The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1916-12-12
HOLLAND APPEALS
TO us. TO SAVE
THE BELGIANS
Holland Section Of Neutral League
Seeks Our Co. operation
PROTESTS COUasE OF GERMANY
Appeal Insists Deportation is in Vio-
lation of Hague Regulations of
1907.

London, Dec. 12.-The Associated
Press has received at London from
Amsterdam an appeal to the Ameri-
can people" by the Holland section
of the league of neutral states. The
myer and Secretaries Deiafaille and
Walch. 1t follows:
Your president has said that soon
er or later a moment would come
when the war would make the posi-
ton of neutral nations unbearable.
For us Hollanders that moment has
arrived; not through our own suffer
ings, but because we cannot longer
passively contemplate the CHASTITY
suffering inflicted by Germany upon
Belgium, our neighbor.
THE eloquent protests of the Bel
gian government and of the higher
clergy have acquainted you with the
facts. A glance at the section of the
Hague regulations of 1907. which
deals with the law of war on land,
will make 1t obvious to you that the
sole reason why the prohibition of
this modern slave dealing was not
was UtNduoC AiO uCAt6dAC
imagined it could ever be necessary.
Indeed, one must turn to the his
tory of the early ages of long past
centuries before international law ex-
listed to find a parallel to the enslay-
ing of the Belgians. The Hague reg
ulations stipulate that the honor and
rights OF the family must be respect
ed, but the German government de-
liberately drags the Belgian families
apart To us this cruelty is more
vivid every day. Every day mem
bers of fugitives in spite of the dead
ly electric wire which the Germans
have erected along the frontier, sue
ceed in escaping to the Netherlands.
From them we learn the painful de
tails of the unutterable despair of the
women and children who are left be
hind and of the agonizing scenes
which take place when husbands,
brothers and sons, dragged from their
homes and women folk, are packed
into cattle and freight cars and thus
transported slaves TO an unknQwnl
destination and to an unknown fate.
ITO put an end to this--to arrest
this hellish scourge. which at this
moment lacerates the whole of north
ern France and western Russia
there is but one way open. and that
is collective action on the part of the
neutral nations.
And for you. citizens of the might
est OF the neutral states. it is in our
opinion the right and duty to take the
leadership upon you. Only If you
place yourselves at our head can any
success crown our efforts. This tyran-
ny is not to be borne in patience and
the neutral nations can no longer
stand idly by while in western Eur
ope the most primitive laws of hui
manity, observed even by uncivilized
races, are trampled underfoot
I'VE appeal to you to urge your
government to energetic and decisive
action and to call upon the other
neutral nations to rally around you
That they will find faith and strength
in your leadership is evidenced by the
stream of messages expressive OF
sympathy and a desire to cooperate
which have reached us from the mo-
ment we published our intention to
make this appeal to the American
people. We do not hesitate to take
1t upon ourselves to speaq with firm
conviction in the name of humanity,
and our hope is firmly fixed on that
sense of justice which has always
formed one of the most cherished
traditions of citizens of the United
States, Americans, we are convinced
that you will not disappoint our ex-
pectations."