CHAPTER XV

A LAST WORD

I

SYNOPSIS OF THE WAR

Last night, when the half moon was golden and the white stars

very high, I saw the souls of the killed passing. They came

riding through the dark, some on gray horses, some on black;

they came marching, white-faced; hundreds, thousands, tens of

thousands.

The night smelled sweet, the breeze rustled, the stream

murmured; and past me on the air the souls of the killed came

marching. They seemed of one great company, no longer enemies.

_John Galsworthy._

We were in America when the war broke out. It was as unexpected to me as

an earthquake, notwithstanding the warning I had when we were in

Brussels. Not knowing the situation then--that war was bound to come--I

remember my interest in the excitement of several diplomats who dined

with us one evening. They knew that trouble was brewing among the

European nations. They could see the spark from the fuse of the bomb

that was to throw all Europe into war. The bomb at last exploded, but

not until June 28, 1914. The Servians in revenge for Austrian oppression

killed the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, when

he and his wife were in Sarajevo, Servia, on an official visit.

Two of the principal events leading up to this situation were the

assassination of King Alexander of Servia, son of King Milan and Queen

Draga, in June, 1903, and the occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina by

Austria in 1908.

Under King Peter, Alexander's successor, Russian dominance over Servian

affairs grew stronger.

When the heir to the Austrian throne was murdered the German Emperor

sent a telegram to the Czar which read:--

"The unscrupulous agitation which has gone on for years in

Servia has led to the revolting crime of which Archduke Francis

Ferdinand was the victim. Undoubtedly you will agree with me

that we two, you and I, as well as all sovereigns, have a

common interest in insisting that all those morally responsible

for this terrible murder shall suffer deserved punishment."

The Servian and Austrian governments could not come to an understanding,

and Austria declared war on Servia.

In answer to the Kaiser's telegram the Czar replied:--

"A disgraceful war has been declared on a weak nation. The

indignation at this, which I fully share, is immense in Russia.

I foresee that soon I cannot withstand the pressure that is

being brought to bear upon me, and that I shall be forced to

adopt measures which will lead to war."

So it developed that Russia backed up Servia, and Germany backed up

Austria.[10]

[10] The best authorities, of course, on the causes of

the war are:

The English White Paper

The German White Book

The Belgian Gray Book

The Russian Yellow Book

The Austrian Red Book

The French Yellow Book

Germany needed to expand her territory and commerce and was thoroughly

prepared for war. At that time Germany, Austria and Italy were in a

Triple Alliance; Russia, France and England a Triple Entente; Italy

refused to aid Germany and Austria, however, because she was not bound

by her treaty to do so in an offensive war. She was humorously classed

with Greece and Roumania in "the triple attendre," but on May 22, 1915,

she joined the Allies, declaring war on Austria.

One of Germany's excuses in entering upon the war was to keep the

"barbarian Russians" out of Europe, but curiously, at this time King

Albert received an ultimatum from the Kaiser demanding that the German

army should be given the right of way through Belgium. The King replied

that the Kaiser must respect the independence and neutrality of Belgium,

and refused to let the Germans pass through the country. A second

ultimatum was delivered, which demanded that a reply be given within

seven hours. If within this time no answer was returned, or an answer

unfavourable to Germany, war would be declared.

On August 2d the Germans entered the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. On the

3d they entered Belgium.

The statement made by the Imperial Chancellor von Bethman-Hollweg in the

Reichstag on August 4th acknowledges the violation of Belgium:[11]

[11] From the German White Book.

"We were compelled to over-ride the just protests of the Luxembourg and

Belgian governments. Our troops have occupied Luxembourg and perhaps are

already on Belgian soil. Gentlemen, that is a breach of international

law. It is true that the French Government has declared at Brussels that

France is willing to respect the neutrality of Belgium so long as her

opponent respects it. France could wait, but we could not. The wrong--I

speak frankly--that we are committing we will endeavour to make good as

soon as our military goal has been reached."

The Germans motored into Belgium by three different roads. Fifteen

hundred picked soldiers came in advance in one hundred and fifty

automobiles. The army followed at such speed that their commissariat

could not keep up with them, and they did not even wait for their heavy

siege guns. They expected to live on the country, and so some straggling

parties of German soldiers were captured by peasants with an offer of

food.

The charming little border town of Visé was the first to be destroyed by

the Germans. "This district contains a large population of gun-makers

familiar with the use of firearms and unfamiliar with the ways of

warfare, and it seems proven that several citizens of Visé did take part

in the hostilities and that they fired at the enemy. The Germans

retaliated with ruthless severity."[12]

[12] From "How Belgium Saved Europe," by Dr. Charles

Sarolea--as is much of the following.

Among the weaknesses in the defense of Liège were the lack of

sufficient soldiers to man the forts, and the long distances between the

different fortresses, as well as the lack of support by rifle

entrenchments. The fortresses did not prove impregnable because they

were built to withstand a horizontal fire, while the German howitzers

dropped shells from above. The three German army corps under General von

Emmich made attack after attack. On the third day they lost twenty-five

thousand men, some of the crack regiments from Berlin suffering heavily.

The forts held out long after the town was occupied by the Germans for

the reason that they were built to defend the river approaches rather

than the town, and until August 5th the Germans were unable to cross the

Meuse.

It was difficult for the Germans to get the proper range for their big

guns, and the story is told that a German soldier with a white flag of

truce walked towards a fort in order to get the correct distance. His

white flag was respected until he arrived at a spot where he signaled

back to his comrades. It is needless to say that he was then killed.

From the moment when the Germans were able to get the proper range with

their heavy siege artillery, the fate of Liège was sealed. Toward the

end of August, all the forts were occupied by the Germans.

"The resistance of Liège is not only one of the most magnificent

achievements in military annals;--it is also one of the decisive events

in the world's history."

It has already been the inspiration of much poetry and prose. The

following extract is taken from the poem called,

"HOW LIÈGE HELD THE ROAD"[13]

We were pounding at the anvils when they pounded at our gate;

"Open," cried the German squadrons; "let us pass, or meet your fate!

We are millions; dare deny us and Liège is but a name."

But we chose to die in honour than to buy our lives in shame.

So we banked our eager fires, and we laid aside the sledge,

Recking only that our sires had endowed us with the pledge

To maintain an ally's honour, to uphold the Belgian code,

And we answered with our cannon, THAT LIÈGE WOULD HOLD THE ROAD!

[13] From the volume of poems entitled "The Song of

the Guns," by Herbert Kaufman.

Here are a few of Verhaeren's remarks on the fall of Liège:

"It is true that for the moment our factories are silenced and seemingly

dead, but as soon as the war is over they will awake again like

sleeping monsters. We were a little too sure of the tomorrow. War in our

eyes was other people's business. It has come to us, formidable and

terrible, at a moment when we did not look for it; like a mountain whose

crumbling rocks are falling upon us to crush us William's army has come

upon us. Our numbers were small and we stood alone. We were attacked

with disloyalty and betrayal. We hastily raised our forces at Liège in

old forts. All that was done in a day, in an hour, in a moment, and at

once we became the marvel of the world. The fate of the Spartans was

like that of the Liègeois. Today, as then, a handful of men saved the

world. We should have only room in our hearts for pride. Tears dishonour

us."

[Illustration: _Citadel, Namur_]

Namur, another great stronghold of Belgium, was bombarded on August

21st, and thirty-six hours later the Germans entered the town. When the

forts were destroyed only twelve thousand out of the twenty-six thousand

Belgian soldiers were left. Ammunition was so scarce in this region that

the Civic Guard had to give up their weapons to the remaining Belgian

troops. The French and the British as well suffered a terrible defeat at

Charleroi August 22d, and were obliged to retire. Fighting all the way,

they made their masterly retreat through Mons into France by way of St.

Quentin.

Between the fifth and twentieth of August the poor wounded and dying

soldiers were brought into Brussels. When the crowd in the streets

shrieked and howled "Vive la Belgique!" the wounded tried to wave their

arms (those who had them), and show some sign of appreciation. Houses

were opened and prepared by the Red Cross Society to receive them. The

refugees as well, from Charleroi and Liège, and from the districts where

the fighting was going on, rushed to Brussels for protection, but the

Germans were close behind and entered the city on August 20th without

firing a shot.

At the beginning of the war hardly any food was to be had in Brussels

and other Belgian towns, and what could be bought went up to very high

prices. Flour cost fifty cents a pound, and bread one franc for two

pounds. Salt was not obtainable.

Adolphe Max, the Burgomaster of Brussels, was forced to take charge of

all supplies. The city fed the Germans for eight days without pay. After

this period the Mayor refused to furnish food longer without

compensation. Then field kitchens were established in several prominent

squares--in the Grande Place, before the Palais de Justice, and in front

of the King's palace--where the beautiful trees of the park were cut

down for firewood. The museums and hotels were turned into sleeping

places for officers and men. The Palais de Justice was made not only a

kitchen but also a bath house. The railway stations, too, were used for

this purpose.

No carriages or bicycles were allowed to leave Brussels. The people

lived in constant terror from German aëroplanes that were flying

overhead. After the Germans occupied the city no one dared to speak

English.

The Germans thought that Belgian weapons were hidden in the ponds, and

so they drained them, and carted away the fish to be eaten by

themselves. Fish and bread could not be bought by the people, even if

they offered to pay for them.

Every day fresh troops and aëroplanes and ammunition passed through or

over Brussels. Cartloads and trainloads of dead Germans were brought

night and day to the Gare du Luxembourg to be shipped on to the

Fatherland. The moaning of the wounded and the dying was pitiful.

Non-combatants of all nations fighting the Germans were taken prisoners

and sent to Germany. All women between the ages of fifteen and forty

were kept under German guard; those over forty were told to report every

few days to the German authorities.

Villages like Hofstade and Sempst were taken and retaken again and

again. Dinant and Termonde fell within a week after the occupation of

Brussels. The bombardment of Malines lasted three weeks. Termonde

changed hands twice, Malines three times.

The siege of Antwerp began the 26th and lasted several days. The

Zeppelin raid before the bombardment was most terrible, but the Germans

did not accomplish their purpose of striking the palace and killing the

royal family. After this, the Queen went to England for a time with her

children, returning later, but the King remained in Antwerp and led the

defense.

The small Belgian force had at least kept the Germans out of Antwerp

until the valuable oil tanks had been destroyed, as well as the ships in

the harbour and the precious stores of rubber from the Congo. The

English marines appeared toward the last, and gave some assistance, but

the city was finally captured by the Germans, before whom, on

September 5th, the Belgian army retired to La Panne. Ostend was occupied

by the Germans the 16th of October. Severe fighting took place at

Nieuport the 23d, and Westende and Middelkerke were destroyed. Dixmude

fell November 11th. Between the 12th and the 15th, 100,000 Germans were

killed, and the Yser Canal flowed with human blood.

[Illustration: _Nieuport_]

November 18th, Flanders, as in days of old, was flooded from the

sea-coast almost to Ypres, drowning out the enemy. In December,

activities were renewed along the Yser, but the trenches about Ypres,

"the key to the coast campaign," were only captured February 15th. Ypres

at last fell in May, after repeated attacks.

The exodus of a bleeding race was one of the saddest sights in history.

The Belgians literally swarmed into Holland, where they are cared for in

camps even today. The reason of this exodus to England and Holland is

found in the treatment of the Belgians by the invaders. I will not go

into the subject of atrocities, but simply give an extract from the

report of the Commission of Inquiry on the Violation of the Rules of

International Law, and the Laws and Customs of War.

"From the total mass of evidence received by us we are able to deduct

and prove absolutely true the following conclusions....

"I. The first was the barbarous device of compelling bodies of citizens,

old and young, male and female, to march in front of German troops in

order to shield them from the fire of the Allies.

