army corps composing the German right wing are moving southeastward, in
a supreme effort to crush the left flank of the French center, which is
reported to be engaged with the main German forces near Rethel, striving
to cut off and surround the French center, and thus achieve a second,
but far more gigantic, Sedan. In any event, the Germans are certainly
moving away from Paris to the southeast.
Paris assumes a holiday aspect. Thousands of people made excursions to
the suburbs of the city, and particularly to the Bois de Boulogne, to
see something of the preparations for the defence. Boys and girls from
boarding-schools, under care of their teachers, were among those who
watched gangs of men digging wide and deep trenches, while trees that
obstructed the ground in the vicinity were being cut down.
The daily crop of Paris newspapers is becoming beautifully less. The
_Temps_ published its last Paris issue on Friday and has transferred its
headquarters to Bordeaux. M. Georges Clemençeau's _Homme Libre_ has
ceased to appear. So also have the _Gil Blas_ and _Autorité_. The _Daily
Mail_ has migrated to Bordeaux. Most of the newspapers that remain are
published on a single sheet. The veteran _Journal des Débats_ announces
that for one hundred and twenty-five years it has appeared in Paris,
being interrupted only at rare and brief intervals when provisional
governments, resulting from violence, by brute force prevented
publication. _Le Journal des Débats_ will continue to be printed and
published in Paris "so long as it is materially possible to do so." M.
Arthur Meyer, editor and proprietor of _Le Gaulois_, announces that he
will "remain in Paris in 1914 as he did in 1870." He will continue to
edit and publish the _Gaulois_ in Paris, having around him "a small
family of editors and reporters, who replace my own family, now, Alas!
far away!" The _Echo de Paris_ continues to publish each day an edition
of four pages. So also does _Le Figaro_. The _Matin_ and _Liberté_
appear on single sheets.
[Photograph: Photo. by Paul Thompson. Workmen erecting a barricade in
Paris.]
The European edition of the _New York Herald_ appears every day on
its nice white glazed _papier de luxe_, in a four-page edition
Sundays, and on a single sheet on week days. The _Paris Herald_, as
it is familiarly called, is printed half in English and half in French.
The war has not frightened away the venerable "Old Philadelphia Lady,"
who daily continues, as she has done since Christmas eve, 1899, to put
the following question:
TO THE EDITOR OF THE HERALD:--
I am anxious to find out the way to figure the temperature from
Centigrade to Fahrenheit and vice-versâ. In other words, I want to know,
whenever I see the temperature designated on Centigrade thermometer, how
to find out what it would be on Fahrenheit's thermometer.
OLD PHILADELPHIA LADY.
Paris, December 24, 1899.
_Monday, September 7_.
Thirty-sixth day of the war. Hot September weather, with brisk east
wind. Temperature at five P.M. 24 degrees centigrade.
The great battle begun Sunday morning continues with slight advantages
obtained by the allies and extends over a front of one hundred and
thirty miles, from Nanteuil le Haudoin, on the allied left, to Verdun.
The allies occupy very strong positions. Their left is supported by
Paris, their right by the fortresses of Verdun, and their center by the
entrenched camps of Mailly, just south of Vitry-le-François.
About thirty American and English newspaper men met at lunch to-day at
the restaurant Hubin, Number 22 Rue Brouot. Among those present were
Fullerton, Grundy, MacAlpin, Williams, Knox, Reeves, O'Niel, Sims, and
others. Every one was in fine spirits, the trend of feeling being that
Paris was the most interesting place to be in just now, and that perhaps
the best story of the war may yet be written in Paris.
I drove in a cab with MacAlpin to the Gare du Nord to meet a train of
British wounded that was expected to arrive there. We found the station
almost deserted. A reserve captain of the Forty-sixth Infantry, whose
left forearm had been smashed by a shell, arrived and was very glad to
get some hot soup provided by the railroad ambulance women. Saw a
brigadier-general and his staff going full speed in a motor-car to the
east. Artillery firing was heard this morning to the east of Paris, but
was no longer audible after eleven A.M. While sitting at a café opposite
the Gare du Nord, I noticed the huge statues of "Berlin" and "Vienna"
over the front of the building, and wondered if they would remain intact
during the war. Driving to the Gare de l'Est, we saw gangs of workmen
with entrenching tools, going into trains, under the direction of
engineer officers, to dig rifle pits.
