Berlin Town (part 6 of 7)

I have already mentioned Madame Rizoif and her two children. She is now a penniless widow. We heard that her husband died of a heart-shock brought on by excitement at the German peace with Russia. He was a very clever man and foresaw what a fatal peace it was for Bulgaria, and how unwise (in her own interests) it had been of Germany to make such a peace. Rizoff had a high reputation as a politician, and too late, after the peace had been ratified, the Emperor consulted him and said, *'If only you had given me your views and opinions before!" This is quite characteristic of Germany; she always recognizes her diplomatic and political mistakes a few days too late.

Baroness Sternburg was here too, and was daily receiving news from American friends to the effect that the American laws are being made so severe against German aliens that any one communicating with their relations in Germany will lose their money, and it is very uncertain if it will be refunded to them afterwards. What a panic there will be among the German and Austrian princes and dukes who have married American heiresses !

Herr von Jagow and his wife were also among our guests for some time, and my husband's old friend Count Richard Coudenhove, who had been a prisoner in Siberia for two years and had much that was interesting to relate about Russia and the Russians.

The universal opinion is that the new State Secretary von Hintze, though personally a nice man, is not a clever one, and his appointment was a great surprise. His Majesty put him into office without consulting Hertling at all. Kuhlmann, they said, was so swollen with his own importance that, when summoned to headquarters after his famous speech, he imagined he was going to be congratu.la1?ed on it, ins-tead of which he was greeted by His Majesty in his impulsive way with the words, "I have appointed Hintze in your place.'*

People say that Kuhlmann made his fatal speech on the spur of the moment, without consulting Hertling at all. This is quite in accordance with his character, as he is always more inclined to act on the inspiration of the moment than to subject his actions to carefullythought-out plans.

The whole pol4tical situation is so perilous at the moment, that every one feels something momentous must be going to take place. The constant changes in official circles denote weakness and uncertainty, and there is in reality no strong man at the wheel of the ship of Germany.

"A victorious army never rebels," people say, but an army in retreat is very liable to be seized by the spirit of mutiny, and certainly the mass of the population here would be ready to back any defkiite movement.

Capitalists and large landowners are beginning to talk in earnest of the possibility of their land being confiscated and their property divided up in the Bolshevik manner. The whole public spirit is so depressed and the universal suffering so great, that the people are threatening to take matters into their own hands. You can hear this intention expressed at every street corner. A shopgirl said it openly to my husband the other day : "We are going to stop the war now; those in command have failed entirely arui have never kept their promises which they so often made." Another friend heard in the tram: **It is high time for the Emperor to abdicate to bring about peace, and the sooner tiiis is made clear to him the better."

is overrun with invalids with grievances. Wounded men refuse to consent to operations which might heal an injured limb, on the ground that they would then be sent back to the front, and they have no intention of going there.

Every one is now able to see through the official telegrams which for so long hoodwinked the masses. They know that the constant shortening of the front spells "Retreat." They know, too, that troops are again being transported back to Russia, where the great combat between English and German influence is in full force. The whole economic future of Germany depends on her getting a firm footing in Russia, and having command of the vast unexploited treasures waiting for Western capital to develop. This, they say, accounts for the murders of Mirbach and General von Eichendorff.

Ludendorff has publicly acknowledged the failure of the great offensive; it seems the growing lack of ammunition is the ominous cause of the defeat. So many guns have been left in the hands of the enemy, and there is not enough iron left to make new ones.

There have been public protests against the misleading statements made by Prince Heinrich as to the results of the Marne battle, on the same day that Ludendorff had admitted that their strategic plans had failed. He naively seems to have thought that the opinion of some unknown Turkish attache, that the Marne battle was a German victory, was of more importance than the confession of the great generals. It is so incredibly foolish to try and hoodwink the people like this, when the truth must ultimately leak out.

The Bavarians have a special complaint that the war reports are always partial to the Prussians. They say that as long as the losses of life and material are sustained by the Crown Prince's army, no mention is ever made of them; but as soon as Prince Rupprecht's army is

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It seems impossible now for Ludendorff to force any decisive successful battle this year. Officers here say that his plan of separating the British army from the French was not impossible and would have been successful, if the heavy losses of the Allies had not been so speedily made up again. In a single month 355,000 men were thrown across, and every gun had been replaced.

Men home on leave have been giving me vivid descriptions of the last great fights, and one's brain grows weary of it all. No wonder that half the army "have ruined nerves !

One young officer, just returned from the front, stated that 30,000 German prisoners were taken on one day, and that eight of his brother officers were killed at his side in one minute, he alone surviving.

They say that air-battles have been the most characteristic feature of the offensive, there being sometimes as many as forty planes engaged in the air, and that the swift advance of the Allied armies was mainly due to the systematic co-operation of aeroplanes and tanks. The Germans withdrew without destroying any land, so that no "no man*s land" was created this time, that great numbers of artillery officers were taken prisoners, and every one speaks of the pluck of the British tank-crews with great admiration.

In their retreat the Germans destroyed their petroleum dumps to prevent them falling into the hands of the enemy, and my narrators described the effect of the burning stuff rising like great forests of flames in the darkness of the night; but in spite of their retreat

There are reports current here to the effect that King Ferdinand is going mad, and is subject to fits of melancholy and weeping. This, I presume, we may class with the rest of the reports of this nature, according to which all the remaining monarchs in Europe should have been long since dead or in a mad-house; although the responsibility of this war is enough to send any one into an asylum.

Ferdinand is probably frightened at the dimensions which the Czecho-Slovak uprising is taking on. It has come in most opportunely for England, and may mean the freeing of Russia from the Bolshevists and prove a serious check to Germany's plans.

I was intensely glad to see that twenty-nine British officers succeeded in escaping from that wretched camp at Holzminden; one is only surprised at their being able to dig out a tunnel of sixty yards long without being discovered. I wish more could escape in the same way.

Berlin, September 19 18. - We are again in Berlin, but only for a few days on our way to Munich, while Gebhard is attending the extra sitting of the Herrenhaus. The members have been called up to try and settle the Prussian Suffrage Reform Bill, which is always being shelved, thereby causing a great deal of bad blood.

This Bill is a typically characteristic instance of His Majesty's rash impulsive way of acting. He promised universal franchise to the people, and now the Herrenhaus has to try and help him out of the quandary by amending the Bill in such manner that what it gives with one hand will be snatched away by the other. At the same time it is almost certain that if the people do not gain their votes, this, combined with the retreat, will lead to a very desperate state of affdrs spgner or later.

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Berlin is indeed a gloomy place at present. The news from the front is more and more depressing, there is nothing to eat, and the methods employed to prevent the depression from gaining ground goad the people to fury. Hindenburg has forbidden any one, whatever his personal feelings may be, to speak of the present position as being anything else than hopeful! The grotesque irony of such a command, when the Allied troops are advancing hourly, would be amusing if it were not so tragically foolish.

Prince and Princess Taxis dined with us one night. They had returned quite unexpectedly to town. They had been staying with her mother. Princess Mettemich, near Wiesbaden, but the danger of the aeroplane attacks had been so great that, after spending several nights in the cellar, they preferred a hurried retreat to such a perilous sojourn. The castle is on the direct route to Frankfort, and the flyers all passed over it. They described the terrifying but marvellous spectacle of such an attack; the planes skimming along like big bird%, surrounded by smoke and exploding shells; the black night suddenly rendered lurid by the fire from the defence guns; the awful noise of shooting all over the town, and the crashing of falling bombs on the houses. On one day ten flyers were brought down and forty people were killed in Frankfort, besides many dangerously wounded.

I was glad to see a face the other evening which reminded me keenly of other times. We were dining at the Adlon with Prince Pless, Prince Hatzfeldt, Graf Magnis, and Herr von Jagow. We were waited upon by a very smart gentleman whom I thought I had seen before. He informed us that he had been head-waiter at the Carlton Hotel in London for seventeen years, and had at once recognized Gebhard and Prince Pless.

of the day were being eagerly discussed, it was interesting enough to listen to them. The articles by Dr. Davis, the Kaiser's American dentist, were the chief topic in the English papers. We all feel that it is not quite square to publish these little private sayings, uttered in confidence in an idle moment, and which take on such a different colouring when seen in the glare of the hostile searchlights of peoples at war. They are significant, however, of the mental calibre of Davis, whose Memoirs would Have no interest but for this Royal gossip. The courtiers here are quite right for once - 'Tf he will make a confidant of a dentist, what else can you expect?"

