French Protest to the Powers.

So numerous and so terrible were the outrages committed by Germans on French territory that the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, on September 2nd—a month after the outbreak of hostilities—was compelled to address a communication to the Powers which set forth a large number of authenticated cases of barbarity. In the course of this official statement it was explained that the indisputable facts set out were selected merely as examples, and that it was impossible to bring to the notice of the Powers every act contrary to the laws of war of which accounts were being received day by day. The series of memoranda were sufficient to establish the two following classes of facts:—

To this communiquÉ were attached ten separate memoranda, setting forth various specific charges against the Germans, and showing, among other things, how the Kaiser’s troops were killing the French wounded, and had even shot Red Cross nurses.

A Dead Man’s Diary.

“In the fifth of these memoranda,” says Reuter’s correspondent, “the German allegation that the civilian population had taken part in the war was strongly denied, and was declared to be nothing but a pretext put forward by the German troops to give them the appearance of reprisals. From the beginning of the war the Germans had made a practice of burning undefended villages and of assassinating the inhabitants, and evidence of this was to be found in letters and notebooks which had been taken from Germans, dead or prisoners.”

A notebook found on a corpse of a German lieutenant contained the following remark:—“We have fired the church of Villerupt and shot the inhabitants. We pretended that scouts had taken refuge in the tower of the church and had fired on us from there. The fact was, it was not the inhabitants of Villerupt, but Customs officers and forest guards who fired on us.”

The sixth memorandum gave detailed evidence in support of the charge that a systematic devastation of the country had been ordered by the German leaders. Letters found on German soldiers made it clear that the burning of villages and the shooting of the inhabitants were general measures, and that the orders were given by superior officers.

Attention was called to this violation of The Hague Convention, and it was pointed out that it was on the proposal of the German delegates at the second Hague Conference that an article was inserted declaring that the belligerent guilty of such violation should be liable to pay an indemnity.

In the remaining memoranda information was given as to the destruction of villages in the region of Paris, and the burning of Affleville, under circumstances of particular brutality.

The statement concluded: “The Government of the Republic, respecting International conventions which it has ratified, protests against those violations of International law, and holds up to reprobation before the opinion of the world the behaviour of an enemy who respects no rule and goes back on his signature affixed to International agreements.”

The Red Hand of Destruction.

Upon the Franco-German frontier the red hand of destruction was indeed laid heavily, and it seemed incredible that a civilised nation should resort to the methods of savages. Yet it was, alas, true, as was proved in hundreds of cases. Atrocities were committed everywhere; civilians, women, and children were shot down in blind rage. A German officer captured by the French near Blamont admitted that the Germans wanted no prisoners, and that the wholesale massacre of peaceful villagers was according to orders.

German infantrymen belonging to the Bavarian regiments systematically set fire to the villages through which they passed in the region of Barras, Harbone, and Montreux, for during the engagement no artillery fire could have caused such conflagrations. In the same district they forced the inhabitants to precede their scouts. According to the same report the German troops were daily massacring peaceful villagers, and actually made children march before them when debouching from the villages upon the field of battle.

An official report was made by M. Mirman, Prefect of the Meurthe and Moselle, to the French Minister of the Interior, after a visit paid to the districts of Bardonviller, Cirey, and Blamont, in the Luneville area. He stated that it was impossible to cite all the acts of savagery and brutality on the part of the German troops which had come under his notice. He could make out a long list of women, young girls, and old men and women who had been executed without the least reason and upon the slightest pretext. Houses had been systematically burned by order of the German officers as they advanced, and then again as they retreated.

Petrol on Burning Houses.

At Bardonviller, where one of the Kaiser’s sons was with the troops, eleven of the inhabitants had been murdered, among whom was the wife of the mayor, and a woman with her infant child, while seventy-eight houses were burned with petrol and specially-prepared faggots. After pillaging the town and looting everything they could, they fired on and demolished the church, and took fifteen of the inhabitants, including a magistrate, away as hostages.

At Bremeuil the Prefect found a pitiful and shameful state of affairs. There, five inhabitants, one a little lad, were butchered, as well as an old man of seventy-four, who was “trussed and shot like a rabbit.” The Communal building was destroyed, and nearly the whole town swept away, not during battle, but by the soldiers on their arrival.

The French troops in Lorraine had seized an entire mail, letters written by German soldiers to their families. In these it was shown that the chief occupation of the troops was eating and drinking, and in more than twenty of the letters it was stated that all French civilians were shot if they only looked suspicious or evil-disposed. All the men, and even boys under age, were shot.

Another official statement issued by the French Ministry of War stated that two Uhlans who were reconnoitring on the frontier entered the little village of Affleville. They were ejected by a patrol of three mounted riflemen. On the following day a detachment of Uhlans returned, set fire to a farmhouse, and killed the farmer, who attempted to save his property. The inhabitants protested that their village had not interfered with the enemy, but later that evening a further squadron of Uhlans arrived while all the villagers were attending service in the church, and after sprinkling the houses with petroleum set the whole place on fire. The terrified inhabitants fled without money or other property to Verdun, the parish priest being shot.

“We Kill Everyone.”

Many other sensational indictments of the blood-lust of the Kaiser’s savage hordes reached the French Ministry of Justice. The CurÉ of Pillon, in the Metz district, states that on August 10th fifteen Germans entered his house and pointed their rifles at him. He was dragged into the road and brought before the General. On the way there he was hurried along with the butts of his captors’ rifles. When he stopped they hit him. He took out his handkerchief, and they confiscated it. He shouted: “You are a set of brutes. Take me before one of your officers who speaks French.” An officer replied in French, “It’s all up with you.” A French shell burst not far from the German troops. The Germans threw themselves down, but compelled the priest to remain standing.

Seven lads from French Lorraine at Baroncourt saw a body of Uhlans driving before them old men, women, and children. They struck those that would not or could not walk. Three Uhlans moved aside to a field where a boy of fifteen was tending a herd of cows. The youth attempted to prevent the seizure of the cattle. The troopers shot him point-blank, and he fell without a cry.

In Lorraine a large number of letters written by German soldiers were captured, and these letters are full of descriptions of acts of wanton cruelty. Most of the writers make reference to food and drink. One says, “We have no need for money. We simply take.” In another it is written, “Before burning the village we took away everything that was eatable or drinkable,” and again, “The first village across the frontier was completely destroyed. It was a sight which was both sad and agreeable.” In another letter it is stated, “We have shot the inhabitants of from fourteen to sixty years old. There were thirty of them.” In twenty other letters the phrases recur, “All were shot. We kill everyone.”

“The efforts directed towards the abolition of war must not only be termed foolish, but absolutely immoral, and must be described as unworthy of the human race.”—Gen. Von Bernhardi.