. fr-_sr
-n we
_ ` lctosso iv
_ _ Know” _taking Germans for Enrllsh. cried, r .
M |
I
' ._
, . ._. . f-»»
(_ _
» _
‘ "“”,tl.tN1*. 12.1915
._ P.-.GE not ` ,_ f __ g _ 'ras cHARLorrs'rowsio__t;§§,i_31ll_n____..1- ‘
. _ I , . _
` , - "ot the German arm! In II16 00\¥Ii!l'¥'sr¢¢ If bein! 05118044 I0 CMT! "tit 0171 lsggered with blood. . _ _ _ The man officers were present. and the W0-
betweeu Dluant and Bethel. ere dere for cruel action against the clv- or woman was just alive but quite nlllli who refused to advance- WW
are some ggtrants:--“_ h h it \ilii;ns_ U driven _ to- the cond"-“on|un::on_l;nl¢;)us._ -t,_l;ier right leg had___l_>_een _stabbed with the bayonet.
_ August .- wo - no ow zers e e cu o a ove e knee. . . _ €l’°
succeeded ill setting into position and that the burning of a large part of were two little children, a boy about- KILLING THE WOUNDED AND
in 20 shots reduced the village of Louvain. the massacres there therfour and 5 gn-1 “wut six The boys; PRISONERS
Bouvines to ruins. . . . This sight marching °“t °f the Prisoners. and the_ieft hand was cut _off at tile wrist and I 0
of the bodies of all the iahabitants_trausport to Cologne, were due to a the pgirl’s right hand at the samel such acts may not in all caseir ins who had been shot was indescribable. calculated policy carried out scientifl- lace, They were both quite dead. .ldeliberste and cold biooded vlolat 0
' Every house in the whole village was 'cally and deliberately, not merelyi From the very first women were not of thc usages of war. There may
Apponiou by no
~ Extracts From the Report of the Committee
British Parliament.
A RECORD OF INFAMY I On August 16tll (said another wit-
Extracted from The Times. Milli 13'-lb
1915 r .
r _
The report of the Committee al1~
ness) the Germans took me prisoner at my house tilt Flcmalie Grande). _ _ _ _ Oil my wuy home I mel Mrs. -- ti neighbor. She told me that some (lcrnlau B0ilII9i‘B hilt] driv-
poiuted by the Prime Minister to coil- en her daughter up illto a loft to rape slder the evidence collected ou behalf her. She was ii 1-2 mouths gone in ofthe Government as to outrages zli- pregnancy. Two of them raped her. .hsgd ui have been committed by Gt'r~ Tile child was born the foilolving day. man troops during the present war day.
was issued on May 12th. The melll- E
bers of the Committee were:-
Lord Bryce, (Chairman). _ Sir Frederick Pollock. BBW. K-(»
Sir Edward Clarke, K.C.
Sir Kenelm Digby. K.C‘_, GRB.
Sir Alfred Hopkinson, i(_(‘.
Mr. H. A. L. Fisher.
Mr. Harold Cox. All men of the highest standing ill
the fields of law, diplomacy and his- tory, and their findings were unan- iraous.
it will be remembered that ill Sep-
tember last, when the country was shocked by the terrible stories ol' out- rages committed in Belgium, the Gov- ernment undertook to make inquiry
t n ste s were taken
DEBAUCHERY AT LIEG
An entry in ti German diary shows
tllat on August llith the soldiers gave themselves up to debauchery at Liege and next day there was ll massacre in the streets General Koleur said that the troops had been fired at by stu- dents; tlle diary states:--“ln the night the inhabitants became mutin- ous. Forty persons were shot, and 15 houses demolished." The Belgian witnesses deny that thcre was any provocation; they say the tlilair was pllllllled beforehand; houses were burned systematically witil beuzine, and the inmates were prevented by riiie tire from estaping The next
into the repor s, a d D 7 - to collect evidence from persons who day lI\€l”@ Were !il\m@l'_0“S murders were able to give first hand Informa- and O\\li'8E@S- A 90Id\€I` 495014508
tion
the rape ill open day of 15 or 20 wo-
Tne Committee had 3150 before men ill thc Place de l'L‘-niversite.
them a number of diaries taken from While this WHS s0ii\B On M1011! 70 the German demp These at-9, of Germans were standing round thc L.,-,urBe_ of great importance, because women, illclutling fivc otlicers_ The they cannot possibly be suspected of Oifif-'GFS Sl8rlfjd_ ii. - ~ - Many Of
mal the women tainted alld showed no.
