wintry dawn broke upon Antwerp burned and butchered by a soldiery " who," as the great American historian says, '' seemed to have cast off even the vizard of humanity. Hell," he adds, " seemed emptied of its fiends." To-day a soldiery as ruthless and as bestial has entered the gates of Antwerp after spreading a desolation through your fair land such as Alva and his followers, supreme products of a race then braggart too of its " culture," had neither the wit to devise nor the ferocity to execute. More than three hundred years ago your country fought for everything that man holds dear, everything that man holds sacred. Against fearful odds she fought the greatest fight for Liberty that the wrorld till then had seen. In that stupendous struggle, " women, old men, and children had all been combatants, and all therefore incurred the vengeance of the conquerors." To-day, Sire, your foes, molested by naught but the chivalrous resistance of your armies, have wreaked a vengeance thrice more damnable . Three hundred years ago your country , with unp aralleled heroism , 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 of mankind. She now, once more, has fought even a more glorious battle for Liberty than in those far-off days. She has struck an immortal chord that vibrates and shall vibrate through the united heart of the Anglo-Saxon, Latin, and Slav races — races who, in that sublimated expression of Life to which we give the name of Art, a term embracing all manifestations of spiritual discovery from a song to a cathedral, have abhorred Teutonic ideals. And as in those far-off days, your noble country, secure in her own integrity, and, now, inspired by the wondering admiration of the civilised world, once more shall triumph and once more shall play a prouder part than ever among the nations of the earth.

For yourself, Sire, what more fitting tribute can a humble writer lay at your feet than the words of the Anglo-Saxon historian regarding your predecessor and exemplar, the great saviour of your country three hundred years ago : He went through life bearing the load of a people's sorrows upon his shoulders, with a smiling face. He was the guiding star of a great nation."

68 ^

(WTRE F1ELB o?HONOlJR

By H. CHANDLER CHRISTY

By MARIE CORELLI FOR BELGIUM ! An Invocation

" What shall we do for our Sister in the day when she shall be spoken of ? If she be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver."

Song oj Solomon

Maker of Heaven and Earth,

Thou, who hast given birth To moving millions oj pre-destined spheres,

Thou, whose resistless might

Resolves the Wrong to Right Missing no moment of the measured years —

Behold, we come to Thee ! We lift our swords, unsheaitid, towards Thy throne —

Look down on us, and see Our Sister-Nation, ruined and undone ! Martyred for nobleness , for truth and trust ; Help us, O God, to raise her from the dust !

Be Thou our witness, Lord !

We swear with one accord Swift retribution on her treacherous foe !

Her bitter wrong is ours,

And heaven1 s full-armed powers Shall hurl her murderer to his overthrow !

Upon her broken wall A silver palace of sweet peace shall rise

At that high Festival

When Victory's signal flashes through the skies — But — until then ! — welcome the fiercest fray ! We fight for Freedom ! God, give us " The Day " /

E**

By THE ARCHBISHOP OF YORK

THE King and people of Belgium were the first to meet the shock of this terrible war into which Europe has been plunged. They were the first to give proof of the spirit of heroic self-sacrifice by which alone it can be carried through. It was their honour to lay down their national life for their friends. It must be our honour to restore that national life to them, secured from menace, enriched and ennobled by the splendid sacrifice which it has made.

By THE REV. DR. JOHN CLIFFORD THE BELGIAN PEOPLE AND THEIR KING

AGAIN and again as I have read the story of the unparalleled exploits of the Belgians and their King, the words of the prophet Isaiah have come to me : "A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind and a covert from the tempest ; as rivers of water in a dry place and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land." The outstanding hero of this stupendous war is King Albert. He has been a refuge for his people in this day of trouble and tragedy. Never has he hesitated from first to last. There has been no vacillation. His complete self-abnegation has been matched by the magnificence of his valour. He has stood his ground all the way through, and is still the strong, steadfast soul in whom his suffering people trust. He has led with courage and wisdom and self-sacrifice. He is the great hero of a nation of heroes, the brave leader of a brave and gallant people. By the clearest right, he goes to his place by the side of Leonidas and William the Silent, King Alfred and Oliver Cromwell, and all the other real kings of men. His noble and beautiful character, chivalrous spirit and whole- souled work will enrich the human race for ever. To him, and his people, we offer the most glowing admiration and the sincerest gratitude, for un- forgettable service rendered to all the generations of men, by undaunted resistance given to an unscrupulous and barbaric invader.

By THE CHIEF RABBI

ONLY that nation can be called cultured which adds to the spiritual assets

of humanity ; which by its living and, if need be, by its dying, vindicates

the eternal values of life— conscience, honour, liberty. Judged by this test,

two of the littlest of peoples, Judaea in ancient times and Belgium to-day,

and not their mighty and ruthless oppressors, are among the chief defenders

of culture, champions of the sacred heritage of man.

