Through the Iron Bars | Page 5

restless
repression, and even, during the last year, to deliberate persecution.
Schools may be inspected at any time by the authorities and every
"anti-German manifestation" (that is to say, any pro-Belgian teaching)
is severely punished. Shops are raided so that every patriotic picture

post-card (especially the portraits of the Royal Family) may be seized,
and even the intimacy of the private home is not respected. To begin
with, the Belgians have been allowed to show their loyalty--with
discretion; next, every patriotic manifestation is excluded from public
life; and last, the Germans, through their spies, penetrate the homes of
every citizen, and endeavour to extirpate by a reign of terror these same
feelings which they so emphatically promised to respect.
* * * * *
People who are leading a quiet life and who enjoy the blessings of an
autonomous Government will perhaps not appreciate the importance
which the Belgians attach, at the present moment, to these patriotic
manifestations. They may imagine that, so long as national life is
assured and citizens are otherwise left alone by their conquerors, public
affirmation of loyalty to King and country is of secondary importance.
God knows that the economic situation of occupied Belgium is bad
enough, and the endless and tragic lists of condemnations and
deportations are there to prove that her people are living under the most
barbarous regime of modern times. But, even if this was not the case,
anybody with the slightest knowledge of their national character would
understand the extraordinary value which the Belgians attached to their
last privilege and the deep indignation roused by this German betrayal.
Von Bissing shrugs his shoulders and calls them "big children." So they
are. And his son, with a scornful smile, declares in the Suddeutsche
Monatschrift (April 15th, 1915) that it is in "the people's blood to
demonstrate and to wear cockades." So it is. The love of processions
and public pageants of all kinds is deeply rooted in Belgian traditions.
But what does it prove? Simply that the people have preserved enough
freshness and joy of life to care for these things, enough courage and
independence to feel most need of them when they are most afflicted.
This is how they think of it: "Our bands used to pass through the streets,
shaking our window-panes with the crashing of their trombones, our
flags used to wave in the breeze--in the happy days of peace. Should
we now remain, silent and withdrawn, in the selfish privacy of our
houses, now that the country needs us most, now that we want, more

than ever, to feel that we are one people and that we will remain
independent and united whatever happens in the future?" Baron
Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing sneers at the Belgians because on any
and every pretext they display the American colours. If they do, it is
because they are not allowed to display their own, and because they
feel somehow that the best way to show that they have still a flag is to
adopt the colours of the great country which has so generously come to
their help. It may well be, as the Baron informs us, that most of the
"small and big children" who wear the Stars and Stripes do not know a
word of English. What does it mean again? Simply that heart may call
to heart and that it is not necessary to talk in his own language to
understand a brother's mind. It is true that only children--children small
and big--know how to do it.
If the Germans had had the least touch of generous feeling for the
unfortunate country upon which they thrust war in spite of the most
solemn treaties, they would not have obliged the Belgian citizens to
lower the flags which they had put up during the defence of Liège, they
would not have torn their tricolour cockades from their buttonholes,
they would not have silenced their national songs, they would not have
added these deep humiliations to the bitter cup of defeat. One wonders
even why they did it if it was not for the mere pleasure which the bully
is supposed to feel when he makes his strength felt by his victim. They
might have gone on gaily plundering the country, shooting patriots,
deporting young men, doing whatever seemed useful in their eyes. But
the petty tyranny of these measures passes understanding. Governor
von Bissing is certainly too clever to believe that the satisfaction of
making a few cowards uneasy by such regulations can at all outweigh
the danger inherent in the resentment and the deep hatred which the
bullying has aroused against Germany. You may take the children's
bread, you may take their freedom, but you might at least leave them a
few toys to play with, and you would