15 MAY 1915, Page 13

BELGIAN VICTIMS.

[To ran Earroa or via "Sracreros."]

Sir..—I note in your issue of April 10th that you say you have no knowledge of the supposed British Report stating that the Belgian refugees in England had experienced no atrocities. The news of this supposed Report was contained in a Washing- ton despatch to the New York World dated January 27th, which said that the American Embassy in London bad been informed of it by the British Foreign Office. No denial of this news was published at that time, nor, as far as I have seen, at any time since ; and we merely inserted a three or four line note of it in our summary of current events. The despatch from Washington may have been an error or may have been founded on incomplete and preliminary investiga- tions, but at any rate, as you remark, the coming Report of Lord Bryce's Committee will correct any previous errors or misconceptions. Our only aim is to present the exact facts, a task far from simple amid the many false reports that are current. We do not claim infallibility, but merely ask credit for good intentions—something along the line of the placard displayed in a Western music-hall: "Don't shoot the pianist. He's doing the beet he can."—I am, Sir, &c.,

WILLIAM SEAVER WOODS, Editor Tha Literary Digest.

854-360 Fourth Avenue, New York, April 23rd.