The faster German vessels successfully escaped round the front of the British cordon of cruisers and destroyers. The Irene and Grief were less fortunate. They were sighted soon after 10 p.m., steaming due east, and were easily overtaken and destroyed with little more than a show of resistance. The British vessels which were innermost in the long line were near Lerwick a couple of hours later, and sent in three ocean-going destroyers to watch the port, waiting till daylight before attacking it.

During the night the Orion communicated by wireless signals the news that, after a long chase, she had overtaken and sunk the Bremen, which had made a gallant fight against overwhelming odds. The Lincoln, with her two destroyers, rejoined the fleet, reporting that the German destroyer which they had pursued had got away. A British destroyer was sent south to Fair Island to watch the channel between the Orkneys and Shetlands. Another destroyer was sent off to Loch Eriboll to bring up the rest of the older British destroyers and the colliers to Kirkwall, where the British vessels intended to establish an advanced base. The news of the successes gained was at once communicated to the Admiralty by cipher message.

On Friday at daybreak one of the British ocean-going destroyers steamed into Lerwick under the white flag, with a demand from Rear-Admiral Hunter for the immediate surrender of the place. Failing surrender, the communication informed the German commandant that the British ships would shell the town, and would exact exemplary punishment from the German force. The commander of the destroyer was instructed, if the German commandant showed a bold front, to call upon him to clear the town of civilians and permit the British inhabitants to withdraw.

The British destroyer which took in this communication was not permitted to approach the mine-field. One of the German torpedo boats came out and received the letter. If the demand for the surrender was acceded to the German commandant was instructed to hoist a white flag within twenty minutes.

The officers of the destroyer could see that four large merchant steamers and some warships were inside Bressay Sound. Small guns could be made out on Fort Charlotte and the Wart of Bressay, and two heavy weapons in position near Lerwick behind newly-raised earthworks.

The British note stated that operations would be at once commenced against the town, but the Admiral gave his ships orders not as yet to train their weapons on it, hoping to escape the cruel necessity of shelling a British seaport. At the expiration of twenty minutes the German flag still flew over the German works, and it became clear that the enemy did not intend to surrender. Signals were therefore made in the international code that a respite of three and a half hours would be allowed for the civilians, women and children, to quit Lerwick, but that the British warships would forthwith attack the German positions away from the harbour.

Four of the smaller destroyers pushed carefully in under Hildesay, searching and sweeping for mines. They were fired upon from the shore, and replied with their 12-pounders, shelling the German works vigorously, but carefully avoiding the town. Apparently the Germans had not mined the waters to the west of the long and narrow peninsula upon which Lerwick stands. Mines were seen at both ends of Bressay Sound, but Deal’s Voe seemed to be clear.

At noon the Iphigenia steamed inside Hildesay to shell the town and works from the west. The Orion closed in cautiously from the north-east upon Deal’s Voe. The other armoured cruisers took up a position about 8000 yards from Lerwick, to the south of the southern entrance to Bressay Sound. The destroyers were close at hand, and one of the large cruisers was stationed to the south-east to give timely notice in case any German naval force should appear.

At 12.5 the first shot was fired by the Iphigenia, which trained her two forward 12-in. guns upon Fort Charlotte and fired them in succession. Both hit the target, and the two huge shells demolished the fort, putting the small German guns there out of action, and killing or wounding their gunners. Simultaneously the other cruisers had opened upon Lerwick and the German works on the Wart of Bressay, firing their 12-in. and 9·2-in. guns slowly, with extreme accuracy and prodigious effect. A few shots silenced the four heavy German guns.

The Orion did magnificent shooting with her 9·2’s, which she chiefly used; these big guns tore down the German earthworks, and set the town on fire. The cruisers to the south directed several shells upon the German ships in the Sound, and sank one of the big steamers, setting another on fire, and badly damaging the gunboats Eber and Panther. Both the German torpedo boats were hit and damaged.

The German force was in a difficulty—indeed, a desperate position. Seemingly, the German Admiralty had not calculated upon such a rapid move of the British cruisers by the Irish Sea northward, but had rather expected them to come up the North Sea. Reports that a movement up the North Sea was intended had reached Berlin from the German secret agents in London late on Tuesday night, with the result that the German Fleet had concentrated off the Suffolk coast.

The troops at Lerwick had not had time to fortify the position or to construct bomb-proofs and shelters. If the bulk of the garrison withdrew from the town, the British ships might land parties of Marines and seize it; if the Germans remained, they must face a terrific fire, which did great execution, and this though a good many of the British shells failed to explode.

