[From THE NEW YORK TIMES, April 11, 1915.]
Copyright, 1915, by the Wildman News Service.
"It would have been a very grave mistake not to have invaded Belgium.
It would have been an unforgivable military blunder. I justify the
invading of Belgium on absolute military grounds. What other grounds are
there worth while talking about when a nation is in a war for its
existence?"
It is the ruler of German Belgium speaking. The stern, serious-faced
Governor General von Bissing, whom they call "Iron Fist," the man who
crushes out sedition. Returning, I had just come up from the front
around Lille, and almost the only clothes I had were those on my back;
and the mud of the trenches still clung to my boots and puttees in
yellow cakes. They were not the most proper clothes in which to meet
King Albert's successor, but in field gray I had to go.
The Governor General received me in a dainty Louis Quinze room done in
rose and French gray, and filled incongruously with delicate chairs and
heavy brocaded curtains, a background which instantly you felt precisely
suited his Excellency. In the English newspapers, which, by the way, are
not barred from Berlin cafés, I had read of his Excellency as the "Iron
Fist," or the "Heavy Heel," and I rather expected to see a heavy,
domineering man. Instead, a slender, stealthy man in the uniform of a
General rose from behind a tapestry topped table, revealing, as he did,
a slight stoop in his back, perhaps a trifle foppish. He held out a
long-fingered hand.
General von Bissing spoke no English. Somehow I imagined him to be one
of those old German patriots who did not learn the language simply
because it was English. Through Lieut. Herrmann I asked the Governor
General what Germany was doing toward the reconstruction of Belgium. I
told him America, when I had left, was under the impression that
Belgium was a land utterly laid waste by the German armies. I frankly
told him that in America the common belief was that the German military
Government meant tyranny; what was Germany doing for Belgium?
"I think," replied Governor General von Bissing, "that we are doing
everything that can be done under the circumstances. Those farm lands
which you saw, coming up from Lille to Brussels, were planted by German
soldiers and in the Spring they will be harvested by our soldiers.
Belgium has not been devastated, and its condition has been grievously
misstated, as you have seen. You must remember that the armies have
passed back and forth across it--German, Belgian, English, and
French--but I think you have seen that only in the paths of these armies
has the countryside suffered. Where engagements were not fought or shots
fired, Belgium is as it was.
"There has been no systematic devastation for the purpose of
intimidating the people. You will learn this if you go all over Belgium.
As for the cities, we are doing the best we can to encourage business.
Of course, with things the way they are now, it is difficult. I can only
ask you to go down one of the principal business streets here, the Rue
de la Neuf, for instance, and price the articles that you find in the
shops and compare them with the Berlin prices. The merchants of Brussels
are not having to sacrifice their stock by cutting prices, and, equally
important, there are people buying. I can unhesitatingly say that things
are progressing favorably in Belgium."
The conversation turned upon Belgian and English relations before this
war. The Governor General mentioned documentary evidence found in the
archives in Brussels, proving an understanding between these countries
against Germany. He spoke briefly about the point that the subjects of
King Albert had been betrayed into the hands of English financiers and
then laconically said: "The people of Belgium are politically
undisciplined children.
"They are the victims of subtle propaganda that generally takes the form
of articles in French and neutral newspapers," and General von Bissing
looked me straight in the eyes, as though to emphasize that by neutral
he meant the newspapers of the United States. "I can understand the
French doing this," he said, "because they always use the Belgians and
do not care what happens to them. It is beyond my comprehension, though,
how the Government of any neutral country permits the publication of
newspaper articles that can have but one effect, and that is to
encourage revolt in a captured people. A country likes to call itself
humanitarian, and yet it persists in allowing the publication of
articles that only excite an ignorant, undisciplined people and lead
them to acts of violence that must be wiped out by force," and the
Governor General's mouth closed with a click.
"Do you know that the people of Brussels, whenever a strong wind carries
the booming of heavy guns miles in from the front, think that French and
English are going to recapture the city? Any day that we can hear the
guns faintly, we know that there is an undercurrent of nervous
expectancy running through the whole city. It goes down alleys and
avenues and fills the cafés. You can see Belgians standing together,
whispering. Twice they actually set the date when King Albert would
return.
"This excitement and unrest, and the feeling of the English coming in,
is fostered and encouraged by the articles in French and neutral
newspapers that are smuggled in. I do not anticipate any uprising among
the Belgians, although the thoughtless among them have encouraged it. An
uprising is not a topic of worry in our councils. It could do us no
harm. We would crush it out like that," and von Bissing snapped his thin
fingers, "but if only for the sake of these misled and betrayed people,
all seditious influences should cease."
I asked the Governor General the attitude of officials of the Belgian
Government who were being used by the Germans in directing affairs.
"My predecessor, General von der Goltz," he replied, "informed me that
the municipal officials in Brussels and most Belgian cities showed a
good co-operative spirit from the start. The higher officials were
divided, some refusing flatly to deal with the German administration. I
do not blame these men, especially the railway officials, for I can see
their viewpoint. In these days railway roads and troop trains were
inseparable, and if those Belgian railway officials had helped us, they
would have committed treason against their country. There was no need,
though, for the Post Office officials to hold out, and only lately they
have come around. Realizing, however, that without their department the
country would be in chaos, the officials of the Department of Justice
immediately co-operated with us. Today the Belgian Civil Courts try all
ordinary misdemeanors and felonies. Belgian penal law still exists and
is administered by Belgians. However, all other cases are tried by a
military tribunal, the Feld Gericht."
I asked General von Bissing if there was much need for this military
tribunal. I shall not forget his reply.
"We have a few serious cases," he said. "Occasionally there is a little
sedition but for the most part it is only needle pricks. They are quiet
now. They know why," and, slowly shaking his head, von Bissing, who is
known as the sternest disciplinarian in the entire German Army, smiled.
We talked about the situation in America.
"The truth will come out," said von Bissing slowly. "Your country is
renowned for fair play. You will be fair to Germany, I know. Your
American Relief Commission is doing excellent work. It is in the highest
degree necessary. At first the German Army had to use the food they
could get by foraging in Belgium, for the country does not begin to
produce the food it needs for its own consumption, and there were no
great reserves that our troops could use. But the German Army is not
using any of the Belgian food now."
[Illustration: H.M. MOHAMMED V.
Sultan of Turkey.
_(Photo from P.S. Rogers.)_]
[Illustration: H.M. VITTORIO EMANUELE III.