The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1918-07-18

in the past:
"Malines, 10Th October, 1916.
"Mr. Governor General:
The day after the surrender of
Antwerp the frightened population
asked itself what would become of
the Belgians of age to bear arms or
who would reach that age before the
end of the occupation. The entrea-
ties of the fathers and mothers of
families determined me to question
the governor of Antwerp, Baron Won
Huene, who had the kindness to re-
assure me and to authorize me in
his name to reassure the agonized
parents. The rumor had spread at
Antwerp, nevertheless, that at Liege,
Namur, and Charleroi young men had
been seized and taken by force to
Germany. I therefore begged Gov
ernor Won Huene to be good enough
to confirm to me in writing the guar
antee which he had given to me
orally, to the effect that nothing
similar would happen at Antwerp.
He said to me Immediately that the
rumors concerning deportations were
without basis, and unhesitatingly he
sent me in writing, among other
statements, the following: Young
men have no reason to fear that they
will be taken to Germany, either to
be there enrolled in the army or
employed for forced labor
This declaration, written and
signed, was publicly transmitted to
the clergy and to those of the Faith
of the province of Antwerp, as Your
Excellency' can see from the docu-
ment enclosed herewith, dated Oc-
tober 18th, 1914, which was read in
all the churches.
Upon the arrival of your prede-
cessor, the late Baron Won der Goltz,
at Brussels I had the honor of pre-
senting myself at his house and re-
quested him to be good enough to
ratify for the entire country, without
time limit, the guarantees which
General Won Huene had given me for
the province of Antwerp. The Gov
ernor General retained this request in
his possession in order ITO examine
it at his leisure. The following day
he was good enough to come in per-
son to Malines to bring me his ap-
proval, and confirm to me, in the
presence of two aides-de-camp and of
my private secretary, the promise
that the liberty of Begian citizens
would be respected.
"To doubt. the authority of such
undertakings would have been to
reflect upon the persons who had
made them, and I therefore took steps
to allay, by all the means of persuas-
ion in my power, the anxieties which
persisted in the interested families.
Notwithstanding all this, your
Government now tears from their
homes workmen reduced in spite of
their efforts to a state of unemploy-
ment, separates them by force from
their wives and children and deports
them to enemy territory. Numerous
workmen have already undergone
this unhappy lot; more numerous
are those who are threatened with
the same actsso of violence.
Mercier's Moving Appeal.
"In the name of the liberty of do
micile and the liberty of work Of
Belgian citizens; in the name of the
inviolability Of families; in the name
of moral interests which the meas
ures of deportation would gravely
compromise; in the name of the
word given by the Governor OF the
province Of Antwerp and by the Gov
ernor General, the immediate repre-
sentative of the highest authority of
the German Empire, respectfully beg
Your Excellency to be good enough
to withdraw the measures of forced
labor and of deportation announced
to the Belgian workmen, and to be
good enough to reinstate in their
homes those who have already been
deported.