embourg, due to the personal initiative of the
Chief of the First Section of the War Ministry. This plan was of an
absolutely private character and had not been approved by the Minister
of War. If this plan contemplated above all an attack by Germany, there
is no cause for surprise, since the great German military writers, in
particular T. Bernhardi, V. Schlivfeboch, and von der Goltz, spoke
openly in their treatises on the coming war of the violation of Belgian
territory by the German armies.

At the outbreak of hostilities the Imperial Government, through the
mouth of the Chancellor and of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, did
not search for vain pretexts for the aggression of which Belgium has
been the victim. They justified it on the plea of military interests.
Since then, in face of the universal reprobation which this odious
action has excited, they have attempted to deceive public opinion by
representing Belgium as bound already before the war to the Triple
Entente. These intrigues will deceive nobody. They will recoil on the
head of Germany. History will record that this power, after binding
itself by treaty to defend the neutrality of Belgium, took the
initiative in violating it, without even finding a pretext with which to
justify itself.

* * * * *

WHO BEGAN THE WAR, AND WHY?

ATROCITIES OF THE WAR

* * * * *

[Illustration: HIS HOLINESS THE LATE POPE PIUS X.
(_From a Painting by A. Muller-Ury._)]

By Pope Pius X., Kaiser Wilhelm II., President Poincare, and King
Albert of Belgium.

Official Message from Pope Pius X. at the Vatican, Aug. 2.

At this moment, when nearly the whole of Europe is being dragged
into the vortex of a most terrible war, with its present dangers
and miseries and the consequences to follow, the very thought of
which must strike every one with grief and horror, we whose care is
the life and welfare of so many citizens and peoples cannot but be
deeply moved and our heart wrung with the bitterest sorrow.

And in the midst of this universal confusion and peril we feel and
know that both Fatherly love and the Apostolic ministry demand of
us that we should with all earnestness turn the thoughts of
Christendom thither "whence cometh help"--to Christ, the Prince of
Peace, and the most powerful mediator between God and man.

We charge,