| Show I It t I viscount Bryce ce Discuss s Belgium Belgium's Pen Peri 0 ill illi c i Deportations to Germany Are Ar Condemner r Condition of 0 People Is Called Slavery by Noted Toted English t Diplomat I T Dec 9 If D.-If If the tho Germans LJ continue to deport Belgians on their present plan they will conscript men Only one ona nation can prevent ent this the United States A Ay As n. n writer SaYS in in this connection It is time lime for us to speak because this slave drive dri is the most wholesale and immense immense im im- mi- mi mense incuse injustices in the whole German I campaign of fright frightfulness They have moved mo on from point to point in un unsettling un un- un settling the economic life of Belgium They Thoy have destroyed bere here export trade They rhey have ha made it impossible for her to import raw stuffs to be manufactured d into products Then when her machinery lay ny idle they requisitioned the machinery on tho the ground that it was And now that the workmen are unemployed unemployed un un- employed they deport them on the pretext that they are idle gambling etc otc By this progression of measures meas nicas- Ute freeing several new 11 ures l' l s they are divisions dh of the German army supplying sup sup- plying their places by Belgian slave labor They are rc lengthening the warby war by hy several months They rhey are arc violating violat violat- ing lug human rights right on a n largo large arge scale And they have turned one of the most industrious nations notions in the world orI 1 first into an idle unemployed community and now into a serfdom Lord Bryce does not g give c inter inter- views What he asked me to do was to io submit questions in writing and to these que questions he lie ha haa written an nn- He consented in this instance on only y because of the ra g-ra gravity f ty of the Belgian situation situation-a cn-a cn a situation which is g growing owing worse each day as the numbers num num- bers of men deported increase Question Submitted to Lord Bryce The first question submitted to Viscount Viscount Vis Vis- count Bryce was this America has hns been startled by b- Cardinal Car Car- dinal blenders blender's statement concerning the deportation o of Belgian men Our people H ople will vill appreciate a n stat statement ment lr Drom m you vou ou as to the meaning of this latest Iciest German erman move mo T. T Lord Bryce replied Nothing could be more shocking hockin ti than ll this wholesale carrying away of men Inch from froni Belgium I know of no case in European history to surpass it ii l. l Not even in the Thirty hirty Years' Years war e 1 were verC c there such things as the German government has bas done lone first and last in in- Belgium BeI ium This last c case Se sla er slavery The act is like that of those Arab slave h raiders in Africa who carried earr car ear r ned ried d off negroes Degroes to the coast to sell And the severity is enhanced because because be he- cause these Belgians and the work forcibly forcibly for for- forcibly extracted from them are arc going to be used against their own people Having Haying invaded in Belgium and murdered murdered mur mur- dered tIered many hundreds indeed many thousands among them women and children who could not be accused of sniping tim the German military government government gov gov- dislocated the industrial system tern tem of the lie community they carried off off all the raw materials materials ma ma- of industry and most of the machinery in factories and then having hay hav lag ing th thus thi 16 deprived the inhabitants of work the invaders used this unemployment as the pretext pretest for deporting them in very cry large numbers to places where here nothing will be known of their fate and ana they were not even allowed to take 1 leave ne of their wives and children chil chil- dren Iren Many l of them may never be bc 11 heard card of again U And And Von You Bissing calls this a hu bur measure Ac Actually lu ally it is isaU isalt alt all a n part of the invasion in policy They defend it as being war as thoy they justify justify justify jus jus- jus- jus er c everything thing however howe inhuman done because the military needs of I Germany arc alleged to call for it It shows vs how bow hard pressed the military power is beginning to find finel itself at this latest stage stag of the tho war var Action of Atilla the Hun is Recalled It is said that Attila when he lie was ivas as bringing his hosts bosts of Huns hans outI out I of Asia for mr his lik rent assault on west- west em Europe fo forced the tho conquered tribes into his army and made them apart a a. apart part of his bi invasion I can enn hardly think of a like hike case case since then In principle it resembles the Turkish plan when they formed tho thio The Turks used their Christian subjects subjects subjects sub sub- taken quite young and made Moslems and enrolled them as us soldier to fight against Christians to fill their armies J of which the they were the most efficient part These Belgians are arc not indeed actually made to fight but hut they are b being ing forced to do the thc labor of war some of them probably digging trenches or making shells sheIls or working in quarries to extract chalk to make cement for lor war The purposes carry ing off of young girls from Lille