The commercial., March 08, 1918, Image 5

About The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?

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mJ -0 m I t
J. CY burdick
v. week. ..-i.'e:'e
Will JV
rion City .-.
rmatly British Ambftuador at Washington.
.jay of the Current
Mr
was a
- - i e, The New York
ufilijr, we hare permission
J reproduce in full, with
itea
Installments In The Commer-
1. I... "AIIacaiI fiormfin Airnri
Inisin
ilch 'are embraced in the
made to the British Govcrn-
; .1)
t " fs of alleged atrocities com-
,by the German armies in Bel
proofs collected by men train
ee, in the law and presented with
memotional directness after a v care
i'ul inquiry are presented in the
leport o,f the "Committee on Alleged
man Atrocities" , headed by Vis-
. Bryce! the English historian
rmerly British Ambassador at
'-Jiingtoii. The document was
made public simultaneously in Lon
don and the United States on May
12, 1916, four day s after the sink
Ing of the Lusitania. It was pointed
out at the time that this was a coin
cidence, as the report had been pre
pared several weeks before and for
warded by mail from England for
publication on May 12.
WARRANT OP APPOINTMENT.
I hereby appoint
The Right Hon. Viscount Bryce,
O. M.;
The Right Hon. Sir Frederick Pol
lock, Bt., K. C;
The Right Hon. Sir Edward
Clarke, K. C;
. Sir Alfred Hopkinson, K, C;
' Mr. H. A. L. Fiahcr, Vice Chan
cellor of the University of Sheffield;
and
Mr, Harold Cox;
to be a committee to consider and
advise on the evidence collected on
behalf of his Majesty's Government
as to outrages alleged to have been
committeed by German troops dur-
lng the present war, cases of alleged
maltreatment of civilians in the in
vaded territories, and breaches of
tho laws and established usages of
war; and to prepare a report for his
Majesty's Government showing the
conclusion at which they arrive on
the evidenco now available.
And 1 appoint Viscount Bryce to
be Chairman, and Mr. E. Grimwood
Mears and Mr. W. J. , II. Brodrick,
barristers at law, to be Joint Sec
retaries to the committee.
(Signed) H. H. ASQUITII.
16th December, 1914. ,
Sir Kenelm E. Digby, K. C., G. C.
B., was appointed an additional
memberof the committee on 22d
January, 1916.
To the Right Hon. H. H. Asquith,
etc.,, etc., First Lord ; of H. M.
Treasury. 1
The committee have the honor to
present and transmit to you a report
upon the evidence which has been
Farm for Sale
1 20-acre farm, weir improved; new barn, new pair
scales, new fencing, good house and everlasting water.
We will have this farm on sale until March I st; after that
we won't sell this year.
See us at once.
CULUIvMcREE or HUNTER ELAM
WE WANT OUR CUSTOMERS
TO HAVE THE BEST
HENCE v
WE SELL
Alemeda
Coffee
Kingan's
Hams
and Bacons.
Heinz Can
and Bottle
Goods
Groceries and
Fresh Meats
ILL TOP QUALITY
EFL.ETV- GROCERY CO.
4 H CUV - 1 J
4 T"
ittMAN ATROCrfiS
-us Appointed by the British Government
"Over by The Right Hon. Viscount Bryce,
submitted to them regarding out
rages alleged to have been commit
ted by the German troops in the
present war.
By the terms of their appoint
ment the committee were directed
"to consider and advise on the evi
dence collected on behalf of his
Majesty's Government, to out
rages alleged to have been commit
ted by German troopa during the
present war, cases of alleged mal
treatment of civilians in the invaded
territories, and breaches of the laws
and established usages of war; and
to prepare a report for his Majesty's
Government showing the conclusion
at which they arrive on the evidence
now available."
It may be convenient that before
proceeding to state how we have
dealt with the materials, and what.
are the conclusions we have reached
we should set out the manner in
which the evidence came into being
and its nature.
