"NECESSITY KNOWS NO LAW"
On August 2nd, 1914, Belgium announced her neutrality in the European
war; France had already declared her intention to respect Belgian
neutrality at all costs. On the other hand we have Bethmann-Hollweg's
word that he knew French armies were standing ready to strike at Germany
through Belgium. This statement he has never supported by any proof, nor
even mentioned his authority for the same.[93] In view of the facts that
no military preparations had been made on the Franco-Belgian frontier,
and that the German armies first came into contact with French forces
long after the fall of Liége, we are compelled to declare the German
Chancellor's statement to be a pure invention.
[Footnote 93: So-called "evidence" has been given by Richard Grasshoff
in his book "Belgien's Schuld" ("Belgium's Guilt"), pp. 14-20. Grasshoff
quotes the sworn statements of a German corporal who resided in
Boitsfort, near Brussels. The corporal states that he saw two French and
one English officer in Brussels on July 26th, and eight French soldiers
on July 29th.
The statements of three French soldiers, prisoners of war in Germany,
are also cited; these men maintain that they entered Belgium on the 31st
of July and the 2nd of August.
With regard to this "evidence," we must note that Grasshoff is a German
official, the corporal a German spy, and that the Frenchmen have made
these statements in a prisoners' camp, a place where they were exposed
to the temptation of German gold and the influence of Teutonic bullying.
Lastly, the Berlin General Staff has recorded that the German armies
first came in touch with French troops on August 19th, near Namur.]
Moreover Germany's excuse for invading Belgium is given in the title of
this chapter. Had Germany possessed any proof that French officers in
disguise were organizing preparations in Belgium, or that French airmen
had crossed the latter's territories in order to drop bombs by Wesel,
etc., then Bethmann-Hollweg would have had no reason to admit in the
Reichstag that his country was committing a breach of international law.
Under such circumstances Belgian neutrality would no longer have
existed; the Chancellor, instead of "necessity," could have pleaded
justification and the world could scarcely have withheld its approval.
In the early hours of August 4th the Germans crossed the Belgian
frontier, although the _Cologne Gazette_ had published a notice three
days before announcing that Germany had no intention whatever of taking
the step, and that no German troops were near the frontier.
General von Emmich immediately issued this proclamation in French: "To
my great regret German troops have been compelled to enter Belgian
territory. They are acting under the compulsion of unavoidable
necessity, for French officers in disguise have already violated Belgian
neutrality by trying to reach Germany, via Belgium, in motor-cars.[94]
[Footnote 94: One wonders what military purpose these officers had in
view. They would have been inevitably arrested at the German frontier.
The fable was made public by Wolff's Agency, and has been ridiculed even
by the German Press, _vide_ pp. 96-7.]
"Belgians! it is my most ardent desire that it may yet be possible to
avoid a struggle between two peoples which up till now, have been
friends, formerly even allies. Remember the glorious days of La Belle
Alliance, when German arms helped to found the independence and future
of your Fatherland.
"Now we must have a free way. The destruction of tunnels, bridges and
railways will be considered hostile actions. Belgians! you have to
choose. The German army does not intend to fight against you, but seeks
a free path against the enemy who wishes to attack us. That is all we
desire.
"Herewith I give the Belgian people an official pledge that they will
not have to suffer under the terrors of war; that we will pay ready
money for all necessaries which we may have to requisition; that our
soldiers will show themselves the best friends of a nation for which we
have the highest esteem and ardent affection. It depends upon your
prudence and your patriotism whether your land shall be spared the
horrors of war." (Appeared in the _Cologne Gazette_, August 6th.)
A Dresden paper of the same date contains an illuminating statement. "We
have just received official information that the German General Staff
had been informed by an absolutely reliable source that the French
intended to march through the valley of the Meuse into Belgium. The
execution of this plan had already commenced, therefore France was by no
means prepared to respect Belgian neutrality."
"For years past the King of Belgium has conspired with England behind
the backs of his ministers, to damage German interests. His telegram to
the King of England was a trick planned long ago. These facts will soon
be supplemented by a large number of documentary proofs; from this the
necessity has arisen to direct Germany's advance through Belgium
irrespective of neutrality considerations."[95]
[Footnote 95: _Leipziger Neueste Nachrichten_, August 9th.]
