C.—Incitements to Disunion.
Divide et impera ("Divide in order to rule") is a maxim which has largely inspired the Germans in their relations with the Belgians. They therefore do their utmost to divide the nation from its King, to excite the Belgians one against another, and finally to kindle discord between our Allies and ourselves.
We have just seen by what unjustifiable methods, after promising to respect our patriotism, they proceeded systematically (as they do all things) to thwart our sentiments of fidelity to our King and our nationality. Not content with opposing—sometimes openly, sometimes with hypocrisy—all our loyalist manifestations, they endeavour to embroil us with our Sovereigns.
Incitements to Disloyalty.
While they accuse the Belgian nation of having sold itself to the Triple Entente, they hold the King personally responsible for this "conspiracy." Having become the "valet" or the "slave" of England, the Sovereign could not accept the friendly hand which the Kaiser tendered him on two occasions—the 2nd and the 9th of August, 1914.
At Antwerp the Germans alone appear to have heard the absurd declaration, that he vowed to "die in the city with his last soldiers." Then he betrays his army and "takes to flight, amid the maledictions of his subjects," deserting them for those that seduced him.
Then we have him on the Yser, the melancholy king "abandoned by God." He would ask nothing better than to conclude peace. But England holds him still in her toils, and prevents him from accomplishing this wise project. It is Le Réveil, that peculiarly truthful newspaper of Düsseldorf, which reveals this sinister exploit of Albion. The Hamburger Nachrichten receives the same report from Brussels.
King Albert wishes to make Peace.
Hamburg, 14th November, 1914.
From Brussels the Hamburger Nachrichten hears from a very reliable source that the report is confirmed which states that serious differences exist between Belgium and England—that is, that all personal relations are interrupted between King Albert and the British Staff.
The King desires an understanding with Germany, which Great Britain is endeavouring by all means to prevent.
(Vossische Zeitung, 15th November, 1914.)
The propagandist pamphlet Lüttich is less severe to our Sovereign, since it invokes, as an extenuating circumstance, his "blindness, which verges on stupidity." Incommensurable pride or imbecility—such are the characteristics of King Albert! Do these paladins of tact and delicacy show any greater respect for our Queen? Be sure they do not! An article on King Albert and the Triple Entente, in the Deutsche Soldatenpost of the 10th October, 1914, a newspaper intended both for the troops and the Belgian public, states: "From the outset the Queen was initiated into the King's plans. She has not uttered a single word of reproach for the horrible brutalities of which the principal victims were innocent young German girls in Brussels and Antwerp."
Well, we know that none of these "proofs" have shaken our fidelity. Despite all prohibitions, despite all the fines imposed, thousands of copies of the portraits of the King in the midst of his troops, and of the Queen, our dear little Queen, tending the wounded, are sold every day of the year. The patriotism of the Belgians is certainly incurable!
The Walloons incited against the Flemings.
So the Germans sought a new device. As they could not cause disunion between the people and the Sovereign, they tried to sow dissension between the citizens themselves, by envenoming the problem of language and reviving political rancour.
At first they exploited, in the most virulent manner, the Flemish-Walloon conflict. As in all countries in which several tongues are spoken, there is naturally in Belgium a struggle between the Flemings, who speak a Germanic language, and occupy the northern portion of the country, and the Walloons, who speak a Latin tongue, and occupy the southern provinces. But this conflict, however lively it may have been, has never touched the foundations of our national conscience, and we have always felt ourselves Belgians before everything.
At the outset, confesses Herr Kurd von Strantz, the Germans did not realize what profit they might derive from the antagonism of races in Belgium: an antagonism which they believed to be profound, but which was only skin-deep. Since the month of August, however, they have been trying to make up for lost time; they no longer lose a single occasion to excite the Flemings against the Walloons, and in particular they seek to make the latter believe that the Flemings already entertain feelings of sympathy towards their executioners.
Only two months after the occupation of the capital the Germans, organizing their conquest, attempted to win over the Flemings by feigning to espouse their grievances and by exploiting their racial relationship, in order to divide them from their Walloon fellow-citizens. Suddenly, in the official communiqués, Flemish took the place until then occupied by French, and the German newspapers began to display a touching sympathy for their "Flemish brothers," and for their country and their art. We did not even need to read the article published by the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant on the 11th December (which was seen by M. Paul Hymans), in order to divine, at the root of these sudden and simultaneous manifestations, the orders issued by the German official circles.
