New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-11-02
ENGLAND AND BELGIUM
The Obligations Of Honor Were Full
filed by Both Countries.

10 The Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir; / first wish 70 compliment sou
end other members Of the grca,
American press for your courageous
and manly attitude on the psn-bu-
Iopean war and TO say that We in
Canada fully appreciate that II b. a.
some pccurisry loss 20 you % stand
out for the right, but only take this
as one more evidence that when u
comes 20 question Of right or dol
lars right is cspoused by you every
time. 10 is only by press OF tni5
character that a republic con long re-
main great.
a letter in the Peoples Forum from
T. ". s. entitled England Should
paw: She Has Used Belgium az a
shield and Should BE the One~to SUI
fer / should like % know by wha,
extraordinary mental process the
writer OF this epistle has come 70 this
conclusion; what motives lmpel him
10 make such an extraordinary and
preposterous plea? IL seems almost
beyond the level Of that intelligence
which has been diffused b. your great
American culture, culture when mas
produced an engineer capaDle Oh per
forming such q remarkable ieat OF Ell
gineering as the Panama canal ("
culture which has produced sucn en- 3.
nent scientists as grappled win anu
conquered the deadly tropical diseases
in the great Canal Zone, and, there
fore. | conclude that the writer D. tho
product of that other soi-disang
culture which has laid Louyain low.
To the penner Of those sentence
should point out that Belgium, ilIc
Switzerland and Holland, vas sigma b
tory 10 the Hague Convention, ano
was bound By all the obligations o.
honor and truth 20 defend her ncu-
trality 20 her last breath. Moreover,
that neutrality had been sanctioned By
two solemn treaties, and PRUSSIA her
self was joint guarsntor with BRIT
ain. Despite this solemn compae,
Prussia had built lines Of strstegic
railways through all unproduetlve ter
ritory right to her frontier, and II wa
an open secret that II she attacked
France Il would be through Belgium
across an open frontier. But the de-
mocracy OF France could not belize C
in such pertidy and had refused 20
tolerate the building Of great fort
resnects Belgium bore the same re'a.
ton 70 France as Canada 10 10
United States, save that on her north .
ern boundary she had greedy ana
avaricious neighbor VINO had long
coveted her ports, as Was noted ~ the
late L. Price Collier IN his book on
Germany and the Germans from a.
American point OF view. SO she had
great reason 20 distrust her powerful
and naughty neighbor, who had ~
other times not hesitated 20 attacA
little Denmark and 70 involve austria
IN that campaign IN order that she
might later provoke Austria into The
war that eliminated az Sado"a.
As " the statement that Britain has
been enlarging her navy 50 as 10 rams
as the greatest military" power Oh
the seas, | would remind r. ". :. that
Il was Chatham who made her mis-
tress Of the seas q hundred and MY
years ago, and that 10 power since the
days of Napoleon attempted ~ cha.-
lenge il till Germany began 20 build
her great fleet with vessels that had
only small coaling capacity and were
obviously aimed ~ her slpremac! /.
The Teuton peril became 80 great or
recent years that Britain Was forced
70 transfer her ships from foreign 20
home waters. so as to insure her
safety Never has that navy been used
since the DAYS Of the American Revo-
lutionary War In an unrioht'ous
cause. Little countries like Portugal
Holland, Belgium. Denmark. Norway
and Sweden had nothing 10 fear ZION
that fleet. W. II. SlEN Akl
Toronto, Oct. 20. 1914.