s 341 077 EUROPEAN WAR. CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO TIIK ALLEGED ILL-TREATMENT OF GERMAN SUBJECTS CAPTURED IN THE CAMEROONS. Presented to both Houses ot^arliament bv Command of His IDajestv November, 1915. LONDON: PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE By DARLING and SON, Limited, Bacon Street, E. To be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from WYMAN AND SONS, Limited, 29, Breams Buildings, Fetter Lane, E.G., 28, Abingdon Street, S.W., and 54, St. Mary Street, Cardiff; or H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE (Scottish Branch), 23, Forth Street, Edixucrgh; or E. PONSONBY^ Limited, 116, Grafton Street, Dnjii.rN: or from the Agencies in the British Colonies and Dependencies, the United States of America and other Foreign Countries of T. FISHER UN WIN, Limited. Londo.v, W.C. [Cd. 7974.] 1915. Price bd. 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Price &d., post free lOrf. A cheap reprint of the Report, in smaller type, u-ithout Maps, is obtainable. Price \d., post free 2d. VIOLATION OF THE RIGHTS OF NATIONS AND OF THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR IN BELGIUM. Reports of the Official Commission of the Belgian Government. Preface by Monsieur J. Van Den Heuvel, Minister of State. Names of the Commission of Enquiry. Reports, Nos. 1 to 12, of the Commission ; with Illustrations. Appendix : — Instructions to Belgian Authorities issued on 4th August, 1914, and Advice to Civilians; Extracts from the Pastoral Letter of His Eminence Cardiuat :Mercier, Archbishop of Malines, Primate of Belgium. Price 6d., post free 8id. THE SECOND BELGIAN GREY BOOK. English Translation, containing only tliose portions of the book which are material to the position of Great Britain, viz. :'— Part I.— Certain Documents relating to the War and Correspondence on the Subject of the Rupture of Diplomatic Relations between Belgium and Turkev : Part II. (Section 10 only) deals with the Accusations brought against Belgium of having concluded a Military Agreement with Great Britain. (1915.) Price Sd., post free Ud. COLLECTED DIPLOMATIC DOCUMENTS relating to the Outbreak of the European War, This volume includes the British Diplomatic (Correspondence and Translations of the French Yellow Book, the Russian Orange Book, and the Belgian Grey Book, each of which has already been published in separate form. It also contains Translations of the Serbian Blue Book, the German White Book, and the Austro-Himgarian Red Book, together with Telegrams and Letters published officially in the Press bv the Governments of Great Britain, Russia, and Germany. There are also included, as an appendix to the German White Book, the Report of the Speech delivered bv the German Imperial Chancellor before the Reichstag on 4th August, 1914, and, as an appendix to the Serbian Blue Book, the Speech of Signor Giolitti before the Italian Chamber of Deputies on 5tli December, 1914. The preface furnishing a tentative guide to a comparison of the various Official Documents and to their value as a whole ; and a list is given of the principal persons mentioned in the Correspondence, showing their official positions. Price, in paper boards, •with cloth back, Is., post free Is. 5d. EUROPEAN WAR. CORRESPONDENCE RIcr.ATIVE TO THE ALLEGED ILL-TREATMENT OF GERMAN SUBJECTS CAPTURED IN THE CAMEROONS. Presented to both Houses of Pariiainent by Command of His IDajesty. November, 1915. LONDON: PRINTED UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE By DARLING and SON, Limited, Bacon Street, E. To be purchased, either directly or through any Bookseller, from WYMAN AND SONS, Limited, 29, Breams Buildings, Fetter Lane, E.G., 28, Abingdon Street, S.W., and' 54, St. Mary Street, Cardiff; or H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE (Scottish Branch), 23, Forth Street, Edinburgh; or E. PONSONBY, Limited, 116, Grafton Street, Dublin; or from the Agencies in the British Colonies and Dependencies, the United States of America and other Foreign Countries of T. FISHER UNWIN, Limited, London, W.C. 1915. [Cd. 7974.] Price bd. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 4 To Captain F. C. Goulden and Brigadier - General C. M. Dobell. To the Governor-General of Nigeria. Captain F. C. Goulden To Brigadier-General C. M. Dobell. Brigadier Dobell. General C. M. [13] [16] February. February 16 March 2 March 8 To the Governor of the Gold Coafst. March 28 (Rec. Apr. 26.) May 4 10 11 Brigadier - General Dobell. M. The Governor - General of Nigeria. The Governor of the Gold Coast. April 17 (Rec. May 21.) April 22 (Rec. May 21.) May 2 (Rec. May 21.) Mr. C. H. D. Ralph Foreign Office ... June 8 .Tune 26 Encloses copy of a petition from Lieut. Wieneke, prisoner of war from the Cameroons, complaining of the treat- ment received by him and other prisoners in Duala and Nigeria and on the journey to England, and re- quests a report on the allegations made. Ditto Encloses report asked for in No. 1 Transmits extract from the German journal the Weser Zeitiing, which purports to describe the treatment of Germans in the Cameroons by natives at the instigation of the British authorities, and requests his obser- vations. Encloses repoi-t asked for in No. 1 Transmits copy of a letter from Mr. .J. A. N. Gain relating to the alleged death of Fran Martens and remarks that her name does not appear in the monthly return of the deaths of unofficials. Replies to the allegations made in the extract enclosed in No. 4. Encloses reports asked for in No. 2 ; submits that everything possible was done to secure the comfort and wel- fare of the prisoners of war ; encloses also copy of a despatch to the Governor of the Cameroons on the subject. Transmits reports relating to the case of Mrs. Martens, from which it appears that the treatment accorded to her was precisely the same as that with which other European ladies of the British community have in the past expressed complete satisfaction. Reports as to the treatment of the late Frau Martens during her stay at Accra hospital. Transmits copy of a note from the United States Ambassador in which serious charges are made against British and native troops of damage to the property of German subjects in the Cameroons, and suggests that a refutation might be included in the draft Note which it is proposed to address to the United States Ambassador. Serial No. From or to whom. Date. » Subject. Page. 1915. 12 To Major-General C. M. Dobell. July 5 Transmits a translation at a pamphlet by Pastor Stark, which is being pub- lished in Germany, regarding the alleged treatment of German mis- sionaries and others in the Cameroons, and requests his observations thereon. 29 13 The Acting Governor of the Gold Coast. June 18 (Rec. July 13.) Reports further as to the alleged ill- treatment of Frau Martens while in hospital, and that the omission of her name from the return of deaths was an oversight ; replies to further state- ments in Dr. Vohringer's Hamburg lecture. 39 14 Miss E. P. Dunne July 3 (Rec. July 22.) Reports on the treatment accorded to Frau Miii'tens while in Accra hos- pital. 41 15 Major-General C. M. Dobell August 24 (Rec. Sept. 16.) Replies to the allegations in Pastor Stark's pamphlet, and considers that the statements in it are part of an organised attempt to influence re- ligious feeling in Switzerland and America. 41 16 Sir Edward Grey to the United States Ambassador. November 1 Replies to the Note enclosed in No. 11 47 (677,5r— 2.) Wt. 20,000. 12/15. D & S. G. L A2 EUROPEAN WAR. CORRESPONDENCE RELATIVE TO THE ALLEGED ILL-TREATMENT OF GERMAN SUBJECTS CAPTURED IN THE CAIEROONS, No. 1. COLONIAL OFFICE to Captain F. C. GOULDEN and Brigadier- General C. M. DOBELL. l^Answered by Nos. 3 and 5.] Sir, Downing Street, [13th] [16th] February, 1915. I AM directed by Mr. Seci-etary Harcourt to transmit to you a copy of a petition by Lieutenant Otto Wieneke, one of the prisoners of war from the Cameroons who arrived in this country on the " Obuasi," complaining of the treat- ment which he and the other German prisoners received in Duala and Nigeria, and on the journey to England. 2. It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. Harcourt has no doubt that the prisoners of war were treated in all circumstances a-3 well as they could reasonably expect. In case, however, that Lieutenant Wieneke's allegations should be made a subject of official complaint by the German Government, it seems desirable to obtain reports on the various specific statements made while the facts are fresh in the minds of the officers concerned. 3. For this reason Mr. Harcourt will be glad if you will be so good as to report on those statements which concern Lieutenant Wieneke's treatment [on the voyage home] [in Duala]. H. J. READ, for the LTnder-Secretary of State. Enclosure in No. 1. (Translation.) Holyport, December 2nd, 1914. A Petition addressed to the Colonial Office or other Competent Authority. By Lieutenant Otto Wieneke (of the Res.), Imperial District Commissioner. To the Commandant of the Holyport Camp for German Officers Prisoners of War. As Your Excellency is doubtless already aware, Duala. the capital of the German Protectorate of the Cameroons, was surrendered on the 27th September, 1914, to the allied British and French troops. The surrender was effected on the one hand by the then Military Commander of Duala, Lieutenant of Reserve Nothnagel, the Commander of Bonaberi, Oberleutnant of Reserve Bottcher, and vour petitioner,_ as District Commissioner of Duala, and on the other by the Commander of the allied troops. General Dobell. It was demanded and agreed to that the surrender should be in principle " unconditional," and at the same time General Dobell gave a number of assurances, which fulfilled the demands of those surrender- ing the town. Especially was the protection of life and private property undertaken by the General. He mentioned, too, that all grown-up German and Austrian male subjects were prisoners of war, but he declared that the matter was not settled, but probably they would be placed on a ship. Since the native population — the inhabitants of Duala — had proved itself before and during the war uncertain, traitorous and hostile to Germany, it was especially important that the safety of the Europeans should be assured, above all as regards plundering and murder on the part of the natives. General Dobell was also asked to allow certain trust- worthy Europeans to retain their weapons of defence for this object. He answered, he was unable to promise this generally but added he would look into each case, and see if he could grant the petition; in any case he undertook the protection of the Europeans in the face of the menace from the natives. The assurances given by General Dobell were not kept in certain essential respects. Your petitioner therefore begs to lay before Your Excellency the following description of the events, as they occurred, from the surrender of Duala to the arrival of the men, women, and children in England. From this description will be proved the accuracy of the present assertion, viz., that the treatment of the prisoners of war was entirely contrary to the principles of humanity and of international arrangements. Your petitioner believes himself authorised to draw up this document, since the greater part of the prisoners are inhabitants of the district of Duala, of which he was the constitutional chief until the surrender of the town. A short preliminary petition — from the same standpoint — was addressed to the Governor-General of Lagos on the 14th September, 1914, by Dr. Dix, Assessor and Assistant in the District Commissioner's Office at Duala, and Mr. Botefiir, the Director of Customs, these gentlemen being the only ones who could obtain an audience of His Excellency. The Governor promised verbally to forward the petition to the Foreign Office in London as soon as the competent English authorities had assumed direction of affairs in the Cameroons. On the 27th September in the afternoon the English and French authorities, at the head of whom was General Dobell, took over the public buildings. Of the tactless and impolite conduct meted out to your petitioner he prefers not to mention further. On the 28th September, in the morning, I received instructions to assemble all the Europeans of Duala City in the gardens of the Government Hospital, where they had to give account of themselves. I carried out the order as well as I could. At the same time white and coloured English troops were sent through the town where they took prisoner to the hospital all Europeans whom they met, at the saiae time declaring they should simpli/^ have to give their names and were then free to go. Several hundred Germans with their wives and children, who were conveyed in this manner, were lined up by name, and had to remain outside in the noonday heat of the sun without anything to eat or drink. A guard of black English soldiers was placed over them. It was impossible to recognise on what principle they were so treated. It was apparent a certain line had not to be overstepi^ed. This was accomplished in the roughest fashion, men and women, under the very eyes of the English and French officers, were buffeted with the hands and the butt-ends of the rifles by the soldiers. No one knew what was exactly wanted or what forbidden. All weapons, especially rifles, pistols, and knives, were taken away and no receipt given. In the afternoon, about 3.15, it was suddenly made known to us that we were to go on board ship at 4 for removal from Duala. Since all were of opinion that only their names were required of them, and they were to depart without any preparation and especially without any luggage, it was petitioned that at least they might be permitted to take away the most necessary tilings. The answer was that each might take away as much luggage as he liked, but nobody might leave the hospital gardens. Only a comparatively small number succeeded by means of coloured servants in getting a part of their things — for the greater number this was impossible owing to the great distance— the City of Duala lies about five kilometres from the Cameroon River, — and the shortness of time allowed, e.g., three- quarters of an hour. They had to leave without anything only the clothes they stood up in. But for those too who did manage to get hold of their clothes it was im- possible to take them with them, as porters were not allowed. We were forced, apart from the few who had the luck to be provided with servants, to carry our 67T5 " R own boxes and bundles to the ship. The wile of the Assessor, Dr. Dix, a senior official and officer, who was suffering severely from malaria, begged the super- intending French officer — a gentleman of superior rank — to place a porter at her disposition in order not to be forced to leave the one box she had succeeded in getting so far lying there. This gentleman replied in French, the Germans killed the women and children in France, the French, however, were not so inhuman, but the lady would not get a porter, " Madame, prenez votre bagage." So we had in part to leave our luggage lying there, in part — as far as we could — to carry it ourselves, and were led through the town to the ship between lines of black soldiers with drawn bayonets, amidst the insults and laughter of the coloured population. Special description of the transportation — how, for instance, some people threatened to collapse under the weight of their baggage and halted, and were driven on by the black soldiers, I must forbear to give you, as this would take too long. On 2-8th September, soldiers were again sent out who brought all the Germans they could find in Duala in to the hospital. Again they were assured that only their names were required, and then they would be sent back. The same process was gone through in regard to the crews on the ships then in harbour. Most of them came over without luggage and learned to their utter astonishment that they were to be put on board ship, and everything was carried on as on the preceding day. Thus, Duala within two days was entirely emptied of Europeans (except Englishmen) ; men, women, and children were driven on to ships, • without the least regard as to whether they belonged to the armed white forces, alx)ut 50 men did, or whether they were simple peaceful citizens, missionaries and traders. I may especially point out that the banishment of missionaries—the reason of which is hardly understandable— is certainly not in accordance with international law, that, further, for humane and especially religious reasons it is indeed to be deploi'ed since it was in the highest degree unfortunate, to deprive the natives in such difficult and troublous times of their spiritual advisers. The manner of the banishment meant for all the prisoners as good as the entire loss of their property in Duala. Any opportunity of looking after their interests was denied them. The English and French did even less. Through tl)o fact that permission was granted to no one to return to his house, an occasion for plundering was afforded the enemy soldiers and natives. White and black soldiers as well as Duala natives began already on the 28th September to plunder the houses and business quarters. It is known that French soldiers, who held possession of that quarter of the town known as Akuwa, plundered and burned by order. In such quarters of the town held by the English, it is said that matters were to a certain extent better, nevertheless it was noticed for example in Bonaberi, how the English coloured troojjs, led by white men, together with the natives of the quarter broke open houses, business offices, with axes and hammers, and plundered and destroyed their contents. Where the English troops did not plunder the natives took care to do so for themselves. Considerable damage was thereby not only done to private individuals, but also to German firms. Their employees were taken from the places of business. They were allowed to remain in Duala on urgent representations being made on 28th Sep- tember, but they were