The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1914-11-03
BELGIAN MOTHER WRITES
TO EMPRESS OF GERMANY
Both Have Sons Wounded In War
and Letter Shows Contrast

. H
LONDON, October 17.-This remark.
able letter headed can Open Letter TO
the German Empress, and signed ga
LEFTY in Belgium but not in Germany,
says London exchange:
Madame read in the newspapers
that your son Joachim has returned to
Berlin wounded, that you went out to
meet him, and that you regarded
with pride the Iron Cross pinned on his
breast i also, madame, have a son al
the war. He was wounded as yours
was, but he has not been brought back
to me. I have not been able to take
him in. / have even spent three weeks
praying TO God for him, not knowing
whether he lives He has not fought,
thank God, under the same colors as
your son, but as wife and mother can
understand the Joy you have felt at
seeing your son again alive
No Bitterness Against Soldiers
81 feel no bitterness against your
soldiers for having wounded my son on
the battlefield; il is the fortune Of war,
But | reflect that il is in my poor Bel.
gium that your SON has fought and
without doubt held command. II Is
here, with an armed horde devoted "a
rapine, to murder, to the uttermost
length of the most bestial horrors, that
he has earned his Iron Cross.
ttTherefore, madam, did you feel SC
proud ON seeing him as you are said 70
have feltI Did no after-thought trou'
BILE youi And, unless you were unaware
of the orgy of the beasts of hell in oul
country, among which Prince Joachim
has fought and commanded, did yor
assure yourself that that Iron Gross
bore no stain, that II was in honor OF .
soldiers deeds, and could cover up nc
responsibility in the crimes OF whicf
my country has been the victim at tho
hands Of your peoplei 49,. '....
No Escape Before God
''Does it appear to you as likely thai
a single German officer, and your SOL
more than any other, can escape be
fore God and before history the respon
sibiIity for a Joint work which has beer
eonsummated for several weeks method
ically and without mercy in all parts
| Of my country at oncef
| HThis cross, then ought II not to in
spire YOU with little terror beside tn,
pride which the newspapers credit yoI
With
eff delicaey, sweetness and sacred
pity remain the moral adornment By
our sex in all the regions where Chris
| tan civilization has left its stamp ev
cry woman Is heart ought 70 be doubl,
Mortified that human hands could per
petrate the desolation and barbarisn
/ with which country like mine ha
been filed, and that the emblem Of tn
Christ can find itself in such posi-
ton as lying as a reward on the breast
of those who remain responsible for !
before conscience and before humanity
i Pride Is Not Envied
II ~ do not envy you your pride
madame, face to face with your so
fresh come from the ravaged region
/ of Wise and Dinant, or Aerschot, o
J Louvain, of Termonde, wounded, whic
! is nothing but decorated with the Iro
Cross, which is an ironic saerilege and
PROCLAMATION worthy Of supreme punish
ment. -, WI tt
emo, I envy you nothing. And eve
in the midst of our tears, which W
shall dry, and of our ruins, which W
shall restore one day, l thank God tina
J those Of us who have soldier sons ca
clasp them in our arms in the eertai
, knowledge that they are soldiers an
not asshssins' #flrg.