Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1914-10-09
The Case Of Little Belgium In
Great War - s sEafiaH 5Te4 4H 7S Sa4 4RFss
STATEMENT FOX THE PRESS

violate ne neutrality az Brlglhm. Bfl
gium would be prrpIrcd 10 fulfil lis ne
trality of obligations. and her army
would offer to the invader ihr 0St Wig
Grols Resistance The treaties uf l>:;a.
confirmed by the treaties ~ $50. commit
- The guarantee ~ the Powers and not
ably 10 the government Of Ills Majesty
the King ~ Prussia. the independence
and neutrality Of the Kingdom of BE,
GUM.
The Chancellor Of the German Em
pire said in a sitting of the I,ci-h>tag
on the lth of August: We are i'm n state.
of legitimate defense. Necessity know,
no law. Our troops have occupied Ink
.cmboure and have PERHAPS already ben
ctrated into Belgium. This il against
The lax Of nations. France III. II trne.
has declared 40 Brussels that she il A.
trrmincd 10 respect the neutrality of Bel
"ium a. long ~ her adversary Respects
n, nut We know that France was ready
- invade Belgium. France can afford
Ia wait: we cannot 4 French attack
on our flank in the region .of the lower
Kline might have been fatal. Ii i for
thai reason that We have been compelled
To ignore the Just protests of the GOV
crinenis Of Luxembourg and Belgium
The injustice which we thus commit we
will repair ~ soon a. our military Oh
icct has been attained.
1T has been shown above how much
value can H. attached ~ the assertion
of The alleged intention Of France 10 in
wade Belgium. That intention. and the
realization AZ that intention belong *
du>ively t. Germany and they must be-
left in her possession. This il especial
ly the ease in view of the fact that the
military dispositions undertaken by
France. absolutely rcfutc the allegations
~ the German Chancellor. - true j.
this that when the violation Of Belgian
territory ~ anne an accomplished fact.
and when the King " Belgium appealed
urdcr the terms uf the treaty Of 1870 for
support. i'll maintaining the neutrality
~ Belgium which these Powers had
guaranteed. France was 50 little pre-.
pared 10 invade Belgium hat il took her
more than ten DAYS Ia get her troops into
the country.
The world j. familiar with the way
Germany has repaired in Belgium the
in iusticc Of which she was guilty. Ia use
the words ~ the German Chancellor.
Under the pretcXt that her troops
were attacked Nv civilians. and even IN
der no prrteAt "a an. whole villages have
been razrtl 10 the ground. Important
towns whose boast il was 90 represent
part of the common inheritance Of civil
~izati0n were not spared. Their monu
mcntS. which have been respected dur
ing the centuries i'm all the CONSTANT wars
of which Belgium has been the thcater.
were deliberately DESTROYED. Opcn cities
were bombaroed. Exorhitant taxation
was imposed upon como prcd towns. and
when the inhabitants were unable 90 paw
the axes. Il large number of their houses
were set nn fire. That IL what happened
10 Wavrc. among other cities. whose :.
800 inhabitants were unable 10 paw "a
uf ~>.iiuu. 600. TcFmundc. with lO.uhM
inhahitantS. was utterly DESTROYED. On
the 18th of September. there only re-
manned i'm that town 30 houses out of
| 100 The Town IF AcrschOt. with >nd0
inhabitants. il now nothing but a mass
of ruins. and more than $50 of lis IN
habitant> nave been shot. Dirieiblc bal
looms nave thrown bombs az night into
Antwerp. Ii cannot hc maintained W
those who were in the balloons that they
were irving ~ hit the forts. a. the forts
are outside the boundaries If the town.
and 4 good distance outside them ~
well Nor could the bombs thrown have
had any effect upon the forts. which are
even stronger than those Of Liege. There
was no warming Of this bombardment. q
fact which constitutes a violation Of
k.,:.I. ~ 80 til. Fourth f@nnVanttnn nf
the Hague. and more than a dozen peo
pie were killed. I'll of them non-comhat
ants aud several Of them women and
children.
The town ~ Louvain. with IT, 1000
inhabitants. was one ~ the ccntcr> Of
Belgian culture. II had No mercy shown
a. ID. aud has been nearly ohliicrated.
Several quarters of the town were set on
fire. the Church Of II. Pierre. 4 mar
vclouS example of Gothic art. the build
ing> of the University. including the Ii
hrarv with more than 10000 volumeS. of
which a large number We're ancient man
uScriptS. the collections belonging to the
University. nearly MI the scientific in
~titutionS. and nearly MI the houses of
The town were deliberately burned. They
are now nothing more than heaps of
ashes Their destruction has been a loss
IL the whole civilized world.
Numbers ~ absolutely innocent wom-
IN and children lost their lives in the
fire which was started bv the order 81
the German military officials. OF those
who were saved. several thousand. in
Guiding women eufcchlcd 10y age. and
children in arms. are today wandering
homeless over tine roads. without food
ar rloihing They arr not 10 blame for
ANYTHING. unless il y because they tie
lone ~ \ uatinn which has refused to