[Letters to Editor]

Abstract

HERR GEHEIMRAT HABER takes exception to the quotation I made from Major Lefebure's “Riddle of the Rhine,” in the course of my notice of that book, on the ground that it implies that the German military authorities were prepared to ignore their undertaking, under the Hague Convention, to abstain from the use of asphyxiating or deleterious gases in war, if not for some time before, at least at its outbreak in the summer of 1914. I have, of course, no precise knowledge of the intentions of the German military authorities, but it was not unreasonable to surmise that these authorities, who deliberately intended to violate the treaty with Belgium, would not hesitate—as, indeed, the sequel showed—to disregard their promise under the Hague Convention if and when it suited their purpose to do so.