Peaceful inhabitants were massacred, defenseless women and children were
outraged, open and undefended towns were destroyed, historical and
religious monuments were reduced to dust, and the famous library of the
University of Louvain was given to the flames.
Our Government has appointed a judicial commission to make an official
investigation, so as to thoroughly and impartially examine the facts and
to determine the responsibility thereof, and I will have the honor,
Excellency, to hand over to you the proceedings of the inquiry.
In this frightful holocaust which is sweeping all over Europe, the
United States has adopted a neutral attitude.
And it is for this reason that your country, standing apart from either
one of the belligerents, is in the best position to judge, without bias
or partiality, the conditions under which the war is being waged.
It is at the request, even at the initiative, of the United States that
all civilized nations have formulated and adopted at The Hague a law
regulating the laws and usage of war.
We refuse to believe that war has abolished the family of civilized
powers, or the regulations to which they have freely consented.
The American people has always displayed its respect for justice, its
search for progress, and an instinctive attachment for the laws of
humanity.
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