Here we have the first clumsy attempts to prove that Belgian neutrality
did not exist. These after-thoughts have grown during the past year into
no inconsiderable literature. Probably the two motives which have
inspired Germany--official and unofficial--to print many volumes on
Belgian neutrality have been the indignation aroused in neutral
countries and the fact that a complete German victory was not obtained
in three months of war.
German newspapers again betray the plot against Belgium, and a search
through their files reveals in the clearest manner possible how Wolff's
Bureau was again the source of a widespread campaign to prove that
Germany was right, and simultaneously to lash public opinion into hatred
for the Belgian "barbarians and beasts."
In the first few days of August the Press was filled with reports
concerning the murder and ill treatment of Germans in Belgium, before
any act of war had taken place. No doubt a justified fear for the
mighty, brutal neighbour existed in the popular imagination, and fear
may be the father of ill-considered deeds. Nevertheless, there is no
proof that mob law prevailed in Belgium, as it did in Germany. Moreover,
the latter country outlawed herself when she proclaimed the law of
necessity. In the light of this consideration the German outcry that the
Belgians were breaking both the laws of humanity and international
jurisprudence lacks sincerity and remains unconvincing.
A country which announces her intention to ignore existing laws and
"hack a way through at all costs," should surely be the last to declaim
on the alleged offences against the laws of war by a small, weak,
unprepared neighbour. If these considerations are insufficient, there
remains the fact that Germany herself began war against unarmed Belgian
civilians.
During the night following the unsuccessful _coup de main_ against
Liége, a Zeppelin attacked the town and dropped bombs. "On Thursday,
August 6th, at 3.30 a.m. Z6 returned from an air-cruise over Belgium.
The airship took a conspicuous part in the attack on Liége, and was able
to intervene in a markedly successful manner. Our first bomb was dropped
from a height of 1,800 feet, but failed to explode. The ship then sank
to 900 feet above the city, and a non-commissioned officer dropped
twelve more bombs, all of which exploded, setting the city ablaze in
several places."[96]
[Footnote 96: German official report in the _Berliner Tageblatt_, August
10th.]
An Austrian who was in the town afterwards described the attack in the
_Grazer Tagespost_. According to this witness it was already daylight
when the airship appeared, and the effect of the bombs was truly awful.
In view of the circumstance that it was already light, Germany cannot
put forward the defence that the bombs were intended for the twelve
forts which surround Liége at a distance of some miles.
This is the earliest official record of an attack upon civilians--and it
came from the German side! The crew of Z6 were the recipients of a
tremendous ovation on their return, while the news of this dastardly
murder was received with jubilation throughout the German Empire. In
Lunéville fifteen civilians were killed by airship bombs two days
earlier; shortly afterwards followed the attack by airship on civilians
in Antwerp.
The author has before him about one hundred different newspaper reports,
alleging the most awful barbarism on the part of the Belgians. Among the
numerous statements that Germans were murdered, only two names are
mentioned, and both these men are alive to-day; the one is Herr Weber,
proprietor of an hotel in Antwerp.
"We have now received full details of the murder of the German, Weber.
He had fled from his pursuers and hidden himself in a cellar. As the
raging mob could not find him they burnt sulphur in the house, which
caused Weber to break into a violent fit of coughing. This betrayed his
hiding-place; he was dragged out and murdered."[97]
[Footnote 97: _Hamburger Fremdenblatt_, August 12th, and simultaneously
in many other journals. On the following day the _Vorwärts_ announced
that Herr Weber had returned to Germany in the company of their own
correspondent.]
"The German pork-butcher, Deckel, who had a large business in Brussels,
was attacked in his house by a crowd of Belgian beasts because he had
refused to hang a Belgian flag before his shop; with axes and hatchets
the mob cut off his head and hewed his corpse in pieces."[98]
[Footnote 98: _Kölnische Volkszeitung_, August 10th.]
A few days later the _Berliner Tageblatt_ informed its readers that Herr
Deckel was residing in Rotterdam, and had suffered no harm whatever.
