On November 23, Governor-General von Bissing sent His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier, the following answer, which is translated from the German text.

Governor-General von Bissing's Answer to the Second Letter of His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier

The Governor-General of Belgium, P.A.I. 11254
Brussels, November 23, 1916

Your Eminence :
I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of Your Eminence's favor of the 10th inst., as also of the manuscript letter of the 15th inst. concerning the delay in delivery. I wish to reply as follows.
On October 19 of this year, Your Eminence sent me a petition with a view to having a stop put to the employment in Germany of idle Belgian workmen. In my reply of October 28, while appreciating at its proper value the point of view which you take, I explained the reasons (p.177) and the considerations which compelled the occupying Power to take certain steps in connection with the question of the workmen. These measures were not the result of arbitrary judgment or of an insufficient study of the difficult problem, but were adopted after an exhaustive examination of the circumstances involved, and in face of a necessity which must be recognized as unavoidable. As regards the general aspects of the question, I thus find myself obliged to refer Your Eminence to my statements either rest on erroneous interpretations of them, or are the result of conceptions of which I cannot approve in their essence. For "unemployment", which has attained considerable proportions in Belgium, is a great social wound, while it is a social benefit for the Belgian workers to be put to work in Germany. It is true that, on my arrival in Belgium, I told Your Eminence I wished to heal the wounds which war has caused among the Belgian people; but the measures now taken are not in contradiction to these words. I may also say that Your Eminence misinterprets facts when you try to ignore my frequently successful efforts to reestablish economic life in Belgium by remarking that an artificial "unemployment" has been thereby created. England has imposed unacceptable conditions on the importation of raw materials into Belgium and the export of manufactured goods. During (p.178) the war these questions have been the subject of serious negotiations with competent persons of both Belgian nationality and neutral nations, but it would be too tedious to explain them here. I can only repeat that, in the last analysis, the deplorable conditions are a result of England's isolation policy, just as the requisition of raw materials were an inevitable consequence of the same policy. I must also absolutely maintain that, from the economic standpoint, the occupying Power is guaranteeing Belgium all the advantages that can be assured her in the face of the constraint exercised by England.
The execution of the measures taken in connection with the "unemployed" has caused my administration many difficulties, which in turn entail hardship for the population. All this hardship might have been avoided if the communal administrations had cooperated properly with us in rendering the execution more simple and better adapted to the end proposed. Under existing conditions it has been necessary to extend the measures to a wider circle so as to bring within their scope a larger number of persons. Every possible precaution has, however, been taken to diminish the number of errors. Definite categories of persons, determined by their occupation, are relieved of the obligation of presenting themselves, and individual complaints are examined immediately or adjourned for further examination. 
(p.179)
Your Eminence will see from the above statements that it is impossible to grant your request of repealing the measures which have been taken, but that, in the application of these measures, nothing that it is possible to do in the public interest is being left undone, in spite of the difficulties which have arisen.
Yours most respectfully,
(signed) Frh. von Bissing
Lieutenant-General

His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier,
Archbishop of Malines, Malines.

Despite the numerous protests and petitions of the civil powers in Belgium, despite the Appeal of the Belgian Bishops to Public Opinion, despite the strong letters of protest addressed by Cardinal Mercier to the German authorities, the enemy continued the deportations in contravention of all rights and treaties. The intrepid Cardinal of Malines spent three days paying consolatory visits to families which had been reduced to the depths of physical and moral misery by the iniquitous measures of an enemy devoid of every sentiment of pity and humanity. No longer able to restrain the indignation provoked by so much suffering and so much injustice, His Eminence resolved to attack publicly the violation of the rights of the workmen, to proclaim that injustice "resting on force remains none the less injustice", to declare the deep sorrow of the bishops (p.180) at the sufferings of their flocks, and to urge his fellow-countrymen to await in patience and dignity peace with victory.
On November 26, 1916, the Cardinal delivered the following sermon in the Church of Sainte Gudule at Brussels on the occasion of the Mass prescribed in honor of Our Lady of Help for the intentions of the deported and their families:

For Those in Captivity

"Ye shall be My disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." - John viii. 32-33

