Brussels, May 5.
His Belgian Majesty, the Belgian ministers, Belgian ambassadors, Belgian
authorities, and all the Belgian nobility and gentry, all the English
who reside in Brussels for economy and quiet, and all the exiles and
propaganda who reside here to kick up a row, have all left Brussels by
the Porte d'Anvers. And all the Belgians who live at Brussels have shut
up their shops, and gone out by the Porte d'Anvers. And the whole
populace, men, women, and children, have gone out of the Porte d'Anvers.
And all the infants have also gone, because the mothers could not leave
them at home. And the generals, and their staffs, and the officers, and
all the troops, and all the artillery, have also left Brussels, and gone
out at the Porte d'Anvers, to keep the said populace quiet and in good
order. So that there is no one left at Brussels, and Brussels must for
one day take care of itself.
And now you of course wish to know why they have all left Brussels, and
further, why they have gone through the Porte d'Anvers.
Because there is this day the commemoration of the inauguration of the
_Chemin de Fer_, which has just been completed from Brussels to Malines,
and which is on this day to be opened, that is to say, that three steam
tugs, whose names are the Stephenson, the Arrow, and the Elephant, are
to drag to Malines and back again in the presence of his majesty, all
his majesty's ministers, all the ambassadors who choose to go, all the
heads of the departments, and every body else who can produce a
satisfactory yellow ticket, which will warrant their getting into one of
the thirty-three omnibuses, diligences, or cars, which are attached to
the said three steam-tugs, the Arrow, the Stephenson, and the Elephant.
I shall go and see it--I will not remain at Brussels by myself, the
"last man."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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