from German evidence
_Pudor inde et miseratio._
Tacitus.
I intend to prove that the German armies cannot wholly escape from the
reproach of sometimes violating the law of nations, and I mean to prove
my case according to French custom from absolutely trust worthy sources.
I shall make use only of documents most rigorously examined, and I
have taken care to criticize their text as minutely as if in times
of peace I were questioning the authority of some old chronicle or
the genuineness of some old chart. And I shall do so perhaps from
professional habit, perhaps impelled by an inward longing to get at
the truth, in any case for the good of the case I am pleading: for
these pages are intended for every one; for the casual reader, for the
indifferent, and indeed for the enemy of my country. I wish that the
casual reader who may by chance open this pamphlet in an idle moment
should be struck by the genuineness of the documents, if he has eyes to
see, just as their sordid character will touch his heart, if he has a
heart that feels.
My aim has been that these documents whose authenticity is obvious
should carry an equally obvious authority. It is easy to make
accusations difficult to prove them! No belligerent has ever been at
a loss to bring against his enemy a heap of evidence, true or false.
But though the evidence may be collected in accordance the most solemn
forms of justice by the highest magistrates, it will unfortunately long
remain useless, so long as the adversary has not had an opportunity
of disputing it, everyone is entitled to consider statements as lies,
or at least as open to refutation. That is why, I shall abstain here,
from quoting French or Belgian testimony true though I know it to be.
I have preferred that the evidence which I shall call shall be of such
a nature that no living man, not even in Germany shall attempt to
refute it. German atrocities shall be proved by German documents.
I shall take the evidence chiefly from those war diaries, which Article
75 of the _Rules for Field service of the German Army_ advises soldiers
to keep on the march, which we have confiscated from prisoners[1],
as being military papers. It goes without saying that their number
increases daily. I should like some day the complete collection to be
deposited in the collection of German manuscripts in the Bibliothèque
Nationale for everyone's instruction. In the meantime, the Marquis of
Dampierre, a former student of the École des Chartes, archivist and
paleographer, is preparing and will shortly bring out a book in which
the greater part of these roadside journals will be minutely described,
copied, and brought into the full light of day. For my part I have
examined but forty. They will suffice for my task. I shall make some
extracts from them, taking care that each quotation bears sufficient
proof of its genuineness.
In what order shall I arrange them? For many reasons, but chiefly
because some of these documents only ten lines long contain proof of
crimes of many kinds, I shall not attempt to adopt any rigid order
of classification. I shall dip haphazard into the heap; certain
associations of ideas or pictures, and a certain similarity in the
texts will alone enable me to group them.
I
[Illustration: _Plate 1._]
I open haphazard the Diary of a soldier of the Prussian Guard,
Gefreiter Paul Spielmann (I Kompagnie, Ersatz-Bataillon, I
Garde-Infanterie-Brigade). Here is his account of a night alarm in a
village near Blamont on the 1^{st} September. At the bugle call, the
Guard wakes, and the massacre begins (_Plates 1 and 2_.)
«The inhabitants fled through the village. It was horrible. Blood
was plastered on all the houses, and as for the faces of the dead,
they were hideous. They were all buried at once, to the number of
sixty. Among them many old men and women, and one woman about to be
delivered. It was a ghastly sight. There were three children who had
huddled close to one another and had died together. The altar and the
ceiling of the church had fallen in. They had been telephoning to the
enemy. And this morning, 2 September, all the survivors were driven
out and I saw four little boys carrying on two poles a cradle in
which was a child of 5 to 6 months old. All this was horrible to see.
A blow for a blow. Thunder for thunder. Everything was pillaged. And
I also saw a mother with her two little ones: and one had a large
wound in the head, and had lost an eye.»[2]
[Illustration: _Plate 2._]
«They had been telephoning to the Enemy» says this soldier, the
punishment was deserved. Let us remember the terms of Art. 50 of the
Hague Convention of 1907 signed in the name of the German Emperor by a
gentleman, Baron Marschall von Bieberstein. «No collective punishment,
pecuniary or other, can be inflicted upon a community for individual
acts for which they cannot be held responsible as a body.» What
tribunal, during this night of horrors took the trouble to make sure of
the guilt of the community at large?