"But whether their hands were cut off or not, whether they were impaled on bayonets or not, children were shot down, by military order, in cold blood. In the awful crime of the Rock of Bayard, there overlooking the Meuse below Dinant, infants in their mother's arms were shot down without mercy. The deed, never surpassed in cruelty by any band of savages, is described by the Bishop of Namur himself: [Sidenote: Slaughter of the innocents at Rocher Bayard.] "One scene surpasses in horror all others; it is the fusillade of the Rocher Bayard near Dinant. It appears to have been ordered by Colonel Meister. This fusillade made many victims among the nearby parishes, especially those of des Rivages and Neffe. It caused the death of nearly 90 persons, without distinction of age or sex. Among the victims were babies in arms, boys and girls, fathers and mothers of families, even old men. "It was there that 12 children under the age of 6 perished from the fire of the executioners, 6 of them as they lay in their mothers' arms: "The child Fiévet, 3 weeks old. "Maurice Bétemps, 11 months old. "Nelly Pollet, 11 months old. "Gilda Genon, 18 months old. "Gilda Marchot, 2 years old. "Clara Struvay, 2 years and 6 months. "The pile of bodies comprised also many children from 6 to 14 years. Eight large families have entirely disappeared. Four have but one survivor. Those men that escaped death--and many of whom were riddled with bullets--were obliged to bury in a summary and hasty fashion their fathers, mothers, brothers, or sisters; then after having been relieved of their money and being placed in chains they were sent to Cassel [Prussia]." Mr. Hugh Gibson, the secretary of our legation in Belgium, visited Louvain during its systematic destruction by the Germans. In _A Journal from our Legation in Belgium_, New York, 1917, pages 164-165, he relates what the German officers told him: "It was a story of clearing out civilians from a large part of the town, a systematic routing out of men from cellars and garrets, wholesale shootings, the generous use of machine guns, and the free application of the torch--the whole story enough to make one see red. And for our guidance it was impressed on us that this would make people respect Germany and think twice about resisting her." German pastors and professors far from the excitement of the firing have defended this policy of frightfulness, e.g.: [Sidenote: Pastor defends frightfulness.] "We are not only compelled to accept the war that is forced upon us * * * but are even compelled to carry on this war with a cruelty, a ruthlessness, an employment of every imaginable device, unknown in any previous war." Pastor D. Baumgarten, in _Deutsche Reden in schwerer Zeit_, "German Speeches in Difficult Days." * * * * *