From time to time the British destroyers came in closer than the large ships, and, now that the German artillery was silenced, shelled the town and any troops that they saw with their 12-pounders and 3-pounders. They were also getting to work in the Sound to clear away the mines, exploding heavy charges in the minefield, and sweeping for mines under the guns of the big ships.

They made so much progress that late in the afternoon the Warspite was able to steam in to 4500 yards, at which range her 9·2-in. guns speedily completed the destruction of the war-vessels and shipping in the harbour. She was also able to fire with deadly effect upon the German earthworks. Her shells exploded a magazine of ammunition and set fire to a large depôt of food, consisting of boxes which had been hastily landed, and were lying ashore covered with tarpaulins.

Her smaller guns at this short range were most effective; the 3-pounders played on the German works on the Wart of Bressay, and drove the remnant of the force holding them to flight. But as the troops endeavoured to make their escape they were caught by the fire of two of the destroyers, which turned their 12-pounders and rained shells upon them.

At dusk the British cruisers to the east of Lerwick drew off, to avoid any mines that might have got adrift. The Iphigenia remained to the west of the town, and fired several shots during the night, while the British destroyers were most active, firing their small guns whenever they saw any sign of movement.

Early next day the attack was about to recommence, when the German colonel in command hoisted the white flag, and made his surrender. Owing to the destruction of his food depôt and the explosion of his magazine he was short both of ammunition and food. Thus, after a brief spell of German rule—for the place had been solemnly annexed to the German Empire by proclamation—the British took possession of a ruined town and captured a considerable German force, numbering about 1100 men.

While the British cruisers were busy recovering control of the Shetlands, the Atlantic Fleet, four battleships strong, had arrived at Portland, and joined the imposing fleet which was assembling at that splendid harbour. The Mediterranean Fleet, four battleships strong, was following in its wake, detaching its two armoured cruisers for work off Gibraltar and the entrance to the Mediterranean, where German commerce-destroyers were reported to be busy.

The British Admiralty had decided to evacuate the Mediterranean and leave Egypt to its fate. Orders were given to block the Suez Canal, and though this act was an obvious infraction of international law, it elicited only mild protests from the Powers, which anxiously hoped for a British victory in the war. The protests were formal, and it was intimated that there was no intention of supporting them by force, provided the British Government would defray the loss caused by its action to neutral shipping.

A conflict between the military and civil authorities occurred on the Saturday following the outbreak of war. The Admiralty up to this point had succeeded in throwing a veil of silence over the British movements, and not even the striking successes of the British Fleet were generally known. But Ministers, and the First Lord of the Admiralty in particular, fearing for their own lives, and appalled by the furious outcry against themselves, on Saturday insisted upon issuing an official notice to the effect that the German Fleet which had raided South Wales had been completely annihilated, and Lerwick recaptured by the British Navy. Hundreds of German prisoners, added the proclamation, had been made.

To such a degree had the public lost faith in the Government, that the news was received with scepticism. The official Press in Germany ridiculed the intelligence, though the German Government must have been aware of its truth. It was only with extreme difficulty that the civilian members of the Government were prevented from publishing the exact strength of the British naval force available for operations against the Germans, but a threat by the Sea Lords to take matters into their own hands and appeal to the nation, prevented such a crowning act of folly.

Four armoured cruisers of the “County” class, exceedingly fast ships, had been pushed up behind the Channel cruisers, with instructions to carry on the work of harassing the Germans while the Channel cruisers coaled. The new cruiser detachment was to join the two ships of the “County” class already at Kirkwall, move cautiously south, with six ocean-going destroyers and six of the older destroyers, along the Scotch coast, establish its base at Aberdeen or Rosyth, and raid the German line of communications.

It was to be known as the Northern Squadron, and was placed under the orders of Rear-Admiral Jeffries, an able and enterprising officer. In case the Germans moved against it in force, it was to retire northwards, but its commander was given to understand that on September 17 the main British Fleet would advance from the north and south into the North Sea and deliver its attack upon the massed force of the German Navy.

