The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1918-01-11

SSSttIH " HIS eAlSIcuCc. Ouc lids uO
right to demand of him anything super
human" 1.-THE great good in war is
that it should be ended quickly. In ;
view Of this, every means, except those !
which are positively condemnable, |
must be permitted. I cannot, in any
way, agree with the declaration of st.
Petersburg when it pretends that the
weakening of the military forces of the
enemy constitutes the only legitimate
method of procedure in war. No! One
must attack all the resources of the
enemy government, his finances, his
railroads, his stock of provisions and
even his prestige. -
Many other examples might be cited
from the writings of German generals.
The very best illustration of this atti
tude, however, is to be found in the
emperors various speeches, and eape
cially in his speech to his soldiers on
the eve of their departure for China in
1900. On July u the kaiser went to
Bremerhaven to bid farewell to the
German troops. AS they were drawn
up, ready to embark for China, he adj
dressed to them last official message
from the fatherland. The local news
paper reported his speech in full. In
it appeared this advice and admonition
from the emperor, the commander in
chief of the army, the head of all Ger
many:
Soldiers Told to Be MerciIess.
GAS soon as you come to blows with
the enemy he will be beaten. No mercy
will be shown! No prisoners will be
taken! AS the Huns, under King At
tia, made a name for themselves
which is still mighty in traditions anG
legends today, may the name of Ger
man be so fixed in China by your deeds,
that no Chinese shall ever again. dare
even to look at a German askance. :.
Open the way for Kultur once for ALL
Even the imperial councillors seem to
have been shocked at the emperor's
speech, and efforts were promptly
made to suppress the circulation of his
exact words. The efforts were only
partly successful. A few weeks later,
when the letters from the German SOL
diers in China were being published,
in local German papers, the leading
socialist newspaper, VOrwaerts, ex-
cerpted from them reports of atroci-
ties under the title Letters of the
Huns Many of the leaders in the
reichstag felt very keenly the brutality
Of the emperor's speech. The obnOX-
ious word "Huns'' had excited almost
universal condemnation. When the
reichstag met in November, the speech
was openly discussed. Herr Lieber of
the center Catholic party, after quot
ing the mo mercy portion Of the
speech, added, 'There are, alas, in Ger
many groups enough who have regard
ed the atrocities told in the letters
which have been published as the duti-
full response Of soldiers so addressed
and encouraged" The leader of the
social democrats, Herr Bebel, spoke
even more pOintedly. Toward the end
of q twO-hour address on the atrocities
committed by the German soldiers in
China and on the speech of the en-
peror, he said:
IF Germany wishes to be the bearer
of civilization to the world, we will
follow without contradiction. But the
ways and means in which this world
policy has been carried on thus far, in
which it has been defined by the en-
peror are not, in our opinion,
the way to preserve the world position
of Germany, to gain for Germany the
respect of the world"
The consequences of the emperor's
speech Bebel APPLY described:
''By it the signal was given, CARRIED
in the highest authority Of the German
empire which must have most weighty
consequences, not only for the troops
who went to China but also for those
who stayed at home. An expedition
of revenge so barbarous as this has
never occurred in the last hundred
:. years and not often in history; al
least, nothing worse than this has hap
pened in history, either done by the
Huns, by the Vandals, by Genghis
Khan, by Tamerlane, or even by lilly
when he sacked Magdeburg."
Atrocities in China.
, These atrocities in China or "Letters
, Of the Huns" continued TO be published
in the Vorwaerts for several years ant
appeared internationally in the debate:
, Of the reichstag as late as 1906. A
: that time the socialist, Herr Kunert
: reviewing the procedure in trial o.
. which he had been the victim in thu
: previous summer, stated that he hat
, offered to prove that German soldier!
t in China had engaged in wanton ant
brutal ravaging; that plumber, pillage
g extortion, robbery, as well as rape ant
sexual abuses of the worst kind, hat
y occurred on a very large scale and tina
!. German soldiers had participated il
them" He had not been given an op
! portunity to prove his allegations, blu
;. had been sentenced to prison for thre
months for assailing the honor Of tn
y "whole German army" The out
- rageousness of this sentence was mad
= clear by the revelations, made in tn
, reichstag shortly afterwards, of simi