"In the name of the liberty of domicile and the liberty of work of Belgian citizens; in the name of the inviolability of families; in the name of moral interests which the measures of deportation would gravely compromise; in the name of the word given by the Governor of the Province of Antwerp and by the Governor General, the immediate representative of the highest authority of the German Empire, I respectfully beg Your Excellency to be good enough to withdraw the measures of forced labor and of deportation announced to the Belgian workmen, and to be good enough to reinstate in their homes those who have already been deported. "Your Excellency will appreciate how painful for me would be the weight of the responsibility that I would have to bear as regards these families, if the confidence which they have given you through my agency and at my request were lamentably deceived. "I persist in believing that this will not be the case. "Accept, Mr. Governor General, the assurance of my very high consideration. "D.J. CARDINAL MERCIER, "_Arch. of Malines_." Municipal governments in Belgium appealed to the German authorities to observe their solemn promises. The two documents which follow illustrate Belgian appeals and German answers. RESOLUTION OF THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL OF TOURNAI, OCTOBER 20, 1916. "In the matter of the requisition made by the German authorities on October 20, 1916 (requisition of a list of workmen to be drawn up by the municipality) * * * "The municipal council resolves to maintain its attitude of refusal. "It further feels it its duty to place on record the following: "The city of Tournai is prepared to submit unreservedly to all the exigencies authorised by the laws and customs of war. Its sincerity can not be questioned. For more than two years it has submitted to the German occupation, during which time it has lodged and lived at close quarters with the German troops, yet it has displayed perfect composure and has refrained from any act of hostility, proving thereby that it is animated by no idle spirit of bravado. [Sidenote: Council of Tournai refuses immoral and illegal demands.] "But the city could not bring itself to provide arms for use against its own children, knowing well that natural law and the law of nations (which is the expression of natural law) both forbid such action. "In his declaration dated September 2, 1914, the German Governor General of Belgium declared: 'I ask none to renounce his patriotic sentiments.' "The city of Tournai reposes confidence in this declaration, which it is bound to consider as the sentiment of the German Emperor, in whose name the Governor General was speaking. In accepting the inspiration of honor and patriotism, the city is loyal to a fundamental duty, the loftiness of which must be apparent to any German officer.