While in Brussels the Germans prohibited only the more recent Royal portraits, at Gand, in February 1915, the commandant of the Magazine,[42] in order to show his zeal, forbade the sale of any portraits of the Royal Family, of whatever date or nature. The Burgomaster of Gand has received the following letter, the communal administration sending us a translation of the same:-- 2. mob. Etappen Kommandantur. Reference No. 1095. GAND, _4th February, 1915_. To the Burgomaster of the City,-- I beg you again to draw the attention of all the booksellers, stationers' shops, etc., by hand-bill or by means of the newspapers, that they are forbidden under any circumstances to display the portraits of the Royal Family of Belgium, either in the windows or in the interior of the shops. Those who act otherwise will be severely punished. THE COMMANDANT OF THE MAGAZINE, P.O. (_Signed_) HENZ. (_Le Bien Public_, 13th February, 1915.) The German persecutions were resumed with renewed vigour on the approach of the 8th April, the King's birthday. At Antwerp the Germans took care to forbid, in advance, anything that might have passed for a royalist manifestation; but the inhabitants succeeded, none the less, under their enemies' noses, in celebrating their Sovereign's anniversary. Elsewhere the Germans, in their incorrigible meanness, had a different inspiration. They suddenly had an intuition that the communal administrations of Brabant were going to dismiss the schools in honour of the King. Immediately circulars were distributed, forbidding the closing of the schools on that day. But these ineffable blunderers had forgotten one thing: namely, that the 8th of April fell in the middle of the Easter holidays! Certain communes permitted themselves the malicious delight of inquiring of the Germans whether they must recall the pupils for the 8th of April? The Germans, of course, missed the irony of the situation, and replied that it would not be necessary to resume the classes. Their second letter contains a particularly delightful sentence: "My will is merely that instruction shall not be specially interrupted in honour of the anniversary of H.M. the King of the Belgians." Another example of the unshakable determination to respect the Belgians' patriotism! _Obligation to Employ the German Language._ These letters are written in German. For that matter, it has become a rule with our enemies to write only in their own tongue, and often even in German characters. Better still: at Liége and Namur (_L'Ami de l'Ordre_, 31st August, 1914) they required the Belgians also to write in German. Yet another way of respecting our patriotism! _The Belgian Army is our Enemy!_