Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-11-05

another thing, that the Offensive or
the allies had angered the Germans
and, as was invariably the case
when they found that things were
not going well, they avenged them
SELVES upon some helpless civilian
often on women.
Won Rissiag's Proclamation
THE result Of the offensive Of the
allies is known, that offensive so
Ioag expected on the western front"
said the proclamation of the govern
nor general. The German lines re-
sisted a violent cannonading lasting
seventy hours, and the numerically
superior forces of the enemy. The
French have lost several hundred
thousand in killed and wounded,
while the English, both white and
black, have suffered even greater
losses. In spite of the enormous
number of lives and the immense
amount of ammunition recklessly
sacrificed, the enemies of the Ger
man empire have in no way succeed
ed IN their aim, which is to recon-
quer Belgium and the north of
France.
while this decisive battle was
raging on the front. l have had to
protect. the rear OF the German
army against hostile maneuvers.
During this time l have been obliged
TO combat tendencies due-as was
the desperate offensive of the allies
to a pelier in a prompt re-eStab-
lishment of the ole order of things,
and to old and vain hopes. Certain
circles which, more than any other,
should have wished to aid in main
tanning interior peace have melted
the minds to resistance; certain
persons who had declared them
selves ready to cooperate with me
in re-establishing prosperity in the
country, have once more lent
complasaint ear to insinuations
London; false prophets spreading
false news have won over the I'M
fortunate credulous and have caused
them to commit unlawful deeds.
BY false patriotism and even more
by cupidity the BelSians have al
lowed themselves to become in
VOlved in a spy system which has
been defeated even as has the enc
my offensive.
I'm spite of all we have sue
ceeded in holding at bay the sly
and cowardly enemy which treach-
erously menaced the security of the
German army. The most rigorous
measures have had to be applied
have rendered themselves culpable
of unlawful deeds. The facts, which
speak eloqusntlY, will themselves
refute all the loud talk of victory on
the part of our enemies, and of the
news announcing that the German
armies are evacuating the country.
That which we hold. we hold well.
This last deception should serve
as a lessen to the Belgians in the
future and teach them no longer to
place their faith so credulously in
news which the following day in
evitably reveals itself to be false.
All those who, under any admin
istration, are working. who are
earning sufficient wages, and who
have acquired the inward satisfac-
ton of duty accomplished, must
help those who are still deluded to
enjoy these same benefits. The eX-
perience of the last few weeks
proves that the security of he
German armies is assured against
the best laid plots. But the security
Of everyday life, which alone can
heal the wounds of suffering Bel
@ium, can only be guaranteed to
those who, leaving to the soldiers
the business of fighting, and, sec
onding my efforts, are aiding in their
way the interior peace and the eco
nomic prosperity of the country.
''The orders which / have pro-
mulgated pursue the same end; who
ever disregards them will suffer in
all their severity the penalties
which they enact. Those who re-
sist my efforts must expect to I'M
dergo all the rigors of martial law;
those who aid me in my task will
help i'm the most efficacious manner
their country, their compatriots and
themselves"
This proclamation was prepared
probably during the trial of the
Princess de Croy. the Countess de
Bellevflle. Miss CaYell and Madame
Thuliez, or 1T least Immediately
afterward, and was on the walls
of Brussels before Miss Csven was
shot.
But it was the other proclama-
ton which attracted no notice, or
very little notice, that had the
greater significance, for it stamps
with it's indelible and ineIfaceabie
seal of its amazing admission the
whole proceeding that did Miss Ca
veil to death as illegal, even accord
ing to the German code: 1t was
last and browning infamy that
threw the flood or light on what
might have long remained the mys-
terry of that great trial behind the
closed doors of the senate chamber,
am ex post facto law or decree de-
lining and declaring the offense
for which Miss Cavell had already
been tried, condemned and put to
death.
III llt SAdtGAilClil VI foAA
on the situation" which l have
translated in full, there was o refer
encc to spying-espiOnage 1t was
the first time that the acts of Miss
Cavcll had been referred to public
" and officially as spying; but 1t
was as the spy Cavell' that they
always referred to her thereafter.
But Miss Cavell was not charged
with spying; she was not convicted
or sentenced to death for spying.
There was no evidence and no claim
that she had been spy. She was
charged with having violated that
paragraph of the German military
penal code which punished with
those who conducted troops to the
enemy CRem feinde mannSchatten
zufuhrt) and it was on this charge
that she was convicted. The Ger
man military mind, whose thoughts
seem to be in sequences inaccesSl-
BILE to our mentality, calls this
"trea SON. and the nomenclature does
not seem the less astonishing when
they qualify it by calling it treason
in time of war
But as a matter of fact and as
matter of law, even this charge did
not apply and was not sustained.
Miss Cayell had not conducted any
troops to the enemy; she had aided,
in various charitable and human
ways, soldiers in individual cases,
and boys who had as yet perform
ca no military service and never
worn a uniform, to escape out OF
Belgium and to cross the frontier
into Holland, where, as q neutral