Mr. Whitlock was later congratulated officially by the king for his action.  Undoubtedly he had a great deal to do with saving Brussels.

HISTORIC TREASURES OF BRUSSELS

The city of Brussels, thus occupied by the Germans, contains art treasures that are priceless.  The museum and public galleries are filled with masterpieces of the Flemish and old Dutch school, while the royal library comprises 600,000 volumes, 100,000 manuscripts and 50,000 rare coins.  Unquestionably the Brussels Museum is one of the most complete on the Continent.  A prominent historic landmark of Brussels is the King’s House (also called the Dreadhouse), an ancient structure, recently renovated.  Within its walls both the Counts Egmont and Hoorn spent the last night before their execution, in 1567, by the hirelings of the Duke of Alva, the Spanish Philip II’s tyrannical governor of the Netherlands, who, by means of the sword and the Inquisition, sought to establish the Catholic religion in those countries.  Brussels boasts another historic relic known the world over—­the equestrian statue of Godfrey of Bouillon, who led the Crusaders to the Holy Land.  It stands upon the Place Royale, and was unveiled in 1848.

The magnificent Town Hall of Brussels would probably have suffered destruction, together with the city’s other beautiful buildings, had not the government yielded without a struggle.

HEAVY WAR TAX LEVIED

General von der Goltz, appointed by the Kaiser military governor of Belgium, levied a war tax of $40,000,000 on the capture of the capital.  Other cities occupied by the Germans were also assessed for large sums, which in several instances had to be paid immediately on pain of bombardment.  It was announced September 1 that the four richest men in Belgium had guaranteed the payment to Germany of the war tax.  The four men were Ernest Solvay, the alkali king; Baron Lambert, the Belgian representative of the Rothschilds; Raoul Warocque, the mine owner, and Baron Empain, the railway magnate.

BELGIANS RETREAT TO ANTWERP

After the German occupation almost normal conditions were soon restored in Brussels, so far as civic life was concerned.  It was speedily announced that the Germans intended to regard the whole of Belgium as a German province and to administer it as such, at least during the continuance of the war.  The Belgian army retired to the north within the fortifications of Antwerp, where they were joined by French troops, but desultory fighting against the German invader continued at many points and the Franco-British allies soon came into contact with the advancing German army.

THE CITY AND PORT OF ANTWERP

Antwerp is one of the largest, most modernly equipped and efficient ports in Europe.  It is only a short distance across the English Channel, and is the head of 1,200 miles of canals in Belgium which connect with the canal systems of Holland, France and Germany.  On the harbor alone over $100,000,000 has been spent and extensions are in progress which will cost $15,000,000 more.