kept prisoners in the Hospital. On the 29th September, in spite of all demands and representations, they were taken away, without any opportunity being allowed them to look after the barest necessities of their business. If from the English point of view it was held necessary to remove all these people, who had nothing to do with fighting, it was also the duty of the Authorities either to protect the business houses themselves and carry on the business properly, or to allow the employees to do so themselves. The only firms whose bureaux and premises were taken over by an English official were the Woermann Linie and Woer- mann & Co. Here the chief agent, Steinhausen, was handed a receipt. The other houses remained just as their employees were forced to leave tliem when they were brought to the Hospital. They were practically all plundered ; the business books probably destroyed or lost, so that the firms will suffer enormous losses. All requests to the English authorities for redress were in vain. To the Director of the German West African Bank, Mr. Lohff, who pointed out to the constituted District Commis sioner in Duala, Mr. Paul, that such actions on the part of the English were contrary to all International Law, and begged him to give him at least a receipt for the key of the Bank which he had handed over, Mr. Paul replied : " International Laws ? that's it ! We neither respect nor protect private property, we do as we like. If you will not give us the keys willingly we shall break it open." Later the merchants at Lagos addressed themselves to the Governor, Sir — Lugard, requesting him either to let them return to Duala, or at least to place them as near as possible in the vicinity, in order that they might return as soon as possible to Duala after the conclusion of peace. The answer of the Governor ran as follows : " that it is quite impossible for any German subject to return to Duala." The grounds on which the English authorities considered it necessary to remove all Germans from Duala are not known to me. The removal and the manner of it, without doubt, is contrary to International Law, and especially contrary to the expressly given assurances of General Dobell. The universallj^ recognised principle — that in war the private property of opponents is protected is contravened in every direction. All the more must a protest be made since it is a question not of conquest due to successful attack but a surrender arranged by treaty, in which General Dobell pledged his word to protect life and property. The removal from Duala was accomplished in different detachments and different ships. Several hundred people were placed upon the s.s. " Lokoja " which left on the 28th September, and they had to pass the night on deck between coloured soldiers and coolies, amongst women and children, and babies at the breast. For rations they received hardbake (bread) and a portion of tinned meat, but without plates, knives, forks, &c. Tlie next day the transhipment on to the s.s. " Elmina " took place ; there all the money but £5 was taken from the prisoners, with few exceptions, without receipts being given and without the amounts being counted, all remaining weapons, binoculars, photographic apparatus, &c. Great importance was apparently attached to the taking away of the money — this was the case, too, on the other transports. Receipts were practically never made out. The prisoners on board one of the transports — s.s. " Bathurst " to Lagos — were awakened from sleep at 12 in the night and men and women were searched for money and objects of value. They were forced to surrender everything. The man detailed for the examination appeared to be a non-commissioned officer. In the case in point, the whole affair was nothing but an organised pillaging. In any case, English officers told us later that they were at a loss to explain such behaviour. The sums and articles taken from single individuals I am not in a position to account for. In any case the injured will address themselves to the English authorities with a request for indem- nification. That tlie foregoing cannot be called lawful is, I think, clear. It was in no sense necessitated by lack of time, since there was indeed time enough to carry out everything in order. The journey to Lagos was accomplished in the most inconsiderate of ways. On dirty ships, with the single exception of the s.s. " Elmina," crowds of people of different social classes were massed together. The food was insufficient, the manner of distributing it annoyingly dirty and unhygienic. Your petitioner was brought from the s.s. " Elmina " back again to Duala, because it was alleged the Commandant wanted information from him. In Duala no one knew anything about it. Again one was dragged through Duala amidst insults of the natives guarded on every side by the black soldiery with fixed bayonets, from house to house, and kept prisoner three days. Then the larger half of my luggage, which I had myself carried from ship to ship, was stolen. I was put on the small and dirty s.s. "" Niger," together with the numerous crews taken prisoner on the ships in Duala harbour, and we were brought to Lagos ; we were six days on the way without going to bed, and only a little dirty water, and no means of washing. A later convoy (15th October, 1914) oi 33 men on the s.s. " Bulama " were kept below deck during the entire journey Duala — Lagos. From 6 o'clock in the evening till 7 in the morning the gangway steps were drawn up in sucli a fashion that the men Imd to ease themselves below deck. These prisoners of war were placed with coloured prisoners, only got the most necessary food, worse and less than the blacks. For washing themselves or their plates, knives, &c., for which there were two buckets, they were afforded no opportunity. The buckets which in the evening were used as urinals were also used to hold the cooking water. As I have already pointed out, nearly all the transports suffered from shortags of necessary food, absolute lack of eating appliances and washing utensils, as well as from dirt. Some of the transports containing to my knowledge 200 prisoners were brought to Cotonou. Of their sojourn there and what happened is unknown to me. The remainder, about 600 in all, amongst them 35 women and children, were assembled in Lagos, several then to Ibadan and Zungeru, and then back again to Lagos. On the Pth October we were put upon the s.s. " Bathurst " (about 250 souls) ; which already held about as many prisoners. We remained on board m the harbour of Lagos till the 21st October. The ship was quite overcrowded. The greater part of us lived and slept on deck. When it rained, as was often the case, we had to pack up our things to save them being wet through, and tried to find a place, day and night on the stairs or in the gangways, where one could keep dry. At the time all the numerous cabins of the ship were unoccupied. Only the last three or four days some of us were appointed to cabins for the night, which were, by the way, usually dirty. The rations on the " Bathurst " consisted of soup or rice, with some meat and very little bread. There were absolutely no extras, likewise no crockery, and no knives and forks. We were forced to eat out of old jam-pots, without knives and forks. The crockery was never cleaned, or only in dirty water. It was only in the very last days that the prisoners were allowed to buy for themselves certain additions to the miserable rations. Nothing was done to allow of personal washing, one pump was set apart for the entire ship at which one could wash in a great crush of whites and blacks. Again, the condition of the water closets was frightful. Three water closets for several hundred people, absolutely filthy and foul. The entire method of treatment, especially the absolute lack of discrimi- nation between men of different upbringing and social class, can only be described as the lowest brutality, brutal towards human beings, of whom practically all had taken no part in hostilities against England. On the 21st October occurred the transhipment to the " Obuasi." There there were about 660 prisoners among them thirty to forty from other Colonies (Nigeria and Dahomey), and about twenty belonging to neutral States were treated exactly the same as prisoners. We travelled on the " Obuasi " from Lagos to Southampton (24th October to 21st November). The conditions on the ship surpassed our worst forebodings. The treatment it pleased the English to mete out to us was in the highest degree inconsiderate, cruel and so unworthy of a nation of " Kultur," that I believe I ought to give Your Excellency a sketch of the same. The quarters given to the prisoners of war were in the luggage-hold. There two, or, where possible, three, narrow wooden berths placed one over the other in rows so near one another that a normally-built man could scarcely pass. Some of the beds had nothing, others a straw mat, a few, straw sacks. Each received two blankets, later a third. For the safe-keeping of things that one lays aside at night, and yet are necessary, there was no accommodation, one had to leave them in the bed. The " rooms " or holds were so overcrowded that a large number of prisoners had to sleep under the beds and many in deck chairs. On account of the crowding of beds in the holds, it was more or less impossible to keep the place clean, this cleaning had to be done by us. In these circumstances the many hundreds of men — from the highest to the lowest social classes— had to pass a month. It is, indeed, not necessary to mention that the time passed in the dormitories during the journey in the tropics was fearful. Owing to the great heat and exhausted air it was quite impossible to sleep. Heat and bad air almost jn^evented breathing. On the other hand, from the Bay of Biscay on, where it was very stormy, an icy cold prevailed. During the day we could remain on deck, fore and rear deck. The order that all prisoners should remain below between 6 in the evening and 7 in the morning was happily mitigated. For the most part the boxes were taken into the lower holds, of which some were kept locked except for a short time. As matters proved later, a part of the boxes were broken open during the journey and plundered, another part owing to the water getting in were entirely ruined, since— due no doubt to the storm in the Bay— it is .said a water-tank burst and water stood m the holds. Meals had to be taken on deck at rough tables, which did not suffice for all the prisoners by a long way, and which were never cleaned. During the last week of the voyage it was so cold on deck that one was hardly capable of holding a plate or glass m ones hand or to use a knife and fork. During the storm in the Bay, as cooks galleys, tables and water-tanks were rolling about on deck, we had to eat— in so tar as there were something to eat— in bed in the sleeping-room, and this owing to the lack ot space, practically meant going without food. As also in the earlier transports nothing was done for personal cleanliness. On deck stood some water-tanks with generally very dirty water, which however very otten were not filled at all, so that in that case one could not wash at all. Towels soap, &c., were not to be had, also— owing to the manner of our banishment from Duala— they were lacking amongst the private possession of the passengers. Some few buckets, which we bought with our own money in Freetown, had to be used for bringing up the food, washing the crockery, and washing oneself. Our washing and dressing had to take place on deck. During the storm and the journey in the cold regions, both were impossible, we were practically unable to wash for a week. This was all the worse because the majority of us were without luggage and therefore without clean clothes, so that they had to manage either with dirty clothes or wash themselves in a scanty amount of cold water. Some sailcloth tanks filled with sea-water which were placed on deck were appa- rently intended first for washing the crockery. At the same time, as man must at least wash his hands from time to time, one was forced to use it to wash oneself. The tanks were only filled very occasionally, so that the water was really filthy. As they were open, a lot of dust and smuts would fly in, as well as other things, especially, as was observed on several occasions, used water-closet paper (compare my description of the lavatories under). The food was insufficient. In the morning there was tea and Quaker Oats (good), midday and evening mostly soup and meat. The meat was simply rotten and was thrown overboard, either before cooking at the orders of the doctor, or by us, since we could not touch it. During the second half of the voyage there was only soup with a few small pieces of meat in it. Every other day, or even less often we got a small piece of bread, which hardly did for one meal, no sort of extras were allowed. The preparing of the food was bad and unclean, but improved when at our request prisoner of war cooks were installed. We had to pay the cooks from the beginning of the transportation half a mark per person per week, as they threatened otherwise to go on strike. If it had not been possible to buy at Free- town and Lagos additional food, one would really have had to go hungry. There was an entire shortage of crockery. We heard that the catering for tlie prisoners of war was done by the Elder Dempster Line. Judging from the way in which it was done, the Line must have made a good thing out of it. Equally incredible was the condition of the lavatories. On the fore and aft deck there were on both sides along the deck-rail five water closets next to each other without any division, enclosed at the ends by boards and cloths. Behind the seat there was a vertical board which was to prevent falling over behind. These boards were so near the seat that they were perpetually soiled. At first they were never cleaned, later it was done on request. When there was a wind the used paper flew about on all sides, either on to the head of the next door neisrhbour, or on the deck, i.e., into the water tanks. During the storm in the Bay of Biscay the water closets were hardly fit to enter, and the people on the fore deck had to relieve them- selves either on deck or in their sleeping apartments, so that the smell was awful. Aft, the water closets were placed on the windward side, hence they were unusable and one had to remove to others set apart for the black soldiers, in which everywhere, even the seats and floors, were covered with excreta. It was also so cold and stormy up there that the greater number of prisoners were suffering from colds and rheumatism when thev left the ship. The women and children were in narrow and scantily furnished cabins. They had to clean these cabins themselves. Their rations were insufficient and often uneatable, which was especially dangerous for women in a delicate state of health. The method of looking after the sick left much to be desired. The narrow hospital room was thoroughly uncomfortable and filthy, as was the entire ship. The crews of the ships and of the transports did not win our high esteem. One had the impression from the first as if a part, not only of the lower ranks, were endeavouring to take advantage of the nosition of the prisoners to enrich themselves as much as possible at their expense. When we were transhipped from the " Bathurst " to the " Obuasi " nuich was stolen from us. One saw many of one's things after- wards in the possession of English officials. When we bousrht things in Lasros, Freetown, and Madeira, many officials drove a thriving business as go-betweens, whereby the prisoners had to pay a considerable sum in addition to the usual price. In Madeira fruit-sellers came on board; in general they were not allowed to deal directly with the prisoners, but sold first to the officials who then passed it on to the prisoners of war with considerable profit. When some of the prisoners pulled up baskets of fruit direct from the boats, the sale was disallowed, because this would prevent a commission being made. In general the treatment of the prisoners, with few exceptions, was lacking in politeness, consideration, and sympathy. Indeed, the guard and control carried 677.5 10 out by coloured soldiers was scarcely bearable, sometimes they acted towards one in a rude and violent manner — pushing one to one side, &c. A number of prisoners were allowed at certain arranged times, on the production of a pass, to walk on the promenade deck. Your petitioner and other gentlemen were very surprised when one day they were brusquely rebuked by the black man on guard; they had to take their cigars out of their mouths when they passed the guard. One day the Post-director Schmidt was arrested by a non-commissioned officer because he visited the luggage-hold in which was his luggage. The Master, Captain Hart, asserted that to enter this room was forbidden. Such a law was unknown both to Post-director Schmidt and to us. It had not been written up like all the other orders. Nevertheless, Mr. Schmidt, the senior postal official of the Cameroon Protectorate, an Oberleutnant of the Reserve, was condemned to eight days" arrest, and, accompanied by two coloured soldiers with fixed bayonets, he was led away. All our representations were of no avail. It was said that ignorance of the law does not shield from punishment, and the representation that Mr. Schmidt was one of the higher officials and an officer conveyed absolutely nothing to Captain Hart. Mr. Schmidt was during the period of arrest forced himself — always accompanied by two soldiers — to fetch water from the pump. Once when he did not quite fill the bucket, the soldier rudely ordered him to fetch it afterwards. Mr. Schmidt was even forced to clean and scrub his cell. Amongst all other trials this treatment of Herr Schmidt aroused the greatest indignation. The manner in which we were driven away from Duala led to the journey being undertaken without proper European clothes. The storm in the Bay of Biscay, and the cold of the northern climate