Meanwhile, in preparation for the great movement, assiduous drill and target practice proceeded in the neighbourhood of Portland. The British battleships daily put to sea to fire and execute evolutions. The most serious difficulty, however, was to provide the ample supplies of ammunition needed, now that the Germans were in possession of so much of England, that the railway service was disorganised, and that an enormous consumption of cordite by the British land forces was taking place. The coal question was also serious, as the South Wales miners had struck for higher wages, and had only been induced to return to their work by the promise of great concessions. The officers and men of the Navy could not but be painfully struck by the strange want of zeal and national spirit in this great emergency shown by the British people.

On the 11th two of the “County” cruisers steamed south from Dingwall to replace the two ships which had, earlier in the operations against the Shetlands, been despatched to Aberdeen, and which were now to rejoin the Channel cruisers and concentrate in the Dornoch Firth. They reported that the German cruiser off Aberdeen had made good her escape, and that they had scouted so far south as the entrance of the Forth without discovering any trace of German vessels.

On the 12th the four other cruisers of the “County” class and the destroyers reached Aberdeen early in the morning, and the Rear-Admiral set to work with zeal and energy to disturb and harass his enemy to the utmost. The Southampton and Kincardine, two of the fast cruisers, with two ocean-going destroyers, were instructed to steam direct for the German coast, and sink any vessel that they sighted. The Selkirk and Lincoln, with the rest of the destroyers, under his own orders, would clear the Forth entrance and move cautiously southward towards Newcastle, if no enemy were encountered. Yet another pair of cruisers, the Cardigan and Montrose, were to steam for the Dutch coast and there destroy German vessels and transports. Two of the older protected cruisers were brought to link up the advanced detachments by wireless telegraphy with the Forth, when the Germans were forced away from that point.

About noon the Rear-Admiral, with his cruisers, appeared off the Forth, and learnt that for three days no German vessels had been reported off the coast, but that the entrance to the estuary was believed to have been mined afresh by the Germans and was exceedingly unsafe. The armoured cruiser Impérieuse, which had been damaged in the battle of North Berwick, had now been sufficiently repaired to take the sea again. She had coaled and received ammunition, and was at once ordered to join the Northern Squadron.

The armoured cruisers Olympia and Aurora, and the battleship Resistance, which had been badly damaged in the torpedo attack that opened the war, were also nearly ready for service, and could be counted on for work in forty-eight hours. It had been supposed at the time that they were permanently injured, but hundreds of skilled Glasgow artisans had been brought over by train and set to work upon them, and with such energy had they laboured that the damage had been almost made good. For security against any German attack, the ships lay with booms surrounding them behind a great mine-field, which had been placed by the naval authorities.

The Rear-Admiral in command of the Northern Fleet ordered a passage through the German minefield to be cleared without delay, and the repaired ships to remain for the time being to guard the port, as their speed was not such as to enable them to run if the enemy appeared in force. Taking with him the Impérieuse, he moved down the coast towards Newcastle, steaming at 15 knots. At 8 p.m. he passed the mouth of the Tyne, and sighted the Southampton, one of the two cruisers which he had despatched to menace the German coast; they had chased and sunk a large German collier, apparently proceeding to Lerwick, and quite unaware of the sudden turn which the naval war had taken.

The Southampton had returned to report the fact that she had sighted three German destroyers, which went off very fast to the south, one now having rejoined the flag. The four British armoured cruisers—Southampton, Selkirk, Lincoln, and Impérieuse—extended in open order, with the four ocean-going destroyers in advance and the six older destroyers inshore, on the lookout for Germans.

In this order the Admiral moved, with all lights out, towards the German line of communications. Steering wide of Flamborough Head, and clearing the sandbanks off the Wash, he passed down what was now an enemy’s coast, carefully refraining from using his ships’ long-distance wireless instruments, which might have given the alarm.

At about 1 a.m. of the 13th the Southampton sighted a large steamer proceeding slowly eastwards. She gave chase forthwith, and in fifteen minutes was alongside the stranger. The vessel proved to be a German transport returning from Hull empty. A small prize-crew was placed on board, the German seamen were transhipped to the British cruiser, and the vessel was sent back to Newcastle under escort of one of the older destroyers.

At 3.30 a.m. the flagship Selkirk sighted another large steamer proceeding west, towards the Wash. Chase was instantly given to her, and in ten minutes the fast cruiser, running 21 knots, was within easy range. As the steamer did not obey the order to stop, even when shotted guns were fired over her bow, the Selkirk poured a broadside into her at 3000 yards. This brought her to, and two ocean-going destroyers were sent to overhaul her, while the Lincoln and Southampton steamed in towards her, with guns laid upon her to prevent any tricks.

