"The system of hostages was carried out with a fierce cruelty. The proclamation of August 4th, quoted above, declared, without circumlocution: 'Hostages will be freely taken.' "An official proclamation, posted at Liége, in the early days of August, ran thus: 'Every aggression committed against the German troops by any persons other than soldiers in uniform not only exposes the guilty person to be immediately shot, but will also entail the severest reprisals against all the inhabitants, and especially against those natives of Liége who have been detained as hostages in the citadel of Liége by the commandant of the German troops.' "These hostages are Monsignor Rutten, Bishop of Liége; M. Kleyer, burgomaster of Liége; the senators, representatives, and the permanent deputy and sheriff of Liége." The above quotation is taken from _An Appeal to Truth_, addressed Nov. 24, 1915, by Cardinal Mercier and the other bishops of Belgium to the cardinals, archbishops, and bishops of Germany and Austria-Hungary. [Sidenote: Will Irwin on brutality of German drive through Belgium.] "Some ten or a dozen American correspondents, of whom I was one, witnessed the First German drive through Belgium. Most of us were so appalled and horrified by what we saw as to become anti-German for life." Will Irwin, in _Saturday Evening Post_, Oct. 6, 1917, p. 41. III. FINES. The contracting nations, including Germany, who signed the Conventions of the Second Peace Conference at The Hague, 1907, pledged themselves to the following: [Sidenote: Germany's promises in Hague conventions.] "Article L. No general penalty, pecuniary or otherwise, shall be inflicted upon the population on account of the acts of individuals for which they can not be regarded as jointly and severally responsible." "Article LII. Requisitions in kind and services shall not be demanded from municipalities or inhabitants except for the deeds of the army of occupation. They shall be in proportion to the resources of the country, and of such a nature as not to involve the inhabitants in the obligation of taking part in military operations against their own country." [Sidenote: German violations of Hague conventions.] The German authorities have violated these articles from the very beginning. As soon as they invaded Belgium, heavy fines were laid upon individual communities as reprisals for some act against the German Army or its regulations which was committed within their boundaries. In _An Appeal to Truth_ Cardinal Mercier cites the following cases: