paX et saLVsneVtra LItateMserVant IBVs DetVr.("May peace and security be granted to those who preserve neutrality.")(1637.)
Herr Otto Eduard Schmidt, returning from the French front by way of Dinant, was struck by this inscription. "I could not learn for certain," he says, "by questioning passing soldiers of the Landsturm, whether the inscription had lately been placed there or had merely been re-gilt. But in any case, I should regard it an insult to German authority, and I am astonished that this insult should be tolerated" (O. E. Schmidt,Eine Fahrt zu den Sachsen an die Front, p. 131). What would HerrSchmidt say if he knew that it was his own countrymen who, in a fit of shameless cynicism, caused this inscription to be renovated?
Surrender of the Critical Spirit. Refusal to Examine the Accusations of Cruelty.
Painfully moved by the horrors committed in Belgium, M. Charles Magnet, the National Grand Master of Belgian Freemasonry, wrote on the 9th September to nine German lodges, requesting them to institute, by common consent, an inquiry into the facts. Since the Germans denied the atrocities of which their troops were accused, and, on the other hand, were accusing the Belgians of maltreating the wounded, such an inquiry could only have a happy result. Two lodges only replied. "The request is superfluous; this inquiry would be an insult to our army," replied the Darmstadt lodge. "Our troops are not ill-conducted; it would even be dangerous to recommend them to display sensibility and kindness," replied the Bayreuth lodge.
The argument may be summarized thus: "We know, as Germans, that we possess the truth; it is useless, therefore, to go in search of it with the help of an impartial commission." In a second letter M. Magnet commented on these evasions, as contrary to the spirit of brotherhood as to the scientific spirit.
Let it not be supposed that the refusal to examine, objectively and impartially, the German and the Belgian accusations, is peculiar to Freemasonry. On the 24th January, 1915, Cardinal Mercier requested the German authorities in Belgium to set up a commission comprising both Germans and Belgians, under the presidency of a representative of a neutral country. His request was accorded no reply.
Thus the Germans refuse to allow any light to be thrown on their actions and those of the Belgians. Why this opposition to a faithful search for the truth? They fear, perhaps, that the truth will be unfavourable to them. That is undoubtedly one of their reasons; but we do not think it can be the only reason; and the principal reason for their refusal is without doubt the voluntary blindness to which they have one and all subjected themselves since the outbreak of the war.
They have decided, one would imagine, to accept, without any discussion, whatever is decreed by authority, which they invest with the absolute truth; every German calmly receives that portion of the truth which the Government thinks fit to dispense to its faithful, and no German permits himself to ask for more.Magister dixit: the Staff has spoken!
Since the month of August a strict censorship has been exercised over the Press.Vorwärtsand other Socialist sheets have several times been suspended. TheKölnischer Volkszeitungwas suspended on the 11th September, 1914, for having published articles disposing of at least a part of the so-called Belgian atrocities.... And then, apparently, it proceeded to take them for granted; for afterwards it even aggravated the accusations brought against the Belgians.
TheVossische Zeitungitself, official as it is, had its issue of the 1st December, 1914, seized on account of an article on a commission of the Reichstag (N.R.C., 3rd December, 1914, evening). At the same time the Government was careful to stop all foreign books and newspapers. This prohibition is so strict that Dutch working-men going to work in Germany are not allowed to wrap their sandwichesin newspaper (N.R.C., 10th December, 1914, evening).
In Germany even people are beginning to find the censorship a little too strict. Before the Budget Commission of the Reichstag Herr Scheidemann, the Socialist deputy, complained that in the district of Rüstringen certain of the German official communiqués even were prohibited. The newspapers may not leave blank the spaces caused by the censorship, as the latter must not appear. At Strasburg the censorship prohibited the publication of articles dealing with the increased price of milk. At Dortmund the Socialist newspapers were subjected to a preventive censorship for having inserted an article by the sociologist Lujo Brentano, one of the "Ninety-three," professor at the University of Münich (N.R.C., 16th May, 1913, morning).
Does the German public, knowing that the newspapers publish none but articles inspired by authority, or at least controlled thereby, accept this sophisticated mental pabulum in good part? Or does it make an effort to procure foreign publications? One must believe that it does not, for in that case the "intellectuals," better informed, would cease to blindly accept the official declarations.
"But," it will perhaps be said, "since the Government forbids the introduction of foreign newspapers, it is radically impossible to obtain them." We do not know just how the Germans could obtain pamphlets and newspapers, but we do know that in Belgium we read prohibited literature every day—French, Dutch, and English. Any one who does not intend to resign himself to living in an oubliette will succeed, in spite of everything, in opening some chink that the light may shinethrough; and this light, when we have received it, we hasten to share. It is forbidden, under the severest penalties, including the capital, to introduce newspapers into Belgium; it is forbidden, under the same penalties, to publish and distribute "false news," as our masters call it. It makes little difference to us; not an article or book of importance appears abroad but it reaches us, and two days later it is secretly distributed in thousands of copies. There will be a curious book for some one to write when the war is over, on the subject of the strange and ingenious means employed by the Belgians, prisoners in their own country since August 1914, to obtain and distribute prohibited letterpress.
There is accordingly no doubt that if the Germans really wished it they could without great difficulty obtain reliable "documentation." But they do not wish it. They, of late so proud of their critical spirit, who made it their rule, so they professed—and their glory, as was thought—to accept only that which their reason commanded them to believe! They have abdicated their critical faculty; they have sacrificed it to the militarist Moloch. And to-day, with eyes closed, they swallow all that the Government and its reptile Press presents to them.
The Abolition of Free Discussion in Germany.
What am I saying? Not only are they ready to swallow all the lies offered to them; they have even abolished liberty of speech among themselves. A striking example of this fact was given by theN.R.C.(of the 16th November, 1914, morning edition). Dr. Wekberg, one of the three editors of a German periodical, theRevue des Volksrechts,retired from his editorship because his colleagues refused to insert an article in which he declared that Germany's attitude towards Belgium was perhaps disputable. It would be difficult to push intolerance of criticism much farther.
In the same connection we may recall the sessions of the Reichstag of the 4th August, 1914, the 2nd December, 1914, and the 20th March, 1915. At the first session not a voice protested against the war. At the second, the Socialist deputy, Dr. Karl Liebknecht, asked leave to present some objections, which indeed were timid enough; he was at once disowned by his party. On the 20th March the deputy Ledebour permitted himself to criticize the proclamation of Marshal von Hindenburg, prescribing the burning of three Russian villages for any German village burned by the Russians. Both these deputies expressed the opinion that it is iniquitous to punish the innocent in the place of the guilty. Immediately the whole assembly, Socialists included, copiously abused and insulted the two speakers. We may remark that Herr Ledebour was discussing not a strategical measure, but a prescription that was merely inhuman (seeK.Z., 20th March, 1915, evening).
