Part 2

=All these men are Belgian Ministers of State, and were accompanied by Count de Lichtervelde, who acted as Secretary to the Mission.=

The members of this Mission first came to London to present an Address to the King. On the evening of the day these gentlemen were received by His Majesty, and later by Sir Edward Grey, I had the privilege of a private interview with them.

I had a long talk with M. Carton de Wiart, during which he unfolded to me many frightful details, and

“=These abominable crimes against humanity and civilization call for condign reprobation in the face of the civilized world.... Let us hear no more whining about German ‘culture.’ But let us make it known that we will make the world ring with our sense of horror.=”--_Frederic Harrison._

explained the reason for the appointment of a committee of inquiry. He described to me scenes he himself had witnessed. He laid stress upon the bombardment and destruction of open towns--that is, towns unprotected and undefended by any military works--such as Malines and Louvain; while Antwerp, being a fortified place, ought to have had twenty-four hours’ notice given to its inhabitants before it was attacked with bombs, yet no such notice was given. On the contrary, attacks by Zeppelins had been made without warning in the dead of night. He also described to me the atrocities committed by the Germans in the bombardment and setting fire to small villages without any military reason or necessity whatever. He related harrowing details of the massacre of perfectly innocent people, non-combatants, men, women, and children.

He showed me a letter from a person of repute in Belgium who had motored from Brussels to Louvain by the Tervueren road, in which I read: “After I got to a village named Veerde St. George I saw only burning villages; peasants beside themselves with terror threw up their arms in sign of submission on my approach. When I got to Louvain I found the whole town in ruins, and soldiers were still piling straw against buildings which had escaped the flames and igniting them.”

Authenticated Documents.

The mass of documents which the Mission were carrying to America, he informed me, were all signed statements of persons who had been eye-witnesses of the atrocities, as well as those of many who had suffered.

In a chat I also had with M. Emile Van der Velde, another member of the Delegation and the leader of the Belgian Socialists, he said: “I went to Malines after the fighting, in order to investigate the state of affairs. I found only eight Belgian people in the town, but even then the Germans were bombarding the deserted houses, apparently with the sole object of destroying them. The whole object of the Germans,” he added, “had been to create such a reign of terror that the whole population of Belgium should flee into Antwerp, and so render it impossible for the people congregated there to be fed. I myself examined the bodies of a peasant and his son which had been cut to pieces by bayonet thrusts.”

Another member of the Delegation told me that he had learned from several wounded persons how a druggist living near Tirlemont, on refusing to act as guide to the Uhlans, was shot three times and then bayoneted; and further, in the same hospital, wounded soldiers had told him how that while lying upon the battlefield many had been bayoneted or shot.

The Delegation had, earlier in the day on which I had this interview with them, presented an Address to His Majesty at Buckingham Palace, the text of which has been published. It ran:--

“SIRE,--Belgium, having had to choose between the sacrifice of her honour and the peril of war, did not hesitate. She opposed the brutal aggression committed by a Power which was one of the guarantors of her neutrality.

“In this critical situation it was for our country an inestimable tower of strength to see coming forth the resolute and immediate intervention by great and powerful England.

“Commissioned by His Majesty the King of the Belgians with a Mission to the President of the United States, we have considered it to be our duty to make a stay in the capital of the British Empire to convey to your Majesty the respectful and ardent expression of gratitude of the Belgian nation....

“Our adversary, after invading our territory, has decimated the civil population, massacred women and children, carried into captivity inoffensive peasants, put to death wounded, destroyed undefended towns, burned churches, historical monuments, and the famous library of the University of Louvain. All these facts are established by authenticated documents. Each we shall have the honour of submitting to the Government of your Majesty.

“In spite of all this suffering in Belgium, which has been made the personification of outraged right, the country is resolute in fulfilling to the utmost her duties towards Europe. Whatever may happen, she must defend her existence, her honour, and her liberty.”

The King, in reply, said that he would support Belgium, and expressed his horror at the shocking report of German brutality.

The Belgian Minister’s Statements.

The delegation was subsequently received by Sir Edward Grey at the Foreign Office, where they outlined some of the violations of international law and of humanity committed by Germany, viz.:--

1. Violation of Belgium’s neutrality.

2. Taking of several millions of francs from the private National Bank at Liége and Hasselt.

3. Bombardment of the open towns of Louvain and Malines and the bombardment of Antwerp at night by airship without the twenty-four hours’ notice due in international law to the inhabitants of a fortified town.

4. Bombardment and burning of villages and the massacre of non-combatant inhabitants, including women and children.

III.

Our own Press Bureau issued on the 25th August the following statement to the English Press:--

“The Belgian Minister has made the following statement:--

“In spite of solemn assurances of good will and long-standing treaty obligations, Germany has made a sudden savage and utterly unwarranted attack on Belgium.

