Belgian Revolution

"I am convinced that this country is headed straight for anarchy, not to say revolution."

"Between the Belgian and Dutch minds there is now no more a covenant to be made than between that of evil and that of good."

"Bah! you were there… well, that's good for once, but for the second time I'd advise the Dutchman to stay at home, or we'll deal with him here, as they say the Devil agrees with the Holy Job has done."

"The Flemish, well they are big children."

"Move, brothers! there once more Where, before twenty-five years, Dressed in war garb, we were; Where we, united by one band, As Sons of one Fatherland, Before Prince and Country stood in battle."

"They err who wish to see our fathers everywhere and always clean and spotless."

"To proclaim to distant posterity the praise of a people who... When apostasy and betrayal suddenly tore the Kingdom of the Netherlands apart, and the Belgians, in the swoon of their freedom fever, in bold hubris threatened even the old borders of the Kingdom, cut and remained faithful to his legitimate Prince, from the respected and beloved house of Orange."

"For twenty-five years you Flemings have been misunderstood, oppressed and humiliated', For 25 years the Flemings were addressed in a foreign language, sentenced and tried, for 25 years they had to do with French money, a French court, a French army and a French administration. For twenty-five years you have been strangers in your own land."

"Come, Flemish and Wael brothers, Lie upon Belgium's breast, Unite voice and heart, For your beloved prince."

"A smile of self-satisfaction and pride shines on the face of every citizen, and he lifts his eye in thanks to God, who granted him the small but richly blessed Belgium as his birthplace."

"The discourse of those gentlemen whose clothing glitters with gold trim, of those rough workmen who have donned their Sunday smock, of those women whose long lace caps remind us of the Scheldt River; yes, even of the brussels schoolboys who so boldly push through the crowd. All... bless the name of the King, all speak of his unblemished faithfulness and infinite wisdom..."

"In the midst of all this wealth we have seen something humble, something seemingly small, which nevertheless moved us deeply. It was in a dark alley of the lower town, in front of a little house so low that one could touch its roof with one's hand. An old woman, perhaps eighty years old, was decorating her hut. Her hands trembled with stiffness, her chest hygged with heaviness. She brought an image of the well-beloved King in front of her few windows, an image which might not have cost ten cents. Around it she hung a wreath of cut flowers and tinsel; under a strip of paper on which her waddling hand had written in almost illegible letters. Long live the King! On the other side a stone candlestick, to burn two small candles on it in the evening. This was the patriotic tribute of the poor decrepit widow! Perhaps such simplicity would make others smile; she snatched from us a tear of admiration and compassion..."

"The revolution of 1830 in the Netherlands is and will remain the greatest state error of this year one hundred."

"There is a kingdom on earth where the Walloon willfully lord it over, and deal with 'the Flemish race' 'as if it had been conquered'."

"The people have made the revolution, the people have chased the Dutch from Belgian soil; the people alone, and not the Prince of Orange at all, are at the head of the movement which gave it its independence and which will establish its political nationality."