Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-06-18

ways con sESed In that french ne nad
so perfectly mastered during his ten
years service as counsellor in the
German embassy at Paris. He had
come to Brussels to occupy an i'm
portant post in the government of oc-
cupatiOn that was about to be estab
lished. We exchanged but few words
that day, for the call was brief, but
we were destined during the sue
| ceeding two and a half years to be-
come better acquainted and to eX-
change many words, the occasional
asperity of which not all the delicate
nuances of the French language
could soften or shade away. D.
The bulletin next morning bore
| the proclamation in which the field
| marshal proclaimed his accession to
the seat of power in the little king
dom. The people gathered about IN
sad, silent groups, reading the an
nouncement of their fate. Many Of
them with scraps of paper and bits
of lead pencils almost surreptiously
copied it down. The proclamation
stated that the German armies were
/ advancing VIGOROUSLY in France, and
| then proceeded to threaten the popu-
lation with dire consequences if any
act inimical to the German cause
were committed And then there
was the declaration Of a new and
amazing doctrine, new in our times
at least and in the western world,
namely, that the innocent should be
punished as we'll as the guilty.
"C'est la dure necessite de la
guerre que les punitions d'actes hos
tiles frappent en- dehors des coupables
aussi des innocents' ct is the stern
necessity of war that the punishment
for hostile acts fall not only on the
guilty, but on the innocent as well)
The sinister threat needed no COM
mentary after Louvain, Dinant, Aer-
schot, and a hundred other towns to
the east, still smoking at that mo-
ment under their ruins. The people
read it in silence but took what COM
! fort they could in another phrase:
"Citoyens Belges: (the proclama-
tion continued: Je ne demande a
personne de renier ses sentiments
patriotiques. (Citizens of Belgium
Il ask no one to renounce his patri-
otto sentiments.)
Nor did they miss the implications
VI dllOIhSI OhC lASbAO WIZ
and that an insignificant proposition,
suddenly swollen with an immense
| Importance, pregnant with deep
meaning. That was the proposition
| ''in'-governor general in Belgium
then, and not governor general of
| Belgium! Men stood perhaps more
erect, they we're not required to re-
nounce any of their patriotic senti-
ments, and the land was not annexed.
The Brussels Sense of Humor
But it would not have been Brus-
sells had not the people had their fun
out or 1t; that old and unconQuer-
| able Flemish and Walloon sense of
humor; that remarkable residence of
spirit which is innate in the Belgian
| character. Somewhere on a wall of
the lower town the notice had been
put up so high that it could not be
read by the passers-by, and a buxom
woman of the people, a "bonne Brux-
| ellolse' with the naivete that is also
a part of the Brussels nature, brought
from her shop a ladder and mounted
upon it to read it, for the benefit OF
the crowd. But her voice was not
oNi OhSo CllOuSu, anu a Illdu, SOIl6
wag, climbed up in her stead and read
the proclamation with running COM
ment on its statements, and then held
out his hands in. benediction, and
said
Et ma1ntenant, mes enfants. 10
Vous ben1s; avec ca (waving a hand
at the proclamation ct six cents
| Vous aurez un Verre de biere dams
tous les cabarets de Bruxelles." (And
now my children, I bless you: with
that and three cents you can get a
glass of beer in any saloon in Brus-
sels). "a cent at Brussels is two
centimes). So.
Proclamations and Bulletins
Afiches, proclamations, notices or
bulletins, indeed, played as large a
part in the life of Brussels jnst then
as mad newspapers before the war.
Ihey might not always provide news
put they could provide sensation.
and. II written by the proper hand.
send thrill through the community.
On the morning of the last day of
august the crowds that pressed Gag
I erly up TO the walls where the afr
ches were posted were held. necks
craned forward, eyes peering. thrill
ed by one of the most stupendous SEN
sations the city had ever known. For
there was a white poster. with black
characters, its text vibrating with the
passion of the man who had written
1t. 1t was the burgomaster himself.
who, with the consecrated phrase the
\ French use when they wish to give
the effect of the short and ugly word
they are too polite to use, had prick
ed the German pride:
"City of Brussels"
The German governor of the CITY
of Liege, Lieutenant General Won Re
lewe, has caused to be published the
following notice:
ITO the Inhabitants of the
City of Liege-The burgomaster
Of Brussels has informed the
II German commander that the
4 French government has notified
/ the Belgian government of the
\ impossibility Of assisting it of
fensively in any manner in view
of the fact that it finds itself
compelled to take the defen-
Sive
This affirmation I categori-
, caI1V DENY The hurPOma Ster