Readers who are acquainted with the official record of brutal crimes
committed year by year in Germany and the haughty contempt for civilian
rights which the whole German army has consistently shown in the
Fatherland, during the orderly times of peace, will require little
imagination to conceive that this same army would show still less
consideration for civilians in a country which they were wrongfully
invading.
The German Press during the last thirty years, as well as many books
published in the Fatherland, contains ample proof of German brutality at
home, and above all, of the legal brutality of German non-commissioned
and commissioned officers. How can Germany expect the world to believe,
that these same men, were transformed into decent human beings by the
mere act of stepping over the Belgian frontier?
Granted that vulgar elements of the Belgian population did transgress,
there still remains incontrovertible evidence that almost unheard-of
kindness was shown to the invading army, and that Germans had displayed
brutal insolence to Belgians before a state of war had been declared.
Nearly every single letter from soldiers, published in German papers,
records the fact that in the villages through which they passed they
were given water, wine and food, while payment was in many cases
refused.
It is part of Germany's policy to blacken Belgium's character in order
to justify her own ruthlessness--naturally Wolff's Agency was one of the
principal tools to that end.
"Much as we condemn the excesses of the Belgians, still we must not
wreak vengeance on the whole nation as a section of our Press demands.
Have not harmless and defenceless foreigners been terribly ill-treated
in Germany without distinction of sex? Have not shops and restaurants
been demolished in hundreds, wherever a French word was to be met? And
the rage of the German masses has found an outlet not only against
foreigners, but against good German patriots and even German
officers."[99]
[Footnote 99: _Leipziger Volkszeitung_, August 12th. This journal as
well as the _Fränkische Tagespost_ names Wolff's Agency as their
authority in more than one issue.]
The same journal on the preceding day deplored that "we ourselves are
not free from guilt." It recounts how German reservists, when leaving
Antwerp and Brussels, had sung their national songs in a loud,
provocative manner, and taunted the bystanders with such remarks as: "In
three days we shall be here again!"
According to the same authority German residents had insulted the
populace by displaying their national flag; and German employers had
been among the first to discharge employees of their own nationality,
without salary in lieu of notice, thus increasing the difficulties of
German residents in Belgium.
German official pronouncements are much more reticent in their judgment
on these allegations of Belgian cruelties. None the less the Berlin
Government must be held responsible for them being scattered throughout
the land. After Germany's official representative had returned from
Brussels to Berlin he made a statement to the Press. Considering that
von Below was in the Belgian capital at the time, his views are
instructive.
He expressed his great astonishment that such things should have
happened, and asserted that up till the very last minute he had been
treated with the greatest kindness and politeness. Neither he nor any of
his Legation Staff had experienced the slightest unpleasantness.
Further, von Below expressed the conviction that only single instances
of such excesses had occurred and these were a result of the quarrelsome
Walloon character. No village _fête_ passes off among them without such
outbreaks, accompanied by bloodshed.[100]
[Footnote 100: This may be true, but von Below could have said the same
with absolute truth of German village fairs, _Kirmesse_, etc.--Author.]
German papers of August 15th reported this official version, and four
days later a proclamation was issued by State Secretary Dr. Delbrück,
calling upon all persons who had been ill-treated in Belgium to report
themselves, so that the "numerous" newspaper reports could be confirmed
or refuted. The result of the inquiry has never been published.
From a number of witnesses who testified whole-heartedly to Belgian
kindness, one will suffice. A lady reported her adventures in the
_Vorwärts_ of September 6th, from which the following sentences have
been gleaned. "Even if it is true that Germans were subjected to
inconsideration and ill-treatment during their flight from Belgium,
still there are hundreds of Germans who, like myself, met with generous
sympathy and unstinted help.
"A Flemish servant refused her month's wages, saying that her employers
would need it on the journey. Many Germans were offered homes in Belgian
families till the war was over. My own landlord in Brussels placed an
empty flat at my disposal for German refugees. At parting he and his
wife were as deeply moved as we, and when I began to make excuses for
being unable to pay the rent, she at once prevented me from speaking
another word. My husband was provided with a hat which looked less
'German;' they filled our pockets with provisions for the journey, and
after his wife had embraced me and my child we left the house in
silence.