, In the month of September, 1914,
a minute was, at the instance of the
Prime Minister, drawn up and sign
ed by the Home Secretary and the
Attorney General. It is stated the
need that had risen for investigating
the accusations ' of inhumanity and
outrage that had been brought
against the German soldiers, and in
dicated the precautions to be taken
In collecting evidence that would ba
needed to insure its accuracy. Pur
suant to this minute steps were takf
en under the direction of the Home
Office to collect evidence, and a great
many -persons who could give it were
seen and examined.
For some three or four months be
fore the appointment of the clmmit
tee, the Home Office had been col
lecting a large body of evidence,
(Taken from Belgian 1 witnesses,
some soldiers, but most of them civ.
illans from those towns and villages
thru which the German Army pass
ed, and from British officers and sol
diers). More than 1,200 depositions
made by these witnesses have been
submitted to and considered by the
committee. Nearly all of these were
obtained under the supervision of
Sir Charles Mathews, the Director of
Public Prosecutions, and of Mr. E
Grimwood Mears, barrister of the
Inner Temple, while in addition Pro
fessor J. H. Morgan has collected a
number of statements mainly from
British soldiers, which have also
been submitted to the committee.
The labor involved in securing, in
a comparatively short time, so large
a number of statements from wit
nesses scattered all over the United
Kingdom, made it necessary to em
ploy a good many examiners. The
depositions were in all cases taken
illi
U u t
HffiCHAIITSCOFFEECO
? New ORLEANS,t-TD
5LE w om CANS J
down in this country bv gentlemen
c? legal knowledge and experience,
though, of course, they had no au
thority to administer an caih. They
were instructed not to "lead" the
witnesses, or make any suggestions
to them, and also to impress upon
them the necessity for care and pre
cision in giving their evidence.
They were alBo directed to treat
the evidence critically, and as far as
possible satisfy themselves, by put
ting questions which arose out of the
evidence, that the witnesses were
speaking the truth. They were, in
fact, to cross-examine them,' so far
as the testimony given provided ma
terials for cross-examination.
We have seen and conversed with
many of these gentlemen, and have
been greatly t impressed by their
ability and by Miat we have gather
ed as to the fairness of spirit which
they brought to their task. We feel
certain that the instructions given
have been scrupuously observed.
In many cases those who took the
evidence have added their comments
upon the intelligence and demeanor
of the witnesses, stating the impres
sion which each witness made, and
indicating any cases in which the
story told appeared to them open to
doubt or suspicion. In coming to
conclusion upon the evidence the
committee have been greatly assisted
by these expressions of opinion, and
have uniformly rejected every depo
sition on which an opinion adverse
to the witness has been recorded.
This seems to be a fitting place at
which to put on record the invalu
able help whifh we have received
from our secretaries, Mr. E. Grim
wood Mears and Mr. W. J. H. Brod
rick, whose careful diligence and
minute knowledge of the evidence
have been of the utmost service
Without their skill, Judgment, and
untiring industry the labor examin
ing and appraising each part of so
large a mass of testimony would
have occupied us for six months in
stead of three.
The marginal references in this
report indicate the particular depo
sition or depositions on which the
statements made in the text are
based. (Marginal references are
omitted in this reproduction.
Editor).
The depositions printed in the ap
pendix themselves show that the
stories were tested in detail, and in
none of these have we been able to
detect the trace of any desire to
make a case" against the German
Army. Care was taken to Impress
upon the witness that the giving of
evidence was " a grave and serious
matter, . and every deposition sub
mitted to us was signed by the wit
ness in the presence of the ex
aminer.
A noteworthy feature of many of
the depositions is that, though taken
at different places and on different
dateo, and by different lawyers from
different witnesses, they orten cor
roborate each other in a striking
manner.
The evidence is all couched in the
very words which the witnesses used,
and where they spoke, as the Bel
gian witnesses did, in Flemish or
French, pains were taken to have
competent translators, and to make
certain that the translation was
exact.
Seldom did these Belgian witnesses
show a desire to descrlbo what they
had seen or suffered. The lawyers
who took the "depositions were sur
prised to find how little vindlctive
ness, or indeed passion, they showed,
ana how generally Tree irom emo
tional excitement their narratives
were. Many hesitated to speak lest
what they said, if it should ever be
published, might involve their
friends or relatives at home in dan
ger, and it was found necessary to
give an absolute promise that names
should not be disclosed.
