Cmolja Tribüne, Tonnftftnrt, 28. Jan., 1U1.V Zttit 8,
1
V
h
A I
AN OPEP! LETTER TO 8
lEi ARTHUR
COM
DOYLE
FROM JAMES O'DONNELL BENNETT
Start Currespondent of the Chicago Tribun.
(From th Chicago ßunday Tribun, January 17. 1315)
(Bjr Spectal Permiuion of the Tribune Syndicate)
an english
IFKK'IJR'8
TKKT1M0NY
Y
(Copyright, 1013, by Jumes O'Donnell BenuetL)
?i tz. Germany. Dcc. 21- Twlco I havo .real wlth, strlct .ttenton
nnd wlth Km Irin amazement an artlcl of som 2.000 worin rlintributed
by you to th london Chronlclo anri eutltled "A I'ollcjr of Murder: How
IturhIii Hat Dcgraded th Standard of Modern Warfare."
To i that artlcl euis a very tcrrlbl and very terrlfylng doeu
m'iyurrblc In tt wrath. In IU passlonate slneerity, and In Ha uiaaaluR
dt tateiwnt, terrlfylng In Its türei upon, th biUmI ot neutral popl:s
lf Itn atatc-ments are arrepted.
la maklng eome replyto yoiir artlrle I hall not so much. try to say
ilting that will all in qütlon tb thing you have s&ld ta try to say
(hing that will tu aomo extnt give annthur poInt of viow than yours on
one of the greatest anl niOHt pcrplexlng questions of the Um-tb queaUon
of how Germany mal war.
1 vptitur to cat niy Statement lnto tb form of a personal but not
private ,tr to you. beeau 1 wlk to b temperuto and mannerly and
cunatantly to malte niyaelt reallze that I am In a nenne spefiklng face ta
face wttti one whom I rogard an a good and glfted man, a man wbo la not
only a proved patriot, but a man wbo work t oue of the adof nments of tb
llurature of hla country.
I would not come lnto 7011 r library and storm at you. Nor will I do
that m ely becaus teagues of land and sea separat ua and becaus !
ani unk. n to you. It la for these reasons of propriety and not becaus
I wlsh to connect a Uttle name wlth a notable one that thu personally
I address you. 1 owa you too much gratitude for many an hour of rclaxa
Uon to wteh In these troubled, fevnrlah tintos to be elthor rudo or patroalzlng.
On the wlngs of your high fame your worda wlUtravol far, and they
will convluco many. I hav no fame, but 1 have som faots. Th oppor
ttinitlea I hav bad for Rathering them may be estimated
frorn tlila brlef chronology:
On Aug. 12 I arrivt'd In Brüssels from London,
BENNETT
CITES HI3
EVIDENTE.
ALL QUIET
IN WAKE OF
GERMANS.
where I bad Just taken up wy work as London corre-
spondent for The Chicago Tribune. Du ring the next
flve or slx days I made brief tripa to the esst and outh of Brüssels aa
I:ir at as Landen and as far bouÜi as.Namur. On theae Jouraeys, by
traloi and on foot, I heard no reporta that 1 was able to contirm of wantou
hirocitioa perpetrated by German troopa against the Belgian civil popu'.a
tion wblch bad obaerved the lawa of war, but I dld hear ot some lnstanc
of drastic punlshment metfd out to franctireurs.
Oit Aug. 20 I was in Brüssel and watched for thro dava and a balf
the pasglrg of tbouBSDds of German troopa througk th clty. I was tn
many parta of Brüssel for many houra of that ctralned and exclting tinie
and I nellher heard of nor saw an act ot outrage or of plllage. I dld not
Fee even an act of ruck nea on the part of clther populatlon or th invad
Ing aoldlery. What I did waa frlendly visiting betwet-n groupa of
clviliaD and oldiers at 7 o'clock In the evening. That waa four houra
; after th ntry begau. '
o
On the followlng Saturday, Aug. 23, I atarted on a trlp that took m
" in üie wäke of Gorrnan oolurnna a ar eouth aa Beaumont. On SunUay I
was far In the rear of th troopa and In towna wblch
the Germana had not yet garrlsoned. At Nlvilles the
party of which I waa a niember vlslted for two houra
with th townapeople and some pensanta wbo had come
In from the countryslde. No outrage wer reported.
