INAUGURAL CEREMONY.

To-day’s ceremony was performed by Baron Goffinet, Minister Plenipotentiary of the King of the Belgians. The speeches were few and brief. From the chair the Mayor proposed the health, first of King George, and, secondly, of King Albert. Baron Goffinet, rising, amid loud cheers, spoke as follows:

I am deeply touched by what you, Mr. Mayor, have just said about the Belgian army. When I saw our troops in the month of November last, after the fall of Antwerp, I was greatly impressed by the disaster which had befallen us. But I have just come from the trenches, and I can assure you that the spirit of the Belgian soldiers is better to-day than it has ever been. (Cheers.)

British soldiers have a glorious history behind them. Everyone knows of their bravery. We on our part have been fighting for centuries under foreigners, and I am proud to say that wherever they have fought, whether under the Spanish, the Austrian, or the French flag. Belgians have always been brave soldiers. I myself have lost many of my ancestors on the battlefield. Indeed, everywhere on the battlefields of Europe you can find Belgian dead.

But for three-quarters of a century we have now been free, and I think everybody will agree with me when I say that when for the first time a free Belgium fought under her own tricolor her soldiers proved themselves equal to their old reputation, under the command of their gallant King.

Mr. Mayor was kind enough to tell us that we rendered some service at the beginning of the war. We did all we could. Poor little Belgium with her army of 150,000 men did not hesitate for a moment to fight against the Kaiser’s troops, numbering millions and millions. (Cheers.) In three days Belgium was invaded by 350,000 men. We stopped them, and thus gave the British and the French time to prepare and to chock them.