Israel, that has endured all things, suffered all things, and survived all things,

believes with a perfect faith that Belgium, fighting for the Spirit, is as

indestructible as the Spirit.

By THE CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF REIMS JE m'associe de toute mon ame a 1'hommage d'admiration et de respectueuse sympathie qu'on a eu 1'heureuse pensee d'offrir a Sa Majeste le Roi Albert, a son armee et a son peuple.

Oui, honneur au Roi des Beiges. Toutes nos sympathies vont a ce souve- rain magnanime, qui personnifie a 1'heure actuelle aux yeux du monde entier le Droit opprime, que la colere d'un puissant adversaire n'a point intimide, et qui, malgre les revers de la fortune, persiste inebranlable dans la defense de 1'independance de son pays.

Des qu'il se sut menace, sa resolution fut prise. Aux propositions tour a tour insinuantes et hautaines de laisser libre passage aux envahisseurs qui s'appretaient a se ruer sur une nation amie de la Belgique et a la surprendre par une attaque brusquee avant qu'elle eut le temps de concentrer ses troupes, il osa repondre par le refus formel que lui dictait sa conscience. Pour lui la neutralite de la Belgique n'etait pas un vain mot, ni le traite qui la stipulait " un simple bout de papier " dont on ne tient compte qu'autant qu'on y a interet. Sans se laisser influencer par les menaces du solliciteur, ni par la crainte des consequences immediates de sa reponse, il n'ecouta que la voix de la justice et de 1'honneur. Sa resolution prise, il se mit en mesure de la soutenir avec une admirable energie : ' S'il faut resister a 1'invasion, s'ecrie-t-il, le devoir nous trouvera armes et decides aux plus grands sacrifices. Un seul devoir s 'impose a nos volontes : une resistance opiniatre . . . 1'etranger trouvera tous les Beiges groupes autour de leur souverain, qui ne trahira jamais son serment constitutionnel. Voila un fier langage auquel le monde entier a justement applaudi. Honneur a 1'armee de la Belgique ! Ce fut un cri d'etonnement et d'admira- tion lorsqu'on apprit que subitement jetee en guerre centre la nation la plus fortement armee de 1'Europe, elle tenait en echec les legions de son puissant ennemi a Liege et a Namur, brisait son elan, faisait echouer son plan d'attaque en 1'empechant de prendre 1'avance sur laquelle il avait comptee. Obligee cependant de ceder devant le nombre, elle se replia sur Anvers, et quand elle dut evacuer ce dernier boulevard de sa resistance, ce ne fut pas pour rendre les armes ; elle vint prendre place entre 1'armee de la France et celle de 1'Angleterre pour partager avec elles les perils de la guerre en attendant 1'heure de partager 1'honneur de la victoire finale. L 'armee Beige a ecrit dans 1'histoire du monde une des pages les plus glorieuses.

Honneur au peuple Beige ! II s'est montre digne de la confiance que son Roi avait en son patriotisme. II a noblement ratifie 1'attitude de son souverain en acceptant genereusement les sacrifices de la guerre. Levee de tous les hommes valides, siege et bombardement de ses forteresses, de- vastation de ses villes et de ses campagnes, destruction de ses monuments et de ses chefs-d'reuvre, sevices de 1'ennemi furieux de sa resistance, revers prevus, mais douloureux quand meme, de ses armes, il a tout supporte avec une noble resignation et sans perdre courage. Liege, Namur, Tournai,

71

Gand, Bruges, Anvers, toutes ses villes si prosperes, si pacifiques, Bruxelles, sa capitale, sont tombees 1'une apres 1'autre sous les coups de 1'ennemi dix fois superieur en nombre, sans que son invincible Constance soit ebranlee. II offre maintenant au monde le spectacle poignant qu'on n'avait pas vu depuis les invasions des Barbares, d'un peuple chasse de ses foyers, et reduit a Pemigration pour echapper a un joug qu'il ne veut pas subir. Plein de confiance en sa cause et en son Dieu, il attend que la victoire re- vienne sous ses etendards qui sont ceux memes de la justice et de la liberte. La guerre actuelle a montre au monde que dans ce petit pays de Belgique habite un grand peuple.