My very dear brethren :
The four or five weeks which have just gone by are probably the most unhappy of my life and the most heartbreaking of my episcopal service. The fathers and mothers who are gathered round this pulpit will understand me.
The office of the bishop is a spiritual fatherhood. St. Paul even called it a motherhood when he wrote to the Galatians : "My little children, of whom am I in labor again, until Christ ne formed in you". (1)
Now I have seen hundreds of my flock in danger and in grief. For three days, last Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, morning and evening, I have beem traveling through those parts of the country (p.181) whence the first laborers and workmen of my diocese were forcibly carried into exile. At Wavre, Court St. Etienne, Nivelles, Tubize, Braine-l'Alleud, I entered more than a hundred homes that are now half empty. The husband was gone, the children were orphaned, the sisters sat at their sewing machines, with haggard eyes and hands that were incapable of work. A gloomy silence reigned in every cottage. You might have fancied that there was a dead body within.
But hardly could we say one kind word to the mother before the sobs broke out, and with them words of sorrow and anger, and magnificent outbursts of pride.
The memory of these heartbreaking scenes will never leave me.
I would willingly have hastened to Antwerp, Tirlemont, Aerschot, Diest, wherever I might have found them repeated, wherever I might have founs sorrow to soothe, tears to dry, or hearts to comfort.
But I could not do it. My strength and my time alike failed me.
And so, dear Brethren, I resolve to come to you, here at the center of my diocese and of our country. You shall become the missionaries of my thoughts, you shall make my feelings known.
Pax nobiscum is the traditional greeting of the bishop - Peace be with you - and so I bring you now a word of peace. (p.182)
But there can be no peace without order, and order reposes upon justice and charity.
We desire order, and it is for this reason that, from the first, we have begged that no active resistance be offered to the Power that is in occupation of our country and that all its regulations be implicitly obeyed, as long as they offend against neither our conscience as Christians nor our honor as Belgians. But that Power must also desire order, that is to say, it must respect our rights and its own promises.
In every civilized country the citizen has the right to work freely. He has a right to his home. He has a right to refuse his services to any but his own country.
Regulations which infringe these rights can bind our conscience in no way.
I tell you this, my Brethren, without anger and in no spirit of vengeance. I were unworthy of this ring which the Church has put upon my finger, of this cross which she has placed upon my breast, if I yielded to human weakness and hesitated to declare that, though they be violated, rights remain rights, and that injustice which reposes upon force is none the less injustice.
There can be no order without justice; none without charity. Charity is Union. And Union is the Law of Man, the law of the three-fold domain of life in which Nature and Faith give him his being and his growth, the Family, the (p.183) Country, and the Fellowship of all Christian people.
Every man's duty is to his country, and it is the duty of every class to cooperate with the others for the national welfare.
The Christian belongs to his diocese. To the Catholic Church, his mother, he is bound through his bishop alone.
And it is on this account, my Brethren, that to-day your bishops' hearts are bleeding. They have seen thousands of their sons dragged beyond the reach of their pastoral care, driven towards the unknown, lost sheep without a shepherd, a prey to the dangers of isolation, impotent fury, perhaps of despair.
And a great event of history presents itself to their memory. When Pope Pius VII was in captivity at Savona, he put his trust in his Heavenly Mother, whom, since the victory of Lepanto, Europe had named "Our Lady, Help of Christians". The day after he had been set free, the Holy Father was constrained to demonstrate his own piety and the gratitude of Christendom by instituting a yearly festival to the glory of Our Lady of Help.
We also offer, through the mediation of the most Holy Virgin Mary, our humble entreaties to the Sovereign Lord "who reigneth in the Heavens and on whom all the Kingdoms of the Earth depend", to restore to us quickly our (p.184) captive workers, and to keep our homes still inviolate until the day when we shall all, in the peace of victory, embrace one another around the triumphant altar of our Lady of Ransom.
Courage, then, my brothers - keep the commandments of Christ. Be loyal to Belgium, your Homeland.
From the depths of my heart I give you all my paternal blessing.

