OUTRAGES AGAINST THE
CHURCH."-
56 PRIESTS KILLED IN THREE, BELGIAN DIOCESES.
The following is published at the request of the Belgian Legation in London:
The Catholic clergy appeared to have suffered in a most special measure from the German invasion of Belgium Churches and religious houses havs been destroyed or profaned in almost every village, and in many towns where the German Army passed by. In most cases theso odifices have been utilized as stables or prisons. In many places the sacred vessels were stolen when they had not been placed in a safe hiding place.
Members of the clergy have been exposed to special malirentment by the German soldiery. In the dioceses of Liége, Namur, Malines, and Ghent many priests and ather religious persons have been shot or hung, and many have been carried off into Germany, where some of them appear to have been subjected to abominable usage On August 21st the priest of Buccher, the Rev. M. de Clerck, was arrested by German soldiers and accused of having fired at them. This was entirely false, for he was suffering from discase, and for some time had not even been able to con- duct divine service. This poor invalid was hoisted on a cannon, he was then pull- ed down and cast into a ditch. Next some
STORIES FROM THE
TRENCHES.
TIPPERARY."
THE HONGKONG DAILY PRESS, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16TH, 1918.
THE KING'S SOLDIERS AND
THE CZAR'S.
RUSSIAN WRITER'S COMPARISON,
[BY ZINOVY N. PREET.]
Even their
An officer in a Highland regiment writes on December 28th:
You need not have pitiod us on Chris-It is hard to imagine at the first glance mas Day; I have seldom spent a more two more distinct types of humanity than entertaining one, despite the curious con- the British Tommy and the soldier of the ditions. We were in the trenches, and the Czar. Superficially they are representa- Germans began to make marry on Christ- tives of two civilisations. mas Eve, shouting at us to come out and faces and clothes seem to accentuate this meet them. They sang songs (very well); utter diversity of type and stage of our men answered by singing "Who were culture. An average British Tommy, even you with last night?" and of course in his war kit, is typical of the advanced
Tipperary" (very badly).
state of material civilisation in England, with his well-fitting. khaki tunic and overcoat, his neat cap, his laced-up boota and puttees, not forgetting his shaven face. The Russian soldier, on the other hand, in his bachlyle" (winter head gear) grey felt coat or sheepskin, and heavy top boots, with his big beard, looks uncouth and rugged.
I was horrified at discovering some of our men actually had gone out, imbued more with the idea of seeing the German trenches than anything else; they met half- way, and there ensued the giving of cigarettes and secciving of cigars, and they arranged (the private soldiers of one army and the private soldiers of the other) a forty-eight hours' armistice. The enemy sang all night, and during my watch the played "Home, Sweet Home," and "God Save the King."
ON THE BEST OF TERMS.. Another officer in the Rifle Brigade describes Christmas Day at the front in the following letter, which appears in the Timest-
could bel
imagined. And yet when we look at them
Nothing more dissirailar more closely, when we approach them with psychological understanding and syra- pathy, we find between them a grost spiritual affinity. The same spirit seems to move them in this war, they show the same frame of mind, ・・
Things that used to ill my whole existence, INDIAN AFRICAN LINE.
ny work in the laboratory, my artistic interests, seem to have disappeared same- where in the distance, or, rather, seem to have grown ever so small and insignificant. They seem to me now so childish, so un- important. This great war, with all that it means, is the only thing that matters. One feels that it alone is worth living and dying for. Not only that, but the most immediato task seems great enough. The thing that really fills my whole being now
Cargo carried on through Bill of Lading from HONGKONG to BEIRA, DELAGOA BAY, DURBAN (Natal), EAST LONDON, FORT ELIZABETH CAPE TOWN with transhipment at COLOMBO to Steamers of the INDIAN AFRICAN LINE.
FROM HONGKONG:
26th Feb.
PROPOSED BAILINGS › Connecting with
"QUJARAT”
FROM COLOMBG:
17th Mar.