_ l
1.-CONDUCT OF GERMANS IN BELGIUM.
LIEGE AND DISTRICT.
signs of life.
Similar crimes were general
throughout the district from the very beginning. The writer of one of the German diaries saysz-
Wc crossed the Belgian frontier on
, . ~ _ August 15th in the foreuoon, and then
!?:°ms tg; ‘(:°§:,'§'iirlr)r§\grlJ’:,Ir;;§1l§r;)r)fnl2;) tonne went steadily till we got illto Belgium.
fm ‘ous 0 the nne or the German “_ Ilardly were we there when we had a. ‘ age n ad to ex er horrible sight Houses were burnt
_ n _ _ _ _
ivlgilxicgetiig tilzffirgeetileveliigrlfgrs inf war. A down' me i;‘h'r*b‘m"§_Sr Charged aww;
I.
witness from Herve (near. the fron, Zllld 501110 0 ICID S 0, Oil 0119 0
tier) saldz-
On August 4tl1, 1914, at lierve I saw t' b t 2 o’clock ill the afternoon
B a ou 1argc'village before the next village*
near the station, five Uhlans; these were the first German troops 1 had seen They were followed by a. Ger-
the hundreds of houses were spared. Everything was plundered and burnt. 1-lardlv had we passed through this
was burnt. and so it ment on contin- uollsly.
' Tile town of lilly was seized on
$g';‘Or_°2;€_er #fe fggreisigiéezzrigaln August lfltil; Namur was attacked oil od out w'a Courne or young known the 20th. Ou the same day there who were Standing abonn The young was tl massacre at _Alldenuc, which
. f rd n- n then had been ent_t-.red without opposition
men being a ra , ran o . an the Germans fired upon them and kill- T1 Itir‘_‘_’u23"?g‘_i"‘g dai” _The Slaughter
ed one of them
on over wo lollrs, alld in-
' “me n mn ed_ termittcntly throughout the night.
crxggzgsesorwsgfhb Bugs Engng nfdnn Summarlslug the evidence of respon- criminately, and batches of selected “mio W"“e’*mS' me "C90" “V55- males executed under an organized ,When ‘he fir" Smckened' “b°_“t 7 systerrr Thus at Herve 50 men eB_ oclock. many ofthe townspeople fled (raping from burning houses were in the direction of _tile quarries; seized and Snot outside nn, ,0wn_ and others remained in their houses. At at Melon 40 men- were snon In one l_tllls moment the whole of thc district household round thc station _was on fire and thc
The father and nmtner were __not_ houses were flaming over a distance
and a dau liter uf 22. havin bt-cn out- "Y tw” kilqmeims' AI' six °'Ci°°k °“
raged, dieil because of thug violence rf” f°H°"""“g mowing' the 2195 the
.I . '~
she had received.
RAPID DEMORALIZATION
ernians iegull to drag tile inhabl tarlts from their houses.. ._ About 400 people lost their lives ill this mas- sacre. . . Eight men belonging to one family were murdered Another mall
b h I Il' I li ` _ ..§“;:§f.?...t :.f..;ra_.“.;§.l..;i: ‘-3- - ,--,g--»- -rn.
_ wlicl was re lrougl lm. s
§i_F°:.‘ *§.‘_':;'°2t.§‘.“.:‘.x‘°‘.i°:.;‘_.:°..f..';,*:.° ‘ss nf- »---- ~- -
_ _ '_ l w_lee arrow.