It may well be understood that this bold and patriotic address, which emphasizes the fact that right and might are not synonymous, contributed greatly to sustain the admirable courage of the people and to soften the unmerited sufferings of the unfortunate victims of the iniquitous invader. It could not prevent the continued violation of right by might. With a pitiless brutality, which might have been dispensed with in the execution of measures already sufficiently cruel, "unemployed" and employed continued to be torn from their families and deported to Germany.
Wishing to make one more effort to help his unfortunate fellow-countrymen, the Cardinal of Malines sent another letter to the Governor-General on November 29, denouncing the arbitrary and inhuman procedure of the Germans and appealing to the supreme authorities of the empire. (p.185)

Third Letter of Hid Eminence, Cardinal Mercier, to Governor-General von Bissing

Archdiocese of Malines
Malines, November 29, 1916

Sir :
The letter of November 23 (I, 11254), with which Your Excellency has honored me, is a disappointment to me. In several circles, which I had reason for believing very well-informed, it was said that Your Excellency thought it a duty to protest to the highest authorities of the Empire against the measures which you were compelled to apply in Belgium. I therefore expected at least a delay in the application of these measures, while they were being subjected to a further examination, and a softening of the methods which accompanied their execution.
But, without answering a word to any of the arguments whereby I established the anti-juridical and anti-social character of the condemnation of Belgian workmen to forced labour and deportation, Your Excellency contents himself with repeating in his dispatch of November 23 the very text of his letter of October 26. The two letters of October 26 and November 23 are indeed identical in substance and almost identical in form.
On the other hand, the recruiting of so-called "unemployed" is progressing for the most part without any regard for the opinions of the local (p.186) authorities. Several reports in my possession prove that the clergy are brutally set aside, and the burgomasters and communal councillors reduced to silence. The recruiting agents thus find themselves confronted with men of whom they know nothing, and arbitrarily make their choice.
Of such procedure there are abundant examples. I shall quote two very recent instances from the number which I hold at the disposal of Your Excellency.
On November 21 the recruiting was held in the commune of Kesbeek-Miscom. Of the 1325 inhabitants in the commune, the recruiters took away 94 en bloc, making no distinction of social condition or profession; farmers' sons, sole support of aged and infirm parents, fathers whose departure left their wives and children in misery - all as necessary for their families as their daily bread. Two families were robbed at once of four sons each. Of the 
ninety-four deported only two were "unemployed".
The recruiting in the district of Aerschot took place on November 23. At Rillaer, Gelrode, and Rotselaer, some young men who were sole supporters of widowed mothers were recruited. Farmers who were farmers of large families (one farmer, over fifty years ago, had ten children), cultivated their own land, possessed several head of cattle, and had never touched a cent of public charity, were also forcibly deported in spite of (p.187) their protests. Twenty-five young lads of seventeen years were taken in the little commune of Rillaet.
Your Excellency would have liked the communal authorities to become accomplices in these odious recruitings. By reason of their legal position and in conscience they could not do so. But they could enlighten the recruiting agencies, and are well qualified to do that. The priests, who know the poorer people better than anyone else does, would be of valuable assistance to the recruiting parties. Why is their cooperation spurned?
At the end of your letter, Your Excellency remarks that men belonging to the liberal professions are not disturbed. If only the "unemployed" were being led away, I should understand this distinction. But if the practice is continued by enrolling able-bodied men without exception, the distinction is unjustifiable. It would be wrong to have the burden of deportation fall on the working class alone. The middle class should have its share in the sacrifice imposed by the occupying Power on the nation, however cruel this sacrifice may be; in fact, it is all the more just for them to share in the sacrifice, when this is cruel. Numbers of my clergy to claim for them a place in the vanguard of the persecuted ones. I register their offer, and I am proud to submit it to you. I am loath to believe that the authorities of the Empire have spoken their last words. They will think of our undeserved (p.188) sorrows, of the reprobation of the civilized world, of the judgment of history and the chastisement of God.
Yours most respectfully,
(signed) D.J. Cardinal Mercier
Archbishop of Malines

His Excellency, Baron von Bissing
Governor-General, Brussels.