Au Roi des Beiges, a son armee, a son peuple, nous offrons respectueusement rhommage de notre admiration et de notre reconnaissance. Qu'il soit permis au Cardinal- Archeveque de Reims d'adresser aussi un salut fraternel au venerable et illustre Archeveque de Malines, S.E. le Cardinal Mercier. Tous deux au retour du Conclave, nous avons trouve fermee la porte de nos dioceses envahis. Nous n'y sommes rentres que pour pleurer sur les mines, et nous aurions pu, sur nos dioceses ravages et sur nos cathedrales incendiees de Malines et de Reims, chanter les lamenta- tions du Prophete sur les decimbres fumants de Jerusalem et de son Temple. Associes dans la douleur, nous le sommes aussi dans la priere pour implorer la protection du Ciel en faveur de nos deux peuples, qui, de tout temps freres dans la foi catholique, le seront desormais dans le souvenir des souffrances partagees et par les liens d'une amitie infrangible.

. a~<> '-tto-^ , «~*li .--. -^^

TRANSLATION (abridged)

I associate myself whole-heartedly with the happily themselves worthy of the King's confidence in their

conceived tribute of admiration and respectful sym- patriotism. They nobly ratified their prince's attitude

pathy you propose to offer to King Albert, his army, by a generous acceptance of the sacrifices of war.

and his people. The call to arms of every able-bodied man, the siege

Yes, all honour t'j the King of the Belgians ! All and bombardment of their fortresses, the devastation

our hearts go out to this noble prince, who now per- of their towns and lands, the destruction of their

sonifies to the whole world oppressed Right, who, monuments and works of art, the severities of an

undaunted by the rage of a mighty adversary, and enemy infuriated by their resistance, reverses not less

uncrushed by reverses, stands like a rock to defend painful because they had been foreseen, they bore all

the independence of his country. with noble courage and resignation. Liege, Namur,

***** Tournai, Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp, all their peaceful

All honour to the Belgian army ! There was a and prosperous cities, and Brussels, their capital,

universal cry of astonishment and admiration when have fallen one after the other under the attacks of

it was knmvn that, confronted suddenly with the most an enemy that outnumbered them tenfold, and still

jormidable army in Europe, it was holding the their unconquerable spirit is unshaken.

legions of its mighty foe in check. at Liege and at They now offer the poignant spectacle, unknown since

Namur, breaking his onslaught, frustrating his plan the days of barbarian invasion, of a people driven

of attack, and preventing him from taking the initiative from their homes, and obliged to emigrate to escape a

on which he had reckoned. Forced at last to give domination they refuse to accept.

way before numbers, it fell back upon Antwerp, and Confident in their God and their cause, they await

when it had to evacuate this last bulwark, it was not the return of victory to their standards, the banners

to lay down its arms ; it came to take its place between of justice and of liberty. This war has shown Europe

the armies of France and England, and share with that little Belgium is the land of a great people.

them <he perils of war, while awaiting the hour when To the King of the Belgians, to his army, and to his

it should share with them the honours of the final people, we respectfully offer our tribute of admiration

victory. . . . and gratitude.

All honour to the Belgian people ! They have shown * * * * 72

By W. L. COURTNEY BY THE NORTH SSA

Death and Sorrow and Sleep : Here where th slow waves creep,

This is the chant I hear, The chant of the measureless deep.

What was Sorrow to me Then, when the young life free

Thirsted for joys of earth. Far from the desolate sea ?

What was Sleep but a rest, Giving to youth the best

Dreams from the ivory gate. Visions of God manifest ?

What was Death but a tale Told to faces grown pale,

Worn and wasted with years — A meaningless thing to the hale ?

Death and Sorrow and Sleep : Now their sad message I keep,

Tossed on the wet wind's breath, The chant of the measureless deep.

By SIR THOMAS BROCK

AID FOR THE FALLEN

I OFFER my picture as a small tribute to the splendid courage and fortitude

shown by the Belgian people in upholding the honour and integrity of their

country, offering as they do an example to the whole world.

It is our f rst duty to relieve their sufferings as far as possible, and when their

territory is once more free from the invaders to help them to restore their

devastated cities.

By J. L. GARVIN

WE in England would rather be blotted out of the book of nations than that Belgium should not be lifted up from ruin and gloriously restored. To that cause we have pledged our all, and until our pledge is redeemed in such sort that the justice of an overruling God shall be made manifest through us, never can we know soul's comfort in our own land spared by war nor cease our efforts to succour the bitter need of a desolate people and to hearten that little indomitable army of freedom and honour under its noble and beloved young King. No words of ours can be worthy of them and we can never do enough. The resistance of Belgium will live as one of the great legends of the world, and I firmly believe that its spiritual significance can only deepen with centuries. Nothing that we think of as heroic, tragic, inspiring in the past, or as confirming our faith that the best shall conquer the worst, exceeds what Flemings and Walloons over there have dared, suffered, and done in the twentieth century. They have made the name of their country an immortal word like Marathon — " the trumpet of a prophecy " that the reign of public law and peace shall yet be stablished upon the inviolable faith of treaties and that the sanctity of a scrap of paper shall be mightier than Krupp guns.