§x2frl€B;st:‘rn\3_‘;g xrxtastetby t;;(yeptr;g3§l } Fllerc were frequent outrages in the crush the spirit of the Belgian nation country rouml Namur' A “Didier at the German orncers and men Bpeedmj Macllovclctta saw Germans enter a accustomed themselves to the slaugll- farm 1" which ms” was a w°““ded ter or crvnians How rapidly me man. They pushed him into a sited process was effected is illustrated by and put slmw hmide' an emry nr the diary or Kun Horn Tile Germans set flrc to the straw
_ A rv 5th _ _ f r and the farnl was soon on fire. When
$m;,oYth‘;n(;I:,orr_"g“?.TnB r;';’;?u;]n_..r°|Tn the smoke began all the Germans
~-»--- A- f.l;";'..;’_l.‘. .E.'li.;s'_r' ir:
. - 1 - _ _ all m s
.rested (alld shot the following day.)"
At 1-ieure le Romain the burgomas-
ter‘s brother and priest were bayonet-
NAMUR FIRED
ed. At Herve soldiers shot into doorsi A p"°"’S”i°““i “mn “Vs that NH'
mur was systematlcail set on fire ill
and windows of burning houses to_sr din. Y
t th I th i t _, x ereut places. About 140
Qqggelas cfumislgrigfy gerrrrfyeéima es .houses were burned altogether. Some
l saw commissioned officers direct- days before _‘lie German entry the Bel ing alld stlpervising the burning. lt gum ““U‘°""'”`f‘ had put “P “°Ii""-9 was done systematically with the use warm“g me l“’p“I“U°" “gllmst “IW or benzln S read on the non" and provocation to the Germans. and none
than ngmeeip In my own and in an_ :of any kind was given. On the 25th
other house I saw omcrrs before the riiie hospital at Nanlur was set on fire burning come in with their revoivers ewm' inmimmuble p“tm°"~ in their nandrn nnn have cnnnn mn; At Tamilles. on the lileusc. and in tique flgmlture and other such things lnelghbormg places' many aged People' rernoved_ This being dnne_ the women and children were deliberately houses were by their nrdern Bet on murdered by the soldiers. A wo- flre. On the nlornlng of August 15th -mu" M T”m‘"95 “W 9- DW °f 15 Simi two nmcern inspected my nonne_ and _on the village green. and ti day or two nnding there were things worm tnk_:ll1ter a little girl anti her two broth- ing, they wrote slid signed a paper em' wh” were |°°I‘I“3 M II" Boidicfs- directing the house to be spared. and we" kmed before he' eyes f°" “° HD' pinned it on the door. Then when the parent "e““°"' on AIIBUBI 23rd ll valuable had been removed the mace .witness saw tile public square at Tum- was burnt down. I took the paper ine” littered ‘yml corpsps' ‘md found nn- me door and nresnrved "_ _those of his wife and child.
The original paper was prodllced to My wife” b°‘IY had ll “lib in file
the C0mrnmee_ head and also one in the breast at the
'li
-gl|a
MADE in CANADA
SUMMER UNDERWEAR
wulcu olvl-:s Y _ ruuconroltr J/
/-"_
-
WILLIAMS. GREENE O ROME C0..
‘left side. My little girl had a stab in the neck. l xilso saw the bodv of the cure of the Church of Les Alloux. His ears anti one lirln were cut. and nearly
, ' sevrirctl froln the body.
At. Montlglly-sur-Sambrc incendiar-
lcs with a distinctive badge on their arms went down the nlaln street with lings from which they threw handfuls of explosive pastillcs into the houses. lil the nlnln street 130 houses were bllmed.
At Junlet a wounded girl who had
hidden in an ovcn was fired at by a German soldier; she died next day. A witness at Cilarlerol "saw the Ger- _mans putting straw into the cellars of houses which had been burnt the day ;before. but in the cellars of which 'there were still living people, and set- ting the straw on fire.”
body two days afterwards The body was quite naked. and the breast out and covered with blood. _ _ l was told that the girl, mis
` " A woman tells how
_ \ ' , At Marchlenncll ati Pont on August _ __ ~ 22nd n. young girl of 17 was killed by ~ ' » , the Germans in a field behind the
Z house in which she lived. I saw the
1
. . . - o
oridulaliyg l'Atl¢lstsrrei She was dragged from the house into this field, outraged and killed:
THE DINANT CRIME
L1"
I '“'"°' °'"“"° s The dlarr of s Baton omoor tllrowl
_ _considenb o light ea
one after another 0ut.of the most uu- likely corners. The men were shot as well as the women and children who were in the convent, and we burnt it afterwards. The inhabitants might have escaped-_ the penalty by payillg 15,000 francs.