For it was not thus during the first weeks of the occupation. Then correspondence was permissible only in French and German: Flemish was not tolerated. The official notices were printed in French and German only. Then, on the 25th August, the Government placards appeared in German, French, and Flemish. Finally, on the 1st October, Flemish had the advantage of French. Although from the standpoint of Belgian law the latter measure was legal in the Brussels district, the by-law ordering the cinema-houses to publish their programmes in Flemish as well as French was not so; very often the manager is innocent of Flemish, and the Flemish programme is spelt in the most fantastic manner. Absolutely illegal, too, is the by-law compelling shopkeepers in Bruges and Ostend to replace their French shop-signs by signs written in Flemish. Still more galling was the outcome of a certain trial at Tongres. Some young men, Flemings and Walloons, were accused of the same offence. They were inscribed on separate lists, according to their origin. The Walloons were condemned to severer penalties than those inflicted on the Flemings. One sees the double object here: to mollify the Flemings and to make the Walloons suspicious of them. We may compare this with the fact that the majority of the Flemish civil prisoners have been repatriated, while the Walloons are still in Germany.
However, the daily task of insinuation and persuasion is undertaken by the German press. In the first place it lays stress on the great affinity of character, historical past, origin, and language between the Germans and the Flemings (Düss. Gen. Anz., 4th December, 1914). The Germans must humour the Flemings and make friends with them. One reason why it would not do to treat Belgium more harshly (as had been demanded) is that there is a racial relationship between a portion of the population and that of Germany. There is no Belgian people (Voss. Zeit., 1st March, 1915). Much is made of the distant echoes of the linguistic quarrel (Voss. Zeit., 1st March, 1915; K.Z., 18th March, 1915; Frankf. Zeit., 24th March, 1915; Osswald, Zur Belgischen Frage).—The ill-feeling of the Flemings toward the "purely Walloon" Belgian Government must be fomented (Frankf. Zeit., 24th March, 1915), and also their dislike of the Belgian press printed in the French tongue, both Government and press having been long ago won over to France and the hatred of Germany (K.Z., 15th November, 1915). La Croix Rouge is published in three languages, Flemish preceding even German, and the French occupying only the extreme right of the sheet; each number contains only one feuilleton, and that is a novel in Flemish. A little Flemish conversation manual—Vlamischer Sprachführer—is published in Düsseldorf for the use of Germans, and of soldiers in particular. In order to compromise the Flemish, the Germans pretend that well-known Flemings are already working hand-in-hand with the German administration. It is even stated that a pro-German group of young Flemings exists (K.Z., 18th March, 1915). In verse translations, the Dietsch or duitsch of the Flemish poets is rendered by "German," whereas these words signify simply the Flemish or Dutch language (Lüttich, p. 127; Köln. Volksz., 25th January, 1915). Herr Karl Lamprecht, the well-known historian, who knew that his translation was dishonest, was one of those who translated dietsch by "German" (Die Woche, No. 12, 1915). Better still, in the same article Herr Lamprecht feigns to believe that by the expression Noord en Zuid Emmanuel Hiel intended to denote the Germans and the Flemings; whereas he is speaking—and no confusion is possible—of the Dutch (Noord-Nederlanders), and the Flemings (Zuid-Nederlanders).
A short story by M. Maurice Sabbe was published in the Berliner Tageblatt on the 25th December, 1914, with an introduction which was peculiarly compromising to the author's patriotic sentiments. His extremely plain reply was as follows:—
How Fräulein Dämchen was Buried.
(Reproduction prohibited.)
By Maurice Sabbe,
Professor of Germanic Languages at the Malines Athenæum.(The sketch was preceded by a brief introduction, which we quote.)
The sketch we publish here deserves particular attention. Maurice Sabbe is a scholar and a Flemish writer of repute, who, during the bombardment of Malines, fled into Holland. Sabbe knows Germany, thanks to a long residence at Weimar, and the military situation has not succeeded in destroying his feeling, which is exempt from prejudice, for Germany and Germanism. He expresses his opinion with sympathy in the lectures which he is delivering in Holland, and, in the same spirit, he has addressed, through his translator, to a German journal, the Berliner Tageblatt, this short story of life in Malines, which describes an episode of the war: the first contribution which, coming from Belgium and written by a Belgian during the war, has been destined to find publication in Germany.
The Editor.
(Berliner Tageblatt, 25th December, 1914.)Bussum, 28th December, 1914.
