THE HEEL OF THE HUN IN BELGIUM
RIGORS OF THE PRUSSIAN LAW
Described by defender of NURSE CAVELL
M. Gaston de Leval, the Belgian lawyer, who was' counsel for the American Legation at Brussels, recently delivered an address on "Prussian Law as Applied in Belgium" before \he American Bar' Association. Mr. de-.Loval, who becamo internationally famous as the defender of Edith Cavell, ',he British nui'so who was executed .by; the Germans, cited her case as an example of th© inability of an accused jerson in Belgium to get justice from the Germans. Counsel, as a rule, he said, was never allowed to see his arrested client until the moment he appeared ir> court, and was not always allowed to sjeak to the accused, nor was he showj any document or informed of any ' fact against his client. "The examinition •only, of prosecuting witnesses is possible," he continued, "unless by chsnee the. lawyer, has guessed or found out what, the matter is about and has been able to find a witness'who had the courage to confront, the court. 'Whon you know all that, can you not say ': that taking part in the defence of an accused .person in those conditions it sometimes equal to taking part in the .injustice that is meted out to the ac.wised? No case could have better illustrated this than that of the heroic nurse, Edith Cavell." .. Not in every country has the : passion for human right and liberty been carried, to the perfection of the American constitutional system, which gives the jurist power to protect' tho people against error and wrong. But in every country where civilisation has won some, standing it is recognised that the bar has proved time and again the best refuge of liberty, the strongest fortress tyranny. It is. therefore, natural that rulers who wish to base their 'rule' on might.alone and not on right have found tho bar against them. ■ It was, /therefore natural that tho Belgian bar should stand .as one man .against the reign of terror which the Germans since 1914 have snread over my unfortunate country. The Belgian bar'.has been, from the beginning of the martyrdom of Belgium to this day, a burning torch giving light to the conscience; and warmth to the hearts of Belgians; and this torch has' burned i into the Prussian-Nietschean Kultur a mad- that no ages will ever obliterate. I can mysolf only bring to you a spark,.a.small spark of this torch, and : in doing so I shall ho absolutely sincere. I had alway_e admired, and I must say. I still admire, all those virtues that made tho Germans' of Goethe and of Heine, known io the world. I also admire tho spirit of organisation, the ' strenuous commercial efforts of the German race. I always believed, however, and declared that this war would come, because" I read the German au r thors of these last twenty years with great attention and I spoke to inaiiy influential Germans of this generation. And I always felt and still feel that the German people, under the spiritual leadership of Nietsche and the lessons of Treitschke and Bernhardt could not but arrive at the fatal conclusion they have reached. They have for many years been drinking the most •dangerous, the most treacherous, the most detestable "fire water," and they have been completely intoxicated by the doctrine of "Deutschland über Alles." Unfortunately, the first weeks of the war made the intoxication almost general, creating artificially what Tardq called "la folio des foulos." The war, in .those days where the Belgians ■ alone. - were suffering bo terribly'was in the mind of Germany "a joyous war"—"der froelige Krieg:" This is no longer so, since millions of Germans have paid for such joy with their lives! -i '
Under the influence of this collective madness they have committed great crimes. I still hope that tho day will crme when they will be. cured, when they will see with clear eyes their terrible fate,- and that day seems already dawning now. Two berman Proclamations. \l will read to you just two proclamations posted on the walls of Belgian cities as far back as October, 1914, and which purported to make known to the civil population of those towns the established German law. I only i read two, and you will consider them ~quite sufficient. One is sjgned by'. Field-Marshal von der Goltz,' the Ist of October, 1914, and 6ays:— "The localities nearest to the spot where railways have been destroyed or telegraph lines cut—it does not matter whether they were accomplices or not—will' bo punished without mercy." Now, this is clearly contrary to the Law of Nations codified by the Hague Convention. Art. Lof that code reads:
"No collective penalty, pecuniary or otter, can be inflicted on a population on account'of the cast of individuals for which Tt'cannot bo regarded as collectively responsible." What respect for the law can we demand from ordinary soldiers wlien ono of their highest chiefs so treats tlie law?
, The second proclamation was posted on the walls of AVavre on August 22, 1914, and is signed, by General von Bulow, commanding the second army; it_ imposed a war contribution of three million francs on the town, ending with these words:
"Tho town of-7-Wnvre will be hurned and destroyed if the payment is not made at tho proncr time, and then no consideration will be sl-iwn for anybody; the innocent will have to suffer guilty." The innocent will suffer with the Kuiltyl That was the rule, that was German law. The innocent had to suffer, even when there wore no guilty; the innocent had tn suffor when tliose could not be arrested by tho Germans whom they called .«uilty. From one end of Belgium to tho other, from the very first days of the war to tlin present (lay, innocent men. innocent wotnen, innocent children have had to suffer.
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Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 52, 24 November 1917, Page 7
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979THE HEEL OF THE HUN IN BELGIUM Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 52, 24 November 1917, Page 7
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