On my remarking to my neighbour at dinner that I imagined the Memoirs were very much exaggerated he laughed and said, "Oh, not in the least; the Emperor has often boasted of the home-truths he had been telling his" dentist." I asked him what the Emperor must think of it now. "Oh," was the* reply, "we take good care that he does not see the English papers while there are

To-day Gebhard lunched with Graf Oppersdorff to meet the Russian revolutionary representative Joffe. It was very interesting, of coursef although they had to avoid politics. Gebhard describes him as a clever, ordinary international Jew, who has been all over the world and speaks every language. He praised England tremendously, admiring especially the methods of English politics and colonization.

How curious it is to note the immense power which a handful of Jews have suddenly gained in the country which until now was the seat of absolute despotism, and where for centuries the Jews have suffered auch a martyrdom of cruel oppression. It almost looks sometimes as if our little continent were destined to be the bone for America and the Jews to pick.

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Munich, September 19 18. - A propos of peace - I have just heard a story which has really made me feel a little more cheerful, as it is founded on fact. A man here, a high official, has a friend who before the war held a responsible position in a big bank in London. A few weeks before it broke out, he was dismissed from the bank on the grounds that there was going to be trouble with Germany, and that he had better get back there as soon as possible. At that time there were no public rumours of war. He has been in Berlin ever since, and about a fortnight ago he suddenly received a letter from the aforesaid bank, offering him a new post in it with a high salary from the ist of October 19 18 onwards. He was more than astonished and wrote back, saying there must be some strange error, for the war was waging more than ever, and he could neither quit Germany nor enter England, as far as he could see. Whereupon he received a prompt answer saying that there was no mistake, and

It is very hard to write anything definite about the present state of things here. I myself feel almost frightened at the way things are closing in on all sides on Germany. The Germans calm one another by saying that the retreat is only impelled by strategical motives, and that Hindenburg means to take up his position on the Siegfried line behind the Scheldt Canal, whilst the hostile forces are rrleant to spend the winter in the devastated land outside.

I wonder what the real meaning is. Do Hindenburg and Ludendorff at last realize the truth of Kiihlmann's words, "The war can never be settled by military methods alone,'^ and are they cunningly retreating in time, that peace may be based on the fact that the German army has quitted the enemies* land? Or do they fear the spirit of their own troops? Again and again I have heard rumours of German regiments refusing to attack when ordered to do so; in other words, that a spirit of mutiny is arising here and there amongst the exhausted soldiers.

Munich, Sunday, September 29, 19 18. - To-day I noticed an especially scared look on the faces of those around me, and on my inquiring what had happened they told me that the Allied troops have made another combined offensive and have managed in places to break through the Hindenburg line; that news has come of Bulgaria's movement towards a separate peace; that Malinoff has already proposed a truce, and that all the Germans residing there have been given notice to leave the country, and that Czar Ferdinand is about to abdicate in favour of his son. In addition, the news of the Turks' defeat in Palestine has become a public fact. This means of course an end to Germany's dream of a colony in Asia Minor and a direct traffic route from the Baltic Sea to the Gulf of Persia, whilst the Bagdad railway line will remain a monument of things that were not to be.

And yet, with ruin staring at them on all sides, there are still people here who continue to protest that everything stands well, and that any one who spreads a report to the contrary will be punished with ^\q. years' imprisonment with hard labour.

Down here, in a quiet retreat in Munich, I expected to be quite out of touch with the feverish world of to-day, especially as at this time of the year there is no one as a rule in town; but I have been agreeably disappointed, and during my three weeks' stay here have met more friends and heard more news than during the whole last six months.

Amongst the many birds of passage who have passed through during the last ten days were two very interesting figures, no less personages than those young Princes of Parma, brothers of the Empress of Austria, who negotiated with Clemenceau some six months ago, and are said to have handed over the notorious *Teaceletter" written by the young Empress. Great excitement would prevail were their presence here known, as having served in the Red Cross Department of the Belgian army they are considered to be hostile. This casts a glamour of romance over their appearance, which is further heightened by reports of one of them being betrothed to the future bride of the Crown Prince of Bavaria. They were seen to enter the *'Konigshof," the hotel where my husband is staying, on a visit to the old Queen of Naples, who has lived there since the beginning of the war, and who is herself a romantic figure, reminding us of historical episodes of an almost forgotten past.

Munich, October 19 18. - The crash has come at last, and although so long expected, it seems very sudden to most of those people who insisted on always looking at things through spectacles couleur de rose. The strangest thing to me is the panic which seems to have seized on those very men who, until now, have borne the responsibility of all the calamities of the last four years with such stoical optimism.

Hertling, the good old polished man of learning as he is, has accepted the situation, and has made his exit with the quiet courtly bow of the last representative of the ancien regime, and a new era has set in.

Here is another of those strange paradoxes which the war has so often shown us : the heir-presumptive to a throne chosen as their leader by the men who are striving to abolish all thrones for ever. Enter Prince Max of Baden, who has in reality been quietly working together with Solf, ever since last autumn, to bring about just that event which seems to have fallen so unexpectedly from the skies. It remains to be seen how far this new man will acquit himself of the almost superhuman task of clearing this modern German Augean stable of the collected abominations of strife and warfare. Impossible as the task seems, the gesture with which he undertakes it has already won him the confidence and sympathy of more than half the people of Germany.

On the whole a great sigh of relief escapes from the lips of the tormented nation on this eventful Sunday in October 1918, when the new peace programme has met the eyes of the world.

'This means peace!" you can hear at every comer of the streets, where people stand hurriedly reading the unusual news. And ''peace" smiles in the eyes of every little shopgirl in the baker's or grocer's shop as she hands you your loaf of coarse half-baked bread, or bag containing 100 grms. of lard.

For the wealthier classes and the militarists things bear a different aspect. They could very well support another year or so of the war materially, as they are not halfstarved and overworked like the greater mass of the people. For them the metamorphosis from rosy dreams of world-power and expansion and increased wealth to the gloomy realities of an impoverished, humiliated Germany is all too overpowering.

I wonder what the feelings of a Ludendorff and a Hindenburg must now be? As the move can never have been made without their consent, they must indeed recognize the hopelessness of their position and the defeat of their plans. So many figures of colossal import are striding across the stage of Europe to-day that one can only find a parallel in the classical days of history. One would expect Shakespeare to arise again from his quiet resting-place in the little church at Stratford to pen the dramas of all these men, kings and princes, warriors and statesmen, who, filled to overflowing with some frenzy of patriotism or self-worship, have fought like fanatics, only to be toppled over and cast aside by the impulse of some divine law.

Ludendorff, the strong dictator, is said to have had an interview with the Kaiser a few days ago, during which he burst into tears, admitting that nothing more could

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For the ordinary looker-on this new peace movement is so surprisingly quick and sudden. Is the Kaiser in such fear of losing his throne that with one swoop he leaves his high place in the sun of the divine right of kings, and agrees to all these new demands which practically deprive him of the most precious jewel in his crown, and leave him an ordinary mortal like other people? There are many persons who admire him more for this one act than for any previous one during his reign. He, as well as King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, has probably made a virtue of necessity, and seeing the shades of Bolshevism approach every day nearer, has crowned the long years of his reign with an act of abnegation.

Naturally the Fan-Germans are still shouting and protesting in the old bombastic rhetoric for which they arq so famous. The pillar-posts are covered with bloodcurdling placards, depicting the towns on the Rhine devastated by bombs and fire, in case the military efforts of the army relapse, and an open-air demonstration has been made in front of the ''Iron Hindenburg" in the Tiergarten without the police of the now democratic government interfering, a thing which would have been impossible under the iron rule of the military dictatorship.

In the meantime we are all in an agony of suspense to know what Wilson's answer will be. Will he prove himself great enough to bear the huge responsibility of the destiny of almost the whole world, which fate has placed in his hands ? Will he recognize himself as the instrument of a divine will, or show himself to be but the puppet of party strifes and short-sightedness? These and many other questions people are pondering with anxious eyes.

Berlin, October 17, 19 18. - We returned to Berlin yesterday, and find things in a terrible state of depression and gloom, portentous of the break-down which we have been expecting for so long. One hears the wildest rumours as to what is going on, and every moment some one keeps coming in with a fresh account of what is supposed to be taking place.

Ludendorff has had a nervous break-down. The army is practically in a state of mutiny, and one whole division is said to have already surrendered. The soldiers, they say, are already turning on their officers and throwing hand-grenades at them, and a train full of officers returning from leave back to the front was stopped, and they were all forced to get out and return home. At the same time one hears of innumerable soldiers writing home indignant at the proposition of an armistice, and saying they will not hear of one on the terms proposed by the Entente.

The population of the Rhine Provinces are shuddering at the idea of the huge German army settling down to winter quarters in their land, as they say there is no more discipline left. I even heard of people in Frankfort being privately advised to leave, as it has been whispered the enemy might possibly be there in a fortnight.

