VI.

THE OLIVE BRANCH.


We may ask ourselves if it was by chance only or through some subtle
calculation that the first slave-raids in Belgium were timed to take
place on the eve of the Christmas season, when the angels proclaimed
"good-will towards men," and when the German diplomats offered us the
olive branch and the dove--peace at their own price. We may perhaps
admit, now that the crisis is over, that for us Belgians at least the
temptation was great, and if our repeated experience of the enemy had
not shown us that he is most dangerous when he dons the humanitarian
garb, we might have been duped by this remarkable piece of
stage-management. There is every reason to believe that the deportations
were part and parcel of the German peace manoeuvre. By increasing a
hundredfold the "horrors of war" Germany provided a powerful argument to
the pacifists all the world over: "Look at these miserable Belgians.
Have they not suffered enough? Is it not time that an end should be put
to their misery? Germany has declared that she is ready to evacuate the
country. She might even give an indemnity. What other satisfaction can
the Allies ask, considering the present situation on both the Eastern
and Western fronts? If England really went to war to deliver Belgium,
let her prove it now by stopping the struggle to spare her innocent
citizens. It is all very well for those who are living comfortably at
home to urge the continuance of the struggle. But can they take the