The truth is that in the various cities of Belgium there was, quite at the beginning of hostilities, an intense popular effervescence, by which evildoers profited to pillage the German shops. These disturbances were so unexpected and assumed, with such rapidity, such large proportions, that the police were at first powerless to restrain them.
Moreover, it must be remembered that the police had just been reduced, a large proportion of the police agents and gendarmes having left for the front.
But measures were promptly taken, and by the 7th August there was no longer anywhere the least disorder of this kind. As for the "spy mania," it raged in Belgium as in all countries affected by the war.[24] But the newspapers, and the official measures taken, got the better of this fresh cause of disturbance.
The newspapers of the neutral countries, for example the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, also reported material damage, but they do not relate more serious occurrences in any part of Belgium.
We can consequently assert, in the most categorical fashion, basing our statement on the official data furnished by the courts, that no serious offence against the person has been proved either in Brussels or elsewhere. Does this mean that we excuse the fishers in troubled waters who sacked the German shops? Obviously not; but it must be owned that there are bad elements in all agglomerations, and that the populace of Berlin behaved no better than that of Brussels: witness the remarks of the British Ambassador in Berlin, and the excuses put forward by the German authorities when his windows were broken as the result of an article in the Berliner Tageblatt. Here we immediately perceive a contrast of mentalities: the German newspapers incite their readers against foreigners, while ours, on the contrary, do their utmost to calm popular manifestations.
A detail which we regard as symptomatic, and particularly revolting, in the German publications, is the fact that in these cases, as in the matter of the "francs-tireurs," our enemies seek to involve the legal administration of our country. Now, not only did our authorities immediately intervene to repress the disturbances and to provide a military guard for the Deutsche Bank and the Deutscher Verein in Brussels, but they did more than their strict duty in protecting German families, and enabling them to return to their own country. Nothing is more characteristic in this respect than that which happened in Brussels on the nights of the 8th, 9th and 10th of August, at the time of the Germans' departure from the city. The latter assembled at night in a building belonging to the city; in the trams which took them thither every one hastened to render them every imaginable service; at the place of assembly the Civic Guards prepared hot drinks for them; then, during the short journey to the Gare du Nord, the same Civic Guards helped them to carry their children and their luggage. Mr. Brand Whitlock, United States Minister in Brussels, who was looking after the interests of Germany, was present in that quality at the departure of the German families, and he expressed his gratitude to the Belgians in a letter made public at the time.
The United States Minister does Honour to the Heroism and the Kindness of the Belgians.
The German Minister, before leaving Brussels, requested the United States Minister, Mr. Brand Whitlock, kindly to take over the interests of Germany in Belgium.
The United States Minister consented to protect the archives of the German Legation.
It was in this capacity that Mr. Brand Whitlock was the witness, two days ago, of the goodness of the people of Brussels, who, with Mme. Carton de Wiart, the wife of the Minister of Justice, and our brave Chasseurs of the mounted Civic Guard at their head, provided hot drinks and refreshments for the four thousand Germans leaving Belgium who were assembled at the Royal Circus.
The spectacle profoundly affected the eminent diplomatist. Thanking the Belgian Government, His Excellency, Mr. Brand Whitlock, writes to the Minister of Justice:—
"The Belgians display a heroism in dying on the field of battle which is equalled by their humanity to non-combatants."
(Le Soir, 11th August, 1914.)
In Germany the United States Ambassador, Mr. Gerard, had also occasion to intervene; but there it was to protect the British Ambassador from the fury of the populace.
These examples will suffice, we think, to show that the Belgians were as thoughtful in their behaviour towards their non-combatant adversaries as the Germans were violent and brutal. And what was the result of our courtesy? Our enemies picked a groundless quarrel with us in order to inflame the minds of their soldiers against us.