GERMAN KAISER"S PROTEST.
Addressed to Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, Aug. 7.
I consider it my duty, Sir, to inform you, as the most notable representative of the principles of humanity, that after the capture of the French fort of Longwy my troops found in that place thousands of dumdum bullets, which had been manufactured in special works by the French Government. Such bullets were found not only on French killed and wounded soldiers and on French prisoners, but also on English troops. You know what terrible wounds and awful suffering are caused by these bullets, and that their use is strictly forbidden by the generally recognized rules of international warfare.
I solemnly protest to you against the way in which this war is being waged by our opponents, whose methods are making it one of the most barbarous in history. Besides the use of these awful weapons, the Belgian Government openly incited the civil population to partic.i.p.ate in the fighting, and has for a long time carefully organized their resistance. The cruelties practiced in this guerrilla warfare, even by women and priests, toward wounded soldiers, and doctors and hospital nurses--physicians were killed and lazarets fired on--were such that eventually my Generals were compelled to adopt the strongest measures to punish the guilty and frighten the bloodthirsty population from continuing their shameful deeds.
Some villages and even the old town of Louvain, with the exception of its beautiful town hall, (Hotel de Ville,) had to be destroyed for the protection of my troops.
My heart bleeds when I see such measures inevitable and when I think of the many innocent people who have lost their houses and property as a result of the misdeeds of the guilty.
WILHELM I. R.
REPLY TO THE KAISER.
Made by President Wilson at Washington, Sept. 16.
I received your Imperial Majesty"s important communication of the 7th and have read it with the gravest interest and concern. I am honored that you should have turned to me for an impartial judgment as the representative of a people truly disinterested as respects the present war and truly desirous of knowing and accepting the truth.
You will, I am sure, not expect me to say more. Presently, I pray G.o.d very soon, this war will be over. The day of accounting will then come, when I take it for granted the nations of Europe will a.s.semble to determine a settlement. Where wrongs have been committed, their consequences and the relative responsibility involved will be a.s.sessed.
The nations of the world have fortunately by agreement made a plan for such a reckoning and settlement. What such a plan cannot compa.s.s the opinion of mankind, the final arbiter in all such matters, will supply. It would be unwise, it would be premature, for a single Government, however fortunately separated from the present struggle, it would even be inconsistent with the neutral position of any nation which, like this, has no part in the contest, to form or express a final judgment.
I speak thus frankly because I know that you will expect and wish me to do so as one friend speaks to another, and because I feel sure that such a reservation of judgment until the end of the war, when all its events and circ.u.mstances can be seen in their entirety and in their true relations, will commend itself to you as a true expression of sincere neutrality.
WOODROW WILSON.
CHARGE AGAINST GERMANY.
President Poincare of the French Republic to President Wilson, Sept.
11.
Mr. President: I am informed that the German Government is attempting to abuse your Excellency"s good faith by alleging that dumdum bullets are manufactured in French State workshops, and are used by our soldiers. The calumny is nothing but an audacious attempt to reverse the roles. Germany has since the beginning of the war employed dumdum bullets, and has daily committed violations of the laws of nations.
On Aug. 18 and on several occasions since then we have had to report crimes to your Excellency as well as to the powers signatory to the Convention of The Hague. Germany, which was aware of our protests, is now trying to deceive and to make use of pretexts and lies in order to indulge in further acts of barbarity in the name of right. Outraged civilization sends your Excellency an indignant protest.
RAYMOND POINCARE.
M. DELCa.s.sE"S NOTE.
French Cabinet Minister Addresses the Danish Government, Sept. 10.
The French Government protested on Aug. 18 to the Permanent Bureau of The Hague Court of Arbitration against the use of dumdum bullets by the Germans, producing proof obtained by surgeons that French soldiers had been killed or wounded by these bullets. The German General Staff has countered this by alleging that it was the French and English who used the bullets, and the Imperial Chancellor has announced in fiery tones that in the presence of the example given by the English and French the German soldiers would henceforth use dumdum bullets; the responsibility for this procedure, which he himself describes as an act of cruelty and a violation of an international convention signed by Germany, will rest, he says, upon the powers of the Triple Entente.
By my Government"s orders I have the honor to protest in the most formal manner to the Danish Government against the lying German allegations.
French soldiers have never used dumdum bullets. The French Government has never authorized, nor will authorize, its troops to use such barbarous means of warfare, whatever be the infringements of law and the cruelties committed by its adversaries. The "Instructions for French Officers in Wartime" also lay down, and will continue to lay down, that they are to forbid their men to use bullets at variance with the stipulations of the Geneva and Hague conventions.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ALBERT, KING OF THE BELGIANS]
THE BELGIAN MISSION.
Officially Explained to President Wilson at the White House, Washington, Sept. 16.
His Majesty the King of the Belgians has appointed a special envoy for the purpose of acquainting the President of the United States of America with the deplorable state of affairs prevailing in Belgium, whose neutrality has been unjustly violated, and who since the beginning of hostilities has been the theatre of the worst outrages on the part of the invading German Army, in defiance of rules solemnized by international treaty and customs consecrated by public right and law of nations.
Mr. Henry Carton de Wiart, Minister of Justice, has been chosen for this mission. He is accompanied by Messrs. de Sadeleer, Hymans, and Vandervelde, Ministers of State. Count Louis Lichtervelde is attached to the mission as Secretary.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CARTON DE WIART, Minister of Justice, Spokesman of the Royal Belgian Commission to the United States.]