A BELGIAN "BATTLE OF DORKING."

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XX, Issue 3905, 14 May 1877, Page 2

A BELGIAN "BATTLE OF DORKING."

A r.vMTHLET entitled " La Gtierre FrancoAllemande do 187S, par le General Le Meche," which is attributed to General Brialmont, lias recently been published at Brussels. The author gives an imaginary account of the consequences to Belgium of a war between France and Germany in IS7B. He supposes that war is declared by the French Government on the 17th of May, and that on the same evening the King of the Belgians receives a telegram from Paris stating that the French Republic feels bound, for its protection against a German invasion, to occupy Belgium, as it lias ascertained by careful examination of the Belgian capabilities of defence that they are insufficient for the maintenance of neutrality. Shortly after a similar communication arrives from Berlin, and the next day both German and French troops cross the Belgian frontier. After a variety of military operations which are described in detail, the writer continues as follows :— By this time lvussia, England, Austria, and Italy have agreed to interfere on behalf of Belgian neutrality ; a force of SO,OOO men, composed of the troops of each of these States, is despatched to occupy the country at the expense of the unfortunate Belgians, who thus escape one foreign occupation, only to fall into another. Such, concludes the writer, is the fate of a nation which does not qualify itself to fulfil its engagements to Eiirope for the military defence of its neiitrality. The moral of the story, of course, is that the Belgian army should be thoroughly reorganised, and the fortifications of the most important of the Belgian towns restored.— Pall Malt Gazette.