These few examples are enough to show that the Socialists lend themselves to militarist domestication with the same docility as the "bourgeois" parties. As for the Catholic remnant in the Reichstag, its docility surpasses even that of the Socialists.
In short, all the political parties, without exception, have abdicated their liberty of thought, to accept, obsequiously and without the slightest attempt at discussion, the ready-made opinions provided by authority. Such, in Germany, is the power ofdiscipline, that all have submitted without protest—one might almost say wantonly—to the voluntary extirpation of the critical spirit. But the inevitable results of this servility were not long in showing themselves; having renounced the employment of reason, the Germans now accept the most extravagant lies.
German Credulity.
We have remarked that one day a curious book may be written as to the expedients invented by the Belgians to obtain news from abroad and to distribute it throughout the country. Equally interesting—but how discouraging, from the standpoint of the progressive evolution of the human mind—will be the book containing the amazing examples of credulity afforded by the Germans during this war. When speaking of the German accusations against the Belgians we cited the case of the rifles collected in the Hôtel de Ville, which were exhibited to the German soldiers as the irrefutable proof of the official premeditation of the "franc-tireur" campaign (p.90Not only were the soldiers thus deluded. A well-known novelist, Herr Fedor von Zobeltitz, visiting in Antwerp a museum of arms, which contained war weapons of the Middle Ages, cried: "See how Belgium made ready for the war!" Was he sincere? It is difficult to say, for artists often allow their sensibility to run away with them. One may say the same of the Kaiser, who also declared that Belgium had long been preparing for the "war offrancs-tireurs"; and even, perhaps, of Herr Bethmann-Hollweg, who spoke, in his manifesto to the American newspapers, of gouged-outeyes and other atrocities whose falsity he could very easily have ascertained.
News published by the German Government.Berlin,10th September.—TheNorddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitungpublishes the following telegram addressed by the Emperor to President Wilson of the United States:—"I consider it my duty, Mr. President, to inform you, in your quality of a most distinguished representative of humanitarian principles, of the fact that my troops discovered, after the capture of the French fortress of Longwy, in that fortress, thousands of dum-dum bullets made in special workshops by the Government. Bullets of the same kind have been found on dead soldiers, or wounded or prisoners, of English nationality. You know what horrible wounds and sufferings are caused by these balls, and that their employment is forbidden by the recognized principles of international law. I therefore raise a solemn protest against such a mode of making war, which has become, thanks to the methods of our adversaries, one of the most barbarous of history."Not only have they themselves employed this cruel weapon, but the Belgian Government has openly encouraged the civil population to take part in this war, which it had carefully for a long time prepared. The cruelties inflicted, in the course of this guerilla war, by women and even by priests, upon wounded soldiers, doctors, and hospital nurses (doctors have been killed and hospitals fired on) have been such that my generals have finally found themselves obliged to resort to the most rigorous means to chastise the guilty and to prevent the bloodthirsty population from continuing these abominable, criminal, and hateful acts. Many villages, and even the city of Louvain, have had to be demolished (except the very beautiful Hôtel de Ville) in the interest of our defence and the protection of our troops. My heart bleeds when I see that such measures have been rendered inevitable, and when I think of the innumerable innocent persons who have lost their homes and their belongings as a result of the deeds of the criminals in question."Wilhelm I.R."The German Military Government.Declaration of the Chancellor of the Empire to the Associated and United Press, New York.... In this way England will tell your compatriots that the German troops have burned and sacked Belgian towns andvillages, but she will carefully conceal the fact that young Belgian girls have gouged out the eyes of wounded men stretched defenceless on the field of battle, that the functionaries of Belgian towns have invited German officers to dinner and have treacherously shot them dead at table. Contrary to international law, the whole civil population of Belgium has been called to arms[33]and has treacherously risen against our troops with concealed arms and a perfidy incredible after having first of all feigned a friendly welcome. Belgian women have cut the throats of German soldiers quartered on them while they slept....Journal de la Guerre(an organ of German propaganda).
News published by the German Government.
Berlin,10th September.—TheNorddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitungpublishes the following telegram addressed by the Emperor to President Wilson of the United States:—
"I consider it my duty, Mr. President, to inform you, in your quality of a most distinguished representative of humanitarian principles, of the fact that my troops discovered, after the capture of the French fortress of Longwy, in that fortress, thousands of dum-dum bullets made in special workshops by the Government. Bullets of the same kind have been found on dead soldiers, or wounded or prisoners, of English nationality. You know what horrible wounds and sufferings are caused by these balls, and that their employment is forbidden by the recognized principles of international law. I therefore raise a solemn protest against such a mode of making war, which has become, thanks to the methods of our adversaries, one of the most barbarous of history.
"Not only have they themselves employed this cruel weapon, but the Belgian Government has openly encouraged the civil population to take part in this war, which it had carefully for a long time prepared. The cruelties inflicted, in the course of this guerilla war, by women and even by priests, upon wounded soldiers, doctors, and hospital nurses (doctors have been killed and hospitals fired on) have been such that my generals have finally found themselves obliged to resort to the most rigorous means to chastise the guilty and to prevent the bloodthirsty population from continuing these abominable, criminal, and hateful acts. Many villages, and even the city of Louvain, have had to be demolished (except the very beautiful Hôtel de Ville) in the interest of our defence and the protection of our troops. My heart bleeds when I see that such measures have been rendered inevitable, and when I think of the innumerable innocent persons who have lost their homes and their belongings as a result of the deeds of the criminals in question.
"Wilhelm I.R."The German Military Government.
Declaration of the Chancellor of the Empire to the Associated and United Press, New York.
... In this way England will tell your compatriots that the German troops have burned and sacked Belgian towns andvillages, but she will carefully conceal the fact that young Belgian girls have gouged out the eyes of wounded men stretched defenceless on the field of battle, that the functionaries of Belgian towns have invited German officers to dinner and have treacherously shot them dead at table. Contrary to international law, the whole civil population of Belgium has been called to arms[33]and has treacherously risen against our troops with concealed arms and a perfidy incredible after having first of all feigned a friendly welcome. Belgian women have cut the throats of German soldiers quartered on them while they slept....
Journal de la Guerre(an organ of German propaganda).
We will suppose, for the time being—to be extremely generous to the Kaiser and his Chancellor—that they accepted, in good faith, the accusations of cruelty brought against the Belgians, and that they carefully refrained from investigating them, so that they should not be forced to recognize their imbecility.
Voluntary Blindness of the "Intellectual."
