Chapter III: The German Mind, Self-Depicted (2)

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 impression that "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 allowed themselves 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, and _Simplicissimus_.

There is yet one point to be mentioned. The declaration of the German "intellectuals" was first made known to us by an article in the _Kriegs Echo_ of the 16th October, 1914, entitled _Es 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 of Militarism? 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 the _N.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 our _Maison du Peuple_ avowed 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 and the 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 our _Kultur_ against the absence of _Kultur_--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 needed only 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 in _The 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!"

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 of nature.... 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...."

B.--Untruthfulness.

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 be surprised 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!

1. A FEW LIES.

Number 50 of _Die 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; our guns 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 of _Die 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 the _Illustrierte 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 is the 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 the francs-tireurs again 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 propagandist _Journal de la Guerre_ they 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 the _Illustrierte Kriegs-Kurier_. (It is interesting to note that it is always the _Kurier_, 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 the Germans 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 justify the 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 entitled _Kriegsoperationskarte 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 entitled _Sturmnacht 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 and _Kultur_: 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 for joy; 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
to our 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 tears when 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 alarm _German soldiers_
appeared 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 are _not_ compelled 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, in _eight_ motor-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 of _The Battle of Charleroi_, in which we read that at the beginning of August many trucks passed through Belgium which bore the inscription:--

_Gegen Frankreich mit Mut,
Gegen Belgiën mit Wut._

(Against France with courage; against Belgium with rage.)

Which shows to what a pitch the minds of the German troops had been excited against us.

_A "French Dirigible" Captured by the Germans._

Other inscriptions on the railway carriages and vans are not uninteresting to the student of _Kultur_.

On the 5th March, 1915, we learned from ocular witnesses that a German dirigible was lost, on the 4th, at Overhespen, near Tirlemont. _La Belgique_ of the 6th March contained a few details.

BRUSSELS, _5th March_ (Official).--The Zeppelin dirigible L8,
returning yesterday from a fruitful voyage of exploration, came
to earth in the darkness near Tirlemont, and, during the process
of landing, struck against some trees. It was rather seriously
damaged, so that it seemed preferable to dismantle it. The
operation was completed very rapidly by the soldiers of the
aviation department of Brussels, who were despatched to the spot.
The dismantled parts will be transported to Germany, there to be
rebuilt.

In reality the "rather serious damage" meant that the balloon was completely destroyed, and that twenty of the twenty-eight occupants of the cars were killed. So far we would not describe the report as a lie, as it does not exceed the habitual limits of our enemies' official telegrams. But this goes a little too far: At Tirlemont the report was spread that the dirigible in question was French, and that it was skilfully captured by German troops; and on the trucks which bore the metallic remains of the Zeppelin to Germany was written, in large letters: _Erobertes Französisches Luftschiff_ (Captured French Airship). This is no longer a manipulated truth, but a downright lie.

_The Transportation of the German Dead._

Here is another fraud of the same kind. When the number of the German dead is too great for burial on the field of battle they evacuate the surplus into other districts. The bodies are usually transported in closed vans. But sometimes these are lacking, and the bodies have to be packed into goods wagons. Nothing outside indicates the contents of these wagons; it may be supposed that the authorities have no desire to publish the extent of their losses. For this reason the corpses are always hidden under something else; one sees passing, for example, what appears to be a trainload of sugar-beet, but in reality the bodies of soldiers are being transported. A biologist might call this an interesting case of protective mimicry.

_Some Lying Placards._

The German authorities have no scruples about posting up false news. For several weeks one might read, on the walls of the Hôtel de Ville at Vilvorde, the following placard:--

NOTICE.

Antwerp surrendered to-day with its army.

THE DISTRICT COMMANDANT.
(Signature illegible.)

VILVORDE, _9th October, 1914_.

With its army! When the Germans were all crestfallen at having laid hands on an empty nest!

This is merely grotesque; but here are three placards which belong to the system of intimidation _à outrance_.

We have already stated (p. 147) that placards exhibited in Louvain stated that the town of Mons was forced to pay a fine because a civilian had fired on the German army. Now the fact was wholly imaginary; never did any civilian of Mons fire on the Germans; never did they accuse one of having done so; so that they never had occasion to fine the town on that account. All is false here, from the first word to the last.

While at Louvain they were posting up the placard relating to Mons, they were exhibiting at Mons a notice according to which certain inhabitants of Soignies had fired on the German troops. This also was a sheer falsehood. No such action was imputed to any inhabitant of Soignies. At Charleroi they advertised the statement that they had inflicted a penalty on Anderlues for a similar offence. Here, once more, both accusation and penalty were pure inventions.

