We have already stated (p. 147) that placards exhibited in Louvain stated that the town of Mons was forced to pay a fine because a civilian had fired on the German army. Now the fact was wholly imaginary; never did any civilian of Mons fire on the Germans; never did they accuse one of having done so; so that they never had occasion to fine the town on that account. All is false here, from the first word to the last. While at Louvain they were posting up the placard relating to Mons, they were exhibiting at Mons a notice according to which certain inhabitants of Soignies had fired on the German troops. This also was a sheer falsehood. No such action was imputed to any inhabitant of Soignies. At Charleroi they advertised the statement that they had inflicted a penalty on Anderlues for a similar offence. Here, once more, both accusation and penalty were pure inventions. Here is an equally untruthful placard. It was posted up at Cugnon (Luxemburg) early in October, 1914, between the fall of the first forts at Antwerp and the taking of the city. It announces the destruction of the line of forts between Verdun and Toul, and the march on Paris (a month after the battle of the Marne!). Its principal interest lies in the signature: the burgomaster did not know of the placard until it was posted; the military authorities had simply forged his name. This did not prevent them from forcing the commune of Cugnon to pay for the printing of these lies. _M. Max's Denial._ The most interesting example of lying by placard is undoubtedly that which was revealed by the burgomaster of Brussels. On the 30th August one might read, on the walls of the capital, a notice in which M. Max gave the lie to a placard posted at Liége. This is it:-- CITY OF BRUSSELS. The German governor of the city of Liége, Lieutenant-General von Kolewe, yesterday had the following notice exposed:-- _To the Inhabitants of the City of Liége._ "The burgomaster of Brussels has informed the German commandant that the French Government has declared to the Belgian Government the impossibility of assisting it offensively in any way, as it is itself forced to assume the defensive." _To this assertion I oppose the most positive denial._ THE BURGOMASTER, ADOLPHE MAX. BRUSSELS, _30th August, 1914_. Since their burgomaster declared the assertion to be false, no doubt could remain in the minds of the people of Brussels. But, curiously enough, beside M. Max's placard there remained a German placard, which had been posted two days earlier, and in which it was stated:-- On the 25th inst. the official French newspapers published a communication from the French Government stating that the French armies being forced to assume the defensive would no longer be in a position to assist Belgium in the matter of a military offensive. BRUSSELS, _23rd August, 1914_.