Perhaps it will be objected that the examples hitherto cited emanate chiefly from politicians and literary men, who are not accustomed to exercise their judgment. But there are also the manifestoes of the professorial body, that is, those whose essential mission consists in passing facts and ideas through the sieve of criticism, to isolate the true from the false, and to extract from error the fragment of truth which may have fallen into it. For what is the effect of teaching, of whatever degree, if it is not the constant alertness of the critical spirit, which seeks, in all things and at every moment, to separate that which is true and which should therefore be communicated to the disciple from the medley of false and useless things which may with impunity be abandoned to oblivion? And when the teacher is also a seeker, has he not once more unceasingly to exercise his critical spirit, that he may recognize in the host of ideas which present themselves to him those which may lead him to the desired end—and, once this is attained, those which he may use as a touchstone to test experimentally the validity of these deductions? In short, for the professor and the scientific worker there is no intellectual faculty more indispensable than the critical spirit.
Now among those who have dashed into the lists to champion, with their pens, the rights of Germany, and to crush her adversaries, we must make a quite special mention of the professors and schoolmasters. Let us begin with the latter. Their principal argument in denial of the barbarous conduct of which the German troops have been accused, is that it would be incompatible with the flourishing condition of the educational institutions of Germany. As though elementary education was capable of eliminating from humanity the profound imprints of its intimate mentality! Instruction may hide them, as under a veneer, but it can never cause their disappearance.
The Germans, after Sadowa and the war of 1870-1, declared that the whole honour of their victories was due to their primary education. "The French campaign is the triumph of the German schoolmaster." Those who in Belgium have seen the villages devastated by fire and the graves of the civilians shot, and above all the pillaged homes, with furniture and crockery broken into small fragments, and the filthy beds, will carry away the impressionthat "the Belgian campaign is the bankruptcy of the German schoolmaster."
The Manifesto of the "Ninety-three."
The famous manifesto of the "ninety-three Intellectuals" to the civilized world is only too well known, and has already been so universally execrated, that there is no need to discuss it at length. The reading of this document, which ought to be carefully preserved for the edification of future generations, might almost make us doubt the sanity of the signatories. How could they have imagined that "the civilized world" would accept their affirmations and their denials? Both are equally devoid of proof. To cite only one proposition—what are we to think of the amazing declaration that not a single Belgian citizen has lost his life or his property—except in the case of the bitterest necessity? Have they never seen the train-loads of "war-booty" entering Germany? It would certainly be interesting to hear them explain what is the "bitter necessity," under whose empire pianos and pictures have to be carried off from Belgium, or that which compels the Germans to force the collecting-boxes in the churches, or that which made them shoot Father Dupierreux for writing in his diary impressions unfavourable to the Germans!
It would be cruel to insist. The "Ninety-three" have already earned, as the first penalty of their evil action, the disgust of the whole world. Further dissection of their libel inevitably leads us to the conclusion that the signatories display therein either their lack of intelligence or their servility; and that their only plausible excuse is that they allowedthemselves to be carried away by their German pride, the most incommensurable, intolerant, and insupportable which the world has ever known. We will confine ourselves to referring the reader to the principal replies which were made to the manifesto of the "Ninety-three." They are those of M. Seippel, Mr. Church, the Portuguese Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres, the French Academy of Medicine, the French Universities, the Zoological Society of France, the English "intellectuals," M. Ruyssen, M. Vandervelde, andSimplicissimus.
There is yet one point to be mentioned. The declaration of the German "intellectuals" was first made known to us by an article in theKriegs Echoof the 16th October, 1914, entitledEs ist Nicht Wahr, and giving the whole manifesto, excepting the signatures and the paragraph referring to Louvain. Well! when we had read this tissue of flagrant lies we attributed it to some journalist who dared not even sign his name to his lucubrations. And when, later, we were told that the authors—or more exactly the signatories—comprised some of the most celebrated writers in Germany, we believed the whole thing must be a hoax. But we had to admit the evidence. It was for many of us a very painful moment when our illusions as to the stability of science in Germany were thus dispelled.
The Manifesto of the 3,125 Professors.
Did the Government consider that the representatives of science and art were not yet sufficiently compromised, and that they had not yet sufficiently involved the fate of the Universities with that ofMilitarism? In any case, only a few days after the publication of the manifesto of the "Ninety-three" a fresh declaration appeared, devoted entirely to the promotion of the solidarity of superior education with the army, and signed by 3,125 names, or those of almost all the professors of Germany.
The mentality of the masters pales before that of the disciples. The Brussels correspondent of theN.R.C.relates (N.R.C., 11th November, 1914, morning), that of the innumerable soldiers whom he has seen passing, the only ones whose attitude was insolent were young university students of Berlin. Moreover, the German Socialists who visited ourMaison du Peupleavowed that the troops who burned Louvain were principally composed of "intellectuals"!
Besides the intellectuals of the teaching profession and the arts, those "barbarian scholars," as M. Emile Boutroux calls them, there is another category, which has likewise been mobilized to defend the militarist spirit and the Hohenzollern dynasty. This is the clergy: Protestant pastors, Catholic priests, Israelitish rabbis; all without distinction have been touched by the militarist grace and have entered the campaign for the good cause.
The Protestant Pastors.
Honour where honour is due! Herr O. Dryander, first preacher to the Court of Berlin, published a collective letter, drafted by himself, Herr Lahusen, and Herr Axenfeld, in reply to M. Babut's appeal for a declaration from the Christians of the belligerent countries, demanding that the war should be conducted conformably with Christian principles andthe laws of humanity.[34]Herr Dryander and his acolytes refuse to entertain the idea that "a step of this nature could be necessary in Germany in order that the war shall be conducted conformably with Christian ideas and the claims of the most elementary humanity." Without cross-examination, without any sort of discussion, they adopt the accusations made against the armies of the Allies, and they deny the actions of which the Germans are accused. This is, as will be seen, the same method as that of the German Freemasons in an analogous case. Then they naturally sing the old refrain: "The war has been forced upon Germany" (they do not say "by Belgium"). In short, there is no need to throw any light on the subject, as there is already light within their minds, and the German mind is of course the only mind one must take into account.
The same theologian has published several pamphlets of sermons;Evangelische Reden in Schwerer Zeit. The general theme remains the same. "We have been compelled to accept war" (1, p. 5); "We are fighting for ourKulturagainst the absence ofKultur—for German morality against barbarism—for the free German personality, attached to God, against the instincts of the disorderly masses" (1, p. 7). "If God be for us, who can be against us?"[35]"Now if ever there was a just cause assuredly it is ours" (1, p. 9). "War is a duty only when it is undertaken for legitimate defence.... Let us thank God that in the present war our state of legitimate defence is so secure and so evident, and that it is almost every day stayed up by fresh proofs; also we have unshakable confidence in our right and in the purity of our conscience" (2, pp. 38-9).