nies . _ _ I hope there will be no more such horrors. At Leppe appar- ently 200 men were shot. _
September 3rd.-Still at Rethel _
_ _ Tile barbarians of the mid- dll-. ages could not have done more damage. This place is a disgrace to our army. _ _ _ The column com- manders are responsible for the great- er part -of the damage. . _ _ _ _ _
The Aerschot, Mallnes, Vilvorde and Louvain Quadrangle passed into the hands of the enemy on August 19th, and “became from that date a scene ol' clirollic outrage," with respect to which the Committee received a great mass of evidence. The arrival of the Germans was marked by systematic massacres and other outrages. '
AERSCHOT AND‘ DISTRICT
The story oi’ Aerscllot is fairly well
known. but the committee's conclu- slous are of illterestz-
The German urmy entered Aerschot
ion August 19th).
The houses were set on fire with
special apparatus, while people were dragged from their houses already burning. and some were shot in the streets. _ _ _ _ On the following day a number of the civilians were shut under the orders of an officer. together with tile Burgomaster, his brother. and his son
GROSS OUTRAGES.
immediately lifter the battle of Mal-
ines a iollg series of murders were committed during the retreat of the army. Many of the inhabitants wllo were unarmed, inclutlillg women and young children, were killed. alld the evidence goes to show that the death of these villagers was due to delib- erate purpose. The witness in Mal- lnes saw ai. German soldier cut n wo- man's breasts off after he had mur-
bodies of women, in the streets. A married woman saw ti soldier drive his bayonet into the stomach of a child two year sold, and carry it away on his bayonet, “Ile and his comrades still singillg."
ill Hofstadc many corpses were
seen. ill houses and in tllc streets. A young man had had his wrists cut. A boy of five or six had had his hands nearly severed. \Vomeu alld child- ren had been bnyoneted. A young
, Other horrible tales were'told o W€€l"¢i@. Eppeghelll, Elewyt, Vilvorlle. llercnt, Iiaecllt and Werchter. Here is one incident, described by n work- man:-
At Brabaut l saw tt priest. ill-treat-
cd: he was un old man ol' 75 or 80 ycars oi' nge. Ile was brougllt~ up with thc other prisoners. he could not walk fast enough; he was driven on with blows from blltt ends of rifles anti knocked down _ _ _ A soldier thrust his bayonet into his neck at the back. The old nlall begged to be shot. but the officer said, "'i‘llat‘s too good for you!" Ile was taken oft' bclliull a house alld did not return.
TYPICAL CASES
When the Belgian troops reached
Werchter six persons were found dead ill a house. Tllc pdople there said that the family was shot because one of the girls would not give herself up 1° the Germans. and the family help- ed her.
The Belgian soldiers who recaptur-
ed Aerschot ill September found the bodies of many murdered civilians; some were ill wells, some had been burnt alive in their iiouses. At lluccht the Belglaus folllld a child of two nailed to the door of a farm by its hands illld feet. and in the garden the body of a girl of five or six wllo ilud been shot in tile forehead. This is 2 Crinic. say the Committee, "which seems almost incredible. btit the evi- dence for which we feel bound to ac- C<‘l>i~" At Capella-:ui-Bois two cllild- ren wore murdered in a cart and their i'-Ofllses were seen hy many witnesses. At Evlicstlem ine may of it chilli or two was pinned to 'the ground with a German ilmce. and a mutilated wom- an. mad with pain, was met on the road near Weerlle.
THE SACK OF LOUVAIN
lunss/\cul~2. Flltliz AND nlasrltuc-
TION_
Tile Committee had before them a
very valuable mass of evidence from witnesses of repute of what had oc- curred ln Louvaln.
0" the evening or the zstli nl-ing
could bo heard some fihree kilometres from Louvuill. All alarm was sound- 9-‘I in U10 Gily- Then, the corps of in- cendiaries go to work.