have both been a great trial to the health of the prisoners of war. Nearly all caught cold and suffered from intestinal complaints. Probably many will suffer still more in the future from the effects. In any case it was an extremely inconsiderate proceeding. Only quite a few had warm clothes handed out in Freetown and a few others bought some. Bringing this petition to a close I beg to state that none of the facts described are exaggerated or distorted. I can produce witnesses to it all and furnish further particulars. Also the Master of the Transport, Captain Adams, who unfortunately fell seriously ill before Madeira and had to leave the ship, acknowledged our com- plaint as just, and declared that to his sorrow he could not essentially alter things. As the principal points of complaint I beg to repeat the following : — (1) The offence against the law for the protection of private propertv and against General Dobell's assurance m this direction. (2) The unworthy and tactless manner in which we were driven away from Duala, after we had been assembled by the false statement that only our names were wanted. I declare that General Dobell's word was not kept also in the following respect : — He promised to do his best for the prisoners of war in the manner of their concentration, probably they would be accommodated on a ship. From this statement one could not possibly gather the intention of depopulation. Had we known of this at the time when the terms of the surrender were being arranged, we should not have felt ourselves empowered to surrender Duala at all. We should have &,t least asked for a short time in order to come to such an agreement with the Governor and the Commandant. It would have been possible in this case for any citizens to withdraw uito the interior to settle up the affairs of their' business, missions, &c. Finally, this expelling of an entire population is hardly according to the meaning of International Law. (3) The inhuman handling of the prisoners during the transport. I should especially like to bring forward that for Germans it is impossible and incomprehensible to be under the orders of coloured men. The principle that this should be impossible, a principle which out of race pre.iudice is practically impossible, the English have continually repu- diated as they appointed coloured soldiers to guard and control us. The accompanying complaint may be met by the reproach that one did not at the time complain to the authorities on the spot. This, however, had no point in Lagos as a verbal complaint to the Governor was not allowed, and in Freetown on account of lack of time, impossible. Fv^Jlir""* ^'au'v '* ^.f ^Jl^ that these measures could have the approval of Your Excellency, and believe it all the more as our treatment since we landed on English soil stands in the sharpest contrast to all that went before. I beg therefore that 11 this complaint may be considered, although it will be impossible to any extent to provide us with any satisfaction. WiENEKE, Imperial District Commissioner. No. 2. The secretary OF STATE to the GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF NIGERIA. [Answered by No. 8.] Sir, Downing Street, 16th February, 1915. I have the honour to transmit to you a copy of a petition* by Lieutenant Otto Wieneke, one of the prisoners of war from the Cameroons, who arrived in this country on the " Obuasi," complaining of the treatment which he and the other German prisoners received in Duala and Nigeria and on the journey to England. 2. It is hardly necessary to say that I have no doubt that the prisoners of war were treated in all circumstances as well as they could reasonably expect. In case, however, that Lieutenant Wieneke's allegations should be made a subject of official complaint by the German Government, it seems desirable to obtain reports on the various specific statements made while the facts are fresh in the minds of the officers concerned. 3. For this reason, I shall be glad if you will be so good as to report on those statements which concern Lieutenant Wieneke's treatment in Nigeria. I have, &c., L. HARCOURT. No. 3. Captain F. C. GOULDEN to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received 4th March, 1915.) Sir, Portishead, 2nd March, 1915. I have the honour to attach herewith the report asked for in your letter of the 13th ultimo,! dealing with Lieutenant Otto Wieneke's statements regarding the treatment of prisoners of war on board the hired transport " Obuasi." I have, &c., F. GOULDEN, Captain. Enclosure in No. 3. Captain F. C. Goulden's Report on Lieutenant Wieneke's Statements regarding THE Treatment of Prisoners of War on board the Hired Transport " Obuasi." Prisoners of War.~On the 21st and 22nd of October last, 600 prisoners of war from the Cameroons district were received on board the " Obuasi " at Lagos. The ship had had bunks fitted up to accommodate 600 prisoners ; roughly 350 in the fore part, and the remainder in the after part of the ship. The prisoners were separated according to their social standing as far as possible, prisoners of the lower grade such as seamen, stokers, &c., of which there was a large percentage, were in the fore part, and those of a higher grade, to which the petitioner belonged, were in the after part, of the ship. The latter were allowed to have prisoners from the fore part to cook, &c., for them, also a certain number of the higher grade prisoners of war were permitted to use the saloon deck between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. There was ample sleeping accommodation for all the prisoners (although somewhat cramped), and there was no necessity for any of them to sleep under the beds or in deck chairs, as the petitioner states. Most of the prisoners had mattresses and three blankets issued to them, the few that had no mattresses were given extra blankets. * Enclosure in No. 1. -j- ]S[o. 1. fi775 C 2 12 Women and children. — The whole of the cabins on the ship, with the exception of two for the officers of the escort, were given to the women and children, two, and in some cases three, occupants in each cabin. As there were no stewardesses on board and only two stewards, German prisoners, who were prisoners of war, were detailed to look after the women and children, and all the women were asked to do Avas to keep their cabins clean and tidy, which in many cases they failed to do. Besides having the cabins on the boat, the women had the saloon for meals, &c. The scale of diet ordered for them by the Medical Authorities at Lagos was adhered to, and the Orderly Officer for the day inspected all meals and attended to complaints (if any). Cleanliness of the Ship. — The statement by Lieutenant Wieneke, that the ship was not clean is incorrect. The prisoners' quarters were divided into four sections, and a British non-commissioned officer placed in charge of each section, who was lesponsible for the cleanliness of each section. A daily inspection of the whole ship was made by the ship's Captain, accompanied by the Officer Commanding, and other officials ; any irregularity as well as any complaints were attended to. The prisoners in the after part of the ship had tables and forms fitted up on deck for meals, owing to lack of accommodation elsewhere; it was certainly uncomfortable during the last few days of the voyage, but was unavoidable. Water, &c. — A good supply of water was available, that on deck in tanks mentioned by Lieutenant Wieneke was for washing purposes; drinking water was issued twice daily by the chief engineer of the ship, assisted by Lieutenant and Quarter-Master Crook of the escort. The sailcloths mentioned were filled with seawater for bathing. If buckets were used, as stated, for washing and carrying food, this was due to the prisoners' own carelessness, as a supply of utensils for all purposes was i)rovided at Lagos and added to at Sierra Leone. Lavatories. — The condition of the lavatories was at times somewhat dirty, but everything possible was done to keep them clean. Food. — A scale of rations for the prisoners of war was drawn u\) at Lagos, and was, in my opinion, ample. The scale laid down was adhered to, the rations were issued daily by the Chief Steward under the superintendence of the Quarter-Master, Lieutenant Crook. Lieutenant Crook on one occasion repoi'ted the condition of issue of meat as doubtful, and the Senior Medical Officer on board was asked to inspect it. He reported that it was unfit for issue, with the result that the whole of the meat in this particular cool chamber was condemned and thrown overboard, about two days' supply for the whole ship. The remainder of the meat in the other store was quite sound, and was issued to escort and prisoners alike. The prisoners' meals were always inspected by the Orderly Officer. Prisoners' Luggage. — The prisoners' heavy luggage was stored in the holds beneath their sleeping quarters, and any pilfering that may have taken place must have been done by the prisoners themselves, as it was impossible for anyone to visit the holds without the knowledge of the prisoners of war. At the commencement of the voyage, the prisoners of war were informed that if any of them wished to obtain articles from their baggage for use on board they must give their name to the Orderly Officer, who would arrange with the Chief Officer of the ship to accompany them, and under no other circumstances were prisoners allowed in the luggage hold. One or two prisoners who disobeyed this order were punished, including Mr. Leo Schmidt. Mr. Leo Schmidt's Case. — Previous to this the prisoners were warned through an interpreter that the next man disobeying this order would be severely dealt with. A few days after this Mr. Leo Schmidt was seen down in the baggage hold with a lighted match by a non-commissioned officer, and when ordered back, refused to obey. He was accordingly punished with eight days cells for being in the baggage hold " without permission and refusing to obey an order." Beyond being made to keep his cell clean and being in confinement, he was not inflicted with any other duties. He was allowed books to read. Clothing. — At Lagos all the ready-made clothing that could be obtained was purchased, and issued to the prisoners who were most in need of it, also a large bale of white flannel was distributed amongst the women to be used for whatever purpose most required. At Sierra Leone a further list of prisoners still needing 13. clothing was made, and there also all the ready-made suits obtainable were purchased, but as sufficient could not be obtained, cloth, together with needles and thread for its remainder, was obtained and any men who happened to understand tailoring were set to work to make the clothing under the superintendence of Lieu- tenant and Quarter-master Crook. The women refused to assist, except when cloth- ing was required by their husbands. Pilfering of Prisoners' Possessions. — When the prisoners were received on board at Lagos their baggage was examined in their presence for revolvers, &c., and was afterwards locked and put in the baggage hold. I am not aware of any pilfering having taken place during the examination, or after, and I discredit the statement that certain of the prisoners' goods were seen in the possession of English officials; also the statement that officials were obtaining commission by reselling goods purchased at Sierra Leone, &c., is as far as I know untrue. Had this occurred I feel sure the prisoners would have reported the matter at once. Politeness, &c., of Officials. — Politeness but firmness was the attitude shown towards the prisoners of war by officials generally, and everything possible was done for their comfort, so that their treatment was all that they could reasonably expect under the circumstances. The officers, &c., of the escort also had to put up with considerable inconvenience in the boat, which, under the circumstances, was quite unavoidable. In conclusion, I would say that complaints were very rare amongst the lower- class prisoners of war, and any discontent in the other part of the ship was, in my opinion, caused by the petitioner, Lieutenant Wieneke and Mr. Leo Schmidt, both of whom were continually making frivolous complaints, and were apparently disliked by their own comrades. F. GOULDEN, Captain. 2nd March, 1915. No. 4. COLONIAL OFFICE to Brigadier-General C. M. DOBELL. [Answered by No. 7.] Sir, Downing Street, 8th March, 1915. I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Harcourt to transmit to you herewith a copy of a translation of an extract from the German journal the " Weser Zeitung," which purports to describe the treatment of Germans in the Cameroons by natives at the instigation of the British authorities. Mr. Harcourt would be glad to receive your observations on the statements put forward in this passage. I am, &c., H. J. EEAD, for the Under-Secretary of State. Enclosure in No. 4. The " Weser Zeitung " of 23rd February publishes a paragraph headed :— England's Price for Assassins. And proceeds to quote from a letter written by Missionary Valentin Wolf, of the German Baptist Missionary Society, in which he says that the Missionaries Schwarz and Gehr, of the Basle Mission in Lobethal, on the Sanaga River, and the merchant Erich Student, an employe of the German Cameroon Company in Edea, have stated that the English troops on the Sanaga have called upon the natives of that region to deliver up or put out of the way Germans in the service of the German adminis- tration on the lower Sanaga, and have offered a reward up to 505. for every German. As a result, leading seaman Nickstadt and Quarter-master Schlichting, both belong- ing to the steamer " Kamerun " and in charge of posts, were set upon and murdered by natives. Nickstadt was drowned and Schlichting cut to pieces with bush knives. Erich Student and his black companion were set upon on 23rd October by about 50 natives, and after being ill-treated in various ways, was taken on board the fiTTS n 14 English steamer " Remus." When he complained to the English officers as to the way in which he had been treated, one of them said to him : " It was high time that we caught you." The Evangelical Press Association for Germany, at its request, has received a telegram from Gehr confirming the above, and saying that he had seen a paper according to which 50^. was put upon the head of every German, by the English. No. 5. Brigadier-General C. M. DOBELL to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received 26th x\pril, 1915.) giR Government House, Duala, 28th March, 1915. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter* of the 16th of February, transmitting a copy of Lieutenant Wieneke's petition in which he com- plains of the treatment which German prisoners received. In accordance with the request contained in paragraph 3 of your letter I attach a report on the statements which concern Lieutenant Wieneke's treatment in Duala and that of his fellow prisoners of war. I am, &c., C. M. DOBELL, Brigadier-General, Commanding the Allied Forces. Enclosure in No. 5. Report. The following appear to be the principal points to which Lieutenant Wieneke draws attention in his petition dated 2nd December, 1914 : — 1. That private 'pro-perty was not protected. All reasonable steps were taken to protect private property — a difficult matter owing to the hostility displayed by the native inhabitants of Duala towards the 'German population. Military patrols were sent out with orders to protect the town from pillage, but, more especially on the afternoon of the 27th September, it was not an easy matter to detail large parties for this purpose, as the military require- ments of the situation demanded the presence of bodies of our troops to patrol the surrounding country. On the afternoon of 27th September our patrols were in touch with the enemy within a few miles of Duala. Some Germans were allowed to retain their weapons and patrol the streets for the protection of life and property. There is no known case of assault or threat by the native inhabitants on a European. There was admittedly a certain amount of plundering by the native inhabitants during the first two days and nights after the occupation, but eventually our troops got the matter well in hand and it was stopped. After this period when more troops were landed, plundering ceased entirely and the native inhabitants settled down and order was restored. Lieutenant Wieneke seems incapable of realising that great difficulties are entailed in taking over a large area containing a mixed European and native popu- lation with an enemy force within striking distance. That no actual cases of assault on the German poiMilation by the natives occurred, is sufficient indication of the active measures that were undertaken to restore order. 2. That the German inhabitants were collected by means of a false statement. The original instructions issued through" Lieutenant Wieneke and other Germans were to the effect that the European population was to come in and register their names, after which they could return to their houses and pack their belong- ings and await further orders. As several persons failed to report themselves at the hospital compound, it became necessary to send patrols under officers into the • No. 1. » u town to ensure the instructions being complied with. The attitude of the Germans — that of mild passive resistance — necessitated the adoption of this course. 3. That the General Officer Commanding misled the -prisoners of war, as they did not ijather from his statement that they, although accommodated on hoard a ship, would be deported. There is nothing to show that such a deduction is reasonable ; the General Officer Commanding acted as he considered most desirable, and it cannot be conceded that he is called upon to explain his action to German prisoners. 