New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-04

and il seemed TO us At the time that
nothing could be worse. But the TAX
ing away Of many thousands Of the
Belgian population from their homes 10
work against their own countrymen,
with all the mental torture that sepa
ration from ones family brings this
is the most shocking thing we have yet
heard of.
81 have been shown in confidence
the reports received from Belgium
Of what has happened there. The
details given and the sources they come
from satisfied me or their substantial
truth. The very excuses the German
authorities are putting forward admit
the facts. In Belgian Luxembourg
hear that they have been trying to stop
the existing employment in order TO
have an excuse for taking Off the men,"
Facts Beyond Question"
The second question read:
How are such acts of German sever
ity to be accounted for"
Lord Bryce replied:
when the early accounts Of the
atrocious conduct Of the German gov
ernment in Belgium were laid before
the committee over which | presided
they seemed hardly credible. But
when We sifted them, going carefully
through every case and rejecting all
those that seemed doubtful, we found
such a mass of concurrent testimony
coming from different sources and
carefully tested by the lawyers who
examined the witnesses that we could
not doubt that the facts which re-
NAMED were beyond question. You ask
how German officers came TO give such
orders.
"The committee tried TO answer
that question in a passage Of their
report. They point out that for
the German officer caste morality and
right stop when war begins. The Ger
man Chancellor admitted that they had
done wrong in invading Belgium, but
they would go on and hack their way
through. The German military class
had brooded so long on war that their
minds had become morbid. To Prus-
sian officers war has become, when the
interests of the state require IL. a sort
of sacred mission; everything may be
done by and for the omnlpotent state.
PITY and morality vanish and are SUI
perseded by the new standard Justify
ing every means that conduce to sue
cess. This said the committee, is
specifically military doctrine, the out
come OF theory held by a ruling caste
who have brooded and thought, writ
ten and talked and dreamed about war
until they have fallen under its OBJ
session and been hypnotized by its
spirit You will find these doctrines
set forth in 'Kriegsbrauch i'm Land
kriege,' the German official monograph
on the usages Of war on land, is
sued under the direction of the Ger
man staff.
Military Needs Justify Acts
What military needs suggest be-
comes lawful. You will find in
that book a justification for every
thing the German army has done, for
Selling hostages, j. e., innocent inhabi-
tants Of an invaded area, and shoot
ing them II necessary. You will find
what amounts to a justification even
Of assassination The German sol
dlers' diaries captured on prisoners Of
fer the proof that the German officers
acted upon this principle. This is not
the only case that history records i'm
which a false theory, Disgusting itself
as loyalty to state or a church, has
perverted the conception of duty and
become source OF danger 10 the
world.
This doctrine spread outside mill
tary circles. | do not venture TO
say that it has infected anything like
the whole people. ! hope that it did
not. But national pride and national
vanity were enlisted, and il became a
widespread doctrine accepted by the
military, and even by many civilians.
The Prussians are far more penetrated
by the military spirit than the Ameri-
cans or English or French, and such
doctrine ministered TO the greatness
of the power of Prussia. /, was part
of Prussan military theory, and some
times "a practice, century ago. But in
the rest of Germany IL is new thing.
There was nothing of the kind in
Southern Germany when l knew it
fifty years ago.
Bames Higher Command
"In an army there will be individual
cases Of horrible brutality plumber.
rape, ill-treatment of civilians. There
will always be men of criminal instinct
whose passion is loosed by the immu-
mites Of war conditions. Drunkenness
moreover may turn a decent soldier
into wild beast. But most Of the
crimes committed in Belgium were not
committed by drunken troops. The
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