Author:

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2018-01-29

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9780484877107

Excerpt from A Tribute to the Belgian King and People From Representative Men and Women Throughout the WorldIntroduction TO king albert's book the immediate object of this Book is to offer, in the names and by the pens of a large group of the representative men and women of the civilised countries, a tribute of admiration to Belgium, on the heroic and ever-memorable share she has taken in the war which now convulses Europe, and at the same time to invoke the world's sympathy, its help and its prayers for the gallant little nation in the vast sorrow of its present condition. With nothing to gain by taking up arms, with no territory to annex, no commerce to capture, no injury to revenge, having neither part nor lot in any European quarrel, desiring only to be left alone that she might pursue the arts of peace, Belgium found herself suddenly confronted by the choice of allowing her soil to be invaded by a powerful neighbour on his way to destroy his enemy, or of protecting her independence as a separate nation by the whole strength of her armed resistance. Although one of the smallest and least aggressive of the countries of Europe, the daughter among the nations, Belgium, true to her lofty political idealism, chose the latter part, not counting the cost, only realising that a ruthless crime was about to be committed, and drawing the sword, after the sword had been drawn against her, in defence of her honour, her national integrity, her right to be mistress in her own house, her historic heritage of freedom and all the spiritual traditions of her race. In doing this during the past fateful months, Belgium has fought not only her own battle but also the battle of France, the battle of Great Britain and the battle of Freedom. By her brave stand against incalculable odds she has added a new and inspiring chapter to the heroic annals of humanity and perhaps lifted to a higher level the future destinies of man. But she has paid a terrible penalty. Her beautiful country has been laid waste. Her harvests, which were ripe for the gathering, have been trodden into the earth. Her villages have been given up to the flames. Her cities have been made to resound with the screams of shell and the cries of slaughter. Her historic monu ments, venerable with the associations of learning and piety, have been razed to the ground. And, above all, Death has taken an awful toll of her manhood on the field of battle, while multitudes of her surviving people, the very young, the very old, the very weak, the very poor, all innocent and all helpless, have been driven forth on the verge of winter from their smoking, blackened and outraged homes into an exile in foreign lands from which there can hardly be any hope that many of them will return. No more woeful and terrible spectacle of a country in utter desolation ever came from earthquake, eruption or other convulsion of Nature in her wrath than has been produced in Belgium by the hand of man. A complete nation is in ruin. A whole country is in ashes. An entire people are destitute, homeless and on the roads. A little Kingdom, dedicated to liberty, has kept the pledge and died for it. As Belgium has thus become the martyr nation of the war, however great the sacrifices which the other Allies have had to make, it seems reasonable to expectthat in view of her limitless and undeserved sufferings, the deepest feelings of human nature will be stirred to an infinite pity, and that in the present dark hour of her utmost need the world will see that it is not more important that the material succour of food and clothing should be found for the bodies of her stricken and impoverished people than that comfort and solace should be offered to their souls. Therefore this book is published as the united voice of the world's gratitude to Belgium for her unexampled heroism, and of its sympathy with her in the heavy price she has to pay in discharging the sublime duty which Destiny laid upon her of fighting by o...