The movement to receive Belgian refugees is gaining ground, too, in
German-speaking Switzerland, though here the sympathy for Germany stands
somewhat in the way of a full and open hospitality. Some papers write:
"Let the Belgians stay in their country. The Germans will take care of
them. Let those that have fled return to their hearths and take up their
daily vocations. In this way the misery of the country--which is
certainly not entirely the fault of Germany (a hit at England)--will be
alleviated. Furthermore, Switzerland's harboring of Belgian refugees is
a demonstration against Germany. Let Switzerland beware of doing
anything to prejudice her neutrality. Finally, there are in our own
country plenty of miserable poor people to exercise our charity upon,
and every one knows that charity begins at home."
Articles have appeared in the German papers expressing surprise at
Switzerland's hospitality, and to all of these carpers, at home and
abroad, these people who have acted out of the purest motives of charity
and love for their neighbor, answer somewhat as follows:
The Belgians that have come to take refuge in Switzerland wished nothing
better than to stay in their own land. They were driven out in hordes,
at the point of the sword, by the Germans. It would be hard to convince
them that they ought to go back and that the Germans will take care of
them.
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