New Britain herald., 1915-07-16

Washington. July 16-Austria-
 Hungary's indictment of the methods 1 of warfare of her enemies, giving | scores of instances of barparous treatment of nationals and prison CTS and breaches of international law l was made public today in Red l Book" issued by the Austro- -Hungar- l ian Ministry of { Foreign Affairs l through it's embassy here.
 1 The publication is' called Col lection of evidence" and is divided into four parts.
 "The first two parts,' says pre- ! factory note introducing numerous depositions and affidavits. contain 1 evidence concerning the treatment of Austro- Hungarian diplomatic and consular officers by the government officers Of the hostile countries. The cases adduced deal with the violations of the most elementary rules of the
 right Of Hospitality, right conse- created since the remotest antiquity
 and respected even by the uncivil- ized nations or tribes Never before have so many cases of the violations of this right been instanced. Tn sew eral cases the illegal expulsion or ar-
 
 war, fact which still further aggra- yates the offense. The expulsion of the Austro-H diplomatic agents from Morroco and Egypt, which is irreconcilable with existing interna- tional treaties, has been made the subject of protests lodged with the Neutral Powers
 Treatment of Citizens.
 "The third part contains evidence of the treatment to which Austrian and Hungarian citizens have been subjected-in most cases before the opening of hostilities-in hostile countries. Even if it be conceded that the prevention of the enemy's na- tionals from joining the war is to a certain extent justifiable, the meth ods employed by the hostile countries, and especially the arrest aud the in carceration of aged men, sick per- sons, women and children, are con- trary to the elementary usages of hu- manity. It was a French professor of law who thus defined sucn conduct ITO inflict sufferings on defenseless> citizens of the enemy without impera- tive reasons is to revert to barbarism''
 The fourth part comprises au- thentic proofs of violations of the laws of warfare. From the evidence published herewith the conclusion is inevitable that there is hardly rule of warfare, which has not been svio- lated repeatedly blythe hostile armies To the numerous cases of disregard of the regulations concerning the use of prohibited proJectiles, contained in the Hague agreement about the laws and practices of warfare on land, and of the Geneva convention, must be added the sunspeakable outrages Of 1 which the Serbian and Montenegrin troops have been guilty. This ruth lessly illegal way of conducting war | operations, and the cruel and treach- srous participation of the entire pop | alation in acts of war. certify once more the lapse from civilization which the people of these countries have undergone.
 Not Complete in Any Respect.
 'sThe Collection of Evidence does not purport to be complete in any re- spect. It is naturally restricted to the ! exposition of facts which have been ! either officially invstigated or au- thenticated in an unimpeachable way.
 In proportion to, the number of i cases which have actually occurred, | the number of the proven instances is exceedingly small. Up to this day the | ministry of foreign affairs is still l without information concerning the ! fate of several consular officials who i have been arrested. The Austrian and Hungarians who are being de- tained in hostile countries can be counted by the thousands Almost l, ~E = 1a c%iI1 A. %l1. outrageous methods wherein the gov- 1 ernments of hostile countries set hu- man dignity at naught The breaches of the laws of warfare as compiled in part of this collection, must likewise be considered, however, as only in dfvidual evidence. For the time be- ing we cannot have anything ap- preaching a comprehensive knowl- edge of events in the territories be- yond the enemy's lines And yet, from the reports which reach LIS and from trustworthy news published s#ir, foreign daily papers, it is possible to draw the well-founded conclusion that thousands of shocking viola tions of the law Of nations have oc- cured especially in the districts of our country occupied by the enemy.S
 Some Breaches Seem Inevitable.
 "It may be conceded that certain breaches of international law seem to be an inevitable consequence. of the nlassing of troops on so huge scale as this war has produced But it Is nevertheless most disappointing that the international agreements assuring the protection of lives, the honor, the freedom of the religious faith of peaceful citizens, and the arts and sciences, should be wilfu1ly violated by the troops and off1cials of the very government under the aegis of which