For this reason names have been
omitted.
A large number of depositions,
and extracts from depositions, will
be found in Appendix A, and to these
your attention is directed.
In all cases these are given as
nearly as possible (for abbreviation
was sometimes inevitable) in the
exact words of the witneso, and
wherever a statement has been made
by a witness tending to exculpate
the German troops, it has been giv
en in full. Excisions have been made
only where it has been felt necessary
to conceal the identity of the de
ponent, or to omit what arc merely
hearsay statements, or are palpably
Irrelevant. In every case the name
and description of the witnesses are
given in the original depositions and
In copies which have been furnished
to us by H. M. Government. The
originals remain . in the custody of
the Home , Department, where they
will be available, . in case of need,
for reference after the conclusion of
the war. .
The committee have also had be
fore them a number of diaries taken
from the German dead.
It appear to be the custom In the
Think of these Things when
You buy
Spring Clothes
OF VALUE: Get your money's
worth. You will at this store. That's
our first thought. That's why we sell
Hart SchafTher & Marx Clothes.
They give you most for what you pay.
OF STYLE: The picture shows one
of the many new models; there are
many other good ones all correct;
created by best designers in the land.
OF ALL WOOL: Every garment
made by Hart Schaffner & Marx is
made of all-wool cloth; all wool gives
longer service and lends itself best to
stylish and durable tailoring.
OF THE GUARANTEE: The
clothes you buy here are guaranteed
to give satisfaction; if they fail to do
so, your money will be refunded.
This guarantee is unqualified.
VJ. G.
UNION CITY,
German Army for soldiers to bo en
couraged to keep diaries and to
record in them the chief events of
each day. A good many of these
diaries . were collected on the field
where British troops were advancing
over ground which had been held by
the enemy, were cent to headquar
ters , in France, and dispatched
thence ,to the War Office in England
They passed into the possession of
the Prisoners of War Information
Bureau, and were handed by it to
our secretaries. Tney navo Deen
translated with great care. Wo have
inspected them and aro absolutely
satisfied of their authenticity. They
have thrown important light upon
tho methods followed in the conduct
of tho wai. In one respect, indeed
they are the most weighty party of
the evidence, bocauco they proceed
from hostile source and are not
open to any such criticism on the
ground of bias cs might bo applied
to Belgian testimony. From time to
time references to thestj diaries will
be found in the text of the report
In Appendix B they aro set out at
greater length both In the German
original and in an English transla
tion, together- with a few photo
graphs of tho moro important en
tries. . , ; .
In Appendix C are set out a num
bor of German proclamations. Most
of these are included in the Belgian
Report No. VI., which has been
furnished to U3. Actual specimens
of original proclamations, issued by
or at tho bidding of the German
military authorities, and posted in
the Belgian and French towns men
tioned, have been produced to us,
and copies thereof ere to be found
in this appendix.
Appendix D contains the rules of
The Hague Convention dealing with
the conduct ,of tho war on lend as
adopted in 1907, Germany being one
of the signatory powers.
In Appendix E will be found a se
lection of statements collected in
France, by Professor Morgan.
These five appendices are contain
ed In a separate volume.
In dealing with the evidence we
havo recognized the importance of
testing it severely, and so far as the
conditions permit we have followed
the principles which arc recognized
in the courts of England, the British
overseas dominions, and the United
States. - We have also (as already
noted) set aside the testimony of
any witnesses who did not favorably
impress the lawyers who took their
depositions, and have rejected hear
say evidence except in cases where
hearsay furnished, an undersigned
confirmation of facts with regard to
which we already possessed di'.ect
testimony from some other so&i-ce, or
explained in a natural way facts im
perfectly narrated or otherwise per-;
GO.