In any case, exaggerated as these reports may be, the universal demoralization of the people is very great, and one has sometimes the impression of a flock of sheep who have lost their leader and are going about in a dazed sort of manner, looking about for a loophole of escape from the impending evil.

Somebody told me of having seen King Ferdinand at Mannheim, when he was there doing his cure, and heard his farewell words, which had been: **Au revoir next year, when I shall be back again for the cure as a private gentleman, no more as a king. My friend William will also have abdicated by then; he and I have both outlived our time."

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The Emperor - the poor Emperor! "How are the mighty fallen." The Caesar once so omnipotent, with his dream of riding down that magnificent Heer Strasse at the head of a conquering, victorious army, passing through the massed multitudes assembled to greet him, entering Brandenburger Tor, the smiling figure of Victory pointing the way down Unter den Linden ! And now this shadow of a king, struggling with destiny to keep his throne but a few days, a few hours, longer.

I have felt bitter enough towards him at times in the past, thinking he could have done more to prevent the unnecessary suffering and cruel methods employed during the war: in particular, the violation of Belgium's neutrality; the sinking of the Lusitania; Miss Cavell's death; the ruthless submarine warfare; the use of poisonous gases; and the senseless air-raids over unfortified towns.

But now that his time has come, one pities him. A deplorable position for a great king to be the object of pity. Why has he let things go so far? Why has he not already abdicated, instead of waiting until he is forced to do so? Every child in the street is saying, 'The Kaiser must go." He absolutely seems to cling to his shadow of a throne, and people say, curiously enough, it is the Kaiserin who is advising him and begging him not to go.

Last Sunday he was seen walking through the Tiergarten, a white-haired, broken man. At least he shows physical courage in doing this, as there are, I believe, men enough who would like to shoot him.

It is a pitiful sight to watch the death-throes of a great nation. It reminds me of a great ship slowly sinking before one's eyes, and being swallowed up by stormdriven waves. I feel intensely for Germany and her brave long-sufTering people, who have made such terrific sacrifices and gone through so much woe, only to see their idols shattered and to realize that their sufferings have all been caused by the blundering mistakes and overweening ajubition of a class of "supermen."

What a bluff this whole last offensive has been! It really looks like a mad adventure on the part of Ludendorff, seen in the light of ulterior events. They ought to have accepted the American proposal of peace made last January. Prince Rupprecht as well as Hindenburg urged the Kaiser to do so, but it seems that the Crown Prince, and especially Ludendorff, begged for one last offensive. How right Hindenburg was when he said: *'Let us threaten the offensive as much as you like, but let us avoid it at all costs."

It is said that the Emperor was absolutely in the dark as to the real strength of the American army, Ludendorff suppressing all information, so absolutely did he rely on his offensive. On hearing this I could not help exclaiming: "Well, however much Ludendorff wished to keep the Emperor in ignorance, surely the Emperor could have found it out for himself, as he sees the English papers." He probably is like the unbelieving audience to whom I remember reading the following extract from an English paper: "Last week 35,000 American troops landed daily, and the Americans are landing on an average 350,000 troops a month." The only remark I heard on it was: "Bluff! English newspapers always lie!"

At the same time the poor soldiers declare that it is not so much the overpowering number of the American troops which has turned the tide, as the fact that there is no more rubber left to make gas-masks, and that they cannot face the gas without them; and then the terrible English tanks. The poor fellows shudder at the very name of them. They say they were prepared for ten or twenty, but during the last few weeks they have been advancing in columns of hundreds. Even the German officers admit that this form of weapon is the first military invention which has proved too much for the genius of German militarism.

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just at the eleventh hour, when Germany is trying to prove to the world that she desires peace simply from humane reasons. At that very moment she orders the sinking of the Leinster, and 450 English civilians are drowned, most of them women and children. Of course, Germany excuses herself with the old tale that it was a mistake, and that she has had no time to call in her submarines. At the moment when Germany's destiny is hanging on a hair, such an awful responsibility is left to the discretion of the lieutenant in charge, and he, as it happened, is a boy of 22 years of age, who by his error plunges hundreds of families in sorrow, and again summons up the burning indignation of all England.

Berlin, October 23, 19 18. - To-day there was a general feeling of suppressed excitement everywhere in Berlin. The Reichstag was opened, and every one was quivering with excitement to hear the new Reichskanzler's speech.

The new Note to America was made public, and then Wilson's answer to Austria fell like a bomb-shell. It means the entire break-up of that country and for people in any way connected with it. Personal friends of mine, the Larisches, came to see us. They say they feel as if the ground had been suddenly cut away from under their feet. Everything changes for them, as their father's estate will become Polish, and they are only one example out of thousands.

Austria will be reduced to quite a small kingdom, but as the young Kaiser very sensibly says, he much prefers being king over a small, happy country than being Emperor over a big, unhappy one. Perhaps Kaiser Wilhelm will come to look at things in the same way.

Meantime the aversion towards the Kaiser is increasing daily. Wilson's answer to the second German Note will probably decide his fate. As events go, it looks pretty clear that disturbances and riots, even civil war, are not to be evaded. From our windows last evening I could see rows of armed policemen lining the street, and on inquiring what they were doing there, was told that the people had threatened to attack the Admiralty as a demonstration against submarine warfare. The whole affair, however, ended calmly, and there were no riots. The Germans luckily do not know how to make an effective demonstration.

Mounted policemen patrol the streets near the Brandenburger Tor day and night, and one has an unpleasant feeling that our house will be one of the first to be raided, if anything serious does occur. It is very difficult to know what to do; in the country the castle would be attacked for food, and here the Bolshevist element will probably let themselves go at the big houses near the Tor, although some people say we are safer here than anywhere else in Berlin, as machine-guns are in readiness all round this part of the town. I cannot say that makes the vicinity more attractive on the whole. Many people have already hired cellars to retire to in case of emergency, and are hiding their silver and valuables.

Berlin, October 24, 19 18. - Last evening there was another demonstration going on under our windows, caused by the triumphal procession accompanying the notorious Socialist, Liebknecht, who has returned from prison, where he has been for the last two years. He was seated in a carriage with his wife, surrounded by flowers, and they drove slowly by the Reichstag and through some by-streets, landing finally at the Russian Embassy. There Liebknecht addressed his assembled friends in a speech tainted with Bolshevism.

The people are gradually awakening to a sense of their power, but all the same there are still invisible hands pulling the strings of justice, or rather injustice, and ready to nip any pacific movement in the bud. A large peace meeting was dispersed two days ago, the orator not being allowed to speak, on the plea that no permission for the meeting had been obtained, although the request had been sent in three times.

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Whilst depicting the last agony of the country at large, one is apt to forget the sufferings of the individual, but what the war is not destroying in human life, the terrible grippe epidemic is carrying off. One hears of whole families dying out in a few hours, and it is an extraordinary fact that most of the victims are young girls and women. An uncanny idea, death thus restoring the balance between men and women for life.

There was an unusual hour of excitement and interest to-day in the Herrenhaus, which generally dozes ovei: questions of moment. My husband and eleven others, Prince Pless, Count Magnis, Counts Galen, Hochberg, etc., suddenly took a line of their own, stood up, and declared their intention of voting for the Universal Suffrage Bill. There is no doubt that it will soon be a fait accompli.

There is great groaning over the hardness of Wilson's second Note. A man from The Hague tells me that Wilson would like to make moderate terms for Germany, but that England and France are blind with victory, and will not let him do as he likes. They mean to punish Germany for her falseness and for her brutalities. He added : "England seems quite to forget that for four years they have shut off Germany from the outer world, and have been cold-bloodedly starving her women and children the whole time."

Another man, a German officer who has just returned from three years' imprisonment in England, declares that it was the sinking of the Liisitania, the death of Miss Cavell, and the Zeppelin raids that raised the English army. Before the Lusitania there had been no en^ thusiasm in England about the war, but after that they were all like mad dogs let loose, and rose as one man to avenge the dastardly deed.

Last spring my mother had to go to a nursing home in London for an operation. The very night after the operation there was an air raid near her hospital, and the fright brought on a heart collapse so that her life was despaired of.

Berlin, October 26, 1918. - Gebhard heard from the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, whom he met in the Herrenhaus, that the Emperor does not mean to abdicate unless he is forced to. He was so terribly cut up by the bad news from the front, that he collapsed and retired to bed for three days; but as soon as he received the news of some local success he quite cheered up again, and became as sanguine and hopeful as ever. This change of mood IS typical of the Kaiser and all his entourage; they are entirely swayed by the news which is dished up to them by Ludendorff, and seem incapable of forming an independent opinion of their own, otherwise things could never have come to such a pass. If the Kaiser had really investigated all the information of the last twelve months, and, above all, listened to the pessimists, he would not have been so surprised by the turn things have taken now.

