The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1914-10-15
Antwerp.
From the Memphis commercial-Appeal. !

From the Memphis Commercial-Appeall
If the English and the French permit
Antwerp to fall before the German besieg-
ers, that fact will be overwhelming proof
Of how hard the Germans are pressing the
allies. The northern end of the allied line
in France is at Lille. Lille is not more
than sixty miles from Antwerp.
If England had any more available men,
100000 of them surely could land at o.
tend and march to the relief of Antwerp.
The strategy was for the allies to de-
velop their line north as far as Belgium
and let their extreme left rest on Antwerp.
Now it looks as if the Germans are press
ing their lines westward through Belgium,
uniting it with it's extreme northern flank
in France, thereby resting its north right
on Antwerp.
When the Germans poured over into
Belgium and were halted at Liege, the
Belgiums thought and hoped that the
French and English would come if the
city could hold out for week. Then,
after Liege fell, the Belgiums were sure
that their allies would come to their relief
at Namur.
They were certain that between Liege
and Brussels the allies would build wall
of steel. Up to the present time France
and England have let Belgium shift mostly
for itself.
The march of events in Belgium is pa
thetic. Nine-tents of the country is in
the grip of the Germans. Their cities,
towns, villages and farms have been laid
waste. They suffer horrors of war as cruel
as those in the sixth and seventh GEN.
turtles, and yet this war is not of their
l>;pr
with Germany.
Germany Stunned the heavy eastern
Notifications of France by overrunning a
neutral state. The world never saw a
more striking example of intolerance and
bigotry of force.
Surely Antwerp suffered enough when
the profession OF arms became the chief
occupation of men to be spared assault in
this, the beginning of the twentieth CEN
fury.
Men came down from the north, besieged
and captured Antwerp before the year 1000
The busy people of Antwerp were always
full of courage, because they were always
liberty loving.
Along with England, in the thirteenth
century, the Antwerpians had habeas cor
pus, the doctrine of every mans home
being his castle and the right of man to be
judged by his peers.
In the next few centuries Antwerp's COM
merce was worldwide. Always between
Antwerp and between England there have
been close trade relations.
In the sixteenth century the city was
taken by the Spaniards and twice sacked
and pillaged.
In the beginning of modern history the
people were industrious and progressive.
They loved liberty and therefore they de-
Tended their liberty until the last.
They had an eye for the beautiful, and
in the golden age of Gothic architecture
they built a cathedral which is one of the
wonders of Europe, and in this cathedral
is Rubens' descent of the Cross and
other world-famous paintings.
Musicians, poets and painters always
found welcome in Antwerp. It was the
home of Rubens, and the atmosphere that
surrounds the works of this genius is the
spirit of Antwerp to- day.
II it does fall and is torn to pieces its
fate will only serve to show that the soul
of Atilla, "The Scourge of God," is
to- day the soul of another man.