"True, it has been asserted that the work which is offered to them will be nonmilitary in character; but voices have replied on every side: 'in taking the place of a German workman, the Belgian workman permits Germany to increase the numerical forces of its armies.' The most odious work is that whose results are used against the fatherland. To serve Germany is to fight against their own country. To compel our workmen to do this is nothing else than an act of force contrary to international law (referred to by Your Excellency in your proclamation of August 15th, 1915), and contrary also to the spirit, if not to the text, of the Fourth Convention of the Hague of 1907. * * * "They adjure Your Excellency to employ with the military authorities the high prerogatives which are yours from your position to prevent the consummation of an act without precedent in the history of modern wars, and they beg you to accept the assurance of their most distinguished consideration." [Signatures of Belgian Senators and Deputies.] PROTEST OF CARDINAL MERCIER. "ARCHBISHOPRIC OF MALINES, "_Malines, 10th November, 1916_. "Mr. GOVERNOR GENERAL: "I refrain from expressing to Your Excellency the sentiments which have been evoked in me by your letter of reply to the letter which I had the honor to address to you on October 19th, relative to the deportation of the unemployed. [Sidenote: German perfidy.] "I have recalled with melancholy the words which Your Excellency, dwelling upon each syllable, pronounced in my presence, after your arrival at Brussels: 'I hope that our relations will be loyal * * * I have received the mission of dressing the wounds of Belgium.' "My letter of October 19th recalled to Your Excellency the engagement taken by Baron von Huene, military governor of Antwerp, and ratified a few days later by Baron von der Goltz, your predecessor as Governor General at Brussels. The engagement was explicit, absolute, unlimited as to time: 'The young men need not fear being taken to Germany, either to be enrolled in the army _or to be employed at forced labor_.' "This engagement is being violated every day--thousands of times in the last fortnight. "Baron von Huene and the late Baron von der Goltz did not say conditionally, as your despatch of the 26th of October would seek to imply: 'If the occupation does not last longer than two years men fit for military duty shall not be taken into captivity;' they said categorically: 'Young men, and with greater reason, men who have reached an advanced age, shall not _at any moment of the occupation, either be made prisoners or employed at forced labor_.' * * * "The decrees, posters, and comments of the press, which were intended to prepare public opinion for the measures now being taken, pleaded especially two considerations: The unemployed, so they declared, are a danger to public security; they are a charge upon governmental charity.