Tombstone epitaph., 1917-12-23
essary 10 his ex,s.enc. One has no

1dul other examples mi -ht he cited
 from The writings of German generals.
 The very best illustration of this atti-
 'ud", however. is To be found in The
 "'np"r0r'S various speeches. and e>pe-
 cially in his speech to his soldiers on
 the eve of their departure for China in
 1900. on July - the kaiser went to
 Rremcrhaven Co lid farewell tn the
 German troops. A they We're drawn
 up, ready 70 embark for China. he ad
 dressed in them last official message
 from The fatherland The local news
 paper reported his speech in full In
 ( appeared this advice and admouiti"n
 from the emperor, the commander in
 chief of thc army, the head O, all Ger many:
 Soldiers Told 70 Be Merciles..
 "AS soon as you come to blows with inc enemy he will be beaten. No mercy
 will he shown No prisoners will be taken AS the Huns. under king Al. lila. mad" a name for themselves
 which k >,iil mighty in traditions and legends today. may the name of Ger -''s--4 ' " aaA' .4A -44l.aa fs N'NIE '4f-tfl~
 that nc Chinese shall ever again dare even 70 look q; German a>kance. ... open the way for kultur once for a!l.'
 Ey"n rhe imperial councilor> seem 70 have been Shorked al ,he erureror's speech and efforts were promptly made 10 suppress the circulation of his exact words The efforts were only -.f when 'hr letters from the German sol d!cr> jn China were being published in local German papers the leading >rriaii>- newspaper vorwaerts. e1- cerpt"d from fheil reports Of atroci- lies under rhe title 'TaiterS of ih,
 Huns" Many Q, the leaders in th. reich>iss felt very koeuly the brutality n' the emperor's speech The ohuux- ious word Huns" had excited almost universal condemnation. When the reichS'ag met in November 'he speech was openly discussed. Herr Liober Of The center CCa'holic party). after quot ing the mo mercy" portion or rhe speech, added. There are. alas, in Ger many groups enough who have regard ei the atrocities told in the letters which have been published as the du,i- rIl response Of soldiers 60 addressed and encourl ged " The leader Ot the social democrats. Herr Bebel. spoke even more pointedly. Toward the end of a lwo-hour address or the atrocities committed by The German soldiers in China and on he speech of ,he eIn- p"ror. he said
 "if Germany wishes 10 be rhe bearer of civilization 70 the world We will follow without contradiction But the ways ani means h which this world policy has been carried on thus far. in which it has been defined by the ein- p"ror are noI, In our opinion. th" way 70 preserve inc world position Of G"fmany. ;o gain for Germany the respect of rhe world
 The consequences or the emperor's speech Rebel aptly described:
 By il the signal was given. gsrbed in the highest authority Of the German empire which must have most weigity consequences, not only for The troops who went t0 China but also for those who stayed st home. An expedition never occurred in the last hundred years snd not often in history; at least nothing worse than this has hap pened in history, either done by the Huns. by ,he Vsndals. by Genghis Khan, by Tame-laDe. or even by lilly when he sacked NagdeburC"
 Atrocities in China.
 These atrocities in China or Letters of 'he Huns" continued 70 be published in the Norwaerts for several years and appeared intermitt~niIy in tiie debates of the reichstas as late aS lsv5. Al that time the socialist. Herr kuner; reviewing fhe procedure in trial of which he had been the victim in ihe previous summer. stated that he had offered 10 prove that German soldiers in China lad engaged in wanton and brutal ravaging; that plunder pillags extoriion. robbery. as well ss rape and sexual abuses of the worst kind. had occurred on very large scale and that German soldiers had participated In p4 por,unIty 10 prove his allegations. hut had been sentenced 10 prison for three months for asssiling the honor of The whole German army" The out rageOusness of this sentence was made clear by the revelations. made in The reichSrag shortly afterwards. of simi- lar atrocities committed by German officials and soldiers in Africa ia the against the Hereros.
 These ideas. which have come to control the minds of the military class. are best shown in the German War Book" C''Kriegsbrauch i'm Land kriege), published in 1902. The tone of this authoritative book may be | judged from the following extracts:
 Teachings of German War Book
 "Rut since the tendency Of thought ! in the last century was dominated es- sentislly by humanitarian considera- lions which not infrequently degene- rated into sentimenfality and fiabby | emotion (S-ntimentalitat und weich- | icher Gefuhlschwarm-rei). there have not been wanting attempts to infu- l 4nce the development of the usages of | mental contradiction with the nature | ,f war and its object Attempts of | this kind will also not be wanting in | the future. the more so as these agi- | .ations lave found a kind of moral |