“ A new Belgian Flemish writer of outstanding importance is Felix Timmermans who, before he became celebrated in Belgium and Holland, sold sweets in a little shop in his native to wn of Lierre. Pallicter (1916) is epoch-making in contemporary Belgian literature. It is as forceful as Rabelais and yet tender and poetic, with a pantheistic feeling for nature: the ecstasy of a human being who incorporates himself with woods and streams, flowers and beasts, and who revels in every form of life. ”

“ To maintain such a dense population agriculture had to be brought to a pitch of intensiveness unknown elsewhere; and industry, with such vast numbers of hands to draw on, was able to develop with marvellous rapidity. ”

“ Workers aged from 18 to 50 could go to Alsace-Lorraine or Germany, and work there for good wages. If able-bodied members of the working-class would consent to go to Germany, communes would be once more authorized to provide public work for the unemployed of under 18 or over 50.
Thus, by means of a skilfully planned series of edicts, Germany had attained her object had completely ruined Belgian indus- try and had created an unemployed class of nearly 700,000 work- ers, whom she forbade the public bodies to provide with work. Nothing remained but to transport this potential labour into Germany. ”

“ One sole mitigation is found: a wife who does not denounce her husband wanted by the German authorities may plead extenuating circumstances and is only liable to from 3 months' to 2 years' imprisonment or penal servitude. Again, every citizen was obliged, under pain of 3 to 15 years' penal servitude, to give information of the arrival in the country of any person belonging to one of the Entente nations, to denounce anyone making or storing munitions, to furnish all information in his power concerning British establishments in Belgium, to denounce anyone refusing to work for Germany. ”

“ One or more voluntary schools, if such exist in the district, may be “adopted”; but if this is done a communal school must still be provided, supposing it is demanded by a sufficient number of the inhabitants to ensure it an effective minimum attendance of 20 children. In all schools, whether official or adopted, the teachers must be Belgian and diplomés. The State inspects both communal and adopted schools, and they receive grants from the central authorities of province and commune. Education is free, and the necessary books and appliances are provided free for poor families. ”

“ Belgium's efforts to develop the technical training of her population increased steadily during the last few years before the war, much being done in this way by the provinces and communes. Hainault (Hainaut) organized an admirable centre of technical instruction at Charleroi under the name of the Université de Travail. Future workers, male and female, are admitted to its courses at the age of 13 and they receive salaries, which enable them to pass through the necessary years of training. ”

“ A German military officer was appointed burgomaster of the town.
The government of occupation hoped to use education as a potent weapon for dividing the country. The Flemish language was proclaimed the only one permitted in the State and voluntary schools of Flanders. Even in Brussels, where French is spoken by a large majority of the population, Flemish was to be the only language of instruction. ”

“ The same principle was applied by a series of edicts empowering the German authorities to take hostages who should pay with their lives for damage done to railway tracks, to inflict heavy fines on communes, to deport the entire population of villages in whose area railway lines had been damaged, to punish whole families for faults committed by single members of them, to treat as guilty all persons found in company with anyone committing an offence. ”

“ Agriculture.—Belgian agriculture was no less important than Belgian trade and industry. In 1911, the value of its products amounted to two milliards of francs. Agriculture was carried on at a high degree of intensity. Of the 2,945,000 hectares which constitute the national territory, 1,950,000 were in cultivation and pasture, among a population of nearly 7,800,000. The cultivable area per head of population was only 25 ares (in France 100 ares, in Great Britain 45 ares) . Belgium, therefore, could not be self-supporting. ”

“ The socialist unions first tested their strength in the campaign opened by the Socialist party in 1912 for universal suffrage “pure and simple.” This campaign coincided with the violent struggle on the education question which began just then between the parties of the Left—Liberals and Socialists—and the Catholic party. The Catholics, who commanded a majority in the Chamber, introduced a bill to put the voluntary schools and the State schools on an absolutely equal footing. Education in Belgium, especially primary education, is largely in the hands of the religious denominations. ”

