ery nice, but stated that they had the strictest
orders not to let anybody come in or out, and that they had not
discretionary powers. At a visit at the Foreign Office later in the day,
I told of my experience and asked that I be furnished by the military
authorities with a _laisser-passer_ which would enable me to enter the
Legation whenever I so desire. This afternoon I received a formidable
document from the Military Governor which gives me free passage--so far
as I can make out--to enter the Legation in any way save by telephone or
telegraph. I shall go around to-morrow and rub it in on the Gardes
Civiques.

The question of passes has been changed and made more strict each day,
and has got to be a sort of joke. I first used my card, that was
declared insufficient almost from the first. Then I tried my _permis de
circulation_, which was issued to allow me to get into the railway
stations without paying. That was good for a day or so. Then I tried my
passport (as a bearer of despatches), and that got me through once or
twice. Then the Minister for Foreign Affairs gave me his personal card
with a _laisser-passer_ in his own hand, but that was soon turned down
on the ground that the military authorities are in control and the civil
authorities cannot grant passes. Finally the Government has got out a
special form of _laisser-passer_ for the diplomats, and it may prove to
be good--although it is not signed by the military authorities. I have
taken the precaution of keeping all the aforementioned documents and
some others on my person, and am curious to see how soon I shall have to
have some other. The Garde Civique is no longer content with holding up
the car every few blocks and examining the _piece d'identite_ of the
chauffeur; they must now be satisfied as to the bona fides of each
passenger. Doing some errands around town this afternoon I was held up
and looked over eleven times. I now pull out all the documents I own and
hand out the bunch each time I am stopped. The Garde then, in most
cases, treats the matter rather humorously, and the next time I pass
lets me go on without going through the whole performance again. In
front of the German Legation, however, which we nearly always pass on
our way to or from town, we are invariably held up and looked into
seriously. I know most of the people on the different shifts by this
time and wish them well each time they look at the well-remembered
papers. I shall keep the cr