"II. The second was the imprisonment, either under the title of

'Hostages,' or on other pretexts, of individuals, families, or groups of

people, who were arrested at hazard and for no good reason, shut up

without air, without sanitary precautions, and without food, in

churches, barns and stables, and carried off to Germany, where they were

kept under conditions which made hygiene and decency impossible.

"III. The third series of acts consists of wholesale murders of

civilians and of the sack and burning of dwelling houses; concerning

these incidents the light of evidence grows daily stronger."

These men were in command when the atrocities were perpetrated: The

Governor-General of Belgium was Field Marshal Baron von der Goltz; von

Buelow was in command of Namur and Liège; von Boehn was in command at

Termonde. Others in this list were von Emmich, von Nieker, von

Luetwitz, and Major Dieckmann.

But the Belgians are a brave people and they are used to misfortune, so

we may believe that though seemingly conquered, they will finally be

triumphant. Long live the Belgians! Long live their King!

II

LETTERS FROM THE FRONT

I insert a few extracts from letters written by reliable people about

Belgium, or by Belgians during the war, in order to show the true state

of affairs. Most of them were written in French and have been

translated. With the exception of the Cardinal's letter,[14] none of

them have been published.

[14] Note:--I have heard the spreading of the

Cardinal's letter by Mme. Carton de Wiart was one of the

reasons of her arrest, trial and imprisonment.

Extract from a letter from Brussels in August, 1914.

"We are living in suspense now, as the Germans are getting very strict

and angry. Boys and young men leave daily to join the army, and the

different ways of crossing the frontier are very amusing. The Germans

have forbidden the letter by the Cardinal of Malines to be read in the

churches, but needless to say, we all have it."

* * * * *

Extract from the Pastoral Letter of His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier,

Archbishop of Malines, Belgium:

"My very dear brethren:

"It was in Rome itself that I received the tidings--stroke

after stroke--of the partial destruction of the Cathedral

Church of Louvain, next of the burning of the library and of

the scientific installations of our great university, and of

the devastation of the city, and next of the wholesale shooting

of the citizens and of tortures inflicted upon women and

children and upon unarmed and undefended men.

"And, while I was still under the shock of these calamities,

the telegraph brought us news of the bombardment of our

beautiful metropolitan church, of the church of Notre Dame au

delà Dyle, of the episcopal palace, and of a great part of our

dear city of Malines....

"I craved courage and light, and sought them in such thoughts

as these; a disaster has visited the world, and our beloved

little Belgium, a nation so faithful in the great mass of

her population to God, so upright in her patriotism, so noble

in her King and Government, is the first sufferer. She bleeds;

her sons are stricken down within her fortresses and upon her

fields, in defense of her rights and her territory.

[Illustration: CARDINAL MERCIER.]

"Soon there will not be one Belgian family not in mourning. Why

all this sorrow, my God? Lord, Lord, hast Thou forsaken us?...

"When, immediately upon my return from Rome, I went to Havre to

greet our Belgian, French and English wounded; when, later, at

Malines, at Louvain, at Antwerp, it was given to me to take the

hand of those brave fellows who carried a bullet in their

flesh, a wound on their forehead, because they had marched to

the attack of the enemy or borne the shock of this onslaught,

it was a word of gratitude that rose to my lips. 'O valiant

friends,' I said, 'it was for us, it was for each one of us, it

was for me, that you risked your lives and are now in pain. I

am moved to tell you of my respect, of my thankfulness, to

assure you that the whole nation knows how much she is in debt

to you.'

"For, in truth, our soldiers are all saviours. A first time, at

Liège, they saved France; a second time, in Flanders, they

arrested the advance of the enemy upon Calais. France and

England know it, and Belgium stands before the entire world a

nation of heroes.

"Never before in my life did I feel so proud to be a Belgian as

when, on the platform of French stations, and halting awhile in

Paris, and visiting London, I witnessed the enthusiastic

admiration our Allies feel for the heroism of our army....

"I have traversed the greater part of the districts most

terribly devastated in my diocese, and the ruins I beheld and

the ashes, were more dreadful than I, prepared by the saddest

of forebodings, could have imagined.

"Other parts of my diocese, which I have not had time to visit,

have in a like manner, been laid waste. Churches, schools,

asylums, hospitals, convents in great numbers are in ruins.

Entire villages have all but disappeared. At Werchter

Wackerzeel, for instance, out of three hundred and eighty homes

one hundred and thirty remain. At Tremeloo, two-thirds of the

village is overthrown. At Beuken, out of one hundred houses

twenty are standing. At Schaffen, one hundred and eighty-nine

houses out of two hundred are destroyed; eleven still stand. At

Louvain, a third of the buildings are down, one thousand and

seventy-four dwellings have disappeared. On the town land and

in the suburbs, one thousand six hundred and twenty-three

houses have been burned.

"In this dear city of Louvain, perpetually in my thoughts, the

magnificent church of St. Peter will never recover its former

splendour. The ancient college of St. Ives, the art schools,

the consular and commercial schools of the University, the old

markets, our rich library with its collections, its unique and

unpublished manuscripts, its archives, its gallery of great

portraits of illustrious rectors, chancellors, professors,

dating from the time of its foundation, which preserved for its

masters and students alike a noble tradition, and was an

incitement to their studies--all this accumulation of

intellectual, of historic and artistic riches, the fruit of the

labour of five centuries--all is in the dust....

"Thousands of Belgian citizens have been deported to the

prisons of Germany, to Munsterlagen, to Celle, to Magdeburg. At

Munsterlagen alone, three thousand one hundred civil prisoners

were numbered. History will tell of the physical and mental

torments of their long martyrdom.

"Hundreds of innocent men were shot. I possess no complete

necrology; but I know there were ninety-one shot at Aerschot

and that there, under pain of death, their fellow citizens

were compelled to dig their graves. In the Louvain group of

communes one hundred and seventy-six persons, men and women,

old men and sucklings, rich and poor, in health and sickness,

were shot or burned....

"We can neither number our dead nor compute the measure of our

ruins. And what would it be if we turned our sad steps toward

Liège, Namur, Audennes, Dinant, Tamines, Charleroi, and

elsewhere? Families hitherto living at ease, now in bitter

want; all commerce at an end, all careers ruined, industry at a

standstill; thousands upon thousands of working men without

employment; working men, shop girls, humble servants, without

means of earning their bread, and poor souls forlorn on the bed

of sickness and fever, crying, 'O Lord, how long, how long?'

"Thirteen ecclesiastics have been shot in the diocese of

Malines. There were, to my own actual personal knowledge, more

than thirty in the diocese of Namur, Tournai, and Liège....

"On the 19th of April, 1839, a treaty was signed in London by

King Leopold, in the name of Belgium, on the one part, and by

the Emperor of Austria, the King of France, the Queen of

England, the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of Russia on the

other; and its seventh article decreed that Belgium should

form a separate and perpetually neutral state, and should be

held to the observance of this neutrality in regard to all

other states. The co-signers promised, for themselves and their

successors, upon their oath, to fulfil and observe that treaty

in every point and every article without contravention or

tolerance of contravention. Belgium was thus bound in honour to

defend her own independence. She kept her oath. The other

Powers were bound to respect and to protect her neutrality.

Germany violated her oath, England kept hers....

"Accept, my dearest brethren, my wishes and prayers for you and

for the happiness of your families, and receive, I pray you, my

paternal benediction.

"_D. J. Cardinal Mercier_,

"_Archbishop of Malines_."

Here is a letter from a soldier at the front to his parents:

"TIRELEMONT, 8 August, 1914.

"My dear Parents:

"Here I am at Tirlemont, where we are occupied in reforming our

scattered regiment! Many are killed and injured, some are

taken, others lost. It is a terrible mix-up, and it will take

a long time to get it straightened out, and I am profiting by

this moment to write you and let you know what has happened in

the last few days.

"We had been fighting all day Wednesday, and when evening came

on we were told to dislodge a troop that occupied the space

between the two forts. They gave us the message very simply:

'It is death, but it must be done.' Nothing more. We were under

fire all night. We kill without seeing any one. The bullets

whistle, a shrapnel explodes five meters from us, we have

several killed, and we stay under this rain of bullets and it

is awful.

"I could not tell you my impressions. I recited about one

hundred vows; I wondered what it felt like to be in heaven,

because I was certain that every moment would be my last.

"The Germans advanced more and more, and we retreated,

surrounded on all sides, and at four in the morning out of one

hundred and sixty in our company only seventeen remained; all

are not dead; there are injured and prisoners. We shall return

under fire if this keeps up. I will take my part in it; I am

ready and prepared, and know that if I die I shall do so with

confidence. Do not think that it is with despair that I shall

die; it is with the utmost resignation. Do not cry or be sad.

I resign myself to my fate, and I ask you to take things in

this way also. Adieu, with all my heart. It is perhaps only for

a short while, and I shall wait for you above. Much love to the

family. I am in good health but very tired. Thousands of

affectionate kisses. I have had my photograph taken and they

will send you the proof. For my part, I take care to keep your

photographs on me, and every day, after looking at them, it

gives me fresh courage. Adieu."

I give next a letter from the Mother Superior of a convent at Liège,

written the night after Liège had been attacked:

"In the morning the sound of cannon again shook the chapel.

"The sisters were told to go and get their bundles, and in five

minutes to be at the gate, where they would each receive five

francs and their papers, and then they were told to run to the

station. They did, through the rain, and to the accompaniment

of the whistle and whine of German bullets. The Germans were on

the heights, and were approaching every minute. The younger

sisters helped those who were ill or old. Arriving near the

station two sick ones were obliged to go to bed in another

convent, and the others installed themselves in the cellars

and small hallways. An immense explosion occurred--it was only

a bridge they were blowing up, but the garden was filled with

broken pieces of iron and steel. Eighteen sisters got into a

train filled with wounded and arrived at Brussels at midnight,

nearly dead from fright.

"They went up the Boulevard Botanique, where they found an

ambulance wagon, which took them to the Mother's house. The

General Superior came to open the door for them, with her white

apron and her arm band of the Red Cross. They slept in beds

prepared for the wounded, and the next day they were sent to

different institutions.

"People knew nothing but false news, given out by the Germans.

We had no news for three weeks, so I didn't even know a new

Pope had been elected."[15]

[15] The young English lady who took this letter to

Roehampton was made a prisoner, from nine in the morning until

four in the afternoon. Although she had to show the letter, the

German officials let her go, as it was unimportant, but her

husband was taken prisoner. They asked him his age, and told

him that they needed soldiers, and that he might be of use to

them.

This letter is from a Belgian nun:

August.

"My sister Catherine, not being able to get away from Brieux,

was obliged to stay there thirteen days, and it was the priest

that brought her back to Bosel in tram and cart. He will go

back there and show the soldiers the retreat. The Reverend

Father von Volkson stayed in Malines till the last, and quietly

kept on reciting his mass while they were bombarding the city.

He was in civilian dress: but we don't know where he is now.

Have you heard that the Reverend Mother of Tournai had her arm

lacerated by a bullet, which then went and hit Mother de B----,

who was standing behind her, in the region of the heart, and

both of them died, hit by the same bullet? They were going into

the loft to see from which direction the Germans were advancing

to take possession of the city.

"It is a just war, for God and country. It is this that gives

the King and our soldiers superhuman strength. As soon as it

was known that Germany was going to insult Belgium, thousands

of men offered themselves to fight, and the priests accompanied

these brave men to give them spiritual help and encouragement."

"OSTEND--end of October.

"During the week of the 31st of October the Belgians resisted

the attacks of the enemy, and the King had the dangerous honour

of commanding the Allies' left wing while they put up a

terrific fight to defend Calais, which was the principal prize

of this terrific struggle. For six days our Belgians stood the

fire of 250,000 Germans, who were afterwards reinforced by

100,000 others. With these forces the enemy had to pass the

Yser, which was filled with bodies. Although the fight seemed

ended, 'the Belgians'--to quote Cæsar--'continued to dispute

the mastery of the last parcel of their territory. With a rage

bordering on grief they thought they would have to capitulate

immediately.' The Belgians lost 10,000 men. They attacked

again, and the enemy was forced to repass the Yser red with

blood, and they were chased ten miles towards the north.

