August 2, 1917 
LAND & WATER 
ilettcr0 from a Eeption 
By Hugh Gibson (First Secretary of the American Legal ion in Brussels) 
/I 'f^' ^""^' Gibson was first Secretary of the American Legation in Brussels in July 1914. These letters were written by him 
/I// to his people in the United States describing the events as they happened ; they have therefore an actuality which no remin- 
*- ' -^ iscences could possess. They are exclusivelv published, with the consent of the State Department of the United States, in 
America by " The World's Work " and in Great Britain by La\d & Water. For British readers these letters have peculiar 
significance, for they are from the pen of the man who did everything in his power to save the life of Edith Cavell Reference is 
made in them to M. de I.eval, the Belgian lawyer and Legal Counsellor of Die American Legation, who also strove so fiard but in 
vain on that tragic occasion. Now we finow that the American Legation at the beginning of tlie war accepted the charge of the 
Germans in Brussels " on the grounds of humanity." Lt will be seen from these letters that Mr. Gibson worked as bravely 
and as sincerely on behalf of German subjects who feared violence as fie did for Miss Cavell. But in German fiearts tfiere is neither 
gratitude nor mercy. The scene in the Chamber of Deputies at Brussels on August 5th, 1914, is described so vividly tliat Mr. 
Gibson's letter is a historical document. Ominous are tfie words uttered by Herr von Stumm, Counsellor of the German Legation 
in Brussels on that day. " The poor fools," lie said, referring to the Belgian people wlio dared to protect their independence ,' 
" we don't ivant to hurt them, but if tfiey stand in our way, they will be ground into dust." Tfiese Letters from a Legation will 
be continued in Land & Water for the next few weeks. 
v~yRUSSELS, July 4th, 1914. — After years of hard 
A^work and revolutions and wars and rumours of war, 
J—^ the change to this quiet post has been most welcome, 
and I have wallowed in the luxury of having time to play. 
For the last year or two I have looked forward to just 
such a post as this where nothing ever hippens, where 
there is no earthly chance of being called out of bed in the 
middle of the night to see the human race brawling over its 
differences. When pounding along in the small hours of the 
night, nearly dead with fatigue, I have thought that I should 
like to have a long assignment to just such a post and become 
a diplomatic Lotos Eater. And at first it was great fun. 
That phase lasted until I had had a thorough rest, and 
then the longing for something more active began to manifest 
itself. I sat down and wrote to the D apartment of State 
that while I greatly appreciated ha\in| been sent to this 
much coveted post, I was ready whenever there might be 
need of my services to go where there was work to be done. 
July zbth, 1914. — Well, the roof has fallen in. War was 
declared this afternoon by Austria. The town is seething 
with excitement, and everybody seems to realise how near 
they are to the big stage. Three classss of reserves have 
already been called to the colours to defend Belgian neutrality. 
A general mobilisation is prepared and may be declared at 
anv time. The Bourse has been closed to prevent too much 
play on the situation and let things steady themselves. In 
every other way the hatches have been battened down and 
preparations made for heavy weather. 
To-night the streets are crowded and demonstrations for 
and against war are being held. The Socialists have Jaures, 
their l*"rench leader, up from Paris and have him haranguing 
an anti-war demonstration in the Grande Place, where a 
tremendous crowd has collected. 
An advance guard of tourists is arriving from France, 
Germany, and Switzerland, and a lot of them drop in for 
advice as to whether it is safe for them to go to various 
places in Europe. And most of them seem to feel that we 
reallv have authoritative information as to what the next 
few days are to bring forth and resent the fact that we are 
too disobliging to tell them the inside news. A deluge of 
this sort would be easier for a full-sized Embassy to grapple 
with, but as Belgium is one of those places where nothing 
ever happens, we have the smallest possible organisation, 
consisting on a peace basis of the Minister and myself, with 
one clerk. We shall have somehow to build up an emergency 
force to meet the situation. 
I'm off to scout for some of that same news that I would 
give a good deal to possess. 
