The first official charges on the subject were issued on November 9 at Havre by Baron Beyens, Belgian Foreign Minister, as follows:
"The German Government is rounding up in large numbers in the towns and villages of occupied Belgium, such as Alost, Ghent, Bruges, Courtrai, and Mons,—to name only the first to be victims of the measures,—all men fit to bear arms, rich and poor, irrespective of class, whether employed or unemployed, hunchbacks, cripples, and one-armed men alone are excepted. These men are torn in thousands from their families; fifteen thousand from Flanders alone are sent God knows where. Whole trainloads are seen going east and south."
CARDINAL MERCIER REPLIES
Cardinal Mercier, Primate of Belgium, in behalf of the Belgian bishops, issued a proclamation of protest on November 7, addressed to the neutral nations and appealing for their aid in opposing the proceeding. His protest is in these terms:
"The military authorities are daily deporting thousands of inoffensive citizens in order to set them to forced labor.
"As early as October 19 we sent a protest to the governor-general, a copy of which was also sent to the representatives of the Holy See in Brussels, Spain, the United States, and the Netherlands. The governor-general, in reply, refused to take any steps."
