Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-10-18
=: The Truth About Belgium 3;
BY BRAND WEiITLOCK

directly challenged those principles
of human liberty that are the eff
foresceuCe Of the culture and the
civilization of Latin and Anglo
Saxon peoples and they provoked
that kind o. resistance to tyranny
which IL English history is exempli-
fed 10y the refusal of Pym and
Hampton to pay the ships money,
and that Of our own forefathers in
the Boston Tea Party when they
refused to be taxed without repre-
SuutatiOn.
The Case of Leon Theodor
Leon Theodor, the tieular head of
the Brussels bar, was a kind OF
Belgian John Hampden himself. IN
the same month of September of
which l have been writing Maitre
Theodor was arrested and confined
in the Kommandantur. MaitTe The
odCr had been BptOnnier de lOrdTe
des Advocates during the year pre-
ceding the war and for i year there
after, and because of the coura-
geous manner in which he had de-
Tended the rights not only of the
lawyers alone, but Of the courts,
and of those principles upon which,
in liberal nations, courts rest. he
had been elected for a third term
by his associates at the bar. He
had been indeed the worthy up
holder of the long traditions of the
bar ever in times of crisis and IN
all history the bulwark of the lib
critics of mankind.
quaiRted with events in Belgium,
and above all no, surprise ito the
Batonnier himself, when he was
arrested. His fearless attitude, his
insistence on the independence OF
the courts and the bar, his deVo-
ton to right, to Justice and to
law, and especially to International
obligations, which such an occupy
ing power found uncomfortable and
galling-all this the Germans could
not endure and they had waited
only for an opportunity to rid them
selves of the irssome presence of
the brave, undaunted spirit.
Maitre Thedor was arrested on
Wednesday. and taken before the
German officer who acted as 'Juge
obstruction or examining magis-
trate. for that interrogation with
which all their proceedings began.
The offense charged against the
Batonnier was that he had advised
a certain lawyer at Brussels, Brey-
meyer, not to represent certain
German then being sued, or about
&c be sued, in the Belgian courts.
The proof adduced by the German
authorities that this underlined Of
tense had been committed by
Maitre TheodOr consisted of let
ter written by Breymeyer, in which
he said that the Batonnier had so
advised him. 1t was with this
charge, and with such evidence to
support it, that the "juge d'inStruc-
ton" confronted the Batonnier, and
asked him what he had to say in
his defense.
The fact, of course, as any one
acquainted with Maitre TheOdor. or
anyone knowing his position in
Brussels, would at once have as
Sumed, was that the Batonnier had
given the lawyer no such advice;
as Batonnier of the Order he had
no right and no reason to give
injunctions as to what cases lawyers
should accept; he might easily have
denied the charge. But he assumed
another attitude, consistent with his
dignity, his position and his patrl-
otiSm.
'As a lawyer. and as Batonnier
of the Order, he replied, i am re-
sponsible for my conduct only to the
court of appeals; If the procureur
general of that court were to inter-
rGgate me as to the allegations L
sbouId consider it my duty to re-
spond. But / have no explanations
to make, and l am not responsible
for my conduct, to German mill
tary tribunal
pected. the trial ended. Governor
General Won Kissing himself is said
to have been waiting IN an anti
chamber while the proceedings were
if progress, and he decided at once
that lin view of the fact mat MS
influence on the Tar of Brussels
and on the different bars Of the
country constituted a danger Tor
the German army" Maitre Theodor
Was to be deported to Germany. n
few days solitary confinement at
Inc KommanGantur, with two armed
SentinelS day and night, a moment
in which to bid his wife good-by,
ana on Sunday the brave Batonnier
vas taken off to his prison be! ond
the Rhine. -.
tiCe or Of the legality of the 1uug-
ment. it no doubt set forth an IN,
dubitable fact. Maitre Theodor did
constitute a danger for the German
army. he constituted danger Ior
the whole system which was en-
bodied i'm the German army, just
as all brave spirits like his, under
standing and loving liberty, nave
constituted at all times danger 70
autocracy. Indeed, nowhere could
there be found two men VINO lnoIe
ideally represented the two oppoS-
ing systems in the world thah
those two who were separated by
a wall that day-Theodor In the
courtroom, Won Kissing In the anu
chamber. They were the best thaL
the two systems could produce, ana
if was not on the word of some
DiuUed lawyer that TheOdOr was sent
into exile and to prison, but be-
cause the Germans recognized IN the
keen penetration and insight ~
this slender man with the delicate
features, the charming smile, the
gracious and polished address, the
snowy hair and beard and flashing
ewes. one Of the most dangerous oil
all Germany's enemies in Belgium.
1t is one Of the beauties and II
will be the ultimate distinction or
Leon Theodors defense of those
principles on which liberal and en-
iightened governments are founded
that his Whole splendid and heroic
performance was achieved quietly,
modestly, with no public applause
and no theatrical light beating white
upon it, Comparatively few in Bel
GUM and in Brussels knew of IL
when it was going on; it was one
of those desperate legal battles
based on principles that the crowd
would be too impatient to under
stand and even after his arrest
and deportation the public, while
honoring him as another of their he
roes and martyrs. must have had
NEoees&s0A A.