On the 26th. in the city of Louvaln.
massacre. fire and rlestructiop went on. Tile Ufiniversfty, the church of Si- Peicf- anti' many houses were lilirllt to the ground. Citizens were shot and others taken prisoners. A workman "saw one woman lying in the street who had been cut in two. _ _ _ I saw another soldier drag- King a woman along the street by the hair; l also saw a soldier carrying a mans head on the -end of his bayon- et- _An educated woman describes the mutilation of a little girl six years lim- MMV of the nsople hid in cei- isrs. but the soldiers shot down through the gratings.
On the 29th the prisoners were
marched along the Malines road. Of the corpses seen on the road some hed their hands tierl behind their banks, otlzcrs were burnt. some had been killed by blows, and -some corpses :'_:1_rto those ol clliidrenlwho had been
A cA|.oul.A1'lo’- eo|.lcv`
The ill treatment of the prisoners
direction of the odlcers. and officers themselves took part fn it. . . . .
lt is to be noticed that cases occur
in the dispositions in which many hn-
mline acts by individual oilleers and soldiers are mentioned. or in which otlleors should to have exprouetvro-
-August 26th.-We marched to Nia- ‘
was under the euss_ant! often byattieff
destroyed. We dragged the villagers with the sanction but under the dll'-`safe. At Liege a witness gives alsonletiluea be extenuating circumstan-
f hi h ill th rltl I . hu the Committee sa that-
e0ti0l\ 0 B 91' U1 lilry au o es. story of how women were publicly and were not due to any provocation raped in the market place of the city, or resistance by the civilian popuia- young German officers assisting. At tioil. Aerschot men and women were delib-
The Germans were in Termonde erately shot coming out of burning
Tile disregard for the lives of civil-
from German soldiers' diaries, of which the following are representa- tive examples. 'Bonibnrdier Wetzel, lst Kurhession Field Artillery Regi- ment. records an incident which hap- pened near Lille on October i1th:-
“We had no fight. but we caught about 20 men and shot tllem_" By of the slaughter, often accompanied
this time killing not in s fight would
soldier in the First Regiment of Foot Guards. was at Ermeton on August 24th:--“We took about 1,000 prison- ers. At least 500 were shot."
CONCLUSIONS ,OF THE COMMIT- TEE.
A distinction may bc drawn be-
tween two classes of outrages. ill- tlividuul acts of brutality were widely committed. lu all wars many shock-
from September 4th to 6th. ln the houses. At Liege and Louvain wom- fighting in the town, says a witness. en were burned to death because they ‘the Germans placed their rifles on were prevented from escaping by Ger- the shoulders of the civilians and fired man soldiers. A humane German of- at the Belgian soldiers, who returned ficer, witnessing the ruin of Aerschot. the fire. Forty of the civilians were exclaims in disgnst; "I am it father tlliis killed by their own countrymen." myself, and I can ot bear this. It is
. ii
not war. but butchery."
inns is strikingly shown in extracts lt is right to say that there is evi-
dence tending to allow that aggravat- ed crimes against women were some- times severeiy punished, but during the German retreat on the Aisnc. many women and girls were violated and killed.
\Ve find many well establlslled cases
by mutilation, of whole families, in-
seem to have passed into a habit. A cluding not infrequently that of quite
small ciliidren. In two cases it seems to bc clear tllut preparations were made to burn a family alive. _ _ _ Tile authorities must hnve knowll or ougllt to have known that cruelties oi` this character were being perpetrated nor can anyone doubt tllat they could have been stopped by action on the part ot' the heads of tile German urnly.
CIVILIANS AS SCREENS
ins limi outrageous acts must be Gtr- ~ The-re is a consilleriilile body of evi-
pected. ~
in the present war (say the Com-
mittee)-and this is tile gravest charge against the German army- the evidence shows tllat the killing of noll-combatants was carried out to an cxtcnt for which no prcvious war be- tween nations claiming to be civilized
killing was done as u part of a. delib- erate plnu is clear from the facts llereinbcfore set -fortll. The killing was done under orders in each place. it begun at ll certain fixed date, alltl stopped nt another' fixed date. Some of the officers who carried out the work did it reluctantly. and said they were obeylllg directions from their chiefs. Tile same relrlarks reply to tile destruction oi’ property. House bllrllillg was part of the programme;
city. were given to thc flames as part of the terrorlzing policy. _ _ . _
The German Government have
sought to justify their severities on thc grotluds of military necessity.
