•DESTRUCTION 
 LOUVAIN 
 
 BY • EDWIN • EMEF?SON ★ 
 
 PROn • A • GRAPHIC • RECITAL . • 
 GIVEN • BY • COLONEL • EMERSON 
 AETER • HIS • RETURN • EROM • THE 
 ERONT • IN • DECEMBER • I914 * • 
 PUBLISHED • UNDER • THE • AUS- 
 PICES • or ■ THE • lGERMANISTIC • 
 S(XIETY • OP • CHICAGO ★ 
 
 omrasin of luinois v. - . 
 
 Number Fifteen. 
 
FOREWORD 
 
 The Germanistic Society has issued a series of 
 pamphlets, dealing with the war in Europe and its 
 underlying causes, which pamphlets are to serve the 
 cause of truth, to correct misrepresentations, and to 
 exemplify the spirit of objectivity and fair play. 
 
 Former publications: 
 
 No. 1 — Germany and the Peace of Europe 
 
 By Prof. Ferdinand Schevill. 
 
 No. 2 — The Causes of the European Conflict 
 
 By Prof. John W. Burgess. 
 
 No. 3 — How Germany Was Forced Into War 
 
 By Raymond E. Swing, 
 
 No. 4 — The Session of the German Reichstag 
 
 By Prof. Alex. R. Hohifeld. 
 
 No. 5 — Germany’s Fateful Hour 
 
 By Prof. Kuno Francke. 
 
 No. 6 — German “Atrocities” and International Law 
 By Prof. James G. McDonald. 
 
 No. 7 — “Militarism” and “The Emperor,” the latter 
 By Prof. John W. Burgess. 
 
 No. 8 — The Evolution of the German Empire 
 
 By Prof. Geo. L. Scherger. 
 
 No. 9 — German Resources and the War 
 
 By Dr. Bernhard Dernburg. 
 
 No. 10 — Germany and England, the Real ISwSue 
 
 By Dr. Bernhard Dernburg. 
 
 No. 11 — Russian Diplomacy and the War 
 By Prof. James W. Thompson. 
 
 No. 12 — German “War Makers” 
 
 By Noel Sargent. 
 
 No. 13 — Nationalism in Europe 
 
 By Prof. Dr. Franz Boas. 
 
 No. 14 — By Their Works Ye Shall Know Them 
 
 By Alfred Hoyt Granger. 
 
 Copies of these pamphlets are for sale at the office 
 of the Society at the following prices: 
 
 Single copies! $ 0.05 
 
 10 copies 0.25 
 
 100 copies 1.50 
 
 1000 copies (f. o. b. Chicago) 10.00 
 
 Profits are to be turned over to the Society of 
 the Red Cross. 
 
 THE GERMANISTIC SOCIETY 
 
 OF CHICAGO 
 
 Louis Guenzel, Recording Secretary 
 332 So. Michigan Ave., Chicago, 111. 
 

 I 
 
 The De^rudion of Louvain. 
 
 By 
 
 EDWIN EMERSON. 
 
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 1 happened to be passing through Cologne on August 28th, when 
 the first civil and military refugees from Louvain arrived there. At the 
 railway station I saw them alight from passenger coaches on which some- 
 one had written in chalk: “Kriegsgefangene und Civilisten aus Loewen,” 
 meaning: “Prisoners of war and civilians from Louvain.” As a matter 
 of fact they appeared to be treated as mere refugees, and as such they 
 were taken through the streets under a light military escort in the direc- 
 tion of the Rhine bridge. 
 
 Since then I have seen statements in English and French news- 
 papers that these so-called prisoners of war were marched through the 
 streets at Cologne with their hands tied behind their backs and with ropes 
 around their necks, after which they were court-martialled and shot. I 
 have also read a newspaper report that a priest from Louvain was lynched 
 by a furious mob at the Cologne railway station. Of this I saw nothing, 
 though I saw all who arrived in Cologne on that day. They numbered 
 several hundred, mostly men of all ages in civilian clothes, with a few 
 women and children, and also one or two priests in cassocks. The 
 refugees appeared worn and thoroughly frightened ; but nothing was 
 done to add to their distress. The dense crowds on the streets silently 
 watched these poor creatures pass by on their way to some detention camp 
 across the river. There were no demonstrations whatever. All I heard 
 said by the people standing around me was: “Anne Leute” (poor 
 creatures). 
 
 A woman, standing next to me, asked me in Rhenish dialect : “Why 
 have they got priests along?” A bystander answered her: “The priests 
 stick to their parishioners.” Another man said : “Perhaps the priests 
 are held responsible for what happened in their parish.” 
 
 After the refugees had crossed the bridge I asked the military press 
 censor at Cologne how these civilians came to be prisoners and what 
 was going to be done with them. I then heard for the first time of the 
 tragedy of Louvain. 
 
 The censor told me that these people had been sent out of Louvain 
 by the German military authorities in Belgium to safeguard their lives 
 and to keep them out of trouble. He said he understood the intention 
 of the German Government was to repatriate these people to their homes 
 so soon as things had quieted down in Belgium. In the meanwhile, he 
 explained, the orders were not to hold them as prisoners of war, but 
 
 3 
 
merely as civilian refugees, temporarily detained for their own safety. 
 This rule would not apply, he said, to young Belgian men fit for military 
 service, inasmuch as Belgium had called all her able-bodied young men 
 to the colors. It was known, he added, that many of these prisoners from 
 Louvain were actual soldiers or militia-men, who had merely thrown 
 away their arms and changed their uniform for civilian clothes. 
 
 That same evening the Cologne Gazette issued an extra with a 
 despatch from General Headquarters at the front announcing the tragedy 
 at Louvain. This official despatch was signed by Quartermaster General 
 von Stein. On the following morning the Cologne Gazette and other 
 German newspapers published further details. None of these came from 
 acknowledged eye-witnesses. 
 
 Presently I received a confidential message, brought to me by another 
 American staff correspondent of the newspaper I represented, requesting 
 me to proceed at once to Louvain to make a thorough impartial investiga- 
 tion of what happened there. By this time the refugees from Louvain 
 were already returning there by rail under a military escort. The rail- 
 road trains to Belgium were crowded with them. Therefore, it was 
 impracticable for me to go b}^ rail, so I decided to go in an automobile. 
 By the help of good friends I got a chance to go in an automobile be- 
 longing to Mr. Charles Hirsch, a Swiss book publisher. I started for 
 Louvain without notifying any German Government authorities, since I 
 preferred for purposes of more independent observation to go as a simple 
 American traveler with an ordinary American passport. My companions 
 in the automobile, besides its owner, were a Swiss newspaper man and 
 a German chauffeur, who happened to be exempt from military service 
 because of physical disability. With the exception of this German 
 mechanic we all spoke French fluently. The chauffeur, on the other 
 hand, understood Flemish. Thanks to the satisfactory credentials of 
 my companion we had no difficulties along the way. 
 