Half the next day we went on foot through half a dozen Belglan villagea
nd learned of no atroclties. 1
- The rest of the day our party marched alongaid a German baggage
tratn and aw Belglan women, apparently unterrifled, give cups of water
to German aoldlera, It la only fair to auppose, however, that they had
been ordered to do that. In confectionera' bop we saw German aoldiera
ivilly asking for chocolate and scrupulously paying In markg and Pfennigs
the prlce demanded.
On Tueaday we were corapelled to rest all day at an lnn In the Belglan
town of Blnohe because our feet were badly bllKtered from unaccustomed
roarchlng. We moted freely among the population, maklng amall pur
thaaea of eiuipment and larger onea of Korse, dogcart, "and bicyciee. A
German baggage traln or two paased through the town, but no German
soldier hlndered our movements. In fact. we appearod to be ldentlficd by
the German with the Belglan population and they let ua alone.
. 0
The next day we rode and marched by ourselves through many Bel
glan villagea and town. We heard stories of unprovoked atrocitlea when
, ' we, vislted with the Inhabltanta, bnt alway the scene
"ATROCITIE9" wa "In th next village, messleurs." Arrlvlng In the
VANISH ON next village we receivel the am assurance, and ao
yv'QUIstY. on all that day. Finally a BelKlan burgomastnr told
us that he had been Investigatlng the reports for two
days and had com to belleve that they wer franüc Inventtons. Of the
cruel signs of war we saw much and of the summary executlon of franc
tireurs we heard omethlng, and we heard it from Belglan. That evenlng
we caught up witli a German coluinn at Beaumont and were plaeed under
Burveillanco by German ofsicer.
The next day urveilrance became arrest, and on that day (Thursday)
and on Frlday and Saturday we had. of Course, no opportunitiea to learn
frora Belglan how they had been trcited or rnlstreated. But we did have
araple opportunity to observe how the German oidiers bchaved thomoolves.
We found thelr conrtuct admirable. Even to five men whom they had
gathered In a suspecU-d sples they were conslderate. They did not bully
us and they shared wlth us thelr food and drlnk.
On Friday night they put ua on a train with scores of French prisoners
of war bound for Cologne, deposlting ua at Aachen and eeemlng right glad
to be rld of ua.
0
In Aachen we wrre under survetllance for threo or four days by the
civil poli and Wien ceatsed to be Objects of either susplclon or interest.
The town belng convenient to the Holland border, where
we could niail our letters to America, we made It our SEES TtESULT
headejuarters for nearly two months. During that perlod OP GERMAN
I made two trlp to scene of German millltary otfera- DISCIPL1N1C.
tlons In France, each Urne under oscort of a German
iOillcer. On those trips I had scortia of opportunitiea to observe the lron
ilioiplin of the German troopa, thelr sobrlcty, their cruuulouBness la
paying for meals at French luns. and thelr good underetanding with the
civil population In France, and it la of the roatters that I would make
some atatement In detail.
AS TO "MURDER POLICY."
In the opening paragraph of your contrihution to the Chronlclo you
ray tliat "a Urne has now com when In cold blood, wlth every posalblo
reatralnt, one ia Justified in saying that alnce the moat 'barbaroua cam
palgn of Alva in the lowlands, or the exceases of the thlrty yeara' war,
ther ha been no auch deliberate pollcy f murder as ha been adopted
la thl Btruggle by the German forcea. Thla is the more terriblo slnco
these forces are not liko those of Alva, Parma, or Tlliy. band of turbu
lent and niercenary soldiers, hüt they are the natlon itself, and thelr deeds
are condoned or evenpplaudtid by the entlre national press."
Ilaltlngiy, owlng to meager knowledge of the German language, but
pretty falthfully for more than tliree months, I hav followed the reputablo
Cologne and Aachen papers on the war, and I have neither rcad vor heard
read aay euch condonement or applaune. Naturaliy, what they do not
concede they do not have to condone, and the German press does not con
cede that German troopa have outraged the laws of civllized warfare.
o ,
You -say in your next paragraph that "war may have a beautlful as
well aa a terribl alde and be füll of touchea of human sympathy and
restraint wblch mitigate Its unavoidable horrors," and
CITES CASE you clte fnstances of thl from the medlaeval waw
OF GERMAN between England and Francs and from the campalgns
SYMPATHY in the penlnsula in proof of that a&aortion.
fX
v
And the you ask:
"Could one Imagine German maklng war in such a splrtt aa thls?"
