During August 10 and 11, 1914, General Moranville threw forward detachments to screen his main body in front of the German advance.  On the 11th a rumor that the French had crossed the Sambre, moved General Moranville to extend his right wing to Eghezee, with the hope of getting in touch with the Allies.  That the French and British were hastening to his support could not be doubted.  They were already overdue, but assuredly would come soon.  That was the Belgian reliance, passing from mouth to mouth among the Court, Cabinet Ministers, General Staff, down to the factory toilers, miners, and peasants on their farms.  The Sambre report, like many others in various places, proved unfounded.

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CHAPTER III

BELGIUM’S DEFIANCE

A view of the general situation in Belgium will assist in clearing the way for swiftly following events.  Germany had invaded Belgium against the diplomatic and active protests of its Government.  But the German Government still hoped that the heroic resistance of Liege would satisfy Belgian national spirit, and a free passage of German troops now be granted.  The German Emperor made a direct appeal to the King of the Belgians through the medium of the Queen of Holland.  From the German point of outlook their victory could best be attained by the march through Belgium upon Paris.  The German Government asserted that the French and British contemplated a similar breach of Belgian neutrality.  To their mind, it was a case of which should be on the ground first.  On the other hand, the Allies pronounced the German invasion of Belgium an unprovoked assault, and produced countertestimony.  The controversy has continued to this day.  But the war as it progressed has seen many breaches of neutrality, and a certain resignation to the inevitable has succeeded the moral indignation so easily aroused in its early stages.

Let us now glance at the condition of Belgium when war was declared.  The Belgians were an industrial and not a militant people.  They had ample reason to yearn for a permanent peace.  Their country had been the cockpit of Europe from the time of Caesar until Waterloo.  The names of their cities, for the most part, represented great historic battle fields.  Again and again had the ruin of conflict swept over their unfortunately situated land.  At all periods the Belgians were brave fighters on one side or the other, for Belgium had been denied a national unity.  Doubtless, therefore, they welcomed the establishment of their independent sovereignty and the era of peace which followed.  Historically, they had suffered enough, with an abundance to spare, from perpetual warfare.  Their minds turned hopefully toward industrial and commercial activity, stimulated by the natural mineral wealth of their soil.  Thus the products of their factories reached all countries, South America, China, Manchuria, and Central Africa,