[59] What I have here written is, without exaggeration, the substance
of the Manifesto issued by the German Professors in August last. For
the text, _see_ the _Morning Post_, August 13th and 14th. And to the
same effect is the speech of the Imperial Chancellor in the Reichstag a
few days later (for report, _see The Times_, August 21st).
[60] Long ago--in 1870--Fustel de Coulanges pointed out that the
crime which, to use the words of our law, “is not to be named among
Christians,” flourished in Berlin as it flourished nowhere else, and
the immorality of latter-day Germany was the subject of a mournful
lamentation by Treitschke in his old age. An acute student of modern
Germany, Dr. Arthur Shadwell, also remarks on the low commercial
morality of German merchants (_see_ the _Nineteenth Century and After_
for August, 1915).
[61] It is a curious fact, attested by the evidence of a large number
of British and French soldiers who have been in action, that the
German soldier often exhibits the most abject fear when confronted
individually with the bayonet, going down on his knees, and whining
“Kamerad,” “Mercy,” and such like lachrymose appeals.
[62] Bryce Appendix, “Depositions taken by Professor Morgan,” page 195.
[63] Belgian Reports (Tenth Report), page 119. To the same effect the
British and French Reports, _passim_.
[64] Admiralty Memorandum, August 21st. Commander’s report on the
stranding of _E_13.
[65] _See_ Belgian Reports and Bryce Report.
[66] The writer has brought together a number of such passages in his
preface to the _German War Book_. For others _see Les Usages de la
Guerre et la doctrine de l’Etat-Major Allemand_, by Professor Charles
Andler (Paris, 1915). _Also_ Chapter I. of “_Les Cruautés Allemandes,
Requisitoire d’un neutre_,” by Léon Maccas (Paris, 1915). And more
especially the extremely valuable book published, at the moment of
going to press, by an eminent French scholar, the Marquis de Dampierre,
_L’Allemagne et le Droit des Gens_, a copy of which has just reached me.
[67] Sorel, _Essais d’histoire et de critique_, p. 271.
[68] German Proclamation of August 27th, 1914, at Wavre (Belgian
Reports, No. 6, page 82). In the Proclamation at Namur of August 25th,
1914, the German commandant, von Bulow, warns the inhabitants against
“the horrible crime” of compromising by their conduct the existence of
the town and its inhabitants!
[69] _Ibid._, page 81.
[70] _See_ p. 123.
[71] Holtzendorff, IV., 378.
[72] French Reports, _Rapports et Proces-verbaux_, p. 40.
[73] _cf._ the reply of the Roman Senate to the offer of a German chief
to poison Arminius, “Responsum esse non fraude neque occultis, sed
palam et armatum populum Romanum hostes suos ulcisci.” Tacit., _Ann._,
II., p. 88.
[74] _See_ the British White Paper of September 21st, 1915; “Austrian
and German papers found in possession of James F. J. Archibald,
Falmouth, August 30th, 1915.”
[75] Professor Salmond in the _Law Quarterly Review_.
[76] Mr. Justice Bailhache in the _King_ v. _the Superintendent of
Vine Street Police Station_. “The courts are entitled to take judicial
notice of certain notorious facts. Spying has become the hall-mark of
German Kultur.” September 7th, 1915.
[77] It is, however, impossible to include within the limits of this
book the whole of the unpublished material at my disposal.
[78] The term “soldier” is used throughout this article in the sense
adopted in the Army Annual Act, _i.e._, as meaning N.C.O.s and privates.
[79] The outrages committed in the districts now in the occupation
of the British armies have not been reported upon by the French
Commission, and the ground so traversed in this article is therefore
new.
[80] Von der Goltz.
[81] One might go further and say that the Geneva Convention, which has
hitherto been universally regarded as a law of perfect obligation and
which even the German Staff in the German War Book affects to treat
as sacred, is perverted to an instrument of treachery. The emblem of
the Red Cross was used to protect waggons in which machine-guns were
concealed. And since this article was written a German hospital ship,
the _Ophelia_, has been condemned, on irrefutable evidence, by our
Prize Court as having been used for belligerent purposes. Such things
throw a very lurid light on the German conception of honour.