4. That the prisoners of war were not' allowed time or opportunity to settle the affairs of their business, missions, &c. The military situation precluded an unlimited amount of time being given to prisoners for this purpose. As a state of war had existed between Great Britain and Germany since August 4th they had ample time to make such provision as they considered necessary. In the case of the manager of the Bank of German West Africa, his books were made up and everything was ready for handing over, with the consequent result that the affairs and property of the bank were found in good order. 5. That the expulsion of an entire population is hardly in accordance ivith the principles of international law. Lieutenant Wieneke overlooks the fact that the European population are indigenous to Germany and not to the Cameroons. Women and children had to be deported for their own safety. No natives of the Cameroons have been deported. 6. That prisoners of war ivere guarded by native soldiers. As no European soldiers were available guards of native troops were provided. The latter were not discourteous to the prisoners, in fact, quite the contrary. 7. That the General Officer Commanding failed to carry out the undertaking to protect Europeans in face of the menace of the native population. No case of assault took place by a native against a European. Had not steps to protect the Europeans been taken the results would probably have been most serious and would have resulted in bloodshed. Many of the Europeans displayed signs of fear and requested protection, which was readily afforded them. 8. That Europeans were buffeted, in the presence of British and French officers, by native soldiers. The statement is untrue and no complaint was made to that effect. 9. That^ all weapons, rifles, pistols, and knives loere taken away and no receipts given. This statement is correct. It is not a custom of war to give receipts for weapons of offence. 10. That prisoners of war loere not allowed to leave the hospital grounds to collect baggage prior to proceeding on board ship. This statement is correct, but permission was refused owing to the attitude and behaviour of the prisoners themselves. 11. That prisoners of war had to carry their own baggage to the wharf. This is partially correct. No carriers were available, except in those cases in which prisoners induced their private servants to carry their belongings. The local natives would not carry loads for German Europeans. The hospital is some quarter of a mile from the wharf and a considerable part of the way is downhill. 12. That prisoners were led through the town through lines of native troops luith fixed bayonets amidst the insults of the populace. Prisoners had to be escorted and native troops alone were available. An expression of popular opinion by the native inhabitants could not well be repressed, and it is fortunate that they did not give vent to their feelings in a more violent manner. 13. That some of the prisoners nearly collapsed under the weight of their baggage and were " driven on " by black soldiers. The writer of this petition has drawn largely on his imagination; all escorts were under the charge of an officer, and there was no question of prisoners being " driven on." «"^ n 2 16 14. That on September 28th, soldiers tvere again sent out to bring in Germans to the hospital. This only serves to show how extremely difficult it was to induce the German population to conduct themselves in a reasonable manner. 15. That the deportation of missionaries was not in accordance with international laiv, and also that the natives were thereby deprived of their spiritual advisers. In the Cameroons, the missionaries, in many cases, did not maintain an attitude of neutrality. One of them made an attempt to sink H.M.S. " Dwarf " under cover of a white flag, and the behaviour of the members of the Basle Mission has been such that the members of the mission had to be sent out of the country. No complaints have been received from natives as to their being deprived of the services of their spiritual advisers. 16. That European and native soldiers, as well as natives of Duala, toere plunder- ing on 28th September, and that French troops pillaged and burnt houses by order. Some unoccupied houses and offices were undoubtedly forcibly entered — such a procedure was necessary, as British and French officers had to be accommodated, and offices had to be established. No order was given to French troops to pillage and loot in Akwa town or elsewhere. 17. That the employees of German firms ivere removed, although non-combatants. Many of these employees drilled and exercised with the troops, but, on the evacuation of Duala, elected to become civilians again. 18. That on board the " Elmina " all sums of money above £5 were taken from prisoners without receipts being given. In nearly every case in which money was removed a receipt has been given; mistakes may have occurred in a few cases, and this is to be regretted, but the matter is capable of subsequent adjustment. 19. That the surrender of Duala was not a question of conquest due to successful attack, but a surrender arranged by treaty. Had H.M.S. " Challenger " been unable to proceed up the Cameroon River and bombard Duala, would Lieutenant Wieneke have felt justified in surrendering the town? Lieutenant Wieneke himself states that the Military Commandant of the town was Lieutenant Nothnagel, and the military position is clearly indicated by an extract from the private diary of the latter officer. The diary was found after the occupation of Duala, and the following passage occurs dated 27th September : " Out at 5 a.m. under full protection as the bombardment may be expected at once. At 7.30 a.m. instructions from Captain Haedicke that the companies are to retire. I am still keeping up telephonic communication with the Commandant, and receive the definite order to give up the useless opposition, march off the coloured troops with arms, make all war material useless, and hoist the white flag." (At this point the diary ends.) 20. Lieutenant Wieneke complains of the treatment of the prisoners of war, women, and children on board the vessels which conveyed them from Duala to Suellaba Point and thence to Lagos. It is admitted that the prisoners had to undergo a certain amount of personal discomfort, but such steps as were possible were taken to make them more com- fortable. As an example, on the morning of 29th September, a meal consisting of hot coffee and rolls for over 200 people w^as prepared on board the " Appam " and sent to the prisoners. The statement that "' organized pillaging " took place on board ship is untrue. There is no room for doubt that the European Germans are both unclean in their persons and dirty in their habits, so that the probability is that the transports m which they proceeded to Lagos were rendered insanitary. It may be added that the Prisoners of War Bureau, Duala, holds letters from various individuals tendering their thanks for the considerate manner in which thev were treated. 17 No. 6. The secretary OF STATE to the GOVERNOR OF THE GOLD COAST. [Answered by No. 14.] Sir, Downing Street, 4th May, 1915. I HAVE the honour to transmit to you the enclosed copy of a letter* from Mr. J. A. N. Gain, forwarding a copy of a letter issued from Berlin making allega- tions as to the treatment of the German missionaries sent from Duala to Accra, and especially as to the alleged death of the wife of W. Martens. 2. I have already asked you to comment upon the similar statements made by Dr. Oehler and Dr. Vbhringer as to the treatment of Frau Martens, but I may observe that her name does not appear in the return of the deaths of unofficials for the month of December. I have, &c., L. HARCOURT. No. 7. Brigadier- General C. M. DOBELL to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received 21st May, 1915.) Sir, Government House, Duala, 17th April, 1915. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 8th March last.f transmitting a copy of an extract from the Weser Zeitung purporting to describe the action, instigated by the British authorities, of natives in the Cameroons. 2. Regarding the allegation that a price has been placed on the heads of Germans in this country, I am in a position to state that no reward, monetary or otherwise, has been offered to the native inhabitants of this country for the purpose specified, and I am also at a loss to understand the statement of Herr Gehr that he had seen a document which particularised the sum of 50s. I need hardly add that no such document was issued by my authority or by that of any officer under my command. 3. With regard to particular individuals mentioned, the General Staff report dated 25th October, 1914, reads as follows : — " Shident — a native of Prussia — states he belongs to the National Defence Corps. He left the German Army before he completed his term of service on account of weak eyes. He had been in the Cameroons six months. Is a merchant and has a factory at Edea. He was mobilised on 19th August and reported himself at Edea. He was put in charge of the native troops at Malimba— sometimes he had two Europeans there and at other times four — only a few native soldiers. " Last Friday he was having lunch at Malimba with one soldier when he was seized by some natives and tied up. The soldier was also captured. The natives kicked him and knocked him about. They took him to the ' Remus ' and he was transferred to a launch and brought to Duala. " The natives took his and his native soldier's rifles and 170 rounds of ammunition. He did not see them handed over to the troops. All his papers were taken by natives. " His companions. Private Nickstaedt and one soldier, who were in a canoe, were taken by surprise by the natives, and their canoe capsized and both were beaten to death and drowned." Beyond the above nothing is known of the fate of Nickstaedt. Regarding the remark alleged to have been made to Student by an officer on board the " Remus " " It was high time that we caught you," it is impossible at this date to trace the officer, if any, to whom the remark is attributed, but it may be interpreted to mean that the British officer in question " was glad that Student had been saved from further ill-treatment by Cameroon natives." I do not, however attach much importance to this quotation, whi ch, in any case, appears to be harmless! * Not printed. + j^q_ 4_ 6775 18 4 Schlichting was surprised by a detachment of our troops at Yadibo near Lobethal Kwa Kwa Creek, and in the firing which ensued Schlichtmg was killed and a British soldier wounded in the thigh. A German native soldier who was with Schlichting escaped into the bush. From this it would appear that Schlichting fell in fair fight and was not treated as described in the newspaper extract. • , Foreign Office, June 26th, 1915. With reference to the letter from this Department of the 18th instant,* transmitting copy of a note in draft form which the Secretary of State proposes to address to the United States Ambassador in reply to the complaint of the German Government respecting -damage to the property of German subjects in the Came- roons, I am directed by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to transmit here- with, for the consideration of Mr. Secretary Bonar Law, copy of a further Note from the United States Ambassador on this matter, in which" serious charges are also made against British and native troops, and to suggest that it might be desir- able to include a refutation of these charges in the above-mentioned draft note. I am, &c., A. LAW. * Not printed. 29 Enclosure in No. 11. The American Ambassador presents his compliments to His Majesty's Secre- tary of State for Foreign Affairs, and has the honour to transmit herewith a copy of Note Verbale, No. Ulb 13208/73982, of the Imperial Foreign Office, dated May 31st, received through the Embassy at Berlin, relative to the alleged treatment oi German subjects and German property in the Cameroons. Dr. Page vrill be glad to transmit to Berlin the substance of any reply that His Majesty's Government may desire to make. London, 18th June, 1915. (Translation.) Ill b 13208/73982 From reports in the possession of the German Government, and sworn declara- tions of reliable, and in some cases neutral, individuals, as well as the formal pro- tests drawn up by the German Governor of the Cameroons and other officials and officers of this Protectorate, there is no room for doubt that no respect whatever has been shown for private property in those parts of the Cameroons which have been occupied by the British and French. The goods of peaceful colonists, who have generally had to leave them without any satisfactory protection, owing to the way in which their arrest was carried out, have been given over to systematic looting by the native population who have been stirred up against the Germans, and by the coloured Englishmen and Frenchmen belonging to the invading force. But more than this, white English soldiers too, and even English officers, have been guilty of the most serious crimes against the private property of Germans. The German Government is also in possession of sworn declarations, and other sources of knowledge, according to which the Franco-British invading force in the Cameroons not only employ their coloured soldiers in setting upon the Germans (including women and children), but have even hired natives to hunt the Germans and drag them into captivity, if not even to do away with them. The Foreign Office begs the Embassy of the United States of America, through the agency of the American Embassy in London, to address the strongest protest with the least possible delay to the British Government against the behaviour of the British troops in the Cameroons, which is contrary to all sentiment of race and civilisation, and to urge most forcibly upon the British Government, who can hardly approve this sort of warfare against the white race on African soil, that they should send clear instructions to Brigadier-General Dobell, Commanding the Franco- British Forces m the Cameroons, to issue the necessary orders to prevent the repe- tition henceforth of similar acts of violence against the Germans in the Cameroons and against their private property. The Foreign Office would be grateful to the Embassy if they will communicate as soon as possible the result of their action. Berlin, May 31st, 1915. No. 12. COLONIAL OFFICE to Major-General C. M. DOBELL. [Answered by No. 16.] ^^R' Downing Street, 5th July, 1915. I AM directed by Mr. Secretary Bonar Law to transmit to you a translation of a pamphlet which is being published in Germany regarding the alleged treatment of German missionaries and others in the Cameroons. 2. The Secretary of State would be glad if you would furnish him with your comments on the statements contained in this pamphlet, in the same way as you did m your letter of March 28th* when reporting on Lieutenant Wieneke's complaints. I am, &c., H. J. READ, for the Under-Secretary of State. • No. 5. 30 Enclosure in No. 12. [Translation.) The Martyrdom of the Evangelical Missionaries in the Cameroons, 1914. Narratives of Eyewitnesses. Edited by Pastor W. Stark, Director of the Evangelical Press Union for Germ.^ny : Berlin-Steglitz, 1915. Foreword. Only a few months ago England was reckoned the best friend of mission work — the country whose Government was most eagerly concerned to spread Christian religion and civilisation among the heathen. England's Bible and Missionary Societies enjoyed world-wide repute and esteem. Her missions to the heathen were reckoned a pattern and example in all other countries. To-day there rests upon this England the serious charge of having by her conduct of war in the colonies ruined the civilising work of flourishing mission stations, Swiss and American, as well as German, for a long time to come. English officers and soldiers have annihilated the respect of the black population for the whites, have committed thefts, broken open safes, ill-treated defenceless white women before the eyes of the blacks, illegally arrested American citizens and paid the blacks a price per head for every German they kidnap. All this proved by unimpeachable German and American witnesses in the following narratives. In view of the importance of the matter, we have, before going to press, for- warded to each of the witnesses concerned the section of this pamphlet which' rests upon the information supplied by him, asked for his signature in his own hand- writing and reproduced it in facsimile. For the rest, in submitting the documents we refrain from any anticipatory expression of opinion, because we are firmly con- vinced that every unprejudiced reader can and will form a sound and correct judgment for himself.