Here is a sermon of a somewhat peculiar kind. Herr Busch, having explained that Germany is like a peaceful stroller who suddenly finds himself attacked by two assassins, and then by a third (p. 5), declares that "in spite of all the German soldiers love their enemies." "God be thanked," he says, "we have already read of most touching examples in the newspapers. A German sergeant-major, who had been obliged to have a man and woman shot, in Belgium, after a council of war, adopted their only child, a little girl of two or three years; for he was himself without children; as his regiment soon afterwards left for Eastern Prussia, and was passing through his own town, he took the child to give it to his wife" (p. 9). Pray God—we might add, whose civilization is only Belgian—that there are not too many married men without children among the soldiers of the Kaiser, for they have a way of making orphans in order to adopt them which would cost our country dear.
Herr Correvon, pastor of the Reformed Church (French-speaking) in Frankfort-on-Main, preached a sermon on the 9th August, 1914, on the text: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" His arguments amount to this: Germany, having the right on her side, will have God on her side also. He naturally speaks of "the firm and admirable speech of the Chancellor, a man whom I can only compare with a Duplessis-Mornay, the minister of Henri IV" (p. 11). Then, having summarized the Emperor's speech, he cried: "To solve the alarming problem of these social questions ... it neededonly the potent gesture with which the God who is always the strong city, the 'feste Burg' of Germany, the God of Luther, the God of Paul Gerhard and Sebastian Bach, has pronounced the terrible and perhaps the liberating word: 'You wish for war, you shall have it'!"
We see that from the very first days of the war, before any one could have verified the statements of the Chancellor, the Protestant pastors of Germany, even those of foreign origin, unhesitatingly accepted the official assertions. Is it as pastors that they stand forth as the stern defenders of the rights of truth? Are they not rather spiritless courtiers, we might almost say like the sheep of Panurge?
The Catholic Priests and Rabbis.
The Catholic priests have given proofs of equal docility. Mgr. the Cardinal Felix von Hartmann, Archbishop of Cologne, says inThe Divine Providence, a pastoral letter read on the 25th of January, 1915:—
"Our warriors have gone forth to the bloody conflict, with God, for King and Country! With God, in the conflict which has been forced upon us, the fight for the salvation and the liberty of our dear German land; with God, in the war for the sacred possessions of Christianity and its beneficent civilization. And what exploits have not our warriors accomplished, under the protection of God, under the leadership of their wonderful chiefs, the Emperor and the German Princes, exploits whose glory shall shine in times to come! And more, what precious treasures of devotion, of love for one's neighbour, and of nobility, has not this war revealed, in our country as on the field of battle!"
"Our warriors have gone forth to the bloody conflict, with God, for King and Country! With God, in the conflict which has been forced upon us, the fight for the salvation and the liberty of our dear German land; with God, in the war for the sacred possessions of Christianity and its beneficent civilization. And what exploits have not our warriors accomplished, under the protection of God, under the leadership of their wonderful chiefs, the Emperor and the German Princes, exploits whose glory shall shine in times to come! And more, what precious treasures of devotion, of love for one's neighbour, and of nobility, has not this war revealed, in our country as on the field of battle!"
The curate August Ritzl, however, falls into the sin of pride.
"Kultur has received an unheard-of impulse in Germany; the human spirit has subjected the most diverse forces ofnature.... A glance at the map shows us the German Empire as the centre of Europe. On all sides, near and far, enemies are intent on the ruin of our country. To the east the giant empire of Russia threatens us—to the west, violent France, still strong despite her moral decay—allied with English perfidy and Belgian cruelty; Japan, Serbia, and Egypt have also declared war upon us" (pp. 26-27).
"Kultur has received an unheard-of impulse in Germany; the human spirit has subjected the most diverse forces ofnature.... A glance at the map shows us the German Empire as the centre of Europe. On all sides, near and far, enemies are intent on the ruin of our country. To the east the giant empire of Russia threatens us—to the west, violent France, still strong despite her moral decay—allied with English perfidy and Belgian cruelty; Japan, Serbia, and Egypt have also declared war upon us" (pp. 26-27).
Well, reverend sir, before proclaiming the cruelty of the Belgians, before asserting, from the vantage of the pulpit of Truth, that Serbia and Egypt have declared war on Germany, a little circumspection and critical sense would not have been out of place!
Let us also cite the sermon preached on the 9th August, in the synagogue of Schwerin, by Dr. S. Silberstein, rabbi of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. "They have forced us to put our hand to the sword; we execrate the perfidy with which our enemies are fighting us; we wish to ward off the danger that threatens us in honourable combat." So the Jewish rabbis knew as early as the 9th August that it was Germany that had been attacked, and that the other nations were forgers!
Useless to prolong the series.... We should be only repeating ourselves; for all the preachers, of whatever confession, repeat the same lesson, almost in the same words: "The war which has been forced upon us ... our treacherous enemies ... our loyal allies ... the cruel Belgians ... our excellent soldiers, allying goodness to bravery ... our heroic leaders...."
To describe frankly and completely the attitude of the Germans in Belgium during the present war, without speaking of their duplicity, would be an impossible task; so that the reader must not besurprised that on every page of our record we have pinned down at least one lie. We must not forget that modern Germany follows the examples of Bismarck, and that Bismarck himself proclaimed that he had caused the outbreak of the war of 1870 by a skilful falsification of a Government despatch. At the time of the centenary of the Iron Chancellor's birth—the 1st April, 1915—the German newspapers gave their lyric enthusiasm a loose rein; but none of the endless dithyrambics consecrated to the glorification of the Great Man contained a single word of blame for the forgery itself—abominable as it was—nor for the ostentatious impudence with which its author confessed it.
What honesty can we expect in a people which praises to the skies a forger because he was a forger, and a forger proud of his skill!
Number 50 ofDie Wochenschau(1914, p. 1588) contains a photograph in which we see sailors loading a gun installed among sand-hills. The inscription underneath (translated from the German) reads: "Belgian gun, captured and served by German sailors on the coast of the Channel." The Channel! The Germans have never been there: they did set out, full of enthusiasm, for Calais, and then the shore of the Channel, and then London. But in that direction they never got farther than Lombartzyde, on the right bank of the Yser. But they prefer to let it be believed that they command the Channel, so they have chosen the Channel coast for the site of their gun—on paper. Then this "Belgian gun" is of a curious type for a piece of Belgian artillery; ourguns have a rectangular shield, while the shield of the German guns is round—just like that in the photograph! Finally, one may ask what the gunners are aiming at on this seashore, with their small gun? Certainly not one of the English vessels bombarding the Belgian coast, for these lie much too far out to sea; perhaps the Germans are amusing themselves by firing shells at the shrimpers, to repeat their memorable exploit of the 8th September, 1914? Well, that makes three flagrant lies to one single photograph!
