t months, the Germans have launched new slanders against
Belgium. Their present tactics are more discreet and seem to be
successful. Many 'neutral' travelers--especially Americans and
Swiss--have been to Belgium to see the battlefields or, perhaps, to get
an idea of what such an occupation by foreign soldiers exactly amounts
to. Of course, these men can see nothing without the assistance of the
German authorities, and they can but see what is shown to them. The
greater their curiosity, the more courtesy extended to them, the more
also they feel indebted to their German hosts. These are well aware of
it: the sightseers are taken in their net, and with a very few
exceptions, their critical sense is quickly obliterated. We have
recently been shown one of the finest specimens of these American
tourists: Mr. George B. McCellan, professor of History at Princeton, who
made himself ridiculous by writing a most superficial and inaccurate
article for the "Sunday Times Magazine".

"When the good folks of Belgium recollect the spying business that was
carried on at their expense by their German 'friends,' they are not
likely to trust much their German enemies. They know that the Germans
are quite incapable of keeping to themselves any fact that they may
learn--in whatever confidential and intimate circumstances--if this fact
is of the smallest use to their own country. As it is perfectly
impossible to trust them, the best is to avoid them, and that is what
most Belgians are doing.

"American tourists seeing Belgium through German courtesy are considered
by the Belgians just as untrustworthy as the Germans themselves. This is
the right attitude, as there is no possibility left to the Belgians (in
Belgium) of testing the morality and the neutrality of their visitors.
The result of which is that these visitors are entirely given up to
their German advisers; _all their knowledge is of German origin_. Of
course, the Germans take advantage of this situation and make a show of
German efficiency and organization.--'Don't you know: the Germans have
done so much for Belgium! Why, everybody knows that this country was
very inefficient, very badly managed ... a poor little country without
influence.... See what the Germans have made of it.... There was no
compulsory education, and the number of illiterates was scandalously
high,' (I am sorry to say that this at least is true.) 'They are
introducing compulsory and free education. In the big to