The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-20
Fete Rationale of
 Belgium a Sad
 Festival This Year

Just a year ago tonight all Bel gium was bedecked with flags and the happy people of that prosperous kingdom, on the eve of the Fete Ma tiona1e. began the celebration of their great patriotic festival commemorate ing the anniversary of Belgian inde- pendence. The twenty first of July is one of the two chief ''fetes lega1es' of Belgium, the other being the eighth of April, the birthday of King All bert, which is observed as the "Fete du Roi. This year the Fete Ma
 tionale will find Belgium plunged into the depths of misery, millions of her people in exile. and nearly all
 mourning relatives and friends who have been sacrificed on the altar of the war god. Even harder for the Belgian spirit to bear is the thought that nearly all of their beloved coun- try is now in the possession of the cumstances- the Belgian independence which the Fete Rationale c6mmemo- rates has become but a menory-and an inspiring hope.
 The twenty-first of July last year found Belgium contented and pros porous, and the Fete Rationale was an outpouring of true national thanksgiving and patriotic enthus: iasm. The rejoicing of the little na- tfon was very quickly turned to grief, however, for close on the heels of the celebration came Austria's demarche such grave and terrible results for Belgium. Two weeks after the 1914 celebration the brave sons of Bell gium were gathering at Liege to de- fend that city against the powerful enemy which was battering at her gates valiant1y they fought against overwhe Inning odds, but they were soon swamped by the overwhelming tide of Teuton n1ilitarism which swept over and past them Brus- sels and Antwerp in turn fell before the enemy, and the Belgian govern ment ceased to exist on Belgian soil.
 Belgian independence dates from July 21, 1881, when the new govern Tnent was set up in Brussels and Leopold. Prince of Saxe-Coburg, was crowned as the first king of the Bel gians. After centuries under the Spanish French and Austrian fdomi- nation, Belgium was united about century ago to. Holland, under the title of kingdom of the Netherlands. The attempt of the Dutch to abolish cited an opposition which resulted in 1880 in the outbreak of a. revolution. The European powers then interfered and, to stop the spi1Iing of blood, de- creed the separation of the provinces
 Thus freed of Dutch domination, me ssNaL1OAdI9COnSTeSS or B01S1O4H s0C about the task of launching the new nation. The crown was first offered to the Duke of Nemours, but his father, the French king, Louis Philippe, forced him to decline it. On the recommendation of England. the Belg1ans then offered the throne to Leopold, Prince of saxe-Coburg, who accepted to
 acceeded to it under the title of Leo pold I. Soon after his coronation the crown was guaranteed to him. and the neutrality and independence of Belgium was upheld by the4 treaty of London. In which the. powers of Flu rope. Prasadan among them, solemnly concurred
 The reign of the first Leopold was a prosperous period of thirty-four years, during which the arts and commerce f1ourished as never before. The crown passed half a century ago to Leopold H. whose government of the Congo and private immortality brought him into disrepute. He died in 1908 and was succeeded by his nephew, Albert, now an exile.