I can not only Imagine it but I have seen lt
I thought lt a beautlful thing to aee ray friend Capt Franz Von Kempis
of th Königin Augusta Garde grenadier regtment No. 4, Standing uncovered
on a chlll October afternoon before the grave of th French offleer wbo
loday Is knowa throughout the German annles In northern France aa the
"brave Alvarea." That soldler was commander of the Fort des Ayvelles,
ncar Charlesville, and when the garrieon refused to make the stand against
(he Germans which he seit Its honor demanded he kllled hlmaelf. The
victora buried him wlth military honors in a lovely vergreen grove behind
the fort, and over hl grave they erecUd a beautlful cross fashloned wlth
patient kill from (wood. And that cross bears thl lnacription In Ger
man text:
Her rests the brav Commandant He was not ablo to
live longer thau the fortres lntrusted to him.
By thl simple cross of wood the German soldler honors
In the Uie her of duty.
SECON LANDWEHR PIONEERS' COMPANY OF THE
EIGHTH ARMY CORPS. ,
September, 1914. ,
Rom day In happier Urne I hop to how you the Photograph of thla
shrin idae ndr tb tnrrnn. In lrfo Orfnbrr the Ormnn wntrh-
nielsur In karg of tb litt! forc guardlng Ayvelles was ko. pltig th
grav greea wjut rrealt boughs
It eemed to m a beauüful thing to aee French soldiora klwilng the
harnU ot German do;tirs wbo mlnitered to them In th hospltal at Laon,
au 1 nava sen fw nr. swewtnr dcsls In my II k
than th :tln of a German doctor wbo placed an M1MSTF.RED
arm -d"r th back, f a sukfr! aad distraugbi TO ENEMY'S
Fnnchmaa. and drawlng him to hl breast all: "I WOUNDKI)
glv you my werd that you or not going to die, but
you muat help me to make you well by ke plng yourself calni."
Two big teara mlled' down th Frencbnmn checka. um! them waa a
look of Infinit gratitud In bis eyes when the doctor gently lowered hlra
10 ine piuow.
I thought It beautlful and touchlng to see two big German soldlers
sinnig in nie krönt room of a houae In the town ot Betheuvlllr, not many
K'-hku- rrom luditis, hilo a llttl French glr!, perhapa 12 vr old. buv
th ra a lesaon In French. It was they wbo S'.iuioü i'u cl 'I lr.-.i. an I ah
the adult, r.o awkwanl and simpl and attentiv wer they, aud so monitor-
im ana stnet wlth them was he.
Th French cblldren wbo. were begglng pfi nnlgs with pathetlc, pretty
hlstroiilam from th prlnces, geuerals, majors, captalna and private soldiers
who tarne and went through ttie railway squaro tn the French town where
grvat hadquarters of the German armlos are loentetf - svemed to m to
afford declalve enough proof that theae litt! ones were not much fraid of
Mr. Kipling's "Nun,." 1 notlced wlth pleasure that almost ii-vtr f!!d (liey
meet wltli refusal. s
COURTESY
KHOWN A
BELGIAN.
And agaln. I could not convince myaelf that much persumi rancor was
exlstlng botUieen German luvaders and Belglan non-comhulants when a
German offleer, vhoso automobile was already well
fllleii, stopped the car on a country road to ar.k a Bel
gien doctor whctlier he could not give him a list to bis
deHtlnirtion.
And in desolated DInant I both wondered and
smlled wh n I saw Over LIeut. Dr. Lehman ot Dresden buslly helping the
IUdgian mistrefs of the Ina et the dlnnor tabk) when a party of whiverlng
offleers and correspondents arrlved unexptctedly one chlll nigtit In Sepiem
ber. The eager oftlcer was perhaps more of a bother than a help to the
hosteas, but he took hla actlvtty in good part and thero was much laughter
and cliamog between them. He had made hl quarters at the hin for many
day, and every Belgiaa about the place seemed send of him. A month
later I was ther again for a nlght, and th flrst thing I did waa to ask
for the over lleutenant. "O, he In depart.ed he Is gone these many days,"
crled all the- women folk lu chorus, and seemed genulnely sorry.
saw min
PFSTITUTB
FED FUEE.