The sanitary condition of Paris is excellent. No epidemic of any kind is
reported. There were several cases of scarlatina, but the number is
insignificant.
The board of governors of the American Hospital has turned over its
responsibility to the American Ambulance Committee, which will manage
the Hospital service for the benefit of the French army, at the Lycée
Pasteur, Neuilly. The committee is composed of William S. Dalliba,
honorary chairman, Reverend Doctor S.N. Watson, chairman, Messrs.
Laurence B. Benét, Charles Carroll, F.W. Monahan, and I.V. Twyeffort.
I met in the Rue de la Paix two Irish cavalry soldiers, who had become
detached from their squadron during the operations north of Paris. "The
last place we remember fighting at was _Copenhagen_," said one of
the men. But on being further questioned, it turned out that Copenhagen
was Tipperary dialect for Compiègne.
The _Herald_ has decided to remain in Paris, but its price will be
twenty-five centimes instead of fifteen centimes. The reasons for the
increased price are that advertisements, the main source of revenue for
a newspaper, have almost completely disappeared. The _Herald_ at
present is being run at a loss of thirty-five thousand francs a week. As
the editor points out: "This may be journalism, but it is not business."
The increased price will probably diminish the weekly loss.
_Tuesday, September 8._
Thirty-seventh day of the war. Cloudy weather with rain in the
afternoon. Brisk southeasterly wind. Thermometer at five P.M. 22 degrees
centigrade.
The allied armies are more than holding their own on the vast line
between the Ourcq and Verdun. Meanwhile all precautions are being taken
by the Military Government of Paris for an eventual siege. The Bois de
Boulogne resembles a cattle ranch. The census of the civil population of
the "entrenched camp of Paris," just taken with a view of providing
rations during a possible siege, shows that there are 887,267 families
residing in Paris, representing a total of 2,106,786 individuals of all
ages and both sexes. This is a decrease of thirty percent since the last
census in 1911. The health of the city is excellent. The census sheets
notify inhabitants that gas during a siege must be used exclusively for
lighting purposes and never for cooking or heating. This will cause some
tribulation in the small ménages, where the cheap, popular, and handy
gas-stove has replaced the coal or charcoal ovens and ranges.
The ram came on this afternoon at four, while a large crowd of Parisians
stood in the square in front of the church of Saint-Etienne du Mont,
beside the Pantheon, but it failed to disperse the faithful, who were
taking part in the outdoor service of homage to Sainte-Geneviève, the
protectress of Paris, whose remains are buried in this small church of
the Gothic-Renaissance period (1517-1620), one of the most beautiful of
all the sacred edifices of France.
Those who recently hastened away from Paris in search of a place of
refuge, quiet, and safety, have met with many disappointments. The roads
to Tours are blocked with vehicles of every description, many of them
filled with refugees who have turned them into temporary dwellings.
Automobiles are brought to a standstill for lack of benzol. Everything
on the way from Paris to Bordeaux is requisitioned. At Orléans, people
wander about vainly seeking a place in which to sleep. The town is
filled. People buy ham and sausages, which they eat in cafés or in the
streets. At Blois, the citizens offer to lodge refugees and travelers at
the rate of five francs a day. The Blois people are very hospitable and
do not seek to unduly profit by the situation. The Grand Hotel is of
course overflowing, but the prices remain the same as in ordinary times.
At Tours, the inhabitants are less hospitable and more avaricious. One
of the biggest hotels in the town asks fifty francs (ten dollars) for a
simple armchair in which to pass the night. Three special trains
yesterday carried away to Provence the inmates of the insane asylums of
Bicêtre and Charenton. It was a weird sight to see these men and women,
utterly unconscious of the war, gazing with nervous uncertainty upon the
strange scenes through which they were conducted to the Orléans Station,
somewhat like helpless flocks of sheep.
