BELGIAN REPLY TO MISS HOBHOUSE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLVII, Issue 13047, 10 January 1917, Page 6

BELGIAN REPLY TO MISS HOBHOUSE.

•PACIFIST DISTORTION OF THE TRUTH.

(By Professor Leon Van Der Essen, of the University of Louvain!.)

Indignation lias .been excited."among the Belgians in England .on 'account ..of an article written for the'"U.D.C.," the organ of the U.nion of Democratic Control. That article, entitled ""Belgium To-day," pretends to be a reply to; the Bryce report- 011 the. German atrocities in Belgium.. .'-"Miss Hobhouse, the writer of the article, is a, pacifist- and' a friend of E. D. "Morel," 1 " Ramsay MacDonaldy and the Independent Labor Party. Al-though'-a-'British subject, she received permission from the Germans to "visit';' Belgium. That being the case, oiie would suppose-that .the. Germans used, her. as a tool for impressing on the world the 'idea * that they " did' not - behave go badly in. Belgium- after all,'"'but that all that has been said about them is grossly exaggerated. As a matter of fact, thai, is what Miss Hobhouse now tolls the British public, and her article will certainly be circulated in the United 1 States for the benefit of pro-German propadanda. : Let us now confront the picture drawn by Miss Hobhouse with the facts; Miss Hobhouse came from Switzerland through Germany—a remarkable privilege for the British subject—and- entered Belgium by way of Herbethal. '/I went prepared',"-said'says,. "to sec a devastated country," and-her. whole article tends to convey the impression that -she saw scarcely any devastation at all. "FLOWERY AND TRANQUIL."

She first passed through the count-ry ■which lies between the frontier and Lioge. "The invading army had passed that way," and Miss Hobhouse. looked out from her railway carriage, window for signs of destruction. "Unfortun-* ately -some German nuns apologetically' filled' the compartment and limited my outlook." Under those conditions, Miss Hobhouse, all the way from the -frontier to Liege, saw nothing that- was not "verdant-, flowery, and 1 tranquil." She saw only one destroyed house between the frontier and Liege! She did not see the 110 destroyed houses of Barchon, 67 of Berneau, 26 of Esneaux, 36 of F-lemalle-Grande, 152 of Fleron, 19 of Fouron, 80. of Haccourt, 146 of Hermee, 84 of Heure-le-Romain, 77 of L'ouveigne, 60 of Helen, 73 of Mouland, 118 of Retinne, 34 of Romsee, 104 of Soumagne, 575 of Vise, 25 of Warsage, 279 of Herye. which all were destroyed 1 , not by .bomibardment, .but- wantonly and: systematically by incendiary -tablets and' benzine.

Between Liege and Brussels^"there was nothing to note, with the exception of Louvain., . .- . Superficially all looked fair," and 'here-Mi-ss Hobhouse. delightfully records: "We were in a : German "train, the express from Berlin to' Lille, and it ran well." What, however, she. does not record, and What she did hot see from her German express train, was the destruction wrought between Liege and Brussels —Poulseur, 2-5 houses; Seilles, 153 bouses; Bueken, 30 houses; Campenhout. 85 houses, Aejv schot-, 386 houses; Gelrodo. 23 houses; Rillaer, 33 houses; Molensted'e, 32 houses; Shaffen, 164: Lubbeak. 46; Rqosbeek, 42; Holsbeek, 36; Rotselaer, 67; Hover, 35; Haecht, 40; Tremeloo, 214; Werchter, 267; Neerlint-er, 71: Corbeek-Loo, 129; H-erent, 312; KesselLoo, 461; Linden, 103; Winxele, 57; Tirlemont, 60 ; Wilsele, 36. In the two provinces of Liege and Brabant, through the main part of-which the express train of Miss Hobhouse ran, 9376 nouses have been burnt by the invaders. MARK OF THE BEAST.