An invading army may be -entitled
to shoot at sight a civilian caught red- ‘ A ‘ ' ' ` ' ` Y' ' "ia
handed, or anyone \vllo, though not caught red-handed, is proved guilty oil inquiry. But the practice followed by tile German troops was: they seiz-
dellce with reference to the practice of the Germans of using civilians as screens from behind which they could fire upon the Belgian troops in the hope that the Belgiuns would not re- turn tllc fire for fcur of killing or wounding their own fellow country- nlell. “Setting aside doubtful cases.”
‘furllishcs any precedent. That this says the reporter, "there remains evi-
dence which satisfies us that on so many occasions as to justify its being described as a practice, tho German soldiers. under the eyes of their of- ficers, were guilty of this acl.”
Old and young, men and women.
were constantly used ill lilis way. To take one or two cases, seven or eight women and five or six very young cllildrell were thus utilized by some Uhialls betwccll Lulllirecies and Guiso. At Mzllillcs, early in Septeul-
dered her, and saw nlally other dead and villages, even large parts of a ber. about tcu children, roped togeth-
er, were driven ill front of ll German force. Nc:-lr Willcliroeck some civ- ilians. illcllldillg a lllimber of children. :i \voluan`nn|l an old muu. were driven in i`rollt of tile Gerlnnu troops. Gor-
ccs t Y
After making all allowances. there
remains certain instances in which it is clear that quarter was refused to persons desiring to surrender when il ouglll to have been given, or that Def' soils already so wollllded as to be ill- cnpable of fighting further were want- ouly shot or bayoneted_ _ . ~ - -
ill cases of firing on hospitals. Red
Cross uiubulances, or stretcher bear- ers. there is obvious difllclllty Ill Dl'°V' ing intention, especially ill tllese days oi' long range artillery fire. 'I`h_9l‘€ IS nbliutlalut testimony as to the firing 0" stretcher bearers.
Fuses of the Red Cross bcillg abus-
ed arc nlucll more definite. There are several rlcconts of tire being open- ed. sometimes at very short rausc- by machine guns which llnd been dis- guised ill a Rcli Cross ambulance; this was aggravated in one 0859 H081' Tirlemout by the Gerulall soldiers wearing Belgian uniform. Therc is also n well-attested case of at Red Cross iuotor car llc-ing used to carry ammunition under colllmnud of of- ficers. _ '
Unless nil tllesc stutenlcllts are wll-
fully false, which thc t‘onlmittee sees no reason to belicve. these acts must have bceu tlolilicrutc, and it does not seclll possible tllllt n llcli Cross car collld bc equipped with n lllnchine gllll by soldiers acting tvithout orders. Tllerc is also one case of firing from n cottage where thc Red Cross ting was Hyiug, and this could not be acci- dcnial.
Cases of the abuse of tilo white flag
arc llumerolls. Sometimes a whole unit advanced as ii` to surrender. or ict the other sillc nlivlillce to receive till- prelclnled surrender. and then opcnctl fire. l'uder this lit-all we illld runny depositiolls by British soldiers anti several by officers. ill some cuscs thc firing was from a mzlclliue gun brougllt tip under cover of the white flag.
Tllcrl-_ is. in our opinion. sllfllcient
evidence tllnt tllcsc ol't`l-llces llllvc bccu frcqilcut. rlelillvratc. and ill nltllly crises coullllittetl by whole ullits under orders. All the acts luentlollell in this part of tllc report are ill coll- trnvcutiou of Tllc lltlglle ('nuvelltioll.
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
DEEDS l`Nl‘.»\IlAl.l.i"]I`) WOR 300 YEARS
Tho (‘olumiitcc say illcy lllivc comi-
° a definite c noiubion ` ll e
t _ _9 . , sch r 'mg heads under whinh Tig eyldenge
has been classified.. ‘it is provsd:_
(i) That there were in many pal-tg
of Belgium deliberate and system. atlcaliy organized massacres or the civil population. ` accompaniel by many isolated murder! and other outrages. _ ` .