"But still, though we have lost so many, we have not lost

courage. In the midst of our ruined cities and our burnt and

ruined crops, higher than our burnt towers, higher than the

cruel deeds, stands our hope, and higher than the ignominy our

proud independence, our love for the King and our land. Not for

one instant has the Belgian spirit regretted the call of honour

that has caused us such calamities, and tomorrow she would

still refuse, even at the same price and at the cost of the

same martyrdom!

"Sir Edward Grey saluted the Comte de Lalaing (Minister

Plenipotentiary at London) with the title of Ambassador, of

which Belgium is worthy.

[Illustration: THE BELGIAN ARMY.]

"If you could only hear our injured and wounded speak of the

King. When an officer fell the King took his place, crying out,

'Come, my children, shoot now, like this, all together.' And

you should see how they killed their enemies! Today is the

fête-day of our poor little Queen; what an anniversary! At the

Palace Hotel they give the wounded wine in her honour, and they

sing the 'Brabançonne,' and 'Vers l'Avenir.'"

I give two verses of the "Brabançonne":--

"Fled the years of servile shame,

Belgium, 'tis thine hour at last,

Wear again thy ancient name,

Spread thy banner on the blast.

Sovereign people, in thy might

Steadfast yet and valiant be,

On thy ancient standard write--

Land and Law and Liberty!

"Belgium, Mother, hear us vow,

Never will our love abate,

Thou our hope, our refuge thou,

Hearts and blood are consecrate.

Grave, we pray, upon thy shield

This device eternally,

Weal or woe, at home, a-field,

Land and law and liberty."

From Countess ----:

"BRUSSELS--October.

"Food is easy to get if not plentiful and the bread eatable in

Brussels. V. got out of Belgium this time without being caught.

We are full of hope. We are well and busy. Every one is trying

to help those in need. There is much to do. Those who still

remain here see each other often. We meet at each other's

houses for tea and bring information. A. was wounded in the

head and has been taken prisoner. Mr. Whitlock's untiring

devotion to his work is more than appreciated by every class.

He is just the man for the place. The Spanish Minister is a

great help. We have had no letter since August. I knit madly to

keep calm. I hope the day may come when I may say all that is

in my heart. It is a suffocating feeling to have a foreign

occupation. We have such a time getting the papers. One sheet

appears a day, and all we want to know is carefully left out by

the Germans."

In October there comes a moan from Luxembourg.

"LUXEMBOURG.

"We are crying for flour. Nothing sent from America can reach

Luxembourg. The railways are destroyed by dynamite, _toutes les

routes ravagées_; not one way of communication at present. The

rich as well as the poor are dying of hunger and cold. All the

horrors of our enemies are, alas! quite true. We are ruined,

our money gone, the villa burnt. Tears are dropping on the

letter as I write. This letter which may never reach you."

"October.

"My good Mother,

"I have thought of you very often since it has pleased God to

visit upon us the horrors of war. What damages have been caused

by the Germans in our country! At Dinant Mr. Wassege has been

shot with his two sons because he did not want to open the safe

of the bank or give the combination. Seventy-five other

civilians had the same fate, also hundreds of little children.

The horrors the Germans have committed here are fit for Turks

or savages; I could state hundreds of cases. In Antwerp two

beautiful estates, which were situated near the forts,

belonging to well-known German society people, were found to

have underground passages leading to the fortresses. By chance,

barrels were found containing German uniforms for those we have

received with so much kindness, to put on when the German

soldiers occupy the city, as was seen in Verviers. In several

houses in Antwerp wireless plants were discovered. In Antwerp

hundreds of spies were found, who dressed in all manner of

clothing, as nuns, priests, and nurses.

"They are taking the civilians away to serve as soldiers in the

German army, or to gather their crops. In Namur they have

started to write down the births, deaths, and marriages, and

the people must take German names, or be shot.

"Eight thousand people fleeing from Louvain were forced to

march a great distance by the Germans, eight in a line, and

they had to keep their hands in the air all the time. They had

to fasten Helen P----'s baby on her back--she is the niece of

Mother V. E---- so that she could walk in this way. Our

soldiers often have Communion, and are full of courage and

confidence. They love the King, who shows himself full of

courage. He marches at the head of his troops, and after a

battle shakes hands with the soldiers; we can be proud of him.

[Illustration: BELGIAN REFUGEES.]

"A magistrate on his way back to Brussels was given a letter to

deliver. He told a friend on the train he had the letter on his

person, but did not know where to hide it. His friend said he

was doing a very dangerous thing, for if the letter was found

on him he would be shot. He also said: 'You must read it, then

tear it up, and transmit the news orally.' This he did. Later

the train was surrounded by Germans, who announced that no one

was to descend, and that it was forbidden to carry letters, and

in consequence every one was going to be searched. Terrible

fright! Of the people carrying letters, one managed to eat his,

when he found that it could not be hidden and he was not able

to throw it away.... The magistrate presented himself at

six-thirty at the proper place, and recited the contents of the

letter and told the story of his trip."

"LONDON--November.

"As for the Belgian refugees, it is getting to be a great

problem what to do with them. There are thousands and thousands

like droves of frightened sheep, not a particle of clothing but

what they stand up in, and not a penny in the world. You just

cannot realize it unless you see them. Ladies and gentlemen of

fine position and peasants all together, and all helpless and

homeless.

* * * * *

"It seems so horrible to think that our only thought is to

kill, and that we rejoice when the enemy has lost men. I hardly

dare think of it. It seems as though we had all gone mad.

"The King Albert Hospital is working well, and three more

Belgian hospitals have had to be opened. They now all work

under military authority, and so they do not need our

assistance any more, I mean, in the way of our being there

daily.

"Mrs. B---- and I have now put our hearts and energies into a

Maternity Home for Belgians, that is, we have two, one for

ladies and one for working women. They are both such sweet,

pretty homes, that it really must help them to forget the

cruelties of being far from their husbands and homes. They

nearly all call their sons Albert, and the daughters either

Elizabeth or Alberta.

"The streets and shops are filled with Belgians, one hears

French in busses, everywhere in fact. One often hears Flemish

too. I was surprised when I first heard it, for it sounded so

like German. _L'Echo Belge_, a Flemish paper published in

London, has on the first page: '_Voor God en

Vaderland_'--'_Pour Dieu et Patrie_.' A great many papers are

published here for the Belgians and French. There are

innumerable appeals, many for Belgium, such as: Belgian Relief

Fund, the Belgian Soldiers Fund, and so forth.

"Limericks are very common among the soldiers and are very

good. Here is one about a Belgian girl. Please remember that

Ypres is called Wipers by Tommy Atkins.

"There was a young lady of Ypres,

Who was hit in the cheek by two snipers,

The tunes that she played

Through the holes that they made,

Beat the Argyle and Sutherland pipers."

"The shop windows are full of war games, such as: 'Storming the

Citadel'--'Kill Kiel'--and the 'Dreadnaught game.'

"Tommy gives the bombs such amusing names, 'Black Marias,'

'Aunt Sally's Nephews,' and 'Eagle Eggs.' The German trench

motor is called 'The Undertaker.' The anti-aircraft gun is

nicknamed 'Archibald' and the German howitzer which emits a

thick white smoke is called 'The Woolly Bear.' He calls these

picturesque names 'Slanguage.'"

"BRUSSELS--November.

"We are passing horrible hours. You cannot imagine what it has

been the last three months. Everywhere misery, crêpe and ruin.

To add to the horror of the situation, famine has arrived. Most

of our friends have had their châteaux pillaged. The buildings

even are often destroyed. Our friends arrive in the night on

foot, with all that they own on their backs and their children

following them. They often walk miles before finding a roof to

shelter them, for many villages are burnt to the ground,

deserted, and many of the people shot. _C'est affreux!_

"Henri has won two _galons_ for his bravery in battle. The last

news we have of him is good. _Dieu merci._ Jean has been

slightly wounded. What a relief to have him safe for the moment

in a hospital. George de Ligne, Henri d'Oultremont, _tués_, Guy

Reynteins _blessé_. Two of the Cornet Counts have been taken

from their château, which was burned, and no one knows what has

become of them. Every day the Germans are more brutal and more

hateful. They are worse than they are depicted.

"We are indeed grateful to the American Minister. He is

intelligent, active and kind, as well as a charming man.

"It is difficult to get the food distributed in the villages,

for there are no means of conveyance, except motors run by

twenty-four young Americans. They are doing fine work and are a

great help. The d'Assches, de Mérodes, Beeckmans and de

Beughems are here."

A letter from Switzerland reads:

"November.

"I have been at a camp of French and Belgian soldiers in

Germany, nearly fifteen thousand of them, all without blankets.

They dig holes in the ground and get into them, and then spread

their coats over the top in order to sleep and keep warm."

A letter from a cousin at a hospital in France says,

"Today seventy French soldiers were brought in, all with their

right hands gone."

"BRUSSELS--end of December.

"The weather is awful, the fighting in the North has been again

very violent. We have little wool to knit with. We need flannel

too for the soldiers. It is freezing. We are trying to get warm

clothes to the soldiers. We are having a snowstorm such as has

not been seen for twenty years, in fact one might be in

America. The snow has lasted five days. Everything is all

frozen and one slips and the trams are all crowded. Hospital

things are particularly necessary.

"My husband asked a German, an old friend of his, if it was

possible for me to take clothes to the English prisoners here.

He was refused. No one has been able to help the poor English,

and God only knows how they are being treated by these brutes.

We have been able to help the French prisoners."

"February.

"I saw at Ostend an old woman of ninety, who had walked from

Waterloo. I do not like to write much, as it is safer not to do

so. The money that was sent will go at once to a woman with

five children, whose husband was wounded. I have been taking

care of him at the hospital. He is well again and leaves today

for the front. The wounded try to get well as quickly as

possible, as they want to return to the front.

"My villa _à Duinbergen près de Heyst sur mer_ is occupied by

the Germans. My maid was left in charge. The Germans ordered

her to give them our clothes. I hear my house is a house _de

debauche et d'orgie. La femme de chambre a été molestée par un

soldat ivre._ When the old gardener and his wife tried to

interfere, the soldiers said if they did, they would shoot

them. Oh, when will this cease and the world know the truth?

_Cette abominable race!_ My heart is broken."

"THE HAGUE, Feb. 22, 1915.

"My uncle and aunt are in Anjoux. Think of the life they lead,

constantly struggling against all sorts of plunder, the worst

elements of the population now having free play. Anarchy is

uppermost in many places.... They have no respect for anything.

What ruin on all sides, and to think that our poor little

country was always so hospitable to those Germans!

"As to the Royal family: I know the Queen never leaves La Panne

(the last Belgian village). Every day she is with the wounded

and goes very near the trenches. She is admirable in her

courage and strength, and I know she suffers terribly from the

conduct of her compatriots (she is Bavarian), but in justice I

must say that the Bavarians have everywhere behaved better than

the others. The Prussians have been terrible. The old Princesse

de Ligne, widow of Prince Edward, who is the Mother of the

Councillor of our Legation here in The Hague, arrived here in

October. She stayed one month and a half at the Château de la

Neuville, near Liège, and under German dominion. Although

speaking German perfectly, as she is Austrian by birth, she had

a great deal to suffer. A German colonel with his revolver in

his hand followed her all over the house and made her show him

everything. (The same thing happened to the Comtesse de Mérode

at the Château de Waterloo; everything was opened, searched,

and in part plundered.) The Princesse de Ligne replied to one

officer that a certain old salver of repoussé silver was not

for sale, when he wished to buy it. The next day that and other

pieces of silver were gone. At Conjoux they passed days of

anguish during the burning of Dinant. There was a battle in the

wood back of the little house where we had so often had tea.

