“=The Kaiser and his people are alike responsible for the acts of their Government and their troops, and there can be no differentiation when the day of reckoning comes. The Kaiser could stop these things with a word. Instead, he pronounces impious benedictions upon them. Daily he appeals for the blessings of God upon the dreadful deeds which are staining the face of Western Europe--the ravaged villages, the hapless non-combatants hanged or shot, the women and children torn from their beds by cowards and made to walk before them under threats of all the infamies which have eternally disgraced German ‘valour.’=” XII. “=Just for a word--‘neutrality’--just for a scrap of paper Great Britain was going to make war.=”--_The German Chancellor._ _The “scrap of paper” was the Powers’ treaty guaranteeing Belgium neutrality._ French Protest to the Powers. So numerous and so terrible were the outrages committed by Germans on French territory that the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, on September 2nd--a month after the outbreak of hostilities--was compelled to address a communication to the Powers which set forth a large number of authenticated cases of barbarity. In the course of this official statement it was explained that the indisputable facts set out were selected merely as examples, and that it was impossible to bring to the notice of the Powers every act contrary to the laws of war of which accounts were being received day by day. The series of memoranda were sufficient to establish the two following classes of facts:-- “First. The Armies and Government of Germany profess the deepest scorn for International Law, and for treaties solemnly recognised for Germany. “Secondly. The devastations of the invaded countries (incendiarism, murder, pillage, and atrocities) appear to be systematically pursued by order of the leaders, and are not due to acts of indiscipline. “It is necessary to emphasise this two-fold characteristic of the German proceedings. They constitute a negation of every human and International law, and bring back modern warfare, after centuries of civilisation, to the methods of barbaric invasions. We are confident that such facts will arouse the indignation of neutral States, and will help to make clear the meaning of the struggle which we are carrying on in the respect of law and independence of nations.” To this _communiqué_ were attached ten separate memoranda, setting forth various specific charges against the Germans, and showing, among other things, how the Kaiser’s troops were killing the French wounded, and had even shot Red Cross nurses. A Dead Man’s Diary.