"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well
It were done quickly: if th' assassination
Could trammel up the consequence, and catch
With his surcease, success; that but this blow
Might be the be-all and the end-all here."
But that it cannot be. Blows have their consequences, immediate and
remote. You first, and then your memory, will be stained to all
generations by this deed of treachery and blood. How have you excused
it? "With necessity, the tyrant's plea." You had to hack your way
through, you said, and it was on my people that your battle-axe fell. So
when Louvain was burnt and its inhabitants were shot down you assured
the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES that your heart bled for what
"necessity" had forced you to do. President WILSON is a man of high
principles and deep feelings. I wonder how he looked and how he felt
when he read your whimpering appeal.
You have destroyed Belgium, but Belgium will rise again; and, even if
fate should ordain that Belgium is to be for ever wiped away, so long as
one Belgian is left alive there will be a heart to execrate you and a
voice to denounce your deeds.