It was at Dinant, too. that I twlce studied the method by which the
German army Is daily providing 600 destitufe sniniüos of the town with
bread. meat. and colTee, charging them alftolntely noth
Ing, whiie famflirs which can pay obtaln food at cost.
Meat I dellvered to the local butchera, and German
sergeanta stand by In the shopa to seo that the people
are not overcharged. In Brüssels I had heard an assist
ant to the Belglan burgomaster ask the German Commandant of the city,
MaJ. Beyer, for 3 0,000 sacks (that ls 2.220,0(10 pounds) of flour for the poor.
I heard the offlrlal stamp come crashing down on the typewritti n reqtiest
which the ofTicial alo submltted, and I saw th paper returned to the Bel
glan functionary wlth a smile of acquiescence.
To go back to Dinant, I saw litt! human tokens, liko'the words chalked
in German on the door of a pxr Belglan house, "Hers live a grandmother,
!)8 ytars old; keep out." and on the door of another 'Belglan house the
words, also In German, "Her Is a new baby; be qulet"
Wlthln tone's throw of the flrst of the fort which the Germans took
In the fighting around Liege I saw In October the gravo of a Belglan soldier.
It was strewn wlth green boughs and above lt was a woorion cross on
which had been lettered in black paint, "Here lies a Belglan soldier." The
humble but, as the tlmes go, sufflclcnt memorial was the work of German
soldiers now guardlng the ruins of a fort around which was some of tho
bardest fighting ot the war.
Her U otiotlier blt of twiilmnny frotn an Englluli subjnct whom ini,dr
of th Gornmns hu i kned. II is Capt, J II. (!e,rg. of tb liuyul I1UI1
reglineiit, and ti wrot frotn Mon in Keptember:
"I had bad lock. I was knocked out lu tb lirst half
hour, I was two days In a German hospüal. Tlc y
could not hav treated ni heiter had I been th crown
prtnre, from Mi lowest ordrly to th senior m dlcal
oMc,r. I hop you will teil thls to ay oue who I runnlug down tho
German."
And her Is ttlmony from a French offleer fiurgeon Major Dr. fJuuv,
Rae I.uxembourr, Paris:
"I hav been In th German hospltals at, Sompy otid Aura, tho French
woundpd rcelvlng exaetly th sam trwiUiieiit dn the Geniinn. I miiy dl
that not only th Freuen wounded but a!ko,tIi French prisoners whom
I snw wr vry well Innked after "
Wlth the followlng lftf.er I can not give you iiamcH, but I hav no
renson to belleve that lt Is a forgery. II was Nrt prlutcd ucwRpapers
publluhwl at Kiel, and Is ald to have been givn to the pnss of that
town by relatives of the German raptaln meuiiooed in Um letter. It was
then copleJ by tw verul otlier German paper, niotig them the exntidy
cautlous Coii'gn Gaetle, from th Nov. S luo of which I tratmlato lt.
A Freud, barones livlng In Ulla writes to a German captaln wlio has
been biih'ti'd at her house:
"Lillie, Oct 20, Dear Sir: I must teil you I prey God may guard you
im III you again se your mother. who urely ha piven ytu a tender ond
rareful upbrlngtng. I jwlll caro for your o Meers as lf tlity wero our own.
Belleve me, dear sir with deepest feeling, Barone de ."
A8 TO WANTON DESTRUCTlON.
DOYLE CITES NO NAMES.
Such thlngs, sir, I have seen.
In your article in tlie Chronlcle you clte many instances of atroclties,
but In, not one Statement dcTyou give the name of either the accuser or
tho accused.
In the citatlon of humane deeds I can be more expliclt than that. I
can give you the name of Mrs Mannesmann, who, struck to the heart by
th agonies of th French soldiers writhing and jerking wilh tetanus In Gir
raan superintended hospttals.of Hirsen and Iaon, underlook a perilous and ex
hausting Journey back to Germany in order to ptirchass the serum for tetanus
and convey lt back to France. She is the wife of one of tho b roth er
Mannesmann of the great German firrc of Mannesinann-Mulag. " That noble
woman I have had the honor to meet and, since she speaks as good Eng
iish as you or I can write. was able to talk und;rst,andlngly wlth her.