EXCELLENT ACCOMMODATION FOR JST AND 2ND CLASS PASSUNORNA.
is the attack duo to-morrow at down. To ORIENTAL AFRICAN LINE.
dislodge the enemy from the fortified position yonder is the great thing. What is compared with this task our lack of elementary comfort of life? And; after all, things here are not half as bad us you, spoilt children of civilisation, may imagine. We live here in an atmosphere of trun comradeship and mutual doration. My. little company is the more varied collection of miss you could got together anywhere.
There is a Jow from Poland and anothor Jow from the Crimea who looks and talks. more like a Tartar than a Jew. Then thore is a Great Russian from Novgorod who tells us the funniest stories you ever heard, and Little Russian from Poltava who sings the most tender love songs you have heard at a concert. And there are more Great Russians and Little Russians. and Poles and Jews and Caucasians and Lithiqnions. But we are all simply Russians now, ano- happy Russian family. Life is really worth living in a family liko this.
soldiers took him by the arms and legs and words, hat a sort of mutual understand and friends. The historian of the future Briton, light-hearted and almost flippant,
dragged him along the pavement. The old man, tortured in this fashion and absolutely exhausted, said that he would rather suffer, death than the continuanos of such cruel treatment. He was then shot. He was 83 years of age,
MEDIEVAL CRUELTY, A priest, who escaped death by a miracle, makes the following deposi tion:-
to
On Christmas Day, we had a sort of mutual truce; nothing on paper or even in
ing and self after breakfast walked halfway to the trench in front of us and shouted for an officer, as we wanted to see what regiment was in front of us. That did it! The Germans came out, and as soon as we saw they were Saxons I knew. it was all right, because they're good fellows on the whole and play the game as far they know it.
The officer came out; we gravely saluted each other, and I then pointed to nine dead Germans lying in midfield and sug gested-burying them, which both sides proceeded to do. We gave them some wooden crosses for them, which completely won them over, and soon the men were on the best of terms and laughing. Several of the Sazons spoke very fair English, and somo hailed from London, much to our Cockney's delight, and talk became general about "Peccadeely," etc.
On Tuesday, August 15th, at about 9 a.m., the Germans arrived in swarms at the village of Schaffen. Pretending that shots had been fired at them-which was wholly untrue, for no one had oyen thought of resistance they began murder, burn, and pillage. About 170 houses, including the Town Hall and the priest's house, were burnt to the ground; 27 civilians (one of whom was the clerk were murdered in cowardly fashion," myself fell into the hands of their executrenches for their Christmas dinner, and tioners, who maltreated me in every way and put up & gallows, on which they pro posed to hang me. They forced me for at long time to continue staring up at the
Hunt.
At about 8.65 they released nie, after fogging me with a riding whip I was Bleeding badly and lying on the earth, wap an officer told me to get up and go I had gone about 200 yards when they zad, te, shoot at me; some to shots were and the balls whistled round my was not hit, but I fell, and lay d. This was my salvation. I lay night half naked, my clothes to pieces, my head hare, under a bush Germans thought that they had killed
Wit I got off and reached Diest."
WHOLESALE EXECUTIONS. mmission of Inquiry has collected bowing that in the Diocese of Jan 20 priests were killed with
incre
The same atrocities
Thon both sides returned to their
Nothing reveals to us the inrior soul of either of them better than their frank unsophisticated letters to their relatives
will undoubtedly be very grateful to the Press of to-day for making public their intimate impressions and thoughts prompted by their experiences at the
front.