Number 15 ofDie Wochenschau(1915) gives on page 463 a view of the interior of the Palais de Justice in Brussels. Here is the description—a French translation is given: "German soldiers in the hall of the Assize Court in the Palais de Justice of Brussels. Brussels having become the seat of the German General Government for Belgium, has naturally a strong garrison and a very animated military life. The famous Palais de Justice on the Place Poelaert also houses a great number of soldiers. Nothing is more singular than the picture presented by this imposing and luxurious building with the new inmates in 'campaigning grey' who are installed there. A thousand precautions are taken so that nothing shall be spoiled; and while wherever the enemy has trodden on German soil it will be necessary to work for a long time rebuilding the buildings he has destroyed, no one will perceive, who sees the superb halls of the Palais de Justice in Brussels, that the German soldiers are billeted there."
To understand the full beauty of this pleasantry one has only to look at the picture. One sees there the linen which these soldiers are drying on clotheslines stretched across the "luxurious hall"; this,apparently, is one of the "thousand precautions" taken in order that nothing may be spoiled.
It was desired to prove that England had already been forced to send marines into France. No. 27 of theIllustrierte Kriegs-Kurier, a semi-official, subsidized organ, represents "President Poincaré visiting the British forces in France. One sees him reviewing the artillery of the Royal Marines." And we do see President Poincaré passing in front of two ranks of British soldiers armed with rifles. But was it in France that this review took place, during the present war? Consult the July number of the French illustrated periodical,Lectures pour tous, for 1913. On page 1245 you will find a photograph entitled "The Consecration of the Entente Cordiale. M. Poincaré, accompanied by the Prince of Wales, reviewing his guard of honour on his arrival at Portsmouth (24th June, 1913)." Now the same personages and the same soldiers figure in the two photographs; and the surroundings are the same. The only difference is that one photograph was taken a moment later than the other.
It seems that trickery of this kind is believed not to be a German speciality. Our neighbours accuse the Russians and the English of the same fault. But a kind of lie of which Germany may boldly claim the paternity and the exclusive monopoly is that which consists in denying, or at least in considerably diminishing, the extent of their acts of vandalism. On the other hand, they try to deceive their readers as to the causes of the destruction of Belgian towns.
Thus they are now trying to make people believe that Louvain was not intentionally burned, but that the town suffered a bombardment. This isthe legend which they related to Dr. Sven Hedin, while calling his attention to the accuracy of their fire:—
"Eleven miles to Louvain. Once in the town one goes a good way before coming to the first ruins. By no means all Louvain has been destroyed by the bombardment, as is imagined. Hardly a fifth of the town is destroyed. It is true that this fifth included many precious buildings, which cannot be replaced; particularly regrettable is the loss of the library. In the midst of this destruction, however, like a rock in the midst of the sea, rises the Hôtel de Ville, the proud jewel of the period of 1450, with its six slender open towers. I went right round the Hôtel de Ville, and I could not with the best will in the world discover a scratch on these walls, with their prodigal richness of ornamentation. Perhaps there may somewhere be a scratch from a shell-splinter which escaped my eyes. Thanks to the excellence of the German fire not a single moulding of the six towers has been damaged. The reason for the bombardment of Louvain is known. The civil population fired from the windows on the German troops at the time of their entering the town, and as this crime could not be punished otherwise, the houses were burned by bombardment. When the German soldiers sought to extinguish the flames in the houses adjacent to the Hôtel de Ville thefrancs-tireursagain fired on them with their carbines.Any other army in the world would have done the same, and the Germans have themselves profoundly regretted that they were forced against their will to resort to such means."(Sven Hedin,Ein Volk in Waffen, p. 149.)
"Eleven miles to Louvain. Once in the town one goes a good way before coming to the first ruins. By no means all Louvain has been destroyed by the bombardment, as is imagined. Hardly a fifth of the town is destroyed. It is true that this fifth included many precious buildings, which cannot be replaced; particularly regrettable is the loss of the library. In the midst of this destruction, however, like a rock in the midst of the sea, rises the Hôtel de Ville, the proud jewel of the period of 1450, with its six slender open towers. I went right round the Hôtel de Ville, and I could not with the best will in the world discover a scratch on these walls, with their prodigal richness of ornamentation. Perhaps there may somewhere be a scratch from a shell-splinter which escaped my eyes. Thanks to the excellence of the German fire not a single moulding of the six towers has been damaged. The reason for the bombardment of Louvain is known. The civil population fired from the windows on the German troops at the time of their entering the town, and as this crime could not be punished otherwise, the houses were burned by bombardment. When the German soldiers sought to extinguish the flames in the houses adjacent to the Hôtel de Ville thefrancs-tireursagain fired on them with their carbines.Any other army in the world would have done the same, and the Germans have themselves profoundly regretted that they were forced against their will to resort to such means."
(Sven Hedin,Ein Volk in Waffen, p. 149.)
They told the same story at Termonde to Herren Koester and Noske: "It is certain," say these gentlemen, "that Termonde was not intentionally burned."
On the other hand, the Germans try to dissemble the extent of the damage inflicted. In the October issue of the official and propagandistJournal de la Guerrethey give a plan of Louvain on which the parts destroyed are shown by shading. Now this plan is falsified in two ways. In the first place,no distinction is made between the portion built on and that occupied by market gardeners, which is considerable; so that the ratio of the part destroyed to the part left intact is distorted. Secondly, this portion is absolutely diminished; many quarters burned are shown as intact; to mention only one example, the Old Market, where only the College of the Josephites and a few adjacent houses have been left standing, is marked as untouched by fire.
There is yet another kind of graphic lie which is peculiar to the Germans. They are experts at displaying sentimentality to order; a sentimentality, by the way, which goes ill with their incontestable cruelty. Thus they have several times published photographs representing German soldiers sharing their bread or soup with French and Belgian women or children. One is particularly inclined to let oneself be touched by the kindliness of these German warriors, who, after having been so treacherously attacked by the terrible "francs-tireurs," now take the bread from their own mouths to feed the starving population.... What these public demonstrations of German generosity and magnanimity are worth one may judge from the photograph published in No. 16 of theIllustrierte Kriegs-Kurier. (It is interesting to note that it is always theKurier, semi-official and subsidized, which bears the palm for sincerity.) The illustration shows that "the soldiers of the German Landsturm share their bread with French children." Now, this little scene, otherwise very convincing, is not laid in France but in Belgium, in the railway station at Buysinghen, near Hal. It is wholly "faked."