During our talk she uttered not one rancorous werd conceming the Eng
Iish or the French. Indeed, sir, It ls only wlthln recent weeks of the war
that I have heard opporbrlous words fall from the lips of Germans when
they spoke of the allies.
Let me also give youhe name of Miss Bessio Sommervllle, an English
govemess in the famlly Of Baron Mumm von Schwartzenstein of Aachen.
That lady wrote a letter, which was forwarded with letters w ritten by
English prisoners of war to thelr familles In England, and in it she said:
"I wish you would let the English papers know the klrdness and con
slderatlon we English recelve at all times from the Germans. It makos me
furious, and at the sam Um sad, to read the thlngs that are belng said of
Germans In English papers, I meon how they treat thelr prisoners and so forth.
They are vile lies. . I have plenty of opportunity of knowing how Belglan,
French, and English prisoners are treated. I have heard only of kindness
and courtesy and all prisoners that have passed through Aix-La-Chapelle
must say the same. I only hop the Germans will have the am to say
when they return from England. I could write much more, but space
doesn't allow."
1 hoped that Miss Sommerville's 'letter would be printed In the London
papers because lt seemed to rae that It would bring comfort to many an
anxlous, aching heart But I have been unable to lind
lt In any of the nurnerous English Journala which have
come under my eye. I sent It to tho paper which I
eerve and my editor gave It a coiispicuous positlon'
Another lltüe tncldent from Alx:
Baron Mumm asked CapL Lyster, an English ofllcer,
at Alx, what could be done to make him comfortable.
thing. else.V the captain replled, "I would like a briar pipe and eomo
tobacco" and he narued a favorite mlxture. Baron Mumm spent some
tline In seeking the brand and when he returned the captain asked, "How
much do I owe you for thls?"
"Nothing at all, my dear feliow," said the baron. "In happier tlmes
you and I will have a good inner togerher at the Carlton and thls will
be pleasant to remember then."
Toward the dose of the econd paragraph of your ariiclo you tat
that In the penlnsula campaign, to pi event the destruction of 811 anelent
brldge, tlie British promised not to us lt. ou condition tiii'.t.lho French
would sorego Its dostruction "an agreement," you add, "falthfully kept tipon
either side."
And then you ask:
"Could oue imagine Germans maklng war in such a spirit ,as thls?
Think of tho old French brldge and then think of the Unlverdly of Lou
vain and tho Catbedral of Keims. What a gap between them the gap
that sepcraea civllization from the savage."
Now may I ask a question or two?
Why not think of the exquisite Hotel de Tille at Louvain, whl;h was
saved from destructlon by vre sololy through tho herolsm, enorgy, aud
ingenuity of German offleers, who, though ;ontrades of theirs had been shot
In the back by clvilians slrlng from attics and fruui cellar Windows, worked
to save one of the rnost precious niernorials of anelent times, and worked
to such good purposes that today the süperb structure Stands unharmed?
I have seen it. '
Wby not think of the cholr Stalls, tho painllngs, and the silver Orna
ments which Germ't, oßlcers removed from the Cathedral of St Peter at
Louvain and inlrusted to the present burgomaAter of Louvain, who In turn
dcpoRlted them in the Hotel de Ville acros the way?
Why not think of the great bu!'dins of the Unlversity' of Iuva!n
which are not destroyed? You say they were, but on a Sunday in October
I saw them standing. It was the library of the unl
LOUVAIN versitv which was destroved.
ÜNIVERSITY "Tliiak of that old French hridf?e," you say, "and
STANDING thtn think of the Cathedral at Reims."
Why not think. In thls connection, of the three
parlernentaires which the Germans sent to the French, rt questing them
uct to use the towers of the cathedral as a point for signalin-r to the French
hatteries the effect ot thelr fire? One of these parlernentaires nover caroe
hack. As a final warning the Germans blew down a smokestack near the
cathedral, and when they sinally opened on the towers, so as to drive away
the men who were slgnaJing, they used very thin ßhrapnl. Days later I
taw the towers still standing, and the Statement as to t'ae parlernentaires
I had from German oßlcers of high rank, in whose speech I found nothing
to warrant nie in calün? them liars osfhand.