Shortly after leaving the large room at Number 31 Boulevard des
Invalides, where the official _communiqués_ are now given out to
the French and foreign press, I met a sergeant of an infantry regiment
who had been wounded during the fighting between Coulommier and
Ferté-Gaucher. "At daybreak on Sunday," he said, "we were sent forward
to prevent the German infantry from making their favorite turning
movement on our left wing. Our orders were to hold on to the enemy and
prevent his advance until the allied troops near Meaux had repulsed the
German attack being made in their direction. Early in the afternoon, the
Germans retired from Meaux before the allied divisions. We advanced and
drove them north of Ferté-Gaucher. The fighting lasted all night and
became very severe on Monday morning, but shortly afterwards the Germans
offered but slight resistance. For thirty kilometers we followed up two
German infantry regiments, supported by their cavalry and a section of
artillery. During their retreat, the Germans did not fire a single shot.
We soon succeeded in cutting off a detachment of infantry and in
capturing seven field guns and two machine guns. One of the prisoners,
an infantry sergeant, admitted that his men were short of ammunition,
and that their orders were to use as little of it as possible. It was
during the last combat that I was wounded in the thigh by a Prussian
officer, who cut me with his sword as I was trying to disarm him."
A wounded French infantry lieutenant says that the German troops seem
"fatigued and fagged out." Another officer says that in the trenches
near Coulommier, a dozen German infantry soldiers were found dead,
having been killed by French .75 millimeter shells, and were in the same
attitudes of firing that they had taken at the moment when they had been
"crisped" by death. An Algerian Turco was found dead, grasping his
rifle, the bayonet of which had pierced and killed a German soldier.
Both were corpses, but stood in grim death like a group of statuary.
I received to-day a letter from my gardener at Vernon. He says that the
roads are filled with refugees, who are being sent on to Brittany by way
of Louviers. Motorists along the roads say that they have passed
continuous lines of refugees, sometimes seventy kilometers in length.
The Château de Bizy is transformed into a hospital and so also is the
Château des Pénitents at Vernonnet. Most of the injured have slight
wounds in the arms or legs. Many of them, after five days' treatment,
are able to go back to the front.
_Wednesday, September 9._
Thirty-eighth day of the war. Somewhat cooler weather, with cloudy sky
and with south to southwesterly wind, at times blowing in sharp gusts.
Thermometer at five P.M. 21 degrees centigrade.
The air is still overcharged with uncertainty as to the result of the
great battle along the front of one hundred and twenty miles between the
Ourcq and Verdun. Will the Germans succeed in forcing their tremendous
wedge through the French center near Vitry and separate the allied
armies to the west and around Paris, from the great French armies to the
east and around Verdun?
A German repulse means a German tragedy. But if they succeed in their
bold move on the center, and separate the allied armies, they will gain
a very great strategic success and can then turn their attention to the
investment of a segment of the fortifications of Paris.
Meanwhile the official _communiqués_ given out at three P.M. and at
eleven P.M., at the Military Government of Paris, are, to say the least,
hopeful. Every attempt to break through the French lines on the Ourcq
has failed. No change noted on the center and on the allied right.
At two this afternoon I saw a small, low, dusty motor-car come spinning
along the Boulevard des Invalides, containing four soldiers, who had
with them two German flags, captured this morning during the fighting
near the Ourcq. They were bringing their trophies to General Galliéni,
who conferred the Military Medal--the highest French distinction for
valor in action--on the reserve infantry soldier Guillemard, who
captured one of these flags in a hand-to-hand encounter. The flag
belonged to the Thirty-sixth Prussian Infantry Regiment, the Magdeburg
Fusiliers, and had been decorated with the Iron Cross in 1870.
One of the French biplanes that scour the sky daily in search of German
_taubes_ met with sad disaster yesterday while flying over the Bois
de Vincennes. The aeroplane contained a lieutenant and a corporal of the
aviation corps. A violent gust of wind capsized it, and it fell to the
ground, burying the occupants in a heap of débris. When extricated, both
were dead. A few moments after the biplane struck the earth, either its
motor, or the bombs that it had on board, exploded, and four passers-by
were killed by flying fragments. Two of them were ten-year-old lads. A
little girl and several other persons were more or less bruised. It so
happened that I had watched this biplane from the Boulevard de
Courcelles as it soared over Paris at a height of fifteen hundred
meters. It was very steady in its movements and was going in an easterly
direction. This must have been some ten minutes before the catastrophe.