Sir,
I beg your hospitality for the following lines:—
In the November number (1914) of the review Onze Eeuw I published a literary version of an episode of the bombardment of Malines. A Dutch writer, M. E. Meier, requested my permission for the publication of a translation of this sketch in a German newspaper. I granted it him without hesitation and even with a certain pleasure. My narrative emphasized the kindness and magnanimity of my countrymen towards their enemies, and, at a moment when the German press was accusing every Belgian of being a franc-tireur, I thought myself fortunate to be able to place a contrary example beneath the eyes of the German public.
I left the choice of newspaper to my translator, and the translation appeared in the Christmas number of the Berliner Tageblatt.
But here the plot thickens. Unknown to me, the editors of the Berliner Tageblatt prefaced my story with a notice highly compromising to me. It asserts, in short, that I have German sympathies which the war has not succeeded in shaking, that I am giving lectures in Holland in order to express these feelings, and that I wrote my short story especially to be published in Germany!
The last assertion is already contradicted by the fact that the sketch in question is a translation of the text which appeared in a French review two months ago. As for my sentiments, they are what they have always been, those of a Belgian unshakably attached to his unhappy country and his noble King. These, and no others, are the feelings I have expressed in my lectures in Holland. My numerous auditors can testify to this.
You will give me a sensible pleasure, sir, by inserting this letter, thus assisting me to avoid any misunderstanding.
Accept, etc.,
Maurice Sabbe.
This is only a detail in the conflict we are sustaining against invading Germany, but it is a very instructive detail, because it shows that before accepting any assertion on the part of our oppressors we must always ask ourselves how much of it is a lie. The same question arises à propos of a letter written by a Fleming living at Liége and speaking "in the name of the Flemish population of Liége," which aspires to live under the German domination. By the singularities of his syntax and his orthography this Fleming from Liége can only be of German origin (Düss. Gen. Anz., 11th February, 1915).
Once there was even a kind word spoken for the Walloons, vindicating the dignity of their dialects, which are by no means dependent on the French. (It is true this bold assertion comes from Herr Kurd von Strantz.)
Inciting the People against the Belgian Government.
On the other hand, they hope to detach the Belgian people from its Government. Especially during the siege of Antwerp did they heap effort on effort of this kind. It was then greatly to their interest to send as many troops as possible to the Western front (so says Lieutenant-General Imhoff, in his introduction to Delbrück's Der Deutsche Krieg in Feldpostbriefen, pp. 11 to 13). Now hundreds of thousands of their men were delayed in Belgium by the siege of Antwerp. At all costs these had to be liberated in order to lengthen the battle-front towards the north-west and the sea. Towards the middle of September they did not hesitate for the third time to make peace proposals to the Government—proposals which were rejected with disdain, as were the previous ones (pp. [50]-[1]). After this repeated diplomatic failure they attempted trickery, a speciality in which they shine to more advantage. As they could not succeed in directly influencing the leaders of Belgian politics, they endeavoured to act on them indirectly through the people. A newspaper was established, L'Écho de Bruxelles, "for the general welfare," to which a certain "Aristide" contributed. He professed to be an occasional correspondent, although his articles were really the pretext for issuing the paper.
In the first number he published a detestable letter in which he called upon the Belgian Government at all costs to make peace with Germany. This proceeding was so improper that the N.R.C. even, while reprinting the letter, could not refrain from criticizing it harshly. In No. 4, which appeared on the 4th October, 1914, and which was entirely devoted to an attempt to cause mental anxiety in the people of Brussels, he condemned as unpatriotic "the man who does not rise up to cry to the people of Antwerp that they must cease from this sanguinary, disastrous, and useless struggle for a cause which is not ours." The same accusation was made against "those divisional Generals whom the laurels of General Leman will not allow to sleep." "The laurels of General Leman, great God!" he adds, and thereupon he moves heaven and earth to prove the notorious insufficiency of the valiant defender of Liége. No, he says, "the true and only heroes of this melancholy war in Belgium are those who ... have proposed to treat with Germany. These, Ministers and generals, have given proof of courage and wisdom, exposing themselves to the vengeance of a mob over-excited by a system of lies and delusions.... And the public will kick out these French journalists and these hawkers of French journals who for years have whispered hatred of neighbour against neighbour, the latter being the best customer Belgium possessed." We have cited only the more scandalous portions of this article, ignoring the merely ignoble passages.
While "Aristide" was endeavouring to influence the civil population, aeroplanes were distributing to the Belgian troops in Antwerp circulars, printed in French, and in another language which had a certain resemblance to Flemish; and these strange handbills informed the Belgian soldiers that they had been deceived by their officers and by the authorities; that the Belgian army was fighting for the British and the Russians, etc.
Declaration.
Brussels, 1st October, 1914.
