Public Opinion throughout the World roused to Indignation by the Bombardment of the Cathedral of Reims
It is difficult to describe the indignation roused throughout all countries of the civilised world by the bombardment of the cathedral of Reims. The newspapers of the whole planet were its living mouthpieces.
In Italy a number of learned institutions sent protests, either to the French Embassy at Rome or directly to the German authorities.
The Association of Artists, especially, held a reunion, at which the most distinguished critics and artists of Italy were present, and which passed unanimously a resolution of protest.
The Giornale d’Italia, echoing the indignation of its country, declared that “this act destroyed all the ingenious and fertile excuses for Germany’s methods of war,” and that “no act of reparation could wipe out this act of purposeless barbarism, a crazy exhibition of wounded vanity and ruffled pride.”
In Greece the newspapers were unanimous in stigmatising German vandalism. Nea Hellas wrote: “In the name of art, in the name of the Parthenon half destroyed by the fire of the Venetian Morosini, Greece, the mother of civilised nations, appeals to belligerents to respect treasures of art, and asks the Germans to cease to dishonour their country.”
In Spain the destruction of the cathedral of Reims partly destroyed the long preparation of Spanish opinion which had been carried on in favour of Germany. The indignation of Spaniards was faithfully expressed by an article in the Libéral, in which the following words occur: “It seemed that the universal anathema heaped upon the Germans after the destruction of Louvain would have restrained their acts of unjustifiable destruction. The Emperor appeared to feel sorry in his letter of apologies addressed to the President of the United States; but his soldiers surpassed themselves, and the appalling barbarism of their achievement is unexampled in history.”
Finally, in America not only the general public but the Government were profoundly moved by the news of the bombardment of one of the finest cathedrals in the world. The American Consul at Lausanne was instructed by his Government, on the day after the crime, to go to Reims and make an inquiry on the spot. As for American newspapers, the following are extracts from them—
The Tribune said: “The destruction of the fine monument of the Middle Ages is an act of vandalism which puts German military methods on a level with those of the Goths and the Huns. The crime of destroying this venerable pile was committed by a nation which claims that its mission is to impose its civilisation on the rest of the world. By violating the laws of war, Germany is encouraging other nations to do the same.”
The World said: “Prussian militarism has outdone everything previously seen in the category of vandalism. Throughout the centuries, since the destruction of the Parthenon, the world has known no such act.”
The Sun said: “In spite of the regrets which Germany pretends to express, we cannot fail to draw the conclusion that the cathedral of Reims was the target of a deliberate attempt to destroy.”