“ In 1917 the German authorities began to understand that Flemish opinion could not be counted on to aid in the dismemberment of Belgium, and consequently their treatment of the working-class population of Flanders increased in harshness, deportations becoming particularly frequent. But still attempts were made to foster Activist ideas. Lectures and meetings were promoted for the exposition of German views; the publication of pamphlets and tracts was facilitated; every form of autonomistic propaganda was supported by armed force. ”

“ In Oct. 1916 the military authorities made the first requisition of men for work in Germany. At that time nearly a million persons were in receipt of public relief in Belgium. In Nov. burgomasters were ordered under heavy penalties to furnish the German authorities with lists of the unemployed receiving relief in their communes. In every case the enemy Government was met by refusal on the part of the communal authorities. The military authorities thereupon began a general requisition of able-bodied men throughout the country, whether unemployed or not. ”

“ The German Government now controlled all the elements indispensable to industry. Henceforth no undertaking could escape its power. Industry was forced into absolute submission to the terms imposed by the invader.
The Belgian marine export trade had, of course, been stopped by the war. Belgian factories closed down one after the other and the numbers of unemployed quickly became enormous. ”

“ Leopold II.'s eyes were opened by the great African discoveries of 1878 to the possibility of realizing an ambitious scheme for acquiring in his country's interests a vast territory in the centre of the Dark Continent. Amid general scepticism, and aided by a mere handful of men, mostly officers, he had built up the independent state of the Congo. From 1895 onward the Belgian Government had associated itself in his work by opening credits to him, although Parliament remained hostile to the King's bold and enterprising policy. Belgian finance, however, took an interest in affairs on the Congo ”

“ Industries.—The various industries of Belgium employ a large part of the population. In 1910 this industrial population comprised:—
These were divided among the different branches of industry as follows:—
In 1914 glass-making employed 12,000 workmen, maintained 19 furnaces and produced annually 400,000,000 francs worth of glass, or one-fifth of the world's entire output, 95% being exported. The unchallenged superiority of the Belgian glass-workers, with their centuries of specialization behind them, ensured a privileged position in the markets of the world. ”

“ Belgium's free-trade policy largely contributed to her commercial prosperity. In 1913 the import duties affected only 16-8 % of imported goods. They were, moreover, extremely light, in 1900 representing 2-3% of the value of imports, in 1910 1-6%, in 1913 only 1-4%. It is true that a movement was already beginning towards the imposition of duties to check the dumping practised by certain foreign industries, or to induce other nations to admit Belgian goods freely ”

“ Liege having been occupied, the German army advanced up the Meuse Valley, and at the same time invaded the province of Luxemburg. The first French contingents now joined the Belgian troops in the neighbourhood of Dinant, Namur, and Arlon. Everywhere advance-guard fighting was delaying the enemy's progress and every skirmish was followed by cruel reprisals on the civil population. ”

“ There were 800,000 unem- ployed; and 2,400,000 persons a third of the population only
existed by the aid of public relief. The State had to assume the support of these unemployed masses. Labour exchanges were established to facilitate the distribution of recruits to reviving industry. The vast numbers of the workless might have led to famine wages; to obviate this the State decided that any workmen offered less than the minimum rate of one franc per hour in the towns and 0-75 in the country, might refuse work, while yet continuing to draw out-of-work relief. ”

“ The working-class population of Belgium was reduced to beggary. The masses of unemployed became more and more numerous. Germany desired them more numerous still. Public works started by provinces and communes to provide employ- ment were suddenly prohibited. Germany exposed her hand.
The president of the civil administration expounded the German theory in a speech delivered before the deputation permanente of Luxemburg. Relief of the unemployed, he said, was inadmissible in the case of persons deprived of work by the German regulations. ”

“ In each province a Comit& d' alimentation was set up, its president sitting on the ComitS centrale in Brussels. The Comiti centrale now took the name of Comile national de secours el d' alimentation.
Permission to import food was not enough, a method must be found of paying for it. Von der Goltz would not allow money to be transmitted to the Allies; funds must be procured outside Belgium. The Belgian Government and the British Government each opened a credit of 100,000 to the C.N. The Societe Generale put its own foreign credits at the C.N.'s disposal. ”

