8 
in the centre of the square and were resting hard— all but those 
who were supplying the spectacle. _ , # . 
From there we went down to Luna Park, an amusement 
place on the edge of the city. The stream xras pourmg by 
there just as steadily as it had earlier m the afternoon. \\ c 
watched the passing of great quantities of artillery, cavaiiy, 
and infantrv, hussars, lancers, cyclists, ambulance attendants, 
forage men"! and goodness only knows what else. 
1 have never seen so much system and such equipment. 
The machine is ccrtainlv wonderful, and no matter what is the 
final issue of the war nobodv can deny that so far as that part 
of the preparation went the Germans were hard to beat 
The most insignificant details were prepared for, and at 
eventualities met with promptness. The horses were short 
for a campaign in the countrv. and naturally there was a lot 
of slipping on the smooth cobble pavements. Ihe instant a 
horse went down there was a man ready with a coarse cloth to 
put underhis head and another to go under hisfore feet so that 
he would liavc some grip when he tried to gtt up and would not 
hurt himself slipping and pawing at the cobbles. Each time 
a horse went down all hands rushed to the rescue so effectively 
that he was on his feet again in no time, and the procession 
was barely arrested. The men's kits were wonderfully com- 
plete and contained all sorts of things that I had never seen or 
heard of, so 1 turned for explanation to Davis (the late Richard 
Harding Davis),' who had come along to where we were watch- 
ing. He was lost in admiration for the equipment and dis- 
cipline and could hardlv find words adequately to express 
himself. He said he liad been through pretty much every 
campaign for the last twenty years and thought he knew the 
last word in all sorts of equipment, but that this had him stag- 
gered. I asked him what a lot of things were for and he 
frankly admitted that he was as much in the dark as I was. 
Wonderful Equipment 
A great many of the officers wore upon their chests great 
electric searchlights attached to batteries in their saddle bags. 
These are useful when on the march at night and serve to read 
sign-posts and study maps, etc: 
The supply trains were right with the main body of the 
troops, and were also carefully gotten up for purposes of dis- 
play. The kitchens were on wheels and each was drawn by 
four horses. The stoves were lighted and smoke was pouring 
from the chimneys. The horses were in tine shape and in huge 
numbers. 
After watching them for a while we moved back up to the 
Boulevard, where we found the Minister with the ladies of 
the family who had been brought out to watch the passing 
show. We had feared to bring them out at the beginning 
lest there might be riots or even worse precipitated by 
the foolhardy action of some individual ; fortunately, there was 
nothing of the sort, and while the reception given the troops 
was deadly sullen they were offered no affronts that we could 
see. The entry was effected quietly, and perfect order has 
prevailed ever since. 
From there we drove out to the country, and watched the 
steady stream nearer its source, still pouring in, company after 
company, regiment after regiment, with apparently no 
end in sight. We watched until after seven and decided that 
the rest would have to get in without our assistance. On 
the way back a German monoplane flew over the city and, 
turning near the Hotel de V'ille, dropped something that spit 
fire and sparks. Everybody in the neighbourhood let out a 
yell and rushed for cover in the firm belief that it was another 
bomb such as was dropped in Namur. It dropped, spitting 
fire until fairly near the spire of the Hotel de \'ille, when it 
burst into ten or a dozen lights like a Roman Candle — evi- 
dently a signal to the troops still outside the city — perhaps 
to tell them that the occupation had been peacefully accom- 
plished. 
When I got back to the Legation I found that the Minister 
after waiting for me, had gone with MUalobar to call on the 
Burgomaster and the German General. They found the 
old gentleman in command at the city hall, carrying on the 
government through the Burgomaster, who has settled down 
with resignation to his task. He is tn mendously down in 
the mouth at having to give up his beautiful Grande Place to 
a foreign conqueror, but he has the good sense to see that he 
can do more good for his country by staying there and trying 
to maintain order than by getting out with a bean gesle. 
The first thing the General did was to excuse himself and 
go to take a bath and get a shave, whereupon he reappeared 
and announced his readiness to procGcd to the discussion of 
business. The two Ministers got him to agree to permit 
them to send out telegrams to tlicir governments either clear 
or in cipher, and attended to one or two other things. 
