Through the Iron Bars | Page 7

than any
romance, much more wonderful than any poem. The mass is not
supposed to show the same constancy as the individual, and one does
not expect from a whole people the ideal loyalty of Desdemona and
Imogen. Besides, we do not want the reader to imagine that, before the
war, the Belgians were ideally in love with one another. Like the
English, the Americans and the French, we had our differences. It is
one of the unavoidable drawbacks of Democracy that politics should
exaggerate the importance of dissensions. Therefore it is all the more
remarkable that the sudden friendship which sprang up between classes,
parties and races in Belgium, on the eve of August 4th, should so long
have defied the untiring efforts of the enemy and should remain as
unshakeable to-day as it was at the beginning.
We do not wonder that the German intellectuals who have undertaken
to break down Belgian unity are at a loss to explain their failure.
Scientifically it defies every explanation. Here was a people apparently
deeply divided against itself, Socialists opposed Liberals, Liberals
opposed Catholics, Flemings opposed Walloons; theoretical differences
degenerated frequently into personal quarrels; political antagonism was
embittered by questions of religion and language. Surely this was ideal
ground in which to sow the seed of discord, when the Government had
been obliged to seek refuge in a foreign country and a great number of
prominent citizens had emigrated abroad. The German propagandist,
who had been able to work wonders in some neutral countries, must
have thought the task almost unworthy of his efforts. Every one of his
theoretical calculations was correct. He only forgot one small detail
which a closer study of history might have taught him. He forgot that,
in face of the common danger, all these differences would lose their
hold on the people's soul, that the former bitterness of their quarrels
was nothing compared with the sacred love of their country which they
shared.

* * * * *
The first action of the German administration after the triumphal entry
into Brussels was to try to isolate the occupied part of the country, in
order to monopolize the news. Rather than submit to a German censor,
all the Belgian papers--with the exception of two small provincial
journals--had ceased to appear. During a fortnight, Brussels remained
without authorized news. From that time, the authorities allowed the
sale of some German and Dutch dailies and of a few newspapers
published in Belgium under German control. The Government itself
issued the Deutsche Soldatenpost and _Le Réveil_ (in French) and a
great number of posters, "_Communications officielles du
Commandant de l'Armee allemande_," which were supposed to contain
the latest war-news.
To this imposing array, the patriots could only oppose a few pamphlets
issued by the editor Bryan Hill, soon prohibited, and copies of Belgian,
French and English papers, which were smuggled at great risk, and
consequently were very expensive. Still, before the fall of Antwerp, it
was practically impossible for the Germans to stop private letters and
newspapers passing from the unoccupied to the occupied part of the
country. Besides, they had more important business on hand. Here
again, it was only after the second month of occupation that the
pressure increased. During October and November, several people were
condemned to heavy fines and to periods of imprisonment for
circulating written and even verbal news. The Dutch frontier was
closed, wherever no natural obstacle intervened, by a continuous line of
barbed wire and electrified wire. Passports were only granted to the few
people engaged in the work of relief and to those who could prove that
it was essential to the interests of their business that they should leave
the country for a time. The postal service being reorganized under
German control, any other method of communication was severely
prosecuted. At the end of 1914, several messengers lost their lives in
attempting to cross the Dutch frontier. Under such conditions it is easy
to understand that, in spite of the efforts made by the anonymous
editors of two or three prohibited papers, such as La Libre Belgique, the
bulk of the population was practically cut off from the rest of the world

and was compelled to read, if they read at all, the pro-German papers
and the German posters. The only wells left from which the people
could drink were poisoned.
* * * * *
The German Press Bureau in Brussels, openly recognised by the
administration and formerly the headquarters of Baron von Bissing's
son, set to work in three principal directions. It aimed at separating the
Belgians from the Allies, then at separating the people from King
Albert and his Government, and finally at reviving the old language
quarrel between Walloons and Flemings.
The campaign against the Allies, though still carried