“However sorely pressed she may be, Belgium will never fight unfairly and never stoop to infringe the laws and customs of legitimate warfare. She is putting up a brave fight against overwhelming odds; she may be beaten, she may be crushed, but, to quote our noble King’s words, ‘She will never be enslaved.’

“When German troops invaded our country, the Belgian Government issued public statements, which were placarded in every town, village, and hamlet, warning all civilians to abstain scrupulously from hostile acts against the enemy’s troops. The Belgian Press daily published similar notices broadcast through the land. Nevertheless, the German authorities have issued lately statements containing grave imputations against the attitude of the Belgian civilian population, threatening us at the same time with dire reprisals. These imputations are contrary to the real facts of the case, and as to threats of further vengeance, no menace of odious reprisals on the part of the German troops will deter the Belgian Government from protesting before the civilized world against the fearful and atrocious crimes committed wilfully and deliberately by the invading hosts against helpless non-combatants, old men, women, and children.

“Long is the list of outrages committed by the German troops and appalling the details of atrocities, as vouched for by the Committee of Inquiry recently formed by the Belgian Minister of Justice and presided over by him. This committee comprises the highest judicial and University authorities of Belgium, such as Chief Justice Van Iseghem, Judge Nys, Professors Cottier, Wodon, etc.

“The following instances and particulars have been established by careful investigations, based in each case on the evidence of reliable eye-witnesses:--

“German cavalry occupying the village of Linsmeau were attacked by some Belgian infantry and two gendarmes. A German officer was killed by our troops during the fight and subsequently buried at the request of the Belgian officer in command. No one of the civilian population took part in the fighting at Linsmeau. Nevertheless, the village was invaded at dusk on August 10th by a strong force of German cavalry, artillery, and machine guns.

“In spite of the formal assurances given by the Burgomaster of Linsmeau that none of the peasants had taken part in the previous fight, two farms and six outlying houses were destroyed by gun fire and burnt. All the male inhabitants were then compelled to come forward and hand over whatever arms they possessed. No recently discharged firearms were found.

* * * * *

“=Nevertheless, the invaders divided these peasants into three groups; those in one group were bound, and eleven of them placed in a ditch, where they were afterwards found dead, their skulls fractured by the butts of German rifles.=

“=During the night of August 10th German cavalry entered Velm in great numbers. The inhabitants were asleep. The Germans, without provocation, fired on M. Deglimme Gevers’ house, broke into it, destroyed furniture, looted money, burnt barns, hay and corn stacks, farm implements, six oxen, and the contents of the farmyard. They carried off Mrs. Deglimme, half naked, to a place two miles away. She was then let go, and was fired upon as she fled, without being hit. Her husband was carried away in another direction and fired upon. He is dying. The same troops sacked and burned the house of a railway watchman.=

* * * * *

“Farmer Jef Dierick, of Neerhespen, bears witness to the following acts of cruelty committed by German cavalry at Orsmael and Neerhespen on August 10th, 11th, and 12th:--

“=An old man of the latter village had his arm sliced in three longitudinal cuts; he was then hanged head downwards and burned alive. Young girls have been raped and little children outraged at Orsmael, where several inhabitants suffered mutilations too horrible to describe. A Belgian soldier belonging to a battalion of cyclist carabiniers, who had been wounded and made prisoner, was hanged; whilst another, who was tending his comrade, was bound to a telegraph pole on the St. Trond road and shot.=

“On Wednesday, August 12th, after an engagement at Haelen, Commandant Van Damme, so severely wounded that he was lying prone on his back, was finally murdered by German infantrymen firing their revolvers into his mouth.

“On Monday, August 10th, at Orsmael, the Germans picked up Commandant Knapen, very seriously wounded, propped him up against a tree, and shot him. Finally they hacked his corpse with swords.

“In different places, notably at Hollogue sur Geer, Barchon, Pontisse, Haelen, and Zelck, German troops have fired on doctors, ambulance bearers, ambulances, and ambulance wagons carrying the Red Cross.

“At Boncelles a body of German troops marched into battle carrying a Belgian flag.

WHY THE GERMANS COMMIT ATROCITIES.

“=True strategy consists in hitting your enemy, and hitting him hard. Above all you must inflict on the inhabitants of invaded towns the maximum of suffering, so that they may become sick of the struggle and may bring pressure to bear on their Government to discontinue it. You must leave the people through whom you march only their eyes to weep with.=

“=In every case the principle which guided our general was that war must be made terrible to the civil population, so that it may sue for peace.=”

=BISMARCK.=

“On Thursday, August 6th, before a fort at Liége, German soldiers continued to fire on a party of Belgian soldiers (who were unarmed, and had been surrounded while digging a trench) after these had hoisted the white flag.

