French Cabinet Minister Addresses the Danish Government, Sept. 10.
The French Government protested on Aug. 18 to the Permanent Bureau of
The Hague Court of Arbitration against the use of dumdum bullets by the
Germans, producing proof obtained by surgeons that French soldiers had
been killed or wounded by these bullets. The German General Staff has
countered this by alleging that it was the French and English who used
the bullets, and the Imperial Chancellor has announced in fiery tones
that in the presence of the example given by the English and French the
German soldiers would henceforth use dumdum bullets; the responsibility
for this procedure, which he himself describes as an act of cruelty and
a violation of an international convention signed by Germany, will rest,
he says, upon the powers of the Triple Entente.
By my Government's orders I have the honor to protest in the most formal
manner to the Danish Government against the lying German allegations.
French soldiers have never used dumdum bullets. The French Government
has never authorized, nor will authorize, its troops to use such
barbarous means of warfare, whatever be the infringements of law and the
cruelties committed by its adversaries. The "Instructions for French
Officers in Wartime" also lay down, and will continue to lay down, that
they are to forbid their men to use bullets at variance with the
stipulations of the Geneva and Hague conventions.
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[Illustration: ALBERT, KING OF THE BELGIANS]