No. 28.
Mr. Tree to
Mr. Bayard.
Brussels, December 19, 1887. (Received January 3, 1888.)
Sir: The burgomasters of a number of the communes in Belgium have recently issued proclamations forbidding absolutely the hoisting of the red flag, on the ground that it presents an emblem of a seditious and anti-national character.
[Page 29]Persons hostile to the existence of all government founded on law have heretofore made very free use of this emblem in Belgium in their processions and at their meetings, until it has finally become necessary, in the opinion of the executive officers in the communes where it has made its appearance, to put a stop to it.
While the persons who follow this flag through the public streets and put it over the doorways where their meetings are held are not numerous in the country and are for the most part professional agitators, yet it has been observed that it tends to irritate the law and order people, who consider it as an insult to their own national colors, and if persisted in would, as the authorities believe, lead to collisions.
I have, etc.,