If Lille Were London.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 235, 15 December 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

If Lille Were London.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN BUT FOR OUR GLORIOUS NAVY.

By HORATIO BOTTOM LEY (Editor of "John Bull".)

In burning words and eloquent terms Mr. Bottomley draws n picture of London subjected to the infamies and the insults which have been poured out upon Lille, and, while pointing to the wonderful protection affrded by tho Navy-held ocea, gives expression to the national determination to exact reparation for the recent horrible cruelties.

behind the trenches; others retained in personal servitude to German officers, compelled to perform jevolting tasks i for their brutal conquerors. To decline these odious conditions is to court the I sternest punishment.

If Lille were London! If London , were Lille! It is good for us sometimes to try to put ourselves in the position of our gallant Belgian and our splendidly enduring French Allies. Difficult as it is to picture an invaded Britain, to imagine this sea-girt island of ours trodden by the hoof of the invader, overrun by the bestial Hun, the thing is not beyond imagination, and but for the might of our Navy, it would not have been beyond realisation

Listen to this: "The women who re- , fused to work or who declared they , I could only work after having enough t to eat— the food was very bad and - I scanty—were either beaten with a great cat-o'-nine-tails or kicked, or a large jug of water was thrown over them - and they were beaten afterwards" i j We shall never know the full infamy e of that "rounding up" of the girlhood s 1 and womanhood of Northern France, r j The cry of the offended maiden, the - j agony of the gentle wife—torn from . i the sanctuary of home, dragged into f ( slavery away from husband and cliild- - ren—goes iy> to Heaven. Is it for j 1 this that Humanity has striven and f i suffered—that the nations of the earth ; ( have fought and struggled America 1 i ' slavery knew not the abomination of t which the girls and voinen of Lille - | have been the instrument and witness. 1 A century ago the Powers of Europe. ; | upholding tho principles of humanity > and morality, forbade traffic in human ■ j beings--put the solemn seal on a ; written declaration against sale into • slavery. I* * ■* s But to-day, in the name of Kultur. | the worst horrors of the Congo are • : made to pale before those tit-w out- , , rages, which, in the lust and loot of : ' conquest, the Hun commits with the • grossest violation of human rights and tho most cynical abandonment of • pledges to which he las set his signa- • t turo. No longer can the er.emy make pretence that he has committed his offence in the sudden exigencies of in- ' vasion. After two years of occupation has he turned upon the least offending of all—tho women and children. Crucifixion. the whip and the scourge, the torture of sleep long denied—these are among the brutal methods of compulsion inflicted indiscriminately on both sexes. Innocent young girls are herded I with women lost to all sense of decency : and shame, or yut to work under conditions that sacrifice them to the brutal lust of the German soldierv.

* * * * Think of it. If Lille were London—if France and Belgium were England and Wales; if all around us were the naked horrors of war. instead ;if the sheltering ramparts of ocean. Actually we have very little direct experience of this carnival of fclood and fire. Apart from an occasional shower of aerial bombs, the wild tempest of destruction has left us unscathed. There reach us only the rumbling echoes of its crashing ruin- For us at home the greatest war in history is largely a matter of newspaper reading, of cinema pictures, and of those more intimate tales from the trenches that all may hear though none may print Not that we are escaping our share of the agony. It needs onlv the sight of our maimed and battered heroes to bring home to us the cruel realities of the conflict.

But I am speaking of the direct shock of battle—of the immediate terror of invasion, and from this point of view it is true to say that we. the civilian population of Great Britan, have suffered nothing in the smallest degree comparable with the awful martyrdom that has made Belgium great and France glorious. Suppose Lille were London. Suppose London in German occupation, subject to the control of a Military Governor like the infamous von Pissing—prostrate at the mercy of the Hun. Never mind how it could have happened. Maybe it was always impossible; perhaps at one point of the war, the tragedy was narrowly averted Some day we shall know—and shudder. The impossible has happe ed. Great Britain is in the throes of a German

