The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-01-09
Belgium Under the German Heel
BY sRAND wHlTLocK.


bounced that the administration in Bel /,
GUM would be separated then 10 days |
later the German newspapers were filled
with accounts of a visit to Berlin OF
a group of Belgians, so-caIled leaders
among the Flemish, w;Io had gone to
present a petition to that end.
PreocCupled by my own problems and
p~erpleNities. | paid little attention to
thls at the time, II was mentioned now
and then, but We were thinking and
talking OF other things. Nor a the
deed as yet been Consummated. But
on the 2lst of March there appeared on
the walls Of Brussels a small poster
which, when understood in all of its i'm
pllcations, was an oftense against jus
Uce and natural right more serious
Than amy of the deeds that had marked
the German adventure in Belgium.
The notice was as follows:
There are formed In Belgium two
administrative regions, one of which
comprises the provinces of Antwerp,
Llmburg, East and West Flanders, as
we'll as the districts of Brussels and OF
L%ouvain; the other of which comprises
the provinces of Hainault, Liege. Lux
emburg and Namur, as well as the
district of Nivelles.
The administration of the first of
these two regions will be directed from
Brussels; that Of the seond from
Namur.
IAN arrangements looking to the as
surance of the execution of the present
order. notably from the point of view
OF the administrative organization of
the two regions and the transfer OF the
control, are reserved. For anything cen
corning the ministry of arts and sci
ences, the orders of the 25th october,
1915, 18th December and the 14th Feb
ruary 1917, .(Official Bulletin Of Laws
| and Orders mn o00O 9nkA nd 2Q1dl Fn-
main in force until the publication of
the above mentioned arrangements.
The aforementioned In Belgium.
"Freiherr Won Kissing,
"Generaloberst,
Brussels, 21st March, 1917"
The order was the final Towering Of
a long cherished scheme of Won Bis
sings, a scheme for the complete con-
quest and agglutination OF Belgium,
cunningly devised and ~inaugurated by
the Transformation of the University
Of Client into a Flemish institution.
He had meditated it for long months,
its details had been studied with Ma
chiavellian subtlety in the political d.
partment and the civil administration,
and while he was taking the cure at
Wiesbaden he had matured ii; when he
returned he promulgated 1t,
The momen was hardly suspicious
and as we thought it over and talked
it over we could just see why Won Bis
sing had been so opposed to the depor-
t~ations-not as a principle but as a pol
! icy, and why he had quarreled, or at
lleast differed with Hindenburg la
which Hindenburg and his leaders
could neither tolerate nor apparently
understand.
The willy old Prussian general had In
his hand a plan far greater than that
crude one Of H~indenburg TO batter The
| Lot WANtA. sAVa a,tH NtnEtan ~ IA
rude shock of his instruments of wal
Won Kissing, with his medieval ideas
Of life, surrounded by men who hat
studied THE Prince" Of Machiavelli al
engineers study textbooks was al
ready dramatizing himself amid ac
CARNATIONS of the enthusiastic "Hochs.'
Of a posterity that would hail him al
the first dictator of Belgium and as tn,
man who had annexed it to the empire
Hindenburg's coming to the western
front had ruined all his careful plan
, by his stubborn and impetuous will
. And it must have been "A bitter AM
: ironiCal moment for the old genera
when, posing as the patron of learning
: and Of oct. and the sqvior of the Elem
ish people, at the very moment in whic
he Mas delivering AL auress in open
ing the Flemish university at Chen,
e he could catch the strains of the Lilo
= Of Flanders" sung by the Flemis
! workmen whom the stupid militar
men were Dragging OH TO slavery,
L The latest and worst OF German atroc
n tiles in Belgium was always referre
+ TO as la separation Administrative,
d phrase that haroly Illustrates It's SIMS
ter and tragic significance. 1t mean
g more, Of course, than a mere divtslo
n OF the prosalc functions OF the CIV
administration or the Kingdom; 1t IN
VOWED the establishment or two ad
ministrations where one had serve
before and that had beer in ,opcratlo
h Tor more than 80 years and was a
J ihtegl"i part OF the most practical an
e satisfactory system OF government
lie based on the old communal system,
INVOKED ions v ene of Rslsion o OF tne "o'
y The Hague convention made 1t II
n, cumbent on the German occupant to RI
= spect the laws In force in the countr,
Is the only exception recognized by TIL
convention being that of absolute NJ
S, cessity,' There had been no absolu
ir necessity for innovation: the Belgtf
to administration had carried on-as Il
Sc English s~ay-under German ~occupatlt
er for more than two years Inc function
IN aries had continued at their posts
,R the express invitation OF Gen. Won Ri