New-York tribune., 1919-10-24
i. S. Educators Seek
und to Rebuild
Louvain Library
Cradle of Belgian Liberty
Mourns Vanished Splen-
dor and Priceless Relics
Lost Under German Heel

American educators are launching {
movement to raise funds to rebuild the
famous library of the University Of
Louvain, destroyed by the German in.
vaders early in the war. The city of
Louvain, the "Oxford os the Low Coun-
tries" is described in the following
bulletin from the Washington head.
quarters of the National Geographic
Society:
"Not only the University of Louvain
but the city, is an object lesson in the
wanton destruction by the German
army, Early in 1915 "a group of uni
versity professors of Uthcr countries
drew up petition expressing strong
gratuitous destruction Of ancient build
ings that has marked the invasion OF
Belgium and France by the German
army, and protesting In the strongest
terms against the continuance of sc
barbarous and reckless q policy
ITO this group of German univer-
slty professors. among them Gerhart
Hauptmann, Max Reinhardt and Rudolf
Eucken. replied that it was not true
that their troops had treated Belgium
brutally, but that, anyway, we must de-
cldedly refuse to buy German defeat
at the cost of saving work Of art
Theology Chief Product
"lf Louvain has contributed little
to scientific achievement it had a tre.
mcndous effect upon philosophic and
religious thought. 1t has been said
that the city's chief product was the
ology. But Germany's contempt for
that kind of culture is reflected un-
consciously in Baedeker's guideb book
of 1910, which describes it as a dull
place, with 42,20O inha habitants.
Thus the German guide casually
dismisses the cradle of Belgian indie
pendcnce, an early home of the Euro
pean weaving industry and treasure
house of marvellous art works. In one
of his most famous pastorals Cardinal
Mercier, now visitor in the United
States, describes the havoc wrought in
Louvain thus:
In this dear city of Louvain, per-
petually in my thoughts, the magnifi-
cent church of St. Peter will never
recover its former splendor. The an
cient College of St. Ives. the art
schools, the consular and commercial
schools Of the university, the old mar
kets, our rich library with it's collec-
tions, its unique and unpublished man
uscripts, its archives, its gallery of
great portraits of illustrious rectors.
chancellors, professors dating from the
time of its foundation, which preserved
for masters and students alike a noble
tradition and were an Indictment in
their studies, all this accumulation of
of historic and of artistic
riches, the fruit of the labors of five
centuries-all is in dust
"The library referred to contained
some 10000 volumes and about 500
manuscripts, and was attached to the
university formed in 1926 by John ".
scapegrace husband Of Jacqueline. Be-
fore the war the university had 1000
students; but at its heyday in the six
teenth century, its enrolment exec eded
6, 200.
Full of Historic Memories
The city of Louvain ever will be re-
membered az the scene of the grant
ing to the Belgian people by Duke
Wenceslaus of the Joyous entry and
the university will be associated with
that charters preservation, more than
four centuries later, when Kaiser Jo-
seph, the crowned anarchist of Aus
tria, tried to deprive Bclgians of their
ancient rights.
"The circumstances of that resist
ance form one more bond Of union be-
tween Belgium and the United States
of America, for it took place just ten
years after the Declaration of Inde-
pendence was signed, an act which left
a deep impress upon the Belgians
ut will be recalled that Emperor
J Joseph, brother of Marie Antonette,
had tried to abolish Hollands frontier
forts: he won a temporary victory
because Holland at that time was
embroiled with Great Britain over the
formers recognition of the United
States of America
Next he turned to Belgium with
project for reforming the church, but
the Belgians were determined that such
reformation should not be imposed
from without. When the Belgians re-
sisted he declared it's constitution
sent an armed force into the
country, and was met with a declara-
tion that he no longer was Duke of
brabant, and that Bclgians henceforth
would DO an independent people to be
knowE ~ The United Statos of Bolrium.