Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-05-13
TERRIFIC ARRANGEMENT
OF GERMANS IN BELGIUM
Of Which Viscount Bryce
Is Chairman Makes Report to
Premier AsQuith.
MASS OF EVIDENCE SUBMITTED
deliberate and Organized Massacres
OF Civilian Population, Accompan-
led by Horrible Outrag@, Fully
|" Established.

government committee appointed to in
| estgate and report on "outrages al
'esed TO have been committed by Ger
man troops during the present war"
mas submitted the report Of the COM
Hittee to Premier Asquith.
The document is considered MS prob
aoiy the most severe arrangement thus
lar made Of tho German military sweep
across Belgium, mainly because of the
position OF Viscount Bryce as his
'or'an and also because Of the caro-
WIN which the investigation was made.
'he great number OF witnesses whose
testimony was examined. and the ma S.
vi evidence now submitted with the re-
! port of the committee.
Associated with Lord Bryce on the
committee were Sir Frederick Pollock,
Sir Edward Clarke. Sir Alfred Hopkin-
son. III. a. l.. Fisher. vice ncellor
OF the University Of Sheffield: Harold
Cox and kenelm Z. Digby. The com
mittec was appointed by Premier AS
qnith on January % last. and was
given broad instructions TO investigate
alleged outrages. the maltreatment Of
civilians. and breaches OF law and cs-
'aol'shed usages of war
The most important findings OF the
lowing conclusion at the close of the
report:
1T will be seen that the committee
have como TO a definite conclusion upon
each Of the heads under which the
evidence has been classified:
1T is proved:
First. That there were in many
parts Of Belgium deliberate and syste-
matically 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 burning
and the wanton destruction of property
were ordered and countenanced by the
o'Ncers or the German army. that elab-
crate provision had been made for
SYSTEMATIC incendiarism at the very
outbreak of the war. and that the burn
Ing and destruction were frequently
where no military necessity could be
alleged. being. indeed. part OF a system
of general tnrrorization.
Fourth. That the rules and usages
OF war were frequently broken, part.c.
u!ar!y by the using OF civilians, includ-
ing women and children. az a shield
for advancing forces exposed to fire.
TO less degree By killing the wounded
and prisoners. and in the frequent
abuse OF the Red Cross and the white
flag.
FULLY ESTABLISHED
Bi THE EVIDENCE
Sensible as they are OF the gravity
10! these conclusions, the committee
conceive that they would be doing less
than their duty II they failed to record
'hem as fully esta blished by the evil
dencc. Murder. lust and pillage pre-
vailed over many parts OF Belgium on
scale unparalleled in any war be-
tween civilized nations during the last
three centuries.
Our function is ended when we have
stated what the evidence establishes.
= bu; we may be permitted TO express
our belief that these disclosures will
not have been made in vain II they
touch and rouse the conscience Of man
Kind 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 gem
srai!on Is now witnessing"
The report makes an official docu-
ment Of sixty-one printed pages, or IN
ward Of 10000 words, accompanied by
maps, showing the various routes of
the army and the chief scenes OF DESC
lation- IT states at the outset that
90 witnesses have been examined, the
.epositions being taken by examiners
Of legal knowledge and eIperlnce
- though without authority to admin
sster an oath. The examiners were in
structed not to lead" the witnesses
and TO seek to bring out the truth by
DISCRIMINATION and otherwise. The
committee also submits extracts from
number Of diaries taken from tho
German dead. chiefly German soldiers,
and In some cases officers.
we began the inquiry with doubts
whether a positive result would be OBJ
,ained." says the report. but the fur
Their we went and the more evidence
I've examined. so much the more was
our skepticism reduced. There might
be some exaggeration in one witness,
possible delusion in another inaccu-
racies in a third. When, however, we
found that things which a first seemed
improbable were testified to- by many
witnesses coming from dlfrerent places,
The points In which they all agreed
became more and more evidently true.
When this concurrence of testimony
showed Itself In hundreds of deposi-
lions, the truth OF the broad facts stood
put beyond question. The force Of the
evidence Is cumulative"
IARROWING RECITAL
OF OCCURRENCES
Taking up the conditions at Leige,
= belgium. at the outset of the war, the
report gives narrowing recital of
occurrences at various points In the
levast territory. AT Harve on
August A. the report says: The mur-
Ter of an innocent fugitive civilian
vas a prelude to the burning and pill
age of the town. and of other villages
n the neighborhood: to the indiscrimi-
hate shooting of civilians OF both
sexes. and to the organized military
Execution of patches of selected males
,rhus some fifty men, escaping from
burning houses, were seized taken out
side the town and shot. AT Melen. a
,amlet west of Harve. forty men were
hpt In one household alone. the