“On the same day, at Vottem, near the fort of Loncin, a group of German infantry hoisted the white flag. When Belgian soldiers approached to take them prisoners the Germans suddenly opened fire on them at close range.

“Harrowing reports of German savagery at Aerschot have reached the Belgian Government at Antwerp from official local sources. Thus on Tuesday, August 18th, the Belgian troops occupying a position in front of Aerschot received orders to retire without engaging the enemy. A small force was left behind to cover the retreat. This force resisted valiantly against overwhelming German forces, and inflicted serious losses on them. Meanwhile, practically the whole civilian population of Aerschot, terrorized by the atrocities committed by the Germans in the neighbouring villages, had fled from the town.

“Next day, Wednesday, August 19th, German troops entered Aerschot, without a shot having been fired from the town and without any resistance whatever having been made. The few inhabitants that remained had closed their doors and windows in compliance with the general orders issued by the Belgian Government. Nevertheless, the Germans broke into the houses and told the inhabitants to quit.

“=In one single street the first six male inhabitants who crossed their thresholds were seized and shot at once, under the very eyes of their wives and children.=

“The German troops then retired for the day, only to return in greater numbers on the next day, Thursday, August 20th.

“They then compelled the inhabitants to leave their houses and marched them to a place two hundred yards from the town. There, without more ado, they shot M. Thielemans, the Burgomaster, his fifteen-year-old son, the clerk of the local judicial board, and ten prominent citizens. They then set fire to the town and destroyed it.

“The following statement was made by Commandant Georges Gilson, of the 9th Infantry of the Line, now lying in hospital at Antwerp:--

“I was told to cover the retreat of our troops in front of Aerschot. During the action fought there on Wednesday, August 19th, between six and eight o’clock in the morning, suddenly I saw on the high road, between the German and Belgian forces, which were fighting at close range, a group of four women, with babies in their arms, and two little girls clinging to their skirts. Our men stopped firing till the women got through our lines, but the German machine guns went on firing all the time, and one of the women was wounded in the arm.

“=These women could not have got through the neighbouring German lines and been on the high road unless with the consent of the enemy.=

“=All the evidence and circumstances seem to point to the fact that these women had been deliberately pushed forward by the Germans to act as a shield for their advance guard, and in the hope that the Belgians would cease firing for fear of killing the women and children.=

“This statement was made and duly certified in the Antwerp hospital on August 22nd by Commandant Gilson in the presence of the Chevalier Ernst N. Bunswyck, Chief Secretary to the Belgian Minister of Justice, and M. de Cartier de Marchienne, Belgian Minister to China.

“Further German atrocities were continuously being brought to notice and made the subject of official and expert inquiry by the proper authorities.

“In publishing the above statements the only comment the Press Bureau can offer is, that these atrocities appear to be committed in villages and throughout the countryside with the deliberate intention of terrorizing the people, and so making it unnecessary to leave troops in occupation of small places, or to protect lines of communication. _In larger places, like Brussels, where the diplomatic representatives of neutral Powers are eye-witnesses, there appear to have been no excesses._”

=Such was the document issued by the Press Bureau. I have quoted it word for word= (emphasizing only in italics or in heavy type certain passages).

PRIMITIVE SAVAGERY.

“=Their utter contempt for the established usages of international intercourse, and even for the ordinary decencies of life, was displayed in their brutal treatment of the French and Russian Ambassadors, in the stripping naked of the wives of Russian officials, in the atrocities they have since committed in Belgium, in their seizure of hostages, in their homicidal mine-laying in the North Sea. In all these matters one seems to discern a sudden lapse into primitive savagery.=”

--Dr. Dillon in the _Contemporary Review_.

IV.

The following is the second report issued by the Belgian Commission of Inquiry, and which was published by the British Official Press Bureau on September 15th, 1914.

Second Report of the Belgian Committee of Inquiry.

To M. Carton de Wiart, Minister of Justice, Antwerp.

Sir,--The Commission of Inquiry has the honour to make the following report on acts of which the town of Louvain, the neighbourhood, and the district of Malines have been the scene.

The German Army entered Louvain on Wednesday, August 19th, after having burned down the villages through which it had passed.

As soon as they had entered the town of Louvain the Germans requisitioned food and lodging for their troops. They went to all the banks of the town and took possession of the cash in hand. German soldiers burst open the doors of houses which had been abandoned by their inhabitants, pillaged them, and committed other excesses.

The German authorities took as hostages the mayor of the city, Senator Van der Kelen, the Vice-Rector of the Catholic University, and the senior priest of the city, besides certain magistrates and aldermen. All the weapons possessed by the inhabitants, even fencing swords, had already been given up to the municipal authorities and placed by them in the Church of St. Pierre.

