lock was later congratulated officially by the king for his
action. Undoubtedly he had a great deal to do with saving Brussels.

HISTORIC TREASURES OF BRUSSELS

The city of Brussels, thus occupied by the Germans, contains art
treasures that are priceless. The museum and public galleries are filled
with masterpieces of the Flemish and old Dutch school, while the royal
library comprises 600,000 volumes, 100,000 manuscripts and 50,000 rare
coins. Unquestionably the Brussels Museum is one of the most complete on
the Continent. A prominent historic landmark of Brussels is the King's
House (also called the Dreadhouse), an ancient structure, recently
renovated. Within its walls both the Counts Egmont and Hoorn spent the
last night before their execution, in 1567, by the hirelings of the Duke
of Alva, the Spanish Philip II's tyrannical governor of the Netherlands,
who, by means of the sword and the Inquisition, sought to establish the
Catholic religion in those countries. Brussels boasts another historic
relic known the world over--the equestrian statue of Godfrey of
Bouillon, who led the Crusaders to the Holy Land. It stands upon the
Place Royale, and was unveiled in 1848.

The magnificent Town Hall of Brussels would probably have suffered
destruction, together with the city's other beautiful buildings, had not
the government yielded without a struggle.

HEAVY WAR TAX LEVIED

General von der Goltz, appointed by the Kaiser military governor of
Belgium, levied a war tax of $40,000,000 on the capture of the capital.
Other cities occupied by the Germans were also assessed for large
sums, which in several instances had to be paid immediately on pain of
bombardment. It was announced September 1 that the four richest men in
Belgium had guaranteed the payment to Germany of the war tax. The four
men were Ernest Solvay, the alkali king; Baron Lambert, the Belgian
representative of the Rothschilds; Raoul Warocque, the mine owner, and
Baron Empain, the railway magnate.

BELGIANS RETREAT TO ANTWERP

After the German occupation almost normal conditions were soon restored
in Brussels, so far as civic life was concerned. It was speedily
announced that the Germans intended to regard the whole of Belgium as
a German province and to administer it as such, at least during the
continuance of the war. The Belgian army retired to the north within the
fortifications of Antwerp, where they were joined by French troops, but
desultory fighting a