Belgian Soldiers,
Your blood and your whole salvation, you are not giving them at all to your beloved country; you are only serving the interest of Russia, a country which desires only to increase its already enormous power, and, above all, the interest of England, whose perfidious avarice has given birth to this cruel and unheard-of war. From the commencement your newspapers, paid from French and English sources, have never ceased to deceive you, telling you nothing but lies as to the causes of the war and the battles which have followed, and this is still done every day. Consider one of your army orders which affords fresh proof of this. This is what it contains:
"You have been told that your comrades who are prisoners in Germany have been forced to march against Russia beside our soldiers." Yet your common sense must tell you that this would be a measure quite impossible to execute. When the day comes when your comrades who are prisoners return from our country and tell you with how much benevolence they have been treated, their words will make you blush for what your newspapers, and your officers, have dared to tell you, in order to deceive you in so incredible a manner. Every day of resistance makes you sustain irreparable losses, while with the capitulation of Antwerp you will be free from all anxiety. Belgian soldiers, you have fought enough for the interests of the princes of Russia, for those of the capitalists of perfidious Albion. Your situation is one to despair of. Germany, who is fighting only for her life, has destroyed two Russian armies. To-day no Russian is to be found in our country. In France our troops are about to overcome the last resistance. If you wish to rejoin your wives and children, if you wish to return to your work, in a word, if you wish for peace, put an end to this useless struggle, which is ending only in your ruin. Then you will quickly enjoy all the benefits of a favourable and perfect peace.
von Beseler,
Commander-in-Chief of the Besieging Army.
When examples of this circular were brought to us in Brabant, we at first thought it was a hoax. But we had to submit to the evidence; the idea of this proclamation had really been conceived and executed by the Germans.
After the fall of Antwerp the campaign continued. Was it not necessary to prevent the Belgians from going to join the Allies in the direction of Flanders? With this end in view, the Germans attempted to throw suspicion on the conduct of the Belgian military authorities at the time of the taking of Antwerp. It was again the Écho de Bruxelles which was entrusted with the publication of the first false news. Shortly after the accomplishment of this pleasant task, the Écho de Bruxelles disappeared for ever: doubtless it was no longer required.
As for the defamatory libels which were uttered in November and December, in order to incriminate the conduct of the civil authorities of Antwerp, it is not yet known by whom they were instigated, worded, and distributed; but we have a reasonable conviction that the Germans were not unaware of them. In any case they did what they could to profit by this disagreement, and they also did their best—in vain—to revive the question when the Belgians, by common accord, had settled their differences.
But the Germans had not yet given up the idea of fomenting conflicts among us. In an article entitled Belgische Umstimmigkeiten (Change of Temper in Belgium) the Kölnische Zeitung of the 22nd November, 1914 (2nd morning edition) referred to a telegram from Berlin which stated that news received from Breda (according to the Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger) asserted that seven Belgian officers had deserted and had there been interned. To verify this was very difficult, the more so as in November 1914 no postal or telegraphic communication was permitted between Belgium and Holland. The rest of the article informed us that on the 5th November—a fortnight before their desertion—these officers had received from King Albert the Cross of the Order of Leopold: they had thus waited to desert until they had been made the object of special distinction, which is at least peculiar. And then, setting out from the Yser, they crossed the German lines to be interned at Breda, in Northern Brabant. Strange! strange! And all this in order to inform us that these officers, disheartened by the servile and treacherous attitude of the King, refused again to send their men into battle, for the sake of the English.
Inciting the Belgians against the English.
It will be remarked that the English always receive a good share of the venomous slime which the Germans, as M. Spitteler says, spit upon the King, the Government, and the Belgian authorities. "England—there is the enemy!" says the Hassgesang Gegen England—i.e. Song of Hatred of England, the work of Herr Ernst Lissauer.
We love but with a single love,
We hate but with a single hate;
We have one foe, and one alone—
England!
It would be tedious to mention all the innumerable articles intended to arouse in us a hatred of England. We may mention the opinion of Dr. Hedin, reproduced on the placard of the 9th November, 1914; the proclamation of Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, inserted, for our edification, in Le Réveil (29th October), as well as the declaration imputed to the Flemish "poet" Cyrid Buysse (placard of 12th December, 1914). But these lovers of truth forgot to announce, a few days later, that M. Buysse denied the truth of the German declaration. A mere instance of forgetfulness, no doubt, unless the Amsterdam-Copenhagen-Berlin-Brussels route, which was covered by the so-called declaration, had suddenly grown too long for truth to travel by.