invasion. The British Army of defence has been driven back from the coast, fiercely contesting eveiy inch of the way, until, at length, the Home Counties are at the mercy of the Hun. and London is the headquarters of the German occupation . The civil population are powerless. Resist;, nee would mean massacre. Already, whole batches of law-abiding citizens have been shot in cold blood as a "warning" to the populace. On every wall and hoarding are the insolent proclamation of Hunnish hate. No citizen nay be fed until the German soldiery hare guzzled their fill. To conceal supplies of meat or drink is an offence punishable with death. Most natural human acts and sentiments are capital felonies in this city of terror- The Prussian rifles | are for ever shooting. Men walk the streets in peril of their lives; women and children cower in cellars—hiding from a nameless fate. 1 * * * * The city is given over to plunder, and the suburbs to rapine. By niglrfall the streets are deserted, save for marauding enemy bands: and beneath the cloak of darkness still ftuler atrocities are perpetrated. By order of the Military Governor the houses of the inhabitants are left "open to inspection" at all hours. You know what that means. Let us trv to get a closer | picture of the imaginary scene—if ■ London were Lilie! Survey with me | the stricken city. Troops with fixed bayonets will bar our passage, but on the pinions of thought we can surmount such obstacles, and see for our- ' selves what is happening. The Huns are busy. Everywhere the grey uniforms and spiked helmets are the signal for frenzied alarm. The soldiers go in and out of the houses; and old men. women, and children are bundled roughly into the streets- In droves, like cattle, they are "rounded up" and marched to an unknown destination—pricked with bayonets if their pace is not fast enough; helped along with kicks and curses, gibes and blows. Protest is answered by the buttend of a rifle, or the flat of a sabre. But there are few complaints—for terror is in every heart. It is not long since a young girl, venturing a word of protest, was flogged with a cat-o'-nine- : tails till her skin hung iu ribbons! * * * * The next scene is a railway station. T Hundreds of women and girls, some of I them mere children, crowded into cattle ' trucks and horse-boxes, "guarded" by German soldiers. When their journey is ended, scarcely a child of them wiil retain her innocence, or a maiden her virtue. The fairest of the victims occupy the more comfortable quarters reserved for officers. Their honour is doomed. Of those who survive the shameful ordeal some will be sent to i forced labour in the harvest-fields, or (

I* * * * \}e might have expected that what ; Mr Gladstone was so i'oud of calling ' the "civilised world" would have risen in protest against these cruel barbarities—this abrogation of every claim that raises humankind above tlie brute creation. But there is a strange and sinister silence. Not one neutral Government has protested. Great America, humane Switzerland, Sweden, Norway —all are dumb. If T.iile were London it would make no difference—except, maybe, in the fury and ferocity of this cruel foe. No, the Allies must look to themselves, and themselves alone, 10 ri'iht this wrong, to exact the full penalty for the crime. . * * * * I If Lille wore London! Imagine our feelings then—the fierce, relentless anger, the burning greed of vengeance. | Is it possible that because London is . safe, because the honour of our woni jn is inviolate, because our little ones go unmolested, we shall be less resolute to punish the foul crimes of the Hun —less fiercely determined to mete out ruthless justice to the vile German race? If Lille were London, not a voice would be raised in mitigation of the sternest penalties. In the name of our humanity, let us nirke the cause of bleeding France our own!

j * * * * I I know my countrymen; I know my country. But if I am afraid of anything in the Big Settlement, it is '.hat misplaced sentiment may take the place of righteous revenge—that w th the joy bells ringing in our ears and peace in our hearts, we may weaken in our resolve to punish the criminals to the supremest limits of our power. War is war—and in the name of war many cruel things are carried to the Great Account. But savagery, such as the Hohenzollern has created out of the awful annals of the Middle Ages, is not war. The horrible lust of conflict. the bestial hate of battle—these things we shudder at but understand. It is the cold-steel cruelty, the calculated crimes that flush the face with anger and make strong the heart for revenge.

* * * * Thank God for the immunity which the sea and the ships that ride the . waters have secured for those we hold fmi tender regard. I3ut ir. rendering thanks. let us re"e\v our vows to bring the Hun to the dust, and in the I name of that Higher Humanity for which we entered upon this bloody 1 strife, pledge ourselves to keep the sword bright and the scabbard empty until the vengeance of Civilisation has been exacted on all the foul brood of the Hohenzollern pack. If Lille were London! If London were Lille! Think of it—dream of it. God! the tragedy of it!