By A. G. GARDINER

WHATEVER the course of the war, whatever the fate of Europe, it is in

King Albert that the future will see the most human, the most knightly

figure of this Titanic struggle.

Belgium 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 will rise.

By J. A. SPENDER

SYMPATHY with Belgium must be mingled with envy — envy of the noble courage and matchless 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-arms to see that her sacrifice is rewarded and her country restored. Our homage to the brave King who has dared all for the honour and liberty of the people committed to his charge.

74

By MRS. HUMPHRY WARD ALL SAINTS' DAY, 1914

I have been wandering through the English fields, and under the English woods in a last lingering blaze of summer, before the winter comes. All day the sun has been clear in heaven ; all last night the moon shone without a cloud. The oaks are still — the majority of them — defiantly green as though they challenged a tyrant ; and where the woods lie close and thick in the basins of the hills, they show sharp patterns of deep green and flaming gold, patterns of Nature's finest weaving. Amethyst and gold, the beeches ; amethyst, blue, and gold, the distances ; and here and there a yew, violently black, or a hedgerow elm, its rounded leaf masses topped with yellow, or— oh the common — furze-bushes, alive with blossom. The children are in the park picking up acorns and walnuts ; a green woodpecker is paying his autumn visit to the lawn before my window, pecking and stabbing for dear life ; the friendly robins sing round the house ; slowly, slowly, the sun sinks into the quiet mists that rise towards it ; and the glorious day will soon be done.

Thus goes All Saints' Day in this valley of the Chilterns. And, meanwhile, how goes it 150 miles away, where Belgians, Frenchmen, and Englishmen are fighting in the blood-stained trenches of West Flanders ? No blood here, no hint of it ! — save where the sun strikes the deep carpet of fallen beech leaves, and the bright colour startles our sad thoughts. But there, men are pouring out their blood like water ; and all that, in this quiet English scene, we dare picture to ourselves of horror, of devilish pain and destruction, comes nowhere near the truth. Frenchmen and Englishmen, closely inter- linked, from west to east, from the sea to the Vosges, fronting the hideous onslaught of men, in whom a world uprisen sees a branded race — traitors to civilisation and to humanity ! And far to the north-west, in land hardly distinguishable from the sea, which has been won from the sea by infinite labour, there are thin lines of men in the Belgian trenches, " holding the pass " against the barbarian, as truly as any Greek did at Thermopylae. Yet here are no blue mountains looking on. Only flat grey land, and featureless grey sea, and that grey advancing flood, where the Belgians have called in the sea to fight with them, and have given him in payment their hard- won fields, their dykes, and villages, to keep in trust for a nation of heroes, till the battle is won. " They told us to hold the trenches for 24 hours ; we held them ; then they said, ' Hold them 48 hours more,' and we have done it." So ran one of the most soul-stirring messages of war ever written. They have done it ! And now the English and French have come up, and the little army which has saved the left wing and protected Calais may fall back a while to count its dead. One in three, they say — one in three ! Shall we not write over the fallen Belgians what was written over the Spartan dead at Plataea :

These men having set a crown of immortal glory on their own land, were folded in the dark cloud of death. Yet being dead, they have not died,

75

seeing their fame in battle hath raised them up for ever from Forgetting and the Grave."

