Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-01-10
NalgG Eey2ua. Mdw
ny GEORGE BERNARD SHAW

IL / were TO say to a Belgian that
fine worGs butter no parsnips, he
would wonder what on earth I meant
That Is perhaps fortunate: for II ever
q nation had reason to remind the
world OF that saying. IL Is the Belgian
nation at the present crisis.
l ain afraid many OF us have rather
complement impression that France
and Britain came IN u very handsome
way TO the rescue of brave little Bel
GUM. and that II is Il noble trait in
their character that they have upheld
the treaty of London IS29) these sew
cnty-fve years for Belgium's benefit.
w the King OF the BclGians is far
chivalrous 10 let fall one word In
fiticIsm Of that attitude. Therefore.
las gentlemen, we who are on the Fran
co-BrItish side must criticize IL our
selves. We must confess that though
Belgium has saved us, we have not
saved Belg ium At the battle OF Water
loo the British lay down snugly behind
the ridge, and placed the Belgian bri-
Gadc on tho exposed forward slope OF IL
to be hammered to pieces by the ter
ribic aannonade and then cut TO rib.
bons by the charges that routed our
own artillery. And some English writ
ers were not ashamed TO disparagc Bel
gian valor because the British squares
stood up to the charges at the top of
the hill when the uncovered Belgian
brigade fell before hail of cannon
balls. No Belgian then complained of
being allotted the post Of danger: II
was his right on his own soil TO claim
It.
BELGIUM IS FOUND
AT POST OF DANGER
History repeated itself at Liege.
There too. Belgium was at the post
Of danger. There she held the bridge
for the whole west of Europe against
Prussia, and never once looked back
10 ask. Where arc tho French and
British?" Where, indeed? Alas, II was
a long way to Tipperary; and what
were Napolcon's twelve FOUNDERS and
twenty-four FOUNDERS to the Kaiscrs
howitzers that from impossible dis
,ances could blow whole forts into the
sky? Well, all the generals of Britain
and France have since come into the
field; but none of them can yet ella i'm ,
the laurel of the mathematician OF
Lege who called his admiring captors
TO witness that he had been taken alive
only because he had been taken in
sensible To his magnificent warrior
ship even the Russians took off their
hats. Nothing that we can say about
IL can pay our debt TO il.
For 1 repeat, France and Britain did
not save Belgium. Licgc fell Brussels
has fallen, and Antwerp, and Client,
and Bruges. and Ostcnd. Louvain has
been sacked more scientifically than
Ismail by Suwarrow; towns like Ter
monde have had the fiery chariot OF
war driven to and fro over their corpscs
until they are thrice slain. like the
dead in a LARS story: and the Belgian
government has been driven out into
n foreign land. What worse could
have happened to Belgium had she
stood alone against the world? Well
may her enemy laugh to scorn "thc
scrap Of paper that guaranteed her
integrity. 1t will be time enough for
Belgium's friends 10 rcvile Germany
for that when they have made the
scrap If paper good
For they must mako 1t good. II
they do not drive the Germans out
of Belgium and offer their armies as
the guard of honor to the most popu-
lar monarch in Europe on the day
when he takes his seat again on his
throne in Brussels, they Will be either |
dishonored or beaten. If they sign n |
treaty leaving the Kaiser one square |
inch of Belgian soil except under such |
compulsion as would force them to !
sive him Portsmouth, Belfort and Yer
dun as we'll they may well tear
up their flags and live by letting lodg- |
ings to foreigners and cheating them |
over their bills.
Most unfortunately for Belgium, it
has been almost impossible hitherto |
ITO procure publicity FOR an adequate |
acknowledgment of this obligation or
u fair statement of her case. The |
horror inspired by war is so great that |
all the bclligcrcnt nations began by |
insisting that they were engaged i'm n !
defensive war. They would have 1t
that they were the innocent victims |
of an unscrupulous and unexpected ag-
erosion. Germany protests that she |
liz defending her frontiers from a con- |
spiracy of France with Russia and |
England to destroy her. England until |
very recently claimed that she had |
1n1u N lf nn1 sfyny 1-n
of perpetual peace by Gcrmany's vio- |
lation Of the treaty of 1899, guarantee
ing the neutrality of Belgium. Aus
tria was avenging an assassination. |
Russia was rescung a gallant little |
Slavonic nation from Teutonic i'm |
pcrialism. Franco was wrestling with |
q wanton invasion. None OF them |
would admit any responsibility for tho
war. Consequently mono Of them
Continued on Last PaGe.)