This is not the only instance in which theGermans have built up scenes to be photographed or cinematographed. Here is another. On the 20th October, 1914, a military band had been playing on the terrace of the Botanical Gardens of Brussels, and some German officers were strolling round the musicians. At the same time a cinematographic camera was set up in the Rue Royale. It was naturally hoped that large numbers of the public would gather near the band, so that a nice film could be obtained, showing a crowd of Belgian citizens present at a military concert, and fraternizing with the German officers. Alas, the Germans had counted without the hatred which the people of Brussels entertain for anything which concerns our oppressors! At the first thumps of the big drum the promenaders rapidly melted away, and the disappointed officers were left alone. The scheme had failed! A fresh attempt was made on the 26th, on the Boulevard Anspach, near the Bourse; that is, at the busiest spot in Brussels. The number of passers-by there is always so great that it is easy to give the impression of a crowd. Yet those who had occasion to preside over the unwinding of the film discovered that not a few people were ostentatiously turning their backs upon the musicians. This, by the way, is the favourite attitude of the people of Brussels when, at about eleven o'clock each morning, the military band—a true barbarian orchestra—passes down the Rue Royale and along the Park.
No. 31 of this semi-official journal shows "the band of the German Marines which plays every Sunday at Zeebrugge." Now a street like that represented, with tall contiguous houses and large shops, does not exist in Zeebrugge.
No. 3 of the same paper (it must certainly justifythe Government subsidy) shows us, in these photographs, the entry of the German Marines into Antwerp. Only the photographs were taken in Brussels, at the corner of the Rue de la Loi and the Rue Ducale.
The same number contains two photographs of the Hôtel de Ville, Louvain: "Before and after the Bombardment"(!)
Naturally our Washingtonian enemies do not miss their opportunities of falsifying picture postcards. In January 1915 they were selling in Belgium a card entitledKriegsoperationskarte als Feld-Postbrief(published by Forkel, Stuttgart), according to which they were occupying, in Flanders, a region considerably to the west of the Yser; their front reaching to Oost-Dunkerke and Poperinghe. Another card, showing the country round Verdun, is even more flagrantly untruthful.
Written Lies.
Let us pass on to the written lies.
The reader will remember the innumerable lies told by the German Press respecting the attitude of the Belgian population toward the German residents in our towns (p.106), the German wounded (p.99), and the German troops passing through or billeted in them. We shall not return to these again, save to refer to other inventions which the Germans employed to excite their troops against ours.
Not content with accusing us of the most unspeakable crimes against their army, the Germans have even accused us of odious crimes against our own countrymen. In this way they seek to prove the bestially ferocious character of the Belgians.
In the booklet entitledSturmnacht in Loewen(A Night of Alarm in Louvain) Herr Robert Heymann, after reminding his readers of the cruelties of which the Belgians were guilty in Antwerp, Brussels, etc., adds that these savage deeds were by no means surprising on the part of a people which does not even respect its own fellow-citizens. Then (p. 8) he relates the "Brutalities committed against a Convent." This is too interesting an effort to suffer a word of suppression.
Brutal Attack on a Convent.Let us hear one of those concerned relate his tribulations. The story constitutes an important document, testifying to the high level of Germany as regards morality andKultur: Germany, who has something better to do in this war than to commit any bloodthirsty action.A great mission has fallen to Germany, and the day is no longer distant when all the neutral nations will realize this.This is the "story of the Brothers of Silence."The convent of the Jesuits is situated quite close to Liége, on a hill about 600 yards from the southern fort (a). I had been a brother of the convent for two years. We brothers do not read the newspapers, and by reason of our vow of silence (b) we do not speak either, so that we knew nothing about the war.On Tuesday, the 6th August, I, simultaneously with seven other brothers, took the watch from noon to midnight. In the night, at 11.15, I suddenly heard a sound completely unknown to me. I went out into the courtyard, whence, to one side, I could see Liége and its forts. I saw, at some distance, in the sky, a little light; this told me that the thing was in the air. I intended to pursue my rounds, but the snoring sound which was approaching, although the life of the world has no interest for me, made me halt. The light came nearer and nearer; the noise had ceased. The idea occurred to me that this might be a dirigible; but no, all of a sudden a blinding light illumined the earth. It is the star of the Magi, announcing something, I thought; I will follow it with my eyes. In the radiance down below I saw everything plainly—portions of the fortress and other things. Then, lit up by reflection from the illuminated earth, I saw that there really was a powerful dirigible there (c). I felt inclined to shout forjoy; I had never yet seen a dirigible. The light lasted only a few seconds, but to me it seemed a long time. My eyes were not yet accustomed to the darkness of the night, when I heard a crash. I looked up to the sky; I saw nothing; the little light was quietly moving away; but down below there was plenty to see—fire, and smoke! In the light I could easily see everything. I also heard the echo. I had not had time to recover from my great alarm when a second light appeared on the earth, rather close to me. This time I could see still more clearly that it was a dirigible. It seemed to me that at the end of a long cable was suspended, very low down, a metal car, in which stood a man. I saw him distinctly with his two hands throwing an object into the illumined part. Immediately afterwards the light on the ground disappeared. I continued, however, to gaze at the same spot. A mighty sheaf of fire gushed up, while great blocks were thrown into the air on every side. What a terrible crash! My ear-drums seemed broken; I was as though deaf. The earth trembled so violently underfoot that I staggered. Greatly alarmed, I still watched the same place. The blinding sheaf of fire had turned into a dense mass of smoke, which was rising slowly into the air. Little by little it grew lighter, like a white vapour. Finally the vicinity lit up as though on fire.I tried to note whether the fire was spreading, when I was shaken by a fresh crash. This terrible spectacle repeated itself continually, but was gradually moving away. From 11.15 to midnight 12 bombs were thrown on the forts. In the interval of the explosions one heard the snoring of the motors. After the last explosion the dirigible rose, moved off, and disappeared. I remained with my eyes fixed in the same direction; the clock of the convent struck midnight.The seven brothers who had been keeping the watch and I myself remained in the courtyard with those who came to relieve us. No one could think of sleep. The other brothers and the fathers (we were 500) remained indoors, watching the burning fortress from the windows.As I was no longer on guard I went to seek a ladder, and in order to see better I climbed a wall situated a little farther down, and some 10 feet high. I remained there until four o'clock. About two o'clock there began, down below in the city, a sound of isolated rifle-shots, and shouts which soon grew louder and louder.At last an infernal uproar reached my ears, and numerous fires broke out in that part of the city neighbouring on the convent.At four o'clock the bell called us to the church. It was an extraordinary thing: despite our alarm we all remained obedient toour vow of silence. We must not speak! But it became a real torment, for our devotions lasted for two long hours.By the shock of the explosions the beautiful stained-glass windows were bent inwards