WRONGS OF BELGIUM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15769, 18 November 1914, Page 9

WRONGS OF BELGIUM.

VIOLATED NEUTRALITY.

GERMAN DOUBLE DEALING.

STATEMENT BY LEGATION.

The Belgian Legation has compiled th© following statement of the Belgian case in the present European war to answer the many inquiries that have been received on the subject :—

" By the treaty of April 19, 1839, Prussia, France, England, Austria, and Russia, declared themselves guarantors of the treaty concluded on the same day between the King of the Belgians and the King of the Netherlands. This treaty provides :—

" ' Belgium forms an independent state of perpetual neutrality.'

" That is to say, Belgium was forbidden, in case of war, to take the part of any of the belligerents.

" Since then Belgium has fulfilled all her neutrality obligations; she has acted in a spirit of meticulous impartiality. She has left nothing undone to maintain and make respected her neutrality. Germany's obligation to respect Belgian neutrality was even more emphatically affirmed by one of Germany's greatest men, by the creator of the Empire. Prince, then Count, Bismarck wrote in a letter to Baron Nothomb, Belgian Minister in Berlin, on July 22, 1870, as follows : —•

" ' In confirmation of my verbal assurances I have the honour to give in writing a declaration which, in view of the treaties in force, is quite superfluous that the confederation of the North and its allies will respect the neutrality of Belgium, on the understanding, of course, that it is respected by the other beligerent. (Signed) Vox Bismarck.' Envoy Reassures Belgium. " On August 2 last, in the course of tho day, the German Minister in Brussels, Mr. De Below SaJeske, gave an interview to tho reporters of the newspaper Le Soir and declared to them that Belgium had nothing to fear from Germany. Ho went so far as to employ this expression: — ' You will see, perhaps, your neighbour's house on fire, but your house will remain intact.' The same day, at seven o'clock in tho evening, he communicated the following note to tho Belgian Governmet : —

" The German Government has received unimpeacha.ble news to the effect that the French forces have the intention uf marching on t'uo Meuso by Civet and Naniur. This news leaves no doubt as to the intention of Frence to march upon Germany from Belgian territory. The Imperial Government of Germany cannot help feari ing that Belgium, in spite of the best of ; intentious, will not be in a position to re- ! pulse without help an incursion by the • French of such great magnitude. In tills 'case it is sufficiently certain that Germany lis seriously threatened. It is the urgent ! business of Germany to forestall this at- ; tack on the part of the enemy. The Geri man Government would be filled with 1 lively regret if Belgium were to regard as an act of hostility against her the fact that ' her precautionary measures oblige her to ; violate on her side Belgian territory.'

Germany Serves Notice.

" In order to avoid tho possibility of misunderstanding, the German Government made the following comment: — " ' First : Germany contemplates no act of hostility toward Belgium. If Belgium consents to assume in the war which is about to commence the attitude of friendly neutrality toward Germany, the German Government, on its side, engages when peace is restored to guarantee the integrity of the kingdom and its possessions. " ' Second : Germany engages herself on the aforesaid conditions to evacuate Bel-

! gian territory as soon as peace is con- ! eluded. i " " Third :If Belgium observes a friendly .attitude Germany is ready, in co-operation ■ with the authorities of the Government of ; Belgium, to buy for cash everything that | is necessary for her troops, and to pay : indemnities for damage dono in Belgium ; ] but if Belgium behaves in a hostile manj ner against the troops, and in particular I places difficulties in the way of their adI Vance by opposition by the fortifications ■of the Mouse, or by the destruction of j roads, railways, tunnels or other works, | Germany will be obliged to consider Belgium as au enemy. Ends With Veiled Threats. " ' In that case Germany will enter into no agreement with the kingdom, but will I allow the further relationship of the two I States to be left to the decision of arms. | The German Government feels that it is I justified in hoping that this eventuality I will not materialise and that the Belgian | Government will know how to take appropriate measures to prevent its materialisation. In that case the friendly relations which unito the two neighbouring States will become closer snd more lasting.' _ j " Such is the German note. It will be | noticed that there is no question of the alleged entry of French aviators and ofI ficers into Belgium, as has been stated in several papers in England. The document, in fact, knocks that fable on the head. | The only reason given for the violation of | Belgian territory is the alleged intention of the French Army to march upon Givet and Namur. This assertion is supported by no proof and is denied by the French Government, which officially declared to Belgium and England its intentions of not violating Belgian territory. On the contrary, the premeditated intention of Germany to' violate Belgium neutrality, is proved in the most irrefutable way, namely, by the affirmation of the German Secretary of State himself and by that of the German Chancellor.

Neutrality Quickly Violated. "To the request of Sir William Goschen, the English Ambassador in Berlin, to oe allowed to know if Germany would pledge herself to respect the neutrality of Belgium. The German Secretary of State replied that this neutrality had already been violated by Germany. llerr von Jagow went again into the reasons why the Imperial Government had been obliged to take this step, namely, that they had to advance into France by the quickest and easiest way so as to be able to get well ahead with their operations and endeavour to strike some decisive blow as early as possible. " It is very clear from these documents that Germany had for a long time premeditated the violation of the neutrality of Belgium and that she has even reconciled herself to the terrible danger of war with Great Britain, rather than renounce the. advantages she thought she would gain by not respecting the treaty. In the face of these confessions the allegations that France wished to violate the neutrality of Belgium, a.n allegation supported by no proof, falls to the ground. Prelors Death With Honour. " The moral fibre of nations is not always measured by their size or power. Belgium is small and weak, but her answer bears witness to her love of justice and to her respect for the right. She would rather die with honour than live dishonoured- " It has been shown above how much value can be attached to the assertion of the alleged intention of France to Tnvade Belgium. That intention, and the realisation of that intention, belong exclusively to Germany and they must be left in her possession. This is especially the case in view of the fact that the military dispositions undertaken by France absolutely refute the allegations of the German Chancellor. So true is this that -when the violation of Belgian territory became an i accomplished fact, and when the King of 1 —

Belgium appealed under the terms of the treaty of 1839 for support in maintaining the neutrality of Belgium which these Powers had guaranteed, France was bo little prepared to invade Belgium that it took her more than 10 days to get her troops into the country. " The world is familiar with the way Germany has repaired in Belgium the in-/ justice of which she was guilty, to use the words of the German Chancellor.

