"Thirteen ecclesiastics have been shot in the diocese of Malines. There were, to my own actual personal knowledge, more than thirty in the diocese of Namur, Tournai, and Liège.... "On the 19th of April, 1839, a treaty was signed in London by King Leopold, in the name of Belgium, on the one part, and by the Emperor of Austria, the King of France, the Queen of England, the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of Russia on the other; and its seventh article decreed that Belgium should form a separate and perpetually neutral state, and should be held to the observance of this neutrality in regard to all other states. The co-signers promised, for themselves and their successors, upon their oath, to fulfil and observe that treaty in every point and every article without contravention or tolerance of contravention. Belgium was thus bound in honour to defend her own independence. She kept her oath. The other Powers were bound to respect and to protect her neutrality. Germany violated her oath, England kept hers.... "Accept, my dearest brethren, my wishes and prayers for you and for the happiness of your families, and receive, I pray you, my paternal benediction. "_D. J. Cardinal Mercier_, "_Archbishop of Malines_." Here is a letter from a soldier at the front to his parents: "TIRELEMONT, 8 August, 1914. "My dear Parents: "Here I am at Tirlemont, where we are occupied in reforming our scattered regiment! Many are killed and injured, some are taken, others lost. It is a terrible mix-up, and it will take a long time to get it straightened out, and I am profiting by this moment to write you and let you know what has happened in the last few days. "We had been fighting all day Wednesday, and when evening came on we were told to dislodge a troop that occupied the space between the two forts. They gave us the message very simply: 'It is death, but it must be done.' Nothing more. We were under fire all night. We kill without seeing any one. The bullets whistle, a shrapnel explodes five meters from us, we have several killed, and we stay under this rain of bullets and it is awful. "I could not tell you my impressions. I recited about one hundred vows; I wondered what it felt like to be in heaven, because I was certain that every moment would be my last.