New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-12-04
TIFFANY & Co.
DIAMONDS
SQUARE, RouNDNARQulSE AND PEAR SHAPES

German peasant, the Hans whom We
know. is good, simple. kindly sort OF
fellow. AS are the rural folk in every
country.
But, remember in the German army
there is habit Of implicit obedi-
cncc The officers are extremely Sc
we're in military discipline. They Will
shoot readily for minor lnfrac-
ton. IL was the officers more than the
private soldiers that we're TO blame.
And someNof the officers were shocked
by what they were forced to do. i am
merely executing orders, and ! should
be punished II did not execute thom'
said more than one officer whose words
were recorded.
How can An officer in was time DIS
obey the orders Of the supreme mill
tary command? He would be shot,
and IL he we're 20 say he could not
remain in an army where he was
expected TO commit crimes, TO retire IN
war times. If he were permitted to re-
tire. would mean disgrace TO his name.
II is the spirit Of the Higher German
Army Command that is to blame. The
authority that issued the orders rs
guilty. The German people as whole
are not cruel. but many Of them have
been infected by this war spirit
People Fed on FalsehoOds
And We little realize how strict is
the German censorship. The German
people have been fed with falsehoods.
So far are they from believing in the
record OF their own army's crueltles
that they have been made TO believe
in cruelties alleged to have been COM
mitted by French and English troops.
They have been fed on stories of sol
diers with their eyes put out by Bel
cians. The Chancellor OF the German
Empire i'm a press communication said:
"'Belgian girls gouged out the eyes of
the German wounded Officials OF Bel
gian cities have invited our officers TO
dinner and shot and killed them across
the table. Contrary to all interna-
tional law, the whole civilian popula-
ton of Belgium was called out, and
after having at first shown friendliness,
carried on in the rear OF our troops
terrible warfare with concealed
weapons. Belgian women cut the
throats Of soldiers whom they had
quartered in their homes while they
were sleeping
There was no truth at all in these
stories"
Testimony in Soldiers Diaries
The next question was submitted as
follows:
Has the German government made
any effort to prove their general
charges and to disprove the detailed
charges of your report and the report
made by the French government
Lord Bryce writes in reply:
The diaries of German soldiers re
ferred to have been published through
out the world, and no question has
been raised of their authenticity. Ihey
contain testimony TO outrages commit
Ted in Belgium and France that is
No answer is possible.
The German government have never
made reply to the report OF the
British committee. They attempted to
answer some of the reports made by
the Belgian government, but their an
swcr was really an admission or the
facts. for il consisted in allegations
that Belgian civilians had given provo
cation.
"They endeavored TO prove that Bel
gian civilians had shot at them. IL
would not have been strange II some
civilians had shot at those who sud
denly burst into their country, but no
proof has ever been given OF more than
"A few of such cases, nor OF the stories
Of outrages committed by Belgian
priests. women and children on Ger
man soldiers. Even If such oeca-
sional shooting by citizens had taken
place. as very likely il did, that did not
Justify the Wholesale slaughter of in
nocent persons and the burning OF
whole villages.
"In the burning of the twenty
six houses at NELLIE, which you
tell me you witnessed, no allegations
were made of shooting by civilians.
The little girl murdered at Alost to
whom you refer had not shot at the
Germans. The woman, eighty years
old. had not shot al them. These sever
tiles were committed as a method TO
achieve an end That end was to ter
rorize the civilian population and de
stroy the spiritual resources OF the
nation"
Hope to Discredit System
The final question was this:
CAS- the result of this war, what hope
have We of reconstruction and an al
tered policy in Germany"
Viscount Bryce answered:
at is 10 be hoped and expected that
the Allies will so completely defeat
Germany as 20 dscredit the whole
military system and the ideas out Of
which the horrors Of German war prac-
tice have developed. 1t is essential to
iufict a defeat sufficiently decisive in
the eyes of the German people that
they will have done with their military
caste and its nefarious doctrine, and
il is essential to diseredit the methods
discredit them by their
failure in so thorough a manner that
no nation will ever use them again.
"The way, then, Of ending what IS
called 'frightfulness' is by a complete
victory over it. IL is our task to show
that shocking military practices and
total disregard of right do not sue
coed. We must bring 10 pass the judg-
ment Of facts to the effect that such
methods do not avail. In this deter
mination our British people are unsn-
imous as they have never been before.
The invasion OF Belgium. the stroci-
ties committed there and the sinking
of the Lusitania-these three series Of