Here is an equally untruthful placard. It was posted up at Cugnon (Luxemburg) early in October, 1914, between the fall of the first forts at Antwerp and the taking of the city. It announces the destruction of the line of forts between Verdun and Toul, and the march on Paris (a month after the battle of the Marne!). Its principal interest lies in the signature: the burgomaster did not know of the placard until it was posted; the military authorities had simply forged his name. This did not prevent them from forcing the commune of Cugnon to pay for the printing of these lies.

_M. Max's Denial._

The most interesting example of lying by placard is undoubtedly that which was revealed by the burgomaster of Brussels. On the 30th August one might read, on the walls of the capital, a notice in which M. Max gave the lie to a placard posted at Liége. This is it:--

CITY OF BRUSSELS.

The German governor of the city of Liége, Lieutenant-General von
Kolewe, yesterday had the following notice exposed:--

_To the Inhabitants of the City of Liége._

"The burgomaster of Brussels has informed the German commandant
that the French Government has declared to the Belgian Government
the impossibility of assisting it offensively in any way, as it is
itself forced to assume the defensive."

_To this assertion I oppose the most positive denial._

THE BURGOMASTER,
ADOLPHE MAX.

BRUSSELS, _30th August, 1914_.

Since their burgomaster declared the assertion to be false, no doubt could remain in the minds of the people of Brussels. But, curiously enough, beside M. Max's placard there remained a German placard, which had been posted two days earlier, and in which it was stated:--

On the 25th inst. the official French newspapers published a
communication from the French Government stating that the French
armies being forced to assume the defensive would no longer be in a
position to assist Belgium in the matter of a military offensive.

BRUSSELS, _23rd August, 1914_.

The only serious difference between the two texts was that at Liége the burgomaster of Brussels guaranteed the truth of the _communiqué_. So the impression was given that it was Herr von Kolewe who had the idea of bringing M. Max's name into this ridiculous statement, in the hope of giving it some weight. But no! Von Kolewe was innocent of the forgery; it was the work of the German General Staff, and was distributed by the Wolff Agency, as we learned a little later. The Liége _communiqué_ is precisely the official German telegram as published everywhere--for example, in _Les Nouvelles_, "published by the authorization of the German Military Authority," at Spa, on the 30th August, 1914; by the _N.R.C._, on the 28th August; by the _K.Z._ (see _Kriegs-Depeschen_, p. 41); and by the _Frankfurter Zeitung_ (see _Der Grosse Krieg_, p. 172).

What, then, is the meaning of the first telegram posted in Brussels--that of the 25th August, in which no mention of the burgomaster occurs? Simply this: the German Government was announcing to the whole world an item of "news" whose improbability required to be supported by the word of an honest man, such as the burgomaster of Brussels. A lie so gross and flagrant might be published at Liége, but not in Brussels itself. Unfortunately the Germans had not succeeded in cutting off communication between Liége and Brussels; on the day after its appearance the Liége placard had reached M. Max, and he was able to issue his famous denial. The effect was tremendous. From that moment the people of Brussels no longer believed any "official news."[36] Did the Germans make any attempt to reply to the denial? None: why attempt the impossible? But they prohibited, with their usual heaviness, the publication of any placards, even by the municipality.

IMPORTANT NOTICE.

The publication of placards, unless they have received my special
permission, is strictly prohibited, those of the municipality of
the city being included.

(_Signed_) VON LÜTTWITZ, _General_.

Translated into the vulgar tongue this means: "When we Germans lie we do not wish attention called to the fact."

_How the Officers Lie to their Men._

Hitherto we have considered only those German lies which were addressed to the Belgians. But there are better lies than these: they lie to their own troops. At the outset of the invasion of Belgium the German soldiers were led to believe that they were already in France, quite close to Paris, even in October and November 1914. Germans in cantonments near Roulers, in Flanders, believed that they were only eight miles from Paris, and they used to ask the correspondent of the _Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant_ to show them "a place they could see the Eiffel Tower from." This, it may be said, proves that in all armies there are soldiers of small intelligence, even in the German Army. No: it proves that in this latter army the officers lie with method. You may judge. The soldiers tended in the hospital of the Palais de Justice in Brussels used to date their letters "Paris"; and it was by order of their superior officers that they deceived their families. The official journal, _Deutsche Soldatenpost_, in its issue for the 16th October, 1914, contains a little poem entitled "Hindenburg," whose third stanza commences:

_Vor Paris aber steht das deutsche Heer..._
(But the German host stands before Paris.)

