The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-06-07

of them were frightfully mutilated and tortured. Moreover In these cases, the most convinving proof was furnished by the victims themselves; the corpses of sey- eral of these unfortunates were exhumed and were seen to bear the marks of the most abominable mutlations. Cardinal Mercier proposed to the German authori- ties that a thorough investigation should be made of each of the cases mentioned by him, that all parties should be heard and that the investigation should be con ducted under the presidency of the Amer ican minister to Belgium. No action has been taken on this proposition.
 All the statements of the White Book concerning alleged cruelties committed by Belgans against the German soldiers are in striking contradiction to the depostiois gathered by the two commissions of in quiry. The commission, presided over by Viscount Bryce and the Belgian commis- sion. Moreover, the White Book does not produce any proofs to support its statements.
 We find ourselves, therefore, confront ed by two alternatives: On the one hand we have
 '1. The solemn declaration of the Bel giau government guaranteed by the good faith of that government of which it gave proof when, on account of respect for it's plishted word, it refused to violate a treaty which Belgium had signed and chose the honors of war rather than the breaking of it's pledge. These declara- tions are supported not only by this moral guarantee, but also by striking evidence, such as the official procamations, the collection of newspapers containing the notices published by order of. the Belgian government, the photographs of the walls bearing the placards and the declarations of Cardinal Mercier.
 ba tad 1,y ha gian commission of inquiry, which is com posed of the most eminent men in Bel gium.
 Had Doubts at First ''S. The evidence and the words of Wis count Bryce who acknowledges that he began the inquiry with doubts to the possibilities of such crimes and who l was convinced by the evidence. | A. The avowal of their own crimes by the German soldiers themselves as record ed in their note books and published by MT. Bedier.
 1 "On the other hand, we have the state ments, made by the German government without the support of any proof
 'It is useful to call attention to the fact that the German government, which in its White Book frequently cites The Hague convention. commenced the war by the most fragrant violation of that con. | vention, in attacking (without right ol justice and in disregard of a solemn treaty. a peaceable, small and neutral na. ton whose only offense was that she ir her turn refused to violate a treaty or tc abandon her neutrality for the benefit o Germany.
 This German government which cites The Hague convention has continually vio- lated the stipulations of that governmen
 in regard to the conduct to be observed
 in war: it has taken hostages and exc
 cuted them; it has confscated and seized
 the property of private individuals; 1t hal , imposed contributions and Illegal and ruin
 ous taxes on a neutral country which | , had unjustly attacked it has bombarde, open towns; it has shot without trial non
 combatants including women and chil Z dren; it has made use of poisonous gas:
 has torpedoed unarmed merchantmen
 both neutral and beligerent, often with out warning and in many cases part O
 their crew and passengers lost their live
 in these unjustifiable attacks: again. jus
 recently, it has in this last way planne z and caused the death of more than 100 innocent victims. Among these unfor
 tunates were many women and over 40 lit tic children. Were they. too, franc
 tireurs? ?
 Between these two collections of evi
 dence the universe will judge, if it has nc already done so.'