like sails swollen by the wind. The walls of stone, nearly 3 feet in thickness, which surrounded the courtyard, showed long, deep fissures. When at 6 a.m. we left the church the shots and the shouting were still more terrible, and the fires more numerous and farther towards the interior of the town.As usual, the porter opened the gate at six. How alarming! Hundreds of Belgians from the neighbourhood rushed into the courtyard. As we feared the convent might be sacked (f), the porter attempted at first to drive them back. A brother said: "Go! you shall have all you want!" The misguided populace immediately seized knives and killed 20 of our brothers and one father. I myself rushed to the bell in the courtyard and rang the alarm. Armed with pitchforks and manure-forks and spades (g), the brothers rushed into the courtyard and drove out the mob. Two brothers, who during the fight were carried away in the crowd, were discovered hacked to pieces, mangled as though by wild beasts. Their bodies were a dreadful sight. A Belgian brother, hearing the alarm, seized a fork, and so armed he rushed towards the gate, thinking to fight German soldiers. When he saw that his assailants were his compatriots he turned his arms against us, his brothers, shouting like a madman: "You are mad, you are mad!" After a brief struggle the fork was torn away from him. He was seized and thrown over the wall. He had turned his arms against his brothers; but above all he had broken his vow of silence.The fight had lasted barely a quarter of an hour. After the gate was closed—at 6.15, our usual breakfast hour—we assembled in the refectory for our meal.Despite these extraordinary events I was extremely hungry. We now felt safe. But when, after the twenty minutes which our meal lasted, we returned to the courtyard, we saw that the Belgian brutes had in two places set fire to the convent. They had dragged our corn and hay under the wood-shed which stood not far from the convent; they had also pushed carts loaded with corn in the shock against the buildings and outhouses (g), and had set fire to the whole. The flames were already reaching the gable. It was no use dreaming of saving anything, for all the buildings were connected with one another. This was a sore trial. But it could not break our vow of silence, and, doubly mute, we watched the flames. Our sorrow found vent in tearswhen we saw our Superior burst into sobs. He came into our midst; as all the fathers may speak, he said aloud: "Go and save what you can!" and we carried out his orders.Rapidly we telephoned to the Belgian authorities at Liége to obtain help and protection. But to our great alarmGerman soldiersappeared at this moment. As Germany does not allow us Jesuits within her frontiers, we were extremely anxious. On account of the presence of the German troops we wanted to carry back into the convent the precious treasures already brought into the court; but the leader of the German troops explained to our Superior that this portion of Liége was already in the hands of the Germans. We therefore placed ourselves under their protection. We had no reason to regret it. The German escort came with eight automobiles, which bore our inestimable treasures into Germany; paintings, which in our haste we cut from their frames and rolled like paper; our sacred golden vessels, and our fathers (h). In great haste we had dug a huge ditch, in which, without religious ceremony and without words, we buried our 20 assassinated brothers and the father who was killed. While the fire continued to burn the hundreds of brothers remaining ran hither and thither in unspeakable disorder, seeking their clothes and shoes. I had wooden shoes on and could not find shoes to fit me; but I saw, to my great amazement, four pairs of shoes in my box. Everything was stuffed into the boxes and forced down with the feet, in all haste.So, on Saturday (i), at dawn, 350 brothers left the still smoking convent to cross the German frontier. For three hours each painfully dragged along what modest belongings he had saved. One old brother of eighty years remained behind; he declared, when abandoned: "I wish to die here." Although the German soldiers protected us as we proceeded, the Belgian people still attacked us frequently. I received violent kicks, blows on the legs, and all over my body. For two nights none of us slept, and in addition we were greatly perturbed and in terrible trouble.When, after unheard-of exertions, we dragged ourselves across the frontier, we let ourselves fall exhausted in a meadow, where we slept, a leaden slumber, protected and watched by the Germans, from morning to sunset.(Robert Heymann,Sturmnacht in Loewen, pp. 8-13.)
Brutal Attack on a Convent.
Let us hear one of those concerned relate his tribulations. The story constitutes an important document, testifying to the high level of Germany as regards morality andKultur: Germany, who has something better to do in this war than to commit any bloodthirsty action.
A great mission has fallen to Germany, and the day is no longer distant when all the neutral nations will realize this.
This is the "story of the Brothers of Silence."
The convent of the Jesuits is situated quite close to Liége, on a hill about 600 yards from the southern fort (a). I had been a brother of the convent for two years. We brothers do not read the newspapers, and by reason of our vow of silence (b) we do not speak either, so that we knew nothing about the war.
On Tuesday, the 6th August, I, simultaneously with seven other brothers, took the watch from noon to midnight. In the night, at 11.15, I suddenly heard a sound completely unknown to me. I went out into the courtyard, whence, to one side, I could see Liége and its forts. I saw, at some distance, in the sky, a little light; this told me that the thing was in the air. I intended to pursue my rounds, but the snoring sound which was approaching, although the life of the world has no interest for me, made me halt. The light came nearer and nearer; the noise had ceased. The idea occurred to me that this might be a dirigible; but no, all of a sudden a blinding light illumined the earth. It is the star of the Magi, announcing something, I thought; I will follow it with my eyes. In the radiance down below I saw everything plainly—portions of the fortress and other things. Then, lit up by reflection from the illuminated earth, I saw that there really was a powerful dirigible there (c). I felt inclined to shout forjoy; I had never yet seen a dirigible. The light lasted only a few seconds, but to me it seemed a long time. My eyes were not yet accustomed to the darkness of the night, when I heard a crash. I looked up to the sky; I saw nothing; the little light was quietly moving away; but down below there was plenty to see—fire, and smoke! In the light I could easily see everything. I also heard the echo. I had not had time to recover from my great alarm when a second light appeared on the earth, rather close to me. This time I could see still more clearly that it was a dirigible. It seemed to me that at the end of a long cable was suspended, very low down, a metal car, in which stood a man. I saw him distinctly with his two hands throwing an object into the illumined part. Immediately afterwards the light on the ground disappeared. I continued, however, to gaze at the same spot. A mighty sheaf of fire gushed up, while great blocks were thrown into the air on every side. What a terrible crash! My ear-drums seemed broken; I was as though deaf. The earth trembled so violently underfoot that I staggered. Greatly alarmed, I still watched the same place. The blinding sheaf of fire had turned into a dense mass of smoke, which was rising slowly into the air. Little by little it grew lighter, like a white vapour. Finally the vicinity lit up as though on fire.
I tried to note whether the fire was spreading, when I was shaken by a fresh crash. This terrible spectacle repeated itself continually, but was gradually moving away. From 11.15 to midnight 12 bombs were thrown on the forts. In the interval of the explosions one heard the snoring of the motors. After the last explosion the dirigible rose, moved off, and disappeared. I remained with my eyes fixed in the same direction; the clock of the convent struck midnight.
