Evening star., 1940-05-12
Prays for Invaded Nations as AntBrts Feeling Rises in tay

VGIIIuou VVlG9 LING
Those Of 1914, Says
Belgian Ex-Premier
George Theunis Issues
Statement Here AssoiIina
'FoIsehoods, Sophisms'
Condemning the 'falsehoods and
sophisms" Of the notes to the Bel
gian and Dutch governments in
which Germany sought to justify
her invasion Of those countries,
George Theunis, former Belgian
Premier. )ast night likened them
to the ultimatum from Germany
in August. 1914. when the Kaiser's
forces swept through Belgium.
The statement of M. Theunis,
who now is In Washington, was
made public by the Belgian AM
bassador. Comte Robert van der
Straten Ponthoz. The text follows:
I have read attentively the Ger
man documents published in extenso
IN the American press, and partic.
ularly those which were handed to
the Belgian and Dutch governments
by the German ministers In their
respective capitals, In an effort
to justify the German aggression
against the two countries, as well
as the declaration of Foreign Minis
ter Won Ribbentrop on the same
subject. I read them without in
dignation; q certain degree Of stu
pidity does not arouse any emotion.
I also read them without surprise,
as they are the sort Of documents
one might expect in the circum-
stances. Their authors had not even
much imagination, for the general
tenor Of the documents is evidently
inspired by the famous ultimatum
handed to the Belgian government
by the German minister at Brussels
on August 2, 1914, and which has
been recorded In history as q model
Of infamy. In these new documents
are found the marks OF origin which
characterize certain ofncial German
documents.
Recalls Message 10 Wilson.
In the first place, it Is a we'll
known Hitlerian principle that when
one lies, it is better to tell complete
falsehood than only half q lie. The
second point is; that particular
form Of hypocrisy which already in
1914, at the very moment when his
troops were massacreing 5000 Bel
gian civilians, caused the Kaiser In a
telegram to President Wilson to say
that ''his heart was bleeding :"
The third mark of origin is an illu-
sion particular to the Germans to
believe that it is enough to pro-
claim their absurd lies with clumsy
solemnity. in order to give them
an appearance Of plausibility.
For people who believe in the
good faith of the Germans, it may
be remarked that the augmentation
of the German note reproaches the
Belgian government with having
taken special precautions against
the power which it suspected of
wishing to attack it. 1t is true that
the frontier on the German. side
was more strongly fortified than
the others. In this, there is moth
ing incompatible with neutrality.
This is not to be confused with
foolishness, as no doubt the German
government had hoped. The Belgian
government, in declaring itself in
dependent and neutral, did not re-
nounce its foresightedness. its free
dom of action and its duty toward
its people. 1t has constantly remain
ed loyal and correct in its attitude
toward all the belligerents, but it
adapted its policy in accordance
with their conduct toward Belgium.
When it was noted that the conduct
of one of them was becoming men,
acing. precautionary measures were
taken. Events have sufficiently
shown how much these precautions
were justified. Every one with an
ordinary sense of honesty under
stands and approves this course of
action. The. German government
Is apparently not in that category.
That is why this explanation has
been necessary.
Hits German Propaganda.
The German propaganda, in ac-
cordance with one of its principles,
always attributes to the public
certain lack of intelligence. which
is certainly not a characteristic Of
the American public. The latter does
not let itself be taken in by such
falsehoods and sophisms. When q
burglar begins to complain of pre-
cautions taken by the police, the
public is on its guard and if, after
having committed a crime, he pro-
tests with feigned indignation. the
public realizes that the police were
absolutely right.
In conclusion, I may add that I
read this morning that the German
government had rejected the pro-
tests of the representatives Of Bel
gium and Holland at Berlin under
the pretext that they employed the
word aggression" to describe the
invasion of their countries. In the
German vocabulary, this operation
Is qualified as "a measure of pro-
lection" No doubt the German
government is surprised that the
two countries involved prefer to
assure themselves that protection.