If it were necessary to justify our aversion, we need only remark that the cruelties recorded were systematically premeditated. Do not the _Kriegsbrauch im Landkriege_ (_Usages of War on Land according to the Great General Staff_) state that the observation of these usages is not "guaranteed by any sanction other than the fear of reprisals," and that the officer, the child of his age, carried away by the moral tendencies which affect his country, must protect himself "against exaggerated humanitarian ideas," and must realize that "the only true humanity often resides in the unmitigated employment of these severities?" If such principles are professed by the highest authorities, the German soldier will not shrink from any degree of violence; for he knows that wickedness will not merely provide him with amusement; it will also help to achieve the final aim of warfare. So that the officer shall be in no danger of forgetting the spirit in which he should conceive his relations with the enemy population, he carries some such aid to memory as the _Tornister-Wörterbuch_. If he has letters or proclamations to draft, he has recourse to _L'Interprète Militaire_ of Captain von Scharfenort, professor and librarian at the Academy of War in Berlin. M. Waxweiler (in _La Belgique Neutre et Loyale_, p. 265) has already drawn attention to the cruel and odious character of this _vade-mecum_, so we will not enlarge upon it. It was after consulting _L'Interprète Militaire_ that a certain placard posted in Belgium in the August of 1914 was drafted. It gives no details as to the "lugubrious cruelties"; it applies both to towns and villages; it speaks of the "mayor" instead of the "burgomaster"; it is neither dated nor signed; in short, it presents all the characteristics of an "emergency placard," drafted beforehand. PROCLAMATION. We are not making war upon citizens, but only on the enemy army. In spite of this, the German troops have been attacked in great number by persons who do not belong to the army. They have committed _acts of the most lugubrious cruelty_ not only against combatants, but also against our wounded and our doctors who are under the protection of the Red Cross. To prevent these brutalities I order that which follows: 1. Any person who does not belong to the army and who is found arms in hand, will be shot instantly. He will be regarded as outside the laws of nations.