A Journal From Our Legation in Belgium Part 26

and had not yet been able to detect the fraud. They had a lot of cheap champagne in the cellar and had been filling them up with that, as they prefer any champagne to the best vintage Burgundies. Once in a while there is a little satisfaction reserved for a Belgian.

We were called at daybreak and were on the road at eight o'clock, taking in a series of small villages which had been destroyed, and talking with the few people to be found about the place. This part of Belgium is far worse than the northern part, where the people can get away with comparative ease to one of the larger towns and come back now and then to look after their crops. Here one village after another is wiped out, and the peasants have no place to go unless they travel so far that there is no hope of returning, perhaps for months together. It will be a great problem to provide shelter for these people so that they can return.

We cut through Beaumont, and then took the main road to Mons, where we arrived in the middle of the morning. On the way we had heard that the English nurses had not yet been released, so I made for the military headquarters and saw the commandant. It was evident that they had been hauled over the coals for the way they had behaved when Jack was there, for I never saw such politeness in any headquarters. I was preceded by bowing and unctuous soldiers and non-commissioned officers, all the way from the door to the Presence, and was received by the old man standing.

He was most solicitous for my comfort and offered me everything but the freedom of the city. He said that he had not received a word of instructions until a few minutes before my arrival, but that he was now able to give the young ladies their liberty and turn them over to me. In order to get them, I was prayed to go over to the headquarters of the military governor of the Province, and an officer was a.s.signed to accompany me. While we were there, the officer who had been so insulting to Jack and to Miss Hozier came into the room, took one look at us, and scuttled for safety. We heard afterward that he had been ordered to apologise for his behaviour.

At the door of the Provincial headquarters I found another car flying the Legation flag, and Monsieur de Leval came charging out into my arms.

There had been a pretty hot time about the nurses and he had finally been sent down to get them out. In a few minutes we had them sitting on a bench in the Governor's office, while Kracker, who used to be one of the Secretaries of the German Legation here, was making out their _laisser-pa.s.sers_ to come to Brussels. They were a happy crowd, but pretty well done up by the treatment they had had.

When they were all fixed I went in and asked for the release of Miss Bradford, another English nurse, who had been in prison in Mons and Charleroi for the past five weeks. I learned of her imprisonment almost by accident while we were waiting for the pa.s.sports. After some argument it was granted, and I went with a soldier to the prison to get her out.

I had not expected to find anything very luxurious, but I was shocked when I saw the place. It was the most severe, repressive penitentiary in the country--still filled with common criminals--and the English nurse was given the same treatment and rations as the worst murderer of the lot. There was the usual row with the man in charge of the place, and finally a soldier was despatched, to tell the young woman she could get ready to go. While she was getting ready, the director of the prison took me around and showed me with great pride things that made me s.h.i.+ver. He said, however, that it was an outrage to put a woman in such a place. The prisoners who do the work of the prison were going about the corridors under guard, each one wearing a dirty brown mask covering his entire head, and with only the smallest of slits for his eyes. They are never allowed to see each other's faces or to speak to one another.

I was taken up to the chapel, where each man is herded into a little box like a confessional and locked in so that he cannot see his neighbour, and can only look up toward the raised altar in the centre, where he can see the priest. The school was arranged in the same way, and was shown with equal pride. I fear the jailer thought me lacking in appreciation.

I finally got the young woman out, nearly hysterical, and took her up to the headquarters, and from there to the hotel, where Monsieur de Leval had gathered his charges for luncheon. They were rapidly recovering their old-time spirits, and were chattering away like a lot of magpies.

While I was fussing about with them, I had sent my friends and fellow-travellers ahead, and now left the flock of nurses in the hands of Monsieur de Leval, to be conveyed by tram back to Brussels, while I tried to catch up with my party at the chateau of Monsieur Warroque, at Mariemont. I made as much speed as my little car was capable of, but it was nearly two o'clock when I arrived.

The old chateau of Mariemont is one of those built by Louis XIV, when he set out to have one for each month of the year. This was his place for August. It had been destroyed, and the new one is built near the ruins, but the large park is as it has been for a long time, and a lovely place it is. There were about twenty at table when we arrived, and places were ready for us. More fine wines, and this time to show that we were in the house of a connoisseur, the flunky, in pouring out the precious stuff, would whisper in your ear the name and vintage. Warroque owns a lot of the coal mines and other properties and is apparently greatly loved by the people. When the Germans came, they seized him as a hostage, but the people became so threatening that he was released. How many men in his position could have counted on that much devotion?

Immediately after luncheon we shoved off and made through the rain for Charleroi, where we took a look at the damage done to the town. It was already dark and we then turned toward Brussels and burned up the road, getting to the Legation at half-past six, to find all the nurses sitting up, having tea with Mrs. Whitlock and the Minister.

