"The violation of family rights is doubled by a violation of the sacred demands of morality. Morality is exposed to perils, the mere idea of which is revolting to every honest man, from the promiscuity which inevitably accompanies removals _en masse_, involving mixture of the sexes, or, at all events, of persons of very unequal moral standing. Young girls of irreproachable life, who have never committed any worse offense than that of trying to pick up some bread or a few potatoes to feed a numerous family, and who have besides paid the light penalty for such trespass, have been carried off. Their mothers, who have watched so closely over them and had no other joy than that of keeping their daughters beside them, in the absence of father and sons fighting or killed at the front--these mothers are now alone. They bring to me their despair and their anguish. I am speaking of what I have seen and heard. I know that you have no part in these harsh measures. You are by nature inclined toward justice; that is why I venture to turn to you; I beg you to be good enough to forward without delay to the German High Military Command this letter from a Bishop, whose deep grief they will easily imagine. We have suffered much for the last twenty months, but no stroke of fortune could be comparable to this; it would be as undeserved as it is cruel and would produce in all France an indelible impression. I cannot believe that the blow will fall. I have faith in the human conscience and I preserve the hope that the young men and girls of respectable families will be restored to their homes in answer to the demand for their return and that sentiments of justice and honor will prevail over all lower considerations. "ALEXIS ARMAND, "_Bishop_." ADDRESS OF PROMINENT CITIZENS OF ROUBAIX AND TOURCOING TO THE PRESIDENT OF FRANCE. "To Monsieur RAYMOND POINCARÉ, "_President of the French Republic, Paris_. "SIR: We have the honor to express again our most sincere gratitude to you for your most kind reception, a few days ago, of the deputation which went with feelings of legitimate emotion to inform you of the deportation of lads and girls, which the German authorities have just carried out in the invaded districts. "We have collected some details on the subject from the lips of an honorable and trustworthy person, who succeeded in leaving Tourcoing about ten days ago; we think it our duty to bring these details to your notice by reproducing textually the declarations which have been made to us: "'These deportations began towards Easter. The Germans announced that the inhabitants of Roubaix, Tourcoing, Lille, etc., were going to be transported into French districts where their provisioning would be easier. [Sidenote: The procedure of the deportations.]