(ii) That in the conduct of the wal-
generally innocent civilians, both men and womeii. were shot in large numbers, women violated and cllil. dren murdered. '
(iii) ‘ That looting. house burning ann
the wanton destruction of property were ordered and ooulltenanceli by the officers of the Gorman Army, that elaborate provision had dieen made for systematic incendi‘arism at the very outbreak of the wu'r_, null that the liurlllngs null destrlurtion were frequent where no military lim-essity could be alleged. being tn. deed. Dart of ii system of gene;-nl teri-orlzation. f'
tiv_) That the rules and usages ot’
war were frequently broken, partic- ularly by the`uslng of civilians, ill- cluding women and chiltlren, as n shield for advancing forces exposed to fire, by killing the wounded limi prisoners, and in the frequent abuse tif the Red Cross nnd the White Flag.
Seilslliie as they are of the gravity
of these conclusions. the Committee conceive that they would be doing less than their duty if they failed to record tllcnl as fully established by the evidence. Murder. lust and pil- lage prevailed over many parts of Bclgilini on n scale uupsralled lil any war between civilized nations dllrllig the last three centtlries,
Our function is ended when we
have stated what tile evidence estab- lishes, but we may be permitted to ex- press our belief that these tllsclostlrcs will not have been made‘ln` ,vain if they touch and rouse the conscience ot' mankind, and we venture to hnpo that as soon as the present war is over, the nations of the world in coilil- cil will consider what means can bo provided and sanctions devised to prc- vent tlle rccllrrence of such horrors as ollr generation is now witnessing.
" With these words the report closes.
Thc conclusions will carry all thc more weight because of the judicial spirit shown throughout, and the ob- viously opcn-mintlcli manner in which thc (‘ommittee approached their task.
.Some peoplo have hitherto persuaded
themselves that the tale of horros re-
ported from Belgium nlust be exag- gerated. Ther(-_ is now overwheinl- iug evidence that wllat happened is worse than we hall been told.
“I alll merely executing orders, and ' __
l should be shot if 1 did not execute them." said an ofilcer to a witness lit Louvniu. At Bruss'els another ofiicel' says:--“l have not done one-liulldredtll pnrt of what we have been ordered to do b_v the High German military uu- tlloritics_"
As we have already obsorvleli it
would be unjust to charge upon tile German army generally acts of cruel- ty, whlcll. wchtiler due to drunken- ness or not, was done by men of brtl- tal illstiltcts and unbridled passions. l-lad thc soldiers not been set to work to slaughter civilians, there would have been fewer of those pulnftll cases ln which ti depraved uiltl morbid cruelty appears.
MURDERS OF NEW TYPE
Two classes oi’ murder in particular
require special nlelltion. because one oi' them is almost ilew. and the other altogether unprecedented. The for- mer is the seizure of peaceful citizens as so-culled hostages to be kept as fi pledge for thc conduct of the civil population. or as the moans to secure some nlllltary advantage or to coni- pei thc payment ni' a contrilittfioll. lilo hostages being shot if the condi- tioll imposed by the arbitrary will of the iuvader is not fulfilled. Such hostage taking is opposed botll to the rtllcs of war and to every principle of justice and humanity. The latter killd of murder is the killing of the inno- cent inllubltuuts of xi. village because shots have been ullcgcd to have been
vlilagc. For this practice no previous
l.|t-ull-limit Morrison, Georgetown
Pctci' llugllcs, Mill Cove
Private Private Private Private Private Private William l(. F. Ellis, Sulnmcrside
G co. W. Sllarp,
J. E. Lockerbie. Cnscumpcc
J. A. Beaton, Brookfield McQueen, Mount Vernon Bruce McLellan, indian River Mcintyre, 'Charlottetown
Wounded
Sumrnersldo
ltl_iili tth ill 'dl-
womnn had had her breasts cut off. iiiniiilattely txt? iailelletiileméggrnsiucil
f as they selected from among them.
