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Show i "mun" "wk " ‘ ' . By LORD NORTHCLIFFE THE Christmas message we all wish to send across the North Sea is this : that we British will fight to the end and work to the end for the King of Belgium and the Belgian people, because we believe that for all time in the world quiet homes and noble lives and surer peace W111 sprlng from the seed of their sacrifice. The noble king of a true democracy has fought With his people against military tyranny and the lust of power, as rarely king or nation has fought before. liven in the midst of sufl‘ering and loss too great for words Belgium may feel that the fruits will surpass the sacrifice and all the world one day share in the Belgian Victory. \N M; CIR/HP By LORD BURNHAM THE position at this moment is without precedent in our history. A noble and gallant little nation has imperilled its very existence, and brought upon itself immeasurable calamities, by resistance to the aggression of a powerful, arrogant, and heartless foe. It has done this with a courage and devotion that have won universal admiration. The independence and integrity of Belgium are vital interests to Britain. What she has done and suffered constitute, therefore, a claim on the British people that is irresistible. With no assigned pretext of justification, the hordes of Germany have invaded and wasted her territory, and by acts of war, and by deeds that are murder not warfare, have done to death thousands of her people and driven hundreds of thousands into exile. Countless homes desolated, families broken and scattered, children orphaned, By SIR EDWARD]. POYNTER, BART., P.R.A. NOT only for myself but for the body of which I am president I have no hesita.ion in affirming that all my colleagues of the Royal Academy are with me in the horror we feel at the treatment which the unoffending population of Belgium has received at the hands of the barbarous hordes of I'russians who have devastated that beautiful and peaceful countryfi outrages of the most savage kind inflicted under pretences invented for the occasion by that race which has proved itself so prolific of lies and spies. But above all this do we admire the magnificent bravery with which the Belgians have withstood the onslaught of overwhelming numbers: for it is to their splendid courage, under their heroic King, in bearing the first brunt of the treacherous Prussian attael' that the world owes it that the vast German scheme of conquest has hitherto failed. By LORD REDESDALE T0 lire King of the Belgians, Snot, Fighting on behalf of the whole world~a Hero at the head of an heroic people-Your Majesty has made the cruellest sacrifices. The world will the trade and means of existence of the most thickly peopled and most industrious country of continental Europe paralysed, chaos and ruin where there had been peace and happiness-these are some of the elements of the tragic fate that has overwhelmed this brave, unoflending nation. Never in our time has a people been so cruelly treated. The splendour of the efforts and the magnitude of the self-sacrifice of this gallant people, no less than the dauntless heroism of the King and his army in resisting the invasion of their country, defying terrors and undergoing outrages that are unknown in civilised warfare, appeal to us equally with their appalling and indescribable sorrows. The world's admiration has been moved, and the world's compassion aroused by unsurpassed bravery and unparalleled suffering. May this volume generate a world-wide feeling that not enough can possibly be done to honour the courage and assuage the grief of this noble-hearted and afflicted people. No one can feel more poignantly than I do this pressing necessity. But we must not be content to think only of a terrible past-irradiated though it be with magnificent patriotism and valour. We must look to the future. As far as human sympathy and help can do it, we must bring to Belgium, great in virtue of her martyrdom, consolation and atonement for the wrongs which she has endured. fifl/W‘LWV / not forget. Sire, you have lost muchwyou have won Immortality. l have the honour to be, Sire, Your Majesty's 310st obedient humble servant, 08W By WILL CROOKS TIIE Story of the Ages does not give us anything so soul-inspiring as the fighting martyrdom of Belgium, its King and its people in 1914. Its failure to keep its homeland from bloody hands for awhile will prove its mighty triumph for the whole world. Its sacrifice will thrill generations yet to be, who will call Belgium blessed both in their memory and their prayers. flue/'14 CAN/q 79 |