What can we do, we Englishwomen at home in our sheltered island, for this heroic little nation that has held the pass ? Day and night the fleeing army of women and children, of old men and boys passes northward to Holland, and westward over the sea to England. The other night, in a London social settlement, which has been largely given over to the refugees, a woman I know watched the incoming stream — peasants in their sabots, small bourgeois, carrying with them a few last possessions, children weary to death and wailing for food. But English hands were proud to wait on them, and English brains to plan for them. Here were a father and mother and seven children from Louvain — who had been tramping and hiding in the Flemish fields for days and nights. The mother was on the point of maternity. There was no accommodation for her in the settlement, where the large hall and the gymnasium have been turned into wards for men and women respectively, of the peasant class, and the separate rooms looking out on the garden have been mostly assigned to the elderly men and women of the educated professional type. Much perplexity, accordingly, as to the poor expectant mother, in the mind of the kind Scotch lady who is the house- keeper of the settlement ! But, suddenly, she remembers an address in Kensington ; she flies to the telephone; she calls up a house in Queen's Gate, and its mistress. " Did you say the other day you would take in Belgian women for their confinement ? ' " Certainly ! Have you got such a case ? " The note of joyful eagerness in the voice was unmistakable through the tube. Details are given. ;< All right. I will bring my motor round directly." And in an hour or so from her arrival, the dazed and wearied woman, with another Belgian woman and her little boy of three to keep her company, are speeding in a luxurious motor to the house in Queen's Gate. A warm room, a comfortable bed, nurse, clothing, food — everything is ready ! In a few days the poor soul's trouble is over, and the pretty babe lies peacefully beside its resting mother. For three days ! Then the soul of the peasant woman who waits on others, and is never waited on, rebelled. " I am always up, madame, in three days." " This time, take five ! You were so worn out ! '• Most unwillingly, the tired body rests a few more days ; and then the whole family goes to a cottage ready for them, in an English village, the children go to school, the whole village become their protectors and friends, the Flemings learn a few words of English, the English a few words of Flemish, kindness and gesture do the rest, till, occasionally, an interpreter comes round and promotes a more satisfactory intercourse. But among the incoming throng on this October night there are figures of another type. A mother and three daughters— the widow and children of a Belgian officer— soft-spoken, refined women, flying in terror from Antwerp, with a few scanty parcels of luggage, plus a grey parrot !— who is no sooner set down in the rooms allotted to them, than he vents his opinion on the discomforts of the journey in some vigorous cursing of " Guillaume " ! 76

The settlement shelters them all for a week or two and then they become the honoured guests of an English country house, belonging to one of the most distinguished of English soldiers, and his wife, one of the gentlest of English ladies.

If tender sympathy can soothe the private and public grief of such exiles, theirs should indeed be soothed ; and mercifully, three out of this party of four are young, and to the young it is natural to smile, when the faces round them are all kindness, and a tragic flight has become an adventure, which would be only delightful — but for that low coast-line, and that grey sea, those ruined towns, those wounded men, that are in the minds of us all ! Thus all over England, and all over hospitable Holland, the fugitives spread, hands of welcome and pity are stretched out, and the great exile goes on — interminably. But the hours are passing, and the hours of darkness are slowly, slowly, handing on the torch to the hours of hope and dawn. Steadily the Huns retreat ; steadily the defenders of freedom and civilisation press their way forward over the ruined and bloodstained land. Surely, with the spring, the Belgian life-wave will turn homeward again ! It will flow back into the waste places and the scourged heroic land will bloom again with young life, and peaceful labour, and home joy. The dead, the dead will not be there ! — save in our hearts that mourn. But they rest in the Lord, and their works shall follow them. A little nation has become for all time a song and a story, to refresh and kindle the " holy spirit of man ' —so that when these evil days are over, and we count up the score, we shall not put what has happened in Belgium, during these autumn months, among the tragedies of history, but rather among the imperishable triumphs of the soul.

By SIR CHARLES WYNDHAM From Shelley's "Hellas"

Let the tyrants rule the desert they have made ; Let the free possess the Paradise they claim ; Be the fortune of our fierce oppressors weighed With 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 NORTHCLIFFE

THE Christmas message we all wish to send across the North Sea is this : that we British will fight to the end and work to the end for the King of Belgium and the Belgian people, because we believe that for all time in the world quiet homes and noble lives and surer peace will spring from the seed of their sacrifice.

The noble king of a true democracy has fought with his people against military tyranny and the lust of power, as rarely king or nation has fought before. Even in the midst of suffering and loss too great for words Belgium may feel that the fruits will surpass the sacrifice and all the world one day share in the Belgian victory.

By SIR EDWARD J. POYNTER, BART., P.R.A. NOT only for myself but for the body of which I am president I have no hesitation in affirming that all my colleagues of the Royal Academy are with me in the horror we feel at the treatment which the unoffending popu- lation of Belgium has received at the hands of the barbarous hordes of Prussians who have devastated that beautiful and peaceful country- outrages of the most savage kind inflicted under pretences invented for the occasion by that race which has proved itself so prolific of lies and spies. But above all this do we admire the magnificent bravery with which the Belgians have withstood the onslaught of overwhelming numbers : for it is to their splendid courage,. under their heroic King, in bearing the first brunt of the treacherous Prussian attack that the world owes it that the vast German scheme of conquest has hitherto failed.

/

By LORD REDESDALE To the King of the Belgians,

SIRE,

Fighting on behalf of the whole world— a Hero at the head of an heroic people— Your Majesty has made the cruellest sacrifices. The world will not forget.

Sire, you have lost much— you have won Immortality. I have the honour to be,

Sire,

Your Majesty's

Most obedient humble servant,

78

By LORD BURNHAM

THE position at this moment is without precedent in our history. A noble

and gallant little nation has imperilled its very existence, and brought upon

itself immeasurable calamities, by resistance to the aggression of a powerful,

arrogant, and heartless foe. It has done this with a courage and devotion

that have won universal admiration.