"German refugees whom I met afterwards, related hundreds of similar acts
of kindness. When such severe accusations are raised against the entire
Belgian people, justice demands this statement that Belgians in hundreds
of cases, uninfluenced by the prevailing bitterness, showed themselves
kindly, helpful and humane towards the Germans."
In the second month of the war two representatives of the Social
Democratic Party received special permission from the General Staff to
visit Belgium and the theatre of war in Northern France. Their report
has been issued by the Vorwärts Publishing House.[101]
[Footnote 101: "Kriegsfahrten durch Belgien und Nordfrankreich"
("Journeys in War Time through Belgium, etc."), by Dr. Adolph Koester
and G. Noske.]
"Concerning the events and conditions in Belgium many false reports have
been spread abroad. That is especially the case in regard to the
terrible persecutions of Germans immediately before the outbreak of war.
The civil authorities (German) are now permitting full investigation in
those parts of Belgium occupied by our troops, and it is already obvious
that many exaggerations were circulated by German newspapers. Without
doubt beer-houses and business houses were wrecked, but the Tartar
stories which were reported in Germany and Belgium, Herr von Sandt,
Chief of the Civil Administration, puts down to hysterics, and the
desire of some people to make themselves important."[102]
[Footnote 102: Ibid., pp. 14-15.]
No correct judgment on the apportionment of right and wrong between the
Belgian civilians and the German army is possible without taking into
consideration the status of militarism in each of these countries before
the war. As far as Belgium is concerned, the army was looked upon as a
necessary evil. The Social Democratic doctrines imported from Germany
had obtained such a hold upon the people that the Belgian Government
experienced ever-increasing difficulty in getting supplies voted in the
House of Deputies, for defence purposes. Belgian Socialists
unfortunately played into the hands of the German Government by doing
their utmost to prevent money from being spent for the defence of their
country. Consciously or unconsciously, German Socialists have rendered
the Kaiser and his army inestimable service. Their propaganda against
armaments has borne fruit in Belgium, England and France, but did not
prevent a single German battleship from being built, nor a single
regiment from being added to the German army.
In Germany militarism is a gospel. All classes and all political parties
have been unanimous for years past, that every man should be a soldier.
The military ethos has ruled supreme, and whenever civilianism has
dared, merely to cherish thoughts contrary to the ideals of the ruling
caste, no time was lost in seeking an opportunity to challenge a quarrel
which invariably ended in humiliation for the civilian ethos.
Characteristically, therefore, the contemptuous phrase has become
current both in the German army and navy--"das Civil"--when speaking of
the non-military elements of the nation.
Imbued with these traditions and inspired by this contempt for
everything civilian, the German armies invaded Belgium, and it may be
safely assumed that in a country where the civilian ethos predominated,
looks, words, and even deeds, expressed hostility. Such "provocation"
would certainly rouse the military ego to a revenge ten thousand-fold
greater than that taken at Zabern. German militarism brooks neither
contempt, criticism, nor opposition from German civilians, and much less
so from the civilians of another nation.
When it is possible to obtain cool and clear accounts of the events in
Belgium, the author has no doubt whatever, that proofs of
civilian-baiting will be forthcoming in that unhappy country. The policy
of frightfulness was not only intended to drive an enemy into abject
submission and as a punishment for resistance to Germany's imperious
will, but it was the military ethos in strife with the civilian spirit.
In order to hinder the march of the invaders the trees lining the roads
were cut down and formed into barriers, but the civilian population was
compelled at the bayonet's point to remove all obstacles and thus assist
in the conquest of their native country.
"The magnificent tall fir-trees which are so characteristic of Belgian
roads, had been felled across the highways. But all the civilian
population which could be found, without regard to age, rank, or sex,
was forced by our advancing cavalry to clear it all away. One can
imagine the joy of the Belgians in performing this task!"[103]
[Footnote 103: "Unser Vormarsch bis zur Marne" ("Our advance to the
Marne"), by a Saxon officer, p. 22.]
