So true is this that
when the violation of Belgian territory became an accomplished fact, and
when the King of Belgium appealed under the terms of the treaty of 1839
for support, in maintaining the neutrality of Belgium which these powers
had guaranteed, France was so little prepared to invade Belgium that it
took her more than ten days to get her troops into the country.
The world is familiar with the way Germany has repaired in Belgium the
injustice of which she was guilty, to use the words of the German
Chancellor.
Atrocities in Belgium.
Under the pretext that her troops were attacked by civilians, and even
under no pretext at all, whole villages have been razed to the ground.
Important towns whose boast it was to represent part of the common
inheritance of civilization were not spared. Their monuments, which have
been respected during the centuries in all of the constant wars of which
Belgium has been the theatre, were deliberately destroyed. Open cities
were bombarded. Exorbitant taxation was imposed upon conquered towns,
and when the inhabitants were unable to pay the taxes, a large number of
their houses were set on fire. That is what happened to Wavre, among
other cities, whose 8,500 inhabitants were unable to pay a tax of
$600,000.
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