THE IRON HEEL OF THE HUN IN BELGIUM.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1917, Page 7

THE IRON HEEL OF THE HUN IN BELGIUM.

RIGORS OF THE PRUSSIAN LAW. DESCRIBED BY DEFENDER OF NURSE CAVELI,.

M. Gaston do Levai, tho Belgian lawlcj, who was counsel for tho American Legation at Brussels, recently delivered an address on "Prussian Law as Applied in Belgium" before the American Bar Association. Mr. de Levai, who became internationally famous us the defender of Edith Cavell, the British nurse who was executed by the Germans, cited her case as an .example ot the inability of an accused person in Belgium to get justice from ths Garmans. Counsel, as a rule, he said, was never allowed to see his arrested client until the moment he appeared in court, and was not always allowed to speak to the accused, nor was he shown any documents or informed of any fact against his client. "The examination only of prosecuting witnesses is possible," he continued, "unless by thnnce 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. When you know all that, can you not, sr_> that taking part in the defence of an accused person in those conditions is sometimes equal to taking part in the injustice that is meted out to the accused? No case could have better illustrated this than that of the heroic nurse, Edith Cavell."

Not in every country has the pass>an for human right and liberty been carried to the perfection of the Ameri/in constitutional system, which gives Ihe jurist power to protect the people against error and wrong. But in oYery 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 against tyranny. It is, therefore, natural that rulers who wish to base their rule on might alone and not on right have found the bar against them. It was, therefore, natural that the Belgian bar should stand as one man against the reign of terror which the Germans since 1914 have spread 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 into the 'Prussian-Nietschean Kultur a mark that no ages will ever obliterate.

I can myself only bring to you a spark, a small spark, of this torch, and in doing so I shall be absolutely sincere. I had always admired, and I must say I still admire, all those virtues that made the Germans of Goethe and of .Heine known to the world. I also admire the spirit of organisation, the strenuous commercial efforts of the German race. I always believed, however, and declared that this war would com*, because I read the German authors of these last twenty years with great attention and I spoke to many 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 Bernhadri, 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 Trade called "la folio des foules." The war, in those days, where the Belgians alone were suffering so terribly was in the mind of Germany "a joyous war''—"der froelige Krieg." This is no longer so, since millions of Germans have paid iot such joy with their lives! Under the influence" of this collective madness they have committed great crimes. I still hope that the day will come when they will be cured, when they will see with clear eyes their terrible fate, and that day seems already dawning now. TWO GERMAN PROCLAMATIONS. I 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 read two, and you will consider them quite sufficient. One is signed by Field-Marshal von der Goltz, the Ist of October, 1914, and says:—

"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 be 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 other, can be inflicted on a population •on account of the act of individuals for which it cannot be regarded as collectively responsible." What respect for the law can we demand from ordinary soldiers when one of their highest chiefs so treats th& law?

The second proclamation was posted no. the walls of Wavre on Auugst 22, 1914, and is signed by General von Bulow. commanding the second army; it imposed a war contribution of three million francs an the town, ending with these words; "The town of Wavre will be burned and destroyed if the payment is not made at.the proper time, and. then no consideration will be shown for anybody; the innocent will have to suffer with the guilty." The innocent will suffer with the guilty! That was the rule, that was German law. The innocent had to suffer, even when there«,were no guilty; the innocent had to suffer when those could not be arrested by the Germans whom they called guilty. From one end of Belgium to the other, from the very first days of the war to the present day. innocent men, innocent women, innocent children have had to suffer.