 When we arrived in Louvain the ruins were still hot and smoking, 
 and certain streets were littered with debris ; but we had no difficulty in 
 finding a hotel wherein to lodge, though, of course, we first had to obtain 
 a permit from the German military authorities at Louvain. As I have 
 already said, hundreds of refugees were returning to Louvain. All the 
 inhabitants in evidence, of whom there were several thousands, appeared 
 cowed and depressed ; but they were left unmolested by the German 
 troops in the town and seemed to be attending to their regular business. 
 All the churches and many shops were open and a regular market was 
 ill full swing along the Vieux Marche in front of the destroyed library. 
 Many of the refugees who had lost their homes, were quartered in the 
 Manege, an old military riding school, the roof of which was badly 
 damaged. At the same hotel with us lodged a Prussian officer. Judge 
 Advocate Sievers, who had just come to Louvain to conduct an official 
 court of inquiry concerning the recent happenings in the town. There 
 was also a Mr. Sittart, a member of the German Reichstag, who likewise 
 was making an investigation. With him were several German newspaper 
 correspondents, among them a Dr. Schotthoefer of the staff of the 
 “Frankfurter Zeitung.” 
 
 4 
 
the time we sto])i>e(I at Loiivaiii we took many photopjraphs 
 aiul talked with all maimer of eye-witnesses of the trai^edy-nativcs, 
 hnrijhers, women, priests, friars, sisters of charity, lielj^ian municipal 
 officials, German officers, active soldiers, reservists, and with two foreij^n 
 newspaper men, both of whom were Hollanders. My companions always 
 talked as neutral Switzers, while I always made myself known as an 
 .Vmerican. 
 
 What I now shall tell you of the events at Louvain is the sum total 
 of all our joint impressions gathered on the spot. 
 
 On this page is shown a diagram of Louvain, as it is now, which 
 I sketched with the help of an official town map of this year. The 
 destroyed portions of the town are crosshatched. The heavy black spots 
 are churches and public buildings, mostly intact. As you can see from 
 this map, which is absolutely authentic, less than one-seventh of the 
 
 5 
 
town was destroyed — to be sure this was the central and therefore the 
 oldest and most closely built part. 
 
 One seventh is also the estimate of my fellow war-correspondent, 
 Mr. James O’Donnell Bennett, of the Chicago Tribune, who was likewise 
 at Louvain. The statement which I have seen published in certain 
 English newspapers that 1074 town houses and 1823 suburban houses 
 at Louvain were destroyed is a crass exaggeration. At most a few 
 hundred houses were destroyed in the town proper. In the suburbs only 
 the eastern district near the railway station suffered perceptibly, but that 
 district was almost totally demolished, especially the houses along the 
 Rue de Station. When I say “suburbs” I mean outlying parts of the 
 town proper, not surrounding villages. Of the neighboring villages the 
 little place of Haeraat, where a passing German column was attacked 
 from ambush, was completely burnt down. 
 
 Presently I shall explain to you precisely how various historic build- 
 ings and churches either suffered or escaped destruction; but first let 
 me tell the story of what actually happened, so far as I was able to make 
 out from all my talks with eye-witnesses on the spot. 
 
 The first indication of the approach of the German anny was a 
 German aeroplane flying over the town on the morning of August 17th. 
 The first German troops entered Louvain on the afternoon of August 
 19th, a Wednesday. On the night before there had been fighting at 
 Tirlemont and at Wespelaer and Cumptich near Louvain, where the 
 Belgians were routed. The Germans there captured a flag and two field 
 pieces. The regular Belgian troops fell back toward Malines (Mechelin), 
 whence it was reported that French and English troops were advancing 
 by forced marches toward Louvain. Many of the Louvain militiamen, 
 who had taken part in the battle at Tirlemont, fell back into Louvain. 
 They fought a rear-guard action at Lovenjoul near Louvain, where some 
 Belgian lancers and some German uhlans were killed. There was also 
 another rear-guard fight at Wespelaer, where some German uhlans who 
 galloped into the village were shot down by men concealed in the houses. 
 Some Belgian lancers, fleeing into Louvain, tried to rally their comrades 
 on the Place du Peuple, but in vain. Then they rode off in the direction 
 of Malines. 
 
 The mayor and aldermen of Louvain decided that it was hopeless 
 to defend the town and therefore sent out emissaries under a white flag 
 proclaiming Louvain “an open town.” At the same time the remaining 
 militia-men in the town were bidden to disarm and to return to their 
 civil pursuits. A proclamation in French and Flemish was posted on 
 the street-corners, of which I still saw some in Louvain. This proclama- 
 tion said : 
 
 “To civilians. The Minister of the Interior recommends to 
 civilians, whenever the enemy may appear : firstly, not to fight ; 
 secondly, not to indulge in insults or threats ; thirdly, to remain in- 
 doors and to close all shutters, lest it may be said that there has been 
 provocation; fourthly, if soldiers occupy a house in order to defend 
 themselves, to vacate it, lest it be said that civilians did the shooting. 
 
 6 
 
Any act of violence committed l)y individual civilians would be a 
 veritable crime, wliich the law punishes with arrest and condemns, 
 since it might serve as a ])retext for bloody retaliation, for pillage, 
 or for massacre of innocent people — women and children.” 
 
 When the first German troops approached Louvain the Belgian field 
 artillery was still bring near Lovenjoul, but ])resently the roar of the guns 
 died away and the Germans were suffered to enter Louvain unmolested. 
 This was before the surrender of Brussels. The German soldiers marched 
 into the town with drums and fifes playing, while the men in the ranks 
 sang “Die Wacht am Rhein.” Some of the infantry detachments be- 
 longed to the 165th Prussian Fuseliers, of the seventh German army 
 corps. The officer who took definite charge of the town was Major von 
 Manteuft'el from Altenburg in Thuringia. The commanding officer of 
 the staff headquarters established at Louvain was Captain of Cavalry, 
 Carl Friedrich von Esmarch, a son of Princess Henriette of Sleswick- 
 Holstein, an aunt of the German Empress. 
 
 Immediately after the arrival of the German troops the following 
 proclamation in German, French and Flemish was posted on the street 
 corners : 
 
 ‘‘To Belgians : The death penalty will be inflicted on all inhab- 
 itants, not uniformed as soldiers, who shoot at our soldiers or who 
 otherwise take part in fighting, who render active military aid to 
 Belgian troops or to their allies, who commit any act detrimental 
 to life and public safety, or who act as spies. All arms must be 
 delivered to the authorities. Whatever civilian is found with arms 
 renders himself liable to severe punishment, in case of aggravating 
 circumstances, death. Townships or hamlets where the inhab- 
 itants attack our troops, will be burnt down. Wherever bridges, 
 railways or telegraph wires are destroyed the nearest settlement 
 will be held responsible.” 
 
 Soon the German troops were billeted about the town. Previously 
 all Belgian flags had disappeared from the public buildings and houses. 
 In accordance with a German proclamation of August 15th, which was 
 likewise posted on the street corners, hostages were required, consisting 
 of one municipal officer, one clergyman and two leading citizens. In this 
 case the mayor of Louvain, the Jesuit rector of the university, and two 
 citizens were taken into custody. The usual requisitions were made, 
 especially for arms. Very few arms were surrendered. In money con- 
 tribution the German commander first collected 2000 francs and then 
 demanded 5000 more, of which only 3,800 were collected by the city 
 treasurer of Louvain, Mr. Van Ernem. 
 
 The inhabitants submitted with apparent resignation to the inevitable. 
 Many of the Flemings became quite friendly with the troops particularly 
 at the market where the German soldiers bought large quantities of 
 supplies, paying for them with German money. Almost all the shops 
 reopened. So far as I could gather from my native informants no un- 
 pleasant incident happened at Louvain during the first six days following 
 the first entry of the German troops. Fresh troops were constantly 
 
 7 
 
passing through the town by rail and on foot in the direction of Brussels 
 and Malines, and new troops took the place of some of those who had 
 come first. 
 
