THE New Zealand Herald. The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1918. BELGIUM DELIVERED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17012, 20 November 1918, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald. The New Zealand Herald. AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1918. BELGIUM DELIVERED.

Belgium, emancipated at last by the heroism that rallied quickly about her magnificent withstanding of the brutal German onrush in the first days of the war, now casts out the invader. The last German soldier has left Brussels. Before many days have passed, King Albert will have made his triumphal entry into his redeemed capital, and the Belgian Houses of Parliament will have resumed the management of their country's affairs. Belgium's recompense will ere long begin. The foul tragedy of which she was the victim" can never be forgotten, however, no matter how exacting may be the expiation forced on its perpetrator. Learned disquisitions have been written, on Germany's disregard of the neutrality of Belgium, and the pages of text-writers on international law have been ransacked for arguments on both sides of the controversy. But the question is really simple. Five great Powers guaranteed the permanent neutrality of Belgium by their definite and formal pledge. By that pledge they were debarred from going to war against Belgium and from using the territory or resources of that State in any way for tbeir armies. The records of their promiso are unequivocal. Two of the signatories,' Germany and France, renewed the pledge in 1870 and not long after they had signed their reiterated covenant to respect Belgian neutrality, they were fighting each other near the Belgian frontier. A French army was hemmed in by Prussian cannon, and its one way of escape was through Belgian territory. Honouring their country's pledge, the French Emperor, his marshals and a hundred thousand gallant Frenchmen preferred capture by the foe to dishonour of their national name. In 1914, under no "military necessity," save that of a savage design upon the civilised world in general and France in. particular, Germany deliberately violated Belgium's neutrality. To Belgium's protest— protest that the terms of neutrality made obligatory —Germany opposed the monstrous ultimatum that gave Belgium twelve hours to choose between compliance and conflict, between dishonour and devastation. It did not take Belgium twelve hours to choose. In scorn of consequence, she elected to fight for her plighted word.

The German threat was not an empty one. That Belgium knew; and against the trained legions of the invader she could set but the righteous indignation of a people naturally peaceable and almost unarmed. The immediate result of her magnificent courage was inevitable when once the noble choice had been made. She suffered pillage and murder and outrage beyond description. Belgium became a Prussian prison, where the gaolers did, not merely as they pleased, but as the categorical instructions of their superiors bade them do. When the Prussian came, Belgium had nearly eight million inhabitants. 'About three hundred thousand of them perished in battle or massacre or privation, and a host double that number fled to Holland, France, and England. The ruthless invader requisitioned everything he needed for the upkeep of his armies, and what he could not consume he sent into Germany. Since the Belgians are normally an, industrial people, and produce in time of peace less than half of the foodstuffs they need, the result of this, pillage was a famine that, but for the relief afforded by American, charity, would have accounted for those not slain or exiled. Beneath the heel of the Prussian conqueror Belgium has been trodden in the mire. Her finest art treasures, as, in the case of Louvain's wealth of manuscript rarities and literary archives, have been destroyed. Her architectural glories have been demolished. Her homes have been broken up, and her institutions have been swept,away.

But her soul has proved unconquerable. In a spirit of superb sacrifice, she interposed herself between the invader and his prey: while France wondered why his dread oncoming was delayed, Belgium stood in the breach till all her strength was gone. And no sorrow of loss or of exile has destroyed Belgium's hope that some day justice would be done by the hands of the Allies. It will be done. German reparation for Belgian suffering is in the forefront of the Allies' demands, and already plans are completed and costs compiled for the rebuilding of the battered towns and the restoration of the. rained lands. After many days a redeemed Belgium will appear, a country recompensed for its woes, and occupied by a people made stronger and more worthy by sorrows nobly borne. The reentry of its virile and chivalrous King heralds that appearance. Beneath his influence the am regime will have its initial development. So Maeterlinck's eloquent prophecy of more than two years ago comes blithely true for his heroic countrymen. "To-morrow," he said, speaking of a morrow whose tarrying could not weaken either his hope or their endeavour, "to-morrow we shall go back to our homes. We shall not mourn though we find them in ruins. They will rise again more beautiful than of old from the ashes land the shards. We shall know days of heroic poverty; but we have t learnt that poverty is powerless to sadden souls upheld by a great love and nourished by a noble ideal. We shall return with heads erect, regenerated in a regenerated Europe, rejuvenated by a magnificent misfortune, purified by victory and cleansed of the littleness that obscured the virtues which slumbered within us and of which we were not aware. We shall have lost all the goods that perish but come to life again as readily. And in their place we shall have acquired those riches which shall not again perish within our hearts."