_We mean the one issued on the 29th of October by the Academie
Francaise at one of its sessions, meeting under the Presidency of M.
Marcel Prevost, M. Etienne Lamy being Perpetual Secretary. The
President of the Republic, M. Raymond Poincare, made it a point to be
present at this session, and here is the document that, after long
deliberation, was approved by the unanimous vote of the members
present:_
The Academie Francaise protests against all the affirmations by which
Germany lyingly imputes to France or to its allies the responsibility
for the war.
It protests against all the negations opposed to the evident
authenticity of the abominable acts committed by the German armies.
In the name of French civilization and human civilization, it
stigmatizes the violators of Belgian neutrality, the killers of women
and children, the savage destroyers of noble monuments of the past,
the incendiaries of the University of Louvain, of the Cathedral of
Rheims, and those who wanted also to burn Notre Dame.
It expresses its enthusiasm for the armies that struggle against the
coalition of Germany and Austria.
With profound emotion it salutes our soldiers who, animated by the
virtues of our ancestors, are thus demonstrating the immortality of
France.
_When these words were published they may have appeared excessive to
certain minds outside of the best-informed circles.... Since then
diplomatic documents have appeared, followed by various official
reports on German atrocities, and today the truth is known to all._
No. 4.