The independence and integrity of Belgium are vital interests to Britain.

What she has done and suffered constitute, therefore, a claim on the British

people that is irresistible.

With no assigned pretext of justification, the hordes of Germany have

invaded and wasted her territory, and by acts of war, and by deeds that are

murder not warfare, have done to death thousands of her people and driven

hundreds of thousands into exile.

Countless homes desolated, families broken and scattered, children orphaned,

the trade and means of existence of the most thickly peopled and most

industrious country of continental Europe paralysed, chaos and ruin where

there had been peace and happiness — these are some of the elements of

the tragic fate that has overwhelmed this brave, unoffending nation. Never

in our time has a people been so cruelly treated.

The splendour of the efforts and the magnitude of the self-sacrifice of this

gallant people, no less than the dauntless heroism of the King and his army

in resisting the invasion of their country, defying terrors and undergoing

outrages that are unknown in civilised warfare, appeal to us equally with

their appalling and indescribable sorrows.

The world's admiration has been moved, and the world's compassion

aroused by unsurpassed bravery and unparalleled suffering.

May this volume generate a world-wide feeling that not enough can possibly

be done to honour the courage and assuage the grief of this noble-hearted

and afflicted people.

No one can feel more poignantly than I do this pressing necessity. But we

must not be content to think only of a terrible past — irradiated though it

be with magnificent patriotism and valour. We must look to the future.

As far as human sympathy and help can do it, we must bring to Belgium,

great in virtue of her martyrdom, consolation and atonement for the

wrongs which she has endured. fo A si

By WILL CROOKS

THE Story of the Ages does not give us anything so soul-inspiring as the fighting martyrdom of Belgium, its King and its people in 1914. Its failure to keep its homeland from bloody hands for awhile will prove its mighty triumph for the whole world. Its sacrifice will thrill generations yet to be, who will call Belgium blessed both in their memory and their prayers.

79

By EMILE VERHAEREN

A sa Majeste Albert I", Rot des Beiges,

SIRE,

C'est peut-etre, depuis les belles journees de Liege, la premiere vraie joie

que Ton me permet d'eprouver en me priant de vous rendre hommage.

Vous etes, a cette heure, le seul roi du monde que ses sujets a I'unanimite,

sans exception aucune, aiment et admirent de toute la force de leur ame.

Ce sort unique est le votre, Sire. Aucun conducteur d'hommes ne 1'eut

au meme point que vous, sur la terre.

Malgre I'immensite du deuil qui vous entoure, il me semble que vous avez

le droit de vous en rejouir. D'autant que votre compagne, Sa Majeste la

Reine, participe a votre rarissime privilege.

Sire, votre nom sera desormais tres grand. Vous vous etes a tel point

confondu avec votre peuple que vous en demeurez le symbole. Son courage,

sa tenacite, sa douleur tue, sa fierte, sa grandeur future, son immortalite

resident en vous. Notre ame profonde est la votre. Vous etes nous tous

en etant vous seul. Et vous le resterez.

Plus tard,lorsque vous rentrerez dans votre Belgique reconquise et infiniment

glorieuse, vous n'aurez qu'a parler, Sire, pour que les querelles baissent

de ton et que les antagonismes s'evanouissent. Si bien qu'apres avoir

etc celui qui maintient et defend vous serez celui qui rapproche et

reconcilie.

Sire, croyez a mon respect fervent.

TRANSLATION by Florence Simmonds

Sire, come. You are in such perfect sympathy with your

This request to pay my respectful homage to you has people that you will always be their symbol. Their

given me the first real pleasure I have been permitted courage, their tenacity, their stifled grief, their pride,

to feel since the good days of Liege. At this moment their future greatness, their immortality all live in

you are the one king in the world whose subjects, you. Our hearts are yours to their very depths.

without exception, unite in loving and admiring him Being yourself, you are all of us. And this you will

with all the strength of their souls. This unique fate remain.

if yours, Sire. No leader of men on earth has had it Later on, when you return to your recaptured and

in the same degree as you. glorious Belgium, you will only have to say the word,

In spite of the immensity of the sorrow surrounding Sire, and all disputes will lose their bitterness and all

you, I think you have a right to rejoice, and the more antagonisms fade away. After being our strength

to as your consort, Her Majesty the Queen, shares and defender, you will become our peacemaker and

this rare privilege with you. reconciler.

