_
"Public credulity accepted these stories. The highest powers in the
state welcomed them without hesitation and endorsed them with their
authority...
"In this way public opinion in Germany was disturbed and a lively
indignation manifested itself, _directed especially against the
priests_ who were held responsible for the barbarities attributed
to the Belgians... By a natural diversion _the anger_ to which
they were a prey _was directed_ by the Germans _against the
Catholic clergy generally._ Protestants allowed the old religious
hatred to be relighted in their minds and delivered themselves to
attacks against Catholics. A new _Kulturkampf_ was let loose.
"The Catholics did not delay in taking action against this hostile
attitude." (Italics mine) [Footnote: _Op. cit._, pp. 5-7]
There may have been some sniping. It would be extraordinary if every
angry Belgian had rushed to the library, opened a manual of
international law, and had informed himself whether he had a right to
take potshot at the infernal nuisance tramping through his streets. It
would be no less extraordinary if an army that had never been under
fire, did not regard every bullet that came its way as unauthorized,
because it was inconvenient, and indeed as somehow a violation of the
rules of the Kriegspiel, which then constituted its only experience of
war. One can imagine the more sensitive bent on convincing themselves
that the people to whom they were doing such terrible things must be
terrible people.
Pages:
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114