Vain were all efforts, alas!
And Cardinal Mercier - the glory of the valiant Belgian episcopate, one of the outstanding figures of the world, grander and more admired in proportion as his sorrows increase - goes from town to town, and village to village, consoling the old men, the women and the children, who are suffering for justice's sake.
How long will justice and right continue to be thus despised and violated with impunity?

Instructions of His Eminence, Cardinal Mercier, to the Clergy of his Diocese

His visits to several hundred families of the deported workmen, and the reports of his clergy on the frequently brutal manner in which the deportation orders were executed, inspired the Cardinal of Malines to issue instructions on the matter to the pastors of his diocese. Failing in his noble efforts to make his sentiments of justice, right, humanity, and compassion prevail (p.189) with an invader who dreamt only of force and power, Cardinal Mercier, heartbroken at the sufferings and misfortunes of his flock, wished to mitigate the evil which he felt powerless to prevent. He would fain have dried all their tears, consoled every troubled soul, reminded these sorely tried families - which yet did not waver in their allegiance to country and king - of the sublimity of their patriotic endurance. He found food for the children who came to school without breakfast, and for the old men who relinquished their meal to give a morsel of bread to their grandchildren. Like his Divine Master, he would fain have sacrificed himself completely for all, through love his people and admiration for the heroic virtues which this people had never ceased to display for more than two years. But, as "his strength and his time could not keep pace with his good-will", he addressed himself to his priests and, through them, to all men of good will, asking them to come to the aid of the suffering.

On December 19, 1916, His Eminence sent the following instructions to the pastors of his diocese.

Malines, December 19, 1916
My dear pastors and assistants :

Despite the protests addressed to Germany by the Sovereign Pontiff and several neutral States, the deportation of our civil population has not ceased. (p.190)
It is our duty to mitigate, as much as we can, an evil which we are powerless to prevent.

When the deportation is announced

1. As soon as the notice of the convocation has been posted in your commune, please warn the persons who are not dependent on public assistance that they must provide themselves with a receipt of their taxes, and attach to it a certificate of the communal authority. The sick and delicate will ask their physicians to issue to them a certificate of ill-health, and the workmen, who are not "unemployed", will procure from their employers a certificate of service, which will be countersigned by the burgomaster.
2. In conjunction with the influential people of your parish, pay special attention to the interests of your parishioners who, according to the instructions of the German authorities themselves, cannot be deported. Then, act in concert with the communal authorities, with the Comite de Secours et d'Alimentation, with your wealthy parishioners and devoted women, with a view to supplying the necessary clothes and assistance for the indigent 
whose departure is probable.

On the Eve of the Departure

On the eve of their departure, or the preceding day, urge the enrolled men to go to confession. Several of you should place yourselves at their (p.191) disposal. Celebrate a Mass for their intentions and invite their children, grandchildren, and other adults to be present. The fact that they received Holy Communion in union with their whole family will be a comfort and happy memory for them in their exile. In a practical instruction, exhort them to remain true to their faith and to their moral and religious practices during the period of their absence. Family prayers should be said for them. Give the departing men a souvenir - beads, a scapular, or a New Testament.

On the Day after the Departure

I. Issue an appeal to a selected number of charitable parishioners. Get into communication with the branches of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Association of the Ladies of Mercy, the Third Order of St. Francis, the 
Sodalities, confraternities and the various charitable societies affiliated with the Diocesan Federation of Catholic Women, of which Father Halflants is director. With their assistance and under the direction of the pastor or his delegate, form "a committee of moral aid" to visit the bereaved families, console them, and give them advice and assistance. Help them morally, and, if there is need, help them materially. The Christian parish forms one family. When one member of a family suffers, the other members suffer with him; when the family is in affluence, each shares (p.192) in it. In the same way there should not be in the parish a single neglected, unknown, or forgotten household. And, if this obligation obtains in normal times, it is imperious in these days of distress. Persons who have leisure should place themselves at the disposal of persons who have not. Whatever some have in superabundance, should supply the necessity of others. Mutual aid, thus understood and practiced, is only the fulfilment of the Christian law. "Bear ye one another's burdens", says St. Paul, "and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ" (2).

