For it was not thus during the first weeks of the occupation. Then correspondence was permissible only in French and German: Flemish was not tolerated. The official notices were printed in French and German only. Then, on the 25th August, the Government placards appeared in German, French, and Flemish. Finally, on the 1st October, Flemish had the advantage of French. Although from the standpoint of Belgian law the latter measure was legal in the Brussels district, the by-law ordering the cinema-houses to publish their programmes in Flemish as well as French was not so; very often the manager is innocent of Flemish, and the Flemish programme is spelt in the most fantastic manner. Absolutely illegal, too, is the by-law compelling shopkeepers in Bruges and Ostend to replace their French shop-signs by signs written in Flemish. Still more galling was the outcome of a certain trial at Tongres. Some young men, Flemings and Walloons, were accused of the same offence. They were inscribed on separate lists, according to their origin. The Walloons were condemned to severer penalties than those inflicted on the Flemings. One sees the double object here: to mollify the Flemings and to make the Walloons suspicious of them. We may compare this with the fact that the majority of the Flemish civil prisoners have been repatriated, while the Walloons are still in Germany. However, the daily task of insinuation and persuasion is undertaken by the German press. In the first place it lays stress on the great affinity of character, historical past, origin, and language between the Germans and the Flemings (_Düss. Gen. Anz._, 4th December, 1914). The Germans must humour the Flemings and make friends with them. One reason why it would not do to treat Belgium more harshly (as had been demanded) is that there is a racial relationship between a portion of the population and that of Germany. There is no Belgian people (_Voss. Zeit._, 1st March, 1915). Much is made of the distant echoes of the linguistic quarrel (_Voss. Zeit._, 1st March, 1915; _K.Z._, 18th March, 1915; _Frankf. Zeit._, 24th March, 1915; Osswald, _Zur Belgischen Frage_).--The ill-feeling of the Flemings toward the "purely Walloon" Belgian Government must be fomented (_Frankf. Zeit._, 24th March, 1915), and also their dislike of the Belgian press printed in the French tongue, both Government and press having been long ago won over to France and the hatred of Germany (_K.Z._, 15th November, 1915). _La Croix Rouge_ is published in three languages, Flemish preceding even German, and the French occupying only the extreme right of the sheet; each number contains only one _feuilleton_, and that is a novel in Flemish. A little Flemish conversation manual--_Vlamischer Sprachführer_--is published in Düsseldorf for the use of Germans, and of soldiers in particular. In order to compromise the Flemish, the Germans pretend that well-known Flemings are already working hand-in-hand with the German administration.