BELGIAN ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LII, Issue 166, 11 July 1918, Page 6

BELGIAN ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM

(To the Editor.) Sir,—May wo appeal to your feelings of righteousnss and of benevolence in asking you to open in your worthy paper a subscription on- behalf of our Belgian Order of St. John- of Jerusalem? "Without having any interference from or connection with the K'nglish Oredr which is covering the British Empire only, our "Belgian branch has lieen con-sti.tued in view of helping the victims of this war. especially the blinded soldiers and the distressed widows of our brave men.. We perfectly realise that you have yourselves to ■support your own. charities, but we cannot help to lay stress-' upon the fate of our fighting men>, because their fel-low-countrymen. unable to help ithem for the time being, will be. so exhausted) after the war. }ve are afraid, that the task will be beyond their power. The soldiers of every country in this war have at least this comfort of remaining in close tou'-li with their families, through leaves or letters. The Belgiansoldiers, isolated from their country by the German trenches, are without any news from their relatives for almost four years. Vet. they are the pallantsoldiers of that, little army which at Liege barred the road' to the German hordes during a fortnight, losing the fourth of their effectives:, but allowing Fra.n-ce to hastily complete her mobilisation. They are those sokliers who hv their (successive raids from the "'camp retrauche'' of Antwerp have held up 'two German army corpsmarching towards the Ma rue where has been won the first, great battle for Freedom and 'Righteousness; enemy reinfoi'cemeuts might have turned the scale. Th-ev art" those soldiers who, tired, even exhausted!, through that awful retreat from Antwerp, have been •j.sked to hold three days on the river Yser. -waiting for French help. and who held unbrokeni for .twelve day*?. They are those who first experienced the disastrous and at the time unexpected use of poisonous gas\ Many of them were blind.ed for ever or dangerously struck, and their l"-ure will tatke nerhaps several years. And thev are those who fought with such a gallantry against a foe .tenfold superior in numbers. during the now proceeding great bat-tie that they -succeeded ill ta.kiifg many prisoners, thu:M de-ervine; the"*arm congratulations of 'the British Press. Perhaps that through the great instance which .separates your country from the battle-fields, the sufferings of our soldiers are not quite realised by the people at home. But still those -offerings are borne for a cause dear 'o you, a cause which is yours' as well 3s ours. What would' have happened to the 'civilisation-, <of the world, if '■'ermany while in her original strength, had succeeded in crushing the British i "d. French Armies at the very be-"'nnin-g of the war, and , had then been >hle to turn all her power agnirrtsit any ''ibpyty-lovmg country? Xo-d'ay, Praii*--ian militarism, though still powerful, ''pars in itself its £jerm of death. It -:11 be of immortal glory for our little

"my to have stnic kthe fira* blow, of •nirse. for the sake, of our own country ivp-t. hut also for the whole world's ake Tt. is therefore a debt of gratiSude tk??.t the world has contracted towards our heroic .soklierei. and we feel -ure,' Mr Editor, that in the appeal we '■" ope you will be so kind l aV to issue, •au will put this point in light in .the "•lost suitable way for your readteite. May we also lay stress upon a seconidi.ry point? You know no doubt by experience that to be a success, every iswspaper's subscription must mention "•ihe names and donations of subscribers?, in ord'er to stimulate. the generous feelinigs of the readers. We deem, therecore, . insufficient to indicate the headquarters of the Fund for the sending ■>f money. We thinik that it is to the -laperifcself that the must Srst be forwarded, same being sent to ■is later on, when the subscription will be closed, for we intend, to thank every subscriber individually. We are raining our requirements at £200.000. half *o be used as endowment and half for uurchasing or building a large hospiceif the kind of the British iOpthalmic Hospital erected near Jerusalem bv the English Order of St. John. Would every worthy paper bring in its ownr by a well-dessijjuedi appeal •o its readers, we are confident that Mie above amount would soon be collected. With our warmest aud anticipated thanks, we i-emainw Sir, Yours resrpectfully, For the Committee. DR SMETS-MONID'BR, Vice-Chairman and Hon:. Sec.