Article XXIII. of The Hague Convention forbids:--“To kill or wound
treacherously individuals belonging to the hostile nation or army.”
From almost the first day of the war this undertaking, given by Germany
along with the other Great Powers, has been treated by her as a “scrap
of paper.”
The fearful deeds of horror which have besmirched the name of Germany
form a terrible page of history. They have been proved by captured
Germans themselves to have been deliberate, and to have been actually
ordered by officers as high in rank as colonels and majors, and to be
part of the Kaiser’s preconceived plan. The murder of unarmed,
inoffensive citizens, the hussar-like stroke of sowing neutral waters
with death, the destruction of unfortified towns and the massacre of
their inhabitants, the violation of women and young girls, the forcing
of men, women, and children to march as shields in front of their
troops, the murder of the wounded, the wholesale slaughter of
non-combatants, the tortures, the mutilations, and the vile outrages are
surely sins against humanity, and are bound to meet with an awful and
just retribution. The blood of those martyred innocents cries aloud to
God for vengeance, and such vengeance must surely come upon the Kaiser
and the inhuman monsters surrounding him who have so deliberately urged
on their wild assassins to commit the unspeakable crimes reported
during the first month of the war.
It must be remembered, in reading of these terrible atrocities, that
while they were being committed on the defenceless on every hand, yet
the Kaiser sent a telegram to the King of Würtemberg actually thanking
the Almighty for the success of his marauders in their murderous
campaign against women and children. The text of the Kaiser’s message
was: “With God’s gracious assistance, Duke Albrecht and his splendid
army have gained a glorious victory. You will join me in thanking the
Almighty. I have bestowed on Albrecht the Iron Cross of the First and
Second Class.--WILHELM.” God’s gracious assistance!
The ruthless and utterly inexcusable barbarities committed by the German
army were surely without parallel in the whole history of the world. The
spectacle of racial degeneration which Germany displayed staggered
civilization, and this awful story of murder, cruelty, and debauchery
will surely remain for all time as a record of infamies which have
eternally disgraced the German nation. About the apportionment of blame
there must be no mistake. The Kaiser could have prevented it by a single
word. But, condemned by his own speech, he and his people are alike
responsible for the acts of the troops, and no differentiation can be
made by right-thinking people.
[Illustration: THE BELGIAN COMMISSION. _Photo, Barratt._
_Face p. 21._]