The seven brothers who had been keeping the watch and I myself remained in the courtyard with those who came to relieve us. No one could think of sleep. The other brothers and the fathers (we were 500) remained indoors, watching the burning fortress from the windows.
As I was no longer on guard I went to seek a ladder, and in order to see better I climbed a wall situated a little farther down, and some 10 feet high. I remained there until four o'clock. About two o'clock there began, down below in the city, a sound of isolated rifle-shots, and shouts which soon grew louder and louder.
At last an infernal uproar reached my ears, and numerous fires broke out in that part of the city neighbouring on the convent.
At four o'clock the bell called us to the church. It was an extraordinary thing: despite our alarm we all remained obedient toour vow of silence. We must not speak! But it became a real torment, for our devotions lasted for two long hours.
By the shock of the explosions the beautiful stained-glass windows were bent inwards like sails swollen by the wind. The walls of stone, nearly 3 feet in thickness, which surrounded the courtyard, showed long, deep fissures. When at 6 a.m. we left the church the shots and the shouting were still more terrible, and the fires more numerous and farther towards the interior of the town.
As usual, the porter opened the gate at six. How alarming! Hundreds of Belgians from the neighbourhood rushed into the courtyard. As we feared the convent might be sacked (f), the porter attempted at first to drive them back. A brother said: "Go! you shall have all you want!" The misguided populace immediately seized knives and killed 20 of our brothers and one father. I myself rushed to the bell in the courtyard and rang the alarm. Armed with pitchforks and manure-forks and spades (g), the brothers rushed into the courtyard and drove out the mob. Two brothers, who during the fight were carried away in the crowd, were discovered hacked to pieces, mangled as though by wild beasts. Their bodies were a dreadful sight. A Belgian brother, hearing the alarm, seized a fork, and so armed he rushed towards the gate, thinking to fight German soldiers. When he saw that his assailants were his compatriots he turned his arms against us, his brothers, shouting like a madman: "You are mad, you are mad!" After a brief struggle the fork was torn away from him. He was seized and thrown over the wall. He had turned his arms against his brothers; but above all he had broken his vow of silence.
The fight had lasted barely a quarter of an hour. After the gate was closed—at 6.15, our usual breakfast hour—we assembled in the refectory for our meal.
Despite these extraordinary events I was extremely hungry. We now felt safe. But when, after the twenty minutes which our meal lasted, we returned to the courtyard, we saw that the Belgian brutes had in two places set fire to the convent. They had dragged our corn and hay under the wood-shed which stood not far from the convent; they had also pushed carts loaded with corn in the shock against the buildings and outhouses (g), and had set fire to the whole. The flames were already reaching the gable. It was no use dreaming of saving anything, for all the buildings were connected with one another. This was a sore trial. But it could not break our vow of silence, and, doubly mute, we watched the flames. Our sorrow found vent in tearswhen we saw our Superior burst into sobs. He came into our midst; as all the fathers may speak, he said aloud: "Go and save what you can!" and we carried out his orders.
Rapidly we telephoned to the Belgian authorities at Liége to obtain help and protection. But to our great alarmGerman soldiersappeared at this moment. As Germany does not allow us Jesuits within her frontiers, we were extremely anxious. On account of the presence of the German troops we wanted to carry back into the convent the precious treasures already brought into the court; but the leader of the German troops explained to our Superior that this portion of Liége was already in the hands of the Germans. We therefore placed ourselves under their protection. We had no reason to regret it. The German escort came with eight automobiles, which bore our inestimable treasures into Germany; paintings, which in our haste we cut from their frames and rolled like paper; our sacred golden vessels, and our fathers (h). In great haste we had dug a huge ditch, in which, without religious ceremony and without words, we buried our 20 assassinated brothers and the father who was killed. While the fire continued to burn the hundreds of brothers remaining ran hither and thither in unspeakable disorder, seeking their clothes and shoes. I had wooden shoes on and could not find shoes to fit me; but I saw, to my great amazement, four pairs of shoes in my box. Everything was stuffed into the boxes and forced down with the feet, in all haste.
So, on Saturday (i), at dawn, 350 brothers left the still smoking convent to cross the German frontier. For three hours each painfully dragged along what modest belongings he had saved. One old brother of eighty years remained behind; he declared, when abandoned: "I wish to die here." Although the German soldiers protected us as we proceeded, the Belgian people still attacked us frequently. I received violent kicks, blows on the legs, and all over my body. For two nights none of us slept, and in addition we were greatly perturbed and in terrible trouble.
When, after unheard-of exertions, we dragged ourselves across the frontier, we let ourselves fall exhausted in a meadow, where we slept, a leaden slumber, protected and watched by the Germans, from morning to sunset.
(Robert Heymann,Sturmnacht in Loewen, pp. 8-13.)
As will be seen, this is a story to make the flesh creep. Still, it seems to us to present certain difficulties.
(a) There is no convent of Jesuits near Liége about 600 yards from one of the southern forts (Boncelles, Embourg, and Chaudfontaine).
(b) The Jesuit brothers arenotcompelled to keep silence. No doubt the author chose the Jesuits because the order is excluded from Germany, so that he would expect his compatriots to know nothing of the rule of the Jesuit communities.
(c) How did these brothers, who read no newspapers and never spoke, know of the existence of dirigibles?
But apart from all this, the facts are incorrect. At no time did a dirigible fly over Liége during the siege.
The people of Liége saw a German dirigible for the first time on the 1st September, 1914, at 10 p.m. On the following day, at 6 p.m., they saw another.
(d) Therefore fires could not have been lit by the bombs from these dirigibles.
(e) Where have stained-glass windows ever been seen to bulge like sails under the shock of an explosion capable of cracking walls over 30 inches in thickness?
(f) Nothing had happened so far to give any one the idea that the convent was about to be pillaged.
(g) Since when have the Jesuit convents owned farms, etc., or been equipped with hay-forks, manure-forks, spades, hay-carts, etc.?
(h) It is delightful to note that in enumerating the precious possessions of the convent the Jesuit fathers occupy the very last place, after the pictures and the gold plate! But this impertinence is more apparent than real; for the narrator has just stated that the 150 Jesuit fathers were packed, together with the pictures and the sacred vessels, ineightmotor-cars! Evidently they were very tiny Jesuits. It must have been their minuteness that saved them; for the author has reminded us that Jesuits (of ordinary size) are not admitted into Germany; but these, happily, passed unperceived.
(i) It was not Saturday, but Friday.
It is by such inventions—presented as the narratives of eye-witnesses, and not as romances—that the Germans excite against us both their troops and their home population. The method has given excellent results; nothing gives better proof of its efficiency than the first paragraph of the story ofThe Battle of Charleroi, in which we read that at the beginning of August many trucks passed through Belgium which bore the inscription:—