r to all, except, it seems, the representatives of science and
art in Germany, who are sufficiently devoid of perspicacity to ignore
it.

They affirm, moreover, that Germany has not violated the neutrality of
Belgium; she merely contented herself with "taking the first step."
Beyond the authentic proofs which have been published, we would draw
your attention to an undeniable fact. Trusting in the treaty which
guaranteed Belgium neutrality--and at the foot of which figured
Germany's signature--in the promise made a short while ago to the King
of the Belgians by your Emperor, we unfortunately left our northern
frontier unguarded. You must be aware, professor, that the English did
not move until Belgian soil had been effectively violated. It is true
that we knew the plan of campaign set forth by Gen. Bernhardi, but we
naively believed that, whatever might be the opinion of a General, the
Chancellor of the Empire would consider a treaty bearing the imperial
signature as something more than a mere "bit of paper." Germany has also
been untrue to her signature by violating the treaty of neutrality of
Luxembourg. You forgot to state that there also you only "took the first
step." Your appeal echoes the German papers, which declare that it was
the Belgians, and particularly the women, who "began against your
troops." An American paper replied by stating that if it was the Belgian
women who attacked German soldiers on Belgian soil, what were the
soldiers doing there? The truth is that your troops, obeying their
officers, as is proved by papers which have been seized and which you
would find quoted in the report presented by the Belgian Commission to
President Wilson, have executed orders which seem inspired by the
ferocious inscriptions of Assyrian Kings, no doubt exhumed on the Bagdad
railway line; and you think it quite natural that massacre and arson
should have been perpetrated at Louvain because the civil population
fired on your soldiers; but an inquiry made together with the
representatives of the United States (whom you deign to consider
sufficiently to ask them to represent your defenses) proved that the
civil population was unarmed. If you today approve of the burning of the
Louvain Library, have you until now approved of the destruction of the
library at Alexandria? It is true there was no Deutsch Kultur there. The
result of German culture as regards military matters is to place your
soldiers on a stratum of civilizati