 During this week some of the German soldiers in the town got very 
 much excited over stories of guerilla atrocities, reported to have been 
 committed in the immediate vicinity of Louvain. Thus it was reported 
 that Colonel Stenger, commanding at Aerschot, near Louvain, was shot 
 in the back by the son of the burgomaster of that town, M. Tielemans, 
 as he was standing on the balcony of the burgomaster’s house. It was 
 further reported from Wespelaer that five German troopers quartered 
 there were found in their beds with their throats cut. Another story 
 from Liege reported that a number of German soldiers sleeping in a 
 barn were burned to death through treachery. A similar story came from 
 Clermont. Blood-curdling rumors also reached Louvain of stern German 
 reprisals against native guerillas and snipers in the vicinity. All these 
 happenings naturally made bad blood, still there were no noteworthy 
 outbreaks of the smouldering resentment. 
 
 On the night of August 24th and early in the morning of August 25th 
 private word reached Louvain that the Belgian troops, who were shut 
 up in Antwerp, on that same day would make a sortie in force in the 
 direction of Malines. Should they be successful in cutting their way 
 through the Germans, it was expected that they would be joined by strong 
 French and English columns, and that all the inhabitants of that region 
 would rise against the Germans to drive them headlong out of Belgium all 
 along the line of Malines, Louvain, Tirlemont, and Liege. This secret 
 message, so I was told by a sexton of one of the Louvain churches, first 
 reached a certain Jesuit priest, now dead, who passed the warning along 
 to some of his brother Jesuits and parishioners. However this may be, 
 it is certain that the secret was well kept, for none of the German officers 
 or soldiers in Louvain got any inkling of it. 
 
 The German commandant Major Manteufifel, felt himself so secure 
 that on the morning of the same day, August 25th, he posted official 
 notices congratulating the inhabitants on their irreproachable peaceful 
 attitude. At the same time he released the hostages, who had been held 
 in light custody. 
 
 As a matter of fact the Belgian garrison of Antwerp on that day did 
 make its promised sortie and fought its way through so far as Malines, 
 where the sortie was stopped and repulsed with heavy losses to the 
 Belgians. They got no support from the French or English. Late in the 
 afternoon the roar of artillery fire in the direction of Malines could be 
 distinctly heard at Louvain. The sound of the firing seemed to be coming 
 nearer and nearer. About six in the evening word reached the German 
 commandant at Louvain that the German advance forces between Brussels 
 and Malines were hotly engaged and might need support. The call to 
 arms was sounded at Louvain and all available mobile troops were des- 
 patched under forced marching orders in the direction of Malines. Major 
 von Manteufifel preceded them in an automobile. 
 
 About the same time Captain von Esmarch, of the General Staff, 
 brought some German reinforcements of the Landsturm battalion of Neuss. 
 
 8 
 
These came into Louvain by rail from Liege. 'Phcy were determined to 
 act as a reserve. 
 
 About one hour later it so happened that a bedraggled troop of 
 German stragglers, among them some wounded, some sick, and many 
 foot-sore soldiers of all arms, came limping into Louvain. Instantly a 
 report spread among the citizens that these men were the first of the 
 defeated Germans fleeing from the battlefield of Malines, where all of the 
 German army was believed to have been completely overwhelmed and 
 routed. This rumor spread like wild-fire all over town. 
 
 I have heard it stated that these German stragglers were mistaken for 
 enemies by their comrades in town and were received with a volley of 
 rifle fire which they returned in kind, thus causing the general massacre. 
 Of this story I never could get any convincing confirmation in Louvain. 
 The stragglers came into Louvain leisurely and while it was still daylight ; 
 therefore, such a mistake would appear to have been out of the question. 
 
 Heretofore, the curfew hour at Louvain, as established by the Ger- 
 man military authorities, was at seven ; but on this day when the hostages 
 were released as a sign of confidence, a special order from Major von 
 Manteuffel had extended the hour to 8 P. M. Citizens were then expected 
 to close their doors and window shutters ; but soldiers of the German army 
 of occupation were allowed to remain on the street one hour longer. 
 
 At 8 P. M., accordingly, all doors and shutters were closed. Just 
 before the sounding of retreat, one hour later, the German soldiers were 
 surprised to behold two sky rockets, one red and then one green, rising 
 above the dark town. Then the cathedral clock struck nine. Before the 
 German headquarters in the town hall of the main plaza a bugler blew 
 the retreat. 
 
 Almost at the same moment there came the crackle of rifle fire from 
 all over town. The fusillade came through loop holes from behind closed 
 doors and shutters, from attic and mansarde windows, from cellar holes 
 and other hidden points of vantage. 
 
 Many German soldiers were shot down while sitting at open air 
 tables ; others while running through the streets ; others again while trying 
 to seek cover or to form ranks under orders of their bewildered officers. 
 
 Judging from the German casualties the heaviest guerilla fire came 
 from certain buildings along the Vieux Marche and from the University 
 Library, which were believed to be unoccupied, and also from a large 
 building opposite the railway station, where the hidden snipers brought 
 an unsuspected machine-gun into play against the German reserve troops 
 bivouacking in the station buildings and in the railroad yards. Of course 
 the surprised German soldiers, who were scattered all over town, fired 
 back at their assailants as best they could whenever they saw flashes of 
 gunfire in the dark. It may well be in the confusion of the nocturnal 
 street-fighting and the wild stampede of frightened wagon teams and 
 loose horses that some of the soldiers mistook some of their own comrades 
 for foes. 
 
 At all events the furious street battle lasted all that night and part 
 of the next day, with renewed outbursts wherever the German soldiers 
 
 9 
 
fought their way into suspected houses or were ordered to smoke out 
 their enemies by setting fire to houses harboring guerillas. 
 
 As a result of the first night’s fighting, August 25-26, some sixty 
 German soldiers were found dead along the Vieux Marche with over 
 a hundred dead in and around the railroad station. I myself saw the 
 fresh dug graves of some two hundred German soldiers killed at Lou- 
 vain. Several officers also fell, among them a General Staff captain, 
 who was found in a house with his throat cut. No less than five staff 
 officers were wounded on the Place du Peuple alone. All their horses 
 there were killed. 
 
 Of course, many more natives were killed, among them many 
 innocent people, some women and a few children. Many men of Lou- 
 vain, who were found with weapons in their possession or with hands 
 and faces blackened by powder stains, were stood up against walls and 
 were shot by the infuriated soldiers. Two fanatical priests were shot 
 near the monument on the market place because they were caught in 
 the act of distributing cartridges to some men. In the vaults of the 
 church of St. Peter some 350 Belgian army rifles with ammunition belts 
 were discovered by the Germans. 
 
 Later many innocent people were made prisoners and were marched 
 under guard up and down the streets of Louvain as hostages, in order 
 to put a stop to the persistent rifle fire from the houses. This was on 
 the two successive days, August 26th and 27th, but even then some of 
 the soldiers escorting these prisoners, and likewise some of the innocent 
 hostages, were shot down by snipers firing from hidden places. A 
 German gasoline convoy went up in flames and the fire spread. Many 
 houses were deliberately set on fire by the soldiers, hunting for their 
 enemies. 
 
