10 
LAND & WATER 
September 20, 1917 
prevailed in the city. They took these messages back and let 
the old chap read them. He ploughed his way carefully 
through them and expressed his great satisfaction at the 
friendly expressions of approval. He put his O.K. on them 
and handed them back with the remark that they might send 
tliem. The Ixiys ventured to inquire how ? " Oh," said the 
General, " you can either send a courier with them to Holland 
or to Germany and liave them telegraphed from there." 
Whereupon he rose ani, bowing graciously, left the bunch so 
flabbergasted that they did not wake up until he was gone. 
He was most amiable and smiling, and got away with it. 
Official Pillage Begins 
The General commanding the forces now coming through — 
von Arnim — got out a proclamation to-dav, wliich was posted 
in the streets, warning the inhabitants that they would be 
called upon for supplies and might have troops quartered 
upon them, and that if they ventured upon hostile acts they 
would suffer severely. 
The strongest thing so far was the series of demands made 
upon the city and province. The city of Brussels has been 
given three daj's to hand over 50 million francs in coin or 
bills. The Germans aJso demand a tremendous supply of 
food to be furnished during the next three days ; if the city 
fails to deliver any part of it it irtust pay in roin at a rate 
equal to twice the market value of the sui^plies. Tlie pro- 
vince of Bfabant must hand over by Ihe first of next month 
450 millions of francs — 90 million dollars. When you consider 
that the total war indemnity imposed by Gemiany upon 
France in 1S70 was only five milliards, the enormity of this 
appears. Upon one little province of a tiny country they are 
imposing a ta.x equal to one tenth that imposed on the whole 
of France. How on earth they are ever to arrange to pay it I 
cannot possibly see. I do not know what is to happen if 
they fail to make good, but I have no doubt that it will 
be something pretty dreadful. 
This afternoon the Germans went into the Ministry of War 
and the Foreign Office and searched through the archives : 
it must have lx;en an entirely futile proceeding, for all papers 
of any interest were removed to Antwerp when the Govern- 
ment left. I can imagine nothing more deadlv dull than 
browsing through the routine correspondence of "the Belgian 
Ministries. The high officials who were still here were kept 
in the buildings to witness the search— a needless humiliation. 
There is talk now of a search of the British Legation, but we 
have heard nothing of it and expect that nothing of the sort 
will be done without asking our permission first. 
Brussels, August 22nd, 1914.— Another day with much to 
do and no great results. 
This morning at 7 o'clock General von Jarotzky arrived at 
the Legation and was all smiles. It appears that my action 
in making known my displeasure at his behaviour and that of 
lus staff had a good effect. We have heard from several 
sources that he blew up everybody in sight vcsterday after- 
noon when he came out from the Burgomaster's ofitke and 
learned that I had departed in bad temper. He knows that 
nooody dares to oppose iiis acts or views, but just the same 
he gave the^ fits for not having made me stay and attend to 
my case. Be that as it mav, he appeared with his chief of 
staff and sent up a. message that brought the Minister down 
in his pyjamas and dres-sing-gown. He expressed great 
regret for the " misunderstanding " of yesterday evening and 
assured the Mmister that there would l>e no further cause 
for complaint on our part. He had in his hand the telegram 
which we had sent him the evening before— the very same 
telegram which we had been trying to get off ever since the 
German occupation of the city ; he had signed each page of 
the message and l»ad affixed his stamp with an order that it 
be immediately transmitted. He explained to the Minister 
that the best thing to do was for him to take it in person to 
the oHice of the Director of the Bureau of Telegraphs who 
had already recerived instructions on the subject. 
1 he servants v/ere thrown into a perfect panic by the arrival 
of Uu: Generaux. It took some argument to convince them 
that the Germans would hardly need to send two generals to 
take them into custody. 
About ten o'clock I w^s starting to go down to the telegraph 
othce to send the messages when the Spanish Minister drove 
up in us big green carwjth the Spanish flag flying at the fore. 
We told hini our story, whereupon he announced that he also 
had telegrams to send and that he would go with us. We 
drove m state to the telegraph office and found that the 
entrance which had beeoi indicated to us was the alley through 
which the mail wagons, drive in the good days when there are 
any. Before an admiring crowd we descended and made our 
way among Prussian troopers through the noisome alley 
to a small side door, where we were stopped by a sentry who 
stuck a bayonet in ,jnr wnoml direction and said we could 
go no farther. 
