Читать книгу German Atrocities: A Record of Shameless Deeds - William Le Queux - Страница 13

Table of Contents

My Interview with Belgian Ministers of State.

In order that the civilized world should be acquainted with the terrible atrocities committed in Belgium, the King of the Belgians, who had served in the trenches with his men, disguised as a private soldier, appointed a Mission to proceed to the President of the United States and lay the case before him. The members of the Mission were:—

M. Carton de Wiart, Chief of the Mission, who is the Belgian Minister of Justice;

M. de Sadeleer, Leader of the Conservative Party;

M. Pau Hemans, Leader of the Liberal Party;

M. Emile Van der Velde, Leader of the Socialist Party.

All these men are Belgian Ministers of State, and were accompanied by Count de Lichtervelde, who acted as Secretary to the Mission.

The members of this Mission first came to London to present an Address to the King. On the evening of the day these gentlemen were received by His Majesty, and later by Sir Edward Grey, I had the privilege of a private interview with them.

I had a long talk with M. Carton de Wiart, during which he unfolded to me many frightful details, and

“These abominable crimes against humanity and civilization call for condign reprobation in the face of the civilized world. … Let us hear no more whining about German ‘culture.’ But let us make it known that we will make the world ring with our sense of horror.”—Frederic Harrison.

explained the reason for the appointment of a committee of inquiry. He described to me scenes he himself had witnessed. He laid stress upon the bombardment and destruction of open towns—that is, towns unprotected and undefended by any military works—such as Malines and Louvain; while Antwerp, being a fortified place, ought to have had twenty-four hours’ notice given to its inhabitants before it was attacked with bombs, yet no such notice was given. On the contrary, attacks by Zeppelins had been made without warning in the dead of night. He also described to me the atrocities committed by the Germans in the bombardment and setting fire to small villages without any military reason or necessity whatever. He related harrowing details of the massacre of perfectly innocent people, non-combatants, men, women, and children.

He showed me a letter from a person of repute in Belgium who had motored from Brussels to Louvain by the Tervueren road, in which I read: “After I got to a village named Veerde St. George I saw only burning villages; peasants beside themselves with terror threw up their arms in sign of submission on my approach. When I got to Louvain I found the whole town in ruins, and soldiers were still piling straw against buildings which had escaped the flames and igniting them.”