The committee of the National Society of Fine Arts held a meeting today
at the Grand Palais, to render aid to painters, sculptors, and artists
in need of assistance, without regard to nationality, passed resolutions
of indignation at the injury of works of art in France and Belgium
committed by the German armies, and at the destruction of the objects of
art solicited by Germany and entrusted by France to the International
Exhibition at Leipsic, and unanimously voted to strike from the list of
members the names of all artists of German nationality.
The art critic of the _Gil Blas_, M. Louis Vauxelles, whose
scathing criticisms of the "classic" _pompier_ academic school of
painting and of sculpture, and whose intelligent censure of the extreme
"futurist" clique elicit the hearty approval of all true lovers of art,
in the United States, as well as in France, is serving as a simple
soldier in an infantry regiment, but finds time occasionally to write to
the _Intransigéant_ picturesque descriptions of military life.
I received a letter from a friend at Tours, where the refugees are
becoming less numerous, but the hospitals on the contrary are nearly
full of wounded. Comtesse Paul de Pourtalès is doing splendid work there
as the head of the Red Cross, and M. Gaston Ménier, the popular senator,
a warm personal friend of Mr. Andrew Carnegie and the owner of the great
chocolate works, has turned his Château of Chenonceaux into a perfectly
organized hospital with a corps of surgeons and professional nurses,
which he maintains at his own expense. Nearly a hundred French wounded
are already being cared for in the Chenonceaux hospital. As soon as they
get well enough, they are sent back to rejoin their regiments. All the
villas in the neighborhood of Tours are already leased to families that
have gone away from Paris.
In accordance with the notices of the Military Governor of Paris, I was
vaccinated against smallpox to-day, together with all those now living
in the house--in all twelve persons.
Mr. William G. Sharp, who has been appointed to succeed Mr. Myron T.
Herrick as American Ambassador in France, remains here with his son,
George, and is preparing to make himself familiar with the situation, so
that when the proper time comes, he may take over his office. Mr. Sharp
is already making headway with his somewhat theoretical knowledge of
French. He told me that the war had upset many diplomatic and other
precedents. "It is quite obvious," he said, "that at this critical
period, Mr. Herrick could not desert his post, where his knowledge and
experience have been so valuable." Mr. Sharp added: "It is needless to
say that there will be no change of policy with my arrival as Ambassador
to France. The friendship between the United States and France was never
firmer than it is to-day. Personally, I am a fervent admirer of France,
of French art, culture, and science.
"Probably no country in the world is more universally admired for its
high degree of civilization than France. But it is my duty, as the
future representative of the United States, to be absolutely neutral in
everything concerning the present conflict. It cannot be too strongly
stated that the United States Government will not swerve from its
attitude of strict neutrality. The more impartial we remain, the
stronger our position will be, and the better it will be, indeed, for
all the belligerents when the time comes for discussing the conclusion
of peace.
"For I shall not be indiscreet if I give voice to the thought held by
many people that the role of the United States is bound to be a most
important one at that moment.
"President Wilson's recent offer," he said, "was timely, and although
every one knew that it could not then be accepted, yet it had the effect
of setting men's minds thinking.
"What nation could be more fitted than the United States to take the
lead in the peace negotiations?" asked Mr. Sharp. "In our nation are
amalgamated all the races now at war. Our sincerity is undoubted. Our
natural position of impartiality and neutrality is such that America's
voice would be surely listened to at the opportune moment."
Mr. Sharp himself belongs to several peace organizations in America. He
believes that after the present war there will be a complete revulsion
of public opinion throughout the world in favor of peace. Never, he
said, will there have been a riper moment for some scheme of general
disarmament.
Mr. Sharp would like to see the United States a party to an epoch-making
treaty sealing such an international accord. In this respect he believes
that, atrocious as this European conflagration is, good will be the
outcome for all nations, whoever the victors may be, if Europe reaps a
lasting peace.
Mr. Sharp comes to Paris with a general knowledge of international
political affairs, having served as a member in the United States
Congress for three terms, and holding position of ranking member of the
Foreign Affairs Committee at the time of his appointment.
_Thursday, September 10._
Thirty-ninth day of the war. Cloudy weather, with a brisk shower and
some thunder at three this afternoon. Afterwards fine. Southerly wind.