Prince Miinster, who was again here last night, told us he had been spending the day trying to see Prince Max, who is laid up with grippe. If things were not so tragic, I should be inclined to smile at some of the incidents which thrust themselves on one's vision at the most critical moments. Picture, for instance. Prince Max, a man on whose every word the whole world is waiting, lying in bed in a high state of fever, and his worried A.D.C. going in and out on tip-toe, anxiously trying to extract an answer on matters of burning importance.

Luckily, Prince Max seems to be at last the right man in the right place. People have confidence in him here, and in England they seem to be appreciating his policy, I see there was quite a laudatory article on him in the Nation. It is said that when he has once assured himself

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Count Paul Miinster, who was dining here last night, gave us a graphic account of his journey from Hanover. His train was packed with German civilians returning from Belgium. They were rather depressed at the manner of their exodus, for, having devoted themselves during the last four years to the work of helping the population, spending time and money on the reorganization of the ruined land, in return the inhabitants spat in their faces as they left.

One of them described the return of the King and Queen of the Belgians from their long exile; it must have been a moving scene from all accounts. They landed at Ostend, and were carried shoulder-high by English sailors, amidst dense throngs of people all bowing to the earth in reverent respect. Not a word was spoken, he said; only a murmur of welcome and relief passed through the massed populace, who could not speak for tears of emotion, and it might rank as one of the most impressive scenes in history.

Berlin, OctoVer 25, 19 iS. - Nothing but Wilson's third Note is being discussed now, and as the translation is extremely unclear, every one interprets it according to his own sweet will. I have now seen the original English text, which has been published in some of the German papers, and we at once saw there was only one interpretation possible, which is that the Entente do not wish to negotiate until the Emperor abdicates, as they do not trust his word.

This reading seems to have struck other people in the same way, for a luncheon party was quickly arranged at Prince Eulenburg's house to-day, at which the Kaiser assisted, and where it was discussed whether he should abdicate at once or not. They seemed to have decided to break off negotiations and to stand by the monarchy, or at least leave the casting vote to Hindenburg.

I was just on the point of going to bed when a message came saying that Prince Miinster wished urgently to see us. He told us that he had heard of the aforesaid resolution, and was brooding on it on his way here to ask us to give him some dinner, when he suddenly felt he must do something to prevent Germany making such a hopeless mistake. So, certain that Hindenburg would be dining at his usual quarters at that hour in the Generalstab, he had gone straight off there and asked if he could see the Field-Marshal. On being told that he was at dinner, he begged the astonished Ordonnance-officer to give his name to the Field-Marshal, and ask if he might have a few moments* conversation with him. A few minutes later Hindenburg came out into the hall, taking him by both hands and shaking them warmly, at the same time asking him, ''What is it?*' He asked Prince Miinster to join him at supper, and in the dining-room a place was immediately made for him next to the Field-Marshal.

He then explained that he had heard of their intention of breaking off negotiations, in order to save the Kaiser, and entreated them to reconsider their decision, or in any case to take time and keep things going, not to commit a step which must inevitably imperil the Fatherland.

Prince Miinster did not let himself be discouraged, and continued his argument. He said that if the Field- Marshal as well as the Kaiser went, there would be no central figure for the people to look up to, and the country would be inevitably lost, that the nation must have some one in whom they could trust, some one who represented their ideals, or chaos and anarchy would infallibly ensue. To which the company present said, ''Hear, hear!" He argued that if Hindenburg stayed on, they might still save the Kaiser, hear what the Allies had to say, and keep on with the negotiations. Should the conditions for an armistice be incompatible with the honour of the nation, then they would appeal to the

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Hindenburg was deeply moved, and hurried into his military motor to drive straight to Prince Max at the Foreign Office, to offer him his decision. They are now there settling the matter.

One hears so many conflicting opinions about the Kaiser's abdication that it is difficult to arrive at any definite conclusion oneself, without perhaps doing injustice to a man who I believe, whatever others may say, only acts from a high sense of duty. On the one side it seems as if it would bring peace nearer if he went, as he, like all Hohenzollerns, has deprived the people (or at least wished to do so) of their own free will in the question of government, and has prevented their expanding or developing politically, fearing it might lessen his personal power. On the other hand, the Hohenzollerns rescued Prussia from a state of poverty and insignificance, and consolidated the German Empire into a power so great that it has taken the efforts of the whole civilized world to break it. But now the course of history is being changed, ancient forms of government must disappear under the stress of new ideas and new forces, and as some one said to me, "The German nation must be apparently disloyal, to save themselves from themselves." In other words, they m^ust put their honour aside and make what may seem a "dishonourable peace," to save the country from inevitable effacement.

It seems to me, whatever way they decide, the end will be the same, so better now than later. If it came to an appeal to the country, half the men would not respond, as they ask why they should sacrifice themse-lves when the end is pre-ordained. It is known and owned by many military men that the guns are worn out, that the English and French ones shoot farther, and that a great deal of the ammunition does not fit, so that the artillery could not last more than a fortnight.

My personal feelings of dislike and bitterness towards the men who have perpetrated so many brutal deeds during these four years is counterbalanced somewhat by sorrow for the good and brave men of this land who have sacrificed so much for false ideals, and at the sight of a great country crumbling into ruins, destroyed by the culpable ambition of a few self-seeking men. My feelings are shared even more intensely by other English women married to Germans, who are all more or less pained at the downfall of a nation which has offered so much to the world, and whose fundamental feelings and attitude towards life in general are more in harmony

Berlin", October 29, 19 18. - Things seem to be hurrying towards a catastrophe, and the new Government, the heirs to all the enormous errors of the late one, are having a hard time of it to keep law and order. For the moment everything seems to be depending on the Kaiser's abdication. Public opinion says that as Ludendorff has gone he ought to go too, and the road to peace would be smoother. Like two drowning men, the one is dragged down by the other to destruction. It is said that on Ludendorff's proposing his demission to the Kaiser, the latter accepted it with the words, **In fact, it would render my position easier if you went," and nothing more.

The whole country is waiting breathlessly for the conditions of the proposed armistice, which the Entente are about to issue, and which every one surmises will be utterly impossible. Prince Miinster has just come in from the Kriegsministerium and the Auswartige Amt, and reports that they too are prepared for the terms being u«nacceptable, and there is one party which hopes that the country will call up every available man to make a last desperate stand, after the old platt-deutsch motto: "Lever dod als Slav!"

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Lord Lansdowne in his *Teace Campaign." Things appear to be tending to an end at last. The next few weeks will be harrowing to a degree, but the general opinion is that peace will be signed on or about New Year's Day.

The Emperor left for the Grosse Hauptquartier yesterday evening; there were reasons for believing that he was in danger here, so he has been sent away. The barracks in Berlin were closed last Sunday. No soldier had leave; they were told off in small companies with loaded rifles to guard the castle and keep order in the streets. Rumours were abroad that the Russian Embassy is a nest of Bolshevism and is secretly spreading it all over Germany, and Liebknecht is beginning to-day the first of a course of eighty speeches in different towns, each of which will begin with the words: ''Two years ago I went into prison a socialist. I have come out of it an anarchist. I will tell you the reason why."

It appears that Hindenburg did send in his resignation a few days ago, but withdrew it after much persuasion, and Prince Miinster, who dined here last night, confessed that he could not help feeling a little proud seeing that Hindenburg has followed his advice as to the delay. He told us that, among other things, Hindenburg has said to him : "You advise our postponing the breaking off of negotiations until we have seen the conditions of the armistice, but do we really need to wait before we see them? You know as well as I do what they will be like."

Prince Munster further showed us a copy of his letter to Hindenburg, setting forth reasons for his remaining in office. I give one of the chief paragraphs here : "The German people would not have understood if they had first been told that the present Government and the sudden peace offer of same, which must have seemed quite inexplicable to the uniniated, was made *at the request' of the Oberste Heeresleitung (the military leaders). And now, if this same Oberste Heeresleitung, at the moment when Wilson declares himself willing to carry out the mediation for which he has been asked, had declined same without waiting to hear the conditions which the hostile military leaders will fix as introduction of eventual peace negotiations, then our people would have lost their faith in the man whom they made their ideal. Now they will recognize that they were right in doing so. Uphold them in this faith, Herr Feldmarschall, by dutifully and unselfishly remaining on in these most bitter times! This faith in you is the only thing that still remains to the uncertain Fatherland to fortify it. Should you go too, then Bolshevism will descend upon us."

