from the east in all stages of panic,
and some small forces of cavalry have also retreated into the city,
looking weary and discouraged. There has evidently been a rout. Further
than that, we know nothing so far.

Several of the wives of high Belgian officials have come in this
evening, having received word from their husbands to put themselves
under our protection. There is nothing we can do for them, particularly
at this time.

* * * * *

_Brussels, August 20, 1914._--To-day has been one full of experience and
the end is not yet. Last night there was a great stir in the streets,
and crowds of people and weary-looking soldiers. At the Palace Hotel I
found the usual collection of diplomats and some other people whom I
knew, and from the crowd I elicited the fact that there had been some
sort of rout of Belgian forces near Louvain, and the soldiers were
falling back. That was about all they knew. I started back to the upper
town in the hope of finding some news at the Porte de Namur. On the way
up the hill I was stopped by half a dozen groups of Gardes Civiques and
soldiers, who asked me to take them to Ghent. They were so excited and
in such a hurry that they could hardly be made to realize that the car
was not liable to seizure. I took advantage of the opportunity to get a
little first-hand news, and learned that they had been driven back all
along the line and were ordered to retreat to Ghent by any means they
could find. There were no trains available; nobody seemed to know why.
The last group that I talked with said that the vanguard of the German
cavalry was only about fifteen miles out of town and would be in this
morning. They were all tremendously excited and did not dally by the
wayside to chat about the situation with me. I can't say that I blame
them, particularly in view of what I have seen since.

At the Porte de Namur I found that the Garde Civique in Brussels had
been ordered to disband and that the plan for the defense of the city
had been completely abandoned. It was the wise thing to do, for there
was no hope of defending the town with the small force of Gardes at the
disposal of the military governor. It would have been quite futile and
would have entailed a big loss of innocent civilian life. The governor
wanted to do it purely as a matter of honour, but he would have paid for
it heavily and could not have accomplished anything beyond delaying the