— -(rA? Editor.) Maltreatment of American Missionaries by the English in the Cameroons. (Information supplied by^the American missionary, A. Orthner, recently returned from the Cameroons, where he was for many years an active member of the Baptist Mission.) Missionary Orthner was at his station Nyamtang, which was occupied by the English on 6th November. He narrates as follows: — "We had just risen from lunch; as we walked out on to the verandah dozens of rifle-barrels bristled at us, while other soldiers pulled us down from the steps. Frau Wolff was treated in the same way. We stood in the burning mid-day sun and could not even take our sun- helmets. We asked an English officer, who came up to us with cocked revolver, why defenceless people like ourselves were treated thus. We were then allowed to enter our house, which was surrounded by soldiers. Now, however, they robbed us of our goats, poultry, and everything we had. They even reaped our makabo- plots (makabo, an African tuberous plant). Our expensive imported boards were hacked to bits for firewood. " We went now to pack up. I made up seven loads of 70 lbs. each, and we were taken via Jabassi to the coast. Soon it came out that the three most important of my bundles, in which my papers, letters, 1,555 marks in silver, and my most neces- sary clothes were packed, were missing. In answer to my enquiries for these things I was told that they had perhaps come with the Government baggage, and I should find everything in Duala." Pastor Orthner, however, has never seen his property again. He says : — " I was now without money and without sufficient clothing. Even our own provisions had been taken from us, and we were fed on bad ' corned beef ' and ' fresh herring,' the latter obtained from the negroes. " We remained a fortnight in the internment camp in Duala. The house in which we were imprisoned was surrounded by a high fence and there were guards set about it. We were quartered on the second floor and on the verandah of it six soldiers were stationed as guards. Beneath, at the entrance, stood two more. If one wanted to go into the court in order to wash, or even to relieve oneself, one had to wait till a negro soldier, at his convenience, put on his accoutrements and accompanied one close at one's heels. The ladies were taken to another place in 31 Duala where they were no better treated. Some of them have experienced things which I cannot here speak of, which, however, prove that the English officers are responsible for what happened and that they are low characters. We were loaded with abuse, and an officer said that if he had his way we should simply be shot down in order that we and all other Germans might vanish from the earth. On the 22nd November we were told to make ready and that each might take with him a box of 50 lbs. weight. We were compelled, in the presence of the natives, to carry our loads ourselves, which counts here among the natives as a great disgrace. We were brought, with the women and children, to the steamer " Appam." A lady named Schwarz was expecting a baby, and although the doctor declared her condi- iion dangerous she had to climb on board the " Appam," which lay out in the road- stead. Within twenty-four hours the child was born." The underhand way in which the English " arrest " German missionaries is shown by the following case :— Herr Gutbrod, of the Basle Mission, was surprised one afternoon by a messenger who informed him that a European wished to see him down in the village. After he had hastily said good-bye to his wife he went to the village, which was close to, and there he found himself in the presence of an English officer and some soldiers. The officer explained to him that he had to go an hour's march further on where other Englishmen wished to see him. Arrived here, he was required to go three hours further still. He begged permission to go back in order to fetch several things, and because his wife would become very anxious. He was not given permission, but was assigned a negro's hut with sentries stationed at its entrances. There was now no further doubt that he was a prisoner He was now allowed to write a letter to his wife in which he told her what things to pack. This letter did not reach her for weeks, and, in fact, it was delivered only two hours before she was herself taken away to the coast. Pastor Orthner further relates that he was given to understand that he could make his situation easier if he would give information about " German atrocities." Missionary Wolff was actually offered his release if he agreed to write an article about " German atrocities." These gentlemen, however, knew of no German atrocities and frankly said so. Herr Wolff, however, sent them an article about English atrocities. It may here be recorded that the latter is an American citizen, and in spite of this was taken prisoner and brought to England. Before Pastor Orthner fell into captivity the enemy had already taken Duala on the 27th September. The following night this town was sacked by the Duala negroes. Here, too, the missionaries were taken prisoners, and brought on board the ship " Bathurst " by negro soldiers. On the very first night they were all wakened up and actually robbed of a,ll their possessions. The missionary superin- tendent Martens had still 300 marks intended for six missionaries, but of these 100 marks were in paper money. He begged urgently to be allowed to keep the cash, but he was left only the paper money, which now was quite worthless, and the rest Avas taken from him. The six missionaries still possessed between them 25 pfennigs. These missionaries were taken to Accra, on the Gold Coast, to one of the notorious internment camps. After some da.ys the missionaries were set free on parole, but thereupon the English ceased to provide for them. Moneyless in a foreign land, that is a heavy fate. As Pastor Orthner could not be reached, we laid this narrative before Mission- ary Valentin Wolff for confirmation. He writes : — " The Rev. A. Orthner, now living at 830, Parker Avenue, Detroit, Mich., U.S.A., was my fellow-worker in Nyamtam. His report, as given above, is in absolute accordance with my experience. " Valentin Wolff, " (Citizen of the U.S.A.)" « Entirely independently of this narrative of the American missionary Orthner, which appeared first in the '' Detroiter Abendpost," the missionary Valentin Wolff, of the German Baptist Mission, whom he mentions, relates the story of the robbing of the station at Nyamtang. 'Narrative of the Missionary Valentin Wolff (American citizen). After a description of the capture of Duala and Buea by the English, for which they had collected about 10,000 black troops, which had encountered practically no resistance, he relates how the English and their black troops fell upon and 32 plundered the station of Nyamtang. The missionaries were driven into the yard of the station by English soldiers and compelled to stand without covering in the burning ravs of the mid-day sun and to watch how various soldiers went through the rooms and made everything that could be seized in the way of money, watches, and other objects of value migrate into their knapsacks. The narrative then goes on : — " When, soon afterwards, a Colonel appeared on the scene with other officers, and I expressed my surprise that Englishmen should fall upon a mission station in such fashion, and complained of our shameful treatment at the hands of the English soldiers, I received the answer ' war is war.' When we pointed out that we were American citizens the Colonel answered us that he had strict orders to take prisoner all whites without exception, and, therefore, we too must be ready to travel the next morning. That our farewell from the scene of our many years' activity was a most painful one under such circumstances may be imagined. x\fter we had gone about half a kilometre, the officer marching at my side received from the Colonel a signed slip of paper on which he asked for the keys of the rooms in which we had stored such properties as we had left behind. Suspecting no evil, we continued our journey. At Ndogobao a short rest was made. Here we found our female servants and other natives who had run after us, and learned from them that the English who had remained on the spot after our departure had broken open doors and even chests and boxes, and packed up everything worth taking, or else sold it to natives. At first we refused to believe it, but it was confirmed to us from various quarters. " When we arrived at Jabassi it was already getting dark. We spent the night in the house of the firm C. Woermann, in which there was not a single piece of furniture left. Everything had been stolen ! Here also we made the painful discovery that nine of our packages were missing. One of the English comforted us with the remark that they probably had been taken by mistake to the Govern- ment sheds. On the next day, however, as we continued our journey to Duala, we saw some of the objects in the possession of the English soldiers, and knew that we had been robbed again. " I should like further to remark that the English, quite soon after their arrival at Nyamtang, indicated in various ways that during their march thither they had seen several corpses of natives on the road. They professed to be unable to under- stand how German soldiers could shoot down inoffensive natives. Thereupon I drew their attention to the fact that it was not in any way proved who had shot the natives. After we had arrived at Duala I was called before the Commandant and was required to write something about the ' atrocities ' of the Germans. I refused and was released. Soon followed a second summons, and again came this proposal. After I had declared myself ready to write what I had seen I was allowed to go away again. The contents of my memorandum, which I then handed in, dealt with the shameless treatment which has been meted out to us and other missionaries. There- upon I was again summoned and sharply warned, because my composition was an accusation against the English and French troops, and cast a slur upon the whole command. However, they had the pitiful audacity to go a step further and to give me the hope of being released from my imprisonment on the next dav if I fulfilled their wi.sh and consented to submit to them a narrative dealing with the 'atrocities ' practised bv the German troops! Naturally, I could not do that. Under the charge that I had as an American citizen been contravening neutralitv, and support- ing the German Government in its purposes, my wife and I were then brought as prisoners of war to England. Happily, however, I was finally set at liberty and allowed to travel to Germany, in consideration of my being an ordained missionary. " Missionar Valentin Wolff, Amerikanischer Btirger." Concerning the shameful treatment suffered in English captivity the mission- ary Charlotte Schiller writes : — Sunday, the 27th September, brought us the sad event of the surrender of Duala. The following night passed quietly for us, but next morning the English and the French, both blacks and whites, gave us no more peace. Our missionaries were ordered out of the house by them, and had to appear before them in the yard. On Mondav we were still left at liberty, but on Tuesday morning, 29th September, we too were arrested. We were told, certainly, "You need only register your names 33 at the hospital and can then go away again at once." But we were kept there, and all Germans were taken in the same fashion. On Wednesday we were taken on board the little English steamer " Bathurst.'' In cleanliness the boat left much to be desired. The gentlemen had to spend day and night on deck, the ladies were assigned cabins, in such a condition, however, that it was an effort to force oneself to sleep in them. About midnight we were awakened and searched for money. When we came on deck, missionary Martens had already had 200 marks taken from him ; he had only been left with 25 pfennigs. No one made any provision for our food. The first two days we actually received none; on the third day some rations were served out to us, yet not enough to satisfy hunger. One gentleman received a glass of ground pepper, I received a piece of soap and many other inedible objects. On the fourth day each of us received two pieces of ship's biscuit — about ^ lb. altogether — and a salted herring, and that had to last for a day. Later there was salt meat with rice. The gravy was often quite green and on its surface floated maggots. Plates, cups, knives, and forks were not forthcoming. Some ate out of the hollow of their hands, others, including ourselves, pressed the sides of empty tins flat, and spoons were cut out of old pieces of wood. We had been made a present of an enamelled dish, and this served us, about 22 people, for eating, wash- ing, and washing-up. So passed the first days, and under such conditions 18 persons were soon ill. We were brought to the Gold Coast, and with a heathenish din the natives rowed us through the violent surf to the shore at Accra. Then the women and children were conveyed on great, dirty motor waggons to the accom- paniment of stone throwing, spitting, and so on on the part of the natives. On Monday, 7th December, we had to pack up again. In the afternoon we were brought to the shore on motor waggons, and from there in boats on board the ^^Appam," an English steamer. All whites, whether Germans or neutrals (Dutch, Swiss or Americans) had been brought there from the Colony, and even the neutrals were treated as prisoners of war. On Monday, the 28th of December, we reached Liverpool; on Tuesday we left the ship, married couples were again separated; there were prostrating scenes. In batches of 40 the gentlemen, who totalled almost 250, were led off under guard, to be seen no more in England by their wives and children. The ladies were taken to an inn. To our joy some gentlemen of the American Consulate came later on and undertook our conveyance to London. On our way from the " Appam " to our inn we saw the Liverpool children rub a dead rat in dirt and then throw it in the face of one of the ladies of our party. Dirt and stones were thrown at us too. In London we were taken charge of by the German Benevolent Society because all of us could not travel at once to Rotterdam, and we were put up at the " German hotel " there and looked after. Here, after so long an interval, we felt for the first time like human beings again. Then we reached Rotterdam and passed from there to the Dutch-German frontier. Ah, what a joy it was to us when we were able to set foot upon German soil. Charlotte Schuler. From the Basle (Swiss) Mission. The English treated in no less shameful fashion the missionaries of the Basle Mission, a Swiss, and therefore neutral, society which works in the Cameroons. In the official organ of this society, the " Evangelische Heidenbote," the director of this mission, Doctor of Theology Oehler, wrote the following with regard to the reports from the missionaries which had been given to the " Basler Nachrichten " : — " These facts amount to charges against England, her policy, and her methods of warfare. England has wantonly carried the war into the colonies, and so made a world war out of the war of nations. England has turned the war into a fight against the guiltless, and against women. They have been made prisoner, drafted away, and treated with revolting brutality. The mission's work of peace was sacrificed to a method of warfare which not only fights the State and the army, but also the indi- vidual members of the nation, and thus sets itself in opposition to the fundamental principles of civilisation." This declaration was printed by the " Basler Nachrichten " and provoked, under date the 20th February, a protest from the British Embassy at Berne, which contains, among other things, the statement : — " In the Cameroons the missionaries were treated with all due consideration. They were brought to England because it was thought more in accordance with humanity to intern them in a temperate 34 climate. The assertion that they were brutally treated has no foundation whatever." Everyone of unprejudiced judgment is in a position to form his own opinion about this ■' audacious protest " of the English Ambassador at Berne in view of the preceding narratives of unimpeachable witnesses. Director of Missions, Dr. Oehler, immediately gave the Ambassador a clear reply in the '' Easier Nachrichten " of the 25th February. The Answer of Director of Missions, Dr. of Theology Oehler of Basle, to the Protest of the British Ambassador in Berne. It runs : — I maintain my assertion in spite of its denial by the British Embassy. The question concerns the missionaries of the following stations : — Bonaku with Bonaduma and Bonebela, Bonaberi, Mangamba, Jabassi, Ndunge, Buea, and Lobetal. These were gradually occupied. There were black troops of the English and Frene'i under the command of white men. Side by side with white officers a certain Mr. Paul played a part as civil governor. Who was answerable for the treatment during their transport on board ship I do not know, but iu any case on English ships it must have been Englishmen. The missionaries and their wives were arrested at different times and in different groups. For this reason their treat- ment was not quite consistent, and all that I shall say is not of general application. Here are some points from our missionaries' tale of suffering. In perfect confidence that the English, as a civilised nation friendly to missions, would behave honourably towards the missionaries, the latter remained in their stations when the threat of occupation came, and believed that they might also reassure the members of their communities. They were to be cruelly disappointed. At Duala they were told that they had to report themselves personally at the hospital, and would then be allowed to go free. They did so, and were at once detained. There was system in this procedure. There are known to me two more cases of similar deception of missionaries. At Duala members of our mission, men and their wives and unmarried lady missionaries, were herded together in a small room (in the tropics !) and were given nothing to eat for twenty-four hours. Only some black servants took pity on them. They were guarded by black soldiers. In the case of some missionaries and mission- aries' wives who were arrested later on, the black soldiers kept their guard in such fashion that modesty forbids me to speak in plainer terms. The plunder of mission houses by blacks, and the robbery of the private property of the missionaries by whites. I do not propose to set forth in detail, but it must be mentioned. The above-mentioned Mr. Paul, when complained to, declared to the mission- aries that he ought really to have them all shot. The missionaries, with many other Germans, were taken to the landing place on their way to the transport before the eyes of the blacks like a troop of criminals, guarded bynumerous black soldiers with fixed bayonets. Many were prevented from taking with them even the most necessary clothes for the journey. They travelled in their thin tropical clothes. They were not brought immediately to England as would appear from the version given by the Embassy, at least, not all of them. The first group .was taken, in the first jilace, to Lagos. On the ship on the way the men had not even any proper protection against wind and weather. The rations for men and women consisted on some days of a single ship's biscuit with maggots in it. On other days they received rice which