"Some of our contemporaries (Oh, shade of Pecksniff!—Author) announced yesterday that in Stuttgart eighty, according to other reports, ninety millions in French gold had been seized. In answer to our inquiry at the principal office of the Würtemberg State Railways we were informed that the statements are pure inventions."[[41]]
[!-- Note Anchor 41 --][Footnote 41: Berliner Lokal-Anzeiger, August 4th.]
Another Socialist paper which denounced this campaign of lies in its columns deserves quotation. "The spy-mania luxuriates; every Russian is in danger of assault by over-heated patriots. The nation, however, ought to know that the Russians in our midst are labourers, students, travellers and business men; it is exceeding rare for one of this class, to sell himself to the scoundrels who follow the dirty practices of espionage.
"Civilization and good-breeding demand that everyone should respect the dictates of international law, and treat the peaceful citizens of a land with which we are at war, with decency.
"Especially those wretches deserve to have their knuckles rapped who circulate such infamous bear-baiting news as the alleged attempt on the Crown Prince's life by Russian students."[[42]]
[!-- Note Anchor 42 --][Footnote 42: Vorwärts, August 7th.]
"The General commanding the Leipzig district has issued the following reply in answer to an inquiry by the civil authorities: We know nothing at all of an alleged attempt on the life of the Kaiser or the Crown Prince. The commanding General von Laffert has never uttered the words ascribed to him, that the Kaiser had been murdered. These reports must be contradicted with the greatest energy."[[43]]
[!-- Note Anchor 43 --][Footnote 43: Leipziger Tageblatt, August 3rd.]
The following extracts are of the greatest importance, for they prove beyond doubt the source of these lies, and the cold-blooded, calculated manner in which they were circulated by the German authorities:
"The decision as to what may be published in newspapers, is now in the hands of the military commander in each district.