This writer, too, chronicles many instances of kindness. "I was billeted
in a peasant's house at the western exit of the village. Three beautiful
children, trembling with fear, watched us come in, for besides me there
were twenty-four men. We had received emphatic warnings from
headquarters not to allow soldiers to be billeted alone. The woman gave
us everything she could find and it was almost necessary to use force to
get her to accept payment."[104]
[Footnote 104: Ibid., p. 25.]
"A load of shot struck the ground at the feet of my horse. Before I had
calmed the animal a N.C.O. marching at my side had finished off the
dirty Belgian scoundrel, who was now hanging dead from a roof window.
"Foaming with rage, my field-greys surrounded the house, in which only a
few of the dogs were taken captive, the others were immediately
slaughtered. A boy hardly fifteen years old was dragged out of a wet
ditch with a gun in his hand. Before being brought to me, this youthful
swine had been thrashed from head to foot. Besides the men, two women
and a girl were taken.
"Meanwhile a terrible hand-to-hand fight was going on throughout the
long, scattered village. Infantry and artillerists smashed the doors and
windows; no mercy was shown to anyone, and the houses were set alight.
An attempt to storm the church-tower failed because the occupants fired
from above. Bundles of straw were brought, paraffin poured on them, and
the tower set on fire. Above the roar of the flames we could distinctly
hear the shrieks of the murderers shut in there.
"I gave orders to a squad to shoot our prisoners, but a deadly bullet
finished the career of the lying, scoundrelly priest as he was trying to
escape. Our losses were remarkably small, only two men being killed and
a number wounded."[105]
[Footnote 105: Ibid., p. 43-4.]
In all cases where German soldiers asked for water from the inhabitants,
the latter had to take a drink first. "Before tasting the water both man
and wife had to drink first, and as this scene was repeated on
innumerable occasions, it was delightful to observe the comic
desperation with which the people took their involuntary 'water
cure.'"[106]
[Footnote 106: "Mit der Kluck'schen Armee nach Belgien" ("With von
Kluck's Army into Belgium"), by Dr. Jos. Risse, p. 17.]
Dr. Risse's interesting diary contains one or two important passages
illustrating the relation between conquerors and conquered. Like many
other German writers, he saw no hostile act on the part of the civilian
population, but they came to him as rumours. "That night we slept in a
barn. Here we heard that a village near Dahlem had been burned down
because the inhabitants had cut the throat of a sleeping ambulance
attendant.
"On continuing our march we suddenly entered a wide vale. The horizon
was blood-red and huge clouds of smoke drifted heavenwards. On all sides
the villages were in flames. In the last village before Louvain the
sight was terrible in the extreme; houses ablaze; pools of blood in the
street; here and there a dead civilian; pieces of Belgian equipment,
haversacks, boots and trousers lay around; while the inhabitants stood
about with their hands raised above their heads.
"It was said that hostile cavalry had hidden in the village and together
with a part of the inhabitants had fired on our troops. We only saw the
consequences.
"After a long rest before Louvain we entered the town at 7 p.m. Our
artillery had taken up a semi-circular position on the heights around
and directed their cannon on to the town."[107]
[Footnote 107: Ibid., pp. 22-3.]
The above events occurred on August 19th, exactly six days before the
sack of Louvain. It strikes one as remarkable that the German cannon
were even on that day directed against an unfortified city.
Risse was among the first German troops to enter Brussels. "Our route
took us through some of the principal streets, and various splendid
buildings including the Royal palace. Joy shone in our faces and a
feeling of pride swelled our breasts at being the first to enter
Belgium's capital. These feelings found expression in our talk and
shouts. The man behind me shouted to every bewildered, staring Belgian
whom we passed: 'Yes, young fellow, you are astonished, you blockhead!'
On we marched with the air of victors.
"The inhabitants were exceedingly kind, so that one had not at all the
feeling of being in the capital of an enemy. They brought us water,
lemonade, beer, cigars, cigarettes, etc., without asking for any
payment."[108]
[Footnote 108: Ibid., pp. 26-7.]