 On the afternoon of Thursday, August 27th, when the central 
 district of the town was in flames, guerilla fighting was still being kept 
 up in various parts of the town. Then the inhabitants were warned 
 by a public crier, accompanied by a drummer, who marched up and 
 down the empty streets announcing that artillery fire from German field 
 guns which had been summoned from outside would be brought to bear 
 on the town. All peaceful citizens, many of whom were already huddled 
 together at various detention places, were warned to leave the town. 
 
 In execution of this order several blocks of houses were actually 
 shot down by artillery and other houses were riddled by German machine- 
 guns. More than 20,000 inhabitants were sent out of the city, many 
 on foot under military escort toward Tirlemont or Malines, while others 
 went by rail to Aix and Cologne. These last were the refugees whom I 
 met in Cologne. Of the 45,000 original inhabitants of Louvain barely 
 a few hundred remained. Of these most were killed. I could form no 
 private estimate ‘of their actual number, since most of their bodies were 
 lost under the ashes of their burning houses. Afterward the Germans 
 unearthed 42 of these. This was down to September 8th. Previously 
 some three hundred bodies of natives had been buried under German 
 supervision. Among the more noted dead were Professors Ponthiere 
 
 10 
 
and Lcncrtz, Messrs. Van lu'tryck and David, two Jesuit fathers and 
 over a score of university students and volunteer militia men. 
 
 The following- is the account given us by the German vStaff captain, 
 Baron von Ksmarch, who was wounded by four shots from a Belgian 
 machine-gun during the first night’s fighting, when his horse was shot 
 under him: 
 
 “On Tuesday, August 25th at 6 P. M., I arrived at the Louvain 
 railway station with a detachment of reserves of the battalion of 
 Neuss. We had just unloaded the horses and detrained our first 
 detachment, and I was leading them to the Belgian lancers’ barracks, 
 where we were to put up our horses for the night, when our adjutant 
 brought me an order to sound the alarm, as our troops were in battle 
 about ten kilometers away in the direction of Malines. Accordingly 
 I had the alarm sounded and posted my men on the Place du Peuple. 
 While we were stationed there some of our outgoing troops passed 
 us. Meanwhile we had supper. 
 
 “I had just ridden to the upper end of the Plaza when I heard 
 the cathedral clock strike nine. All lights were out. Suddenly I 
 saw a sky rocket, followed by another. Instantly there came rifle 
 fire from all the houses around the Plaza. The inhabitants were 
 firing from behind closed shutters. I could tell this from the flashes. 
 Evidently loop-holes had been drilled through the shutters. It was 
 clear to me that the assault had been thoroughly prepared. From 
 the direction of the railway station I heard the pop-pop-pop of a 
 Belgian machine-gun. I started at a gallop to summon our reserves. 
 
 “In the middle of the Plaza stood a number of our transport 
 wagons. As I was galloping past these wagons I heard the horrible 
 rattle of a Belgian machine-gun close by. At the same instant my 
 horse fell under me. While I lay pinned under my bleeding horse, I 
 received four shots and a scratch from one glancing shot. Then a 
 runaway team of horses ran over me and a wheel of a heavy trans- 
 port wagon passed over my breast. I lost consciousness. 
 
 “When I came to, I found myself lying in the dark on a blanket 
 under a wagon. Some of my men were near me, firing from behind 
 a barricade of wagons. I learned that my orderly had dragged me 
 out from under my dead horse and had thus saved my life. Several 
 of my fellow officers had likewise been put hors de combat by being 
 shot from their horses. Fortunately I still had strength enough to 
 issue commands to my men, most of whom were within call among 
 the wagons in the Plaza. 
 
 “In the darkness, apparently, the snipers lurking behind their 
 closed shutters had not noticed that my company of men had stayed 
 behind in the Plaza when our other troops were summoned away by 
 the battle alarm outside. The methodical rifle fire that was kept up 
 by our men silenced the snipers around the Plaza, Now my men 
 stormed into one house after the other smashing the doors with 
 their rifle butts, and setting fire to various houses. So soon as the 
 smoke became too thick the snipers came rushing downstairs and 
 
 11 
 
out of the houses. They were frenzied men with military rifles, shot- 
 guns, revolvers and knives. As they sprang from behind their cover 
 they were shot down by our men. I issued strict orders that no 
 unarmed person, woman or child should be fired at. 
 
 “Whife this was happening in the center of the town, another 
 of our troop trains rolled into the station and the men were detrained 
 at the double quick. They, too, came under a withering machine-gun 
 fire from a house opposite the station. Many of our men were killed 
 there. Issuing from the station under fire they charged up the long 
 street leading from the station and joined in the battle. Meanwhile 
 the shots from the houses were kept up all that night and throughout 
 the next day. 
 
 “My wounds had all been caused by a machine-gun, which was 
 planted on the balcony of an hotel that stood at a street extension, 
 two houses from the corner of the Plaza. My men later reported 
 that they had crawled along the hotel walls and had killed the men 
 manning the machine-guns from beneath the balcony openings. 
 
 “My men then stormed the hotel, bayoneted the armed scullions 
 and waiters inside and set fire to the hotel. With several other 
 wounded men I was carried to a nearby hospital in the Dominican 
 cloister. There were several monks in cowls in the hospital whom 
 my men had to threaten with their bayonets before they would let 
 us enter. 
 
 “While I lay at the hospital we w’ere fired on from the houses 
 opposite, so that our men had to storm those houses. On the follow- 
 ing day we invalids were carried to the railway station and were 
 again fired upon while on the way. All this time the fight was still 
 raging in the city. Later I was taken to a field hospital' outside 
 Louvain where I was attended by Dr. Hoesch, a Belgian surgeon, 
 and by several Belgian Catholic sisters of mercy, who nursed all us 
 invalids there bravely and devotedly.” 
 
 Afterward this officer was transported to the German field hospital 
 at Liege and thence to Kiel, where his home was. 
 
 Captain von Esmarch’s first lieutenant, who brought the third 
 company of the battalion of Neuss to Louvain on a train following 
 that of Captain von Esmarch, told the following story: 
 
 “We were due to arrive at Louvain at 9 P. M., August 25th, 
 coming from Liege. As our train rolled into Louvain, even before 
 we reached the station, a hail of bullets struck our cars, shattering 
 windows and wounding several men. Two of the men died of their 
 wounds. Our train came to a sudden halt in the railroad yard and 
 we detrained in a hurry. Bullets were whistling all around us. I 
 could hear a machine-gun. It made different sound from that of 
 our machine-guns. 
 
 “There we stood near the railroad sheds as in a ail de sac. I 
 had no idea what was the matter. We had heard something of an 
 approach of an English column to aid the Belgians, who might come 
 
 12 
 
out of Antwerp, so I feared that tlic l^elj^ians had really broken 
 through and that the h'nglish had got past our forces and had taken 
 Ix:)uvain. 
 
 “lint as we deployed under fire across the railroad yard we 
 met a small detachment of our railroad troo])S, who told us that the 
 civil population of Louvain had risen against us all over town. We 
 had arrived just in time for the opening of the fight. The other 
 company of our battalion, they said, was fighting somewhere in the 
 center of the town under Esmarch’s command. 
 
 “Right across the street from the entrance of the railway station 
 the Belgians had a machine gun. They were firing into the station 
 so hard that we had to deploy to the riglit and the left of the building. 
 At the other end of the station street there was another Belgian 
 machine-gun detachment firing from behind a barricade erected on 
 a balcony of a house that projected into the street. 
 