Ludendorlf is regretted by few. His most ardent admirers are now his chief foes. They try to do him justice, calling him the "German Napoleon" with the keenest brain in the country, but, as they say, he and Hindenburg have brought the country to this pass, by deliberately deceiving the people and by underestimating the economic capabilities of their own land, as well as those of the enemy. He was a military despot, and at the same time a tool in the hands of a few great industrials who worked him for their own ambitious ends. He alone is responsible for the unexpected offer of peace put forth by the Foreign Ofiice, which seemed to most people a sudden and untimely confession of weakness. He had at last realized how useless any further fighting was, and in a moment of panic telegraphed to the Foreign Office, hoping to put all the onus of the act at their door, but they in return have exposed him and his doings.

The more one thinks over the history of this war, and the terrible sufferings of the German nation, the more one is astonished at the way they have borne the yoke which has been laid on them. Seemingly not one single man (with the exception of Liebknecht and Harden, who were promptly punished for it) has ever dared to stand up publicly and protest against a system which was so palpably leading the country to destruction. It almost seems as if the whole nation had been hypnotized, and if any one gave the slightest signs of awaking from his phlegmatic trance, he was treated as a dangerous lunatic and put into a strait- jacket.

It seems to me that the loss of position and fortune, even of Hfe itself, would have been worth the effort of saving the country. But so few men are possessed of moral courage, while they nearly all have physical courage, and would much more readily stop a bullet than try to stem the tide of popular opinion.

Professor Nicolai, whose open appeal to his countrymen in the Times I have just been reading, is one of the very few men who dared to seem disloyal to his country, purely from reasons of loyalty. For venturing to attack the German methods of warfare he was degraded from his rank as army surgeon and incorporated as a private combatant soldier, and only evaded certain death at some exposed position at the front by escaping to Denmark in an aeroplane.

Berlin, October 31, 1918. - The news of Austria's separate peace has fallen like a bomb on poor Germany, who like a sinking ships sees herself being deserted, even by the rats, as some one bitterly remarked. Now Austria, which, for unpolitical people, was the spark that set the firebrand in flames and involved Germany in the conflagration, has betrayed her in a dastardly manner.

This morning my maid came into my room to tell me that Emperor Karl had fled from Vienna, taking eighteen vanloads of furniture with him and all the crown jewels. He is said to be seeking refuge in a castle in Hungary, which, judging from the chaos and revolutionary spirit surging there, seems rather extraordinary.

My husband's man of business rang him up just now (10.30) to say that, although it is not yet in the papers, Germany is already acquainted with and practically has accepted the terms of the coming armistice, and that in effect they mean capitulation. Some of the conditions seem to be as follows : Cologne is to be occupied by the English, Baden-Baden by the Swiss, Strassburg by the French, Metz by the Americans, Heligoland by the English, and so on.

The German banks have in a way ceased payment, as there has been a panic for the last week. There is a rush, and over five milliards have been drawn out by the people. In order to prevent a catastrophe no one may draw out more than 200 Mks. at once.

Every moment the telephone brings us fresh tidings of foreboding for Germany. Its shrill call seems ominous of coming evil. The Austrians, they say, are helpless to prevent the enemy marching through their country, and the French and Italian troops are already approaching Germany. The former they expect through Dresden and the latter through Bavaria, while the Serbians will come through Silesia.

The Austrian troops are already returning in disorderly bands, plundering the villages through which they pass for food, and a state of confusion reigns in the Austrian Embassy here, nobody knowing to whom they are responsible for anything.

Our friend Count Larisch has received a wire from his father in Austrian Silesia, advising him to come at once and help to arrange matters. On preparing to start they were told it was practically impossible to get there, as the whole railway service in Austria is disorganized. Another friend, Graf P , an Hungarian in the Embassy, has also had a telegram from his father bringing the news that his sister's castle in Hungary has been burnt to the ground and nothing is known of the fate

In addition to the news of burning castles, destroyed crops, dismembered countries and the approaching enemy, friend Death is making havoc among the population at home in the form of the grippe. There is hardly a family that has been spared. From our housekeeper at Krieblowitz I hear that the whole village is stricken with it, and the wretched people are lying about on the floors of their cottages in woeful heaps, shivering with fever and with no medicaments or any one to attend them. The doctor from Canth is unable to come, as he is absolutely overworked, having the whole district to look after, his colleague being already dead of the grippe. I wired at once to the Convent of the Grey Sisters at Breslau, asking them to send a nurse, which they did immediately, and I heard this morning that from the moment of her arrival she only had three hours' sleep for the next forty-eight hours, there were so many people to attend to. Again I telegraphed to Breslau begging them to send another sister to help, but they replied regretting that it was impossible to do so, as the epidemic was so virulent in Breslau there was not a single sister to be spared. I then hurried away to ''Wertheim's" (the Harrods of Berlin) and bought up as many clothes and comforters as I could without a ''Bezugschein," to send to the poor people, and bribed the saleswomen in the different departments to sell me things by promising to send them each a partridge for dinner. They told me that hundreds of their staff were at the moment laid up with the grippe, and that seventy of their girls had died last week of it.

and lunched with us to-day, says it is like the plague there, 400 people dying in one day; and as they have not coffins enough to put the corpses in, they have used furniture vans to carry them to^he cemetery, and on the way there an accident happened to one of them; the van fell over and the poor bodies fell out and were strewn all over the road. How ghastly !

We are returning every day nearer to the barbarism of the Middle Ages in every way. I am often astonished that there are no religious fanatics nowadays to run friend, and was shocked to find that his nerves and his health are utterly broken down, as he had been a prisoner ever since August 19 14. He had been happy enough, he said, as long as other Englishmen had been with him ; but, on their all being repatriated, he was left alone with only the companionship of French and Roumanians. This, together with the monotony of only being allowed to walk round one square garden for four years, had so told on his nerves that he felt he was going out of his mind.

Prince Miinster, who is always very kind-hearted in such matters, telephoned to the Commandant of the Xth Army Corps, and obtained permission to have him removed to a rest-cure resort in the Harz Mountains, and, wonderful to relate, was so eloquent that he gained permission to carry him off then and there to his own place in Derneburg for three nights.

One can imagine the joy of Mr. F. at once more finding himself in the midst of the comfort and luxury of English home-life with an English hostess at the head of it. Princess Miinster was at home, and, needless to say, took care that he should enjoy those two days. Prince Miinster then wrote to Prince Max of Baden, reporting the whole case, and Prince Max, who was ill with the grippe, telephoned to him, giving him a free hand to act as he liked in the matter. He came at once to us to tell us the good news and to get our help in making the arrangements for his immediate return to England. Prince Miinster brought him to lunch with us on his way to Aachen. You can imagine what an interest it was to us to see and talk once more with an English officer, and to speed him on his way, and what pleasure it gave Princess

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Probably Mr. F., who has been shut up all these four years in a German military camp, will never realize to the full what Prince Miinster has done for him. Only my husband and myself know how much credit he deserves for this great act of kindness, and what a feat he has performed in overcoming all the difficulties in the way. He has simply spent the last four days going backwards and forwards between the Kriegsministerium and the Auswartige Amt, meeting at every step with fresh difficulty and being continually referred to somebody else. But Mr. F. told me that he did understand, and would always feel an undying gratitude towards Prince Miinster.

Curiously enough, Prince Miinster tells me that the man from whom he received the kindest aid in the matter of repatriating Mr. F. is General Hanisch, the Commander of the Xth Army Corps, the very man whose name is held in abhorrence in England and other countries, as the arch-Hun in torturing and worrying the prisoners.

I have just returned from early Mass and still feel some of the peace one can only gain to-day from communion with the dead. They alone know peace in these days of fierce strife and hatred when every man's hand is directed at his brother's throat. Sometimes, indeed, something like a thrill of envy seizes on me, when I hear that he or she, people I have known well, have fallen asleep, all the horrors of existence over - *'Ueberwunden," as the Germans say. Ah! who knows what we all have still "zu iiberwinden !" Years perhaps still of malice and hate before the sun again sets over a world full of charity and goodwill.

Baroness Sternburg came in to see me in a great state of perturbation. On her way she had met Frau von Schwabach, the wife of one of the great bankers here, who had confided to her that she had all her most valuable jewels in her muff, and was carrying them to the bank, as a revolution was expected within the next three days. She added that they were sending all their most valuable pictures into a place of safety, and had themselves decided on dispersing, each to some different place, as it will not be safe to stay on in their big luxurious house in the Tiergarten.

Baroness Sternburg had just been to the bank to try and get some money, but they had refused to change her cheque. The bank manager, however, had given her £50 from his own money, saying he had known her for years and was so sorry for her in her lonely position here.

