According to a good German-Swiss[133] the Belgians have no national feelings, no patriotism, and have never had a Fatherland.  If a serious writer can make such statements after the Belgians have defended their native country so heroically, one naturally wonders whether Herr Blocher is sane, or merely a paid agent of the German authorities.  In his work he denies every and any intention to justify or condemn either Germany or Belgium, and then proceeds to blacken the latter’s character by quoting every Belgian utterance which may be interpreted as anti-German.  These expressions lead him to the remarkable conclusion that Belgians had already violated their own neutrality!

[Footnote 133:  “Belgische Neutralitaet,” by Eduard Blocher.  Zurich, 1915.]

Blocher states that his work is only intended to prove that Switzerland has nothing to fear from Germany’s precedent in invading Belgium.  But he never mentions Belgium’s maritime interests, Antwerp and the extensive seacoast on the North Sea.  He is oblivious to the fact that Germany’s desire to possess these was the sole motive for precipitating war and invading Belgium.  To Germany the coast of Belgium is the door to the world and world domination.  Switzerland does not possess such a door, and therefore had nothing to fear from her powerful neighbour; but if the Allies are unable to bar this door to Germany’s aggressive schemes, then the time is not far distant when Germany would remember that she has “brothers” within Swiss frontiers and insist upon their entrance into the great Teutonic sheepfold—­just as her most earnest desire at present is to drive the “lost” Flemings back to their parent race.

Among the many phrases which Germans have coined to describe Belgium the following occur:  bastard, eunuch and hermaphrodite.  According to the German conception of a “State,” Belgium is an unnatural monstrosity, from which one draws the natural conclusion that Germany intends to remove it from the domain of earthly affairs.

On the whole, German writers admit the existence of Belgian neutrality, and also Germany’s pledge to respect it.  The three most serious writers on the subject are, Dr. Reinhard Frank,[134] professor of jurisprudence in Munich University; Dr. Karl Hampe,[135] professor in Heidelberg; and Dr. Walter Schoenborn,[136] also a professor in Heidelberg University.

[Footnote 134:  Reinhard Frank:  “Die belgische Neutralitaet.”  Tubingen, 1915.]

[Footnote 135:  Karl Hampe:  “Belgien’s Vergangenheit und Gegenwart.”  Berlin, 1915.]

[Footnote 136:  Walther Schoenborn:  “Die Neutralitaet Belgien’s.”  This is an appendix to a large work written by twenty university professors, entitled “Deutschland und der Weltkrieg,” published by B.G.  Teubner, Leipzig and Berlin, 1915.]

The nearer examination of these three works must be premised by two important considerations.  Firstly, the three professors ignore the fact that Germany was a menace to Belgium, and make no mention of German aspirations for a coastline on or near the English Channel.  Holland and Belgium form a twentieth century “Naboth’s vineyard,” on which the German Ahab has cast avaricious glances for upwards of forty years.