The following is a typical Tommy's letter:-
I am indeed having the great experience of my life,
We are right in the firing line now. The German lines are about three hundred yards away, and they have not made an attack since we have been here They keep up a form of annoyance, however, called aniping. Their crack shots iso called) creep up under cover of darkness and entrench themselves near to us. They pot at you every time they get a glimpse I have just had a shower of dirt knocked from off the tranch by one of their bullets, obriously aimed at a fellow stonding beside me. Twang goos nuother one. For two mornings running I've land my tea spoiled afterwards went out again for another
in the same way, Evidently the smoke chat. They gave our fellows cigars, and
from my fire attracted them; over my bread and jam and all; bother! That's about all said, Kaiser he no good, and that we gave them English newspapers! They the harm they do. Some have had narrow escapes, though; one had a stone water- Russia had been completely wiped out, bottle smashed in his hand, another a picce till January 1st, when their Eastern army and that they weren't going to bother-as-of-wood-splintered and so on- Neither
were serious wounds, would have returned, and then they were going to wipe us off the face of the earth, We roared with laughter, but they were quite serious about it and evidently le lieved it all. Some of them had printed postcards to send home saying that they had won a great victory over the English, but that we had another 80,000 men coming of the British Army, and after that the up to reinforce us, but these wore the last
war would be over! One of them played a mouth-organ, and then others did sort of weird dances, or series of hops, in the turnip field where we were
A GAME AT FOOTBALL.
difier dioceses. In that of A further extract from the same letter:
were shot, among them serit Fordt, Eurele Romain, and is the diocese of Namur over anro shot, including the curés oanthoc, Onhaye, and Spontin, Abbé Grillard, professor at the 10 College, the Abbé Armand cure of Hastière par-dela, and Burniaux, Superintendent of the of St. Louis at Namur. The cure pontin was hung up first by the feet then by the hands, he was pierced by forel bayonet thrusts, and finally shot.
GENERAL BOTHA'S PLEA
FOR FORBEARANCE.
**JUSTICE WILL BE DONE." General Botha, in conversation with Beuter's correspondent, said he consider od that, now the rebellion was over, no fear need be entertained of a recrude scence of the trouble. The one thing now moedful and on this General Botha lays. great stress-is that all sections of the Toyal population, Dutch and English alike, should abstain from words or actions which might exacerbate feeling.
runs as follows:-
I think it did our men good to have a close inspection of their foes; three- quarters of the seemed to be very young youths; I wouldn't mind taking most of them on myself with a bayonet. They said we were very good shots, so I hope by that we've done some damage. They said to the men,Send us the tip when you're relieved, and we will fire over your heads till then." I don't think! Anyhow, we've got orders not to fire till they do, and if they get the same orders this truce will continue indefinitely. It's really an extra- ordinary state of affairs, We had an inter-platoon game of football in the after noon; a cap comforter stuffed with straw did for the ball, much to the Saxons
In the evening we said "Good night, and our men lit large fires in the trenches and sang songs, though I took good care to double my sentries, as I trust these fellows devil an inch. This morning war has broken out again, but not in front of us.
amusement.
WAR BREVITIES.
0Ê.3
If any of our good friends could see us now they'd have a shock; we do lock murderous lot. Aud! You've heard the expression Smothered from head to foot!!
well; we aro much worse than the We are currying about 5,000lb. of Froach territory between us.
On the Russian side may be put a letler private of the Czar's Army, which also printed in a Russian newspaper from a
deals with the trenches:-
We are entrenched quite close to the enemy's lines. Life here is like that on o big estate. You begin work when the sun comes out and you finish it when it gets dark. The German (the Russian soldier never refers to the enemy in the plural) shoots well, but he avoids our bayonets, And how wily he is! He is full of cunning and treachery. When we first came here, one morning we saw the German trench in front of us full of Russian soldiers. We thought our fellows had taken it during the night. We shouted to them in Russian, and they replied to us with a. hail of bullets. They were simply mas querading in our conts and caps. Where. could they havo got our clothes P They must have taken them from our dead or wounded God forgive them sich un Christian behaviour.
soldier as the other is of Tommy. Super- This letter is as typical of the Russian feially, like the external appearance of the writers, they are rather dissimilar in tone and style. But the same good nature, the same spirit of tolerant and broad humanity underlies them...
hundreds of soldiers' letters appearing in Since the war began I have read English, Russian, and German papers and the thing that has struck me most in them is this spirit of humanity so lacking in German soldiers' letters A British Tommy speaks of his enemy with gentle, tolerant humour. A Russian, even in describing German treachery, is only mildly reproachful and forgiving. It is
for the enemy. The Russians and the spirit of contempt and sometimes hatred British seem incapable of the full-blooded Teutonic hate,
He says, in effect, "Let the dead past buryed the other day with the addition only in German letters that we see the
its dead."