Countess Radolin and her sister. Baroness Bissing, came in to lunch. They were nearly heart-broken at the break-up of Germany. They are so essentially Prussian, and such fervent royalists, that they could not speak of the expected abdication of the Emperor without tears in their eyes. They are, of course, absolutely military in their ideas, and blame the Foreign Office for all the mistakes that have been made. I suggested that perhaps Ludendorff ought to have a great share of the blame too, but they would not hear of it; and I wondered to myself whether they realized, what we were perfectly cognizant of, that Baron Bissing had intensely resented Ludendorff's interference in the government of Belgium, and had entirely disapproved of Ludendorff's ordering the deportation of Belgian workmen into Germany. In fact he had even sent in his resignation because of it, but had been prevailed to stay on, and died shortly afterwards. He let it be thoroughly well known, however, that Ludendorff was interfering too much in many departments of administration about which he knew nothing at all.

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7.30 P.M. - This afternoon May Larisch came in, full of fresh news as to what is going on in Austria. She also blames Ludendorff, on the ground that Count Czernin had personally begged him several times during the course of the last eighteen months to make peace, as Austria could not hold out any longer, but that the ''Dictator" would listen to no one. She told me, too, that Prince Max Fiirstenberg has arrived this morning from Vienna and reports that all is quiet there, and that the Emperor has returned temporarily, but his family and household are still in Hungary.

The Austrian Ambassador, Prince Hohenlohe, and his wife have gone to Vienna to receive orders, as all communications by telegram and telephone have been cut off for the last few days.

Our nephew, L. C. S., came in to tea and stayed to dinner. He is working at the Press Bureau of the General Staff, and says he sees many interesting telegrams that are never published at all, and that the war telegrams in the papers are very different from the original ones received. He says that Erzberger is now their chief, and all telegrams and correspondence have to be submitted to him, and that Ludendorff's successor, is Erzberger's and Scheidemann's friend, knd, although a General, he has never been to the front at all, but has been working in one of the Wirtschaftsamter here in Berhn throughout the whole war. He has been chosen for this responsible position in order to please the people, with whom he is very popular, as he never forbade their holding socialistic meetings or making demonstrations.

He further told me of a meeting he had witnessed a few days before between Hindenburg and Tirpitz. Tirpitz had asked for an interview with the Field-Marshal, but having been shown into the room, Hindenburg received him very coldly and immediately showed him out again, saying that his time was so taken up he could not give him an interview. This demonstrates clearly enough how much the Field-Marshal and the military authorities

Berlin, Sunday, November 3, 19 18. - The universal opinion is that things are coming to a head this week, and the movement will probably begin to-morrow. No one seems to be quite clear whether it will be the longwhispered Revolution (with a capital R), or whether the masses of the people are going to revolt and turn on their tormentors, as they now regard the ruling classes.

We have been warned to keep our outside blinds down all day, and to make ourselves as little observable as possible. I begin to feel that our house is in an unenviably prominent spot, and that any one inclined to wreak their feelings of revenge on Brandenburger Tor would probably include us as well.

They say it is to be a choice between Scheidemann and the Emperor. One of them must give way, and the people are going to settle which of them it will be.

The Russian Embassy is the centre of much suspicious observation. There has been a remarkable number of Russian couriers arriving for some time past with boxes and baggage of all kinds, which are never examined, of course. These couriers are never seen to return. There are reports that the Embassy itself is full of ammunition and weapons, and we suspect it is a hotbed of Bolshevism and anarchy. They ought to have been sent away before. Liebknecht is seen to be constantly going in and out of the Embassy, and publicly proclaims his anarchistic views.

It is expected that the conditions of the Armistice will be made known to-morrow and will be accepted by Germany on Wednesday, and then we may look out for riots. - -----

We continue hearing distressing reports of the wild disorder prevailing in Austria and Hungary. Nearly all our own personal friends are grievously affected by it. A friend just arrived from Vienna told us that near Horn, Count Hoyos's estate, thousands of Italian prisoners have

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I hear that the Entente does not by any means intend leaving Austria at the mercy of Germany, which is brimming over with wrath at the way Austria has stolen a march and concluded peace alone. The Germans forget that Austria made an earnest entreaty to Prussia last year to make peace, and on her refusal entered into private negotiations with America with the present results. And now the almighty Wilson is going to protect the broken-down peoples from the anger of their former allies. In the meantime the land is like a seething cauldron of furious nations all more or less at war with one another, with the hapless young Kaiser trying in vain to still them.

We continue hearing such ceaseless abuse and criticism of Kaiser Wilhelm that I sometimes feel like blushing with shame at people who have always professed such loyalty to their sovereign, and now that the reins of government are slowly falling from his hands turn round and openly rend him. Just those who were amongst the most cringing of his satellites are the most ferocious in their attacks on him, and do not hesitate to denounce him publicly at luncheons and dinners. Many of them he has really made, and these are the worst.

The deplorable part of it is that, whilst condemning them, I have to ask myself whether these people may not be right; and if he really is false. People who know him best, and who try to do justice to his character, say little more than that he is a man of very able parts, possessing a wonderful memory and an unusual capacity for comprehending technical questions of engineering, architecture, etc.

Yesterday I had tea with Frau Solf, and we had a long talk together. Poor woman, she was very sad, and on my congratulating her on her husband's position, she only answered: "It has come too late. A year ago there might have been reason for congratulation, but now all the mistakes have been made and he will have the thankless task of negotiating with England, knowing that he cannot save the situation, as he might have done a year ago." Further, she said, she was in constant anxiety for his life and health, for besides working unceasingly night and day, they had received all sorts of roundabout threats that, when disturbances should occur, her husband and the other ministers will be in great danger.

I have just been warned by a friend who shall be nameless that the demonstrations are to begin to-morrow. This made me very nervous, and I asked him if they expected bloodshed of any kind. He said he hoped not, as they had managed to get the Bolshevist Embassy away in time, otherwise no one knows what might have happened. They were hurried off last night with scant ceremony, so that they may be across the frontier by to-morrow. One of their numerous cases which I mentioned burst open conveniently in the luggage compartment, and a whole mass of papers came to light, full of anarchist proclamations to the people, stirring them up to bloodshed and plunder.

My friend said it was he who had given the order for the Embassy to be removed, and the mission had to be carried out as secretly as possible, so as to take the conspirators by surprise and prevent them having any opportunity of communicating with any one here. The commissaries of the police suddenly appeared at eleven o'clock last night, ordered them to be ready to leave by six o'clock this morning, and stayed on keeping a strict watch over them, not leaving them until Joffe with his personnel of seventy Russians were safely despatched in the seven o'clock train this morning, without any one in Berlin being aware of the fact.

I must confess I heaved a sigh of relief at this news. Please God it will save bloodshed to-morrow, and at any rate we have a body of some fifty policemen always in readiness lodged in the stables at the back of our house.

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My friend smiled. "I don't think you will have one of them here to-morrow, as they will probably all be busy fighting the rabble in the street/' he said.

On my husband's return I of course recounted all these interesting facts, whereupon he at once sent for the head of the police, and without appearing to know anything of coming events, presented him with a box of excellent cigars, in return, as he said, for their looking after us so well all these days. The man told him that some of his men had just been called out to put down a demonstration in front of the Russian Embassy.

If any one had told me years ago that I should ever be within a few miles of a "revolution" breaking out, with the probability of blood being shed, I should have been paralysed with fear. And here we are face to face with one, and I even feel comparatively calm and thankful, because from information received, the revolutionary party have decided to pass by our house without plundering or demolishing it, as my husband has never taken any active part in politics and they have nothing against him.

Berlin, November 8, 19 18. - To-day is the fourth anniversary of my brother Wilfred's death, who fell at the battle of Ypres. We went to early Mass this morning to commemorate it, and on returning from church we were greeted with the news that the Socialists had given the Kaiser an ultimatum for abdication until one o'clock to-day. From that moment we have been in a ceaseless state of unrest and anxiety. We are completely cut off from the outer world, .as all train services are suspended in and out of Berlin. Even the telephone has been cut off between Berlin and other places, and no telegrams can be sent off. This morning we tried to telephone to Krieblowitz, to hear whether our Jager who is bringing us our food supply had started or not, but were unable to do so.

Gebhard went out in search of food, and managed to bring in quite a quantity of things - ducks, a turkey, vegetables, etc. - a proof that there are still some things to be had by paying a high price for them.

I had been advised not to leave the house, but between twelve and one o'clock eventually went out to get a little fresh air. The Wilhelm Strasse was lined with armed policemen, and all the different ministerial offices were closed very early and the employees sent away, as every one had been warned that raids from the mob were to be feared. Thousands of loafers were standing about Brandenburger Tor, others of a rather rough-looking appearance were marching towards the castle. Early in the morning I had been already awakened by the sound of loud singing in the street, and on looking out of the window I saw hundreds of young sailor lads marching by, carrying parcels and looking very pleased with themselves. No one seems quite to know who they are, or what they are doing here. Some say they have mutinied, seized the trains by force, and come to Berlin for protection, having killed or imprisoned eighty of their officers beforehand. Others are said to be expected from Kiel, and the Stettiner station is being armed, artillery being posted there to prevent the trains being seized.