The-first real trip afoot made by Miss -Hobhouse was to Antwerp, and *tljere, again, Miss Hobhouse "marvejled that there was no indication of wholesale and' complete destruction." Everybody knows that Antwerp was not dtestroyed. What Miss Hobhouse does not say is that in villages audi hamlefe of the province of Antwerp where there was no figM <it all the invaders set fire to a large number of houses. - Now we come to Louvain. Miss Hobhouse, who "saw it pretty knows but tliree centres of destruction: the Station Square and the Rue de la Gare, the Place du Peuple, the Oldi Market. She has forgotten the Rue Leopold, the Grand Marche, tho Rue Marguerite, the Rue aux Tripes, the Rue de la Monnaie, the Rue de "Ma'lines, the Rue des Cordes, the Rue Courte, the Rue de Kamur, the Rue des Chevaliers, especially the Rue de Diest, the Rue du-Canal, the Rue du Manegej the Rue de Tirlemont, the Rue Juste Lipse, the Rue Marie-Hherese, the Boulevard dte Tirlemont, the Porte de Tirlemont, and the Cliaussee de Tirlemont, which all had the greater Dart of their houses J..... ~,1 : - T

As for the library of the "university,stories abound, says Miss Hobhouse, asto the origin, of this fire, "a disaster? not at air surprising with burning houses near at hand." The story'of thfe "disaster" is very simple. About- Jl •p.'iri'. on August 25 a German officer with a squad of soldiers set fire to t-hei building. On a Josephite father tettiitg the -officer that the building ha w'.-asi •'. about to destroy was. the library, lie answered, "Es ist Befeli!" (Such is the order). The whole' library was 'burnt. Not'a single book or manuscript re--1 mained after the disaster. "Strenuous efforts were made," says Miss Hobhouse, "to subdue the flames, in which Belgians and Germans worked, together." This is an infamous lie. Mgr. Ladeuze, the rector of the university, and other professors were absolutely prevented' from approaching the burning library. The Civil l Guard, was. , called out on the 26th ostensibly; "to quench the flames dn the city," but they were all treacherously arrested aiid sent in.cattle trucks to Germany. lur- < stead of quenching the flames, the Ger- ! maris continued burning till Septeinber 1 2 and even on that day they were setting fire to houses in- the Rue.Leopold.

DEVASTATION.

"A fine picture which hung in the cathedral was saved by tiie 'German, officers," she says. My'colleague, ■ Professor Nerincks, acting temporarily- a» burgomaster, found the picture packed, up and! ready, to be conveyed to" Germany. He, and not the Germans, put the. picture "in safety.'- The Germaiis, says Mies Hobhouse, prevented tlifr flames passing to the Hotel de. Ville. Of course! Major von Ma.nteuffel, the tappen-Kominaudant, was quartered there, and with him the staff, .papers, and archives of the troops. The next spot visited by jfeiiss Hobhouse was Charleroi, and as she went there by train-"she could detect no

ruin until she reached Charleroi itself." Had she walked there she would! have seen in-Boufiioulx. Couillet, Ferciennes, Gilly, Juniet, Lodelinsart,; Marchienne-au-Pont, Montigny-le-Tilleiil, Mont-sur-r Marchienne, Cautroux, 11 oux. and Roselies the 769 houses which were burnt down and t-lie 2221 which were partially burnt and wholly pillaged, and perhaps

somebody would have shown her the | burial places of the 127 civilians murdered- in the immediate neighborhood. Miss Hobhouso saw -also Aerschot. Sho "heard it computed that perhaps the '.tenth part is destroyed," and sho can hardly believe it. As a .'matter of fact, Aerschot counted 1183 houses ; of these 386 have been burnt. "Dinant, I am sold," sho adds,. "is far more seriously destroyed." It is. ,i

Out of the 1375 houses of Dinant. 1263 are destroyed. Tiiis destruction is notduo to "much street fighting with the Garde Civique." There was no fighting with the Garde Civique. at Dinant, and no street fighting at all. Dinant was deliberately burnt down, by order of the commander of the 12-th Saxon Corps, anJ 606 civilians were put t-o death. Miss -Hobhouse did not seo the die- j struct-ion of Luxemburg, where 3000. houses were burnt. She did not see Hervc, Vise, T-aniines, Anden.no, Namur, Termonde, and a hundred other places where, the invaders spread their | Kultur. I In the United -States, at Chicago, one of the pacifist ladies, not- knowing that I was a Belgian, told me confidentially : "The Serbs and ''Belgians were fools- They should have given the Germans the use of their railways and remained at peace." These are the people to whom Miss Hothouse also belongs. They are -a11,,' consciously or . unconsciously, pro-Geiv inaii, sheepishly .repeating ".vhat thenGerman guides wish them to say. Their statements are without value; they are onlv inside'for tie bunefit of l-lnj enemy.