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PREFACE.

The Official Belgian Commission of Inquiry, which has been charged withthe task of examining into the violation of the rules of International Lawand of the Customs of War, is composed of Statesmen and Jurists of thehighest standing. The Reports of the Commission have been published fromtime to time. Report XI will be found in the following pages.

These reports are given out by the Commission only after careful examinationof the evidence. Consequently the findings of the Commission commandthe same respect as the findings of the highest Law Court.

Names of witnesses have, in certain cases, been withheld from publication.All the depositions are, however, in the possession of the Commission andthe names of the witnesses will be given out at the proper time. The publicationof these names at the present moment would, inevitably, cause the Germantroops to take revenge upon witnesses, or upon the relatives of witnesses,remaining within the German lines.

The authenticity of the depositions is guaranteed by the eminent Statesmenand Jurists who compose the Commission and who have signed theReports.

No commentary can add anything to the tragic eloquence of these simpleand well-authenticated depositions. Who can read the recital of these horrorswithout feeling his heart throb with righteous indignation, and without feelingan infinite sorrow at the thought that these abominations have been committed,after two thousand years of Christian civilization, by a nation which, onlyyesterday, claimed to be the foremost in modern Progress.

It should be remembered that Belgium had done nothing to bring on thewar nor to involve her in it. She was a neutralized country. Every shot firedby a German soldier in Belgium is a violation of the solemn treaty wherebyGermany pledged her faith to uphold the neutrality of Belgium.

At the end of this pamphlet (page 20) will befound extracts from the “Laws of War on Land,” published bythe German General Staff in 1902, and other documents, showing that themassacres, arson and pillage committed by the German army in Belgiumare attributable, not to the innate brutality of the German soldier,but rather to an organized system of terrorism laid down and ordered bythe superior German Military authorities.

The authenticity of the following text of the Report of the Commission ofInquiry is certified by the Belgian Legation, Washington, D. C.

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