(J Sj
plexing. (For instance, the dead
body of a man is found lying on the
doorstep, or a woman is seen who
has the appearance of having been
outraged. So far the facts aro proved
by the direct evidence of the person
by whom they have been seen. In
formation is sought for by him as
to the circumstances , under which
the death or outrages took place. The
bystanders who saw the circum
stances, but who are not now ac
cessible, relate what they saw, and
this is reported by the witness to
the examiner and Is placed on record
in the depositions. We have had no
hesitation in taking such evidence
into consideration).
It is natural to ask whether much
of the evidenco given, especially by
the Belgian witnesces, may not be
due to excitement and overstrained
emotions, and whether, apart from
deliberate falachood, persona who
mean to speak the truth may not in
a more or lesa hysterical condition
have been Imagining themeclves to
have seen the things which they say
that they saw. Both the lawyers
who took the depositions, and we
when we came to examine them
fully recognized this possibility. The
lawyers, as already observed, took
pains to test each witness and either
rejected, or appended a note of dis
trust to, the testimony of those who
failed to impre3s them favorably.
Wo have carried the sifting still
further by also omitting from the
depositions those in which we found
something that seemed too excep
tlonal to be accepted on the faith of
one witness only, or too little sup
ported by othe.r evidence pointing to
like facts. Many depositions have
thus been omitted on which, though
they are probably trtio, we think It
safer not to place reliance
Notwithstanding these precau
Hons, we . began the inquiry with
doubts whether a positive result
woujd bb obtained. But the further
we went and the more evidence we
examined so much the more was our
skepticism reduced. There might be
some exaggeration In one witness,
possible delusion in another, . lnac
curacies in a third. When, however,
we found that things which had at
first soemed Improbable were testl
fled to by mAny witnecses coming
from different places, having had no
communication with r one another,
and knowing nothing of one anoth
er's statements, the points in which
they all agreed became moro and
more evidently true. Ani when this
concurrence of testimony, this con
vergence upon ' what were 'substan
tially tho same broad facts, showed
itself in hundreds of depositions, the
truth of those broad facts stood out
beyond question. The force of the
evidence is cumulative. Its worth
can be estimated only by penning
f x ' V 'M
Copyright Hart Schaffner & Marx
the testimony as a whole. If any
further confirmation had been need
ed, we found it in the diaries in
which German officers and private
soldiers have recorded incidents just
such as those to which the Belgian
witnesses depose.
The experienced lawyers who took
the depositions tell us that they
passed from the same stage of doubt
into the same stage of conviction.
They also began their work in a
skeptical spirit, expecting to find
much of the evidence colored by pas
sion, or prompted by an excited
fancy. But they were impressed by
the general moderation and matter-of-fact
level-headedness of the wit
nesses. We havo interrogated them,
particularly regarding some of the
most startling and shocking inci
dents which appear in the evidence
lay before us, and where they ex
pressed a doubt we have excluded
the evidence, admitting it as regards
the cases in which they stated that
the witnesses seemed to them to be
speaking the truth, and that they
themselves believed the incidents re
ferred to have happened. It is for
this reason that we have inserted
among the depositions printed in the
appendix several cases which we
might otherwise have deemed scarce
ly credible.
The committee has conducted its
investigations and come to its con
clusions independently of the reports
issued by the' French and Belgian
commissions, but it has no reason to
doubt that those conclusions are in
substantial accord with the conclu
sions that have been reached by
these two commissions. ,
ARRANGEMENT OF THE REPORT.
As respects the framework and ar
rangement of the report, it has been
deemed desirable to prosent flrs't of
all what may be called a general
historical , account of the events
which happene'd, and the conditions '
which prevailed in the parts of Bel-
glum which lay along the line of
the German march, and thereafter
to set forth the evidenco which bears
upon particular classed of offenses
against the usages of civilized war-
fare, evidence which shows to whatV
extent the provisions of Tho Hague
V " . V UIU
This method, no doubt, involves a
certain amount of overlapping, for
some of the offenses belonging to the ,
latter part of the report will have
been already referred to in tho ear
lier part which deals with the in
vasion of Belgium. But the impor
tance of presenting a connected nar
rative of events Beems to ouf.welght
the disadvantage of occasional repe
tition., .
The riport will therefore be found
to consist of two partti, vl;
Continued naxt 'week.)