 “I took my men up the street on the double quick. An adj utant, 
 running up from behind, transmitted an order to me to take a hun- 
 dred men, or as many as I could quickly muster up to a hundred, 
 herewith to storm two houses half way up the street, from the 
 windows of which people were firing. My orders were to seize and 
 send back all young men encountered, and to seize any amis or 
 ammunition. I complied with my orders, dividing my men into two 
 firing platoons, who presently succeeded in storming both houses. 
 Other adjoining houses likewise had to be stormed. 
 
 “These houses, in all of which my men found men with arms, 
 were set on fire and the prisoners were sent back for drumhead 
 court martials. 
 
 “During the fighting, my men were joined by other platoons. 
 Again and again, as we worked our way around the street corners 
 we came under fire. It seemed as if the whole population had risen 
 against us. Right and left houses were set on fire. All the central 
 part of the town was lit up by flames, with thick black clouds of 
 smoke rolling above us. It was a terrible spectacle. 
 
 “During the night I was told that some thirty Belgian men, 
 caught with weapons in their hands, had been stood up against walls 
 and shot. Wednesday morning early our company was recalled to 
 protect the station. Again we were shot at, and again we had to 
 sally forth to the attack. A captured Belgian machine-gun with 
 ammunition now was being used by our men. More houses were 
 set on fire and more prisoners were taken — fully half a hundred, 
 among them a priest and several Belgian soldiers disguised in 
 civilian clothes. 
 
 “Later I had to take my company into other parts of the city 
 where all the houses were still standing. Here, too, we were fired 
 upon from behind closed doors and windows. My men became 
 almost unmanageable. Some dreadful things happened ; but what 
 «ould I do? War is hard. 
 
 13 
 
“On the third night we bivouacked in the railway station. Now 
 we were left unmolested. My men slept the sleep of exhaustion. 
 We had several wounded and dead among them. Our dead were 
 buried early next morning. During the night we were alarmed by 
 more firing in a distant quarter of the town, but other troops attended 
 to that alarm. After that we had only patrol duty.” 
 
 Here is another version, told by Monsignor Coenraets, the vice- 
 rector of the University of Louvain, a Belgian clergyman, who came 
 out of the burning city together with other refugees, among whom were 
 some of his fellow professors, clergymen and sisters of mercy. This 
 is what he had to say immediately after the tragedy: 
 
 “I cannot deny that our people shot pitilessly at the German 
 soldiers. By the sound of the firing I was able to distinguish very 
 well between German and Belgian shots. What I heard during the 
 first five minutes of the general fusillade were no German shots. 
 
 “Later I was taken into custody and had to serve as one of the 
 hostages for the town. This was because I was superintendent of 
 the Lyceum and therefore was supposed to have influence over the 
 people. Relays of hostages alternated with each other in reporting 
 at the town hall, where each group in turn had to be at call from 
 three in the afternoon until the next day. On the first day after the 
 revolt the burgomaster and the rector of the university had to 
 report. On the following day the lot fell to the vice-burgomaster 
 and to me. 
 
 “As I entered my duty on that day, at three in the afternoon, a 
 most terrible shooting started up anew all over the town. By the 
 different sound we could tell it was not from the German rifles. It 
 could not come from regular Belgian troops for there were none of 
 them left in the town. Towards evening the shooting ceased, and 
 we walked up and down the Rue de la Station with a white flag in 
 order to quiet the people. Father Dillon spoke to them in Flemish, 
 Senator Orbau de Xivry in French. Then we returned to the city 
 hall and were allowed to retire under guard. 
 
 “Next morning our quarters were changed from the city hall to 
 the railway station. On our way there, under a white flag, we 
 stopped over and over again. Father Dillon read aloud in Flemish 
 and French a proclamation of the German military commander, 
 which said: ‘We have taken hostages from you, and if another shot 
 is fired we shall have to shoot them !’ Two German officers walked 
 beside us with pistols in their hands ready to shoot. With us came 
 several sisters of charity. Women, children and aged men of Lou- 
 vain stood around us with uplifted hands crying to the people in 
 the houses not to shoot at the soldiers so as to save us from death. 
 Behind us marched twenty German soldiers with their rifles in 
 their hands. 
 
 “While Father Dillon was reading the proclamation at the comer 
 of the Rue Frederic Lints, the shooting at Germans from hidden 
 places began again. We gave ourselves up for lost ; but the officers 
 
 14 
 
with us iiicrci fully restrained the soldiers. Notwithslandinj:^ the 
 shooting', we were led through the streets for five more hours, and 
 during that time at different points of the city we read aloud the 
 proclamation again and again. 
 
 “At three in the afternoon we were taken back to the station, 
 completely tired out from the nervous strain. The officers and 
 soldiers with us showed the effect just as we did. There we were 
 furnished with a hot meal. I was then allowed to go home, as my 
 time of service had expired. A German military surgeon. Dr. Berg- 
 hausen of Coiogne, magnanimously offered to accompany me. I owe 
 him my life. We had walked as far as the Rue Leopold when a 
 shot came from behind a door of a house facing the grain market. 
 At once some German soldiers on patrol leveled their rifles at me. 
 The German surgeon threw himself before me, covering me with 
 his own body ; so I w-as saved. 
 
 “I passed the night in the Dominican cloister. On the next day, 
 because the shooting from the houses still continued, the German 
 commander told me that the houses would have to be leveled with 
 artillery. Together with members of the religious orders, charity 
 sisters, aged folk, women and children, as well a.s some wounded 
 soldiers and civilians, I boarded a military train which in twenty 
 hours brought us to Aix-la Chapelle. After some days there, I was 
 given permission to return to Louvain.” 
 
 Monsignor Coenraets’ version was corroborated by a Dominican friar, 
 whose name I unfortunately did not catch. In my presence this friar 
 made the following declaration to my traveling companion, the Swiss 
 newspaper man, who sent the statement to his newspaper in Zurich. This 
 was the friar’s story: 
 
 “After the first entry of the German troops we had complete 
 quiet at Louvain. In the churches an exhortation from the arch- 
 bishop of Malines was read from the pulpits advising our parishion- 
 ers to bow to the authorities by abstaining from violence in word or 
 deed. I myself read aloud this appeal from the pulpit after regular 
 service on Tuesday, August 25th. In the afternoon of that day 
 secret word reached us that our men had come out of Antwerp, 
 had beaten the Germans at Malines, and that our army together 
 with British and French troops were hot on the trail of the Germans, 
 who were fleeing toward Louvain. 
 
 “Soon after the arrival of this news we could hear cannon fire 
 in the direction of Malines. This put everybody in a state of wild 
 excitement. Word was passed around that now the time had come 
 to get rid of the hated Germans. 
 
 “Before nightfall a column of German fugitives came in. They 
 appeared discouraged and desperate. Most of the remaining Ger- 
 man soldiers immediately were called to arms. Hurriedly they left 
 the city, one detachment following after the other in hot haste. The 
 German commandant also was seen leaving Louvain in an auto- 
 mobile. 
 
 15 
 
‘‘At once the joyful news spread that the German army had 
 been beaten, and was in full retreat, and that the hour for vengeance 
 was at hand. It was whispered about that the signal for rising 
 would be given at the proper time. Soon after I first heard of this 
 signal, somebody let ofiF a sky rocket. It was then already dark. 
 Immediately shots came from many houses. They were shooting at 
 the few German soldiers remaining on the streets or camping on the 
 open squares. The fusillade spread to the whole city. The German 
 soldiers, who were running in every direction, shot back at the 
 houses. The street fighting became general and lasted all night. A 
 gasoline tank blew up. The flames lit up the sky. Before morning 
 many houses in the center of the town and near the railway station 
 were burning. 
 