A German official communiqué conclud- "This is the truth." that no first-class Power has over been It is emphasised reduced to making such an appeal."
I am sure my English friends will understand what is expedient," observed General Botha, "when I tell them that continued denunciation of the rebels may wound just those whom I know English- The British Government has presented mon have no desire to wound. I mean 120 to every man of the crew of the the Dutch, who have been responsible for steamer Flora, of the Koniklyke Neder quelling this rebellion. The loyalists landsche Stoomboot Maatschappy, who have discharged a painful duty out of a rescued sailors from the British cruisers storn sense of honour, and, having rola Creesy, Hogue, and Aboukir. tives and friends often among the rebels,
they regard the whole rebellion as a The Petit Parisien, according to a lamentable business upon which the cur- London cablegram, quotes a French tain should be rung down with as little Infantry Captain as saying that the declamation, as little controversy, and as helmets of the Germans recently killed little recrimination as possible. To those at the Aisne are without spikes, which, who call for the infiction of severe penal-being of copper, have been unscrewed and ties upon the ringleaders, I wish to say-sent to Germany.
Be sure justice will be done. In due time Courts will be. constituted to deal with these men.
For myself, personally, the last three -months have provided the saddest-experi- ence of all my life. I can say the same For General Smuts, and, indeed, for every member of the Government. The late war, our South African War, is but a thing of yesterday. You will understand my feel ings, and the feelings of the loyal com mandos, when among the rebol dead and wounded we found from time to time men who had fought in our ranks during the dark days of that campaign.
Sir Robert Baden-Powell in the course of an address on December 18th on
Daty and Discipline," said that the previous week he went to the Yorkshire coast to inspect the Boy Scouts on duty. At Scarborough he addressed 800 of them on their duty, and told them particularly to be on the lookout, as there was sura to be a raid before long, and that if a fog came on they were all to come or duty. As a matter of fact his expectation was realised in a few days, and when the raid came the boys were all on the spot.
"LATEST STEAMER MOVEMENT.
"The loyal commandos have had a hard. task to perform and they have performed it. The cause of law and order has been and will be vindicated. Let that be enough. This is no time for exultation The T.K.K str. Shingo Maru, which left or for, recrimination. Let us apare one San Francisco on the 18th January, is another's feelings. Remember we have to expected to arrive at this port via Hono- live together in this land long after the lalu, Japan ports and Manila on the 18th war is ended."
February, at 8 a.m.
I should like to quote two more letters, this time of a British and a Russian officer, taken at random from two recent news Papers. The British officer writes:-
As you see, we are in for it again. My present address is the Rite Dug-out. Terms are strictly moderate, and the best straw is provided. The only drawback to it is that the road to my front door needs repairing badly. It is a regular quagmire and has an enormous "Jack Johnson * hole in the middle of it which the recent weather has converted into a porid. The orchestra plays continually, but the big drum is rather tho persistant Most of the tunes are pitched in the minor key... There is a pathetic missed you again" kind of wheeza in a bullet as it goes over.
Our guns have been in action, and already the shells are whistling over our
The writer of the first letter is a cheerful bat of a fine true type. The auther of the second letter is a typical Russian; he is idealistic, artistic. He is fully conscious "intelligent"--philosophical, meditative, of the great scheme of which he is a tiny. part, of the great task of which he is a modest performer one of millions. But both letters display such a lack of vain- glory, such modesty, such self-effacement. There is no heroic posing, no self-com- placency, no Prussian arrogance officer of his. Most Exalted Majesty the Kaiser goes forth to crush the enemy, to conquer the world, and generally, to cover himself with immortal glory. An officer of the King or of the Czar is simply doing his duty as best he can, quietly, modestly, cheerfully
BRITAIN'S LAND FORCE. IMPROVED SCHEME FOR SIX ARMIES.
AD
An Army Order, dated December 30th, was issued by the War Office announcing that the present organization of the Land. Forces into Divisions and Army Corps of Armies, cach of which will consist is being further developed by the creation generally of three Army Corps."