they had to cook in an iron bowl which had once contained chloride of lime. They had to eat cooked rice out of their hands. A request for a glass of filtered water (the unfiltered is dangerous to health) was refused to a missionarv. On such occasions they had to submit to vulgar abuse. All this took place although there was no lack of provisions on the ship. The black ship's crew was well fed. So it was on their journey. At Lagos they were allowed to live in a house belonging to an English missionary society, and there they had a better time. Later they obtained leave (and herein we have an instance of consideration on the part of the English officials) to be taken to the Gold Coast. There their treatment was in some respects good. These instances may suffice. We have before us an abundance of documentary evidence which in part has been published in the " Evangelische Heidenbote." Now let us come to the witnesses. For the confirmation of mv statements and 3.5 of my judgment, I bring forward first from among the persons examined by myself the two ladies Link and Hecklinger, the ordained missionary Lutz, Superintendent of the Cameroons Mission, Hecklinger, member of the Executive Committee, and missionaries Gutbrod, Wittwer, Bartschi, and Woll. For those who consider still furtlier evidence necessary, I am prepared to name twenty to thirty further witnesses, some of whom are resident in Switzerland. The evidence of the Basle missionaries is confirmed by that of the German missionary Martens, whose invalid wife, after she had suffered, in the Cameroons and on the journey, experiences such as those sketched above, died in hospital on the Gold Coast, heartlessly treated by an English nurse but humanely by a black. The lady, though sick to death, had been refused a visit from her husband until consciousness began to fade. 7^^^. statements of Martens have been transmitted to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Berlin, and have also been published in various German newspapers. Th. Oehler. Basle, 23rd February, 1915. In English Hands. — Experiences of Prisoners of War in the Cameroons. On the morning of the 27th September the white flag waved in Duala. In the evening the Allies hoisted theirs. On the morning of the 28th September they dis- embarked their troops. From that moment onwards Duala was actually in their power. What that meant was shown first by the Duala tribe. Since the execution of Rudolf Bell (Duala Manga) they had vanished. On this morning it was as if the river-mouths and the basin spat Duala. The sky rang again with an indescribable shout of scorn and rejoicing. New swarms continually arrived. It seemed as though there would be no end. Then they immediately began to plunder. The warehouses and sheds on the shore, in which no Germans were present, piles of timber, piled up stores of all kinds, everything which was not fast under rivet or nail, was looted and carried off under the eyes of the English. At the railway station a German had his head cleft open with a bush-knife, and yet all this could so easily have been prevented by the English and French. Even yet the accustomed prestige of the German among the Duala had not been broken. When they were met with calm decision — I myself saw it — then they at once left off looting, and even excused themselves with the plea that they had received permission from the English. Whether that was true we will not inquire further. What is certain is that this looting was very welcome to the English so long as we Germans were witnesses. When they had shut us up in the hospital they proceeded with barbarous severity against the plundering Duala, and any caught looting were either shot down or thrashed in unheard of fashion. In the case of one Duala, we counted from the verandah of the hospital that he received fifty-two strokes at one sit- ting—from the same Englishmen who till then had represented them- selves as the liberators of the Duala. Instead, the English themselves, especially the English officers, had taken over the role of robbers and thieves, and from that moment they did not let themselves be meddled with in their business. Germans who were arrested later observed the proceedings of the British officers — how they broke open and looted chests and boxes in private houses. Others observed how in a factory they supplied themselves with silver cigarette cases and other similar objects wliich were not exactly necessary for mili- tary purposes. Again, others observed how three nights long they laboured to break open a safe — but to judge from the time chosen for the business, "not altogether for the benefit of the English war chest. Indeed, it actually happened once, in the case of a specially fine safe, that they intimated through a third party to the owner, who was still on the spot, that he should deliver over the key to them because it was a pity to break open this fine safe like the rest. The behaviour of the English merchants previously settled- at Duala was in some cases quite especially \ad. One constituted himself the universal informer, and set the officers against us, especially hj telling them that the English merchants interned with us had received nothing to eat except rice and dried cod, whereas they had been lodged all the time on the " Hans Woermann " in first-class cabins and had received exactly the same rations as the captain himself. Another was observed by Germans in 'the act of breaking open and plundering private chests of Germans with axe and pick To-day, Duala is robbed and plundered bare. If the English are asked however where the goods have gone, then thev say: "The Duala have done it Ynu have 36 seen that yourselves." And this was why the Duala had on the first day to be given unbridled freedom in all manner of evil-doing. But to return to the course of events. In the course of the afternoon of the 28th September came news — -from whom I cannot say, for, to my good fortune, I was kept busy below on the shore, and so was not in my home — that all men, especially the unmarried, must come to the Government Office in order to be registered. They need not bring anything with them; they would be released again immediately. Two hours later those arrested in this fashion were on their way to Dahomey, where they, and likewise a section of the Germans captured in Togo, were divided into smaller squads, and made over to the local offices for labour. There they now work like slaves under black overseers in plantations and on roads, in some cases clothed merely in a loin-cloth and sandals. That is not merely an incredible insult to a white skin, but for many it is direct murder of the basest kind. It is especially characteristic that the blacks who greeted such prisoners were punished with severe fines or flogging. Out there, in fact, the Germans are not merely to be ruined economically, but in general their position is to be made impossible for them by the systematic trampling of their honour in the dirt. After the majority of the Germans had been removed in this fashion, the rest, men and women, including myself, were herded together into the Government Hospital by black soldiers without the control of white officers, naturally to the accompaniment of the jeers of the Duala. Many, especially women, certainly came there of their own free-will, because they had no other means of saving themselves from the importunities of the soldateska who went about without any control. In a narrow space within a few rooms about 150 of us, both men and women, were thus finally crammed together— a true martyrdom, for lavatories were lacking and under, no circumstances were we permitted to leave these rooms. We were given nothing to eat for two whole days, but we will not make that a ground for further complaint, for our servants had almost all remained faithful to us, and however often they were sent away by the English, still faithfully looked after us. Besides, the German character showed itself in its most beautiful light in acts of mutual assistance. After two days we were brought on board the steamer " Bathurst," where the women received cabins, while the men had to camp on the bare deck at the mercy of the rain. There were neither blankets, nor eating utensils, nor knives and forks given to us, although only very few of us had been allowed to bring anything beyond what we carried on our bodies. On the first night, between 11 and 12 o'clock, all the prisoners, including the ladies, were awakened and most rigorously searched and all money above 100 marks was taken from them, without their being given the receipt which they demanded. As the same procedure was to be repeated next morning, the stolen money must presumably have flowed into the pockets of the English officers concerned. From Duala our journey led us next by slow degrees to Lagos. Apart from the fact that we got practically nothing to eat — often only one ship's biscuit a day— and that the rain frequently made our accommodation almost unbearable, still, on this journey we had not so much to complain of. The veteran English mercenary troops behaved themselves, be it said to their credit, in exemplary fashion At Lagos we had a fortnight's wait with sufficient rations, but considerable lack of water. There also the Germans, simple civilians, of course, who had been arrested later were brought. These later convoys were specially badly treated because of the reverses suffered meanwhile at Jabassi, and on the railway to the interior In the day-time, for example, a convoy was packed together into so narrow a space that the men could neither sit nor lie down. At night they lay, without blankets, on the bare iron plates. Not only their money, but even their last cigar was taken from them. Once it happened that on a request for drinking water, the water was simply poured into the closet pail and placed before the Germans. When thev complained of this, a British officer declared " it is all the same whether German swme have wat^r or not." Moral ill-treatment of this kind, though not of such flagrancy w^s frequent. Only an African colonist can appreciate what it means If British officers talk to blacks of whites as " German swine." or if a German has enouS^ ^"^ '' """"^"^ ^ " German pig " by blacks; and that happened often O From Lagos the missionaries came with their wives to the Gold Coast How finely they were treated there is shown by the following example. The wife of a missionary had become mortally ill as a result of exhaustion. Her urgent ):)rayer to be allowed to speak once more to her husband was not granted. Not till she 37 was so weak that she was no longer capable of speech, was her husband allowed to come for a few moments, though not to remain with her till the end. Finally, when she was in extremis her husband was called again and allowed to stay until his wife had passed away. Things like this are beyond what can be excused with the words "such is war," for this happened on the Gold Coast where there was no enemy for hundreds of miles. That is merely an emanation of English feeling or of English " morality." The rest of us men, women and children — even babies in arms — were taken on board the cargo steamer " Obuasi " at Lagos and transported by it to England, all the time under the guard of blacks. The women received decent, though limited, accommodation in some cabins that there were, but hardly ever sufficient to eat. The men, from seven hundred to nine hundred in number, were herded together in the hold where, beside their berths, there was actually no sufficient standing room left. The food on the first days was sufficient, but rapidly went bad and became almost uneatable, so that we were almost all made ill by it. Hardly any drinking water was given. Medicines and bandages appear not to have been present on board.. At any rate, the prisoners received nothing except quinine and aperients for all complaints and had to let open wounds and sores simply bleed into their clothes. There was enough milk for the children on board, but it was not served out. But the worst were the latrine arrangements. They were so badly contrived that in a strong wind we people on the after-deck were many times deluged from head to foot in scattered filth. That was an existence in which one no longer knew what to do for shame and rage. Especially bad was the time at Freetown (Sierra Leone). We lay in the harbour about five days. Scarcely a breeze stirred. The sun blazed pitilessly and we were pitilessly exposed to it. The iron plates of the freight deck on which we had to live were so hot that they burnt through the soles on one's boots. In addition, hardly any drinking water was served out. Almost every one of us had the feeling : " A few more such days and my reason is in danger." A seaman among us got sunstroke here and died. As, however, that could not. of course, be admitted, he was registered as having died of " blackwater fever." Dr. G. LOHRINGER. From the narrative of the Missionary, Pauline Kessler, of the German Baptist Mission in the Ndogongi (Cameroons) :— " Hewn-off Hands." " After the arrest and carrying off of all Germans from the coast districts had become known among the population of the bush, the latter gradually turned its attention to the inland mission stations. Thus the Duala had repeatedly attempted to persuade the neighbouring tribes around Ndogongi to take us captive and bring us to Duala, telling them that they would receive from the English a great reward for delivering us up. Yet our heathen neighbours did not actually dare to attack us for they were afraid of the weapons of the whites. Some of them did, indeed, go to Duala and draw the attention of the English to us, but the latter did not come against us themselves, the way seemed to them to be too difficult. On the other hand, they seem to have made the natives promises of presents for every German or every soldier of the colonial force whom they could deliver to them. At the beginning of December a soldier of the colonial force was murdered at Lokat, four to five hours' journey distant from our station. One of his hands was hacked off and brought with his rifle to the English at Duala. It is said that a reward was paid for this. Soon after, workmen who had worked for the German Govern- ment, but were now discharged, were robbed, attacked, and murdered. Their hands too were brought to Duala. On the 23rd December a black soldier came from Jabassi to Ndogongi in company with a mission pupil from Nyamtang. He was to have brought us a message. On the 24th December, early in the morning, he was found murdered in the neighbourhood of our station together with the pupil. Rifle and hand were again handed over to the English. We saw both soldier and teacher mutilated and dead, lying near to our station." Pauline Kessler. 38 J The story of the -payment by the English of a price per head to blacks for I the kidnajrping of Germans sounds hardly credible. It is, however, proved by the 1 following narrative delivered on oath : — The declaration of the American citizen missionary Wolff. '• According to the declaration of the missionaries Schwarz and Gehr, of the Basle Mission at Lobetal, on the river Sanaga, and also of the merchant Erich Student, representative of the firm Deutsche Kamerun-Gesellschaft, G. m. b. H. (German Cameroons Company, Limited) in Edea, who were in captivity with us, the English troops on the Sanaga incited natives of that district to hand over to them Germans who were employed as outpost-commanders in the service of the German Government on the Lower Sanaga or else to render them innocuous, and that for this a reward was offered up to 505. for every German. As a result of this incitement the outpost-commanders, Petty Officer Nickstadt and Quartermaster Schlichting, both belonging to the steamer ' Kamerun ' lying in the harbour of Duala, were fallen upon and murdered by natives. Nickstadt was drowned, and Schlichting was cut to pieces with bush knives. The merchant Erich Student, who had been enrolled in the Colonial force, was, on the 23rd October at two o'clock in the afternoon, according to his declaration, made to me in the internment camp at Duala, set upon together with his black companion, by about fifty natives, stripped naked to his breeches and badly beaten, then laid flat in a canoe half filled with water and so brought on board the English steamer ' Remos.' As far as I recollect, he said that he lay sixteen hours in this water before the steamer was reached. Arrived on board he complained to the English officers about the inhuman treatment he had received, whereupon one of these gentlemen said, ' It was high time that we caught you.' He was then taken to the internment camp at Duala where he arrived bare-footed and clothed in nothing but his breeches, with his face swollen and blood-shot. When I came upon him shortly afterwards in the internment camp the traces of his maltreatment were still clearly visible. Missionary Schwarz, moreover, recounted that he was in possession of an English pound sterling which had been paid as a reward to a native." Missionar Valentin Wolff, Amerikanischer Biirger. The Editor of this pamphlet asked the above-mentioned missionary Gehr the following question by telegraph : — " Missionary Chr. Gehr, Calwwiirttemberg. Beg for purpose of publi- cation confirmation by wire of declaration of missionary Valentin Wolff, Neuruppin, that English on Sanaga set reward of 50s. upon head of Germans, murdered Petty Officer Nickstadt and Quartermaster Schlichting, and mal- treated merchant Student. Telegraphic address Evanpresse Berlinsteglitz, Director Pastor Stark, Pressverband fiir Deutschland." He received the following answer by telegraph : — " Stark, Pressverband fiir Deutschland, Evanpresse Berlinsteglitz. I confirm that the merchants Student and Nickolai, as well as the sailor Fischer, were frightfully maltreated by natives on the Sanaga. That Nickstadt was drowned and Schlichting was murdered. Merchant Student saw a bill according to which 505. was set by the English upon the head of every German." Missionary Chr. Gehr. That this answer is not tampered with is confirmed on comparison. Chr. Gehr, Missionary. AT'ofe.