BELGIUM.
April 1—The German Governor General has revived an old law which holds each community responsible for damage done during public disturbances; a Berlin newspaper charges that American passports have been used to smuggle Belgian soldiers from the Yser to Holland and thence to the Belgian Army; the Pope expresses his sympathy for Belgium's woes to the new Belgian Minister to the Vatican.
April 3—Officials of the Belgian Public Works Department resign when ordered by the German administration to direct construction of roads designed for strategic purposes.
April 5—Gifford Pinchot, who has been superintending relief work for Northern France, has been expelled from Belgium by order of the German Governor General; the reason is that Mr. Pinchot's sister is the wife of Sir Alan Johnstone, British Minister at The Hague, with whom Mr. Pinchot stayed on his way to Belgium; Prince Leopold, elder son of King Albert, 13-1/2 years old, joins the line regiment famous for its defense of Dixmude.
April 6—Cardinal Gasparri, Papal Secretary of State, sends a letter to Cardinal Mercier inclosing $5,000 as a personal gift from Pope Benedict to the Belgian sufferers from the war; the letter expresses the Pope's love and pity.
April 8—President Wilson cables greetings to King Albert on his birthday.
April 13—The German Governor General orders establishment of a credit bank which will advance money on the requisition bills given in payment for goods seized by the authorities.
April 15—It is reported from Rome that the German Embassy there has asked the Belgian Government, through the Belgian Legation to the Quirinal, whether, in event of the German armies evacuating Belgian territory, Belgium would remain neutral during the remainder of the war.
April 17—The German Governor General has ordered the dissolution of the Belgian Red Cross Society, because, it is stated, the managing committee refused to participate in carrying out a systematic plan for overcoming the present distress in Belgium.
April 24—A memorial addressed to President Wilson, signed by 40,000 Belgian refugees now in Holland, expressing gratitude for the aid which the United States has extended to the Belgian war sufferers, is mailed to Washington.