"The plundering of Dinant was most terrible, and what has been

told of the horrors of that time is not at all exaggerated. Up

to the present time they have exhumed 981 bodies of civilians,

of which one hundred are children between three months and ten

years. All this is official. There have, of course, been

exaggerations, but how many horrors are still unknown!

"There were just such massacres at Audennes, Visé, Louvain,

Aerschot and Termonde, not to speak of the smaller villages,

and J. told me when he passed through here to join the army

that in going through Dinant between Aisny and Philippeville

there was not one village that had not been completely

destroyed. At Liegnon (the station where one leaves the train

in going to Conjoux) they imprisoned 900 peasants in a church

for seventeen days. No one was allowed to go in. Two women were

confined and were unable to have a doctor. The curé of

Lorinnes, near Conjoux, had his lungs pulled out on each side

with the hooks that are used for the tires of motor cars. I

could go on telling you of just such incidents for pages and

pages.

[Illustration: THE CHÂTEAU OF ARDENNE.]

"The Château of Ardenne, which had become the property of the

State through the gift of Leopold II, has been completely

emptied. There is not one piece of furniture left, nor a frame,

nor a picture; everything is gone, and this is the case in many

châteaux.

"At Ghent my family have suffered a great deal from the

presence of the enemy in their homes. I have already told you

of their installing the passport office in our grandfather's

drawing room; you remember the one where the picture hung and

the chests that belonged to Marie Antoinette. You may imagine

the filth, and they insisted on putting in gas, saying it was

so dark they could not see. It is true it was dark, but they

had no right to ruin everything. It is curious that our

grandfather still has papers giving an account of the Cossacks'

sojourn in 1814. In the very same house, a Russian colonel was

lodger. According to these papers, there were far fewer

injuries and complaints than in 1914 against the Germans. At

Laeken, in the royal château, the Germans held a veritable orgy

and ruined everything; such dirt; and horrors so ignoble that I

dare not describe it further. The fact is that everything in

that beautiful château is in a deplorable condition.

"The Germans hope to demoralize us by circulating false

reports. Every day despatches from the Kaiser announcing their

victories are posted on the walls of the towns; this also to

encourage their troops. The soldiers arriving in Ghent think

they are within a few miles of London. The people have

naturally taken a mischievous delight in undeceiving them and

telling them they were by no means near London, but near the

Yser. They actually wept, for the Yser is their nightmare, and

with reason. That is easily understood. They do not advance;

quite the contrary.

CROWN PRINCE LEOPOLD, DUC DE BRABANT.

"The King and Queen are still at La Panne. Little Prince

Leopold, thirteen years old, is with them now. The other day

all three on horseback reviewed the new recruits on the beach;

all the time the German aeroplanes were throwing bombs.

"We have a new army of 200,000 men, and it increases every day.

The spirit of the troops is excellent. The other day the Queen

went with little Prince Leopold as far as the second line of

trenches to see the soldiers. It was near Nieuport. She sat

down amongst them, and after she left the soldiers made a

little sanctuary of the spot where she had sat. Our sovereigns

are adored by their troops, and they well deserve it. Nothing

matters to them--neither suffering, fatigue, danger nor money,

for they are wonderfully generous. Nearly all the Relief

Societies for Refugees in Belgium, here in Holland, in England,

and in France have had gifts from them, and in some cases they

have been considerable. It is thought now that the barbarity of

the Germans and their cruelty has ceased since they have been

stopped at the Yser, but this is not so. Naturally massacres

are less systematic than during the first three months of the

war, but there are constantly peasants and civilians shot and

priests sent to Germany. At Cortemarch (near Roulers) they

sent the curé and the vicar to Germany because they accused the

village of having had a spy. This they posted themselves in all

the Flemish towns. The number of people who have had to pay

ransom for one or another _soi-disant_ reason is countless. Our

cousin, living at Wielt, has been imprisoned and forced to pay

one thousand marks fine for daring to lift his voice feebly

against the requisitions, without even payment by note, that

were levied on the farmers.

"The Germans have now forbidden disinterment of the bodies, as

the proof of their cruelty was too obvious. At the time of the

flight of our poor population here the little children, seeing

the Dutch soldiers dressed in gray, took them for Germans, and

lifted up their little arms as these latter had obliged them to

do. There are still in Holland 250,000 poor refugees. They are

nearly all settled in camps of wood which in the beginning were

very bad, but are improving now every day. After the taking of

Antwerp there were one million here for one or two months.

"My brothers are well, thank God.--Pray.--Let us pray together

if you will, for all. God will hear us and will give us the joy

of acclaiming our King in Brussels when he reënters at the

head of his army. It is the goal and dream of all the Belgians.

It will be a day of wild and mad delirium. It gives me the

shivers even to dream of it."

From the son of Dr. Depage to his mother while she was lecturing in

America:--

"April.

"La Panne[16] has changed a great deal these last few weeks.

The tourist that would come here would think himself in an

exhibition, just before opening day.

[16] The Belgian army retired from Antwerp to La

Panne.

"On all sides one sees tents that spring from the ground. The floors

would make fine skating rinks when the war is over.

"Truly the medical career is full of surprises, and I sometimes ask

myself if my father, who as a youngster poached in the Forêt de Soignes,

ever thought or even dreamed that he would one day be not only a great

doctor, but a superior officer in the Belgian army.

"Life is a strange thing, Mother dearie, but I think that it can be very

beautiful, if one understands it,--and also very sad.

"As to the war, the wounded are taking the illusion from us that we are

having a vacation at the seaside.

"The weather has been so beautiful since the first day of spring that

one is sometimes surprised not to see parasols of flaming colours, and

the silhouettes of pretty women walking on the beach, or to see happy

children building forts, which the incoming tide soon destroys. Alas!

are we not all big children, we Belgians, that resist the incoming tide,

and our forts no better or stronger? But I think the tide is high now,

and soon it will go down.

"As to Y. P---- I think that we must give up all hope of seeing him

again. We thought for a while he was a prisoner, but though we tried to

find him we could not. And then, he would have let his mother have news

from him, don't you think?--since the 22d of October.

"We must not think of him now, we must remain courageous and keep on

hoping.

"After the war, it will be time to count the spaces in our ranks, and I

fear there will be many. My comrade was killed in our first bayonet

charge. (You know we fight as much as possible in pairs.) I was about to

kill a German when the man begged so pleadingly for his life, saying he

had a wife and children, that I faltered for a moment--in that moment he

half turned and quickly killed my comrade."

"BRUSSELS--end of April.

"Everybody here deprives himself to help the more unfortunate. Thanks to

America the famine has been averted. The American Minister is adored and

blessed by all. He is so simple and modest that he doesn't like

manifestations of thanks, but after the war we hope to show our

appreciation. The d'Assches, Woelmonts, Pierre van der Straten and other

faithful ones remain here until the day of deliverance. The Germans,

after they have massacred and pillaged, now remain more quiet. They are

ashamed, with reason, of their infamous doings, and I think the

cruelties are past. But how does one know with barbarians? We are

waiting for the Roumanians and the Greeks, and the Italians to enter on

our side. The whole world wants to get all and risk nothing. I am

writing to ask you if the singers in New York will not be able to

organize something for the benefit of their dear brothers and sisters

here. No music is possible. Professors and artists die from hunger....

"I want to tell you that my little Marie is going to make her first

communion privately. It is a sweet consolation for me to prepare her.

She is so simple and religious that I believe her prayers must be

acceptable to the Lord. She is very young, only just seven; but as you

know, Pope Pius Tenth wished that children should take their first

communion at that age. In these grave days we wanted her to receive this

great favour that she may unite her innocent prayers with ours in order

that the Lord may hear us the better."

"LONDON, May 1, 1915.

"It is very wearisome waiting to be sent to La Panne--but the shelling

of Dunkirk does not bode well for our speedy departure. We simply have

to wait from day to day, ready to start at short notice. The American

Red Cross doctors and nurses--of the two new units, just arrived from

America--are waiting also in London. The rules are stricter and stricter

for leaving England.... No one may now leave for nursing without having

been definitely engaged in a hospital over there. People are often

turned back from Dover in spite of passports which are apparently

perfectly correct.

"You see La Panne is at present under shell fire--the King and Queen

have been headquartering there, an added reason for the Germans to try

to demolish it. But I hear that just now they have been too near La

Panne to be able to get so short a range, and Dunkirk as you know has

been the victim. Many hospitals there are being evacuated.... In the

meantime I have been rather enjoying some free time here in London. I

was busy for a while getting my new uniforms for La Panne--and odds and

ends necessary for the 'war zone.' The uniform is of dark blue, and we

wear caps with a long white veil behind. In order to get my certificate

I had to take an oral medical examination--in French--before five

Belgian doctors. A very trying ordeal, for it was really a stiff

examination, with questions which are asked of trained nurses in their

third year. But I got through somehow, and am now the proud possessor of

a certificate giving me '_le droit de me mettre au service de la Croix

Rouge de Belgique en qualité d'infirmière_' signed by all the doctors.

"All the food for La Panne is sent out from London on Monday of each

week by the Admiralty boat. They send only once a week, as it is

necessary for supplies to be watched and escorted all the way--otherwise

they get stolen. One day we saw a lot packed up all ready to start--some

friends of Mother's have charge of the whole fund, and also of the

refugee fund which distributes food all over London and neighbourhood.

They have been very nice to me, and offered me a job to drive a

motor-van for them, carrying food to Belgian hostels and families. I

went out with another girl once or twice, but have had no time yet to do

anything regularly.... We are told that they are _very_ much in need of

ether at La Panne--and I want to send out some with the money which has

been given me. But this last week or two _nothing_ could be

sent--fortunately there is a reserve supply of food at La Panne and

another in Dunkirk, so it has not mattered much.... Since I came from

Paignton I have been staying at the Nurses' Hostel in Francis Street,

off Tottenham Court Road, with Nurse Walsh and Nurse Scott. It is very

big and comfortable--and very cheap--well known all over the world. And

nurses are pouring in almost daily from Canada and Australia. It is

quite an experience staying there, and I slept in a cubicle the first

three nights to see what it was like!

"One day we went to an exhibition by the Women's Signaling Corps. Women

and girls are learning flag-signaling, and they are also to take up

bicycle despatch-riding, telegraphy, etc. The idea is of course to free

men for the front. Miss D----, who is the chief officer of the women

police, and a remarkable woman, came to dinner with us last week. They

have been enrolled with the aim of providing a body of trained women for

the service of the public.

[Illustration: THE BELGIAN ARMY AT LA PANNE.]

"I inclose you a copy of a letter from Lieutenant X----, who was in

command of two companies of Gurkhas at the fight at Neuve Chapelle. It

was written to his family on his twenty-eighth birthday."

The letter from Lieutenant X---- follows:

"March 15, 1915.

"I ought to consider myself lucky to see another 15th of March,

after the last five days. It has been absolute hell, but anyhow

we won ground and killed more than we lost. The best way of

telling you will be to quote my diary again.

"March 9th we spent in billets very cold, frosty and snow

showers. Marched off at 11.30 P. M. for the Neuve Chapelle

front, so we got no sleep that night.

"March 10th. Arrived in a trench line at about 3 A. M. after a

march full of checks, owing to the crowded roads. The action

about to take place was not a small one, but one by a front of

three divisions, of which we were the center one. At 4.30 A.