We went to the Burgomaster in his private office and 
placed our troubles l)efore him. He understood the importance 
of the matter and sent for the General. He appeared in short 
order, clicked his heels, and inquired whether we had come in 
regard to the matter of telegrams. The old fox knew per- 
fectly well that we had and was ready for us. We had come 
to the conclusion — which I had reached 3'esterday afternoon 
and held all by my lonesome — that the old man was jockeying. 
We spent nearly two hours "at the Hotel de Villa and got 
in a good deal of talk that will be of service to all sorts of 
i:)eople. When we got back we found the chancery full of 
people who were waiting for us to tell them just how they 
could send telegrams and letters and get pas.sports and permits 
to pass through the lines in all possible directions. Before 
leaving I had dictated a bulletin which was posted in the hall- 
way stating that there were no communications with the out- 
side world by rail, telegraph, or post, and that no laisser- 
passers would be granted by the authorities, 
First Rumours of Louvain 
About four o'clock McCutcheoh, Irwin and Cobb breezed 
in looking like a lot of tramps. They had sailed blissfully 
away to Louvain in a taxi which they liad picked up in front 
of the hotel ; when they got there they got out and started to 
walk about to see what wa--- going on when, before they could 
realize what was happening, they found themselves in the 
midst of a Belgian retreat hard pressed by a German advance. 
They were caught between the two and escaped with their 
li\'es by flattening themselves up against the side of a house 
while the firing continued. W hen the row was o\er, they were 
left high and dry with no taxi — of course, it had lieen grabbed 
by the retreating troops — and with no papers to justify their 
presence in Louvain at such a time. "They decided that the 
best thing to do was to go straight to the German head- 
quarters and report. They were received well enough and 
told to lodge themselves as best they could and stay indoors 
until it was decided what was to be done with them. They 
were told that they might be kept prisoners here or even sent 
to Berlin, but that no harm would come to them if they be- 
haved themselves. The order had gone out that if a single shot 
was fired at thcGerman troops from the window of any house 
everybody in the house was to be immediately taken out and 
shot. Not wishing to risk any such unpleasant end, tljey 
rented all the front rooms of a house and spread themselves 
through all the rooms so that they could bt sme that nobody 
did any slaughtering from their house. They were there for 
three days and were told to-day that they might take them- 
selves hence. They came back to Brussels in the same clothes 
that they had worn for the past three days, unshaven and 
dirty as pigs. 
This evening when I went to see my old friend the General 
just before dinner he told me that he had had news of a great 
battle near Metz in which the French army had been cut off 
and practically destroyed with a loss of 45,000 prisoners. It 
sounds about as probable as some of the other yarns. In view 
of the fact that my friend had no telegraphic communication 
1 was curious to know where he got his information, but my 
gentle queries did not bring forth any news on that point. 
The tiermans now expect to establish themsehes for some 
time here in Brussels. They are going to occupy the various 
Governmental departments, and it is quite pxjssible that for 
some time we shall have to deal exclusively with them. 
The Government to which we are accredited has faded away, 
and we are left here with a condition and not a theory. We 
shall have to deal with the condition, and I am not at all 
sure that the condition will not require some pretty active 
dealing with. Functionaries are to be brouglit from Berlin 
to administer the various departments, so that it is evidently 
expected that the occupation is not to be of a temporary 
character; 
Later. — After wTiting the foregoing I went upstairs and 
listened to some of the tales of the four people who were 
tied up at Louvain. 
They said it was really pretty dreadful. From their window 
they saw, every little while, a group x)f soldiers lead some poor 
frightened Belgian to a little cafe across the street ; several 
officers were sitting at one of the tables on the sidewalk 
holding a sort of drumhead court martial. While they were 
examining the case a squad would Ijc merched around behind 
the railroad station. A few minutes later the prisoner would 
be marched around by another wav and in a few minutes 
there would be avolleyand the troops would be marched back 
to their post ; then, after a little while, a stretcher would be 
brought out with a body in civilian clothes, a cloth over the 
face. Some of the prisoners were women, and there Were 
screams before the shots were fired. It must have been a 
dreadful ordeal to go through. 
(To be continued\ 