Temperature at five P.M. 22 degrees centigrade.
Favorable news was communicated at eleven o'clock this evening at the
headquarters at the Invalides. After four days of steady fighting, the
allied left wing has crossed the Marne near Charly and driven back the
enemy sixty kilometers, the British taking many prisoners and machine
guns. Near Sezanne, the Prussian Guard Corps has been driven back, north
of the marshes of St. Gond. No change is noted in relative positions on
the allied center and right, where fighting still continues with great
violence.
I went to the official press bureau at three this afternoon and met
there M. Arthur Meyer, the genial and venerable editor of the
_Gaulois_, and about forty French and foreign journalists. M.
Arthur Meyer, as "dean" of our calling, had a pleasant word and smile
for all. Just before the official _communiqué_, the director of the
Press Bureau, Commandant Klotz, former Minister of Finance, instructed
his assistant to notify all present that "any reproduction of or even
allusion to the interview published in an American morning paper (the
_Paris Herald_) with an American diplomatist would not pass the
censor if handed in at the telegraph or cable offices, and also that its
appearance in any French newspaper was prohibited. The reason for this
is that the interview might cause misunderstanding, and that it merely
reflected the personal opinions of a private individual who in no way
was an accredited representative of the United States."
This "official rebuke" was of course intended for Mr. William G. Sharp,
whose interview was printed in today's _Herald_. According to
European custom, diplomacy is a special calling or profession like those
of the soldier, sailor, lawyer, or physician. Amateur diplomacy has no
place in Europe, and to the French mind, the presence in Paris of an
unaccredited, although designated, ambassador, who expresses his
personal opinions on every subject, while there is a duly accredited
ambassador here, is an anomaly, causing no little annoyance to the
authorities, and tending to hamper and discredit the official
representative of the United States in Paris.
It is whispered that this "diplomatic indiscretion" of Mr. Sharp may
lead to a refusal of the French Government, when the time comes, to
grant his credentials. All the more so, because when Mr. Sharp was first
spoken of as a possible ambassador to Russia, the Russian Foreign Office
notified Washington that Mr. Sharp was not exactly a _persona
grata_, owing to certain public statements attributed to him
concerning the attitude of the Russian Government in regard to passports
to Jews of American and other nationalities. When Mr. Sharp was
nominated as American Ambassador to France, the French Foreign Office
discreetly inquired at St. Petersburg whether the Russian Government had
any objection to Mr. Sharp being accepted in Paris as the United States
Ambassador. The reply from St. Petersburg was that "there were no
objections," consequently the usual intimation was given by the Quai
d'Orsay that Mr. Sharp would be an agreeable person in Paris. The
arrival here of Mr. Sharp, in the midst of the war, and his interview on
the situation, however, has not influenced the French officials at the
Foreign Office in his favor. Mr. Sharp is unquestionably a patriotic,
clear-headed, capable, and highly intelligent representative of our
countrymen, and moreover, he is now obtaining diplomatic experience.
Spain has also had some tribulation with its ambassadors to France. When
President Poincaré and the French Cabinet decided to transfer the seat
of government to Bordeaux, the Spanish Ambassador, Marquis de Villa
Urrutia, was about to quit Paris with President Poincaré, but the King
of Spain wished his representative to remain in Paris. The marquis,
however, to use an American expression, got "cold feet" and expressed a
wish to go to Bordeaux. When this news reached King Alfonso, it so
happened that Lieutenant-general de los Monteros, Marquis de Valtierra,
Captain-general of Northern Spain at Burgos and San Sebastian, was in
conference with the king. King Alfonso asked the Marquis de Valtierra
where in his opinion would be the proper place in France for the Spanish
Ambassador. "Why," was the quick reply, "Paris, of course." "Well," said
the king, "that is not the opinion of the Marquis de Villa Urrutia, but
it is also my own opinion, and I have now decided to send you to Paris
as my ambassador!" Consequently, the Marquis de Villa Urrutia was
forthwith replaced by the Marquis de Valtierra, who is already duly
installed in the Spanish Embassy in the Boulevard de Courcelles. The new
Spanish Ambassador speaks English perfectly, as well as French, and he
is a personal friend of Ambassador Herrick.