Part 14 (2/2)
[Footnote 112: This is hypocrisy or ignorance.--Author.]
[Footnote 113: Ibid., pp. 18-19.]
Herr Knutz offers no proof of the alleged atrocities; he has heard of them, believes and repeats the story. I have some fifty German books describing the war in Belgium, and in all of them similar legends are mentioned, but in no single instance is a case proved and nailed down.
No victim is named, and the scene of the alleged atrocity is never given, hence it seems to be the usual German artifice to make _Stimmung_, _i.e._, to raise feeling.
One thumb-nail picture from the teacher's diary shows that the Germans created only too well a _Stimmung_ of abject terror among the Belgians.
”This morning, August 19th, we searched a small wood for Belgians, but found none. On leaving the wood a touching picture met our eyes. Several families were fleeing with their children, and the barest necessaries of life, into a neighbouring village. An old woman on crutches was trying in vain to keep up; a young mother with a sucking child was sobbing and pressing the babe to her bosom. The boys were weeping bitterly and holding their hands high to prove that they were harmless. We pa.s.sed by the ruins of Roosbeck, where civilians had shot on the 20th Artillery Regiment, for which reason it was burnt down.”[114]
[Footnote 114: Ibid., p. 27.]
Among the various interesting pictures of the Fatherland sketched by German authors perhaps the following is the most nave: ”English, French and Belgians, hand in hand; how nicely it was all thought out; Belgian neutrality--so solemnly pledged by all the Powers--was nothing but a screen behind which they wrought the most devilish plans against Germany. It was a neutrality which had long since been betrayed and sold by the Belgian Government.
”But the German people--a pure fool-like Parsifal, who could not conceive such treachery and knavery because it was incapable of such things itself--toiled and worked day by day, enjoyed the blessings of peace, was happy in its existence and ignorant of the looming clouds gathering on its frontiers. All hail to our chosen leaders who kept watch and ward over a dreaming people, and did not allow themselves to be lulled into watchlessness by the lies of our enemies, who while talking of peace intrigued for our annihilation.”[115]
[Footnote 115: ”Von Luttich bis Flandern” (”From Liege to Flanders”), by Wilhelm Kotzde. Weimar, 1914; p. 5.]
The same author's opinion of the Belgians coincides with that expressed by many of his fellow countrymen. ”What did our troops find by the roadside? On all sides haversacks, straps, cartridges, caps, tunics and rifles. To our soldiers this was a remarkable sign of flight, for they are accustomed to military training of a different sort. In the forts, it is true, they found among the soldiers also civilians wearing patent-leather shoes. Indeed, the whole Belgian campaign has shown how badly the army was prepared and equipped.
”The lack of discipline and order is evident, however, in every department of Belgium's national life, and these virtues they endeavoured to replace by cunning and cruelty--at least among the Walloons.”[116]
[Footnote 116: Ibid., pp. 61-2.]
A Knight of the Order of St. John[117] is still more cynical in his condemnation of the conquered enemy: ”The greatest misfortune in this land is unemployment; factories are inactive and shops closed. The horrors of famine draw nearer, and we, as well as some neutral countries, are endeavouring to relieve the tortures of want. But charity only encourages the laziness of the inhabitants. Just as the refugees in Holland, the Belgians who have remained in their land would like to put their hands in their pockets and be fed. Of course, that is not permissible, and the German Government does its best to rap these lazy wretches on the fingers.”
[Footnote 117: ”Kriegsfahrten eines Johanniters,” by Fedor von Zobelt.i.tz, pp. 86-7.]
”It was characteristic that the Belgians always placed their hopes on foreign help and never dared to rely on the strength of their own army.
This alone is a serious symptom of national weakness. Still, the Belgian army has fought bravely. It is true they had not the discipline and preparation which distinguish the German troops, but everything which a badly equipped and trained army could achieve they have done.”[118]
[Footnote 118: Wilhelm Kotzde: ”Von Luttich bis Flandern,” p. 71.]
It is not necessary for the author of this work to write a song of glorification for Belgium; she has herself composed an epic of valour and self-sacrifice written in immortal deeds. At present her only reward seems to be a desolate land in the hands of the conqueror, and the graves of her fallen sons. Germany's evident intention is the annexation of that part of Belgium where Flemish is spoken. At the moment of writing, Goliath has vanquished David. France and England have a supreme duty to fulfil: they are called to avenge Belgium's wrongs, and thereby establish the principle that even necessity must recognize law.
CHAPTER VIII
ATROCITIES
The question of Belgian atrocities is so important that no apology is required for giving the British public every possible opportunity to sift evidence, and above all, to hear the German side.
In the interests of fair play we will allow a German lawyer[119] to state the case against the Belgians. Herr Gra.s.shoff is armed with two doctorates and is in practice as an advocate in one of the higher courts of law (_Kammergericht_). Chapter III of his work is ent.i.tled: ”The Belgian Outrages;” in the foregoing chapter he endeavours to show that the Belgian Press had worked upon public opinion and lashed it into such a state that atrocities and mutilations of Germans by Belgian men, women, boys and girls were the natural consequences.
[Footnote 119: Richard Gra.s.shoff: ”Belgien's Schuld” (”Belgium's Guilt”).]
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