t‘or|i. Ailiiil-ost: Cosgrove. Wellington lirivt-r W. l.. Fcrgusoll, Alexandria (limiter J, Bowdell, Charlottetown
.ioiln Stewart., Wood island
Stcpllcrl Mcliiiluon, Charlottetown
l-Zlntliiuel Doiron. Charlottetown Pte. Jolln Murpily, Charlottetown. Gunner \V. G. Bruce, Red Polllf. I
Private Peter Martin Grant. Bangor
Pte. Damien McKenna, Cllarlottetown Private Arch. McKinnon, Calloc Cove Pte. N. McKenzie, Nine Mile Creclr. Private W. B. Davey, Albion Bay. I’l‘lvutt> t‘llurlcs S. Tleutou, l"ll'o<iltllt-ltl_
Pte. (‘. A. Arllaid, Charlottetown.
Plc. ll. J. Wells. Elmsdale Pte. Samuel Elliott. Winslow Station. l’tc. llnrry ltilcy, Sell Cow Pond, Lot 1 (illrncr .\’l-il Mclsuncs, Souris.
Prisoners
Private J. Fraser, Sl. Pctcr's Bay. Plc. Lester (). Johnson, l‘oter's ltoati
Missing
Private. John Curry. Charlottetown Private linnicl A. Simons. Port Wood
Privtllc Il. J. Wells, Elmsdule Plc Jus. Dawson Brown, New Loudon Lieut. (.7. B. Pltbludo, Charlottetown
Died From Wounds
Charles li. Pitts. Charlottetown Private John Curley, <‘.hal'lottetown l'te. .loliu W. McDollu|ll, llrudullianti. i'atl~ick A. McManus, Iionallaw.
Private William Gordon, Montague.
Killed in Action
Scrgt_ \Vm_ ii. 1'/rally, Cilurlottctolvll. Pic. All-x. Lorne McNeill, llocky Point. Cyrus Ll. Uirl, l’lsquid East. A. C. Ileudersuu, Ullioll Road.
How sleep ille brave wllo sink to rest
ily ull lilclr coulltl'y's wishes blest!
fired on the troops by some one ill thc WI Q r| nn
lou . p ug, w dewy fingers cold.
example and no jnstmcnuon has been llcturns to deck their hallow’d mould, or can be pleaded, , , _ , Snph She there shall dress a sweeter sod acts are no part of war. for innocence 'l`ilan l~`uncy’s ft-et have ever trod.
i lil . _ _ _ .
,r§r_f_; and r:_‘;r‘;_I`*;g‘l`_‘;_Ere§s‘_'°;"_Bti"n__“il-;_‘;_ ily f.ll_ry liunds their iluell is rllllg.
drowning of urn nmnnnnt passengers ily follus unseen their dlrge is sung; and crews on li merchant ship is mur- 'I |""“ '|°"‘1\ll" 00111014. B DIISPIIU amy.
dcr alld notnnu act of war. _ . _ _ To blclls the turf that wraps their clay; ~ first rcatl the depositions relating to - 0 ‘ M' “ when ng hermit """'°'
such acts. But when the evidence regarding Liege was followed by that regarding other towns and villa e
8 B. ,
the cumulative effect of such a mass t- -"' ' _ *_-.__ __ Y; -J-ix' -gl-2'
lstlble and wc were driven to the con
cluslon tilut the things described had _ _ __ yi __ really liappcncd The question than my D
of coucllrrcllt testimony became irres-
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arose how they could have lla ened ; ‘
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_ _ _ . The excesses recently com mitted in Belgium were, moreover, foo widespread and too uniform in their character to be mere sporadic
outbursts of passion. The explana-, _ _"§;5f" tion seems to be that these excesses v-`<__- V-
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were committed on a system and In fr'
_pursuance of n sci purpose.
TREATMENT or c|vu_'iAN‘ Poets- i . /\-.I P
'LA1-ion - ~ /‘~ , f
KILLING OF NON~COM BATANTS
Enough has been said as to the kill-
ing of civilians ill Belgium. Similar outrages continue-.ll as the German ar- mies passed into France. Take. for e l this st En lish non
mans after the Marne about Septem- ber mth or 11th. I was on intro! duty in charge of five privates. _ _ We were searching a village for a pgrol of Uhians at 3.30 p.l°n.: we found em
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