Accompanied by E. Havenith, the Belgian Minister to the United States, the members of the Commission called first at the State Department, were presented to Secretary Bryan, and were accompanied by him to the White House.

As spokesman for the Commission, Henry Carton de Wiart, who came to this country vested with special diplomatic powers and clothed with the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, read an oral statement to the President, explaining the mission upon which King Albert had sent the Commissioners:

"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 rule 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."

M. de Wiart then delivered the following address:

"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 illustrious 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 noble 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 massacred, 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 attitude.

"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 friendship, turns to the American people at this time to let it know the real truth of the present situation. Resolved to continue unflinching defense of its sovereignty and independence, it deems it a duty to bring to the attention of the civilized world the innumer

able grave breaches of rights of mankind of which she has been a victim.

"At the very moment we were leaving Belgium, the King recalled to us his trip to the United States and the vivid and strong impression your powerful and virile civilization left upon his mind. "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 in reply said to the Commission:

"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 friendship 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 passionate 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 document 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 God 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 assemble to determine a settlement. Where wrongs have been committed their consequences and the relative responsibility involved will be assessed.

"The nations of the world have, fortunately, by agreement made a plan for such a reckoning and settlement. What such a plan cannot compass, 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 assure you that this conclusion, in which I instinctively feel that you will yourselves concur, is spoken frankly because in warm friendship, 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."

The Commission made public a statement containing a summary of the evidence laid before the President.

(From the report in the New York Times, September 17, 1914, abridged and transposed.)

(f) Publicity

EMPEROR WILLIAM'S PROTEST TO PRESIDENT
WILSON (1914)

LONDON, September 10. The correspondent of the Daily Mail at Rotterdam has telegraphed the text of the message sent by Emperor William to President Wilson under date of September 4. It is as follows:

"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 dum-dum 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 participate 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." (Extract from New York Times, September 11, 1914.)

THE BELGIAN COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY (1914)

Mr. D. M. Mason (Coventry, Min.) asked whether the statement of German atrocities, issued through the British Press Bureau, and drawn up by a Belgian Committee of Inquiry, was true, and if so what action His Majesty's Government proposed to take to protest against so flagrant a violation of the rules of civilized warfare.

Mr. Asquith: "The statements referred to are the result of an inquiry by a committee constituted and presided over by the Belgian Minister of Justice, and composed of the highest judicial and university authorities of Belgium. They have been officially communicated to His Majesty's Government by the Belgian Minister