Pastors who need assistance in the discharge of their ministry of charity, may come and ask it from me, or send someone on their behalf. I should be grateful to them if they would in such cases state as exactly as possible the amount of assistance they expect.
2. We may not neglect any means of securing the repatriation of those who, according to the declarations of the German Government, should have excaped deportation. A bureau of claims has been organized for this object in our episcopal offices.
The pastors are requested to fill in the attached forms, in triplicate. Extra copies will be sent upon request. The filled-in forms will be collected in the various deaneries, and thence sent as rapidly as possible to the archiepiscopal offices. (p.193)
The deans will kindly communicate the above instructions to their colleagues.
You will remind them again of our request of August 14, 1914, that they should say Mass each week for our soldiers who have fallen on the field of honor. Charity commands us to pray and to make others pray for them.
This will be the moment also to rekindle piety and the spirit of penance and sacrifice among your parishioners. Let them offer their good works for the intention of all who are in distress or grief : for our soldiers, the wounded, the absent, the refugees of to-day or exiles of to-morrow; for the intention of our King and his Government, for the intention of our Holy Father the Pope, and I confidently add, as I do at the end of the ceremonies of ordination : "Pray also to the Almighty God for me".
Accept, dear pastors and assistants, the assurance of my affectionate devotion in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Holy See and the Deportations

Cardinal Mercier forwarded to the Sovereign Pontiff several documents dealing with the deportations of Belgians to Germany. On receiving the answer of the Cardinal Secretary of State, he sent it to the pastors of his diocese with the request that they should read it to the faithful : "You will gratefully welcome the enclosed letter (p.194) which the Cardinal Secretary of State has sent us, on behalf of the Holy Father. Kindly read this letter to the faithful". The letter is written in Italian. The translation is as follows:

Secretaty of State of His Holiness
No.23026
Vatican, November 29, 1916

Your Eminence :
The Holy Father has received Your Eminence's letter of the 12th inst. and the enclosed documents concerning the deportation of Belgians to Germany.
The venerable Pontiff, in whose paternal heart all the sorrows of his beloved Belgian people find an echo, has ordered me to announce to Your Eminence that he is keenly interesting himself in your harshly tried people, that he has already addressed himself to the Imperial German Government in their favor, and that he will do everything in his power to secure that an end be put to the deportations, and that these who have already been deported far from their native land, may soon return to the bosom of their afflicted families.
His Holiness has also entrusted to me the agreeable duty of transmitting a very special blessing to Your Eminence and the faithful of your diocese.
I am also glad of this opportunity of expressing (p.195) to Your Eminence the sentiments of deep veneration with which I humbly salute you.
Your Eminence's humble and devoted servant,
(signed) P. Cardinal Gasparri

The intercession of Pope Benedict XV with the German Government has not been crowned with success. The Belgian Government reports that the deportations continue and that only the sick are returned to their homes. However, speaking in his address to the Consistory on December 4, 1915, of the violations of the rights of nations which have taken place during the war, the Holy Father believed it his duty to insist especially on the horrors of the deportations.
We quote here the passage from the Consistorial Address which deals with this subject:
"Wherever the authority of the law is neglected or scorned, discord and the passions reign, and trouble invades public and private affairs. If this truth needed confirmation, it would find it in the present course of the affairs of the world.
"Does not the horrible folly of this war which ravages Europe, cry out in evidence of what ruin and disaster may result from the scorn of the sovereign laws which govern the relations between States ? In this great conflict of nations we see the unworthy treatment meted out to sacred things and the ministers of God (even those of elevated rank), in spite of the sacred (p.196) character they possess in virtue of divine right and the law of nations. Large numbers of peaceable citizens are torn from their jearths and conducted away amid the tears of their mothers, their wives, and their children. Unfortified towns and defenseless multitudes are the victims of air raids. Alike on sea and on land, such crimes are perpetrated as fill one's soul with sadness and horror.
"We deplore this accumulation of evils, and again condemn all the iniquities committed in this war, whatever be the theater and whoever the authors".

(1) Galatians iv. 19 (back)
(2) Galatians vi.2 (back)

GM & AG (digitale Umsetzung) für psm-data; cfr. also: Belgium in World War I, from WHKMLA