their
previous personal anxiety a ghastly terror of the unknown, multiplied
and intensified as it manifests itself in the masses, already in a
high state of excitement.[2]

[Footnote 2: I have been informed by American officials on duty in
Berlin that they have never observed any misstatement of fact, or any
essential omission in the _communiques_ of the German Government.
This, during my brief visits within the borders of the Empire, was
certainly borne out by my own experience. Defeats are announced as
automatically as victories. An illustration of the advantageous effect
of this procedure upon public morale and of the disadvantageous effect
of the opposite occurred after the Battle of the Marne. The French,
who should logically have gained the greatest encouragement, had so
learned to distrust their official _communiques_, that they gained no
advantage of this kind whatsoever, while the Germans, who ought to
have received no moral stimulus from so material a disaster, underwent
a fresh _accroissement_ of their patriotic determination as a result
of the frank announcement that the war was no longer going "according
to specifications."]

Paris knows with a conviction that nothing can alter that the French
armies have met defeat at all points along the line. They do not need
dates, or names, or numbers; the one terrible fact that the Germans
are again nearing the gates of Paris stands out with greater intensity
because all details are withheld.

The Bank of Paris has begun to move. I felt it was an historically
memorable day when I stood this morning before its great doors and
watched the nervous, hurrying messengers endlessly streaming in and
out as they loaded a row of trucks with France's money bags. The
bearers looked for all the world like a stream of ants carrying their
larvae to safety when an ant-hill is broken open.

It is commonly reported that the French Government is planning to flee
from Paris. If that actually occurs the papers will doubtless announce
it as a "strategic retreat." The members of the various Embassies are
becoming frightfully nervous and most of them will probably leave at
the same time.

At the American _Chancellerie_ all goes on quite as usual, partly
because we are so busy that there is no time to worry, but principally
because Mr. Herrick is so calm and confident that he sets all the
other members a compelling example.

Early this afternoon it was reported at the Embassy that a