M. punctually, 480 guns opened fire and never I should think in

history has there been such a bombardment. Our guns blazed

away--the country behind was a mass of gun flashes--and in

front of us a mass of smoke and shell bursts. There was not a

second in which you could say, there is no gun firing--it was a

continuous rattle and roar, and you could not hear yourself

speak. We had to lie very low in our trench and there were

several short bursts of our own shell going overhead; in fact I

picked up two shrapnel bullets on my right hand side, and the

base of a fuse on my left hand side. According to arrangements,

at 8 A. M. our guns increased their range, and our first

attacking line advanced under the enemy's trenches. The first

and second lines reached the enemy's trenches with very little

loss comparatively, as the enemy were quite disorganized by our

shelling. They passed over two lines of trenches and reached an

old trench line dug in the early days of the war--called the

Smith-Dorrien line--about 1,200 yards beyond. I followed close

behind, and Major B---- came last--we had about 96 casualties

in the first advance. We all reached the Smith-Dorrien line

with the Germans in full retreat, our guns firing shrapnel on

them. At this point we could have advanced still further, but

that for one thing our guns were still dropping shells just in

front of us, and for another the division on our left had not

advanced sufficiently to support us. My double company only got

about thirty prisoners and two machine guns. We immediately

started digging ourselves in against an expected

counter-attack. Some snipers from a trench on our right

troubled us for some time; the regiment on our right had

somehow advanced beyond the trench without killing its

occupants.... At dark another brigade passed through us and

advanced towards a wood 1,000 yards in front of us, and

entrenched themselves 250 yards in our front. Maxim and rifle

fire was opened on them by the enemy from the edge of the wood,

but they did not suffer very heavily.

"March 11th. The entrenched line ahead of us was held all day.

We got heavily shelled all day--the heaviest shells dropped

behind, Jack Johnsons and Woolly Bears, while we had shrapnel,

bombs and nasty double-acting shells which burst first with

white smoke, and fifty yards further on with black smoke. We

also got a good share of a shell which gave out the most

beastly-smelling gases. Major B---- was wounded in the head by

a bomb which burst on our parapet within a foot of my head,

blowing a large hole in the parapet and covering me with

earth. The explosion of it, so close, instead of deafening me

seemed to clear a passage through my head from ear to ear, and

I went through all the processes of death. It seemed to me I

was a goner, and it was some seconds before I realized I was

alive and unhurt. The brigade in our front was ordered to

retire in the night, and we were told to hold their evacuated

trench with pickets. I sent out a picket from my double

company--they remained out until 5 A. M., when I was ordered to

withdraw them.

"March 12th. They had only just come in when the Germans were

seen advancing, and a fearful fusillade of rifle fire from our

trenches began. After a time the firing slackened and dawn

came, when in front of us were lines of dead Germans. We

counted about one hundred in our immediate front--there were

lots more to right and left, and the trench just evacuated in

our front was thick with them. We had some very useful pistols

with us, which fire a big cartridge and light up the ground in

front. I fired fifteen rounds with mine to enable my men to see

to fire. Only a few live Germans remained in the trench to our

front, and these a British regiment turned out in an attack at

1 P. M. Their first line advanced through us, but suffered

rather heavily from fire from a trench to our left front. Their

second line was about to advance, and the officer in command of

it jumped lip close by me and shouted 'Second line advance,'

when he dropped, shot through the head. The third line never

advanced. On our right the ---- Gurkhas advanced to the front

trench and suddenly white flags began to appear, and after some

difficulty we got our men to stop firing, and a few of the

Gurkhas began sending prisoners back. In a moment both sides

were standing up out of the trenches, on our side we were

waving to the Germans to come in, and on their side they were

waving flags and calling for us to go and fetch them--but this

we could not do, as they continued to fire and we could not

trust them. But the ---- Gurkhas collected a lot on the right

and more followed, many of them wounded, and came into our

lines. About a hundred came like this, I should think. Many

more would have liked to come from further to the left, but it

was difficult to arrange, as they kept firing and at the same

time did not trust us sufficiently to leave cover. However we

got a fair bag.

"March 13th. All to-day and yesterday too we had absolute hell

from enemies' artillery. All day we lay flat against the front

parapet in fear and trembling--we were very crowded in our

trench as a British regiment was there too, and such crowding

added of course to the casualties. The shells dropped all round

us--many dropped close in front and behind, putting the fear of

God into us. All this time our artillery was firing too and the

noise was terrific. The men behaved absolutely splendidly and

did not move from their places. At 5 P. M. we got news that we

were to be relieved--we were pleased and the men bucked up at

once and started chattering away. We hoped to go out at dusk,

but were disappointed, as a message came to say a German

counter-attack was expected, and we must remain for the time

being. However I got away about 8 P. M., and reported to the

Colonel, who told me to march off to billets. Off I went with

my men and myself, all as happy as could be, but I only got as

far as our brigade headquarters a mile away, when the General

said, he was very sorry but the ---- and ---- Gurkhas had to

stay in reserve to the brigade who had relieved us. This was a

bit fat after five days and nights without any wink of sleep

for any one; for we had to work all night at improving our

trench and repairing it where shells had damaged it, digging

graves for killed, seeing to wounded going back; and in the day

it was impossible to sleep for the noise, and casualties

occurring now and then, and the fear of a German attack.

However there was nothing for it, so I explained the situation

to my men, who I must say took it very well. I almost cried for

pity at their disappointment, for they were all dead tired: in

fact none of us could walk in a straight line, and they were

looking forward to a good sleep and some decent food again.

However they turned and marched forward again, but no sooner

had I arrived than a staff officer of the other brigade came

and said the ---- and ---- Gurkhas were no longer required--so

about turn again and back we went at a snail's pace. I halted

at one place for water, as the men had been rather short of

water the whole time, and I gave them an hour's sleep by the

roadside at another point.

"March 14th. It was about four miles to our billets and we got

in just at dawn--our billets are near to L----. After some food

they started to get some rest, but at 12 noon we had to change

to another house half a mile away. Poor fellows, they have had

a time, but the whole regiment has behaved splendidly and they

are as cheerful as ever. Many acts of individual bravery were

performed. During the attack there was a house full of Germans,

but the difficulty was to get them out. One of our fellows went

in and called upon all of them to surrender--and he brought

out nine of them. On another occasion some of our men had to

bring up ammunition along a _nullah_ which was swept by

machine-gun fire. One of the men was wounded, but another

coming up behind stopped, put down the ammunition box he was

carrying and dressed the wound, remaining under fire till he

was killed. A Jack Johnson burst near one of our machine guns

and buried every man except one, who was only buried up to the

waist. He got out and dug out the others, and all were saved.

Poor Major F---- was shot through the head during the German

counter-attack and killed. In my own double company I had Major

D---- wounded, 30 men wounded, and 9 killed. Our regimental

casualties were 1 British officer killed, 2 Gurkha officers

killed, and 39 rank and file killed, 3 British officers (Major

B----, Major T---- and Captain S----) wounded, not seriously; 2

Gurkha officers and 170 rank and file wounded, 35 missing,

probably killed or wounded. Losses in the other four regiments

in the brigade were much the same. A great many of the Germans

against us were found to have bullets on them with the tips

snicked off with cutters, making them act like dum-dum

bullets--in fact three were shot for this on the spot. Several

of our wounded showed dum-dum wounds....

"You noticed perhaps that Sir John French's despatches, after

the recent fighting, thanked the Worcesters 'a second

time'--and everybody does not know that the first time was at

Mons. Towards the end of that battle, Sir Douglas Haig came and

said he thought they couldn't possibly hold on any longer.

General French agreed reluctantly, and gave the order for a

general retreat. But immediately Sir Douglas Haig came back in

haste to report that the Worcesters were still holding on, and

the General said, 'Then let us all hold on a little longer.'

The tide turned and the Germans retreated--and so it was that a

plain little company of Worcesters saved Europe! Three separate

times General French started to go and thank the Worcesters,

and three times he had to turn back--he couldn't speak for the

choke in his throat...."

III

AMERICAN RELIEF WORK

At first there was some discussion as to the advisability of America's

feeding the Belgians. International law told us that it was the duty of

the army occupying foreign territory to feed the civilian population.

English soldiers felt that by importing foodstuffs into Belgium, America

was helping the Germans. But Germany was unwilling to take upon herself

this additional load, and some one had to do it. While the discussion

was going on, seven million people were beginning to starve. "The hungry

stomach knows no politics, and when a man is drowning, pull him out and

not ascertain who threw him in." So America came to the rescue.

After the destruction of Louvain a committee was formed in New York to

collect funds for the Belgians, headed by Mr. de Forrest. His

Excellency, Mr. Emmanuel Havenith, and His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons,

at once started a general movement, thinking that a comparatively small

sum would be needed. The Millers' Belief Committee, headed by Mr. Edgar

in Minneapolis, was among the first to respond. My husband started the

New England committee at that time.

Later, Mr. Whitlock informed Mr. Page, our Ambassador in London, of the

great devastation in Belgium, as a result of which millions of people

were on the verge of starvation. So a commission of Americans was formed

in England, headed by Mr. Hoover, They sent Mr. Lindon W. Bates over

here to organize committees throughout the United States. The British

and Belgian governments promised to help, as well as the Spanish, and

Germany gave permission for foodstuffs to be distributed to

non-combatants in Belgium. The Spanish and American Ministers in

Brussels, and their committees in other towns in Belgium, had charge of

the distribution.[17]

[17] I am indebted to the official bulletin of the

Commission for Relief in Belgium for much of the following

material.

This Commission perfected a wonderful system of shipping and of giving

out the supplies. Everything was issued from the principal and branch

stations of the Commission in Belgium into the hands of the "Commission

Nationale Comité de Secours," a well-organized Belgian association.

The appeal to the governors of states and to the Rockefeller Foundation

met with the most generous response. The American railways and express

companies for a time gave free transportation, and then coöperated to

ship at reasonable prices. The Rockefeller Foundation also undertook to

furnish free ocean transportation, and chartered the first ship that

sailed from America with food for the Belgians, the _Maesapequa_, which

left here November 4th and reached Rotterdam the 18th. The Foundation

also contributed foodstuffs.

Throughout the winter everybody knitted madly. The unemployed were set

to work at small pay making garments, and people literally took their

clothes off their backs to send. Plays, concerts, lectures, moving

picture shows and rummage sales took in money which was later turned

into food.

The way in which this food was put up was original and quite American.

Boxes were filled with nourishing food suited to the needs of three

classes of refugees--infants, convalescents, and adults.

"A package for infants and young children should include thirty pounds

of evaporated, unsweetened milk; about two pounds of milk sugar, five

pounds of barley flour, five pounds of cornmeal, five pounds of oatmeal,

and two ounces of salt. This will sustain from two hundred to two

hundred and fifty infants or young children for one day.

"For packages for convalescents the following is recommended: Fifteen

pounds of evaporated milk, fifteen pounds of malted milk; one pound can

of olive or cottonseed oil; two pounds of canned chicken, five pounds of

brown rice, seven pounds of whole wheat or white flour, three pounds of

sugar, two pounds of tea, and six ounces of salt. It is estimated that

this will sustain from one hundred to one hundred and fifty

convalescents for one day.

"A package for well adults should contain: Five pounds of canned baked

beans, eight pounds of dried lentils, peas or beans, five pounds of

canned salmon, five pounds of oatmeal, five pounds of cornmeal, fifteen

pounds of whole wheat or white flour, two pounds of sugar and six ounces

of salt. This will furnish a sustaining ration for fifty adults for one

day."

"Not one mouthful has gone down a German throat yet, nor do I believe it

ever will," wrote Mr. Hoover; "we have had nothing but help from the

Germans in the distribution of American foodstuffs in Belgium. Belgium

raises less than forty per cent. of its own food. The war struck it in

the midst of the harvest, and Belgium had made no provision to feed

itself in time of trouble. The minimum monthly requirements of the

Belgian population are sixty thousand tons of grain, fifteen thousand

tons of maize, three thousand tons of rice and peas, at a cost of four

or five million dollars."

There was no milk for thirty thousand babies at the end of November. The

cows had all been killed or taken by the Germans for the army. The

starving mothers could give little nourishment to their infants, and the

supply of condensed milk was quickly used up. This picture was brought

by an American from Belgium:

"I stood one morning by the back door of a German cook camp,

watching a group of Belgian women grubbing through the trash

heap piled up behind the camp. All these women carried babies.

