hat one
detachment of the Germans met another detachment while in full flight
from the Belgian soldiers, and attacked one another. This was the basis
for the pretext that they had been attacked by the citizenry of Louvain
and was responsible for the bombardment of the city. The bombarding
lasted until 10 o'clock at night, and afterward the German soldiers set
fire to the city.

"The houses which had not taken fire were entered by German soldiers,
who were throwing fire grenades, some of which seem to have been
provided for the occasion. The largest part of the city of Louvain,
especially the quarters of 'Ville Haute,' comprising the modern houses,
the Cathedral of St. Peter, the University Halls, with the whole library
of the University with its manuscripts, its collections, the largest
part of the scientific institutions and the town theatre were at the
moment being consumed by flames.

"The commission deems it necessary, in the midst of these horrors, to
insist on the crime of lese-humanity which the deliberate annihilation
of an academic library--a library which was one of the treasures of our
time--constitutes.

"Numerous corpses of civilians covered the streets and squares. On the
routes from Louvain to Tirlemont alone one witness testifies to having
seen more than fifty of them. On the threshold of houses were found
burnt corpses of people, who, surprised in their cellars by the fire,
had tried to escape and fell into the heap of live embers. The suburbs
of Louvain were given up to the same fate. It can be said that the whole
region between Malines and Louvain and most of the suburbs of Louvain
have been devastated and destroyed.

BASE INDIGNITIES TO CLERGYMEN.

"A group of 75 persons, among whom were several notables of the city,
such as Father Coloboet and a Spanish priest, and also an American
priest, were conducted, during the morning of Wednesday, August 26, to
the square in front of the station. The men were brutally separated from
their wives and children, after having received the most abominable
treatment after repeated threats of being shot, and were driven in front
of the German troops as far as the village of Campenhout. They were
locked, during the night, in the church. The following day, at 4
o'clock, a German officer came to tell them that they might all confess
themselves and that they would be shot half an hour later. When,
finally, they were released, the report continues, they were recap