 “When daylight came the German soldiers recaptured some of 
 the hostages whom they had released only the day before. Among 
 them were the mayor, the prefect of the university, our sub-prior 
 of the Dominicans, two priests of other orders and four rich trades- 
 men. These gentlemen were marched through the streets under a 
 white flag and had to read aloud proclamations in French and Flem- 
 ish advising the people to keep quiet. Nevertheless the firing from 
 the houses was kept up. Some irresponsible miscreants not only 
 shot at the soldiers escorting the hostages but even at the military 
 surgeon accompanying them, though he wore a brassarde with a 
 red cross on it. I was told that he was wounded. All Wednesday 
 night these horrors continued. Many houses went up in flames 
 especially on the Boulevard de Tirlemont. 
 
 “On Thursday, August 27th, at 8 :30 in the morning, a German 
 officer with some soldiers came to our cloister and requested our 
 fathers to go about to announce that the city would be bombarded, 
 unless the shooting stopped. We were requested to tell the people 
 to leave everything as it was and to come to the railway station 
 empty-handed. 
 
 “At the same time the hostages were again marched through 
 the streets, proclaiming in loud tones that they themselves would be 
 shot by their military guards unless the people stopped shooting. 
 None the less some crazy men, hidden in their barricaded houses, 
 took shots at the soldiers accompanying the hostages and likewise 
 at German stretcher-bearers and military surgeons who were carry- 
 ing away the wounded. There was desultory shooting the whole 
 day. In the evening another proclamation, commanding that the 
 revolt should cease, was read aloud at street corners by certain 
 hostages. A German officer, riding through the streets with a white 
 flag and a bugler behind him, announced in loud tones that if the 
 firing continued, the city would be laid level by artillery. He advised 
 all peaceful inhabitants to come to the railway station. 
 
 “At nine in the morning we were all at the station. The 
 wounded Germans and Belgians, had been brought from our hos- 
 pital in the cloister to the station where they were bedded on cots 
 in the waiting room. We Dominicans were told that a train would 
 
 16 
 
be ready for us at two o’clock. We lK)ardc(l the train at that hour. 
 Long before this hour many thousand refugees had left Louvain in 
 every direction. As our train jnilled out, the artillery fire began. 
 From the car windows we saw fire and smoke everywhere. The 
 market halls were burning, likewise the roof of St. Peters, likewise 
 the University Library. After we had spent a few days in Aix we 
 were allowed to come back to Louvain.” 
 
 This account of the friar was corroborated by two Belgian sisters 
 of mercy, who unreservedly blamed the inhabitants for the dreadful 
 afTair. In my presence one of these sisters told Mr. Sittart, the German 
 Reichstag deputy, who appeared interested in Catholic affairs, that the 
 Louvain tragedy was the result of the mistaken belief of the inhabitants 
 that the Germans in Belgium had been routed and were on their last legs. 
 The most vivid account of an eye-witness was given to me by the Dutch 
 correspondent of the “New Rotterdam Courant” in Louvain. He said; 
 
 “I arrived in Louvain from Tirlemont late on Tuesday evening, 
 August 25th, when the street fighting was in full blast. A few hours 
 earlier, when most of the German troops had left the town to join in 
 the battle at Malines, some natives hidden in a house opposite the 
 railway station, where some German troops had just arrived by train, 
 started shooting at the soldiers. Thereupon shots came from 
 neighboring houses and forthwith the shooting spread from house to 
 house and from street to street. 
 
 “German soldiers were killed in the station, in front of it, and 
 nearby — more than I could count. Many more were wounded. 
 Horses were struck by bullets and galloped frantically through the 
 streets, some of them dragging wagons. Many horses lay dead. 
 There was wild confusion everywhere in the darkness. Peeping 
 out through a window in the station building I could plainly see 
 the flashes from a machine gun on a roof opposite. Later the 
 Germans stormed this building and captured that machine gun. 
 
 “Generally nobody knew where most of the shots were coming 
 from. Wherever the German soldiers saw flashes of gunfire they 
 attacked that building and broke into the doors. Furious fighting 
 followed in and around the houses from which the shots had come. 
 Any civilian, who was caught with a gun in his hands — or wherever 
 the Germans found arms hidden in his house — was shot on the spot. 
 Wherever a figure showed at a window the soldiers shot into the 
 window. Of course, many innocent people must have lost their 
 lives in the general confusion ; but the soldiers were too wild to be 
 able to tell the difference in the darkness. Those people who were 
 plainly innocent — women, sick people, old folks and children — were 
 summoned forth and driven to places of detention outside of the 
 town. 
 
 “A German officer told me that it would not be safe for me to 
 remain at the station. He said that artillery had been summoned 
 from the outside. Just then crowds of prisoners were brought to 
 the station. There were several hundred of them, among them 
 
 17 
 
priests, women and children. They were afraid they were going to 
 be shot by the infuriated soldiers. I did hear one soldier say, if the 
 shooting in the town did not cease, that the Germans ought to shoot 
 every tenth prisoner. One of the prisoners overheard this and began 
 to wail. Some houses in the neighborhood went up in flames. 
 While I was talking with an excited German officer several shots 
 from windows across the street struck close to us. More shooting 
 could be heard down the street. A frantic prisoner in a workman’s 
 blouse, who had been taken with a smoking pistol in his hand, was 
 being court martialled by two officers. Presently he was led out 
 into the yard and was shot. 
 
 “Outside, horses and cattle were stampeding up and down the 
 street neighing and bellowing frantically. Houses were burning 
 here and there and we could hear the crash and deep booming of 
 fallen roofs and walls. A gas tank blew up with a great red flash. 
 It was a night of terror. 
 
 “Next morning, when I cautiously ventured forth in the com- 
 pany of some German soldiers, I saw many dead bodies littering the 
 streets — of soldiers as well' as of civilians. I saw a dead priest lying 
 face downward near the monument on the Place du Peuple. At 
 another place an old man with white hair lay dead. Further on 
 lay a dead woman. Evidently they had ventured forth in the dark 
 and had been shot in the confusion. 
 
 “Further on I saw the body of another dead priest. His cassock 
 was covered with mud and blood. It was a horrible sight. I can- 
 not tell you all the horrid things I saw. Later came the artillery 
 fire. They shot down the houses in the center of the city. By the 
 heroic efforts of some German officers and railway soldiers the old 
 town hall and the church of St. Peter were saved from the flames. 
 They dynamited buildings adjoining them. They also saved the 
 cloister of Mont Cesar. The German Commandant, Major Man- 
 teuffel, who was away and came back to the city only after the fight 
 was well under way, himself saved that old cloister because of its art 
 treasures. He did this notwithstanding the fact that shots were said 
 to have come from the tower of the cloister. But the old University 
 Library in the center of the town was burnt down during the first 
 night. I saw it burn. All was destroyed but the front wall. It was 
 all like a horrible nightmare. 
 