_Brussels, December 10, 1914_--Yesterday afternoon we received the call of General Freiherr von Bissing, Governor General in Belgium, and of General Freiherr von Kraewel, Military Governor of Brussels. They were accompanied by their suites in full regalia. The military men were most affable, but we did not get any farther than tea and cigarettes. They talked mournfully of the war and said they wished to goodness the whole thing was over. It was a great contrast to the c.o.c.k-sure talk at the beginning of the war. Von Bissing said that there were hospitals in every village in Germany and that they were all filled with wounded. It is becoming clearer every day that the Germans, as well as others, are getting thoroughly sick and tired of the whole business and would give a lot to end it.

A little while ago the _London Times_ cost as high as two hundred francs. It has been going down steadily, until it can be had now for four francs and sometimes for as little as two. The penalties are very severe, but the supply keeps up, although the blockade runners are being picked up every day.

_Brussels, December 11, 1914_.--This afternoon late B---- brought an uncle to see me, to talk about conditions in France between the Belgian frontier and the German lines. Those poor people cannot, of course, get anything from the heart of France, and as the Belgian frontier is closed tight by the Germans, they are already starving. It looks very much as though we should have to extend the scope of our work, so as to look after them, too. We hear very little news from that part of the country, but from what we do hear, conditions must be frightful. In one little town Mr. K---- came through, only twenty out of five hundred houses are said to be standing. He says that the people are not permitted to leave the place and are living in the cellars and ruins in great misery and practically without food.

Out of a clear sky comes a new trouble for the country. The German Government has come down with a demand for money on a scale that leaves them speechless. The Belgians are ordered to make a forced payment each month of forty millions of francs, for twelve months. The two first payments are to be made by the 15th of next month, and the subsequent installments on the 10th of succeeding months. It is a staggering total, but the German authorities are deaf to appeals, and the Provinces will have to get together and raise the money in some way.

[Publisher's note: An entry from a later part of Mr. Gibson's journal gives a picture of the Belgian spirit under German rule and one of the few methods of retaliation they had against German oppression.

The Belgians are getting a good deal of quiet pleasure these days from a clandestine newspaper called _La Libre Belgique_ which is published almost in the shadow of the Kommandantur. It is a little four-page paper that is published "every now and then" and says anything it likes about the "Occupant." It also publishes news and texts that are barred from the censored press. It is distributed in a mysterious way that still has the Germans guessing, although they have detailed their cleverest sleuths to the task of hunting down the paper and those responsible for its publication. Every number is delivered to all the more important German officials in Brussels and, more remarkable still, it appears without fail upon the desk of the Governor-General--in that sanctum guarded like the vaults of the Bank of England. Sometimes it appears in the letter-box in the guise of a letter from Germany; sometimes it is thrown in the window; sometimes it is delivered by an orderly with a bundle of official despatches; sometimes it merely appears from nowhere. But it never fails to reach the Governor-General. He never fails to read it and to wax wroth over its contents. Large rewards have been offered for information about the people who are writing and printing the paper. The Germans rage publicly, which only adds to the pleasure that the Belgians get from their little enterprise.

My copy reaches me regularly and always in some weird way as in the case of the Germans. I don't know who my friend is that sends me the paper. Whoever he is I am much obliged.]

_Brussels, December 14, 1914_--Yesterday afternoon late, after a session at C.R.B.[10] headquarters, I dropped in for a cup of tea with Baronne Q----. There was a fine circle of gossip and I learned all the spicy stuff. The husband of Mme. de F---- had been in prison for a month, having been pulled out of a motor on his way to the frontier, and found with letters on him. He got out on Thursday and they are quite proud of themselves. They were having a fine time discussing the predicament of the H---- family. The Countess was arrested last week because she, too, was caught carrying letters. She was released from prison and allowed to return home. Now the Germans have placed sentries before the house and allow no one to enter or leave: The old gentleman is also locked up there. The servants have been driven out, and are not even permitted to bring meals to their _patrons_, who are dependent on what they are given to eat by the German soldiers. There is no charge against them at present, so they have no idea as to how long the present charming situation will last. There was a great amount of gossip and the right amount of tea and cakes, so I had an enjoyable half hour.

[Footnote 10: Commission for Relief in Belgium. This name was given the original American Relief Committee within a few weeks of its foundation.]

Yesterday morning Grant-Watson was put aboard a train and taken to Berlin, where he is to be guarded as a prisoner of war. It is all most outrageous, as Lancken definitely promised that he would not be molested. Moral: get just as far away from these people as you can, while you can, in the knowledge that if they "change their mind,"

promises won't count.

Jeffes is left here for the present and may be released. We shall try to get him off, but in view of what has already happened, cannot be very confident. Jeffes is philosophical and uncomplaining, but naturally is not very happy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Appeal of the Queen of the Belgians for help from America

I have learned with gratification of the n.o.ble and effective work being done by American citizens and officials on behalf of my stricken people. I confidently hope that their efforts will receive that ungrudging support which we have learned to expect from the generous womanhood of America.

We mothers of Belgium no less than the mothers of America have for generations instilled in our children the instincts and the love of peace. We asked no greater boon than to live in peace and friends.h.i.+p with all the world. We have provoked no war, yet in defense of our hearthstones, our country has been laid waste from end to end.