Prince Wedel, whom we met in the street, shook his head and repeated what many others are saying, that it was a mistake of the Kaiser not to have come to Berlin and faced the people. He presumes he is anticipating the wish of the Socialists to hand him over their ultimatum personally.

Berlin, Evening, November 8, 191 8. - Baroness Roeder and her husband, who only arrived from Stuttgart yesterday, came in to see us. They have been spending the summer in Switzerland and were exceedingly surprised to find what a state Germany is in, and especially the pandemonium existing in Berlin. He, poor man, is looking quite crushed and broken-hearted. For him life is practically over. He was Master of Cereiuonies, and for more than fifty years a faithful courtier to the Emperor ; and now at one stroke the whole structure of existence dissolves before his eyes and melts away as if it had never been, leaving him stranded. There will be probably no pension forthcoming, and so the future is a perfect blank to them. In addition to this they have just had the terrible news of their son-in-law's death at the eleventh hour. Only a few weeks ago he had come into his father's estate and fortune, and now everything goes to his little son, a child of five years old.

The particulars of this officer's death, as he related them, are very harrowing to hear. He was colonel of one of the crack Wiirttemberg regiments, and a great favourite and very popular with every one. The officers under him were the flower of Wiirttemberg. They were, strange to say, in reserve and seemingly out of all danger, with no idea of an attack, when suddenly they found the enemy upon them. They had broken through three lines of trenches without the Germans firing a shot. The surprised regiment did its best to stave off the attack, but within an hour, from 750 men there were only 100

I wonder what the result of the meeting of the delegates for an armistice to-day will be? General von Winterfeldt and Erzberger went off two days ago. What a humiliating errand, and what a curious meeting for General von Winterfeldt and Marshal Foch, who some short years ago were intimate friends, as Winterfeldt lived for many years in Paris. Every one expects that France will take her fill of revenge and make terms as hard as she can. Poor Germany is not in a position to resist any humiliation; she is completely exhausted.

Amongst other news of the day, some one told me that when the Russian Embassy was searched yesterday they found a list of the houses of rich people that they intended raiding. Thank God, our name was not amongst

My husband, who has just come in from Unter den Linden, reports that he saw van-loads of armed soldiers being driven towards the Schloss. He was told that the Kaiser was expected to return, and that the Socialists intend seizing the train and taking him prisoner, but do not intend to murder him. Prince Heinrich has escaped under dramatic circumstances from Kiel. They say he has gone to Denmark with Tirpitz, as they are both on the list for court-martial and punishment, owing to the submarine warfare and the deceptions practised by them on the nation regarding it. The Marine-Amt here is filled with soldiers, as a raid had been planned.

The first intimation that people here got of the socalled "strike" in Kiel and Hamburg was when the Kriegsministerium here rang up the Marine-Amt in Kiel, asking for particulars from the Admiralty. They were answered by the words, *'Hier die Genossen," and they vouchsafed the further information that some eighty officers were shut up safely and that everything was in the hands of the Genossenschaft. One can imagine the astonished faces of the chiefs here!

Thank goodness, our Jager has just arrived from Krieblowitz with fresh food, or we should be badly off indeed. He says he took nearly two days to get here, as no trains were running, and goodness knows when he would have arrived if at Sommerfeld an order had not suddenly come that no soldiers were to be allowed to come to Berlin for fear of them joining the rioters. So they were all turned out of the train and a few civilians were allowed to take their places instead.

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standing about in groups talking and gesticulating excitedly. Some of our servants went out to ask them if they were going to make a riot, but they answered: "No, they were not going to make a disturbance, but as the Government could not put an end to the war, they meant to show them how to do it.'*

Numbers of sailors and soldiers are driving by in motor-cars; they all seem to have nothing much to do. We are expecting the armistice conditions every hour; they have already been handed over by Marshal Foch, and, as we hear, are to be answered in seventy-two hours. The courier has just radio'd from the front that he cannot get through the German lines, as the fire is still continuing. They have radio'd back, informing "him that the firing has been caused by an ammunition depot exploding accidentally. So now he will be hurrying towards us to bring the important news.

We have been told that the German Commission arrived very late for the meeting with Foch. They were delayed by the awful state of the roads, which were nothing but large pit-holes caused by shells, so that a sequence of punctures had been the result. I hope the conditions will be of a nature to quiet the growing agitation of the people, and give them some tangible prospect of better things, otherwise I fear we shall have our house-tops falling over our heads, and perhaps burying us in the debris.

Berlin, Evening, November 9, 19 18. - What a long time ago it seems since I wrote these last ominous words ! And here we are right in the midst of the tumult of a great revolution. After all our expectations, it has in reality fallen on us like a bomb - the Kaiser's abdication and the revolution.

Outside there is a seething mass of people constantly coming and going. Sinister-looking red flags are waving where so short a time ago the black, white, and red were hanging, and the dynasty of the Hohenzollerns has come to a tragic end. Things had in reality grown quieter this morning, as we had heard that the decision had been postponed to Monday, and we had thought we still had one or two days of waiting before the dice fell.

I did not go out, but from my window could see the strange-looking loafers hanging about the street; young men, their hands in their pockets, with the hanging bent shoulders of those who all too young have had to bear a burden too heavy for them. They stood about quietly enough, with youthful, serious eyes, as if gazing into a future that was to be kinder and better. The faces of one or two struck me especially; one does not see them often hereabouts, and their look of patient strength had something pathetic in it. Nothing much happened, however, until after luncheon. Gebhard and I were sitting quietly reading our papers, when at about two o'clock a perfect avalanche of humanity began to stream by our windows, walking quietly enough, many of them carrying red flags. I noticed the pale gold of young girls' uncovered heads, as they passed by with only a shawl over their shoulders. It seemed so feminine and incongruous, under the folds of those gruesome red banners flying over them. One can never imagine these pale northern women helping to build up barricades and screaming and raging for blood.

Whilst my thoughts were running in this strain, our butler Karl came in to announce that the Kaiser had abdicated. Tears came into both our eyes as we grasped the momentousness of the hour, and although we have both often criticized him, we could not help pitying the fallen king in this hour of bitter trial. Just because fate placed him in such an exalted position, the fall is all the greater, the humiliation harder to bear; and any one living in Prussia, and knowing how the Prussians regard the HohenzoUerns as the founders of all their prosperity and good fortune as a nation, will understand how many loyal hearts will be cut to the quick at this undoing of their king. But it was no time to mourn for the individual, and our attention was soon fixed on what was passing outside our windows. There, evidently no one sorrowed at the loss of an emperor. There could hardly have been a greater air of rejoicing had Germany gained a great victory. More and more people came hurrying by, thousands of them densely packed together ^men, women, soldiers, sailors, and strangely enough, a never-ceasing fringe of children playing on the edges of this dangerous maelstrom, and enjoying it seemingly very much, as if it had been some public fete-day. Although the processions of revolutionists were at first orderly enough, one could easily perceive a change in the temper of the people as time passed by. The patient, phlegmatic expression which covers so much innate strength in the Germans gradually changed to a more emotional mood; eyes began to flash, faces became flushed, and one had the feeling that it needed but a tiny spark to kindle the glowing ashes into a flame.

In between the dense masses of the marching throng, great military motor-lorries, packed with soldiers and sailors waving red flags and cheering and shouting vehemently, forced their way, the occupants apparently trying to stir up the strikers to violence. A characteristic feature of the mob was the motors packed with youths in field-grey uniform or in civil clothes, carrying loaded rifles adorned with a tiny red flag, constantly springing off their seats and forcing the soldiers and oflicers to tear off their insignia, or doing it for them if they refused. They were mostly boys of from 16 to 18 years of age, who looked as if they were enjoying their sudden power immensely, and sat grinning on the steps of the grey motors like schoolboys out on an escapade. This, however, did not prevent their occasioning a good deal of harm in the course of the day, for of course some oflicers refused to obey them, which led to bloodshed and even death; for these youths did not stop short at violence, and, I believe, any bloodshed that occurred was almost entirely due to the unrestrained freedom suddenly placed in their hands.

I think about 200 of these big lorries must have passed by our windows in two hours, and every moment the feehng of so many elementary forces being suddenly let loose grew more alarming. We, of course, had all our iron blinds pulled down and the doors of the house locked, and only kept one window open to be able to see what was going on.

