PARIS WAR DAYS
[Illustration: Myron T. Herrick, American Ambassador in Paris. Frontispiece.]
PARIS WAR DAYS
DIARY OF AN AMERICAN
BY
CHARLES INMAN BARNARD, LL.B. (HARVARD)
Knight of the Legion of Honor
Paris Correspondent of The New York Tribune
President of The Association of the Foreign Press in Paris
Chairman of the Harvard Club of Paris
TO
Ogden Mills Reid
EDITOR OF THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE
THIS DIARY IS DEDICATED
IN AFFECTIONATE MEMORY OF
HIS FATHER, THE LATE
Whitelaw Reid
PREFACE
This is not a story of the world-wide war. These notes, jotted down at odd moments in a diary, are published with the idea of recording, day by day, the aspect, temper, mood, and humor of Paris, when the entire manhood of France responds with profound spontaneous patriotism to the call of mobilization in defense of national existence. France is herself again. Her capital, during this supreme trial, is a new Paris, the like of which, after the present crisis is over, will probably not be seen again by any one now living.
As a youth in the spring of 1871, I witnessed Paris, partly in ruins, emerging from the scourges of German invasion and of the Commune. As a correspondent of the New York Herald, under the personal direction of my chief, Mr. James Gordon Bennettfor whom I retain a deep-rooted friendship and admiration for his sterling, rugged qualities of a true American and a masterly journalistit was my good fortune, during fourteen years, to share the joys and charms of Parisian life. I was in Paris during the throes of the Dreyfus affair when, at the call of the late Whitelaw Reid, I began my duties as resident correspondent of the New York Tribune. I saw Paris suffer the winter floods of 1910. Whether in storm or in sunshine, I have always found myself among friends in this vivacious center of humanity, intelligence, art, science, and sentiment, where our countrymen, and above all our countrywomen, realize that they have a second home. With a finger on the pulse, as it were, of Paris, I have sought to register the throbs and feelings of Parisians and Americans during these war days.
I acknowledge deep indebtedness to the European edition of the New
York Herald, and to the Continental edition of the Daily
Mail, from whose columns useful data and information have been
freely drawn.
C. I. B.
Paris, October, 1914.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Myron T. Herrick, American Ambassador in Paris. Frontispiece
Shop of a German merchant in Paris, wrecked by French mobs
Sewing-girls at work in the American Episcopal Church
American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly
Paris workmen hastening to join the colors
Woman replacing man in traffic work
General Victor Constant Michel, Military Governor of Paris until August 27, 1914
The Statue of Strasbourg, after the capture of Altkirch in Alsace by
French troops
Americans in Paris besieging the American Express Company's office for funds for their daily bread
French Negro troops from Africa entraining in Paris
Flag of the 132nd German Infantry Regiment, captured at Saint-Blaise by the 1st Battalion of Chasseurs Pied
Robert Woods Bliss, First Secretary of the United States Embassy in
Paris, September, 1914
A party of American volunteers crossing the Place de l'Opra in Paris on their way to enlist
General Joseph Simon Gallini, appointed Military Governor and Commander of the Army of Paris, August 26, 1914
tienne Alexandre Millerand, Minister of War, August 27, 1914
Parisians watching the German air craft that drop bombs on the city
Eiffel Tower's searchlight to reveal bomb-throwing air craft and air scouts of the Germans
Wounded French soldiers returning to Paris with trophies from the battlefields
29th Infantry Reserves, Army of the Defence of Paris
General Joffre, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies in France
M. mile Laurent, appointed Prefect of Police of Paris, September 3, 1914
Workmen erecting a barricade in Paris
"Sauf-Conduit" issued by the Prefecture of Police to persons wishing to travel
One of the wards in the American Ambulance Hospital at Neuilly
PARIS WAR DAYS
Saturday, August 1, 1914
This war comes like the traditional "Bolt from the Blue!" I had made arrangements to retire from active journalism and relinquish the duties of Paris correspondent of the New York Tribune, which I had fulfilled for sixteen consecutive years. In reply to a request from Mr. Ogden Reid, I had expressed willingness to remain at my post in Paris until the early autumn, inasmuch as "a quiet summer was expected." Spring was a busy time for newspaper men. There had been the sensational assassination of Gaston Calmette, editor of the Figaro, by Mme. Caillaux, wife of the cabinet minister. Then there was the "caving-in" of the streets of Paris, owing to the effect of storms on the thin surface left by the underground tunnelling for the electric tramways, and for the new metropolitan "tubes." The big prize fight between Jack Johnson and Frank Moran for the heavy-weight championship of the world followed. Next came the trial of Mme. Caillaux and her acquittal. Then followed the newspaper campaign of the brothers, MM. Paul and Guy de Cassagnac, against German newspaper correspondents in Paris. The Cassagnacs demanded that certain German correspondents should quit French territory within twenty-four hours. As several German correspondents were members of the "Association of the Foreign Press," of which I happen to be president, I was able to smooth matters over a little. Although my personal sympathies were strongly with the Cassagnacs, who are editors of L'Autorit, especially in their condemnation of the severity of the German Government in regard to "Hansi," the Alsatian caricaturist and author of Mon Village, I managed with the help of some of my Russian, Italian, English, and Spanish colleagues to avoid needless duels and quarrels between French and German journalists. Finally, the day of the "Grand Prix de Paris" brought the news of the murder at Sarajevo of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. My friend, Mr. Edward Schuler, was despatched by the Associated Press to Vienna, and when he returned, I readily saw, from the state of feeling that he described as existing in Vienna, that war between Austria and Servia was inevitable, and that unless some supreme effort should be made for peace by Emperor William, a general European war must follow.
Wednesday, July 29, the day after Austria's declaration of war against Servia, I lunched at the Hotel Ritz with Mrs. Marshall Field and her nephew, Mr. Spencer Eddy. Mrs. Field was about to leave Paris for Aix-les-Bains. We talked about the probability of Russia being forced to make war with Germany. I warned Mrs. Field of the risk she would run in going to Aix-les-Bains, and in the event of mobilization, of being deprived of her motor-car and of all means of getting away. At that time no one seemed to think that war really would break out. Mrs. Field finally gave up her plan of going to Aix-les-Bains and went to London. The following evening Matre Charles Philippe of the Paris Bar and M. Max-Lyon, a French railroad engineer who had built many of the Turkish and Servian railroads, dined with me. They both felt that nothing could now avert war between France and Germany.