— The German originals of the telegrams on this and preceding pages and the signatures appended to the statements throughout are reproduced in facsimile in the German original. 39 No. 13. The acting GOVERNOR OF THE GOLD COAST to the SECRETARY OF STATE. (Received 13th July, 1915.) Sir, Government House, Accra, 18th June, 1915. I HAVE the honour i.o acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Harcourt's despatch of the 23rd April, 1915,* forwarding copies of correspondence regarding various allegations as to the treatment of Germans in West Africa. I have also received Mr. Harcourt's despatch of the 4th May,t forwarding a copy of a letter from Professor Deissmann received through Mr. J. A. N. Gain, in which the former makes similar allegations, but more particularly with regard to the treatment of the wife of a prisoner of war called Martens. 2. The Governor has already reported (in despatch of the 2nd Mayt) the true facts of the case regarding the treatment of Frau Martens in hospital, and I need only remark here that Dr. Vohringer's statements (in his Hamburg lecture on the 30th January, 1915) that " the request of Frau Martens to see her husband was persistently refused," and that " it was only when she was too weak to speak that he was sent for but not allowed to remain," are untrue. The requests were not refused, but when the European nurse sent for the husband he did not always come, although the officer in charge of the detention camp (about i mile distant) gave him every facility for visiting. I may say that I have since learnt that Mr. Martens' frequent refusals to go and see his wife were due to his objection to proceeding to the hospital in custodv of a guard — an obviously necessary precaution in the case of a male prisoner of war just received from Duala, where missionaries, as you are aware, had not scrupled to store arms in their mission house. This explanation receives striking corroboration from a passage in Professor Deissmann's letter, where he writes : " Only when her condition became so serious that her end was feared, on the day before her death, was he permitted to see his wife — escorted like a convict by an armed black soldier to the door of her sick 7'oom." The italics are mine, and it seems to me obvious that it was not until his wife was on the point of death that Mr. Martens could bring himself to undergo the " indignity " of walking a few hundred yards in charge of an escort. 3. I do not think that in the face of the above I need offer any detailed comment on the letter of Professor Deissmann, which merely repeats in greater and more inaccurate detail the allegations already dealt with. It is a gross and contemptible falsehood to assert that " neither the English Government physicians nor the white nurses {sic — there was only one) paid anyattention" to her. Professor Deissman, also insinuates that the concentration camp— where Frau Martens was interned when not in hospital — was a place where " 150 people were crowded together in a place of continual noise and unrest." The truth is that the "camp" consisted of the Government Technical School, a fine new building with spacious dormitories and extensive playgrounds for exercise. I myself visited the " camp " on more than one occasion, and no complaint of any sort was made to me— there was no crowding, and the Deputy Principal Medical Officer (Dr. Tweedy) visited the camp daily. 4. With reference to the observation in paragraph 2 of Mr. Harcourt's despatch of the 4th of Mayt that the name of Frau Martens does not appear in the return of deaths of unofficials for the month of December, the Principal Medical Officer reports as follows : — " This was an omission on the part of the Registrar of Deaths which he much regrets. " (2) I was on trek, so did not see the return or would have noticed the omission. " (3) Correct return now submitted." The return in question is enclosed.* 5. Reverting to Dr. Vohringer's Hamburg lecture, I have endeavoured to ascertain what could possibly be the ground for the fantastic story that " in the middle of July a large quantity of cartridges and money was sent to the hinter- land of the Gold Coast on the pretext that they were required to suppress a rising * Not printed. f No. 6. J No. 9. 40 of two important chiefs on the Togo frontier." An explanation is possibly to be found in the fact that in January-February, 1914, extensive manoeuvres of the Gold Coast Regiment took place in the Akuse district (about 400 men being engaged), and that half a company of these were retained in the neighbourhood till May as an escort for Mr. C. H. Harper, Provincial Commissioner, during his enquiry into the position of affairs in Kwahu, where a local chiefs' dispute (of no political significance) had recently nearly led to bloodshed. I have, '&C., A. R. SLATER, Acting Governor. No. 14. Miss E. F. DUNNE to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received 22nd July, 1915.) Colonial Hospital, Accra. Sir, 3rd July, 1915. In reply to your letter* I beg to state that Frau Martens was well cared for and nursed in this hospital. There is no truth in the statements her husband has made about the treatment she received. The two native nurses mentioned in the letter you enclosed work under our supervision and instruction, and never, on any occasion, have they been put in charge of a case. We gave Frau Martens the same attention as our other patients, and I may add that at or about that time, we had several prisoners of war, and two of the wives of prisoners of war under our care. The Medical Officer visited her with the same regularity and frequency as he visited his other patients. She often asked to see her husband; on each occasion I forwarded this request through the Senior Medical Officer, but as Mr. Martens did not avail himself of the privilege of visiting his wife until she became seriously ill, it had caused her much mental anxiety. When Frau Martens was discharged from hospital, on her first admission, she appeared to me to be very much improved. I have, &c., E. F. DUNNE, Senior Nursing Sister No. 15. Major-General C. M. DOHELL to COLONIAL OFFICE. (Received 16th September, 1915.) Government House, Duala, Si'>'< 24th August, 1915. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 5th July,t forwarding a translation uf a pamphlet which is being published in Germany regarding alleged ill-treatment of German missionaries and others in the Cameroons. 2. The document is lengthy, but it will be dealt with in detail as far as information exists. First, however, attention should be drawn to the fact thiit, although great stress is laid throughout on the alleged fact that the statements published are principally those of neutrals and other disinterested persons, the pamphlet itself is published in Germany and the original nationalities of those whose direct evidence is quoted are as follows : — (a) A. Orthner, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. — An Austrian. He claimed, while at Duala, to have been naturalised as an American, but could produce no papers in support of this statement. ' Not printed. f Xo. 12. 41 (i) V. Wolf. — The words " American citizen " are repeatedly put after this man's name in brackets where it occurs in the pamphlet, but no mention is made of the fact that he was born in Witten (Westphalia), of German parents. He is the " neutral " principally quoted. ((•) Charlotte Schuler, a German. {d) Dr. Oehler. German. Was not in the Cameroous during the war. (e) Lohringer. German. (/') Kessler. German. (//) Gehr. German. 3. Statements of Messrs. Orthner and Wolf. — As these two statements refer to the same place, and as Messrs. Orthner and Wolf were together throughout and subsequently left the Cameroons in com[)any, they may be dealt with together. Both statements are absolutely false and, although these men are described as Americans and neutrals thi-oughout, I believe that it will be abundantly clear after perusal of this letter that their statements are inspired by — (a) the fact that one was born an Austrian and the other a German. {b) a concerted attempt, organiseil in Germany, to pull the wires in America to promote feeling against England. 4. I attach a report by Lt.-Colonel J. B. Cockburn (Appendix A) as to the facts concerning the occupation of Nyamtam by his troops. The box of money mentioned by him was part of some German baggage dis(^ovored in the Mission, the remainder being German medical equipment. Three German combatants who without doubt had taken part in the defence of Jabassi were discovered in Mr. Wolf's house, as were also letters from German officials, thanking him for acts of assistance. A British medical officer found on a sick German native soldier a letter from the German authorities conununicatino- instructions to Wolfconcerninjj: inessenjjers. 5. Mr. Wolf quoted (in German) alleged extracts from letters sent to hiin by the German authorities to prove that he was made to assist them by force, but he was unable to produce the original letters, nor were they found among those discovered thanking him for his assistance. 6. Mr. Wolf on arrival at Diiala wrote as follows : — " I may say that at the time I was qviite indignant about the doings of certain " black soldiers (German), but may add that I have since found out that certain " English soldiers are not a bit better. We, for instance, were shamefully treated " by black soldiers at the time that we were taken captive, as well as at our arrival " at Jabassi, not at all to speak of the treatment we have since received." Mr. Wolf was allowed to reside in the P)aptist Mission at Duala, after signing a form of " parole," which I considered necessary in view of his communications with, and assistance to, the enemy mentioned above. During his stay in Duala he was repeatedly requested to give details concerning the statement quoted above, but would not do so, apparently preferring to reserve his statements for the German and American Press rather than have his complaints attended to on the spot. In his published letter he stated that he was repeatedly asked for statements against the Germans. This is untrue and, as he sj^eaks English well, there is no excuse for such a statement. 7. As regards the remarks made by Messrs, Orthner and Wolf as to the loss of a portion of their baggage, I have already reported concerning this in my letter of the 22nd June,* in reply to your letter of the 20th May,* in which the following statement by the officer in charge of the transport was quoted : — " The missionaries, ha\ine- indented the nio-ht befoi'e for an insufficient number " of carriers, were allowed to put some of their loads on the heads of their own boys. " When they embarked some loads could not be found. The Government " carriers were lined up and claimed as their own loads those which had airived. " The conclusion is that the missionaries' boys did not arrive with the loads " which they were carrying." " Mr. Orthner says in his published letter ' We went now to pack up. I " made several loads of 70 lbs. each.' It is highly improbable that the boys " were able to get very far with such heavy loads." 8. To the obviously preposterous complaints made concerning bad food, ill-treatment of women in childbirth, and improper treatment generally, it is hardly necessary to reply but the general arrangements made in these matters were as follows : — (a) The best mission buildings (by far the best and most commodious buildings in Duala) were allotted to them. — - . ' - — ■ , . , . — _ — * Not printed. 42 (b) A German European Red Cross nurse was specially retained to look after the numerous missionary ladies expecting to give birth to children. (c) A medical officer was specially told off to see to their requirements and general health and to guard against the chance of anyone being moved who was not fit to travel. (d) A special stall' of servants and a g(5od cook wei'e engaged to look after them. (e) Latrine accommodation, which seems to be always mentioned in com- plaints from German prisoners, was ample and easily accessible, and inspected regularly by the medical officer on sanitary duties. (/) The food complained of was issued from the same stores as those used for issue to British officers in tlio Cameroons. No complaints were received at the time. 9. The statements of the female missionary, C. Schuler, cover her journey from Duala to Germany, and I am only able to remark on them in so far as Duala is concerned, but I would like to point out that her statements that missionaries were stoned, spat upon, and generally ill-treated on the Gold Coast are not borne out by the remarks of Dr. Oehler, who claims to have investigated the statements of many who travelled with this missionary. He describes their treatment during this portion of their journey as follows : — " Later they obtained leave (and herein we have an instance of consideration " on the part of the English officials) to be taken to the Gold Coast. There their " treatment was partially satisfactory," and he seems to have received no such complaints from the remainder of the same party. The only complaint concerning Duala made in this publication is that the Germans, after being warned to register their names at the hospital, were eventually detained. This was due to the fact that, in spite of repeated warnings, a general attitude of passive resistance was adopted by the German Europeans towards instructions issued to report, and they were eventually all registered with much difficulty after a search (lasting several days) to bring in many who hid themselves, evading the registration, and generally ignoring orders. The enforcement of strict order and obedience was most urgent, owing to the fact that Duala was overrun by large numbers of natives bent on plunder and disorderly deeds, as is so vividly described Ijy Dr. Lohringer in the opening sentences of his pamphlet, as well as to the presence of large German forces outside the town itself. 10. The statements written and sent to the Press })y Doctor of Theology Oehler are apparently based on stories collected from others. He did not himself see the occurrences lie so graphically descrilies. He recapitulates several of the statements dealt with above, and adds some stories of which it is quite impossible to recognise the resemblance to anything that actually occurred. He does, however, deliberately attack Mr. A. H. D. Paul of the Nigerian Civil Service, and gives his name prominence as responsible for alleged brutalities. That this is purely falsehood is shown by the many expressions of thanks made to Mr. Paul by prisoners of war, neutrals, and others with whom he had to deal in the course of his duties. Many of them wi'ote to him on leaving and, as he is specially attacked, I attach (Appendix B) copies of some of the letters he I'eceived, and also of letters written by prisoners of war and others to their friends, and which were examined by the censor. 11. Mr. Paul was indefatigable in his efforts to alleviate the discomforts that must be suffered in war by friends or enemies alike, and this personal attack upon him, engineered by the Director of the Basle Mission, is an example of the reckless and indiscriminate methods employed by the pamphleteers. 12. I have already described in my letters t)f the 9th March and 21st June* respectively the part taken l)y the Basle Mission Trading Company in the Cameroons. The representatives of this mission, far from being neutral, as Doctor of Theology Oehler would naturally like the readers of his pamphlet to believe, took the side of the enemy. Many of them disappeared into the interior with the enemy's forces, while those who remained engaged themselves in concealing arms and ammunition by burying them underground, and in other acts not generally associated with a neutral attitude in time of war. 13. The pamphlet of Dr. G. Lohringer bears the stamp of exaggeration and untruth throughout. Iludolph Bell, the Chief of the Dualas, was "executed" by the Germans a few days before the fall of Duala, and a large number of Dualas were put to Not printed. 43 death by tlieiii, for no other reason thut can be discovered than the usual " frightfulness." The Germans always complained of the difticulty of keeping the Dualas in order and the necessity for the strictest discipline. The brutal murders of men, women, and children by the German forces throughout the country during the campaign are being dealt with shortly in a separate letter. Presumably Dr. Lohringer and his " fellow workers in Duala" consider the German system one to be condoned, as he speaks of the "execution," not " murder," of the Chief of Duala, and in none of their diatribes on atrocities is any mention made of these things. 14. We found Duala in the state of chaos described by Dr. Lohringer. The German military forces, their only means of controlling the natives, had retired after blowing up the wireless station, smashing the interior of the telegraph offices and telephone exchange, stopping the water supply, and setting fire to store buildings. In my despatch dated 2nd September, 1914,* T forwarded a copy of a captured message written by Hauptmann von Engelbrechten to Hauptmann Gaisser. In this message Hauptmann von Engelbrechten said : — " .... I have ordered the destruction of all Duala villages. All Dualas met on the roads carrying weapons (matchets, bows and arrows, spears, and also rifles) are to be shot. Prisoners will only be made when they are caught red-handed and can be legally tried and condemned to death. All Dualas still in the employment of the Government on the Northern Railway part of the Duala district will be arrested and sent under charge to Dschang. Bare district is s going to do the same. Von Engelbrechten." The native po[)ulation were firmly convinced that, with the departure of the German forces and the arrival of their deli^'erers, the English, a period of freedom had set in ; the recent murders and repressions were fresh m their minds and, no doubt, it seemed to the German missionaries that " the sky rang again with an indescribable shout of scorn and rejoicing." Every German in Duala was in dread of reprisals, and openly said so. 15. Since the establishment of the military government and the bringing o{ the hiwn under our control the Dualas have behaved in a most orderly manner, and I am at a complete loss to understand how there was any necessity for the continual hangings, and other repressive measures, carried out by the Germans. 