never be retained, and when the attitude of the people showed clearly
that they would always remain hostile to their new masters, the
systematic sacking of the country began without any thought for the
consequences.

* * * * *

The best way of coming to some appreciation of the work accomplished
during these two years is to remember that, before the war, Belgium was
the richest country in Europe in proportion to her size. Relatively she
had the greatest commercial activity, the richest agricultural
production, and she was more thickly populated than any other State,
with the exception of Saxony. Nowhere were the imports and exports so
important, in proportion to the number of the population, nowhere did
the average square mile yield such rich crops, nowhere was the railway
system so developed. Pauperism was practically unknown, and, even in the
large towns, the number of people dependent on public charity was
comparatively very small. To this picture of unequalled prosperity
oppose the present situation: Part of the countryside left without
culture for want of manure and horses; scarcely any cattle left in the
fields; commerce paralysed by the stoppage of railway and other
communications; industry at a complete standstill, with 500,000 men
thrown out of work and nearly half of the population which remained in
Belgium (3,500,000) on the verge of starvation and entirely dependent
for their subsistance on the work of the Commission for Relief.

It is said that the tree must be judged by its fruit. Such then is the
fruit of the German administration of Belgium. When he arrived in
Brussels, Governor von Bissing declared that he had come to dress
Belgium's wounds. What would he have done if he had meant to aggravate