A few minutes later the destroyers signalled that the vessel was laden with German troops, reserve stores, ammunition, and supplies of all kinds. It would have been awkward to sink her and tranship the men, and remembering the humanity which the Germans had displayed in the battles at the opening of the war, the Admiral ordered the Impérieuse to escort her to Newcastle, with instructions to sink her if she offered any resistance. A lieutenant and ten men were put on board her, to keep an eye on her crew and see that they obeyed the injunctions of the Impérieuse, which followed 300 yards astern with her 9·2-in. guns trained menacingly upon the transport.

Scarcely had possession been taken of this vessel, which proved to be the 10,000-ton Hamburg-American cargo-vessel Bulgaria, when two more ships were sighted, and the sound of alarm guns hurriedly firing was heard from the Leman lightship. To silence the lightship, which was known to be in German hands, a fast destroyer was despatched with orders to torpedo it and destroy it.

As the enemy had undoubtedly taken the alarm, and might be expected any minute to put in an appearance, the British cruisers made ready to retire. The destroyers were sent off to the north; the three remaining armoured cruisers hovered waiting for the Germans to show, as they intended to draw them off towards the north-east, and thus take them away from the Bulgaria and her escort.

At 4.20 a.m. a big ship, evidently an armoured cruiser, accompanied by two or three destroyers, was seen approaching from the direction of Hull. Simultaneously wireless waves came in strong from the south, and from that quarter there came into sight another big armoured cruiser, accompanied by at least six destroyers and two smaller cruisers. They were the scouts of the German Fleet, and before them ran at 30 knots the British destroyer which had been charged with the destruction of the Leman lightship, and which had accomplished her task only two or three minutes before the Germans appeared from the south.

Noting that his enemy was in no great strength, and feeling minded to deal him a blow, if possible, the British Admiral now fell back north-eastward, without increasing speed sufficiently to draw away from the Germans. His ships, of the “County” class, with their weak 6-in. batteries, were no match for the German cruisers, but if he could entice the Germans within reach of the armoured vessels at Rosyth it would be another matter. Moreover, at any moment his detached armoured cruisers might rejoin the fleet.

Both forces were keeping well together, the Germans not steaming more than 20 knots, so as not to draw away from their smaller cruisers, while the British cruisers and destroyers made their pace with perfect ease, and for hours maintained an interval of eight miles from the enemy.

After two hours’ chase the British Admiral altered course slightly, and began to edge away to the north-east. The Germans followed, and at five in the afternoon of the 13th both squadrons were abreast of St. Abbs Head, far out to sea. About this time another German cruiser was noted, following to the support of the German vessels, and simultaneously the British Admiral opened up wireless communication with the powerful armoured ships at Rosyth.

CHAPTER X

SITUATION SOUTH OF THE THAMES

The assault at Waterloo Bridge on the night of the enemy’s occupation had in the end proved disastrous to the Germans, for, once within, they found themselves surrounded by a huge armed mob in the Waterloo Road and in the vicinity of the South-Western terminus; notwithstanding their desperate defence, they were exterminated to a man, until the gutters beneath the railway bridges ran with blood. Meanwhile the breach in the barricade was repaired, and two guns and ammunition captured from the enemy mounted in defence. There was a similar incident on Vauxhall Bridge, the populace being victorious, and now the Germans were offering no further opposition, as they had quite sufficient to occupy them on the Middlesex side.

The division of Lord Byfield’s army which had gone south to Horsham had moved north, and on the 24th were holding the country across from Epsom to Kingston-on-Thames, while patrols and motorists were out from Ewell, through Cheam, Sutton, Carshalton, Croydon, and Upper Norwood, to the high ground at the Crystal Palace. From Kingston to the Tower Bridge all approaches across the Thames were barricaded and held by desperate mobs, aided by artillerymen.

In those early days after the occupation, military order had apparently disappeared in London, as far as the British were concerned. General Sir Francis Bamford had, on the proclamation of martial law in London, been appointed military governor, and had, on the advance of the Germans, retired to the Crystal Palace, where he had now established his headquarters in the palace itself, with a wireless telegraph apparatus placed upon the top of the left-hand tower, by means of which he was in constant communication with Lord Byfield at Windsor, where the apparatus had been hoisted upon the flagstaff of the Round Tower.