'What are they doing?' I asked a German sergeant with whom I

had struck up an acquaintance. 'Scraping our condensed milk

cans,' he said. 'It is the only way to get milk for their

babies. I have seen them run their fingers round a can which

looked as bright as a new coin, and hold them into the babies'

mouths to suck."

Six thousand meals a day were served in Brussels alone in the autumn. In

some places one large baker's bun a day was all that was issued by the

authorities; in other places, one bowl of cabbage soup. By April there

were forty-seven soup kitchens in Brussels.

A shipload of food meant one day's rations for the Belgians. When the

first ship arrived at the Hook of Holland, the city of Rotterdam

rejoiced. While the unpacking went on, speeches were made and banquets

held, and American national airs were played. The cargo of the ship was

put into canal barges, which by German permission were allowed to make

their way to the different towns.

To show how quickly the food is distributed--in three hours sixty

thousand people received bread. Three hundred and sixty sacks of

American flour arriving at Verviers was distributed in the form of bread

the following morning. According to the system of the Commission, each

person receives three cards. "One is kept at the office, the other two

are given to the applicant. One of these he keeps and presents each day

for his quota of rations, i. e., bread. The other he gives to his baker.

With this card the baker makes application to the storehouse for the

necessary flour to cover the demand of the bread card. The bread card

calls for 325 grams of bread; the baker's card for 250 grams of flour.

When there are not full rations to be had, the applicant gets the

percentage available. This applies to every one, rich and poor alike."

Thanks to the efficient work of the Commission, fully seventy-five per

cent. of the Belgians receiving food were able to pay for it. This was

due to the clever financiering of Mr. Hoover and his committee, who

managed, by an ingenious method, to raise the depreciated paper currency

to par value.

Putting gift and purchase cargoes together there were delivered in a

single month, "twenty-five thousand tons of wheat, thirty thousand tons

of flour, eleven thousand tons of maize, fifteen hundred tons of rice,

five hundred and forty-six tons of peas, four thousand tons of beans,

one hundred and seven tons of potatoes, one hundred and twelve tons of

salt, with thirty-six hundred tons of sundries."

In the spring Antwerp and Brussels were feeding about two hundred and

eighty thousand people twice a day. At least four million people are

getting their food through the National Commission. Those who can pay

for it do so. Food is given in the bread line to those who cannot pay.

At first only workmen appeared in the line, then small shopkeepers, and

later professional men.

West of the road from Antwerp to Mons the people are being fed. East of

the road the Germans did not permit it during the winter. In April,

however, it was arranged that the Commission should also feed Northern

France. In June General von Bissing permitted the Commission to furnish

grain for seed, to be planted and harvested by Belgian peasants for

their own use. The report of the Commission for the first year of the

war showed that for the people of Belgium and the 2,500,000 French

people hemmed in behind the German battle front, an expenditure of

$10,000,000 a month was required.

The despatch of a shipload of food every other day from America during

the winter constituted the largest commissary that the world has ever

seen. "The Fleet of Mercy is constantly making voyages." Every cent

collected in America for the purchase of food was spent in America. It

is said that up to May 1st the United States made gifts amounting to

about six million dollars. The American Relief Commission today has

branches not only in the United States, Canada and Holland, but also in

London and Belgium and France. From sixteen American seaports food has

been sent direct to Belgium. Forty-eight States, the District of

Columbia and Hawaii, organized Belgian Relief Committees, and endless

sub-committees. Thirty-seven of the States of the Union are represented

by the women's section.

Queen Elizabeth, now called the "Wandering Queen," sent this letter to

thank the women of this Commission:

"It gives me great pleasure to accept the invitation which has

been transmitted to me to become a patroness of the Women's

Section of the American Commission for Relief in Belgium. I

wish to extend to the women of America the deep gratitude of

the women of Belgium for the work which they are doing for my

people. The food which your country is daily providing to our

women and children comes like a ray of sunshine in the darkest

hour in Belgium's history. The Belgian women have fought a

brave fight, and are still fighting for the common cause of

human liberty, so dear to every American woman's heart.

"ELIZABETH."

* * * * *

By May 1st the New York Belgian Fund amounted to more than a million

dollars. California raised over a hundred thousand in a day. Chicago has

been conspicuous with large gifts. Kansas sent a great quantity of

flour, and Mr. Wanamaker of Philadelphia shipped cargoes worth half a

million dollars.

The New England Committee believes that its results up to May first are

substantially as follows: Cash collected, $300,000; value of goods

collected, $100,000; money sent from New England direct to New York,

$50,000; and goods sent to New York, about $50,000. The Kermesse

Flamande cleared $15,000, and Madame Vandervelde's meetings raised about

$14,000 in Boston alone. Three ship-loads of food and clothing left

Boston harbour.

[Illustration: THE _HARPALYCE_] Copyright by Boston Photo News Co.

The _Harpalyce_ was the first and largest of the ships. She sailed on

January 7th, reaching Rotterdam the 23d. On April 10th, while on another

voyage, she was torpedoed in the North Sea. She carried a crew of

fifty-three men, twenty-six of whom were drowned, among them the

captain, whom we knew personally.

The work of Madame Vandervelde while she was in this country deserves

special mention. She is an English woman, the wife of Emile Vandervelde,

the leader of the Socialists in Belgium. He had several times been

offered a place in the Cabinet but had refused. When the war broke out,

however, feeling that he could be of real service to his country, he

became one of the Ministers of State. He came with the Minister of

Justice, Monsieur Carton de Wiart, an old friend of ours, and several

others, as one of a commission sent to America in the autumn of 1914.

Madame Vandervelde followed shortly to make a lecture tour in the United

States. We found her a charming and well-educated woman, and a speaker

of unusual power. She came to this country in a spirit of splendid

patriotism for the sake of helping Belgium.

Before the food question became urgent, she asked for money to help the

Belgian refugees return to their homes. But this did not seem wise, as

we shall see from a report quoted below, so the money that she collected

was turned into food.

"For example, the towns Waelhem, Malines, Duffel, and Lierre, are

reduced practically to ruins and are certainly not in a condition to

receive back more than one-third of their ordinary population. There is,

moreover, a smell of decay in the air, which probably proceeds from

corpses buried in the ruins, which may, at any time, breed a pestilence.

To send people back to their homes when those homes no longer exist, I

believe to be cruel. Visé and Tamines and, I suppose, ten or a dozen

other small towns in Belgium, are practically in the same condition as

those I visited, desolate and uninhabitable, half of their houses

wrecked, many scattered and isolated farmhouses practically destroyed,

and a considerable portion of the land under cultivation laid waste,

either by military operations or by inundation for defense.

"There is no work. The factories are closed because they have no raw

material, coal, or petrol, and because they have no markets. And yet war

taxes are falling with hideous pressure upon a people whose hands are

empty, whose workshops are closed, whose fields are idle, whose cattle

have been taken."

In one of her lectures Madame Vandervelde said: "The sight of the poor

refugees streaming into Antwerp from Louvain and Malines, women with

babies in their arms, older children clinging to their skirts, men

wheeling their decrepit fathers in wheelbarrows or helping along a

crippled brother or son, is more pitiful than any words can express."

From the reports in the daily papers, Madame Vandervelde said, one knows

little of the overwhelming nature of the tragedy. She told many

interesting stories of the land which had been ravaged by the horrors of

war, and the murderous raids of the Zeppelins.

Her mission was not a political one; it was a plea for help. She arrived

in September, bringing good letters of introduction. Wherever she

spoke--in private houses on Long Island, at Beverly, Mass., or Dublin,

New Hampshire, or in cities--she was so attractive, and her appeal was

so pathetic, that people wept and opened their pocketbooks. In the big

cities of Canada she spoke in halls and churches, and was most

enthusiastically received. From Syracuse she went to Chicago, also to

St. Paul and Minneapolis, starting committees where they did not already

exist. At Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston she was especially successful

in raising money. She was present at the sailing of several of the food

ships, when hundreds of people crowded the docks, speeches were made,

and patriotic music played.

Three thousand people attended the mass meeting at Tremont Temple, in

Boston, and over a thousand were turned away. She went to Providence and

then to New Haven, where she was introduced by ex-President Taft. She

was introduced in Boston by Bishop Lawrence, and in Baltimore by

Cardinal Gibbons. A large meeting was held for her in Cooper Union Hall

in New York. During her stay in Washington she visited the Belgian

Minister and his wife. Where committees were already started, she turned

over the money she made to them. She sailed for Europe on the third of

April, having raised about three hundred thousand dollars.

Her last lecture before sailing contained these words: "We, the Allies,

do not want peace. We appreciate the well meaning, high minded, noble

Americans who are planning a conference at your national capital whereby

the neutral nations shall decide on some peace plan to be submitted to

the belligerent nations without armistice, but we cannot hear of peace

at this or any other time until Prussian army caste has been wiped from

the face of Europe. We want peace, but only peace with honour, and

lasting peace. Peace now, before militarism has been conquered, will not

be lasting peace. At the most, it would only be for five or six years,

until Prussian militarism could reconstruct itself, and then the whole

reign of terror for all Europe would begin again. We can scarcely

understand an attitude that would even suggest peace at this time. Such

an attitude is embarrassing."

[Illustration: MADAME VANDERVELDE.]

Just as Madame Vendervelde left the country, Madame Depage arrived to

take her place. She had had experience in the Balkan War, when she

accompanied her husband to Constantinople and acted as an auxiliary

nurse. She directed the equipment of the hospital and within a very

short time had turned the building into one of the best military

hospitals in Europe. During the present war she has aided in the

establishment of a large number of military hospitals, not only in

Brussels but also in other Belgian cities. When Brussels was taken the

Germans seized the hospitals and devoted them to their own uses. The

Governor-General of Belgium issued a decree breaking up the organization

of the Belgian Red Cross. All the funds were seized, and the archives

were handed over to a German officer, who was appointed to carry on the

work. It is said that forty thousand dollars' worth of Red Cross

supplies was taken over. As the National Belgian Headquarters of the Red

Cross were in Brussels, the heads of the organization were temporarily

cut off from the army.

Dr. Depage stayed with the King while his wife remained in the capital

until she received word from him that she was needed at the front. She

made her way to Holland, then to England, and then to Calais. Her

husband was at that time in charge of the Gendarme Ambulance. He gave

her some orderlies and told her to proceed to La Panne and select a site

for a military hospital. She found an empty hotel, and had things ready

with three hundred beds when the Doctor arrived from Calais to take

charge. Now there are a thousand beds, and he has a large corps of

assistants.