The General said that he had no intention of occupying the 
town permanently or of quartering soldiers or otherwise 
LAND & WATER 
September 13, 1917 
bothering the inhabitants. He was sent tlicre to keep open 
a way so that troops could be poured through toward the 
French frontier. They expect to be several days marching 
troops through, and during -that time they will remain in 
nominal control of the city. Judging from this there must 
be a huge army of them coming. We shall perhaps see 
some of them after the big engagement which is bound to 
take place as soon as they get nearer the French frontier. 
Brussels has not been occupied by a foreign army since 
Napoleon's time, and that was before it was the capital of 
a real country. It has been forty-four years since the capital 
of a European Power has had hostile . troops marching ill 
triumph through its streets, and . the hurjiiliation has been 
terrible. The Belgians have always had a tremendous city 
patriotism, and have taken more pride in their municipal 
achievements than any people on earth, and it must hurt them 
more than it could possibly hurt any other people. Tlic Burgo- 
master when he went out to meet General von Jarotzky, de- 
clined to take his hand. He courteously explained that there 
was no personal affront intended, but that under the circum- 
stances he could hardly bring himself to offer even such a 
purely perfunctory manifestation of - friendship. The old 
General, who must be a good deal of a man, quietly replied that 
he entirely understood and that under similar circumstances 
he would probably do the same. The two men arc on ex- 
ceedingly workable terms, but I don't believe they will 
exchange photographs after the war is over. Poor Max 
was going to spend the night at the Hotel de Ville. Most of 
his assistants cleared out for the night, but he could not bring 
himself to leave the beautiful old building entirely in control 
of the enemy. He curied up and slept on the couch in his 
office just for the feeling it gave him that he was maintaining 
some sort of hold on the old place. 
The Minister arranged to have his telegrams accepted 
and transmitted without loss of time. We wrote out our 
message and sent it off right after dinner, but Gustave 
brought it back, saying that the telegraph office was closed 
and that he could find no one to whom he could hand his 
bundle of messages. Evidently the orders for the reopening 
of the place did not get around in time for our purposes. We 
shall try again the first thing in the morning and hope that 
some of the newspaper men will ha\e succeeded in .getting their 
stuff out in some other way. They were around in force just 
after dinner and wild to get an O.K. on their stuff so that it 
could be sent. The General has said that he wanted the 
Minister's O.K. on the men themselves, and that he himself 
would approve their messages after having them carefully 
read to him. He gave them an interview on alleged German 
atrocities and will probably let them send through their 
stories if they play that up property. 
After dinner I started out on my usual expedition in search 
of news. I found the Foreign Office closed and learned upon 
inquiry that the few remaining men who had not gone to 
Antwerp were at home and would not be around again for the 
present ; thus we have no dealings through- the Foreign Office 
but must do the best we can with the military authorities. 
I went down to the Palace Hotel on the chance of picking up a 
little news, but did not have much luck. The restaurant 
was half filled with German officers who were dining with great 
gusto. The Belgians in the cafe were gathered just as fai 
away as possible, and it was noticeable that instead of the 
usual row of conversation there was a heavy silence brooding 
over the whole place. 
August 21. 1914. — So far as we can learn we are still as 
compeletely cut off from the outside world as we were yester- 
day. The General promised the Minister that there would be 
no difficulty in sending his telegrams either clear or in cipher, 
but when we came to sending them off it was quite another 
story. 
The first thing this morning I made an attempt to hand them 
in but found all the telegraph offices closed. At ten o'clock 
I went down to the Hotel de \'ille to see the General, who has 
taken over the duties of Military Governor, and see what 
was the matter. He was away somewhere and so was the 
Burgomaster, so I contented myself with seeing one of the 
Echevins whom I had met a number of times. He could not 
do anything about it on his own responsibility, but made a 
careful memorandum and said that he would take it up witl: 
the General through the Mayor when they both got back. I 
also asked for laisser-passers for everybody in the shop, anc 
he promised to attend to that. By lunch time we had received 
no answer from General von Jarotzky, so I got in the motor 
with my pocket full of telegrams and went down to the Hotel 
de Ville once more. It is a depressing sight. The Grande 
Place, which is usually filled with flower vendors and a mass 
of ]x^.ople coming and going, was almost empty. At the lower 
'end there are parked a number of small guns. In the centre 
some camp kitchens with smoke rising I'rom the chimneys. 
(To be continued) 