Why not think of the art Commission headed by a German privy coun
cilot and head of an imperial nmseum in Berlin, which Germany sent
through L'e!g!um from Liege to Mors to tabulate -vorks of art in churches
and convents within the zone of danger and to remov them to places of
ttafety not places of afety in Germany, but places of spsety In1 the Rue
Royale in Brüssels? And these treasures when dellvered there were placed
under Uie control not. of German but of Belglan curators.
Why not think of the fact that, almost with out exception, burgomaster,
curators of museums, bisbops, and prlests worked loyally aud fiankly in
the cause of art with the German commisson?
Why not think of the fact that one of the treasures they removed from
possible peri! vas Van Dyck's "St. Martin dividing bis cloak," a master
piete w!:ieh. merely on the basest grounds, is calculated to make an appeal
to the cupidity of an Invader, for its rnoney value, so experts say, Is not
k-ss than 50,000 pounds Sterling.
O v
At the opening of the fourth paragraph of your article you ask the
quePticn: "Can any possible terrn save a policy o! nuifder be appliod to
the use of alrcraft by the Germans?"
AIRCRAFT You are speaking more especially now of dropping
' PHASE OF ' bombs on unfortlfied eitles by German airmen, and you
"NEW WAR." say that "occaslonally these men have been obliging
enough to drop their cards as well as theid bombs."
And you add:
"I see no rc-ason why these (cards) should not be used In evidence
against them. or why they should not be hanged as murderers whey they
fall lnto the hands of the allies."
I am glad, sir, that you are not a BritiUi general, for it is my con
viction that if you gave Orders as you write articles you would add fresh
horrors to war. And also it seem stränge to me that a publicist who so
passionately extenuates the Belglan franc tireurs' ma'd deflance of the laws
of war shoifld be so keeu of reprisals against German airmeu who have
done only what English airmen have done. For, sir, English airmen did
drop bombs on tho unfortifiexl city of Düsseldorf in an attempt to destroy
balloon sheds.
That attempt was only partiaJly successful, but the next morning the
Cologne Gazette descrlbed the long flieht and the dropping of the bombs
as "a briliiant feat" and said that German airmen would hope soon or late
to return the eompliment of tlie visit to Düsseldorf. As a sportin? proposi
tion the incident made an Impression which was not lost on the German
mind, and hearly recognitiou ofc the fact was made.
The truth is that alrcraft are. like automobile's, a pliase of "the new
war," and the world must accept them if the wo rld ls to continue warring.
The princlple of war ls, as we all know, to strike terror, tihysical and
spiritual. into your enemy. Thls the airmen do with Superlative success.
There is, too, an anelent ;saying that war is most merciful when lt ls
quiekest, and the operations of airmen certainly expedite disaster and
destruction.
UNNOTICED
BY PRESS
OF BRITAIN.
who was prisoner
"Better than any-
COURTESY TO
AN ENGLISH
. WOMAN
May I give you another specin Incident with namos and places? An
English woman of prominenc who ls a cousin of Sir Edward Grey and
Is a large land owner and p resident of the Red Cross In a northern county
was enabled through th good Offices of Robert J.
Thompson, American conaul at Aix, to fulfill a Mission
which took her to a military prison in Germany. She
confessed that she came through Belgium wlth fear
and loathng of tlie Germans in her heart, She returned
over the Dutch frontler with tears of gratitude for what she descrlbed as
"the unfalilng courtesy and kindness of German offleers," who, she said,
bad not only allowed her to vlsit a captive English oilicer who was under
susplclan of espionago but also had glven her opportunitles to accompllsh
her Mission in the füllest possible way.
She vlewed th prison nd observed th treatment Its occupanfs reeeived
and she remarked several tlmes, "Why, lt la Just like a boys' school in Eng
land!" And she later told the consul how her countrymen had their play
grounds, thelr sports, their money, their ervants, and their newspapers.
Sh was füll of admlriklon for the perfeetlon of th System aud for the
human, brotherly feeling which characterlzed the working of It.
The consul told me he could never sorget the tears and th ,deep,
womanly feeling of thls lady as she expressed herself In parting on the
dark, stormy night when he took her over the German border lnto Holland.
Hsr last words to him were renewed assuraue.es ot her gratitude to "tho
courtly German soldiers." ,
TREATMENT OF BELGIANS.
1 your fifth paragraph you say: .