Every moment groups of people collected in front of our window, gesticulating and shouting frantically; and to our private dismay, in one waggon-load passing by we distinguished French and Russian prisoners amongst the Germans, all waving the red flag, their faces glowing with delight at the unwonted freedom. We were not a little alarmed, for we knew that if the Germans begin fraternizing with the prisoners and liberating them, we may at any moment have a dangerous rabble of some two million Russians let loose on us, who in their underfed condition would stop short at nothing. The strangest and most disagreeable feeling of all was that nobody knew definitely what was happening and what was the meaning of it all. Every one seemed to be steering for Unter den Linden and Pariser Platz, and as the afternoon wore on we heard that an attack was being made on the royal castle. The great Brandenburger Tor was soon covered with climbers who succeeded in hoisting the red flag on it, and in front of the Adlon Hotel machine-guns were placed, and the mob went in forcing the officers there to tear off their badges. The revolutionists robbed the soldiers of their arms, and strutted about with them to the constant danger of the passers-by.

At tea-time Baron and Baroness Roeder came in and stayed on to dinner, as it was almost impossible for them to get back. Dr. Mainzer came too, to offer us the shelter of his Klinik, which lies in a garden-house in an unfrequented street. If there is danger, we shall go and take refuge there. Count Soden, from the Bavarian Legation, dropped in as well, and broke down into tears

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Up till now we had only occasionally heard a stray shot or two, but during our early dinner at 7.30 news kept on coming in that things were growing more and more serious, and that a fierce battle was raging in front of the Schloss.

It is said that the mob are bent on ransacking the castle, and have already carried off silver and plate. They have looted the royal horses, carriages, and motorcars, and are busy using them, as we have already heard the hoot which was until now the signal for the Kaiser's appearance on the scene. Of course, we cannot yet judge how many of the rumours spreading like wildfire may be true, for every one has some different story to tell. They say that the waterworks which supply Charlottenburg have been blown up and half the suburbs are without water.

My husband has just escorted the Roeders back to their pension, with the help of our young footman Emil, but before they departed some one telephoned down to say that it was not advisable for us to spend the night in our apartment on the ground-floor, so I have written a note to our tenant Excellenz von Derenthall who lives on the top floor, asking whether we may sleep there for the night. She replied instantly that we should be most welcome.

On bidding Baroness Roeder good-night, she jokingly said she should die of fright if she heard even one gunshot anywhere in her neighbourhood. I quite agreed with her, but we very soon realized we were to hear many more than one. On making arrangements for the night with the servants, we have just heard two shots in front of our windows in the Tiergarten. Some scared women, who tried to get into safety behind our big doors, say that two women have been wounded in the Tiergarten from rifles going off accidentally in the hands of unpractised civilians.

with a young revolutionary soldier, who escorted them as a guard. He says he spoke so quietly and sensibly about the situation, saying they did not wish any bloodshed at all, but that they had been goaded on by all the suffering and misery of the last four years spent in the trenches, and now the people meant to put a stop to it. God grant that it may go off as he says, and give us a peaceful night!

I have arranged for all the servants to sleep at the back of the house, in case of danger, and we are now going up to our new sleeping quarters with the kind old Derenthalls.

Berlin, Sunday Morning, November lo, 191 8. - More dead than alive, I will try and write down the events and impressions of last night, which I shall never forget. After we had all separated for the night, I lay awake, very tired. We were constantly disturbed by the sound of stray rifle-shots, and the feeling of uncertainty as to what was going on out there in the darkness of the huge city made sleep impossible. After thus passing interminable hours, as it seemed, suddenly about two o'clock the stillness was broken by the noise of a regular fusillade of machine-guns and rifles being fired off - as it seemed - over our very heads. Trembling with fear, I rushed into the dining-room accompanied by my husband, where we found Frau von Derenthall and her two little maidservants already assembled.

There we sat crouched together in the darkness, for we dared not turn on a light, listening to the fierce fighting going on all around us from the Brandenburger Tor away over to the Reichstag, our rooms being filled with the fumes and smoke of the guns. Occasionally we crept out on to the balcony to try and see what was going on, but could only see small groups of soldiers all armed, with red flags in their hands, standing round the Tor. At the end of an hour the firing died away, and Frau von Derenthall suggested we should have a cup of coffee; and the two maids set to work and made us some. We could not help laughing as we sat there shivering in our dressing-gowns. Frau von Derenthall told us that all last year she had been wishing to ask us to dinner, but had not been able to get anything choice enough for "the smart Bluchers" for their first meal in her house, and had kept on postponing it until the right occasion should offer itself; ''and this," she said with a smile, "is our first smart meal, sitting huddled .together in the dark, sipping weak corn-coffee to keep up our spirits." Dear old Excellenz von Derenthall slept peacefully through all the tumult, being 84 years of age and stone deaf.

At about five o'clock we returned to our apartment, where we found that our servants had spent the night in very much the same way as ourselves. During the whole morning people were telephoning from every part, of Berlin to know how we had spent the night. It was like being in the midst of a beehive alarmed by some hostile force. All Berlin seemed to be humming and buzzing around us.

Baron and Baroness Gevers (the Dutch Minister) rang us up and begged us to come round to them and spend the day, though they regretted not being able to repeat their invitation of yesterday to sleep there, for there was such a panic amongst all the Dutch in Berlin they were all telephoning and asking for protection, and people kept arriving every minute. They mentioned that they had tried to get Baron and Baroness Roeder to come to them, but it was impossible to get through Unter den Linden. It was barred off for the people, and firing was going on in the Wilhelm Strasse, the Dorotheen- und Freidrich Strasse. I begged the Baroness not to worry about us, for if things became too hot we intended going to Dr. Mainzer's Klinik, far away from the zone of danger in the Winterfeld Strasse. Then Prince and Princess Taxis rang us up. She told us it was quiet round their way, as the publishing office of Vorwdrts, the great

The early part of the morning was fairly quiet. We sat in our rooms, the iron blinds down and just one light burning, feeling comparatively easy in our minds. Some of the servants had gone out on a tour of exploration, and we ourselves heard nothing but a stray rifle-shot now and then, which however no longer disturbed my equilibrium, for as long as one heard no machine-guns one had got to the stage of considering it quiet.

At twelve o'clock Dr. Mainzer came to inquire how we were, and asked if I would like to come to his Klinik in the afternoon and spend the night there. I said that if things were going to be as bad as they were last night, I should. He and Gebhard were assuring me that all would probably be quiet now, and Dr. Mainzer was describing how peaceful and orderly the crowds were round the Reichstag and in the Tiergarten, when suddenly, as if in mockery at his words, a great burst of machinegun firing cut short his sentence. We all rushed to the windows, and looking through the cracks in the blinds, we saw people hurrying in crowds from apparently every direction at once. We all ran out into the back courtyard, where we found Prince Henckel, his brother. Count Krafft, Prince Wedel, and all their households collected. They locked and barred all the entrances, as there was danger of the mob storming them in their rush for shelter from the firing.

The house was surrounded by dense masses of people, and, as the house-porter told us, there was going to be a fight between Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstag, presumably the Red Guard against loyal officers and soldiers. The whole street, he said, would soon be closed, and so, if we wanted to get away, we had only three minutes to do so. We therefore decided to go, and creeping out through the back entrance and crossing the backyard, we managed to get into the street some distance off by going through a little public-house. The crowds in the street were so densely packed that we could hardly get through. Every one was frantic with excitement; one man had been killed and some wounded quite near our house. From every crossing we saw waggons full of soldiers and sailors coming, all armed with rifles and hand-grenades, and flying the red flag, whilst every soldier we met already wore the red cockade on his cap, which looked like a patch of blood over his forehead. It was not a morning for timid people.

We managed to force our way through the throng, crawling along in the shelter of the wall for fear of a stray bullet, until at Potsdamer Platz we found an empty droshky, and after some cogitation as to the advisability of taking it, and being abused by the mob as aristocrats, I feigned a sudden faintness, and Dr. Mainzer shouted out for some one to drive a sick woman to a Klinik. The driver consented and the crowd did not object, so we hurried in and drove here to this quiet house, which seems like a haven of rest after all the tumult and agitation of the last hours.

In the afternoon we were continually rung up by different people telling us news of what was going on. There are already so many contradictory reports rife that I shall wait and see before believing them. Every one's imagination is running away with them, and anxiety and uncertainty are at the bottom of many rumours of violence and bloodshed. On the whole I have the feeling that the mood of the people at large is rather like that of a goaded, tired wild beast, ready to spring and kill if exasperated any more, and yet just as ready to be quieted and tamed if food be given it.

Princess Taxis rang us up to say that the new Socialist Chancellor, Ebert, the successor of Prince Max of Baden, has already threatened to resign as he cannot hold the people. I hope this news will be soon contradicted, as Ebert, although a Socialist, is an orderly and well-meaning man enough, and if he is really forced to make way for Liebknecht it would be terrible, for the latter makes no