purposes."

All of the above documents, arguments and events were of the greatest
importance in connection with the great European struggle. America was
rapidly awakening, and the role of a passive onlooker became
increasingly irksome. It was pointed out that Washington's message said
we must not implicate ourselves in the "ordinary vicissitudes" of
European politics. This case rapidly was assuming something decidedly
beyond the "ordinary." As the carnage increased and outrages piled up,
the finest sensibilities of mankind were shocked and we began to ask
ourselves if we were not criminally negligent in our attitude; if it was
not our duty to put forth a staying hand and use the extreme weight of
our influence to stop the holocaust.

From August 4 to 26, Germany overran Belgium. Liege was occupied August
9; Brussels, August 20, and Namur, August 24. The stories of atrocities
committed on the civil population of that country have since been well
authenticated. At the time it was hard to believe them, so barbaric and
utterly wanton were they. Civilized people could not understand how a
nation which pretended to be not only civilized, but wished to impose
its culture on the remainder of the world, could be so ruthless to a
small adversary which had committed no crime and desired only to
preserve its nationality, integrity and treaty rights.

Germany did not occupy Antwerp until October 9, owing to the stiff
resistance of the Belgians and engagements with the French and British
elsewhere. But German arms were uniformly victorious. August 21-23
occurred the battle of Mons-Charleroi, a serious defeat for the French
and British, which resulted in a dogged retreat eventually to a line
along the Seine, Marne and Meuse rivers.

The destruction of Louvain occurred August 26, and was one of the events
which inflamed anti-German sentiment throughout the world. The beautiful
cathedral, the historic cloth market, the library and other
architectural monuments for which the city was famed, were put to the
torch. The Belgian priesthood was in woe over these and other
atrocities. Cardinal Mercier called upon the Christian world to note and
protest against these crimes. In his pastoral letter of Christmas, 1914,
he thus pictures Belgium's woe and her Christian fortitude:

"And there where lives were not taken, and there where the stones
of buildings were not thrown down, what anguish unrevealed!
Families hitherto livin