"As to the treatment of Belgium, what has it been but murder, murder,
all the way?" and you add "it is said that more clvilians than soldiers have
fallen in Belgium."
I should not be surprised if that second Statement were true. There
Is a reason why it should be. It would not have been so, I am confident,
had the population of Liege, of Louvain, and of towns and villages lying
between Liege and Louvain kept their obligations as civiüans, or donning
uniform, gone into the army as soldiers. My observat.ion in September
and again in October in northern France convinced me that the civil popu
lation of Belgium and not Ithe Bolgian army was the principal cause of
Belgium's woes.
For In Francs the German army encountered very few franctireurs, with
the result that there were few Instances of repisal against citizens. Village
after village I passed through In (the track of the German army, and
nothing at all was destroyed. In scores of inn parlors I have sat whi'.o
German offleers and privates .ate. 'The landlady and her danghters would
go busily and politoly about the serving of food, and. at the end of the
meal not only was the food scrupulously pald for but the girls would reeeive
really handsome tips. Thls I saw so often that I came to take it as a
matter of coure, as, in truth, it was. ,
o
A liberal estimate as to the part of Louvain that lies In ruins is one
seventh. More conservatlve observers are of the opinton that one-tenth
of the entlre clty ls destroyed. I am incliued to accept
the larger estimate. Far from being "a city of the past"
Louvain ls coming out of tlie heavy bewilderment which
its sorrows lald upon it and, under German auspiecs
and with German assistance, is maklng good progress
In Clearing away th wreckage. In the daytime the people move freely
through the streets and do not seem terrorized.
German oftloers and offlcials with whom I have talked tiave never
spoken lightly of the suffcrlngs of Belgium and they are sorry for Belgium.
"You have been in Dinant," said the seeretary of tho German for ign offlce,
Von Jagow, to my. "So have 1," he added, "and it Is torrible, but war is
war, and it is tenfold more dreadful when the civil population 'takes a
band in it."
And when it come to the kind of resistaneccf reprisal one cannot
call lt war which the franctlreur makes. you, iCÄ-thur, know what the
Walloons of eastern Belgium are. "Turbulent, 'uniculent, and unschooled,
they flght no, one cannot say flght but fire from cellars, from attics, and
irom behind hedges, using the whlle protectlon civilian garb confers on
veritable noncombatants, but not aceepting the honorable risks that go wlth
the uniform of a veritable soldier.
o
Tha Belgium government feit a llvely apprehenslon of tlie suffering of
ONE-SEVENTH
OF LOUVAIN
IS, IN RUINS.
(Continued on next page.)
Cchöne U;!ütit.
IKic (itinfiinb dem Blangkl an Fatt
ftefjfii Rbbrlfrn möcht. j
ZU britische SUgfcning dttsuchl
Nunmchr, wo England sich die
suhr von Anilinsarbsiosscn derschlos
scn h.it, die Gründunz einer groben
GescllschaZt zu fördern, die sich der,
JuDacilung von Farbstoffen widmen,
will, um tSsiflltinb in Zukunft vonj
Xeulfdjliind unndhängig zu machen
Ticser 2.oqe scle Lvio ivulton.
in einkk -Siede vor Industriellen ou
Lt'nccishirk, 'Zcrlshite und den an
fltcn.'enken Grafschaften in Manche
jicr dkn Plan auseinander.. Eng
land, so führte er ani, bedürfe jähr
lich für zwei Millionen Pfund Ani
linfarbstofse, die eS bei der Auflief
rkitung von Faürikcrzeugnissen titt
Werte von 2(J0 Millionen Pfund,
verwende; dabei feien wenigstens VJ,
Aüllionen Menschen beteiligt. Aon
den benötigten Farbstoffen werde,
kaum der zehnte Teil in England,
gewonnen. Gegenwärtig, wo des
Vorrat schnell zusammenschmelze
gübe es nur ein. Land, das einigere
mähen ouLhclfen könne, nämlich die
Schweiz. Ter Nedner glaubt zu
wissen, dcif; von deutscher Leite ein
starker Truck ausgeübt werde, um
dies zu verhindern. Nch Beend!
