Semi-weekly herald., 1914-08-17

q garrison of his troops at Bruges.j
The, Belgian burghers rose one night
il. Tie July of 1902 and in the morn
ing, Philips garrison were dead. They
called it "the Bruges mathis and
made grim songs about it. Next day
those Beigians sailed out to meet the
Court of Artois and his $1,000 French
and on the fields of Courtrai there fell
q battle grim and great, remembered
by Frenchmen for three centuries.
Artois was therer say the chron-
iclers, with seventy-five French no.
bles and 100 knights and 5000 squires
ant 10000 met at arms. The fields of
Courtrai were "whits with marguer-
ite daisies" in the morning when the
fight began, but when the sun went
down the daisies were trnmpled and
black with the drying blood of the
Artois army. Those burghers had no
great leaders then; they were mer-
chants and craftsmen all. They had
no cavalry. They had no guns. They
used their long swords, fighting man
to man; and man TO man they won
when the odds were vast against
them. They called it, with touch
or artistry, "the Battle of the Golden
Spurs"
That did not end the rule of France
for France had thousands tc rheir
tens. but it did end her tyranny ard
it helped them later on to win new
charter from the Duke of Burgundy
and made Spain respect them whel
Spain was the bully of Europe.
In the seventeenth century they
passed, still fighting for Their rights,
from Spain to Austria. In 1889 their
stubborn insistence upon their "l:b-
critics" so angered the kaiser. Joseph,
that he forfeited their constitution.
They revolted and formed. iii 1870. the
United Kingdom of Belgium. But
Austria conquered them again. Then
France took them from Austria, and
when Napoleon was made prisoner
for the first time the congress OF
Vienna gave Belgium to Ho'' and, and
under Holland they remained, pro-
testing always, for fifteen years.
In 1881 they revolted from the rule
of Holland and met her arms with
arms of theirs. They fought outnum-
bered, but they kept on fighting. The
Dutch attacked the city gates of Brus-
cnlc rNhax, ,fC ~ &c, b,l
and grape. They charged with solid
columns. Eighteen hundred of them,
moving in one body, made their way
into the center of the city. Then, on
a sudden, all about them were the
Belgians, with Charlier of Liege fir
ing into them with his cannons at
point blank range. And of him the
Belgians have made many songs. The
Dutch were in Brussels, but getting
out was another matter. So, after
four days of street fighting and loss
of fifteen hundred dead, the Dutch
retreated in the night and in the
square now called "the Place of Mar
tyrs," the Belgians buried 600 of their
heroes and reaffirmed the Belgian
constitution.
They elected Leopold of SaxonT
their king in July of 1880, and King
William of Holland made ready for
another fight against them. He sent
10000 Dutch troops in four divisions
with seventy-two guns, and sent his
gunboats up the Scheldt. There fol-
lowed that famous "ten days cam
paign" where Mellon, the Belgian
general, with 800 men, kept 10000
Dutch troops at bay, and, next day,
being reinforced, and commanding
1900 Belgians, held his own against
$4,000 of the enemy until he could re-
treat in order and France, d friend
now, could come to help him, and Bel
gium won that final independence
which France and England guaran-
teed should be perpetual.
So, craftsmen and burghers, farm
ers and miners, devoted to the arts
of peace and caring nothing for the
glories of war, the Belgians stand to-
day as they have stood for 5000
years; quiet folk who seek no en-
pire and take to fighting. only when
they must fight for liberty. And then
they fight with will.
-HE@@
A guest at Denver hotel lost
L Al