talked to the crowd. He told them very reasonably that they were doing
harm to Belgium, as actions of this sort might bring reprisals which
would cost the country dear, and that they must control their feelings.
He sounded the right note so successfully that the crowd broke up with a
cheer.

Orders have been issued to permit us free use of the telephone and
telegraph, although they have been cut for everybody else. Yesterday
afternoon I talked with the Consulates at Ghent and Antwerp. They were
both having their troubles with Germans who wanted to get out of the
country. I told them to send everybody up here and let them report at
their own consulate, where they will be looked after.

The Government is taking no chances of having trouble because of the
doings of francs-tireurs. The Minister of the Interior sent out, on the
4th, a circular to every one of the 2,700 communes in the country to be
posted everywhere. The circular points out in simple and emphatic terms
the duty of civilians to refrain from hostile acts and makes it clear
that civilians might be executed for such acts. Aside from this, every
newspaper in the country has printed the following notice signed by the
Minister of the Interior:

TO CIVILIANS

The Minister of the Interior advises civilians, in case the enemy
should show himself in their district:

Not to fight;

To utter no insulting or threatening words;

To remain within their houses and close the windows, so that it
will be impossible to allege that there has been any provocation;

To evacuate any houses or small village which may be occupied by
soldiers in order to defend themselves, so that it cannot be
alleged that civilians have fired;

An act of violence committed by a single civilian would be a crime
for which the law provides arrest and punishment. It is all the
more reprehensible in that it might serve as a pretext for measures
of repression resulting in bloodshed and pillage or the massacre of
the innocent population with women and children.

In the course of the afternoon we got our telegrams telling of the
appropriation by Congress of two and a half millions for the relief of
Americans in Europe, and the despatch of the _Tennessee_ with the money
on board. Now all hands want some of the money and a cabin on the
_Tennessee_ to go home in.

----, the Wheat King, came into th