e Director-General was a poor soul who could see nothing but technical
difficulties in everything that was proposed. He reluctantly agreed to
everything that he was told to do, and there is no telling when our
stories will get off. He told us that when the Germans had occupied the
telegraph bureau, instead of simply disconnecting the instruments and
placing a man there to see that communication was not reestablished, the
officer in command had battered down the door leading to the roof and
had slashed all the wires with his sabre. As there were three or four
hundred wires leading out of the office, it will be a tremendous job to
get them all together again.

We also took occasion to arrange for the issuance of _sauf conduits_ for
all the members of the Legations and for such members of the foreign
colonies under our protection as we care to vouch for. Food is getting
very scarce because of the enormous demands of the Germans, and we told
von Jarotzky that we should expect that he make arrangements to see that
our colonies should not suffer from the requisitions--that ample food be
reserved to keep them all as long as it might be found necessary for
them to stay here. He agreed to this, but I don't see just how he is to
arrange it in practice. There are about fifty thousand men camping
within a few miles of Brussels, and another Army Corps is now marching
in. The food for all the people must be supplied by the city--all
importations from the outside world have been suspended for days. It is
a pretty bad situation, and it will probably get a great deal worse
before long. I don't know whether we shall get down to eating horse and
dog, but it is not altogether improbable. That is one of these things
that it is interesting to read about afterward.

We spent nearly two hours at the Hotel de Ville, and got in a good deal
of talk that will be of service to all sorts of people. 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
passports and permits to pass through the lines in all possible
directions. Before leaving I had dictated a bulletin which was posted in
the hallway, stating that there were no communications with the outside
world by rail, telegraph or post, and that no _laisser-passers_ would be
granted by the authorities until conditions had changed, and that the
Legation could not issue any sort of papers which would enabl