Lilla was vas terrible enough h and it seemed to us nt it the tho time that nothing could be orse But the taking away of many thousands of the Bel Belgian ian population from their homes bomes to work a against their own wn countrymen with all an the tho mental I torture that separation from ones one's family brings this brings this is the most shocking shock shock- iu ing thins we have yet heard of I 1 have o been lih shown wn in confidence 7 I A L Lc S I hF v r J t T j x c K r r k j oi tt eLf I the reports r received ll from froni Belgium of ol what hat has l happened there The details de details lle- lle tails Siv given n and the sources thc they come como from satisfied l me mc of ot their substantial truth The ver very excuses the German authorities are are putting forward admit I Ithe the tho facts In Belgian Luxemburg I hear that thc they have been trying to top stop the existing employment In order order order or or- der to ha have C an excuse for or tal taking off ote the men Tho The second question read rend How are such acts of or German se severity se- se v verity erity to bo be accounted tor for 0 E EARLY ItLY SRI ARC D DY Lord Bryce replied When the car early accounts of ot the a atrocious conduct of ot the German Gelman government gov O I I o In Belgium were laid before t the tho committee over oer which I presided t they hey seemed hardly credible Buthen But w when hen we sifted them going careful carefully t through h eer every case and rejecting all t those hose that seemed doubtful we fourth found such uch s a n. mass mas s of concurrent testimony c cc coming oming from different sources and I c carefully tested b by the lawyers who e examined the witnesses that we could n not nolo ot doubt that the facts which re remained remained re- re were beyond question You asic how German officers came carne cameo t to o give such orders The committee t tried ried to answer that question in a p passage of ot their report Th They y point o out ut that for tor the German officer caste morality and ri right ht stop to when war be- be g sins gins ins The German chancellor admitted admit admit- be t ted ed that they had done doue wrong in In In- In I I alling Belgium but the they would go on and hack their wa way through ho The rhe German military class had brood brooded d so long on war var that their minds hall had be become become be- be come ome morbid To Prussian officers war ar ha has beCome become be- be come whon whoa the tho Interests Interest of ot the state require It It a C sort of sacred mission everything e may be he done b by find for forthe forthe forthe the omnipotent state Pit Pity and morality morality moral moral- It ity vanish and andare are superseded by tho the new standard justifying justifying- ever every means menn that conduce to success This said Raid the committee Is Ms a n specifically military mill mili tary d doctrine doctrin the outcome me of ota ofa a theor theory I held heM by a ruling caste who have hov brooded brood brood- ed ei and thought written arid and talked and di dreamed earned about war war unU until the they have ha fallen under its obsession 0 and been heen hypnotized hypnotised by Its spirit You will find these doctrine set setI forth in Im LandI Land- Land the the German Gorman official monograph monograph monograph mono mono- graph on tho usages of war on land Issued under tho the direction of or the tho German German German Ger Ger- man staff What hat military needs suggest suggest suggest sug sug- gest becomes liw lawful 1 You will find In that bool book a Justification for everything everything every every- thing the German army h has s done for lor seizing hostages 1 I. I c Co c. c Innocent inhabitants inhabitants of ot an Invaded l area areaS area and shooting shoot shoot- in lug ing them if U necessary You will find what amounts to lO a Justification oven e of or oS assassination C. C CONTEXTS CONTENTS TEXTS 01 OF DIARIES ARI AlU The German soldiers soldiers' diaries captured captured captured cap cap- on prisoners offer the proof that the German officers acted upon tills principle This s is not the only case that history r records cords In which a false theory theon disguising Itself as loyalty toa to toa toa a state or a church has perverted the conception of ot dut duty and become a n I source of at danger to the world This doctrine spread outside military cIrcles cir cIr- cir cir- cles dee I do du not nut venture to o say that it has infected an anything like e the whole people I 1 nope lop op that It did lid not But national and national vanity were enlisted d and It became ft a widespread widespread widespread wide wide- spread doctrine accept accepted cd b by the mili military tal tai tary and anel even en b by mm many c civilians The Prussians are far Cor more penetrated penetrated pene pene- b by the military spirit than the lher r I Americans or l or and such such a n doctrine to the greatness of or the power of oC Prussia It wa was part of ot Prussian Prussian- military theory and sometimes a practice a n. century ag ago age But In the rest of ot Germany German It isa Is Isa Isa a new thing thing- There was waR nothing of or the kind in southern Germany Gelman when 1 I. knew It fifty CIHy years a ago oIn o. o In Ii an arm army there thero will bo be Individual cas cases