The 1st Army will be commanded by
General Sir Douglas Haig, K.U.B, K.C.IE, KCV.0.
The 2nd Army by General Sir Horace
Smith-Dorrien, G.C.B., D.SO. The 3rd Army by General Sir Archibald Hunter, C.C.B., G.C.VO, D.S.O. The 4th Army by General Sir Ian
Hamilton, G. C.B., D.§.Q.
The 5th Army by General Sir Lestio Randle, G.G.B., G.C.M.G, G.O.V.0., .D.S.O.
The 6th Army by General Sir Bruce
Hamilton, K.O.B., K.0.7.0.
ARMY CORPS COMMANDERS.
The lat Army Corps will be commanded by Major-General C. C. Monro, CB, who is granted the temporary rank of Lieutenant-General, The 2nd Army Corps by Lieutenant- General Sir Charlos Forguson, Et C.B., M.V.O., D.B.0.
The 6th Army Corps by Lieutenant- General Sir H. C. O. Plumer, K.CB.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS.
Fublie Holiday.
TO-DAY
6 p.m.-Concert at the Italian Convent 9.15 p.m.-Italian Grand Opera Co., at the
Theatre Royal" La Traviata,”
TO-MORROW
9.15 pm-Italian Grand Oper Co, at the Theatre Royal.—"Cavalleria Rusticana." and Pagliacci."
Thursday, 18th Feb.
3 pm-Anotion of a 40 H-P. Four-Cylinder Limousine Car at Sales Rooms, by Messen Hughes & Hough.
9.15 p.m.-Italian Grand Opera Co, at the
Friday, 10th Feb. :-
"Theatre Royal" Rigoletto."
2.30 p.m.-Anction of a Valuable Collection of Antique Chins and Curios at Sales Rooms, by Mr. Geo. F. Lammert 8.15 p.m.-Italian Grand Opera Co, at the
Theatre Royal" Faust," Saturday, 20th Feb.
11.30 a.m.-Humphreys Estate & Finance Co., Ltd., Meeting of Shareholders at the Hongkong Hotel. Noon--Hongkong and Shangbay Banking Corporation Meeting of Shareholders si City Hall. TREN
2.30 p.m.-Auction of a Valuable Collection of Antique China and Curios at Sales Rooms. by Mr. Geo. P. Lammert.
9.15 p.m.-Italian Grand Opera Co., at the
Theatre Royal" Carmen.”
Monday, 22nd Feb,
Hongkong Race Meeting.-Ist Day. Tuesday, 23rd Feb,--
Wednesday, 24th Feb-
Hongkong Race Meeting-3rd Day, Friday, 26th Feb. :---
heads and burst with a crash just at the Hongkong Race Meeting.-2nd Day.. horder of the wood-e fact which is prob. | Buk ably giving our Gorman friends acute indigestion. Personally, after my meni of bully beef, bread and jam, and tea, I feel very well and am warmer than I was. Every now and then there is a ringing smack as a bullet passing over the fire: trenches cops our parapets, so une doesn't put ono's head up very much. The Russian officer's letter runs-
If you could only see me hero, my dear, friend, you wouldn't recognise me. At one stroke of fate I have been turned from i child of modern civilisation into a primitive man: Instead of a comfortable house I live in a hole, & veritable cave dweller. My i whole outlook seems to have changed.
11.30 am-China Provident Loan & Mort gage Co., Ltd., Meeting of Shareholders. Saturday, 27th Feb.---
Hongkong Race Meeting-Off Day. Thursday, 4th March
Annual Flower and Vegetable Show of the Hongkong Horticultural Society in the Botanic Gardens.
Friday, 5th March ----
Annual Flower and Vegetable Show of the Hongkong Horticultural Society in the Botanic Gardens,
.
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·111
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FROM
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ON OF ABOUT
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The Stean ere are all fitted throughout wil Electric Light and have sceen modation for limited number of Saloon Passengers, All steamers carry a duly qual flid surgeon. Cargo taken at through rates to all ports in Netherlande India and Australis."
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