contrary, the workers declare that, "whatever their tortures may be,
they will not have peace without the independence of their country and
the triumph of justice." An eye-witness of the raids was telling me, a
few days ago, that, on some occasions, the men in the slave trains are
able to communicate with the people outside: "They shout, of course,
'Long live Belgium' and 'Long live King Albert,' but the most frequent
cry, in which they seem to put their last ounce of strength, is: 'Do
not sign,' which means: 'Do not sign an engagement to work in Germany,
do not sign a compromise.'" And I have not the slightest doubt that, if
they had heard of the German peace offers, they would still shout, "Do
not sign, do not sign a German peace!"

We know what this attitude costs them. We know, from the report of those
few men who have been sent back to Belgium from the Western front and
from the German camps, the tortures to which the modern slaves are being
subjected. These men were so ill, so worn out, that their family
scarcely recognised them, and greeted them with tears, not with
laughter. It was like a procession of ghosts coming back from hell. At
Soltau, the prisoners are given only two pints of acorn soup and a
mouldy piece of bread, every day. They are so famished that they creep
at night to steal the potato parings which their German guards throw on
to--the rubbish heap. They divide them amongst themselves and eat them
raw to appease their hunger. After the first week of this régime,
several men went mad. Others were isolated for a few days and given
excellent food. "Will you sign now? If you do, you shall be kept on the
same diet; if not... you go back to camp?" The great majority refused
... and were sent back. This is not an isolated report. All the accounts
agree, even on the smallest details, and the deportees who have been
able to write to their families tell the same story as those who, being
henceforth useless, have been sent home to die.