to it by the German Government and the Pro-German Press.  Besides, in a way, the atrocities committed during the last days of August, 1914, ought not to be considered as the culminating point of Belgium’s martyrdom.  They have, of course, appealed to the imagination of the masses, they have filled the world with horror and indignation, but they did not extend all over the country, as the present oppression does; they only affected a few thousand men and women, instead of involving hundreds of thousands.  They were clean wounds wrought by iron and fire, sudden, brutal blows struck at the heart of the country, wounds and blows from which it is possible to recover quickly, from which reaction is possible, which do not affect the soul and honour of a people.  The military executioners of 1914 were compassionate when compared to the civilian administrators who succeeded them.  The pen may be more cruel than the sword.  Considered in the light of the recent deportations, the first days of frightfulness seem almost merciful.

Observers have found no words strong enough to praise the attitude of the Belgian people when victory seemed close at hand, when news was still allowed to reach them.  What should be said now after the twenty-seven months for which they have been completely isolated from the rest of the world?  The ruthless methods of the German army of invasion which deliberately massacred 5,000 unarmed civilians and sacked six or seven towns and many more villages has been vehemently condemned.  What is to be the verdict now that they have succeeded, after two years of efforts, in sacking the whole country, ruining her industry and commerce, throwing out of employment her best workmen and leading into slavery tens of thousands of her staunchest patriots?  The horrors of Louvain and Dinant were compared, with some reason, to the excesses of the Thirty Years War, but modern history offers no other instance of forced labour and wholesale deportations.  If, fifty years ago, the conscience of the world revolted against black slavery, what should its feelings be today when it is confronted with this new and most appalling form of white slavery?  We should in vain ransack the chronicles of history to find, even in ancient times, crimes similar to this one.  For the Jews were at war with Babylon, the Gauls were at war with Rome.  Belgium did not wage war against Germany.  She merely refused to betray her honour.

* * * * *

Let us watch, then, the closing of the prison gates.  Up to the beginning of October, the Belgians, and specially the people of Brussels, had been kept in a state of suspense by the three sorties of the Belgian army, which left the shelter of the Antwerp forts to advance towards Vilvorde and Louvain, a few miles from the capital.  At the beginning of September, the sound of guns came so close that the people rejoiced openly, thinking that deliverance was at their gates.  To sober their spirit—­or to exasperate