The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-17

any civilian.
 Germans Repulsed
 On August 25, an engagement took
 place, in the neighborhood of Louvain
 between German and Belgian troops The Germans, repulsed and pursued by
 the Belgian troops, retreated towar,ls
 Louvain in full panic. Many witnesses
 testify that at that moment the Gel :
 man garrison in Louvain was erron- eously informed that Belgians were
 entering the city. Immeditely the Ger
 man garrison, stationed at Louvain,
 withdrew towards the station whe re they clashed with their town troops,
 which were being pursued by the Bel
 gians. Everything seems to point to
 the fact that contact took place I From that moment, pretending tn It
 Belgian civilians had fired on German
 troops. the Germans began bombarding
 the city and kept up their lombard. .
 ment until 10 o'clock that night At
 the place where the affray started. not
 q single body was found of a civilian.
 proving that tho population had not
 participated in the shooting
 | The houses which had not taken
 fire Were set ablaze by rockets. The largest part of the city of Louvain. especially the 'Hauteville,' that is 70 say. the part comprising the modern houses the cathedral of St Peter, tne | university halls with the old and fa .
 nous library of the university. it's manuscripts, it's collections and scien- | tfic instruments, the theatre and many more buildings were consumed by | flames,
 1 The fire continued for several das E. Numerous corps of civilians covered these streets and squares. An eyewit- ness testified that in one place he counted more than 50 charred bodies many persons who had taken refuge in their cellars trying to escape. and fail- ing into the furnace of the blazing city.
 City Destroyed
 The firse started little above tie American college; the Hty is entirely destroyed with the exception of the city hall and the station. The fire continued for days, and far from trying to stop | 1t, the Germans seemed on the contrary trying to feed it by throwing straw into it. The cathedral and the thea ire were consumed by the flames and fell into ruins. The library of tho university is destroyed. The town re- sembles old city in ruins, in the midst of which drunken soldiers were carousing, carrying around bottles of wine and liquor-the officers then- selves were installed in armchairs, drinking like their own men.
 The procedure of the Germans seems to be the same everywhere first of all, they requistion food and an drink of which they partake to the point of drunkenness. Then they begin | to shoot wildly from the windows of abandoned houses, declaring the inhah- | itants have fired on them. Then the | firing and shooting scenes begin, and murder and especially pillage and acts ! of cold cruelty are witnessed, neither fc fad " rl..., they claim to know the perpetrator of 1 the deed they allege, the Germans do not content themselves with eXecutir E summarily the culprit-they wreak their vengeance on the whole town. Af- | ter the massacre, somewhat at random,
 they shut the men into the churches | and order the women to go back to
 their homes and leave the door open. | In several instances civilians were l sent to Germany to be compelled there, | it seems, to labor in the fields, as was
 done in the days of slavery
 The text of the statement of the | Belgian high commission presented to
 President Wilson at the White House | today by Mir Carton de Wfart was: Your Excellency: His majesty, the King of the Belgians, has charged us with a special booked mission to the President of the United States. Let
 me say to you how much we feel our
 selves honored to, have thus called to
 express the sentiments of our King and
 of our whole nation to the illustrious statesman whom the American people have called to the highest dignity of the commonwealth.
 "As far as I am concerned, l have already been able during the previous | trip to fully appreciate the noble virtue of the American nation, and l om happy to take this opportunity to ex- |. afah inspired me.
 Ever since her independence was first established, Belgium has been de- clared neutral in perpetuity. This neu- trality, guaranteed by the powers, mas lrecently been violated by one of them. Had we consented to abandon our neutrality for the benefit of one of the lbelligererits we would have betrayed our obligations toward the others. and it was the sense of our international obligations as well as that of our div Phity and honor that has driven Is to r slatance. The consequences suffered by the Belgian nation were not coii-
 fined purely to the harm occasioned by the forced march of an invading army. This army not only seized n great poHtion of our territory, but 1t committed incredible acts of violence. the nature of which Is contrary to the rights of mankind.
 Inhabitants Massacred Peaceful inhabitants were massa- cred, defenseless women and children were outraged, open and undefended towns were destroyed, historical and religious monuments were reduced to dust, and the famous library of the Uni- versity of Louvain was given to the l flames
 "Our government has approached the point of appointing judicial commits sion to investigate thoroughly and 1fl- partially examine the facts and deter mine the responsibility thereof. l T will have the honor. your excel
 lencv to hand over to you the proceed ings of the inquiry In this frightfal hoAocaust winch is enveloping all of
 Europe the United States has adopted neutral attitude. and It is for this reason that your country standing apart from either of the belligeren-s ! is in the best possible position to judge
 without bias and partiality the condi-
 tions under which the war is being
 waged
 Tt was at the request. event at the
 initiative of the United States. that all civilized nations have formulated and
 adopted at The Hague a law regulating
 the rights and usages of war.
 ] We refuse to belief that war has
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