[Sidenote: German White Book reveals atrocities.] It has been well said that the publication of this _German White Book_ was "an amazing official blunder." The neutral world, whose good opinion Germany sought, was not convinced by it that the Belgians had committed the atrocities with which the Germans charged them. On the other hand, this _White Book_, published by the German Government, will be accepted by everyone as conclusive evidence of the massacres and other brutal deeds which were carried out as "reprisals" by the orders of the German military authorities in Belgium. The names of the German officers who gave the terrible orders are published officially, and "frequently the very men themselves come forward and depose coldly and callously to acts which have degraded the German Army and left a stain upon its banners that [future] generations of chivalry will not efface." Indeed, in the light of the admissions of the _German White Book_, it is not too much to say that the time has already come which was spoken of by President Wilson in his dispatch to President Poincaré, September 19, 1914, when he said (speaking for "a nation which abhors inhuman practices in the conduct of a war"): "The time will come when this great conflict is over and when the truth can be impartially determined. When that time arrives those responsible for violations of the rules of civilized warfare, if such violations have occurred, and for false charges against their adversaries, must of course bear the burden of the judgment of the world." CHARACTER OF THE MATERIAL USED IN THIS PAMPHLET. [Sidenote: German sources.] In this pamphlet throughout, as in the preceding pages, the evidence is drawn mainly from German and American sources. The German sources include official proclamations and other official utterances, letters and diaries of German soldiers, and quotations from German newspapers. The diaries which are so frequently quoted form a unique source. The _Rules for Field Service_ of the German Army advises each soldier to keep such a diary while on active service. Very many German soldiers who have been taken prisoner had kept such diaries, and these have been confiscated by the captors. Many have been published, frequently with facsimile reproductions to guarantee their authenticity. The best known collection was made by Bédier, whom Prof. Hollmann, of the University of Berlin, properly described as "the distinguished Prof. Joseph Bédier of the Collège de France." Of Bédier's publication Prof. Nyrop, of the University of Copenhagen, says: