Nothing shows better the greatness and
moment of the American work. Without the material and moral presence of
the United States, Belgium would have simply been turned into a nation
of slaves--starvation or treason.
"If I were in Belgium, I could say nothing; I would have to choose
between silence and prison, or silence and death. Remember Edith Cavell.
An enthusiastic, courageous man is running as many risks in Belgium now,
as he would have in the sixteenth century under the Spanish domination.
The hundred eyes of the Spanish Inquisition were then continually prying
into everything--bodies and souls; one felt them even while one was
sleeping. The German Secret Service is not less pitiless and it is more
efficient.
"The process of slander and lie carried on by the Germans to 'flatten'
Belgium is, to my judgment, the worst of their war practices. It is
very efficient indeed. But, however efficient it may be, it will be
unsuccessful as to its main purpose. The Germans will not be able to bow
Belgian heads. As long as the Belgians do not admit that they have been
conquered, they are not conquered, and in the meanwhile the Germans are
merely aggravating their infamy. It was an easy thing to over-run the
unprepared Belgian soil--but the Belgian spirit is unconquerable.
"Belgium may slumber, but die--never."
When men act as part of an implacable machine, they act apart from their
humanity.
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