OCR Text |
Show By M. D. MEREJKOWSKY By A. KOUPRINE Translated from the Rusrian by C. llagbrrg Wright, LL.D. Translated from the Russian by Henry Bradley, LLD. To THE BELGIAN PEOPLE WE do not say to youeHave courage. No courage could be greater than that which you have shown. But we say to you-Have faith. Your sufferings have not been in vain ', they have awakened the conscience of the peoples. From henceforth your land, drenched with the blood of your sons, shall he a Holy Land : from henceforth your cause shall be the cause of Humanity. To wipe away the tears from your eyes, to heal your wounds, to restore a hundred-fold that which has been taken from you, this the peoples have solemnly swornito this they have pledged their honour, and that oath will be kept. We desire no solace while you remain desolate, we desire no liberty while you remain in bondage, we desire no victory until you have conquered. In the day when the victors triumph, the first crown shall be yours ; and Humanity shall bestow it upon you. All nations shall make way for you, and in the forefront you shall enter the promised land. NOT applause, not admiration, but the deep eternal gratitude of the whole civilised world is now due to the self-denying Belgian people and their noble young Sovereign. They first threw themselves before the savage beast, foaming with pride, maddened with blood. Thev thought not of their own safety, nor of the prosperity of their houses, nor of the fate of the high culture of their country, nor of the vast numbers and crueltv of the enemy. They have saved, not only their fatherland, but all Europe, the cradle of intellect, taste, science, creative art, and beauty; they have saved from the fury of the barbarians, trampling in their insolence, the best roses in the holy garden of God. Compared with their modest heroism, the deed of Leonidas and his Spartans who fought in the pass of Thermopylae falls into the shade. And the hearts of all the noble and the good heat in accord with their great hearts. . . . No, never shall die or lose its power a people endowed with such a noble Q/b'uytwys fire of blood, with such feelings, that inspire it to confront bereavement, sorrow, sickness, wounds ; to march as friends, hand in hand. adored King and simple cottager, man and woman, poor and rich, weak and strong, aristocrat and labourer. Salutation and humblest reverence to them I By M. TOUCAN BARANOVSKY Tramlatrd from the Russian by C. Hag/107g Wright, LLJ). To BELGIUM AND HER KING IN the life of a man as in the life of a Nation, Evil is closely interwoven with Good. Without Evil there would be no Good-for Good is nothing more than the vanquishing of Evil. From this point of view Evil not only serves Good but is also, as it were, the invariable basis of its activity. Great historical crimes, like those of which we are eye-witnesses to-day, have their place in the triumphant onward march of eternal truth. The Inore terrible the crime, the more beautiful and the more dazzling the power of that good which overcomes it. Was not the Crucifixion essential to the everlasting victory of Jesus ? And shall not the picture of Belgium ruined and laid waste by her foes be graven for ever on the pages of human history P Shall not our remote descendants By M. D. ANOUTCHIN WHO now, save the Germans, would not compassionate poor Belgium, small, but at the same time great, utterly devastated and depopnlated for this sole reason-that she has dared to remain loyal and to defend her soil . against the unrigbteous invasion of barbarians. (Inc would have to be a William ll, representing the worst side of 'l'eutonic militarism, to dare name the noble country a traitor. We Europeans admire the heroism of the Belgians and their knightly King. Let us hope that with the united forces of lingland, Russia, l'ranee, Belgium, Serbia, and Japan, the enemy of good faith and humanity Will be utterly In all these emergencies the device " now or never " is not to be make songs and legends about the glorious country of King Albert which broken. has given proof of supreme courage and uneonquerable spirit in the awful hour of barbarian invasion E And shall not Belgium by her example inspire forgotten, and the sword shall not he sheathed until the Kaiser acknowledges himself beaten. Humanity throughout the ages to do deeds of heroism and to battle for truth. lleneeforth King Albert belongs to all of us, he is our common possession, like one of those spiritual heroes who raise the \ alue of the whole of mankind. And after many, many years, when every trace of the present bloody struggle has vanished, when the names of the battle-fields and the great commanders are forgotten, when all the horrors we are now living through seem but faroll‘ legends, when the proudest temples and palaces of our era have crumbled into dust, the image of the noble King shall still continue to inspire the poet. 186 _ Bv LOUIS COUPERUS TOWARDS noble Belgium, victim of a world-tragedy, all sympathies grit-ts. lo stretch out like maternal hands, eager to soothe her quivering of coir chorus a Elisabeth, (Queen and her noble Sovereigns, King Albert ts alway -. Solation raises this cry 2 Despair not, for sooner or later the Victim ‘i Destiny. avenged by Justice and 1. 7 will"! Mnu‘tvll‘fk |