" Under the pretext that her troops were attacked by civilians, and even under no pretext a.t all, whole villages have been razed to the ground. _ Important towns, whose boast it was to represent part of the common inheritance of civilisation, were not spared. Their monuments, which have been respected during the centuries in all the constant wars of which Belgium has been the theatre, w'ft-e deliberately destroyed. Open cities were bombarded. " Exorbitant taxation was imposed upon conquered towns, and when the inhabitants were unable to pay the taxes a large number of their houses were set on fire.

" Termonde, with 10,000 inhabitants, was utterly destroyed. On September 15 there remained in that town onTy 282 houses out of 1400. The town of Aerschot, with 8000 inhabitants, is now nothing but a mass of ruins and more than one hundred and fifty of its inhabitants have been, shot.

" Dirigible balloons threw bombs at night into Antwerp. It cannot be maintained by those who were in the balloons that they were trying to hit the forts, as tho forts are. outside the boundaries of the town, and a good distance outside them as well. Nor could the bombs thrown have had any effect upon the forts. There was no warning of this bombardment, a fact which constitutes a violation of article 26 of the Fourth Convention of The Hague, and more than a dozen persons were killed, all of them non-combatants and several of them women and children. Destruction of Towns. "The town of Louvain, with its 42,000 inhabitants, was one of the centres of Belgian culture. It had no mercy shown to it and has been nearly obliterated. Several quarters of the town were .set on fire, the Church of St. Pierre, a marvellous example of Gothic art; the buildings of the university including the library, with more than 70,000 volumes, of which a large number were ancient manuscripts; the collection belonging to the university, nearly all tho scientific institutions and nearly all the houses of the town were deliberately burned. They are now nothing more than heaps of ashes. Their destruction has been a loss to tho whole civilised world.

" Numbers of absolutely innocent women, and children lost their lives in the fire, which was started by order of the German military officials. Of those who were saved several thousand, including women, enfeebled by age and children in arms, are wandering homeless over the roads without food or clothing. They are not to blame for anything, unless it is because they belong to a nation which has refused to purchase peace at the price of dishonour. hat can be the only crime accounted to tliem upon the earth. " From the declaration made by the Imperial German Chancellor it may be seen that the German Government is conscious of its wrongdoing. As one of the guarantors of Belgium's neutrality it wanted to force Belgium to relinquish its neutrality for Germany's benefit. Because Belgium would not consent to this perjury and because Germany could not reproach her with anything else Germany invaded and covered with Hoed and ruin a small, peaceful country of hard working and honest people, a country which it had promised to protect." DASH FOR SAFETY.

MISLED BY GERMAN SPY. No char.ce is lost by the German spy of' doing his work- One endeavoured to lead a trio of British into a trap, but they managed to escape. and one of them, Corporal P. Quinn, now tells how he and Private McElroy, both of the Dublin Fusiliers, readied safety. Nine men were takers prisoner, and were placed in a motor-lorry with a French officer who spoke English fluently. The latter said he did not know what their fate might be, adding, " All you Britishers should try and make your escape with me." This we were willing to do,' states Quinn. "There was a sentry in charge of us, and the French officer seizing his opportunity, jumped from the back of the lorry, catching a firm hold of the sentry's arm, and thus preventing him from using his ride. The nine of us came to tho French officer's aid, and, overpowering the sentry, killed him. Then in the rush to get away tho sentry's rifle, which was in the possession of the French officer, went < il. The report having reached the German quarters, four of them came up to us, and in the encounter two of our number were shot. Those of us who escaped got to a road close by, where 'Cinee of us got up a tree and remained until daybreak. We got from Cambrai do-vvn to the canal, where tho peasants concealed us in one of thb canal boats. They provided us with civilian dress, instead of our uniforms. From the canal we wont to the village ol Herrnones, where wo were comfortably housed for the niglit by the villagers. A French school teacner came to the house the same night, and intormed us in English that a gentleman who had said he was an officer in Uio French Army was going to St. Paul's next morning, and tnat he wished us to travel with linn, as he knew the country perfectly. Wo had no suspicion of the stranger, witn whom we walked about three and a-half miles. He was in civilian dress. v\ e could seo the main road in front of us. the stranger then got in advance of us, tor the purpose, he said ol seeing if the road was safe. We lay on the sido of the road a waiting his return We soon heard a whistle, and thinking it was the stranger im-Uo-.ieri wo jumped up, to find a party of Prussians approaching us. We then had reason to believe that the stranger was none other than a German spy, and had led us into danger. Iho 1 russians were about Isovds away and we lost no time in returning to the V 1 » ge j ,v. u a short sta y ™re we reached .he village of Moray." The subsequent adventures included a concealment in a French hay cart and a narrow escape when some Germans took part of the hav with which to light a fire. -