The military tribunals established by the Proclamation of the 14th still existed in the police courts of South London, but those north of the Thames had already been replaced by German officers, and the British officers went across the bridges into the British lines. Von Kronhelm’s clever tactics, by which he had established an advisory board of British officials to assist in the government of London, seemed to have had the desired effect of reassurance in the case of London north of the Thames. But south of the river the vast population in that huge area from Gravesend, through Dartford, Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Merton, Wimbledon, and Kingston, lived still at the highest tension, while the defenders at the bridges and along the river-front kept up unceasing vigilance night and day, never knowing at what spot the Germans might throw across their pontoons. In peace time the enemy had for years practised the pontooning of the Rhine and the Elbe; therefore, they knew it to be an easy matter to cross the narrower reaches of the Thames if they so desired.

On the 24th the rumour became current, too, that during the night German wagons had moved large quantities of specie from the Bank of England out to their base at Southminster; but, though it was most probable, the news was not confirmed. On this date the position as regards London, briefly reviewed, was as follows:—

London north of the Thames, eastward to the sea, and the whole of the country east of a line drawn from the metropolis to Birmingham, was in the hands of the Germans. The enemy’s Guard Corps, under the Duke of Mannheim, who had landed at King’s Lynn, had established their headquarters at Hampstead, and held North London, with a big encampment in Regent’s Park. The Xth Corps, under Von Wilberg, from Yarmouth, were holding the City proper; the IXth Corps, from Lowestoft, were occupying the outskirts of East London, and keeping the lines of communication with Southminster; the IVth Corps, from Weybourne, under Von Kleppen, were in Hyde Park, and held Western London; while the Saxons had been pushed out from Shepperton through Staines to Colnbrook, as a safeguard from attack by Lord Byfield’s force, so rapidly being reorganised at Windsor. The remnants of the beaten army had gone to Chichester and Salisbury, but were now coming rapidly north, as the British Commander-in-Chief, had, it appeared, decided to give battle again, aided by the infuriated populace of Southern London.

At no spot south of the Thames, except perhaps the reconnoitring parties who crossed at Egham, Thorpe, and Weybridge, and recrossed each night, were there any Germans. The ground was so vast and the population so great, that Von Kronhelm feared to spread out his troops over too great an area. The Saxons had orders simply to keep Lord Byfield in check, and see that he did not cross the river. Thus it became for the time a drawn game. The Germans held the north of the Thames, while the British were continually threatening and making demonstrations from the south.

So great, however, was the population now assembled in South London that food was rising to absolutely famine prices. The estuary of the river had been so thickly mined by the Germans that no ships bearing food dared to come up. The Straits of Dover and the Solent were still dangerous on account of the floating mines, and it was only at places such as Brighton, Eastbourne, Hastings, and Folkestone that supplies could be landed at that moment. Trucks full of flour, coffee, rice, brandy, canned meats, boots, uniforms, arms, were daily run up to Deptford, Herne Hill, Croydon, and Wimbledon, but such supplies were very meagre for the millions now crowded along the river front, full of enthusiasm still to defy the enemy. At the first news of the invasion all the coal and coke in London had been expressly reserved for public purposes, small quantities only being issued to printing establishments and other branches of public necessity; but to private individuals they were rigorously denied. Wood, however, was sold without restriction, and a number of barges, old steamers of the County Council, and such-like craft were broken up for fuel.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

Through the past ten days the darkness, gloom, and ever-deepening hunger had increased, and though London retained the same spirit with which it had received the news of the audacious invasion, that portion south of the Thames was starving. Between the 20th and 24th September the price of every article of food rose enormously. On the 24th Ostend rabbits were sold in the Walworth Road for a sovereign each, and a hare cost double. An apple cost 1s. 6d., a partridge 15s., a fresh egg 2s., while bacon was 6s. 6d. a pound, and butter £1 per pound. Shops in the Old Kent Road, Camberwell, Brixton, Kennington, Walworth, Waterloo, and London Roads, which had hitherto been perhaps the cheapest places in which to buy provisions in the whole of London, were now prohibitive in their prices to the poor, though ladies habitually living in the West End and driven there through force of circumstances readily paid the exorbitant charges demanded. Indeed, there was often a fight in those shops for a rabbit, a ham, or a tin of pressed beef, one person bidding against another for its possession. Tallow was often being used for the purposes of cookery, and is said to have answered well.