As Belgium was not receiving American Red Cross supplies, for the simple

reason that it seemed impossible to reach their headquarters, Madame

Depage came to this country to solve the difficulty. She was here only a

short time, but obtained a hundred thousand dollars by her lectures. Our

American Red Cross had previously contributed thirty thousand dollars

through the Belgian Relief Commission, and gave Madame Depage thirteen

thousand more, besides promising six surgeons and twenty-four nurses to

Belgium, furnishing two field hospitals and paying for their maintenance

for six months. The total gifts of the American Red Cross organization

have amounted to about $100,000. Fortunately the money that Madame

Depage raised was deposited here, for this brave, executive woman went

down on the _Lusitania_.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ALLEN, GRANT: Belgium: Its Cities

AMES, F. T.: Between the Lines in Belgium

BOULGER, D. C.: Belgium of the Belgians

-- Belgian Life in Town and Country

BUMPUS, T. F.: Cathedrals and Churches of Belgium

BITHELL, J.: Contemporaneous Belgian Poetry

BODE, W.: Great Masters

CLAFLIN, W. H.: Holland and Belgium

CONWAY, W. M.: Early Flemish Artists

CROWE AND CAVALCASELLE: Flemish Painters

DELEPIERRE, OCTAVE: History of Flemish Literature

DAVIS, R. H.: With the Allies

EDWARDS, G. W.: Old Flemish Towns

ENSOR, R. C. K.: Belgium

FROMENTIN, EUGÈNE: Les maîtres d'autrefois

GILBERT, EUGÈNE: France et Belgique

GRIFFIS, W. E.: Belgium the Land of Art

HOLLAND, CLIVE: Belgians at Home

HUNTER, G. L.: Tapestries

HUET, C. B.: Land of Rubens

HYMANS, LOUIS: Bruxelles à travers les ages

JOURDAIN, M.: Old Lace

KAUFFMAN, R. W.: In a Moment of Time

MAC DONNELL, J. DE C.: Belgium, Her Kings and People

-- King Leopold II

-- Albert, King of the Belgians

OMOND, G. W. T.: Belgium

POPLIMONT --: Heraldry

POTVIN, CHARLES: Nos premiers siècles littéraires

POWELL, E. A.: Fighting in Flanders

PAMPHLETS:

Washington and Columbia Printing Co.: Facts About Belgium

Belgian Government: Diplomatic Correspondence respecting the War

German Commanders in Belgium: Why Belgium Was Devastated

Commission on International Law: Reports

ROOSES, MAX: Art in Flanders

REA, HOPE: Great Masters (Rubens)

RICE, W. G.: Carillons of Belgium and Holland

SOUTHEY, ROBERT: Netherlands in 1815

STEVENSON, R. L.: An Inland Voyage

SCOTT, W. B.: Gems of Modern Painters

SINGLETON, ESTHER: Art of the Belgian Galleries

SHARP, WILLIAM: La jeune Belgique

SMITH, E. GILLIAT: Story of Brussels

SAROLEA, DR. CHARLES: How Belgium Saved Europe

THOMPSON --: The Belgian Renascence

VALENTINER, W. R.: The Art of the Low Countries

WAUTERS, A. J.: La peinture flamande

ZWEIG, STEFAN: Emile Verhaeren

INDEX

A

Adelbert (Prince), 34

Adoration of the Lamb, the, 182, 184, 236

Adoration of the Magi, 195, 196

Aerschot, 373, 393

Africa, 113, 116

Aisny, 393

Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 101

Albert, Archduke, 99

Alfred the Great, 70

Algini, 307-313

Alost, 97, 210

Alva, Duke of, 96, 192

American Club, 51

Students' Club, 55-6

Ancienne Cour, 94

Andenne, 351, 352

Angel's Mass, 30

Angers, 162, 171

Anseele, Edouard, 151

Antwerp, 8, 37, 68, 94, 97, 98, 99, 111, 124, 137, 138, 162, 202,

230, 233-236, 282-283, 331, 342, 366, 371, 383, 384, 418, 423

Academy, 204

Cathedral, 147, 234, 262

Museum, 189, 195

Antwerp, Legends of, 255

Antigon, 255-262

Yvon Bruggermans, 262-275

Frügger the Miser, 275-303

The Blacksmith of Antwerp, 303-313

The Milk Girl, 313-330

Apocalypse (tapestries), 171

Archdukes Albert and Isabella, 165, 194

Ardennes, the, 331, 332, 341, 344

Arenberg, Duc d', 34

Duchesse d', 34

(family), 34

Arquenne, 333

Arras, 162, 170

Assembly of, 88

Tapestries, 168, 169

Artevelde, Jacob van (the Brewer of Ghent), 82, 83, 238

Philip van, 84

Assche, Comte d', 20

Palais d', 2, 7, 20

(family), 389, 399

Aubusson, 170

Audennes, 374, 392

Augustus, 66

Austrian Succession, war of, 101

Aymon, sons of, 348

B

Baldwin (_Bras-de-fer_), 69, 74

Second, 70

King of Edessa, 73

Count of Hainault and Flanders, 73

Fifth, Count of Flanders, 75

Sixth, Count of Flanders, 76, 78

Bataille, Nicolas, 171, 173

Bates, Mr. Lindon W., 412

Baudouin, Prince, 119

Bavaria, John of, 185

Bayard, 348-350

Rock of, 348

Beauvais, 170

Beeckmans (the), 389

Beernaert, Minister of State, 35

Beers, van, 210

Beethoven, 52

Béguinage

in Ghent, 146, 237

in Bruges, 238

Belgica, 66, 67

Bel, Jean le, 209

Beloeil, 332, 334-335

Berryer, M., 35

Beughems, de (the), 13, 389

Beuken, 372

Biefve, Edouárd, 202

Black Prince, 83

Blanc-Grin, 204

Blondel, 17

Blücher, 104

Bodel, Jean, 208

Boehn, von, 368

"Boerenbonden," 135

Boitsfort, 58

Boma, 118

Borinage, the, 140, 335

Bosel, 379

Bouvignes, 353

"Brabançonne," the, 210, 381

Brabant, 18, 58, 80, 84, 87, 142

Governor of, 8

Braekeleer, Henri de, 203

Brant, Isabella, 194

Braquenié, Brothers, 166

Brederode, de, 95

Breuil, du, 173

Brieux, 378

Broqueville, Baron de, 137

Bruges, 17, 18, 68, 70, 74, 75, 80, 81, 84, 90, 93, 98, 99, 111,

162, 180, 185, 187, 238-242

Belfry of, 240

Brussels, 2, 8, 9, 12, 16, 17, 85, 100, 119, 162, 163, 164, 230,

331, 342, 356, 364-365, 378, 382, 388, 389, 416, 418

life in, 43-64

Buelow, von, 368

Buisseret, Comte de, 2

Caroline de, 7, 24

Burgundian Sacraments, 159, 189

Burgundy, dukes of, 18, 89

(county of), 92, 99

(duchy of), 86, 92

C

Cæsar, 65, 259

Calais, 83, 87, 88, 371, 380, 426

Calvé, 53

Cambre, Parc de la, 58, 59

Bois de la, 62

Cassel, victory of, 79

Cats, le Vieux, 209

Caxton, William, 240

Cercle du Parc, 38

"Chambers of Rhetoric," 208

"Chansons des Saxons," 208

Charlemagne, 16, 68, 74, 243, 341, 343, 348, 349, 350

Charleroi, 139, 342, 363, 374

Charles V, 18, 92, 93, 94, 159, 209, 263

Charles the Rash, 91, 160, 170, 172, 187

Prince, of Lorraine, 101

the Sixth (of France), 84

the Seventh (of France), 89

Prince, of Hohenzollern, 120

the Bald, 69

Charles Theodore (of Bavaria), 25

Charlotte, Princess, 108

(Empress), 108

Chasseurs, 61

Christianity, 58, 69

Church, the, 71, 79, 130, 132, 151

Ciergnon, 120, 346

Ciney, cow of, 351-353

Cinquantenaire, the, 61

Palais du, 60

Museum, 119

Clary, Comtesse, 24

Clémentine, 109, 110

Clericals (political party), 112, 127-130, 133-135, 137

Clovis, King of the Franks, 67, 68, 69

Colbert, 171

Cologne, 17

Comans and Planche, 171, 173

Commission for Relief in Belgium, the (American), 412, 420

Congo State, the, 114-119

Museum, 51, 119

Congress of Vienna, 103, 106

Conjoux, 392, 393

Conscience, Henri, 210-212

Conservatoire, the, 53

Constitution (Belgian), 107

Cortemarch, 396

Coster, Charles de, 210

Courouble, Leopold, 220

Courtrai, 68, 70, 80, 143, 247, 331

Crève-Coeur, 353

Cross, Descent from the, 195

Elevation of, 195

Crown Prince (of Belgium), 123

Crown Prince (of Germany), 30

(of Roumania), 30

Croÿ, Prince Henri de, 338, 339

(family), 335, 336, 339

Crusades, 71, 74

D

David, Abbe, 210

David and Goliath (tapestries), 176

Davignon, Madame, 12

Deg, van, 305-313

Democrats (political party), 127

Demolder, Eugène, 220

Depage, Dr., 397, 426

Madame, 425, 426, 427

Derouette, Colonel, 3

Dhanis, Baron, 115

Diana (tapestries), 173-176

Dieckmann, Major, 369

Digue, the, 243

Dinant, 65, 341, 346, 350, 366, 374, 383, 392, 393

Dixmude, 247, 367

Donnan, Miss, 56

Duffel, 422

Dunkirk, 400, 401, 402

Dyck, Anthony van, 199-201

E

Edwards, George Wharton, 241

Egmont, Count, 34, 91, 95, 96, 247

Eilbert, Count, 346-347

Elst, Baron von der, 57

Emilie Louise, 108

Emmich, von, 368

Enghien, 162, 163, 332, 333

Eugene, Prince, 100

Eyck, Jan van, 183-186, 187, 189, 190

Hubert, 179, 180, 182, 183-186

Margaret, 183

Eycks, the, 179, 189, 191, 240

F

Fancy Fair, the, 47

Farnese, Alexander, Prince of Parma, 98

Ferdinand and Isabella, 92

Flamberge, 349

Flanders, 13, 14, 18, 33, 67, 73, 74, 75, 76

Flanders, Count of, 69

Robert, Count of, 73

(Counts of), 352

Flandre, Comtesse de, 10, 28, 29, 30, 47, 340

Comte de, 25

Philip, 108, 119

Flemings, 67, 126

Forêt, Comte Raymond de, 333

Fourment, Helena, 194

Francis I, 93

Franks, 66, 67, 68

Salian, 66

French, General, 410, 411

Freya, cave of, 347

Frügger, 275-303

Furnes, 248

Procession of Penance at, 249-251

G

Galliat, Louis, 202

Galsworthy, John (quoted), 356

Garde Civique, 29

Gates of the Apostles (tapestry), 169

Gaul, 66, 67, 68

Gauls, the, 65, 66

Geographical Congress, 113

Gerard, Baron, 76

Geubles, Jacques, 174

Ghent, 18, 68, 70, 74, 81, 84, 90, 93, 97, 98, 139, 142, 150,

236-238, 239, 393, 394

"Pacification of ----," 97

Gilles, Dancing, 336-338

Glesener, Edmond, 213

Gobelins (Jean and Philip), 167, 170, 171

Godfrey of Bouillon ("Advocate" of Jerusalem), 72, 73

Godfrey the Bearded, Count, 17

Golden Fleece, Order of, 90, 91, 185

Goltz, Baron von der, 368

Grammont, 76, 78

Grand Council, 87

Grande Harmonie, Société de la, 147

Grande Place (Brussels), 48-49, 96, 100, 365

(Ypres), 251

Grant-Smith, 3

Grenadiers, 3

Grétry, 52

Groenendal, 58, 59

Château, 59

Grunne, de, 339

Gueux, the, 95

Guides Regiment, 4, 60, 61

Guy (of Anderlecht), 14, 15, 16

H

Haarlem, 96

Hainault, 33, 79, 87, 141, 142, 331

Hal, 332, 333

Han, 345

Grottes de, 345-346

Hall, Mr., 123

Hapsburgs, the, 19

Havre, 137, 342, 371

Havré, 336

Hennebicq, 76

Henry, Cardinal of Winchester, 88

Herzèle, 247

Hill, Mr. James J., 121

Hoboken, 282

Hochstetter, 284-303

Hofstade, 366

Holland, 12, 87, 98

Holy Blood, chapel of, 239

Hoorn, Count, 91, 95, 96

Hoover, Mr., 412, 417

Hôtel de Ville (Brussels), 16, 48, 49, 166

Hougomont, 63, 104

Houllos, 139

Hubert, St., 58, 345

I

Inquisition, 18, 96, 236

International Association for the Suppression of the Slave Trade

and the Opening of Central Africa, 114

Isabella, Duchess (of Burgundy), 89

Princess (of Portugal), 90, 185

Infanta, 99, 165

J

Jacqueline of Bavaria, 86, 87

Jallet, 352

Jenneval, 210

Joanna, 92

Johanna, 84

John the First, 17

the Fearless, 86

Don, of Austria, 97

Jordaens, Jacob, 165, 191, 199, 200

Josephine (Princess), 119

Joseph II, 101, 102

Joyous Entry, the, 84, 100, 110, 194

Judith, 69

Jungblüth, General, 120

Jupille, 342, 343

K

Karcher, Nicholas and Jean, 173

King Albert Hospital, 386

King of the Belgians, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 25, 26, 27, 30, 41, 42, 57,