 “So far as I could make out it all came from a false report of 
 a German defeat near Louvain on the day before. It is a fact that 
 on the day of my arrival at Louvain there was fighting near Brussels. 
 I could hear the sound of artillery as I went from Tirlemont to 
 Louvain. Two days afterward, in the midst of the flames and the 
 confusion at Louvain, I came across a German officer who said he 
 had been in a battle near Malines on August 25th. He asserted 
 positively that a sortie of four Belgian divisions from Antwerp had 
 been stopped and repulsed there by the Germans. The French and 
 English who were to help them had failed to connect. This officer 
 also asserted that four German armies were advancing into France 
 
 18 
 
and that the army under von Kluck had reached a point only eighty 
 kilometers from J’aris.” 
 
 Another correspondent of the Amsterdam I landelsblad, who was in 
 Louvain, told me that he had made a special investigation of the story 
 that the fight had started from (icrman soldiers mistakenly shooting at 
 each other. From what he had gathered he was convinced that this story 
 was false. This same correspondent was furthermore convinced that 
 the trouble had its origin in the fact that the Belgian militiamen had not 
 surrendered their arms, when hidden to do so, but had either kept them 
 or passed them on to others of their fellow citizens. 
 
 I m'ght give many other accounts of this tragedy ; but why take up 
 more time since I have stated the main essentials? In all fairness T should 
 mention that I met many natives who told me privately that the firing of 
 the German soldiers had been absolutely unprovoked, and that they per- 
 sonally knew nothing of the guerilla firing from houses. Some insisted 
 that it was the outcome of a drunken debauch, certain Bavarian troops 
 having looted the Louvain brewery. As a matter of fact I found that the 
 Louvain brewery had been left unharmed, nor was there any record of 
 Bavarian troops having formed a part of the garrison. My own im- 
 pression of Bavarians, as I know them, is that they are so used to drinking 
 beer that the consumption of more beer away from home would scarcely 
 make them fighting-drunk. 
 
 Here is the Belgian official version of the affair, as published in 
 London from a telegram of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to 
 the Belgian legation in London, dated Antwerp, August 28th : 
 
 “Tuesday evening a German army corps, after suffering a 
 severe defeat, retired in disorder into Louvain. German sentries, 
 who stood at the gates thought the enemy was approaching, and 
 fired on their fugitive countrymen, whom they mistook for Belgians. 
 Notwithstanding all' protests of the Louvain authorities the Ger- 
 mans, in order to hide their blunder, insisted that they had been 
 fired upon by natives, although the natives had been completely 
 disarmed one week before. Without any investigation and without 
 listening to any testimony, the German commandant of Louvain 
 gave orders that the city was to be completely destroyed. German 
 soldiers with hand bombs set fire to the town at all four corners. 
 The wonderful church of St. Peter, all the university buildings, the 
 library and the scientific institutes were delivered over to the flames. 
 Thus Louvain, the spiritual capital of the Netherlands since the 
 fifteenth century, is now nothing but an ash heap. This crime 
 against humanity is without precedence in history.” 
 
 Now that I have given all these various versions of credible eye- 
 witnesses and others, I will make free to state my own conclusion, as 
 formed after sifting all the firsthand testimony, whether corroborative 
 or contradictory, that I was able to gather at Louvain. My conclusion 
 is that the outbreak at Louvain was the result of the mistaken impression 
 of many of the inhabitants that the Germans were being beaten in other 
 parts of Belgium and that the hour for Belgian vengeance had come. 
 
 19 
 
Had the people of Louvain really given up all' their hidden arms and 
 ammunition, as they were called upon to do by their own authorities, 
 the outbreak would never have happened. The fact that machine guns 
 were brought into play against the Germans shows plainly that the revolt 
 must have been in some measure premeditated and prepared ; since 
 peaceful civilians do not have machine guns, neither do they have 
 ribbons with machine gun ammunition, neither do they have trained 
 gunners at hand to serve them. While I was at Louvain I saw with my 
 own eyes one of these Belgian machine guns, said to have been captured 
 opposite the railway station. The gun showed marks of rifle bullets. 
 While I was at Louvain I also took note of the fact that most of the 
 houses that were spared had chalk inscriptions on their doors and shut- 
 ters, saying: “Schonen! Unschuldige Leute.” (Spare them! Innocent 
 people). On the other hand I noticed that the houses and buildings that 
 were burnt out in many instances showed the marks of rifle bullets on 
 their walls. 
 
 I also noticed a new proclamation by the acting burgomaster of 
 Louvain, which was being posted on the walls while I was there. The 
 following is my translation of the original French and Flemish text: 
 
 “In vain have we searched for the members of our municipal 
 council. The last one of them, Alderman Smit, turned over his 
 official papers to me on August 30th. I consider it my duty to 
 take over the affairs of our municipality, together with some well- 
 known citizens aiding me. At the suggestion of the German military' 
 authorities I request all inhabitants of Louvain to return to their 
 accustomed vocations. The regulations issued by my predecessor 
 remain in force, to-wit : It is forbidden to walk abroad after 7 P. M., 
 Belgian time. All arms and munitions must be forthwith sur- 
 rendered at the town hall. All hostile demonstrations against the 
 German army must cease. If these conditions are fulfilled I am 
 assured by the German military authorities that no inhabitant will 
 be molested or curtailed in his liberties. The city will be policed 
 in the day time by municipal volunteers, bearing a brassarde of the 
 colors of our city and an identification card, properly stamped by 
 me. The city hall' is open for public business. (Signed) A. 
 Neerincx.” 
 
 In regard to the total destruction of Louvain, as falsely reported 
 in the Belgian official account, and in regard to the demolition of Louvain’s 
 public buildings, monuments, and art treasures, I shall now give you the 
 result of my own observations there. 
 
 The worst loss, from an aesthetic and historic point of view was the 
 burning of the rich library of the University in the old Cloth Hall', a 
 Gothic structure dating from 1317. Only the front wall of this building 
 was left standing. The librarian, Professor P. Delannoy, told me that it 
 had contained some 200,000 works, mostly of church literature. Among 
 these were nearly a thousand old parchment manuscripts, the most 
 valuable of which was a holograph of the famous Thomas a Kempis. 
 There were also some 380 incunabula, a valuable collection of old coins, 
 and also several old portraits by Flemish masters. From a scholar’s point 
 
 20 
 
of view this must, of course, be considered an irreparable loss. Other 
 valuable buildings that were destroyed are the Academy of Fine Arts, 
 which was an old sixteenth century hall, the Court of Justice, which was 
 likewise a sixteenth century structure, the Municipal Opera House, the 
 “Table Ronde” which was a private club with some valuable modern 
 paintings, and the old Collegium Leodiense of the University. The roof 
 of the Collegial Church of St. Peter, generally misnamed the “Cathedral,” 
 was also badly damaged by the fire, though by no means irreparably. 
 
 All the other churches in Louvain were spared, as were all the other 
 university buildings and, most gratifying of all, the old town hall with 
 its beautiful late Gothic fagade, were completely spared. They were 
 saved through the valiant efforts of Major von Manteuffel and other 
 officers of his staff including Colonel Block of the railway engineers, who 
 used every means to save this building. At the time when the flames 
 were creeping across the high roofs from house to house in the compactly 
 built center of the town, everybody thought that the old town hall was 
 doomed. It happened to be covered with wooden scaffolding for renova- 
 tion work. This added to its danger. Therefore a company of German 
 railway troops were summoned, who succeeded in bringing one of the 
 municipal fire engines. All day long they worked to save the structure. 
 At the risk of their lives the soldiers climbed on the roofs of the adjoining 
 burning houses, dragging the hose along. When the water gave out, it 
 was decided to dynamite the adjoining buildings. First the houses next 
 to the town hall were dynamited in a very skillful manner after every 
 window of the town hall had been opened so that the blasts would not 
 harm that structure. While the men were working in this way they were 
 fired at by snipers in hidden places. 
 
