A VISION OF THE NEW BELGIUM

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2742, 10 April 1916, Page 9

A VISION OF THE NEW BELGIUM

HOW WILL WAR AFFECT HER PEOPLE NEVER THE SAME AGAIN , (By "Sylvius.") In the course of a chat with Mr. Frederic Coleman, that clever AngloAmerican journalist who saw much of tho Belgians before and after the war broke out, gave one a slight \ indication of how war has regenerated those of the Belgians who are left in the land, and particularly the members of the now Belgian Army, who are doing so well in- tlio Nieuport corner of tho far-stretched battle line. Mr. Coleman says that these young men are a different stamp altogether from the older men, who though tlioy fought gamely so long as there was a chance of resisting the German advance, did so without tho knowledge that tho younger men possess, and with comparatively primitive means. A common eight in tho earliest days of the war wero dogs drawing Belgian guns. No up-to-date nation would dream of depending on dogs as a motive power, however faithfully they did their wqrk. But those Holgians who have remained above the soil—what of them? The members of the new Army still fighting under gallant King Albert must eventually be a lino regenerative force amongst tho poople when Belgium is given back her own, if that happy day ever comes. There was, to Mr. Coleman's idea, no measure to the hatred the Belgians had of the Germans, and the oharges of shooting down Teuton officers by the people of tho shattered country were only too well founded —acts just as natural as they Were foolish. What man is there who, knowing his father and mother to have been butchered, and perhaps his sister dishonoured, would not liavo risked death for the sake of killing off some of the Germans In authority? The wonder is that there has not been fifty times the assassinations committed in Belgium than we hear about. Yet whilst.the young men of the now Belgian Army may imbibe a different idea of their business, and perhaps new ideas of life itself from their association with the British troops on their immediate right, what part is German influence to play on the lives and characters of the Belgian civil population?

A recent _ article in an 'American paper, dealing with the manner in which Christmas was spent in tlie various, at war, told how that every place in Belgium inhabited by Germans was illuminated by a little Christmas tree—an idea which had its origin in Germany—an innovation to the Belgian people of a very delightful kind, and which is likely to be perpetuated in tlie future by the Belgian people themselves, though it came' from the Christmas codc of tlie hated Him. If such customs, are so readily [planted between enemies, it is a littlo difficult to say precisely whether tho Germanising of Belgium during these last twenty months will not have a lasting influence 011 tlie people. 1 There is another and still moro complex side of the situation, in the influences of English life on the vast number of Belgians who have been living in England as refugees ever since August of 1914. How will this act 011 their country when it is restored to thorn? Is it not possihlo that many of them will not care to go back at all to those scenes so filled with horrible memories and dire misery?,Tlie younger folk who crossed the Channel would be sure to quickly assimilate English ways and customs, and the freedom of English life may appeal to their budding natures. Then there are those who have rived in decent Epglisb homes, under decent conditions for the first time in their lives, poor peasant folk and lowly city people, who will have absorbed new ideas on how to live, and whose mental outlook has been suddenly given a wider horizon, , What will the effect of the return to'"Belgium of' those people be? The problem is a very interesting one, and its solving will be watched with the keenest attention b.v sociologists and others. .The end of. the war will see England a greater England than ever; it will see Russia forced into modernity at the cannon's mouth; and France will emerge from the struggle a blazing spirit among the leading nations of earth"; but poor riven Belgium most remain a national enigma for at least a decade to come. ,