“ Permanent pasture represented only 26% of cultivable land (65% in England) ; while on the other hand plants used for industrial purposes, root-crops and forage-crops which yield a much higher return in money, were largely cultivated.
Thus industrial crops occupied 95,000 hectares; forage, 292,000 hectares; orchards, 65,000 hectares; market gardens, 27,000 hectares; horticulture, practised especially in the environs of Brussels and Ghent, occupied 100,000 hectares, and provided a considerable export. As regards breeding, the export of Flemish horses brought in 50,000,000 francs. ”

“ Thickly populated areas and urban centres developed with lightning rapidity: in Antwerp the population increased 187% in 50 years, in Charleroi 147%, in Liége 105%. The whole population depended for support on the internal resources of the country, emigration being almost negligible: in 1910 only 38,854 persons left the country (55% of them born in Belgium) , principally for France (52%) , Germany (13%) and Holland (12%) . On the other hand, 44,950 immigrants settled in Belgium, coming chiefly from France (41%) , Germany (21%) and Holland (16%) . ”

“ Of sugar, potatoes, fruit, vegetables and horses there was even a considerable surplus available for exportation. The subdivision of land had been carried to an extreme point, 1,950,000 hectares being divided among 829,000 cultivators; 458,000 holdings were of less than one-half hectare; the average for the rest being about five hectares per farm. Thanks to intensive breeding (Belgium in 1914 possessed 317,000 horses, 1,879,000 horned stock, and 1,954,000 pigs) agriculture commanded larger supplies of manure than in any other country (275 kgm. per hectare) . ”

“ The siege of Antwerp brought yet more fire and carnage. Over 1 60 persons in the fortified zone fell victims to the German soldiers. The town of Termonde, where the Belgian army again and again successfully opposed the crossing of the Scheldt by the German troops, was at last taken, and was then burnt to the ground. ”

“ Activist " party, Dutchmen and Germans. Shortly after, the German authorities celebrated the opening of the university, and the King of Bavaria graced the ceremony with his presence. A characteristic touch was the omission of Belgian history from the syllabus of the university. To attract students all the scholarships in Belgium were allotted to the university of 'Ghent, and a shameless campaign of intimidation was organized: students in the zone d'elape were given the alternative of either being transported as forced labour to Germany or pursuing their studies at the " Activist " university. ”

“ Cardinal Mercier had appealed to the Pope, and on Nov. 29 1916 the Pope had approached the German Government on behalf of the victims of deportation, but without effect. The United States now protested to Berlin against such violations of the principles of the Hague Convention, and the Dutch legation did the same. At the time of the fall of Antwerp in 1914 the inhabitants of that town, terrified by the massacres of Vise, Dinant, Andenne, Termonde, Tamenes, Aerschot and Louvain, had fled en masse into Holland. ”

“ In the girls' schools needlework, domestic economy, and housewifery are added. In agricultural districts agriculture and horticulture are also taught. Further, the State subsidizes such initiative on the part of communes as the formation of classes (such as exist in Ghent, Brussels, and Liege) for backward and non-normal children, on the provision of 4th-degree instruction. ”

“ The creation of these tribunals occasioned public protests from the bar of Brussels, as a result of which its president, the Batonnier Theodor, was deported to Germany. Even certain offences against common laws were selected by the German administra- tion to be dealt with by itself instead of by the judicial system of the country; a police, des moeurs (police of public morals) formed in all the large towns being given powers which Belgian law assigned to the public prosecutors and the Belgian courts alone. ”

“ This edict, therefore, replaced Belgian judges by German judges, who, being removable, could not afford security. It abolished the right of appeal, and replaced Belgian procedure by German procedure. The accused found himself being tried in a foreign language, without the right of employing defence, or even of defending himself, the courts having power to set aside any evidence they chose to disregard. ”