Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The German Army in Belgium, the White Book of May 1915
The Allied case against Germany with respect to the conduct of the Kaisers troops in Belgium rests mainly on four publications, (i) The Report of the Belgian Commission of Inquiry.(2) The Belgian Rapports sur la Violation du Droit des Gens en Belgique.(3) The Belgian Reply to the German White Book.(4) The Bryce Report. It was the last of these which mainly influenced British and American opinion. This famous compilation owed much to the reputation of the eminent scholar who presided over the Enquiry, and to the names of Messrs. Fisher, Harold Cox and others who were members of the Commission. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that our experience during the storm and stress of the war does not indicate that our literary and intellectual leaders have as a class shown either greater fidelity to principle or less susceptibility to the evil influences of war-fever, than the ordinary man in the street; and now that the more salient symptoms of this fever are abating and prejudice is slowly being replaced by reasoned judgment, the Bryce report can no longer retain unchallenged its claim to present a critical and convincing record of unquestioned facts. The numerous statements which it embodies were mainly derived from Belgian refugees who had reached our shores. Very many of these men and women were naturally in a state of nervous excitement and full of bitter indignation against the invaders of their soil. Such mental conditions are never conducive to the presentation of accurate and veridical evidence. Further it is obvious that some of these refugees were not eye-witnesses of the outrages they describe, for they had fled from their homes and merely record their own inferences as to events which had occurred during their absence. Another serious weakness in the Report arises from the fact that the various barristers and others who were sent round to interview these refugees were with very few exceptions quite unable to converse fluently in French and wholly ignorant of Flemish. Finally, none of the evidence was taken on oath.
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