If South London was in such a state of starvation, even though small quantities of food were daily coming in, Von Kronhelm’s position must have been one of extreme gravity when it is remembered that his food supply was now cut off. It was calculated that each of his five army corps operating upon London consumed in the space of twenty-four hours 18,000 loaves weighing 3 lb. each, 120 cwt. of rice or pearl barley, seventy oxen or 120 cwt. of bacon, 18 cwt. of salt, 30 cwt. of coffee, 12 cwt. of oats, 3 cwt. of hay, 3500 quarts of spirits and beer, with 60 cwt. of tobacco, 1,100,000 ordinary cigars, and 50,000 officers’ cigars for every ten days.

And yet all was provided for at Southminster, Grimsby, King’s Lynn, Norwich, and Goole. Huge food bases had been rapidly established from the first day of the invasion. The German Army, whatever might be said of it, was a splendid military machine, and we had been in every way incapable of coping with it. Yet it was impossible not to admire the courage and patriotism of the men under Byfield, Hibbard, and Woolmer in making the attempt, though from the first the game had been known to be hopeless.

West of London the members of the Hendon and other rifle clubs, together with a big body of Frontiersmen and other free-shooters, were continually harassing the Saxon advanced posts between Shepperton and Colnbrook, towards Uxbridge. On the 24th a body of 1,500 riflemen and Frontiersmen attacked a company of Saxon Pioneers close to where the Great Western Railway crosses the River Crane, north of Cranford. The Germans, being outnumbered, were obliged to withdraw to Hayes with a loss of twenty killed and a large force of wounded. Shortly afterwards, on the following day, the Pioneers, having been reinforced, retraced their steps in order to clear the districts on the Crane of our irregular forces; and they announced that if, as reported, the people of Cranford and Southall had taken part in the attack, both places would be burned.

That same night the railway bridges over the Crane and the Grand Junction Canal in the vicinity were blown up by the Frontiersmen. The fifty Saxons guarding each bridge were surprised by the British sharpshooters, and numbers of them shot. Three hours later, however, Cranford, Southall, and Hayes were burned with petrol, and it was stated by Colonel Meyer, of the Saxons, that this was to be the punishment of any place where railways were destroyed. Such was the system of terrorism by which the enemy hoped to terminate the struggle. Such proceedings—and this was but one of a dozen others in various outlying spots beyond the Metropolitan area—did not produce the effect of shortening the duration of hostilities. On the contrary, they only served to prolong the deadly contest by exciting a wild desire for revenge in many who might otherwise have been disposed towards an amicable settlement.

With the dawn of the 25th September, a grey day with fine drizzling rain in London, the situation seemed still more hopeless. The rain, however, did not by any means damp the ardour of the defenders at the bridges. They sang patriotic songs, while barrel-organs and bands played about them night and day. Though hungry, their spirits never flagged. The newspapers printed across the river were brought over in small boats from the Surrey side, and eagerly seized and read by anxious thousands. The lists of British casualties were being published, and the populace were one and all anxious for news of missing friends.

The chief item of news that morning, however, was a telegram from the Emperor William, in which he acknowledged the signal services rendered by Field-Marshal Von Kronhelm and his army. He had sent one hundred and fifty Orders of the Iron Cross for distribution among officers who had distinguished themselves, accompanied by the following telegraphic despatch, which every paper in London was ordered to print:—

THE TELEGRAM SENT BY THE GERMAN EMPEROR TO
FIELD-MARSHAL VON KRONHELM.

The wharves and embankments of the Surrey shore of the Thames, from Erith to Kingston, were being patrolled day and night by armed men. Any boat crossing the river was at once challenged, and not allowed to approach unless under a flag of truce, or it was ascertained that its occupants were non-belligerents. Everywhere the greatest precaution was being taken against spies, and on the two or three occasions when the Germans had reconnoitered by means of balloons, sharpshooters had constantly fired at them.

As may well be imagined, spy-mania was now rife in every quarter in South London, and any man bearing a foreign name, no matter of what nationality, or known to be a foreigner, was at once suspected, and often openly insulted, even though he might be a naturalised Englishman. It was very unsafe for any foreigner now to go abroad. One deplorable incident occurred that afternoon. A German baker, occupying a shop in Newington Butts, and who had lived in England twenty-five years and become a naturalised British subject, was walking along the Kennington Road with his wife, having come forth in curiosity to see what was in progress, when he was met by a man with whom he had had some business quarrel. The man in question, as he passed, cried out to the crowd that he was a German. “He’s one of Von Kronhelm’s spies!” he shouted.

