Chapter 86
M. DE WIART'S ADDRESS.
Made to the President at the White House, Was.h.i.+ngton, Sept. 16.
Excellency: His Majesty the King of the Belgians has charged us with a special mission to the President of the United States.
Let me say to you how much we feel ourselves honored to have been called upon to express the sentiments of our King and of our whole nation to the ill.u.s.trious statesman whom the American people have called to the highest dignity of the Commonwealth.
As far as I am concerned, I have already been able, during a previous trip, to fully appreciate the n.o.ble virtues of the American Nation, and I am happy to take this opportunity to express all the admiration with which they inspire me.
Ever since her independence was first established, Belgium has been declared neutral in perpetuity. This neutrality, guaranteed by the powers, has recently been violated by one of them. Had we consented to abandon our neutrality for the benefit of one of the belligerents, we would have betrayed our obligations toward the others. And it was the sense of our international obligations as well as that of our dignity and honor that has driven us to resistance.
The consequences suffered by the Belgian Nation were not confined purely to the harm occasioned by the forced march of an invading army. This army not only seized a great portion of our territory, but it committed incredible acts of violence, the nature of which is contrary to the law of nations.
Peaceful inhabitants were ma.s.sacred, defenseless women and children were outraged, open and undefended towns were destroyed, historical and religious monuments were reduced to dust, and the famous library of the University of Louvain was given to the flames.
Our Government has appointed a judicial commission to make an official investigation, so as to thoroughly and impartially examine the facts and to determine the responsibility thereof, and I will have the honor, Excellency, to hand over to you the proceedings of the inquiry.
In this frightful holocaust which is sweeping all over Europe, the United States has adopted a neutral att.i.tude.
And it is for this reason that your country, standing apart from either one of the belligerents, is in the best position to judge, without bias or partiality, the conditions under which the war is being waged.
It is at the request, even at the initiative, of the United States that all civilized nations have formulated and adopted at The Hague a law regulating the laws and usage of war.
We refuse to believe that war has abolished the family of civilized powers, or the regulations to which they have freely consented.
The American people has always displayed its respect for justice, its search for progress, and an instinctive attachment for the laws of humanity. Therefore, it has won a moral influence which is recognized by the entire world. It is for this reason that Belgium, bound as she is to you by ties of commerce and increasing friends.h.i.+p, turns to the American people at this time
Our faith in your fairness, our confidence in your justice, in your spirit of generosity and sympathy--all these have dictated our present mission.
PRESIDENT WILSON'S REPLY.
Addressed to the Royal Belgian Commission in the White House, Was.h.i.+ngton, Sept. 16.
Permit me to say with what sincere pleasure I receive you as representatives of the King of the Belgians, a people for whom the people of the United States feel so strong a friends.h.i.+p and admiration, a King for whom they entertain so sincere a respect, and express my hope that we may have many opportunities of earning and deserving their regard.
You are not mistaken in believing that the people of this country love justice, seek the true paths of progress, and have a pa.s.sionate regard for the rights of humanity.
It is a matter of profound pride to me that I am permitted for a time to represent such a people and to be their spokesman, and I am proud that your King should have turned to me in time of distress as to one who would wish on behalf of the people he represents to consider the claims to the impartial sympathy of mankind of a nation which deems itself wronged.
I thank you for the doc.u.ment you have put in my hands containing the result of an investigation made by a judicial committee appointed by the Belgian Government to look into the matter of which you have come to speak. It shall have my utmost attentive perusal and my most thoughtful consideration.
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 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 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 need not a.s.sure you that this conclusion, in which I instinctively feel that you will yourselves concur, is spoken frankly because in warm friends.h.i.+p, and as the best means of perfect understanding between us, an understanding based upon mutual respect, admiration, and cordiality.
You are most welcome and we are greatly honored that you should have chosen us as the friends before whom you could lay any matter of vital consequence to yourselves, in the confidence that your cause would be understood and met in the same spirit in which it was conceived and intended.
OFFICIAL SUMMARY.
Findings Presented by the Belgian Royal Commission to President Wilson at Was.h.i.+ngton, Sept. 16.
I.
Acts at Linsmeau and Orsmael.
Belgium, which wanted peace, has been obliged by Germany to resort to arms and to oppose a legitimate defense to an aggression which nothing can justify, and which is contrary to the solemn pledges of treaties.
Belgium is bound in honor to fight loyally and to observe all the rules, laws, and customs of war.
From the beginning of the invasion of its territory by German troops, the Belgian Government had posted each and every day, in all the towns, and the papers have each day repeatedly printed, instructions warning the non-combatant civilians not to offer any resistance to the troops and soldiers invading the country.
The information on which the German Government believes today that it can base its contention that the Belgian population contravenes the law of nations and is not worthy of respect is absolutely unfounded.
The Government protests most vigorously against these allegations and against the odious threats of retaliation. If any deed contrary to the rules of warfare should ultimately be proved, to understand such fact it is only necessary to realize the well-founded excitement which the cruelties of the German soldiers are provoking among the Belgian population--a population which is thoroughly honest but energetic in the defense of its rights and in its respect for humanity.
If we were to publish a list of these atrocities, of which the first ones are here recorded, this would indeed be a long list.
Whole regions have been ravaged and abominable deeds perpetrated in the towns.
A committee attached to the Department of Justice is drawing up a list of these horrors with scrupulous impartiality.