Evening star., 1917-09-30

| ! Queen OF Belgium.
| { Self-convicting testimony of !
/ German officers themselves of the (
( revolving practices of Germans in
| Belgium.
testimony of what happened in Bel
sium when ii was swept over by a
brutal army. That was, of course dur
ing the invasion: such things are not
happening now, so far as we know"
Were Still Neutral.
He was trying hard to be fair. We
We're stin neutral. l was to publish
the interview in neutral country.
He did not wish to involve us, to
rouse US. He had sent delegation
to US to tell us the truth. but we had
not realized then what was happening.
and we had not heard their story.
Slowly and gravely he went on. He
sat very still, looking ahead, weighing
every word.
Thousands Of civilians have been
killed without reason. The execution
of non-combatants is not war. and no
excuse can be made for it. Such deeds
cannot be called war.
But if the townspeople fred on the
Germans" ! asked
"All weapons had been deposited in
the hands of the town authorities 1t
is unlikely that any organized attack
by civilians could have been made.
However. if in individual cases shots
were fired at the German soldiers. this
may always be condoned in country
suffering invasion. During an occupa-
tion 1t would be different. naturally.
No excuse can be offered for such an
action in occupied territory.
Protection for Troops.
Various Belgian officers have told
me of seeing crowds of men, women
and children driven ahead of the Ger
man army to protect the troops. This
Is so incredible that I must ask
whether 1t has any foundation of
truth
'1t is quite true. It is a barbarous
and iphuman system of protecting the
German advance. When the Belgian
soldiers fired on the enemy they killed
their own people. Again and again in
nocent civilians of both sexes were
sacrificed to protect the invading army
during attacks. A terrible slaughter"
There was much more to the inter-
view. but this part is the part that
concerns US now.
There is no surmise in the kings
statement. 1t is quiet. dignifed. as re-
strained as possible. bare recital of
fact. OF the right of Germany to in
wade Belgium there may be differing
opinions. On the right of any army
pretending to civilization to so protect
it's advance there can be but one verdict.
Spoke as Soldier.
The King of the Belgians had spoken
as a ruler and a soldier. He had him.
self fought with his army those terrible
rearguard engagements which could
have but one end. He himself had seen
this thing, so shocking that it is small
wonder that America heard it with in
credulous ears.
A kings statement and a mans. How
about woman who herself had been
among the last to leave Brussels, and
before whom, in the intimacy of that
small villa at La Panne. came soldiers
and refugee mobiles with their stories of
murder and debauch by the invaders?
I have never before broken the si-
lence of my interview with Elizabeth,
Queen of the Belgians. that small, frail
and heroic woman who has lived for
three years under the roar of the artil-
lery at Dixmude and Nieuport. But the
time has come to break that silence. Not
all can betold. but because an infamo
report has been spread broadcast that
Elizabeth of Belgium sympathiZeS with
Germany shall tell some of the things
she said.
Quotes From Notes.
Again 1 quote from my notes of that
interview:
TT is the women and children" she
said. 'It is terrible. There must be
killing. That is war. But not this other
thing"
She could not understand American
skepticism on this point. She had but
just returned from England, whore in
one convent twenty-nine Belgian nuns
were enceinte by German soldiers. She
had visited them.
That to her was the most terrible
thing of war That these quiet women.
living their devout and simple lives,
should have suffered SO grossly bewil-
dered and dazed her. Was there nothing,
then, sacred to these invaders, not even
the church?
always from my childhood heard this
talk that Germany must grow. must get
to the sea. thought 1t was just talk-a
pleasantly. And the lies they have told
about u.s. The emperor has always
pretended to be so friendly. and all the
time
She held out her hands expressively.
Cannot Do Wrong Thing.
ANY one who knows the king knows
that he cannot do a wrong thing. IL
is not possible for him He cannot
go any way but straight .,
Then she required to the invasion
and the terrible cruelties of the Ger
man army. A.
"They were terrible" she said. "es-
pecially what they have done to women
and children. But more than any men
in the world the Germans are crue! TO
women. 1 have seen them myself when
they did not know who / was-on
trains sometimes-not since the war.
of course. But the very way they stare
at women is odious.
She thought that this attitude OF the
Germans explained many things. AND
she told me in detail revolving stories
of the PROCLAMATION Of churches, under
the pretext, totally unfounded. that the
Belgian churches were storehouses for
arms She told me, too, of the especial
cruelty they had shown to priests and
nuns; of locking the priests in churches
and, after insulting the altar. of killing
them.
Difficult to Say.
I said it was difficult to say what any
army would be in an occupied country.
But she protested.
DO you think the Belgians would
have done such things? Never. Never
Isolated instances might be possible
But the Germans have committed thou
sands of crimes. / have sat in this
! very room while the diaries of German
| soldiers were read. Even If we had had
no other means of knowing those