At the word “spy” the crowd all turned. They saw the unfortunate man had turned pale at this charge, which was tantamount to a sentence of death, and believed him to be guilty. Some wild and irrepressible men set up a loud cry of “Spy! Spy! Down with him! Down with the traitor!” and ere the unfortunate baker was aware of it he was seized by a hundred hands, and lynched.

More than once real spies were discovered, and short shrift was meted out to them; but in several instances it is feared that gross mistakes were made, and men accused as spies out of venomous personal spite. There is little doubt that under cover of night a number of Von Kronhelm’s English-speaking agents were able to cross the river in boats and return on the following night, for it was apparent by the tone of the newspapers that the German generalissimo was fully aware of what was in progress south of the river.

To keep a perfect watch upon a river-front of so many miles against watermen who knew every landing-place and every point of concealment, was utterly impossible. The defenders, brave men all, did their best, and they killed at sight every spy they captured; but it was certain that the enemy had established a pretty complete system of intelligence from the camp of the defiant Londoners.

At the barricades was a quiet, calm enthusiasm. Now that it was seen that the enemy had no immediate intention of storming the defences at the bridges, those manning them rested, smoked, and, though ever vigilant, discussed the situation. Beneath every bridge men of the Royal Engineers had effected certain works which placed them in readiness for instant destruction. The explosives were there, and only by the pressing of the button the officer in command of any bridge could blow it into the air, or render it unsafe for the enemy to venture upon.

The great League of Defenders was in course of rapid formation. Its proclamations were upon every wall. When the time was ripe, London would rise. The day of revenge was fast approaching.

London, north of the Thames, though shattered and wrecked, began, by slow degrees, to grow more calm.

One half of the populace seemed to have accepted the inevitable; the other half being still terrified and appalled at the havoc wrought on every hand. In the case of Paris, forty years before, when the Germans had bombarded the city, their shells had done but little damage. In those days neither guns nor ammunition were at such perfection as they now were, the enemy’s high-power explosives accounting for the fearful destruction caused.

A very curious fact about the bombardment must here be noted. Londoners, though terrified beyond measure when the shells began to fall among them and explode, grew, in the space of a couple of hours, to be quite callous, and seemed to regard the cannonade in the light of a pyrotechnical display. They climbed to every point of vantage, and regarded the continuous flashes and explosions with the same open-mouthed wonder as they would exhibit at the Crystal Palace on a firework night.

The City proper was still held by the Xth Corps under General von Wilburg, who had placed a strong cordon around it, no unauthorised person being allowed to enter or leave. In some of the main roads in Islington, Hoxton, Whitechapel, Clapton, and Kingsland, a few shops that had not been seized by the Germans had courageously opened their doors. Provision shops, bakers, greengrocers, dairies, and butchers were, however, for the most part closed, for in the Central Markets there was neither meat nor vegetables, every ounce of food having been commandeered by German foraging parties.

As far as possible, however, the enemy were, with the aid of the English Advisory Board, endeavouring to calm the popular excitement and encourage trade in other branches. At certain points such as at Aldgate, at Oxford Circus, at Hyde Park Corner, in Vincent Square, Westminster, at St. James’s Park near Queen Anne’s Gate, and in front of Hackney Church, the German soldiers distributed soup once a day to all comers, Von Kronhelm being careful to pretend a parental regard for the metropolis he had occupied.

The population north of the Thames was not, however, more than one quarter what it usually was, for most of the inhabitants had fled across the bridges during the bombardment, and there remained on the Surrey side in defiance of the invader.

Night and day the barricade-builders were working at the bridges in order to make each defence a veritable redoubt. They did not intend that the disasters of the northern suburbs—where the bullets had cut through the overturned carts and household furniture as through butter—should be repeated. Therefore at each bridge, behind the first hastily-constructed defence, there were being thrown up huge walls of sacks filled with earth, and in some places where more earth was obtainable earthworks themselves with embrasures. Waterloo, Blackfriars, Southwark, London, and Cannon Street bridges were all defended by enormous earthworks, and by explosives already placed for instant use if necessary. Hungerford Bridge had, of course, been destroyed by the Germans themselves, huge iron girders having fallen into the river; but Vauxhall, Lambeth, Battersea, Hammersmith, and Kew and other bridges were equally strongly defended as those nearer the centre of London. Many other barricades had been constructed at various points in South London, such as across the Bridge End Road, Wandsworth, several across the converging roads at St. George’s Circus, and again at the Elephant and Castle, in Bankside, in Tooley Street, where it joins Bermondsey Street, at the approach to the Tower Bridge, in Waterloo Road at its junction with Lower Marsh, across the Westminster Bridge and Kennington Roads, across the Lambeth Road where it joins the Kennington Road, at the junction of Upper Kennington Lane with Harleyford Road, in Victoria Road at the approach to Chelsea Bridge, and in a hundred other smaller thoroughfares. Most of these barricades were being built for the protection of certain districts rather than for the general strategic defence of South London. In fact, most of the larger open spaces were barricaded, and points of entrance carefully blocked. In some places exposed barricades were connected with one another by a covered way, the neighbouring houses being crenellated and their windows protected with coal sacks filled with earth. Cannon now being brought in by Artillery from the south were being mounted everywhere, and as each hour went by the position of South London became strengthened by both men and guns.

