The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1915-05-18
RRYCE COMMITTEE
BRINGS !ygICTNENT
A RINGING ARRAIG- INT OF
GERMAN METHODS l. HE
PRESENT CONFLICT.
CRIMES THAT ARE Prov.
Remarkable Document Submitted to
premier Asquith Contains Four
tremendously Accusing Counts
Against Foes of Allied Armies.

Premier ASqultn contains FOuf
tremendously Accusing Counts
Aooinst Foes of Allied Armies.
1ONDON.-Viscoun Bryce, Brit
isb ambassador at Washington, and
NOW chairman of a special govern
r,ont committee appointed to inves-
+igate and report on "outrages al
LACED to have been committed by
German troops during the present
war" has submitted the report of the
committee to Premier Asquith.
The document is considered as
nrobably the most severe arraign-
mant thus far made of the German
military sweep across Belgium, main
" because of the position of ViscOunt
Bryce as a historian, and also he
cause of the care with which the in
yestigation was made, the great num-
her of witnesses whose testimony
was examined, and the mass of evil
dence now submitted with the re-
mort of the committee.
The most important findings of the
committee are summed up in the fol-
lowing conclusion at the close of the
report:
Crimes That Are Proven.
1T will be seen that the commit
tee have come to definite conclu-
sion upon each of the heads under
which the evidence has been CLASH
fed
1T is proved:
First: That there were in many
parts of Belgium deliberate and sys-
tematically organized massacres OF
the civil population, accompanied by
many isolated murders and other
outrages.
Second: That in the conduct OF
the war generally innocent civilians,
both men and women, were murdered
in large numbers, women violated,
and children murdered.
Third: That looting, house burn
ing and the wanton destruction OF
property were ordered and counte-
nanced by the officers of the German
army, that elaborate provision had
been made for systematic incendiar-
ism at the very outbreak of the war,
and that the burning and destruc-
ton were frequently where no mill
tary necessity could be alleged, be-
ing indeed part of a system of gen
eral terrorization.
Fourth: That the rules and US
ages Of war were frequently broken,
particularly by the using OF civilians,
including women and children, as a
shield for advancing forces exposed
to fire, to a less degree by killing the
wounded and prisoners, and in the
frequent abuse of the Red Cross and
the White Flag.
Sensible as they are of the gravity
Of these conclusions the committee
conceive that they would be doing
less than their duty if they failed to
record them as fully established by
the evidence. Murder, lust and pill
lag prevailed over many parts OF Bel
GUM On a scale unparalleled in any
war between civilized nations during
the last three oHtbS.
Our function is ended when we
have stated what the evidence estab-
fishes, but we may be permitted to
express our belief that these disclos-
ures will not have been made in vain
- my ICuCl anu lOt5C I4AC SOA-
science Of mankind, and we venture
to hope that as soon as the present
war is over the nations of the world
in council will consider what means
can be provided and sanctions devised
to prevent the recurrence of such
horrors as our generation is now wit
Messing"
The report makes Gn Official docu-
ment Of sixty-one printed pages. or
upward of 10000 words, accCmpa-
MED maps showing the various routes
Of the army and the chief scenes Of
desolatiOn. 1t states at the outset
that 1900 witnesses have been exam
med, the dispositions being taken by
examiners of legal knowledge and
experience, though without authority
TO administer an oath. The examin-
erS were instructed not to lead
tne witnesses, and to seek to bring
out the truth by cross examination
and otherwise. The committee also
submit extracts from a number OF
diaries taken from the German dead,
chiefly German soldiers and in some
cases officers