The same writer refers to similar hospitality in various parts of his
book. After passing through Brussels he continues his diary: "Sunday,
August 23rd. Nothing came of our hopes for a rest-day. Shortly after 5
a.m. we were ready for the march. A fine rain was falling as we passed
through village after village. We saw the villagers with frightened
faces hurrying to church, carrying prayer-books. Notices from the
Belgian Government were placarded on the houses, warning the people to
avoid every kind of hostility towards the Germans."[109]
[Footnote 109: Ibid., p. 31.]
From the last sentence it is evident that the Belgian authorities did
not incite the civilian population to resistance. Other German
war-writers state that the Belgian and French Governments had organized
a _franc-tireur_ warfare long before, and this accusation is one of the
pillars of Germany's defence for the destruction of Louvain.
"Soon after crossing the frontier we saw the first ruined house. Our
route led us down the same road on which a few days before the violent
and bitter struggles had taken place between German troops and Belgian
soldiers, aided by the inhabitants. The Belgians have supported their
troops in a manner which can only be described as bestial and cruel.
From the houses they have shot at troops on the march, and of course
their homes have been reduced to ashes.
"The road from Aix-la-Chapelle to Liége is one long, sad line of
desolation.[110] Otherwise the district is fertile; now, however,
sadness and devastation reign supreme. Nearly every second house is a
heap of ruins, while the houses which are still standing are empty and
deserted.
[Footnote 110: On September 8th, 1914, the Kaiser sent a long telegram
to President Wilson, in which he defended the German armies against the
charges of ruthless atrocities. He euphemistically stated that "a few
villages have been destroyed."]
"On every side signs of destruction; furniture and house utensils lie
around; not a pane of glass but what is broken. Still the inhabitants
themselves are to blame, for have they not shot at our poor, tired
soldiers?"[111]
[Footnote 111: "Mit den Königin-Fusilieren durch Belgien" ("With the
Queen Fusiliers through Belgium"), by H. Knutz, p. 13.]
That is the utmost sympathy which any German has expressed for Belgium.
The German public is fully informed of all that has been done, and
considers that _they_ have been brutally, wrongfully treated. Lord
Bryce's report as well as the French and Belgian official reports have
been dealt with at considerable length in the German Press, but receive
no credence whatever; they are lies, all lies invented to blacken the
character of poor, noble, generous Germany!
Germans are well aware of the awful number of brutal crimes which their
men-folk commit year by year at home. Yet they are absolutely convinced
that these same men are immediately transformed into chivalrous knights
so soon as they don the Kaiser's uniform. They seem incapable of
conceiving that a race which debauches its own women, can hardly be
expected to show the crudest forms of respect to the women of an enemy
people.
Herr Knutz--an elementary school-teacher in civilian attire, and a
non-commissioned officer when in the German army--seems to possess some
rays of human feeling. "Just as I was leaving the fort I saw seven or
eight Belgian civilians guarded by our men with fixed bayonets. They
were charged with firing on German soldiers. I must say that the
lamentations of these men--aged from 20 to 50--made a deep impression on
me. They had thrown themselves upon their knees, and with raised hands
were weeping and beseeching that their lives might be spared.
"The villagers are exceedingly ignorant, and when their land is in
danger, believe themselves justified in seizing any old shot-gun or
revolver which lies at hand. Probably some of the more prudent are aware
that it is a mad enterprise, but the instinct of self-defence is so
innate in the simple country people that advice does not help in the
least." (Von Bethmann-Hollweg and von Tirpitz justify the use of gas,
the sinking of merchant vessels containing women and children, the
dropping of bombs on open towns, etc., etc., by the plea of
self-defence.--Author.)
"But it is otherwise with regard to the atrocities on our wounded; these
are a stain on Belgium's national honour which will not easily be wiped
out. A German would never perpetrate such monstrous crimes,[112] and
that we can say without any overweening opinion of ourselves."[113]
[Footnote 112: This is hypocrisy or ignorance.--Author.]
[Footnote 113: Ibid., pp. 18-19.]
Herr Knutz offers no proof of the alleged atrocities; he has heard of
them, believes and repeats the story. I have some fifty German books
describing the war in Belgium, and in all of them similar legends are
mentioned, but in no single instance is a case proved and nailed down.
