The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-02-16
. VERY visitor to the field of
Waterloo knows the Lion
Mound, but not one in a thou

ism tourists at least regard 1t as the
British Lion. In 1929, shortly after
its erection, a French visitor named
Saintine described 1T as "the Belgic
Lion looking towards and apparently
threatening France" That description
seems not to have been forgotten, and
probably lies at the root of the sug-
gestion just made In Brussels to turn
the lion round SO that the threat-it
needs a very lively imagination to see
any at all--in the pose may be divert
ed from France in the direction of
Holland, writes -Demetrius c. Boulger
in the Graphic.
What was the origin of the mound
and the lion? In the first place, the |
animal represented is neither a Brit |
ish nor Beigic emblem; it Is the |
Dutch lion, and somewhere in corner, |
If it has not been obliterated. will be |
found, l imagine, the motto of Nassau |
Orange, "Je Maintiendrai." Whatever |
is done with 1t, then, the susceptible |
tiles of neither Belgians nor British
are involved. The British government
have certainly no inherited claim to
voice In whatever solution may be
adopted. 1t Is not their concern.
How the Mound Was Built.
In 1926 William of the Netherlands,
the great-grandfathe of the present
Queen Wilhelmina and one of the most
obstinate personages to be found in the
whole range Of history, conceived that
the field of Waterloo required
memorial to establish the heroism of
his eldest son, who had received
wound on the occasion. The king was
actuated entirely by dynastic consid
erations, unless he also wished to pro-
vide the foundries of Cockerill, in
which he was the largest shareholder,
with profitable commission. At all
events 1t is quite clear that the Bel
gian people took no interest or part in
the matter, which was decided by n
vote of the states-general at The
Hague. The vote being passed, the
governments of Britain and Prussia
were then invited to make a contrfbu-
ton to the memorial. They complied
to a certain limited extent, the British
conserving, for their part, to the re-
movaI of certain French cannon in
Wellington's Belgian fortresses In or
der to provide the material for the
proposed lion.
BY that time William had decided on
the form of the memorial. 1t was to
be the erection of an enormous mound
some 200 feet above the crest of Mont
of ha 10
the prince of Orange, had been wound
ed, the mound to be crowned by the
Lion of the Netherlands. The clay for
the mound was brought from the steep
sides of the famous "sunken road,'
which disappeared in the process, by
women of the district who were paid
at the rate of half franc basket, and
the site marked by Wellington's tree
was included within the radius of the
/ elevation-so that when the duke re-
/ visited the scene in 1929 with his
/ daughter-in-law, Lady Douro. he made
4 the expressive comment, my battle
field has been spoiit.."
Legend Of the Lions Tail.
The memorial, completed in 1928
had been in existence two years when
the Belgian revolution broke out in
August, 1880. A year later French
army advanced to Louvain to repel 9
Dutch invasion. 1t was said that some
of the French corps in that advance
crossed the field and took offense, not
at the mound or the lion. but at the
shape of it's tail, which. erect in the
air, seemed to express defiance! TIL,
story went on to say that in theil
wrath they broke off the tail, and tina
the complaisant Belgians supplied thu
lion with a new one, no longer erect
but made gracefully dependent.
went to considerable pains in 100
to show that this legend could have n,
real basis, because the contemporar,
drawings In the Brussels Museum o
Prints showed the lion being hoistet
into its position with the tail in pre-
cisely the same form as it wears to
day. There is no evidence Of an
change having been made at that tim
or any other.
In December, 1882, thetFrench arm
rendered second signal service to tn
Belgian people by the siege and car
ture of the Antwerp citadel, and ono
more q French regiment trayersed tn
scene without doing any damage.
proposal was then made in the Belgia
chamber by patriotic leader, NJ. Ger
debien, to the effect that the nf
tional gratitude should be evinced
the removal of the lion monument q
together. He called it. and justly, a
has been shown, "the hateful emble1
of the despotism and violence whic
made us subject for Is years to til
humiIiating yoke which we cast off /