Sire, your name will be great throughout the ages to With deepest respect,

By SIR JOHN BLAND-SUTTON

" I sin in envying his nobility.'" Could I be anything I wished,

' 7 would wish me only he" Q ^>, j fi

\y&hti (Pn^^t^^^fuM^u 80

By SIR ADOLPHUS WILLIAM WARD

Master of Peterhouse

IT so happens that, more than three-quarters of a century ago, my father was personally much connected with the leaders of the movement that resulted in the recognition of Belgian independence and in the guarantee of Belgian neutrality by the European Great Powers. He remembered very well how, not long after the day had been won and King Albert's illustrious grandfather, King Leopold I, had mounted the throne on which he achieved so much for the prosperity of his own monarchy and for the peace of Europe at large, the King dismissed him after an audience with the words : " You know I am not without difficulties here ; but I take England as my model, and try to get on in a constitutional way." In this spirit the Kings of the Belgians have ruled for three generations over a people that loves liberty, without throwing to the winds respect for au- thority in Church and State.

But between the Belgians and ourselves there is something besides inter- national obligations and political sympathy. These are the glorious tradi- tions of a history which in the course of many centuries has established between England and the Belgic lands a connection closer than that between her and any other part of continental Europe. The measure in which the inhabitants of this island are kith and kin with the neighbours of the Saxons and Frisians is a question that has long attracted students, but it is most assuredly a question of measure only. What is more to the purpose, the main industry of the great Flemish communes became in the later Middle Ages the chief customer of English pastoral productivity, and, besides leading to much immigration to these shores, became the basis of a cordial political alliance. Times changed with the decline of the mercantile and the downfall of the political greatness of the good towns ; but the com- mercial relations between Great Britain and the Spanish (Austrian) Nether- lands remained of vital interest to both countries, and formed an essential element in the system of alliances and conditions of treaties from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century.

The debt owing to Belgian art and Belgian letters — to the labours of Belgian historians, I may venture to add, in particular — is one which this country shares with the world at large. But I cannot close without recalling how to the history of religion — an influence often united with that of trade and with that of politics, but working in more profound and mysterious fashion — and to the history of education, which is inseparable from it, Belgium has contributed in many ways, but above all in that of deepening these move- ments of soul and mind. The beginnings of Christian mystical thought and of the fraternities from which both Renaissance and Regeneration drew some of their truest spiritual force are in no small part traceable to the saintly influence of Ruysbroek, whose birthplace was not far from the modern Belgian capital. And the foremost representative of this learning and this teaching was a professor of the earliest and most venerable of those

81

Belgian universities to which our hearts are going out to-day — the friend of Erasmus in the chair of St. Peter. It may seem almost idle in these days of bloodshed and destruction to look back for half a thousand years. But with the stillness as well as with the profound earnestness of the noblest part of Belgian spiritual life from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century may well be compared the sustained efforts for peace between the nations which long seemed one of the most hopeful signs in the public life of the latter half of the nineteenth century and in the early years of our own ; and in these efforts Belgian 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 high admiration to which the Belgians have become entitled by what they have suffered and what they have done in the dark days of the present, and for the sake of the peace which they and we have at heart — we have welcomed among us the subjects of our King's kinsman and ally, and we pray for their restoration, in God's good time, to their own fair and gracious land.

6-

By THE RIGHT. REV. BISHOP OF LONDON, D.D., LL.D. THE real difficulty of writing about Belgium is to find language adequate to express in the first place the scandalous injustice of her treatment. Whatever any other State may have done, or not done, Belgium had done absolutely nothing to deserve this treatment ; she had maintained her neutrality with perfect impartiality, and her treatment will be considered one of the crimes of history.

But, if language is inadequate to describe the injustice of her treatment, who can describe the pathos of that fleeing multitude, homeless, ruined, and in terror of their lives ? The heart of the world goes out to them in pity. But, with pity is mingled the deepest admiration. Led by their splendid King, they have given an example of sublime courage and unflinching valour which has ennobled the world. They have shown that the soul of a people can be unconquerable while its whole territory is ravaged and its towns and villages are in flames. It must be the prayer of every lover of justice in the world that the Great God in Heaven may avenge the wrongs and reward the courage of the Belgian people.

82

By PROFESSOR GILBERT MURRAY

I SAW yesterday a regiment of British cavalry returning from manoeuvres, every man of them wearing the colours of a foreign nation. That is not a common sight. Sometimes the soldiers of a conquered people have been forced to wear foreign colours, but they would not wear them with pride as these men did. Sometimes the soldiers of a weak and oppressed people have been proud to wear the colours of some great and conquering Power which was its ally. But these men were wearing the colours of a small and unfortunate nation, a nation in exile, whose lands are ravaged, its towns destroyed, and its territory in the occupation of the enemy. It is not for any material or worldly reason that British soldiers are proud to wear Belgian colours ; it is because Belgium in a time of terrific trial has done what we all should be most proud to have done, and has become an emblem to all the world of freedom and heroic courage.