 The church of St. Peter, as I have said is practically intact. It was 
 lucky to escape in view of the fact that hidden arms were found in the 
 church. Fortunately its little sacrament house, a Gothic work of art in 
 carved stone by De Layans, the architect of the town hall, escaped un- 
 harmed, as did also the Cathedral organ with its handsome carved oak 
 case, dating from 1556, and likewise the beautiful carved wooden pulpit, 
 dating from 1742. Other works of art in that church, such as the paint- 
 ings of Flemish masters, like “The Last Supper,” and the “Martyrdom 
 of St. Erasmus” by Diereck Bouts, and other paintings by Van Rillearz, 
 Flemalle, and Roger van der Weyden, together with other movable 
 treasures were saved by Captain Thelamann, an art connoisseur, serving 
 with the German army, who turned these objects over to the safe keeping 
 of Dr. Neerincx, the acting burgomaster of Louivain. Among these art 
 treasures were many valuable silver and gold church vessels and figurines 
 of saints, dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. All the 
 paintings in the Academy of Fine Arts were likewise saved and safely 
 stored. The story that all the churches of Louvain were laid in ashes 
 because the Germans held the priests and friars responsible for the revolt 
 of the populace is grossly untrue. While I was in Louvain I made it a 
 point to enter all the churches and chapels there and found them all 
 standing intact, without any indications of sacrilege, excepting only St. 
 Peters with its damaged roof. Of those churches I can only recall off- 
 hand those of St. Michael, of St. James, of St. Gertrudis, the chapel of 
 
 21 
 
St. Hubert and the Chapel' of the Holy Spirit. Before I left Louvain 
 a Louvain architect had already been commissioned by the Germans to 
 restore the damaged roof of the cathedral, in which work he was being 
 assisted by German help, in money and labor. 
 
 Subsequently expert commissioners were sent to Louvain by the 
 German Government to make a thorough investigation and to see to it 
 that no further art treasures should be either damaged or carried away. 
 Among these commissioners were Dr. Carl Helfferich of the German 
 Bank and Dr. von Falke, the well known art expert. 
 
 All that remains for me to discuss is the question, how far the 
 Germans were justified in doing as they did at Louvain. Aside from 
 downright condemnation there are two points of view from which their 
 conduct there can be regarded. 
 
 One is that civilians were killed and houses destroyed at Louvain as 
 an act of retaliation, that is to say, vengeance. This motive undoubted^ 
 had much to do with the spontaneous conduct of the German soldiers, as 
 was but natural in the circumstances. As an American, of considerable 
 military experience, I think it only just to remind you of the fact that 
 our American military code recognizes the principle of retaliation. Here 
 is the paragraph relating to this point in our “Instructions for the govern- 
 ment of armies of the United States in the field” as submitted to the 
 latest international conferences at the Hague : 
 
 “The law of war can no more wholly dispense with retaliation 
 than can the law of nations, of which it is a branch. Yet civilized 
 nations acknowledge retaliation as the sternest feature of war. A 
 reckless enemy often leaves to his opponent no other means of 
 securing himself against the repetition of barbarous outrage.” 
 
 As most of you will know we had countless instances of retaliation 
 during our American Civil War. An international case of retaliation in 
 American history was the bombardment of Greytown in Nicaragua by an 
 American squadron during the fifties. 
 
 The other point of view is that such stern measures are not under- 
 taken in the spirit of vengeance so much as for a deterrent example, to 
 prevent recurrence of further outrages and to crush dangerous popular 
 uprisings on the part of armed natives. Were it not for such measures, 
 it is held, no German’s life would now be safe in Belgium. This is the 
 official German view as voiced by General von Biss.ng, the commander 
 of the seventh German Army Corps, of which the German troops in 
 Louvain formed a part. Baron von Bissing made the following official 
 statement in Brussels when I was there: 
 
 “The acts of reprisal practiced by our troops against the guer- 
 illas of Belgium have been characterized and denounced as mere 
 acts of vengeance. This is a false view. The underhanded and 
 treacherous attacks that have been made and are still being made 
 by the hostile population on our troops here, have made it my ab- 
 solute duty to proceed against such hostile natives with iron severity. 
 To show weakness in these cases would amount to treason to our 
 own army.” 
 
 22 
 
“When a fanatic, reckless populace takes to murdering single 
 soldiers, invalids, sureeons and nurses, when the safety of all com- 
 munications is imperilled by irresponsible incendiaries in our rear, 
 the law of self-preservation demands that all' military commanders 
 must employ the severest measures against such people, even though 
 the innocent have to suffer with the guilty. Only thus can the 
 occupied regions be preserved from tbe horrors of partisan warfare.” 
 
 That this point of view is not foreign to our own military institu- 
 tions you will gather from the following paragraph of our own American 
 field service regulations, which I have here: 
 
 “Paragraph 82. Men, or squads of men, who commit hostilities, 
 whether by fighting, or by inroads for destruction or plunder, or by 
 raids of any kind, without commission, without being part and 
 portion of the organized hostile army, and without sharin?r con- 
 tinuouslv in the war, but who do so, with intermitting returns to 
 their homes and advocations, or with the occasional assumption of 
 the semblance of peaceful pursuits, by divesting themselves of the 
 character or appearance of soldiers — such men, or squads of men, 
 are not public enemies, and, therefore, if captured, are not entitled 
 to the privileges of prisoners of war, but shall be treated summarily 
 as highway robbers or pirates.” 
 
 • As many of you must know there have been many, manv instances 
 of our adhesion to such practice in American historv, notablv during 
 General Sherman’s march to the sea, during our various Indian wars, 
 when Indian men and women were often killed indiscriminatelv, and 
 during our Mexican war and Philippine campaigns, where we had to 
 deal with guerillas. 
 
 I myself was present in Nicaragua when our men of the navv and 
 marine corps were treacherously attacked by native pacificos at Leon, 
 where two of our men were shot down right beside me, and I can assure 
 you that our officers and men did not hesitate to retaliate bv shooting 
 back. Of the natives then killed, many were apparently pacific civilians. 
 
 I was also at Vera Cruz in Mexico, when that place was forcefully 
 taken by our blue-jackets and marines. There, too, a library was de- 
 stroyed and a number of apparentlV pacific native men and women were 
 kihed, among them some neutral foreigners. There, too, the American 
 officer in command. Rear Admiral Fletcher, threatened to lay the defence- 
 less town in ashes unless all resistance ceased at once. 
 
 There is a French saying thnt “pn omelet cannot be made without 
 breaking eggs” and there is another French sayin^^ that “war is war.” 
 We have an American saying, attributed to General Sherman, which is 
 evf=*n more granhic. As a man who had to follow nr^ev warq I can onb” 
 tell you that General' Sherman was right, when he said : “War is hell.” 
 When those misguided men of Louvain opened fire on those unsuspecting 
 German soldiers in their citv, thev let hell loose upon Louvain. If the 
 Germans had not done as thev did an even worse hell would have been 
 let loose over all Belgium, and Belgium now would be in the same state 
 of blbody anarchy as Mexico. 
 
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 'A'v