Belgium and Germany
| Preis: | 11.95 EUR* (inkl. MWST zzgl. Versand - Preis kann jetzt höher sein!) |
| Versand: | 0.00 EUR Versandkostenfrei innerhalb von Deutschland |
| Partner: | buecher.de |
| Hersteller: | Forgotten Books (Davignon, Henri) |
| Stand: | 2015-08-04 03:50:33 |
Produktbeschreibung
Excerpt from Belgium and Germany: Texts and Documents We have collected in the present volume a certain number of texts, facsimiles, and other photographs of such a nature as to give an accurate picture of the heroic but deplorable situation of Belgium in the present war. Our country which existed by Right has been crushed by Might. But her honour remains, and with it remains the glory of the struggle in which she has sought to avenge her afflictions. After a superhuman effort on the part of her soldiers under the leadership of their King, and vigorous protests on the part of her Government and moral, civil and religious authorities, and while awaiting the day of reparation which must inevitably come, Belgium avails herself of her right to make clear to the world how loyal has been her spirit and how undeserved her sufferings. Indeed, it is her duty to do so. An enemy, strong beyond all measure, defying treaties and setting at nought the most solemn promises, has fallen upon her, laid her low and devastated her according to a preconceived plan, and left her in ruins and drenched in blood, in the hope of obtaining by terrorism what he has been unable to obtain by threats and to compensate himself for the price he has had to pay for victory. Because he was checked in his advance successively at Liege, Antwerp and the Yser, the invading monster thought by calumny to belittle the honour and the loyalty of Belgian citizens. It is not our purpose here, either by argument or speeches or dissertations to reply to the systematic propaganda which has been carried on in neutral countries with an energy which is sufficient in itself to condemn it. Nothing is more convincing than the naked truth, and, in the case of Belgium, the truth appears in a triple light. Whoever wishes can come into contact with it in its three incarnations and receive from it a deep impression of the loyalty and innocence and infinite suffering which it presents to anyone who examines it. The reader will find, first of all, in the following pages, the story of Belgium´s claim to independence, an independence which was recognised by the Powers in 1830 in consequence of a spontaneous and irresistible movement in favour of it on the part of a people born to liberty. In 1839 the Powers imposed upon the country a statute, very carefully prepared, constituting it a strictly neutral State. In 1870 they guaranteed that State against all attacks from outside, and in 1907 entered into a second formal engagement to respect both the spirit of the statute and the obligations to the fulfilment of which it bound them. We shall next see in what manner Belgium met the threats and actual violation of her rights by the strongest of the Powers which guaranteed the inviolability of those rights, and what were the true and wise precepts which Belgium recommended her unarmed population to follow. Finally, by the contemplation of a long succession of appalling occurrences, we shall know by what systematic cruelty, injustice and violation of the laws of war and of humanity itself, the aggressor has placed a prosperous country, which he coveted, under his yoke. The texts which have been reproduced speak for themselves, and may be verified in the historical and juridical works from which they have been collected, or in the newspapers of neutral or hostile countries which have called our attention to them. The unpublished statements are necessarily incomplete, having been collected on the battlefield or furnished by martyrs fainting from exhaustion, or obtained at an inquiry such as is always very dangerous and difficult to hold for fear of malicious reprisals on the part of the occupying army. However, we have collected and published a sufficient number of these statements to enable the reader to realise the enormous extent of the damage inflicted
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