h the wounded. In the
course of the fighting there was a sort of charge of the Light Brigade;
one squadron of Belgian Lancers was obliged to attack six times its
number of Germans and was cut to pieces, only one officer escaping. The
morale of the Belgians is splendid.

This afternoon as the Minister and I were going to call on the British
Minister, we passed the King and his staff headed out the Rue de la Loi
for the front. They looked like business.

Several times to-day I have talked over the telephone with the Embassy
in London. They seem to be as strong on rumours as we are here. One
rumour I was able to pass on to Bell was to the effect that the British
flagship had been sunk by German mines with another big warship. Another
to the effect that five German ships have been destroyed by the French
fleet off the coast of Algeria, etc., etc.

The Red Cross is hard at work getting ready to handle the wounded, and
everybody is doing something. Nearly everybody with a big house has
fitted it in whole or in part as a hospital. Others are rolling bandages
and preparing all sorts of supplies.

The military attaches are all going about in uniform now. Each Legation
has a flag on its motor and the letters C.D.--which are supposed to
stand for Corps Diplomatique, although nobody knows it. I have seized
Mrs. Boyd's big car for my own use. D.L. Blount has put his car at the
disposal of the Minister and is to drive it himself.

There is talk already of moving the Court and the Government to Antwerp,
to take refuge behind the fortifications. When the Germans advance
beyond Liege, the Government will, of course, have to go, and the
diplomatic corps may follow. It would be a nuisance for us, and I hope
we may be able to avoid it.

Germans are having an unhappy time, and I shall be happier when they are
across the border. Nothing much seems to have happened to them beyond
having a few shops wrecked in Antwerp and one or two people beaten up
here. One case that came to my knowledge was an outraged man who had
been roughly handled and could not understand why. All he had done was
to stand in front of a cafe where the little tables are on the sidewalk
and remark: "Talk all the French you can. You'll soon have to talk
German." Of course there are a lot of Belgians, Swiss and Dutch who
rejoice in good German names and they are not having a pleasant time.
One restaurant called Chez Fritz, I saw when coming along the Boulevard
this ev