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For this last and most monstrous of all Germany’s crimes we have to register not one promise only, but a series of promises, an accumulation of solemn pledges.  It seemed worth while apparently to keep the Belgian workmen at home.  Let us record them here, in chronological order: 

1st.  September 2nd, 1914.  Proclamation of Governor von der Goltz posted in Brussels:  "I ask no one to renounce his patriotic sentiments..."

2nd.  October 18th, 1914.  Letter of Baron von Huene, Military Governor of Antwerp, to Cardinal Mercier, read in every church of the province in order to reassure the people after the fall of Antwerp and to stop the emigration:  "Young men need have no fear of being deported to Germany, either to be enrolled in the army or to be subjected to forced labour."

3rd.  On the same day, a written declaration of the military authorities of Antwerp to General von Terwisga, commanding the Dutch army in the field, declaring without foundation “the rumour that the young men will be sent to Germany.”

4th.  A few weeks later, this promise was confirmed verbally to Cardinal Mercier and extended to the other provinces under German rule by Governor von der Goltz, two aide-de-camps and the Cardinal’s private secretary being present. (See letter from Cardinal Mercier to Baron von Bissing, October 19th, 1916).

5th.  November, 1914.  Assurances given by the German authorities to the Dutch Legation in Brussels in order to persuade the refugees to come back:  “Normal conditions will be restored and the refugees will be allowed to go back to Holland to look after their families.” (See also the letter of the Dutch Consul in Antwerp urging the refugees to come back to their homes.)

6th.  July 25th, 1915.  Placard of Governor von Bissing posted in Brussels:  “The people shall never be compelled to do anything against their country.”

7th.  April, 1916:  Assurances given to the neutral powers after the Lille raids that such deportations would not be renewed.

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Now, let us confront these texts, not even with the facts which come to us from the most trustworthy sources, but with the German decrees and proclamations preparing and ordering the recent deportations.  We are not opposing a Belgian testimony to a German one, neither are we, for the present, propounding even our own interpretation of what occurred.  We will merely oppose a German document to another German document and let them settle their differences as best they can.

The first trouble began in April and May, 1915, in Luttre, at the Malines arsenal, and in several other Flemish towns, when the German authorities exerted every possible pressure to compel the Belgian workmen to resume work.  They were brought, under military escort, to their workshops, imprisoned, starved, and about two hundred of them were deported to Germany, where they were submitted to the most cruel tortures. (See the Nineteenth Report of the Belgian Commission of Enquiry.) The threats and persecutions are sufficiently established by three placards issued by the German authorities.