s of 11 horrible brutality plunder brutality plunder rape treatment Ill-treatment of ot civilians There will always be men of ot criminal In Instinct in- in whose passion IB is loosed by tho Immunities of oC war conditions Drunkenness Drunkenness Drunk Drunk- Drunkenness enness moreover mn may turn a decent I soldier Into a n. wild beast beasto But most of tho the crimes committed In Belgium were not committed by drunken en troops The Tho German peasant the Hans lInn whom wo we know Is a good simple kindI kindly kind kind- I ly sort o of fellow as are arc the rural folk toll In every ery country But remember In inthe tho the German arm army there thero Is n n. habit of ot Implicit obedience e The officers are extremely severe In military discipline The They will shoot readily for a minor minol in in- in fraction It Is the officers more titan than tho the private soldiers that were to blame And some of ot tho the officers were shocked by what tho they thoy were forced to do 10 I r 1 am merely executing executing- orders order and I should bo be punished If I did lId not execute them i jK S i j I i I- I 4 r p fi r LI I A A ihS L J t s r- r ri i f KS said moro more than one officer whoso whose words were ere recorded OFFICER MUST OBEY ODEY ORDERS 0 OF summons How can an officer in war time dl disobey disobey dis dis- obey ohey the orders of the supreme military mili tary tarr command He Ho would be shot and if It he were to sa say he could not remain in an nn arm army where he was wa- expected to I i commit crimes to lo retire In iii war times If Ir ho hoere were ere permitted to retire would in m sail disgrace to his name It is the tho I spirit of or the higher German arm army command corn com mand that Is to blame The authority com I that issued the tho orders Is guilty The German people leople as a whole are not nol cruel but many of oC them have been In Infected infected In- In by this war spirit And we 11 little realize how strict Is the tho German censorship The German people have been fed feti with falsehoods So far Cal are the they from Crom believing In the record of ot their own army's cruelties that they have hae been made to believe In cruelties alleged to have been committed committed com corn by l French rench and English tro troops ps They Ther have have- been fed Ced on stories of at soldiers soldiers sol 01 sol sol- diers with their eyes ees put out by Belgians Bel Bel- gians glans The chancellor of ot the German empire in a press communication said Belgian girls gouged out the eyes of the German wounded Officials of Belgian cities have hae invited our ot officers cers to dinner and shot hot and killed them across ss the table Contrary to all International Inter Inter- national law the whole civilian population population tion Lion of ot Belgium was called out and after having at first frat shown friendliness ness nes carried on in tho the rear of or our tro troops ps terrible warfare with concealed weapons Belgian women cut the throats of oC soldiers whom the they had quartered In their homes while the they were sleeping bleeping There was no truth cat all In these stories The next question was submitted as 38 follows Has the German government made madean an any effort to prove their general I charges and to disprove the detailed i charges of or j o Jr our report and the report t made mado by the French government So 1 Lord Bryce writes In reply AUTHENTICITY OF DIARIES IS Ib NOT NOI t QUESTIONED FD The diaries of German soldiers re referred re- re to have ha been pu published the world an and no question has been een raised of their authenticity They cont contain ln testimony to outrages outrage I committed d in Belgium and France Fiance that Is o overwhelming No answer Is ble hie The German government o ha has never nov nev CI er made a to the rep report repert rt of or th the British Ush committee fhe They attempted to tc I answer some of the reports leports made b by th the Belgian Inn government but their answer was wa really an admission ion of the facts I for Cor it consisted in allegations alleg that Belgian Belgian Bel Del gian civilians had given n I provocation Thc rie They endeavored to prove that Belgian civilians had shot at them It would n not have been heen strange It if tr I some civilians had shot hot at those who suddenly burst burat Into their countr country but no proof ht has ov ever e r been heen given o of ot more titan than a few of or such cases nor of the stories or of outrages committed b by Belgian Del Bel gian giari priest st women and children on German man sol soldiers I D exi If Ii such occasional occa occa- slon l shooting l b by citizens had hall taken laken place a as vcr very lIkel likely it did that did dill not Justify the wholesale slaughter of or innocent Der persons persons- ons' ons and the burning burning- I of or whole villages I In th 3 burning of ot the th twenty six houses at Melle Mele I lle which you rou tel tell mo me you OU witnessed no allegations were ma made e of ot shooting b by civilians The little girl murdered at Alost Most to whom you OU refer rE had not shot nt at the Ger Gor- mans Th Time The woman SO years rears old had hadnot hadnot not shot It nt at t tl them m The These e seventies were committed as a 11 method metho to achieve an end nd That end was to |