The flow of commerce has ceased and my people are faced with famine.

The terrors of starvation with its consequences of disease and violence menace the unoffending civilian population--the aged, the infirm, the women and the children.

American officials and citizens in Belgium and England, alive to their country's traditions, have created an organization under the protection of their government and are already sending food to my people. I hope that they may receive the fullest sympathy and aid from every side.

I need not say that I and my people shall always hold in grateful remembrance the proven friends.h.i.+p of America in this hour of need.

Elisabeth.]

_Brussels, Sunday, December 20, 1914_--Jack got off to London yesterday after a visit of six weeks. Had it not been for the nearness of Christmas and the knowledge that he was needed at home, he would have been prepared to stay on indefinitely. His grief at leaving was genuine.

He invested heavily in flowers and chocolates for the people who had been nice to him, endowed all the servants, and left amid the cheers and sobs of the populace. He is a good sort, and I was sorry to see him go.

By this time he is probably sitting up in London, telling them all about it.

To-day I went up to Antwerp to bring back our old motor. Left a little before noon, after tidying up my desk, and took my two Spanish colleagues, San Esteban and Molina, along for company. I had the pa.s.ses and away we went by way of Malines, arriving in time for a late lunch.

Antwerp is completely Germanised already. We heard hardly a word of French anywhere--even the hotel waiters speaking only hotel French. The crowd in the restaurant of the Webber was exclusively German, and there was not a word of French on the menu.

The Germans took over the garage where our car was left the day they came in, and there I discovered what was left of the old machine. The sentries on guard at the door reluctantly let us in, and the poor proprietor of the garage led us to the place where our car has stood since the fall of Antwerp. The soldiers have removed two of the tires, the lamps, cus.h.i.+ons, extra wheels, speedometer, tail lights, tool box, and had smashed most of the other fixings they could not take off. In view of the fact that my return trip to Brussels at the time of the bombardment was for the purpose of bringing the plans of the city to the Germans, so that they would have knowledge of the location of the public monuments and could spare them, it seems rather rough that they should repay us by smas.h.i.+ng our motor. I think we shall make some remarks to them to this effect to-morrow, and intimate that it is up to them to have the car repaired and returned to us in good shape.

The first group of Americans to work on the relief came into Belgium this month. They are, for the most part, Rhodes Scholars who were at Oxford, and responded instantly to Hoover's appeal. They are a picked crew, and have gone into the work with enthusiasm. And it takes a lot of enthusiasm to get through the sort of pioneer work they have to do. They have none of the thrill of the fellows who have gone into the flying corps or the ambulance service. They have ahead of them a long winter of motoring about the country in all sorts of weather, wrangling with millers and stevedores, checking cargoes and costs, keeping the peace between the Belgians and the German authorities, observing the rules of the game toward everybody concerned, and above all, keeping neutral. It is no small undertaking for a lot of youngsters hardly out of college, but so far they have done splendidly.

The one I see the most of is Edward Curtis, who sails back and forth to Holland as courier of the Commission. He was at Cambridge when the war broke out, and after working on Hoover's London Committee to help stranded Americans get home, he came on over here and fell to. He exudes silence and discretion, but does not miss any fun or any chance to advance the general cause. Of course it is taking the Germans some time to learn his system. He is absolutely square with them, and gets a certain amount of fun out of their determined efforts to find some sort of contraband on him. They can hardly conceive of his being honest, and think his seeming frankness is merely an unusually clever dodge to cover up his transgressions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Julius Van Hee, American Vice-Consul at Ghent]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Lewis Richards]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A Brussels soup-kitchen run by volunteers]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Meals served to the children in the schools]

_Brussels, December 21, 1914_.--Yesterday Brussels awoke from the calm in which it had been plunged for some time, when a couple of French aviators came sailing overhead and dropped six bombs on the railroad yards at Etterbeck. I was away at Antwerp and did not see it, but everybody else of the population of 700,000 Bruxellois did, and each one of them has given me a detailed account of it. The German forces did their level best to bring the bird men down with shrapnel, but they were flying high enough for safety. They seem to have hit their mark and torn up the switches, etc., in a very satisfactory way. For three or four days we have been hearing the big guns again, each day more distinctly; but we don't know what it means. The Germans explain it on the ground that they are testing guns.

Mr. and Mrs. Hoover arrived last night, bringing Frederick Palmer with them. We dined together at the Palace. They were full of news, both war and shop, and I sat and talked with them until after eleven, greatly to the prejudice of my work. Had to stay up and grind until nearly two.

Curtis, who came back last night, says that Jack was arrested at Antwerp on his way out, because he had Folkstone labels on his bags. It took him so long to explain away his suspicious belongings that he barely caught the last train from Rosendaal to Flus.h.i.+ng. He seems to be destined to a certain amount of arrest now and then.

Hoover turned up at the Legation this morning at a little after nine, and he and the Minister and I talked steadily for three hours and a half.