This character is shown, in the first place, by the authority from which it emanates and which is not the civil government of occupied Belgium (as in the case of the orders of August 14 and 15, 1915, and of May 2 and 15, 1916) but the German general headquarters.

Similar Orders Elsewhere

This character is shown, moreover, by the fact that similar orders were given out, simultaneously and by the military authorities also, covering the occupied districts of Poland and Lithuania; in both cases it was only the putting into execution of a general plan tending to complete the entire incorporation of the resources (men as well as goods) of the occupied countries into the war organization of the Empire.

Finally this character is shown in an absolutely decisive way by the correlation, today openly avowed, between the order of October 3, 1916, and the law of December, 1916, ordering the mobilization, in Germany itself, of the entire able bodied civil population for the auxiliary service of the army.

The deported Belgians have been incorporated into this vast economic military organism by approximately the same legislative claim and for exactly the same ends as the able-bodied male population of Germany; that is to say, to aid the German Army to support the burden of the war and to make a supreme effort.

VI

No Danger to Public Order

As to the reason founded on the maintenance of order and public safety, this need not detain a serious mind for an instant.

The Belgian people undoubtedly feel a profound aversion to the nation which has invaded their territory in contempt of treaties and of its obligations of guaranty, and which, for purely strategic reasons, has not hesitated to unchain the horrors of war upon a small, inoffensive state which was a stranger to the competition of the international rivalry of the great Powers.

But, not less than in the heroic bravery of the army, the grandeur of the Belgian character was revealed in the admirable self-control which the population has been able to maintain in the presence of the greatest injustice and of the most odious cruelty. During two years of occupation under a very severe regime, there has been no uprising,

no disorder anywhere. All the social authorities, or those who have been placed in such authority, have constantly occupied themselves in recommending calm and patience to the sorely tried people.

Moreover, the population has no arms; surrounded by a barrier of death-dealing electric wires, the population is literally held as in a cage. All constitutional liberties, liberty of opinion, of the press, of reunion, and of association, are suspended. The danger of disorder is so remote that the German administration has maintained only relatively weak garrisons in Belgium.

VII

Germany's Real Object

In reality, consideration for the proper social interests of Belgium and for the special conditions brought about by the events of the war, did not play any part in the elaboration of the order of October 3, 1916; that is only a hypocritical pretext invoked to hide, under the mask of a false humanitarian solicitude, the odious attempt which a momentary superiority of force has permitted to be perpetrated against the most sacred individual rights of the Belgian citizens.

The German Government pursues a definite object in deporting en masse and in subjecting to forced labor the population of the occupied territories, viz., to facilitate the employment of a corresponding number of German workmen in the active military service or in munition factories.

This object is that which was officially declared in the preparation of the law for the mobilization of civilians in Germany, the general provisions of which were merely applied to the Belgian civil population some weeks in advance by the order of October 3, 1916.

The Question of Right

The conflict between such a measure and natural rights, as well as the positive law of nations, is undeniable. This measure has brought down upon it the unanimous reprobation of public opinion in all countries where public opinion can express itself freely. Several neutral states have felt that they could not avoid the moral obligation of registering this cry of the universal conscience in official remonstrances addressed to the German Government. It can be said without exaggeration that such an attack upon the essential rights of humanity had

never before been made in modern times by any state calling itself civilized.

The brutality and the duplicity with which the measure has been enforced have augmented (if such a thing be possible) this unprecedented scandal; they have wrung from Belgium, which seemed to have already reached the limit of the afflictions of a nation at war, a cry of anguish which has caused an echo of horror and indignation from the neutral states.

Although in 1863 the Instructions for the Armies in the Field, published for the use of the American troops, noted even then that deportation and reduction to servitude of the civil population of conquered states by the conqueror were no longer practiced, except among barbaric hordes, the spectacle has been seen, in Belgium, of the regular army of a powerful empire employed in carrying out methodic slave raids upon the citizens of a small, captive nation which had entered the war solely for the defense of its independence and for the fulfillment of its international duties.