The sufferings of Belgium would be enough in themselves, and more than enough, to constitute a claim on all the help that we can give. Every one admits the claim. In the town where I write it is not only well-to-do people who are offering every kind of help and hospitality. Shops from time to time refuse to take money when they hear that the goods they have supplied are for the Belgians. Artisans and tradesmen come and offer to work in their spare hours without payment. In the last few days the town workmen in one very poor neighbourhood have offered food and lodging rent free for a year ; the agricultural labourers in small villages have clubbed their pennies together and rented and furnished cottages. The same spirit is to be found all over England.

Now it is not mere sympathy, not mere pity for misfortune, that has stirred our whole nation like this. There is that in it, of course ; but still more there is admiration and gratitude. And we are grateful not only because Belgium 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 life and taught us to expect greater things of the world.

We did not know that our comfortable liberal-minded western civilisation had in it this heart of heroism. We had read of the heroes and martyrs of history, and we felt with a misgiving that they were perhaps out of date. Life was no doubt easier now and less cruel ; but it seemed looser in quality and woven of cheaper material. We have been shaken out of that false resignation. We have discovered that the days of cruelty are by no means past ; and, just when the shock of that discovery came, Belgium rose and showed us that the days of heroism are not past either. She stands as an example to all nations who doubt whether national life is a thing worth suffering for, to all individuals who doubt their own value as free souls or their capacity for facing danger or martyrdom. Consciously or uncon7 sciously there has come to each man's heart a secret message, raising his confidence in himself and bracing all his faculties : " The Belgians have done these things: why should not I ? '

83

CARILLON

(POUR GRAND ORCHESTRE) POUR ACCOMPAGNER

"CHANTONS, BELGES, CHANTONS!

PO&ME

D'EMILE CAMMAERTS

MUSIQUE PAR

EDWARD ELGAR, O.M.,

ASSOCIE DE L' ACADfiMlE ROYALE DE 1JELGIQUE.

PIANO.

iNTnODOZIOKE.

Allegro (d- = circa

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01

By SIR GILBERT PARKER

IT is given to some men and some peoples now and again in the world's history to represent mankind at its truest, its highest and best ; to offer upon altars of liberty the blood of sacrifice for all men in all the world ; and to pledge for humanity once again devotion to eternal things. This is what the Belgian King and the Belgian people have done. A monstrous, destroying legion of terror and tyranny moved upon them out of the night, offered them gain and gold if they would forswear their bond, and give freedom to the legions of an Emperor to whom the ink of honour and the pledged paper were no obstacles to the march of ambition. Belgium, its King and people, preferred death to dishonour. Their way was the ancient way — to lose the whole and gain their own souls. This they did, and while Time tells its story the torch that Belgium lighted will burn, and the hand of the King that held it aloft will be honoured among men.

" Oh, happy are all free peoples too strong to be dispossessed, But blessed are they among nations that dare to be strong for the rest"

By SIR SIDNEY LEE

THE King of the Belgians and his brave army have set an example which lends humanity a new glory. Their heroic resistance to the wholly un- merited wrongs which brute strength has forced upon them has shed fresh radiance on the history of the civilised world. In spite of the cruel suffering which the ruthless enemy has sown broadcast through the land, in spite of all the waste and desolation which German soldiers have inflicted without pity or remorse, Belgium, its ruler and its people, may find hope and consolation in the knowledge that the justice of their cause is recognised wherever truth and right prevail, and that the honour of all honourable men is pledged to secure for them due reparation of their unconscionable wrongs.

By PROFESSOR WILLIAM FLINDERS PETRIE

F.R.S., F.B.A., D.C.L., LL.D., PH.D.

TO the Belgian Nation and its Noble Leader, I present the most sincere

Homage to its Bravery,

Respect for its unflinching Fortitude,

Gratitude for its saving of England and France,

Wishes for its speedy resettlement,

Hopes that by its sufferings it may be perfected in true greatness.

92

By SIR HERBERT TREE

THE ULTIMATUM : or, Every Man Has His Price.

CHARACTERS : The Ruler of a Great People ; a Chiropodist ; Princes, Grand

Dukes, Ministers of State, Priest, Professor, and Sycophants.

SCENE : The RULER'S marble bathroom in the Palace.

[At the rise of curtain, the RULER OF A GREAT PEOPLE is discovered seated in his dressing-gown ; the CHIROPODIST plies his trade.]

CHIROPODIST : What remarkable corns your Majesty has ! RULER : Yes, they are ancestral — all my predecessors were noted for