gung des Kriegs werde Deutschland
wahrscheinlich England diese Färb
stofse teuer bezahlen lassen. ,
Eine der vornehmsten Ursachen,'
warum in der Farbstoffindustrie
England so sehr zurück fei, liege in
der Abneigung der Engländer für
Studien. Man habe sich nicht durch
die nötigen Studien auf die jetzt ge'
stellte Aufgabe vorbereitet. DaZ
müsse anders werden. Die Briten
könnten das Werk ebensogut verricht
tcn, wie die Teutschen. Leider feierte
die britischen Kapitalisten wenig für?
die Wissenschaft eingenommen, die
ihnen selbst nicht eigen sei, so dich
ein junger Mann, der sich dem Stu-i
dium der Farbstofsbereitung widmenj
wollte, wenig Aussichten habe. ?!un
mehr aber gelte es eine große Nation
nale Krnftanspannung, um die neu
Gründung durchzuführen, für dereu
Gelingen drei Tinge-nötig seien
einmal müsse sie auf großem Fuß
geschehen, sodann müsse sie durch
und durch englisch sein und schließlich,
auf genossenschaftlicher Grundlage in,
der Weise geschehen, -daß die Produ
Zenten auch die Abnehmer würden;?
Die Weberei, die Baumwollfärberei
und die Farbstofsindustrie müßten
dabei zufammenarbeiten. Die Ge
sellschaft soll unter staatliche Auf
ficht gestellt werden. Die Versainm
lung gab ihr Einvernehmen mit den
Vorschlägen kund. Bekanntlich will
auch die britische Regierung sich fi
uanziell an dem Unternehmen betei
ligcn. '
El bedenklichir Kronzeugk. x
In diesen Tagen waren U Jahre
vergangen, feit in der Times jener,
berühmte offene Brief Carlhles er,
schien, in dem der große Schriftftel
!cr ' das edle, geduldige, tiefe und
kraftvolle Deutschland" als die Kö
nigin des Kontinents" feierte gegen
über dem windigen, eitlen, Händel
süchtigen, rastlosen und überempsind
lichen Frankreich . Dieses begeistert!
Lob der deutschen Kultur machte da
mals den größten Eindruck auf bis
englische öffentliche Meinung, und
lange find die Worte des größten Ver
Mittlers zwischen deutscher und eng
lischer Bildung in den Herzen seiner
Landsleute lebendig gewesen. Die
Times hat die Wiederkehr dieses Ruh
mestages in ihrer Geschichte nicht vor
übergehen lassen, ohne davon Notiz
zu nehmen; doch sie war dabei vor
eine schwierige Aufgabe gestellt, denn
Äarlyle ist ein ,schr bedenklicher
Kronzeuge für die heutige Stellung
Englands, das in haßerfülltem Ge
zensatz zu dem Lande und der Ee
sittung steht, die ihm damals ein;
seiner bedeutendsten führenden Geister!
als hohes Vorbild gepriesen. !
Aber die Times die ja vor keiner!
Beugung der Wahrheit zurückschreckt
weiß sich auch hier aus V? Schlinge'
zu ziehen, und sie tut es in ebenso
einfacher ' wie plumper Weise. In!
den letzten 44 Jahren hat sich eben!
alles umgedreht. Die deutsche Kul,
tur hat abgewirtschaftet,' und Frans,
reich, von dem zugegeben wird, dafr
es unter dem zweiten Kaiserreich sehr
herabgekommen war, hat eine geistige
Wiedergeburt erlebt und steht nun
da mit wiedergewonnener , Gesundheit
und See'enstärke, mit gefestigten Ner
den und steifem Rückgrat, mit einem
unerschöpflichen Vorrat von Selbst
Sucht und Ausdauer". Carlyles Brief,
ist heute noch so wahr, wie vor 44
Jahren, aber was damals von'
Frankreich gesagt wurde, das gilt
heute dies von Deutschland, und
was damals von Deutschland qesagt
wurde, von Frankreich. Die TimcS
ist; wenn es ihr in den Kram paßt,
ein bißchen schnell bei der Hand mit
?er. Umkehrung geiZUger Werte, und
Tarlyle, der tiefe Keiner und Dar
stelle? der ' leisen Wandlungen und
m feststehenden Züge im Antlitz der
Völker, würde wohl am entrüstetsten,
zewesen sein über dieses leichtfertig
Fpiel. das man mit seinen aus einer!
unerschütterlichen Weltanschauung!
heraus ' gesprechencil Worten hierj
aeibj.
