1914-10-20je

“If the boom of German cannon in far-off Belgium could have been heard in Canada, and if the shock of Teutonic howitzers could have been felt in the foundations of our public and private buildings, it is entirely likely that we might have realized in some degree the awfulness of war and the terribleness of the Belgian tragedy.”

(Introduction to a statement released to the press by ‘The Chairman, Belgian Repatriation Fund of Hamilton)

Hamilton Herald.   October 20, 1914.

The enthusiasm and overwhelming outpouring of confidence in victory expressed when the Great War began in August had virtually disappeared in Hamilton as the month of October, 1914 was nearing an end.

News of mass casualties and deaths in Western Europe, although tempered by government censors, was circulating widely, as were the atrocities and destruction suffered by the people of Belgium.

The details of what was happening in Belgium was about to come right into Hamilton on October 24, 1914 with the appearance of Madame Lalla Vandervelde at the I.O.O.F. temple.

In a lengthy statement which ran in the Hamilton Herald on October 20, 1914, the chairman of the Belgian Repatriation Fund of Hamilton analyzed the nature of German actions in Western Europe, particularly in Belgium.

The chairman’s statement concluded as follows :

“Canada has sent thirty thousand sons to fight the fight of fight of human liberty on European soil. Canada is sending her substance to alleviate the immediate wants of war-scarred and war-worn Belgians.

“At home we have made provision for the soldiers and their dependents. We are not forgetting the needs of those whose willing hands can find no work to do.

“But more we must do if we are to be true to the highest traditions of our race and to the tenets of our common faith. The spirit of self-sacrifice must possess us more and more until this harried earth be relieved of the monstrous militarism of a monarch whose claim to divine right has led him to do wanton wrong.

“There comes to Hamilton this week the wife of the Belgian minister of state to tell us the moving story of Belgium’s sacrifice and Belgium’s need. Let us give her our sympathy and help according to our means to give, be those means little or be they great. She bears the commission of Belgium’s queen to go forth and tell the tale of Belgium’s tragedy and enlist the help of those who will gladly do what they can to restore the fabric of Belgium’s nationality.

“Let her not return empty.”¹

¹ “Belgium’s Sacrifice and Belgium’s Need”

Hamilton Herald.   October 20, 1914.

 

(To Be Continued)