reat
quantity of plate and jewelry, as well as pictures, furniture, objets
d'art, linen, bicycles, women's dresses, sewing machines, even down to
children's toys, after having been taken away, have been loaded on
vehicles to be taken toward the frontier.

The inhabitants have had no redress against all these exactions, any
more than they have for the crimes already described; and if some
wretched inhabitant dared to beg an officer to be good enough to
intervene to spare a life or to protect his goods he received no
other reply (when he was not greeted by threats) than the one
invariable formula, accompanied by a smile, describing these most
abominable cruelties as the inevitable results of war.

As you have already learned from reading the documents of which we
have sent you copies, we proceeded first to the Department of
Seine-et-Marne. We there collected proofs of numerous abuses of the
laws of war, as well as of crimes committed against common rights by
the enemy, some of which exhibited features of special gravity.

At Chauconin the Germans set fire to five dwelling houses and to six
buildings used for agricultural purposes with the assistance of
grenades, which they threw on to the roofs, and with sticks of resin
which they placed under the doors. M. Lagrange asked an officer the
reason of such acts and the latter merely replied: "It is war." Then
he ordered M. Lagrange to point out to him the situation of the
property known as the Farm Proffit, and a few moments later the
buildings of this farm were in flames.

At Congis a body of the enemy were engaged in burning a score of
houses, into which they had thrown straw and poured petrol, when the
arrival of a French detachment prevented them from carrying out their
design.

At Penchard, where three houses had been burned, Mme. Marius Rene saw
a soldier carrying a torch which, stuck in his belt, appeared to form
part of his equipment.

At Barcy an officer and soldier made their way to the Mairie, and,
after having taken all the blankets belonging to the schoolmaster, set
fire to the muniment room.

At Douy-la-Rame the Germans set fire to a mill, whose situation they
had ascertained by inquiry in the neighborhood. A workman 66 years old
had a narrow escape from being thrown into the flames. By struggling
violently and clutching on to a wall he was able to avoid the fate
with which he was threatened. Finally, at Courtacon, after having
compelled the inhabitants