Show CARDINALS CARDINAL'S IllES ES ESIN IN BELGIUM DESCRIBED Germans Denounce Mercier as Politician Cite Many Alleged Acts to Prove Hostility to t the T IS Is NOW VISITING ROME ROMED D Declaration Is Made That I S Churchman Encouraged d I I Priests to Aid Anglo- Anglo i F French en h A Allies Allies' lies lies' Defense BERLIN Feb teb 12 The The following fol fol- foli fol- i lowing owing statement r regarding garding the activities of Cardinal Mercier primate of Belgium who is now on a a visit to Rome was ma made e public today by the Overseas News agency The letter which Cardinal 1 Mercier er erand and tho Belgian bishops addressed to the German clergy on November 24 1915 regarding an investigation of ot allegations that atrocities had been committed committed in in Belgium by Germans did not reach Cardinal von Hartmann archbishop Of Cologne until January 7 which explains why it has bas not been answered The general impression prevailing in Germany however is isI that the letter was inspired entirely I by Cardinal Mercier 1 whose in in- attitude toward the German German German Ger Ger- man authorities became manifest on various occasions Influential in Politics Before the war Cardinal Mercier was as an influential Belgian politician For example at the time of ot King Leopolds Leopold's death he sided publicly with the party in favor of colonial expansion sian sion in the notorious Congo affair demanding demanding demanding de de- de- de manding an increase in the Belgian army After the occupation of ot Bel Bel- glum Ium by German forces the cardinal preserved reserved a similar attitude using the influence of the clergy for agitation of purely political nature mature At HAt the time of of the great Anglo Anglo- I French offensive the cardinal ordered hat in all Belgian churches in the territory prayers be said for he victory of ot the entente forces At Athe 1 he same time on St St. Michaels Michael's day daye S lie e published l a pastoral letter ng the present war with the struggle f St St. Michael 1 the patron saint If f Brussels and Lucifer suggesting in fashion that he did not notS l Germany with the angel S S Priests to Resist During religious ceremonials in the theS theall S all Cardinal Mercier declared to BelIan Belian Belian Bel- Bel ian priests assembled in the Malines that they were all obliged to the greatest possible resistance S the Germans The letter of the Belgian bishops Iso so discusses the allegation that Gernan GerS Gerian Ger Ger- nan ian soldiers attacked Belgian nuns I S when Then urged to investigate this charge ardinal Cardinal Mercier declined on the round that he did not wish to hurt feelings But the bishops of Namur Bruges and Ghent de- de lared that no such mi misdeeds eeds had ome orne to their knowledge All this corroborates the German Impression n that the liberties granted j reely to Cardinal Mercier in the in in- crests of his exalted priestly vocation re being used by merely for pur pur- loses oses of ot political agitation which laces the Ule German authorities In an position |