July 2fith. — No line on the future yet. Brussels is beginning 
to look warlike. Troops are beginning to appear. The 
railway stations have been occupied and the Boy Scouts are 
swarming over the town as busy as bird-dogs. A week ago 
there was hardly a tourist in Brussels. Now the Legation 
hall is filled with them and they all demand precise infor- 
mation as to what is going to happen next and where they 
can go with a guarantee from the Legation that they wih 
not get into trouble. 
July 31s/. — We have at last got out a circular saying that 
the Legation cannot undertake to advise travelling Americans 
as to what they had better do ; that each one must decide 
for himself in view of the special circumstances governing 
his case ; and that the circular contains everything that the 
Legation has to say on the subject. They take that and 
then talk it over anyway — but at least they have an official 
statement of the Legation's position and cannot get away 
from that. 
The Americans who are coming in are agreeable to deal 
with even if not always reasonable. 
Saturday, August 1st. — Last night when I went home at 
about midnight I found the; police going about with the 
orders for mobilisation, ringing the door bells and summon- 
ing the men to the colours. There was no time to tarry, 
but each man tumbled out of bed into his clothes and hurried 
away to his regiment. Two of my neighbours were routed 
out a little after midnight and got away within the hour. 
There was a good deal of weeping and handshaking and fare- 
welling, and it was not the sort of thing to promote restful 
sleep. 
This morning I got down to the chancery at a quarter past 
eight, and found that Omer, our good messenger, had been 
summoned to the colours. He had gone, of course, and had 
left a note for me to announce the fact. He had been ill and 
could perfectly well have been exempted. The other day 
when we had discussed the matter, I had told him that there 
would be no difficulty in getting him off. He showed no 
enthusiasm, however, and merely remarked, without heroics, 
that it was up to him. 
Sunday, August 2nd. — Another hectic day with promise 
of more to come. 
This morning I came down a little earlier than usual and 
found the Minister already hard at it. He had been routed 
out of bed and had not had time to bathe or shave. There 
was nothing to show that it was a Sunday — nearly twice as 
many callers as yesterday and they were more exacting. 
Mrs. T — A — B — came in airily and announced that she 
had started from Paris yesterday on a motor tour through 
France and Belgium. Having got this far some rude person 
had told her that her motor might be seized by the Government 
for military purposes, and that an order had been promulgated 
forbidding any one to take cars out of the country. She 
came around confidently to have us assure her that this was 
a wicked lie — and needless to say was deeply disappointed 
in us when we failed to back her up. We had refrained from 
asking the Government to release our own servants from 
their military obligations and have refused to interfere for 
anybody else', but that was not enough for her. She left, a 
highly indignant lady ! 
The story is around town this afternoon that the Germans 
have already crossed the frontier without the formality of a 
declaration of war — but that remains to be seen. Brussels 
was put under martial law last night, and is now patrolled by 
grenadiers and lancers. 
The money situation is bad. All small change has dis- 
appeared in the general panic and none of it has dared show 
its head during the past few days. The next thing done by 
panicky people was to pass round word that the Government 
bank notes were no good and would not be honoured. Lots 
of shops are refusing to accept bank notes and few places can 
make any change. The pohce are lined up outside the banks 
keeping people in line. People in general are frantic with 
fear and are trampling each other in the rush to get money 
out of the banks before the crash that probably will not come. 
Lots of the travellers who came here with pockets bulging 
with express checks and bank notes are unable to get a cent 
of real money, and nobody shows any enthusiasm over 
American paper. I have a few bank notes left, and this 
evening when I went into a restaurant I have patronised ever 
since my arrival, the head waiter refused to change a note for 
me, and finally I had to leave it and take credit against 
future meals to be eaten there. We may have our troubles 
when cur small store is gone, but probably the situation will 
improve, and I refuse to worry. And some of our com- 
patriots don't understand why the Legation does not have 
a cellar full of hard money to finance them through their 
stay in Europe. 
Communications with such parts of the world as we still 
speak to are getting very difficult on account of mobilisations. 
This morning's Paris papers have not come in this evening 
Copyright in the Vnited States of America bu " The World'i Work,"- 