61, 117-125, 137, 147, 371, 381, 384, 395, 396, 400

L

La Belle Alliance, 63, 104

Lac d'Amour, 238

Laeken, 25, 30, 39, 40, 41, 42, 51, 112, 394

La Haye Sainte, 63, 104

Lalaing, Comte de, 380

Lalaing, Countess van, 193

Lambeaux, Jef, 205

Lambremont, Baron, 120

La Panne, 367, 391, 395, 397, 400, 401, 402, 426

"La Princesse Maleine," 216

La Roches, 345

Last Communion of St. Francis, 198

_L'Echo Belge_, 386

Ledeganck, 210

Legation, 2, 3, 20

Lemonnier, Camille, 213

Leopold I (Prince, of Saxe-Coburg), 107, 108, 374

Leopold II, King, 19, 25, 32, 39, 42, 51, 85, 108-114, 242

Prince, 395

of Austria, 102

Le Pays Noir, 140

Lerberghe, Charles van, 221, 222, 224

Le Roeulx, 339

Lesbroussart, 210

Leys, 202

Liberals (political party), 112, 127, 129, 132-134

Liège, 52, 69, 124, 136, 139, 141-144, 331, 341, 342, 343, 361-363,

371, 374, 377, 392

Bishop of, 58, 70, 89

Marshal of, 352

Lierre, 422

Ligne, Prince Charles de, 32, 33, 332

Princesse, 33, 34, 391, 392

Prince George de, 388

(family), 10, 31, 33, 332, 334, 335

Prince Edward, 391

Ligny, 103

Lille, 162

Limburg, 84

Locquenghieu, Chevalier de, 8

Lombaertzyde, 248

Lorand, M., 116, 117

Lorinnes, Curé of, 393

Lorraine (Lotharingia), 74, 91

Count Lambert of, 16

Duke Charles of, 16

Prince Charles of, 101

Loti, Pierre, 251

Louis XIV, 34, 100

Louis XI of France, 92

Louise, 109

Louvain, 18, 52, 84, 230-232, 371, 372, 373, 374, 384, 393, 423

Counts of, 70

Louvain, University of, 94, 231, 373

Hotel de Ville, 230, 232

Cathedral, 370

Lovenjoul, Vicomte de Spoelberch, de, 220

Low Countries, 51, 68, 92, 93, 97

Luetwitz, von, 369

Luxembourg, 87, 341, 383

Duke of, 2

Counts of, 351, 352, 359

M

Maecht, Philip de, 173

Maele, Louis de, 83, 84

Maestricht, 97

Maeterlinck, 152, 207, 213-219, 224, 237

Maison du Peuple, 152

Maison du Roi, 46, 96

Malines (Mechlin), 147, 195, 196, 200, 232-233, 366, 370, 371, 374,

422, 423

Cathedral, 233

Mannikin, the, 49

Marburg, Mr., 20

Margaret of Austria, 92, 159 of Parma, 94-96

Marie Elizabeth, Archduchess, 100

Marie Henriette, Archduchess, 109

Marie José, Princess, 25

Marie - Louise - Alexandrine-Caroline, 119

Marie, Jean de, 89

Marncourt, Renard de, 173

Marriage of St. Catherine, 186, 187

Martel, Charles, 68

Mary (of Burgundy), 92

Matilda, 75

Matsys, Quentin, 144, 191,

(Blacksmith of Antwerp), 303-313

Maugis, 349

Max, Burgomaster, 8, 9, 364

Maximilian of Austria, 92

Second, 99

Maximilian of Austria (Emperor), 108

Melba, 53

Melis, 13, 14

Melusine, 333

Memling, Hans, 179, 186-189, 190, 191, 240

Menapians, 66

Mercier, Cardinal, 370, 375

Mérode, Comte Jean de, 5

Comtesse, 31, 392

(family), 389

Meunier, Constantin, 205

Meuse (river), 331, 332, 349, 353, 361

Valley, 65, 346

Michael the Archangel, 16

Middelkerke, 367

Middlebourg, 162

Minister, American, 2, 8, 388, 399

Minister of Foreign Affairs, 11, 12

Minister, Spanish, 8, 382

Miraculous Draught of Fishes, 195, 196

Mockel, Albert, 223

Monnaie, Place de la, 50

Mons, 140, 335-336, 364, 411, 418

Moor, Baron de, 4

Mortlake, 167, 170, 173

"Musette de Portici," 107

N

Namur, 79, 331, 341, 342, 353-354, 363, 374, 384

Counts of, 70, 351, 352

Napoleon, 102-105, 147

Napoleon III, 108

Nash, Miss Hildegarde, 55

Netherlands, 68, 70, 74, 75, 92, 94, 99, 170, 171

Austrian, 100, 231

United, 106

Neuve Chapelle, 403

Nibelungen Lied, 207

Nieker, von, 369

Nieuport, 248, 367, 395

Nieuport-Bains, 248

Nieuwenhoven, Martin van, 187

Noort, Adam van, 193

Normans, 69, 75

Notre Dame du Sablon, 158

Church of, 158 (Malines), 195, 196, 370

O

OEuvre des Soldats Belges, Franco-American, 13

Ophem, 339

Orange, Prince of, 8

(William the Silent), 95, 97, 98

Nassau, family of, 107

House of, 192

Ostend, 137, 236, 242-244, 342, 367, 379, 390

Oudenarde, 162, 163, 164, 165

P

Pack, Governor, 37

Paele, Canon van de, 185, 186

Madonna of, 185-6

Palais de Justice, 365

Palais de la Nation, 50

Pannemaker, Willem de, 172

Papal Nuncio, 8, 10, 38

Parnasse de la Jeune Belgique, la, 213

Pendleton, Miss Charlotte, 168

Penelope, 161

Pepin of Heristall, 68

the Short, 342

Perch, Baron de, 8

Perwez, 340

Peter the Hermit, 72

Philip of Alsace (Count of Flanders), 73, 79, 208

the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, 84, 86

the Good, 16, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 159, 183, 185, 187, 240

Second, of Spain, 91, 93, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99, 172, 209

the Fair, 92, 159

Philip, Duke, of Saxe-Coburg, 109

Philippeville, 393

Picardie, 346

Pirenne, Henri, 220

Plantyn-Moretus Museum, 234

Plantyn, Christopher, 234

Pléiade, 213

Poe, 242

Poplimont (quoted), 33

Potvin, Charles, 207, 212

Prier, Toussaint, 163

Q

Quartier Leopold, 20, 50, 51

Quatre Bras, 103, 104

Queen, the (of the Belgians), 6, 7, 10, 11, 25, 26, 27, 41, 42, 47,

61, 122, 123, 125, 147, 148, 381, 391, 395, 400, 419

R

Raes, Jean, 174

Red Cross, American, 400, 426, 427

Renkin, M., 117

Requesens, 97

_Revue de Belgique_, 212

Rhine, 66, 67

Richard, Earl of Warwick, 88

Richilde, Countess of Hainault and Namur, 79

Robert the Frisian, 79

Rochefort, 345

Rodenbach, Georges, 224

Roi, Jean Grégoire le, 214, 221

Roland (bell), 93, 238

Rombeaux, Egide, 205

Ronner, Madame, 204

Roosbeke, battle of, 84

Rooses, Max, 163, 202, 205

Roost, Jean, 173

Rouart, 349

Roubaix, Jean de, 185, 247

Roulers, 244

Convent at, 244-246

Rubens, Peter Paul, 99, 191-199, 200

John, 192

Rudolph, Crown Prince, of Austria, 109

Ruysbroeck, 209

S

Sainte Barbe, College of, 214, 224

Saint-Vaast, monastery of, 89

"Salon Bleu," 26

Sambre (river), 332, 353, 354

Saxe, Marshal, 19, 101

Saxon League, 67

Saxony, Anne of, 192

Schaffen, 372

Scheldt, the, 13, 69, 74, 235, 255, 331

Scott, William B., 184

Seaman, Major, 121

Sempst, 366

Senne, the, 15, 17

Severin, Fernand, 222

Sluys, victory of, 83

Socialism, 127, 151

Socialists (political party), 127, 129, 135, 137

Soignes, Forêt de, 57, 58, 59, 340, 397

Somme, the, 69

Spa, 341, 343-344

Spaniards' Castle, 93

"Spanish Fury," 97

Spanish Netherlands, 33

St. André, church of, 279

St. Géry, church of, 16

St. Gudule, church of, 10, 29, 30

St. Hubert, church of, 344

hermitage of, 354

St. Ives, college of, 373

St. Jean, 62

St. John's Hospital (Bruges), 186

St. Peter and St. Guy, church of, 16

St. Peter, church of (Louvain), 143, 373

St. Quentin, 364

Stanley, 114

States-General, 87, 94

Stephanie, 109, 110

Stevens, 204

Stoelkens, Beatrix, 158

Storer, Mr. Bellamy, 20

Straten, Pierre van der, 399

T

Tamines, 374, 422

Teniers, David, 165

Terlinden, Lieutenant, 62

Termeire, 12

Termonde, 236, 366, 393

Théâtre de la Monnaie, 106

Third Estate, 87

Thompson, 53-54

Tirlemont, 375

Tongres, Lucius de, 207

Tournai, 69, 162, 163, 374, 379

Tremeloo, 372

"Triumphs and Types of the Eucharist," 165

Troyes, Crestien de, 208

Truce of God, the, 79

Tyndale, 232

U

United Belgian States, 102

Ursel, Duc d', 13, 57

Comte Wolfgang d', 32

Comtesse Wolfgang d', 32

Duchesse, 13, 31, 32, 57

Duchess Dowager, 13, 32

family, 31, 32

Palais, 32

Ursula, St., 188-9

Mother, 245

Utrecht, Union of, 98

peace of, 99

V

Vanderkindère, 212

Vandervelde, M., 115, 116, 127, 137

Madame, 95, 421, 423, 425

Veen, Otto van, 193

Vendôme, Duc de, 120

Henriette, 120

Verhaeren, Emile, 124, 210, 213, 223-229, 362

Verviers, 143, 384

Vesalius, Andreas, 18

Victor Napoleon, Prince, 109

Vilain XIIII, Comte, 34, 35

Villaloba, Marquis, 8

Villeroi, Marshal, 19

Vilvorde, 232

Visé, 331, 360, 393, 422

Volkson, Father von, 379

Vondel, 209

Vooruit, the, 151-2

Vydts, Jodocus, 183, 184

W

Waal, 66

Waelhem, 422

Walker, Madame, 54

Walloon (Provinces), 13, 67, 139

(individuals), 72

(people), 98, 126, 331, 332

Warlemont, Maurice, 213

Waterloo, 59, 62-64, 103, 104, 106

Waulsort, 346, 347

Wauters, 204

Wavre, 340

Waxweiler, M., 120

Wellington (Duke of), 103, 104

Wenzel of Luxembourg, 84

Werchter Wackerzeel, 372

Westende, 367

Weyden, Roger van der, 163, 189, 190

Whitlock, Mr. Brand, 8, 20, 382, 412

Wiart, M. Carton de, 35, 421,

Madame, 369

Wielt, 396

Wiertz, 203

Museum, 203, 212

Willebroeck Canal, 8

Willems, 210

William the Conqueror, 75

First, 106

Woelmonts (the), 399

Y

Ypres, 61, 70, 90, 98, 210, 251-254, 367, 387

Ysaye, 53-54

Yser, the, 124, 247, 248, 249, 367, 380, 394

Z

Zealand, 87

Zèvecote, Jacques van, 209

Zoellner, Miss, 56

Zweig, Stefan, 224

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