VIII

Execution of the Order

The deportations have been carried out coolly by the occupant, according to a plan carefully thought out and in spite of the most formal promises and assurances of immunity lavished upon the population, a short time previously, by the highest representatives of the Imperial Government, notably, by the military governor of Antwerp and by the Governor General, Field Marshal von der Goltz. Belgian families have been torn apart without pity. Men of all ages (from 17 to 55 years and over), of every condition (assisted by charity or in easy circumstances, unemployed or employed, numbers of them even torn away from their work), have been carried off in herds, transported, under the most inhuman circumstances, to places which they are forbidden to make known to their families, and forcibly compelled to take part in work of direct or indirect military utility.

Before their departure they are formally called upon to choose between a so-called "voluntary" engagement for work in Germany with seemingly high wages, and, on the other hand, deportation, with a wage which is a mockery (30 pfennigs a day). Whether they sign the contract or not, it means forced separation from their families. The immense majority refuse to sign, and even refuse to work. They

are then subjected to horrible treatment, regulated cleverly and applied with the refinement of calculated cruelty which, it had been thought, was the attribute only of savage peoples or of those who had returned to savagery. Torture by hunger, by thirst, by cold, by standing rigidly, by whippings; threats of imprisonment and of death; blows with the rifle butt, etc.; every means were employed to overcome the resistance of these obscure heroes of patriotic duty.

Great Suffering Inflicted

Reports that would make any civilized man tremble with indignation have come into the possession of the Belgian Government showing the unspeakable suffering inflicted on thousands of innocent people in the camps where the German Government has caused them to be huddled together, in order that this herd of pitiable human cattle may be sorted out and enslaved for the ends of despotism.

The suffering is perhaps still worse among those unfortunates who are sent to points behind the German lines in Flanders and in France.

Compelled, in spite of themselves, to undertake heavy toil and to work outdoors during the severest season of the year, without having been trained or hardened, exposed to artillery fire, deprived of proper clothing, and scarcely nourished, a multitude of these unfortunates soon fall from exhaustion and from illness. The mortality on the spot seems to be considerable. The sick and dying who can still be transported are sent home with less regard than slaves received in antiquity from their masters, who were interested in the care of human chattels who formed a part of their riches. Through the pitiable convoys of these repatriated Belgians there has been revealed the life which their compatriots lead who remain behind at work. There is only one word that can describe it: "It is a hell."

IX

Consequences of the Outrage

All the protests raised against this standing outrage against the dignity of civilized man, these attacks upon his corporeal integrity, upon his liberty to dispose of his person and of his work, upon his right to remain united to his family, upon his duty to abstain from serving the enemy of his country all such protests have so far been in vain.

These outrages and attacks continue, without care for the seeds of hate that are sown in the hearts of the victims and of those near and. dear to them and which threaten to render all social intercourse impossible, perhaps for centuries, between two important portions of the peoples of Europe.

The spectacle of such odious injustice creates, day by day, more clearly in the souls of all who witness it the impression of an exceptionally heinous crime which is inexpiable, although now carried on with momentary impunity.

As to those who are the victims, their resolution, rising above the cruelty and suffering which is their lot, remains steadfast and unshakable.

No peace is possible nor durable without the observance of the elementary rules of right, one of the first of which is respect for the human person.

No abuse of force can exhaust the resistance of the Belgian people to foreign oppression. All history witnesses that the aspiration of the Belgian people for independence is indomitable and that their endurance will win the mastery over tyranny.

DOCUMENTS REGARDING THE CHENGCHIA TUN AFFAIR BETWEEN 1 CHINA AND JAPAN

COMMUNIQUE ISSUED BY THE CHINESE FOREIGN OFFICE

In August 1916, a dispute between a Japanese merchant named Yoshimoto and a Chinese soldier of the 28th Division stationed at Chengchia Tun led to a fracas between Japanese and Chinese soldiers. The Japanese soldiers had been in Chengchia Tun for over two years. They had no justification for being there. The Chinese Government had repeatedly protested against their presence.

A Japanese policeman who was informed of the dispute induced a Japanese lieutenant to lead some Japanese soldiers to the Chinese barracks to demand satisfaction. A fracas ensued in which four Chinese and twelve Japanese soldiers were killed and others wounded. The Japanese troops were reinforced and new detachments were stationed at posts on the highway between Chengchia Tun and Ssupinkai. On September 2d, the Japanese Minister submitted to the Foreign 1 English text of communiqué and authorized translations of notes reprinted from the Peking Gazette, Jan. 29, 1917.