HOSTAGE CITIES
MAETERLINCK'S SUGGESTION. In the "Figaro" of November il Maurice Maeterlinck, the distinguished Belgian writer, makes the interesting . suggestion that, in viow of the German army's vandalism, the principle of hostages should be extended from individuals to cities. Here are his words: "To my certain personal' knowledge, the Grand Place, the Hotel do ViDe, and the cathedral of Brussels are mined, and only a spark would be required to reduce these marvels —the work of centuics of patient labour and love—to nameless ruins. We have sacrificed all without a this would surpass everything. What is to be done? How can we stay their hand? They seem no longer, to be amenable to reason, or to any of the sentiments which men hold in honour. They only seem sensible to blows. We shall soon have the power, and they must realise it, to strike them hard. "Why should not the Allies, from this day forward, while there is yet time, nominate certain hostage cities which will answer, stone, for stone, for the existence of our beloved cities ? If, for example, Brussels were destroyed, Berlin should be razed to tho ground; Hamburg should disappear were Antwerp guaranteee against Bruges, and Munich would go bail for Gbont."
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Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2353, 8 January 1915, Page 6
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205HOSTAGE CITIES Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2353, 8 January 1915, Page 6
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