16. Everything available in the way of provisions was seized and used to assist in supplementing the supplies which we bx'ought with us, and which were calculated to last for less than a month, and the systematic collection and guarding of such jiroperty as could be saved, when order was restored, was put in hand. 17. As regards looting, it is not always possible completely to prevent these things in such circumstances, but that even the Germans were impressed by the rapidity with which the various places were restored to order from chaos is shown in some of the letters here attached. 18. The energetic " American citizen," Valentine Wolf, reappears at the end of the ])ublished pamphlet with statements that persons were nuirdered owing to a price being set upon German heads by the British. The whole statement is false, and the so-called "proof" of such payment is the statement: — "Missionary Schwarz moreover recounted that he was in possession of an English pound sterling which had been paid as a reward to a native." Isolated Germans were attacked by the natives in outlying districts. The record of German crime and brutality is steadily growing, and I intend shortly forwarding to the Secretary of the War Office a number of sworn statements illusti'ating the German methods of colonisation and native government. It is more surprising, after the systematically brutal treatment of the native population by the Germans, not that these attacks occurred, but that wholesale acts of revenge were not indulged in. 19. It is superfluous to say that no such reward was ever ottered or suggested to natives. The " evidence " quoted appears to be chiefly based on such statements as " the Duala had repeatedly attempted to persuade the neighbouring tribes around Ndogonji to take us captive and bring us to Duak; telling them that they would receive from the English a great rewai'd for delivering us up " . . . . " They seem to have made the natives promises of presents for every German or every soldier of the Colonial Force whom they could deliver to them," combined with an instance in which it is stated that * Not printed. 44 the natives caught and mutilated a German native soldier and instances of reprisals by the natives against Germans. These disconnected remarks are worked up by the pamphleteers and quoted as proofs of their statements. ;20. I have already pointed out at the beginning of this letter the origin of this pamphlet of misstatement and distortion and the origin ot the " neutrals " quoted in it. The hostile and pro-German attitude of the Uasle Mission Trading Company, which in the Cameroons is composed chiefly of Germans, has been reported. The warlike attitude of German missionaries in these parts is now public knowledge. 21. In conclusion, no other deduction is possil)le (and I consider the pamphlet bears internal evidence pointing the same way) but that the whole of these mendacious statements are part of an organised attempt to influence religious feeling in Switzerland and America by the well-known systematic methods employed by the enemy in these matters. I have, &c., C. M. DOBELL, Major-Geueral, Commanding the Allied Forces. APPENDIX A. REPORT WITH REFERENCE TO STATEMENTS MADE BY VALENTINE WOLF. Both Pastor Orthner's statement vouched for by Wolf and Valentine Wolf's own statement are absolutely false. The only word of truth in the latter's is that of tlie keys being sent for by me as they were not left with the caretaker. The rooms were opened in the presence of the caretaker and all boxes were searched in my presence. One contained European food, which was left contrary to orders, and this was distributed amons^st my rearguard ; not another article of any kind was taken, and the caretaker was left in charge. The missionaries were allowed to bring away everything they could get labour to carry, and as far as my memory goes they brought away some seventy^ loads. I was operating against the enemy, and took Njusu, some eight miles distant, the day after my arrival, so the missionaries and their guests had all this day, which Mr. Wolf does not mention, in which to get ready to move. Not a soul was moved out of the Mission House. All of us camped in the open or in the empty school house. Some Government money handed over by Mr. Wolf was checked by my Adjutant and brought to account. Mr. Wolf volunteered the statement that he had been warned by the German Commandant that his station would be used as a base for operations around Jabassi. The unopened letter addressed to him found on a sick soldier in the house proved that he was communicating with and assisting the enemj' if any proof were needed, with such guests as he was entertaining. Mr. Wolf at first informed me there was no enemy in the neighbourhood, whereas there was an enemy's patrol within less than half a mile. J, B. CoCKBURN, Lt.-Colonel, Commanding No. 1 Battalion, Nigeria Regiment. Duala, 7th August, 1915. APPENDIX B. EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. (Translation.) Dear Mr. Paul, We wish to express our sincere thanks for your kindness shewn to us. The Sisters of the Red Cross. (Sgd.) Sister ANNE VON Fox. „ Louise Alm. ,. Henney Feckel. „ Marie Keineckk. „ Emviy Gungeriche. Mrs. E. Klkck. (No date.) Translation or a Letter to Mr. Briscoe. Please convey my best regards to Mr. Paul, Dr. Ross and Dr. Leonard, also thank them all once again for all the kindness and consideration which they have shewn us. (Sgd.) Maria Kinniker. Santa Isabella, 20th October, 1914. 45 Very esteemed Herr Dr. Briscoe, I beg to inform you at your wish that we are here with the German Consul, and who has brought us to a hotel, and we have everything. Our health is good, having only one case of malaria, which is now better. I thank you and Dr. Ross in the name of the Sisters and colleagues once again for the great kindness and attention which we received at your hands. Please accept, both you and Dr. Ross, from us all our best compliments. Herr Prof. Werner would be much obliged to you if you would make enquiries about his family in Buea, at the same time about my boy Johnny. With colleagues' respects, Dr. SCHAFBR. Fernando Poo, 22nd October, 1'J14. We here say that during the time we were captured as prisoners of war we were treated by the Political Officer very well. Werner. Dr. Waldow. Steinhagen. Klbck. Dr. El. Peter. 16th October, l'.U4. Dear Mr, Paul, Before I leave Duala I must thank you for favours you have done for mo, and especially that you have protected us from the natives. Yours truly, Marga Waldow. 15th October, 1914. Extract prom a letter from H. Winkler to H. H. Frosch, 197 Princes Street, Glasgow. I am now English prisoner of war in Cameroon. I am in the best of health and have nothing to complain of. 23rd March 1915. Extract from a letter from Herr Stolz of the BAShK Mission to Rev. A. N. Wilkik, Calabar. We stay here in the house of the Basel Mission Factory, 28 Germans antl children. The house and beds, etc., are very good and we are well treated at all. R. Stolz. 23rd March, 1915. Extract from a letter prom Mrs. Frank to her husband. Here in Duala things went very nicely, naturally making allowance for the conditions. I was treated very courteously and considerately by all the gentlemen and can't complain about anything. 23rd March, 1915. Americanische Presbyterianische Mission, Kamerun, West Africa, Batanga, 10th January 1915. We have no complaint whatever to make of the treatment we have received from the English forces. Our church was seriously injured by the fire of the "Dwarf" 2nd January, but this was doubtless inadvertent. Captain Strong of the " Dwarf " and Captain Hughes of the " Ivy " have been in every way kind and considerate. Signed for the Batanga Station of the American Presbyterian Mission, Albert G. Adams, Treasurer. Extract from a letter from Herr Kaiser, Governor op Victoria, to Herr Ebermeier, Imperial Governor op the Cambroons. The occupation proceeded with peace and quietness ; breaches of discipline did not take place, although naturally a small amount of private property was destroyed. I can personally declare that on the part of the English officers and officials a great deal was done to make the conditions more bearable. On the above I can report that the inhabitants are bearing the change of circumstances quietly and in order. Extracts from letter op Frau von Boxberger to her husband. Buea, 23r(i November, 1914, Through the assistance of the English General Statf I have received from General Dobell the great favour of permission to land at Las Palmas with the child. The English are so very friendlj' and anxiou.s to help us. The women in Buea must always remain grateful for the chivalrous and courteous behaviovir of the English officers. . . . Let us hope that our German officers will repay this to the wives of our enemies. Major Wright has allowed me to send you a letter, which is to be sent if possible to Lt. von Engelbrechten under a white flag. Is this not extraordinarily friendly and amiable of the English ? Very, very nice too, and with much sympathy for our position here, is Captain Waller, who is Provost- Marshal here, and exercises police authority in a faultless manner to our interests. I have to thank his ready sympathy, which really comes from his heart, for very much. Duala, 4th December, 1914. PRISONERS OF WAR BUREAU. The following extracts from the Diart of Missionary Jacon Stutz, and dealing with the occupation of Sakbajbmb, mat be op interest. On the way from the station we met a messenger with a letter asking us to come to the camp. . . . Thereafter the Mission buildings were occupied by English soldiers in perfect order without any noise or disturbance. Captain Gibb was very courteous, and carried out his duty with the greatest consideration for us all. All our firearms and ammunition were taken and receipts given. For cattle and horses also proper receipts were handed to me. A letter comes from Captain Gibb thanking us for our attitude, and for the assistance we have given him in the execution of a difficult duty. We cannot be sufficiently thankful that he has been so friendly to us, and that all our sighs have been heard. . . 6th September, 1915. Duala, 3rd June 191.5. We never thought to be captured would be as nice as it was for us. So many tales had reached us bush-people about being locked up, have everything burned do^^'n, not being allowed to take anything with you, and so on. Nothing of this kind happened to us. When the English reached our Mission station up in Sakbajeme we got a very polite note and were invited to come and meet them. And as polite and obliging English officers were up in our home they were the whole way down to the coast to Duala, always trying to make us comfortable as it was possible in the bush- houses, inviting us to have dinner with them, and all sorts of nice things. Although we were prisoners we had the most comfortable and airy house in Duala, not even soldiers watching all our movements. Our food was as good as it could be far away from Europe, we didn't miss anything, and were as happy as it is possible to be in war time. We think, and found it out, that the English are, at war time, and with their prisoners as well, gentleman-like as we have known them in peace time. I hope that all the prisoners of war will tell the truth about this matter of fact, and if you hear the contrary don't believe it, or if one is treated otherwise he will fifid the fault by himself. (Sgd.) Mr. and Mrs. Stutz. DECLARATION. The undersigned is quite prepared, and also feels obliged, out of gratitude to make the following declaration : — At the time of the surrender of the mission station Sakbajeme the British Commander allowed UP, in view of the approaching illness of Mrs. Koster, to remain at Sakbajeme until t]:e birth had passed over safely and the mother and child were in a fit condition to travel to Duala. Our child was born on the 7th May, 1915, and on the 20th May, 1915, we proceeded to Duala, via Ngwe, where we were received and treated most kindly ; from here we journeyed to Duala under military escort, and reached Duala 3 days later without having endured any particular inconveniences. At Duala we were provided with quarters in the Basle Mission Factory. We were pleasingly surprised to have the privilege of residing in such a good tropical building. Up to date we have received good food and had daily beef, fish, bread, butter, milk, coffee and potatoes, and occasionally vegetables. As we also had a supply of delicacies with us we fared very well. Under certain conditions we were daily allowed to go out into town for exercise. With best thanks for good treatment. (Sgd.) Heinrich Koster. Duala, 19th July, 1915. To the Political Officer i/c Prisoners of War Bureau. Duala. 47 No. 16. Sir E. grey to Mr. PAGE (United States Ambassador). {Received in Colonial Office, 2nd November, 1915.) The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs presents his compliments to the United States Ambassador, and, with reference to His Excellency's Note of the 18th June last,* respecting the alleged ill-treatment of German subjects in the Cameroons, has the honour to make the following statement for communication to the German Government : — The German Government allege that " the goods of peaceful colonists . . . have been given over to systematic looting by the native population, who have been stirred up against the Germans and by coloured Englishmen and Frenchmen belong- ing to the invading force " ; that white English soldiers, and even English officers, " have been guilty of the most serious crimes against the private property of Germans "; and that " the Franco-British invading force in the Cameroons not only employ their coloured soldiers in setting upon the Germans (including women and children), but have even hired natives to hunt the Germans and drag them into captivity, if not even to do away with them." The information received by His Majesty's Government is to the effect that the above statements are entirely untrue. It appears, however, to be true that, in several localities abandoned by the German forces and by the German colonists, natives of the Cameroons, German subjects, having no connexion with the allied forces, indulged in looting to some considerable extent before the arrival on the spot of the allied troops; but His Majesty's Government are satisfied that the British and French military authorities in the Cameroons have throughout done all they could to prevent such conduct, and it is, therefore, quite unnecessary to send Major-General Dobell any instructions on the subject. His Majesty's Government are quite prepared to institute enquiries into any specific cases of alleged breaches of the laws of Avar in regard to which definite information as to names, dates, and localities is furnished sufficient to enable the allegations to be satisfactorily examined. Foreign Office, November 1, 1615. * Enclosure in No. 11. FOREIGN OFFICE. Treaty Series, 1915. No. 1. — Declaration between the United Kingdom, France, and Russia, engaging not to %;onclude Peace separately during the present European War. Signed at London, 5th September, 1914. [Cd. 7737.] Price id., post free Id. No. 2. — Convention between the United Kingdom and France relating to Prizes captured during the present European War. Signed at London, Uth November, 1914. [Cd. 7739.] Price Id., post free l^d. No. 4. — Accession of Russia to the Convention of 9th November, 1914, between the United Kingdom and France relating to Prizes captured during the present European War. [Cd. 7858.] Price ^d., post free Id. No. 9. — Enchange of Notes respecting the Accession of Japan to the Declaration of September 5, 1914 ([Cd. 7737]), between the United Kingdom, France, and Russia, engaging not to conclude Peace separately during the present llluropean War. London, October 19, 1915. [Cd. 8014.] Price ^d., post free Ic^. Miscellaneous, 1915. No. 1. — Despatch to Sir Henry Howard containing Instructions respecting his Mission to the Vatican. [Cd. 7736.] Price id., post free Id. No. 2. — Despatch from His Majesty's Ambassador at Petrograd enclosing a Memorandum on the subject of the Temperance Measures adopted in Russia since the outbreak of the European War. [Cd. 7738.] Price id., post free Id. No. 5. — Correspondence between His Majesty's Government and the United States Ambassador respecting the Treatment of German Prisoners of War and Interned Civilians in the United Kingdom. [Cd. 781 5.j Price \d., post free lid. No. 6. — Correspondence between His Majesty's Government and the United States Govern- ment respecting the Rights of Belligerents. [Cd. 7816.] Price 3d., post free 4:d. No. 7. — Correspondence between His Majesty's Government and the United States Ambas- sador respecting the Treatment of Prisoners of War and Interned Civilians in the United Kingdom and Germany, respectively. [Cd. 7817.] Price 9^d., post free Is. No. 8. — Correspondence between His Majesty's Government and the United States Ambas- sador respecting the Release of Interned Civilians, and the exchange of Diplomatic and Consular Officers, and of certain classes of Naval and Military Officers, Prisoners of War, in the United Kingdom and Germany, respectively, j [Cd. 7857.] Price lid., post free 9id. 1 No. 9. — Notes exchanged with the Chilean Minister respecting the sinking of the German Cruiser Dresden in Chilean Territorial Waters. [Cd. 7859.] Price id., post free Id. No. 10. — -See " Collected Diplomatic Documents " above. 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