In a neighbouring village, Corbeek Loo, on Wednesday, August 19th, a young woman, aged twenty-two, whose husband was with the Army, and some of her relations, were surprised by a band of German soldiers. The persons who were with her were locked up in a deserted house, while she herself was dragged into another cottage, where she was assaulted by five soldiers.

Fate of 16-year-old Girl.

In the same village on Thursday, August 20, German soldiers fetched from their house a young girl, about sixteen years old, and her parents. They conducted them to a small deserted country house, and while some of them held back the father and mother, others entered the house, and, finding the cellar open, forced the girl to drink. They then brought her on to the lawn in front of the house and assaulted her. Finally they stabbed her in the breast with their bayonets.

When this young girl had been abandoned by them after these abominable deeds, she was brought back to her parents’ house, and the following day, in view of the gravity of her condition, she received extreme unction from the parish priest and was taken to the hospital of Louvain, as her life was despaired of.

On August 24 and 25 Belgian troops made a sortie from the entrenched camp of Antwerp and attacked the German army before Malines. The Germans were thrown back on Louvain and Vilvorde.

On entering the villages which had been occupied by the enemy the Belgian army found them devastated. The Germans, as they retired, had pillaged and burnt the villages, taking with them the male inhabitants, whom they forced to march in front of them.

Belgian soldiers entering Hofstade on August 25 found the body of an old woman who had been killed by bayonet thrusts. She still held in her hand the needle with which she was sewing when she was killed. A woman and her fifteen or sixteen year old son lay on the ground, pierced by bayonets. A man had been hanged.

At Sempst, a neighbouring village, were found the bodies of two men partially carbonised. One of them had his legs cut off at the knees; the other had the arms and legs cut off. A workman, whose burnt body has been seen by several witnesses, had been struck several times with bayonets, and then, while still alive, the Germans had poured petroleum over him and thrown him into a house to which they set fire. A woman who came out of her house was killed in the same way.

A witness, whose evidence has been taken by a reliable British subject, declares that he saw, on August 26, not far from Malines, during the last Belgian attack, an old man tied by the arms to one of the rafters in the ceiling of his farm. The body was completely carbonised, but the head, arms, and feet were unburnt. Further on, a child of about fifteen was tied up, the hands behind the back, and the body was completely torn open with bayonet wounds. Numerous corpses of peasants lay on the ground in positions of supplication, their arms lifted and their hands clasped.

Facts about Louvain.

At nightfall on August 26 the German troops, repulsed by our soldiers, entered Louvain panic-stricken. Several witnesses affirm that the German garrison which occupied Louvain was erroneously informed that the enemy were entering the town. Men of the garrison immediately marched to the station, shooting haphazard the while, and there met the German troops who had been repulsed by the Belgians, the latter having just ceased the pursuit.

Everything tends to prove that the German regiments fired on one another. At once the Germans began bombarding the town, pretending that civilians had fired on the troops, a suggestion which is contradicted by all the witnesses, and could scarcely have been possible, because the inhabitants of Louvain had had to give up their arms to the municipal authorities several days before.

The bombardment lasted till about ten o’clock at night. The Germans then set fire to the town. Wherever the fire had not spread, the German soldiers entered the houses and threw fire grenades, with which some of them seemed to be provided. The greater part of the town of Louvain was thus a prey to the flames, particularly the quarters of the upper town, comprising the modern buildings, the ancient Cathedral of St. Pierre, the university buildings, together with the university library, its manuscripts and collections, and the municipal theatre.

The Commission considers it its duty to insist, in the midst of all these horrors, on the crime committed against civilisation by the deliberate destruction of an academic library which was one of the treasures of Europe.

The corpses of many civilians encumbered the streets and squares. On the road from Tirlemont to Louvain alone a witness counted more than fifty. On the doorsteps of houses could be seen carbonised bodies of inhabitants, who, hiding in their cellars, were driven out by the fire, tried to escape, and fell into the flames. The suburbs of Louvain suffered the same fate.

We can affirm that the houses in all the districts between Louvain and Malines, and most of the suburbs of Louvain itself, have practically been destroyed.

Thousands Sent to Germany.

On Wednesday morning, August 26th, the Germans brought to the station squares of Louvain a group of more than seventy-five persons, including several prominent citizens of the town, among whom were Father Coloboet and another Spanish priest, and also an American priest.

The men were brutally separated from their wives and children, and after having been subjected to the most abominable treatment by the Germans, who several times threatened to shoot them, they were forced to march to the village of Campenhout in front of the German troops. They were shut up in the village church, where they passed the night.