My Interview with Belgian Ministers of State.
In order that the civilized world should be acquainted with the terrible
atrocities committed in Belgium, the King of the Belgians, who had
served in the trenches with his men, disguised as a private soldier,
appointed a Mission to proceed to the President of the United States and
lay the case before him. The members of the Mission were:--
=M. Carton de Wiart, Chief of the Mission, who is the Belgian
Minister of Justice;=
=M. de Sadeleer, Leader of the Conservative Party;=
=M. Pau Hemans, Leader of the Liberal Party;=
=M. Emile Van der Velde, Leader of the Socialist Party.=
=All these men are Belgian Ministers of State, and were accompanied by
Count de Lichtervelde, who acted as Secretary to the Mission.=
The members of this Mission first came to London to present an Address
to the King. On the evening of the day these gentlemen were received by
His Majesty, and later by Sir Edward Grey, I had the privilege of a
private interview with them.
I had a long talk with M. Carton de Wiart, during which he unfolded to
me many frightful details, and
“=These abominable crimes against humanity and civilization call for
condign reprobation in the face of the civilized world.... Let us
hear no more whining about German ‘culture.’ But let us make it
known that we will make the world ring with our sense of
horror.=”--_Frederic Harrison._
explained the reason for the appointment of a committee of inquiry. He
described to me scenes he himself had witnessed. He laid stress upon the
bombardment and destruction of open towns--that is, towns unprotected
and undefended by any military works--such as Malines and Louvain; while
Antwerp, being a fortified place, ought to have had twenty-four hours’
notice given to its inhabitants before it was attacked with bombs, yet
no such notice was given. On the contrary, attacks by Zeppelins had been
made without warning in the dead of night. He also described to me the
atrocities committed by the Germans in the bombardment and setting fire
to small villages without any military reason or necessity whatever. He
related harrowing details of the massacre of perfectly innocent people,
non-combatants, men, women, and children.
He showed me a letter from a person of repute in Belgium who had motored
from Brussels to Louvain by the Tervueren road, in which I read: “After
I got to a village named Veerde St. George I saw only burning villages;
peasants beside themselves with terror threw up their arms in sign of
submission on my approach. When I got to Louvain I found the whole town
in ruins, and soldiers were still piling straw against buildings which
had escaped the flames and igniting them.”
Authenticated Documents.
The mass of documents which the Mission were carrying to America, he
informed me, were all signed statements of persons who had been
eye-witnesses of the atrocities, as well as those of many who had
suffered.
In a chat I also had with M. Emile Van der Velde, another member of the
Delegation and the leader of the Belgian Socialists, he said: “I went to
Malines after the fighting, in order to investigate the state of
affairs. I found only eight Belgian people in the town, but even then
the Germans were bombarding the deserted houses, apparently with the
sole object of destroying them. The whole object of the Germans,” he
added, “had been to create such a reign of terror that the whole
population of Belgium should flee into Antwerp, and so render it
impossible for the people congregated there to be fed. I myself examined
the bodies of a peasant and his son which had been cut to pieces by
bayonet thrusts.”
Another member of the Delegation told me that he had learned from
several wounded persons how a druggist living near Tirlemont, on
refusing to act as guide to the Uhlans, was shot three times and then
bayoneted; and further, in the same hospital, wounded soldiers had told
him how that while lying upon the battlefield many had been bayoneted or
shot.
The Delegation had, earlier in the day on which I had this interview
with them, presented an Address to His Majesty at Buckingham Palace, the
text of which has been published. It ran:--
“SIRE,--Belgium, having had to choose between the sacrifice of her
honour and the peril of war, did not hesitate. She opposed the
brutal aggression committed by a Power which was one of the
guarantors of her neutrality.
“In this critical situation it was for our country an inestimable
tower of strength to see coming forth the resolute and immediate
intervention by great and powerful England.
“Commissioned by His Majesty the King of the Belgians with a
Mission to the President of the United States, we have considered
it to be our duty to make a stay in the capital of the British
Empire to convey to your Majesty the respectful and ardent
expression of gratitude of the Belgian nation....
“Our adversary, after invading our territory, has decimated the
civil population, massacred women and children, carried into
captivity inoffensive peasants, put to death wounded, destroyed
undefended towns, burned churches, historical monuments, and the
famous library of the University of Louvain. All these facts are
established by authenticated documents. Each we shall have the
honour of submitting to the Government of your Majesty.
“In spite of all this suffering in Belgium, which has been made the
personification of outraged right, the country is resolute in
fulfilling to the utmost her duties towards Europe. Whatever may
happen, she must defend her existence, her honour, and her
liberty.”
The King, in reply, said that he would support Belgium, and expressed
his horror at the shocking report of German brutality.
The Belgian Minister’s Statements.
The delegation was subsequently received by Sir Edward Grey at the
Foreign Office, where they outlined some of the violations of
international law and of humanity committed by Germany, viz.:--