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Show n, Sans hesiter, elle s'est faite champion de la condition premiere ace maintie By THE EARL OF ROSEBERY IT is a privilege to write about the Belgians and their King, who have proved once more that Kingship is not dead, and that heroism still survives. A short time ago a young prince ascended the throne of this happy and peaceful kingdom, the home of industry, manufacture, and commerce, the garden of the Continent, at the gates of which stood a guardian angel armed with the sword of Europe. It might well seem that a career of secure prosperity lay before him and his subjects, who, to use an old Border phrase, were " dreading harm from no man, but only wishing to live in God's peace and the King's." In an instant all this fair prospect was blackened. Prussia, which had twice solemnly guaranteed the independence of the little kingdom, suddenly poured her hosts into it, not as might be supposed to protect, but to destroy that independence. She thought, no doubt, that the Belgians would bow to the necessity of such overwhelming odds and submit to the invaders. She mistook her men. King Albert and his people protested with arms in their hands. For the moment they stemmed the torrent. Liege successfully resisted the enemy till overwhelming artillery pounded its forts to powder. Inch by inch the Belgians, headed by the King, resisted, but the mass of invaders irresistibly rolled over them. Brussels the capital and Antwerp the citadel had to be successively abandoned. At la saintete des conventions humaines et des traités, sans laquelle le princ1pe . . de l'etat moderne s'efi'ondrc. to France, the King to his unbroken army. A sa gloire imperissahle, la Belgique est restée également fidele aux traditions like a horde of barbarians had ravaged, plundered, and destroyed the country les plus reculecs de ses peoples, et aux devoirs plus récents que la 101 des nations lui impose. they had sworn to protect. The rage of being baflied had apparently maddened them. For the King and his Belgians at the cost of all they cherished had retarded the march of the invaders and nullified their plans. 'BON Bv HIS EXCELLENCY M. PAUL CAM imposant en's et ale nation ce endan indép leur pour EN luttant avec he'roi'sme le peuple dr01t, du se defen la noblcment les plus douloureux sacrifices pour monde n du ratio ladmi et ance naiss recon la mérité ont Belgc et son Roi . ssable imperi civilisé, et ils se sont acquis une gloire TRJNSLA TIOX C ‘ By their herr/ir struggle for national tndepertdmre and their noble aeteptance of the most terrible saerzjires in defenrr of Right, the Belgian King and people have mm'ut thr'admimtiori and gratitude of the civilised nor/d. and hate won imperishable glory. Mp7 M ' Bv TllE COUNT DE BENCKENDOREF' Belgique la dance, indepen son de defense la ‘a deployé me l'héro'is SI, par que lu1 s'est acquise l‘admiration du monde, c'est de .la reconnaissance socral, sur doivent tous les peuples auxquels importe le maintien de lordre lequel repose la civilisation. Tltxt .'\'Sl.x'l 'I'IUN It. In- tlu fll'tl/H‘m displayed in the dejfeure of her 'YHI/l'l "411nm, Ittlzjnmi has rum the admzratt'on (If the rent/fl, ull uthn nutmns tm‘t' her gratitude, that is, all nutmm 't‘tllttlt rulm thr nmztttenanre of social tilt/(Y, mt n‘htth rtt'thmtiun ts ltrLW'd. It Illlrtttl hmtutmn. shr has Moved the part of (ham[wn of tht fmt {within/n :7 Hull mumtenunreithe ., ‘ . . last, almost all the kingdom was submerged, the Government had to retire Meanwhile the German legions sanctity of human obligations and of treaties, without For the moment, Belgium, all mapped out, as it was, for Prussian cannon, which the principle of the modern State would collapse. and swarming with Prussian spies, was the bulwark of Europe and of public law. Not the resistance at Thermopylae to the millions of Xerxes was more splendid, and Thermopylae only involved the sacrifice of a handful of men, while this has cost a country and a nation. To her everlasting glory, Belgium has remained faithful to the most ancient traditions of her people, and to the more modern duties that the law of nations has imposed upon her. There have been three Kings of the Belgians. 11'\ ll‘lS EXCELLENCY KATSUNOSKE INOUYE llll‘. indomitable courage and patriotic ardour with which Belgium has been exerting herself to defend her liberty and independence against the \mnton invasion of her territory by a powerful enemy has created the greatest admiration throughout the world. In Japan, where Chivalry and patriotism reigns, Belgium‘s heroic defence has greatlv aroused the sym- pathy of her people, and we join in the hope that he; flag, adorned anew wuh glory, will in no distant future be floating again triumphantly throughout her dominion. The first, Leopold, steered the little kingdom with exquisite skill through dangers from within and from without until he was hailed as the Nestor of Europe. The second energetically sustained and developed the commerce and manufactures of his realm with extraordinary success. But the third, Albert, has already eclipsed his predecessors and ranks with William the Silent, the indomitable champion of the Low Countries. And when the Belgians return, to what will they return? The bare, ruined remains of their smiling Country. Her fields ravaged, her villages burned, her ancient monuments, the glory of Europe as well as of Belgium, destroyed2 For long years, perhaps for ever, Belgium will remain a monument of infamy. War is a ruthless devouring monster at best. But there is chivalrous war and there is devilish war, and the devastation of innocent Belgium will long subsist as the capital example of the devilish. She has suffered 17 |