[82] Similar evidence has been supplied to me by a French officer
attached to the Fifth Division of the British Expeditionary Force.
_See_ Chap. III., Part I., No. 56.
[83] See Chapter III., Part I., and, in particular, Nos. 39 to 43.
[84] The German officers spoke Hindustani. Doubtless they knew, as
I have found they often know, the identity of the British regiments
opposite their positions and were attached there for the express
purpose of dealing with Indians. But in no case, so far as I know, were
their attempts to seduce our Indian troops successful.
[85] This diary is now in the possession of my friend the Marquis de
Dampierre, who is about to publish it and numerous others, together
with fac-similes of the originals.
[86] The passage suggests that our wounded were killed, but it is not
conclusive. “Noch lebenden,” _i.e._, “still living,” would appear to
mean the wounded found in our trenches and unable to escape with the
others. The fact of some prisoners being taken does not dispose of the
suspiciousness of the passage.
[87] Brenneisen is now a prisoner in England. The diary was a most
carefully kept one. Since I first published it, it has been republished
by the French authorities.
[88] What follows refers principally to the portion of Northern France
now occupied by the British troops. The case of Belgium has been
sufficiently dealt with by the Committee.
[89] _See_ Chap. III., Section 2.
[90] _Ibid._, Section 3.
[91] After the outrage they dragged the girl outside and asked if she
knew of any other young girls (“jeunes filles”) in the neighbourhood,
adding that they wanted to do to them what they had done to her. _See_
Chap. III. (2) No. 4.
[92] Presumably La Couture.--J. H. M.
[93] I have suppressed the names of the witnesses for fear of their
relatives, if any, in German hands being subjected to vindictive
measures. Also in the case (selected from some twenty similar cases
equally authenticated) of rape I have omitted certain details which
seem to me too disgusting for publication.--J. H. M.
[94] NOTE.--This diary is a laconic example of a hundred such village
tragedies. According to the Eleventh Belgian Report (page 133),
twenty-six priests and monks were shot in Namur alone. And see the
pastoral letter of Cardinal Mercier (_ibid._, page 165) on what he
calls “this sinister necrology.” In his own diocese alone (that of
Malines) he records thirteen priests as having been killed. According
to a German soldier the guilt of priests was established by the fact
that church-bells often rang!--(Bryce Appendix, page 163).
[95] This savage credulity found its sequel in the murder of many
unoffending priests not only in Belgium but in France. I quote one case
from the depositions in my possession:
“Marie B----, sœur du curé de Pradelles, a déclaré ‘Les Allemands
rodant dans le village out enlevé la personne de mon frère M. l’Abbé
Héléodore Bogaert, curé de cette paroisse, et l’ont fusillé au
cimetière de Strazeele sans aucun motif le 9 octobre vers 1 heure et
demie du matin.’”
[96] These documents have been placed in my hands by the General
Headquarters Staff. In accordance with the procedure adopted in the
Bryce Report, and for military reasons, I have suppressed the names of
the British regiments referred to and of their officers and men.--J. H.
M.
[97] This and the two following depositions are selected from a number
of statements, mostly by Russian prisoners in German hands, who
succeeded in escaping to the British lines. The statements (_b_) and
(_c_) by these Russian soldiers are confirmed by the statement (_a_)
which was volunteered by a German soldier, Stephan Grzegoroski, taken
prisoner by the British troops. It is hardly necessary to point out
that the employment of prisoners of war upon military works and their
exposure to fire constitute a flagrant breach, not only of the Hague
Regulations, but of the unwritten laws and usages of war.--J. H. M.
[98] These two men escaped on December 8th, 1915, and reached the
British Lines.--J. H. M.
[99] “German Atrocities: An Official Investigation.” By J. H. Morgan,
M.A., late Home Office Commissioner, with the British Expeditionary
Force, Barrister-at-Law of the Inner Temple, and Professor of
Constitutional Law in the University of London. (T. Fisher Unwin.)
[Transcriber’s Note:
Corrected the first two entries in the TOC to reflect the actual page
numbers.
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]
End of Project Gutenberg's German Atrocities, by John Hartman Morgan