This, be it noted, on the 16th October, more than a month after the battle of the Marne. About the same time a soldier in Antwerp learned from his officers that if the German army had not yet entered Paris it was merely to avoid the plague, which was raging there (_N.R.C._, 20th October, 1914, morning).

After that, who can doubt that systematic lying forms part of the duties of an officer towards his men?

2. PERSEVERANCE IN FALSEHOOD.

Nothing is left to chance in the campaign of lies any more than in the military campaign proper. The Great General Staff organizes everything with the same care--the attacks of "francs-tireurs," the benzine syringes, the pastilles of fulminating cotton employed in the rapid starting of conflagrations--just as it organizes the manoeuvres of the Press intended to direct the mentality of the troops towards a policy of pitiless repression.

They even try to educate (which means, to pervert the minds of) the prisoners of war in their concentration camps. Thus in No. 5 of _La Guerre_, a journal especially intended for prisoners of war (published the 10th March, 1915), a passage is reproduced from the "Records of the War," by Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Here is an extract: "Finally, one should read the notices on the detestable attitude of the civil population of Belgium, of both sexes, in the present war: notices officially confirmed and attested in writing by several priests: according to which the populace, behaving a hundred times worse than ferocious beasts, have horribly mutilated and gouged out the eyes of poor wounded German soldiers, afterwards slowly stifling them by pouring sawdust into their nose and mouth."

It will perhaps be objected that those who write of such things are blinded by the militarist spirit; that they have, like everybody in Germany, abolished in themselves the critical faculty; and that they do not even dream of disputing the statements of the official journals; in short, that they do not, properly speaking, lie, because they are sincere. But can they really be sincere? Could they, on the 10th March, pretend that they still believed that the Belgians gouge out the eyes of wounded men and choke them to death with sawdust when _Vorwärts_ had succeeded in getting at the truth, and had been protesting against these lies since the month of January? Besides, the Germans know their own "reptile" Press, and they ought to realize that their newspapers do not merit credence, least of all in time of war.

But even if we absolve these writers of the crime of lying, to accuse them of nothing worse than inconceivable credulity, we cannot on any pretext extend the same indulgence to those who are incontestably in a position to know the truth. To cite only one example--is it not shameful that Baron von Bissing the younger should publish _in April 1915_, in the _Süddeutsche Monatshefte_, an article on Belgium in which he repeats the accusations against the "francs-tireurs," and the tales of Belgians mutilating the German wounded? And what are we to say of the reply made by the German Minister of War to Mlle. Leman according to which the German troops have never ill-treated priests (p. 72), nor touched the property of the Church? A visit to Bueken (near Louvain) gives the reply to this twofold assertion. In May 1915 one could still see, in the sacristy, the muniment chest which had contained the sacred vessels; it had been broken open by the Germans with the aid of a bell-clapper. As for the curé, M. De Clerck, we know what he suffered; he was shot after his ears and nose were cut off. With the curé his assistant was killed: Father Vincentius Sombroek, a conventual, born at Zaandam, in Holland.[37]

The picture-postcard has, of course, not been forgotten. The Germans had on sale in Brussels, for their soldiers, a coloured card of _The Uhlans_ _before Paris_. It shows groups of German cavalrymen contemplating Paris and the Eiffel Tower. This card is published by R. and K., and bears the number 500.

This same firm fabricated some remarkable cards relating to the military operations in Belgium. No. 507 represents the bombardment of Antwerp. It shows the city in flames, seen from the Tête de Flandre, and it also shows guns installed in the same locality. Now the Germans never had guns on the left bank of the Scheldt. No. 502 shows the bombardment of Namur by means of guns firing from Jambes, which again is incorrect. These cards, it should be noted, were still being sold in June 1915; that is, when every one knew that these pictures were "faked."

_The Germans' Treatment of Mgr. Mercier._

There are other examples of continuity of falsehood than those relating to violations of the Hague Convention and the Treaty of London (1839). For example, a long series of lies was directed against one single individual--Mgr. Mercier, Cardinal-Archbishop of Malines, Primate of Belgium.

The facts are so well known that there is no need of lengthy comment.

1. Mgr. Mercier went to Rome for the Conclave. We learned in Belgium, by a placard dated the 8th September, that the Cardinal was returning to his country "with a safe-conduct, passing through the German lines."

_A lie._--The Cardinal never had any German safe-conduct. He returned to Belgium by way of Lyons, Paris, Havre (where he delivered a speech), London, and Holland.

2. During his stay in Rome the Cardinal made declarations very unfavourable to the Germans. A placard of the 12th September, 1914, assured us that he protested against the interview in the _Corriere della Sera_.