No victim is named, and the scene of the alleged atrocity is never
given, hence it seems to be the usual German artifice to make
_Stimmung_, _i.e._, to raise feeling.
One thumb-nail picture from the teacher's diary shows that the Germans
created only too well a _Stimmung_ of abject terror among the Belgians.
"This morning, August 19th, we searched a small wood for Belgians, but
found none. On leaving the wood a touching picture met our eyes. Several
families were fleeing with their children, and the barest necessaries of
life, into a neighbouring village. An old woman on crutches was trying
in vain to keep up; a young mother with a sucking child was sobbing and
pressing the babe to her bosom. The boys were weeping bitterly and
holding their hands high to prove that they were harmless. We passed by
the ruins of Roosbeck, where civilians had shot on the 20th Artillery
Regiment, for which reason it was burnt down."[114]
[Footnote 114: Ibid., p. 27.]
Among the various interesting pictures of the Fatherland sketched by
German authors perhaps the following is the most naïve: "English, French
and Belgians, hand in hand; how nicely it was all thought out; Belgian
neutrality--so solemnly pledged by all the Powers--was nothing but a
screen behind which they wrought the most devilish plans against
Germany. It was a neutrality which had long since been betrayed and sold
by the Belgian Government.
"But the German people--a pure fool-like Parsifal, who could not
conceive such treachery and knavery because it was incapable of such
things itself--toiled and worked day by day, enjoyed the blessings of
peace, was happy in its existence and ignorant of the looming clouds
gathering on its frontiers. All hail to our chosen leaders who kept
watch and ward over a dreaming people, and did not allow themselves to
be lulled into watchlessness by the lies of our enemies, who while
talking of peace intrigued for our annihilation."[115]
[Footnote 115: "Von Lüttich bis Flandern" ("From Liége to Flanders"), by
Wilhelm Kotzde. Weimar, 1914; p. 5.]
The same author's opinion of the Belgians coincides with that expressed
by many of his fellow countrymen. "What did our troops find by the
roadside? On all sides haversacks, straps, cartridges, caps, tunics and
rifles. To our soldiers this was a remarkable sign of flight, for they
are accustomed to military training of a different sort. In the forts,
it is true, they found among the soldiers also civilians wearing
patent-leather shoes. Indeed, the whole Belgian campaign has shown how
badly the army was prepared and equipped.
"The lack of discipline and order is evident, however, in every
department of Belgium's national life, and these virtues they
endeavoured to replace by cunning and cruelty--at least among the
Walloons."[116]
[Footnote 116: Ibid., pp. 61-2.]
A Knight of the Order of St. John[117] is still more cynical in his
condemnation of the conquered enemy: "The greatest misfortune in this
land is unemployment; factories are inactive and shops closed. The
horrors of famine draw nearer, and we, as well as some neutral
countries, are endeavouring to relieve the tortures of want. But charity
only encourages the laziness of the inhabitants. Just as the refugees in
Holland, the Belgians who have remained in their land would like to put
their hands in their pockets and be fed. Of course, that is not
permissible, and the German Government does its best to rap these lazy
wretches on the fingers."
[Footnote 117: "Kriegsfahrten eines Johanniters," by Fedor von
Zobeltitz, pp. 86-7.]
"It was characteristic that the Belgians always placed their hopes on
foreign help and never dared to rely on the strength of their own army.
This alone is a serious symptom of national weakness. Still, the Belgian
army has fought bravely. It is true they had not the discipline and
preparation which distinguish the German troops, but everything which a
badly equipped and trained army could achieve they have done."[118]
[Footnote 118: Wilhelm Kotzde: "Von Lüttich bis Flandern," p. 71.]
It is not necessary for the author of this work to write a song of
glorification for Belgium; she has herself composed an epic of valour
and self-sacrifice written in immortal deeds. At present her only reward
seems to be a desolate land in the hands of the conqueror, and the
graves of her fallen sons. Germany's evident intention is the annexation
of that part of Belgium where Flemish is spoken. At the moment of
writing, Goliath has vanquished David. France and England have a supreme
duty to fulfil: they are called to avenge Belgium's wrongs, and thereby
establish the principle that even necessity must recognize law.