CHAPTER XI

DEFENCES OF SOUTH LONDON

Kennington, for instance, was practically surrounded by barricades, tons upon tons of earth being dug from the “Oval” and the “Park.” Besides the barricades in Harleyford Road and Kennington Lane, all the streets converging on the “Oval” were blocked up, a huge defence arm just being completed across the junction of Kennington and Kennington Park roads, and all the streets running into the latter thoroughfare from that point to the big obstruction at the “Elephant” were blocked by paving stones, bags of sand, barrels of cement, bricks, and such-like odds and ends impervious to bullets. In addition to this, there was a double fortification in Lambeth Road—a veritable redoubt—as well as the barricade at Lambeth Bridge, while all the roads leading from Kennington into the Lambeth Road, such as St. George’s Road, Kennington Road, High Street, and the rest, had been rendered impassable and the neighbouring houses placed in a state of defence. Thus the whole district of Kennington became therefore a fortress in itself.

This was only a typical instance of the scientific methods of defence now resorted to. Mistakes made in North London were not now repeated. Day and night every able-bodied man, and woman too, worked on with increasing zeal and patriotism. The defences in Haverstock Hill, Holloway Road, and Edgware Road, which had been composed of overturned tramcars, motor ’buses, household furniture, etc., had been riddled by the enemy’s bullets. The lesson had been heeded, and now earth, sand, tiles, paving stones, and bricks were very largely used.

From nearly all the principal thoroughfares south of the river, the paving-stones were being rapidly torn up by great gangs of men, and whenever the artillery brought up a fresh Maxim or field-gun the wildest demonstrations were made. The clergy held special services in churches and chapels, and prayer-meetings for the emancipation of London were held twice daily in the Metropolitan Tabernacle at Newington. In Kennington Park, Camberwell Green, the Oval, Vauxhall Park, Lambeth Palace Gardens, Camberwell Park, Peckham Rye, and Southwark Park a division of Lord Byfield’s army was encamped. They held the Waterloo terminus of the South-Western Railway strongly, the Chatham Railway from the Borough Road Station—now the terminus—the South-Eastern from Bricklayers’ Arms, which had been converted into another terminus, as well as the Brighton line, both at Battersea Park and York Road.

The lines destroyed by the enemy’s spies in the early moments of the invasion had long ago been repaired, and up to the present railway and telegraphic communication south and west remained uninterrupted. The Daily Mail had managed to transfer some of its staff to the offices of a certain printer’s in Southwark, and there, under difficulties, published several editions daily despite the German censorship. While northern London was without any news except that supplied from German sources, South London was still open to the world, the cables from the south coast being, as yet, in the hands of the British, and the telegraphs intact to Bristol and to all places in the West.

Thus, during those stifling and exciting days following the occupation, while London was preparing for its great uprising, the South London Daily Mirror, though a queer, unusual-looking sheet, still continued to appear, and was read with avidity by the gallant men at the barricades.

Contrary to expectation, Von Kronhelm was leaving South London severely alone. He was, no doubt, wise. Full well he knew that his men, once within those narrow, tortuous streets beyond the river, would have no opportunity to manœuvre, and would, as in the case of the assault of Waterloo Bridge, be slaughtered to a man. His spies reported that each hour that passed rendered the populace the stronger, yet he did nothing, devoting his whole time, energy, and attention to matters in that half of London he was now occupying.

Everywhere the walls of South London were placarded with manifestoes of the League of Defenders. Day after day fresh posters appeared, urging patience and courage, and reporting upon the progress of the League. The name of Graham was now upon everyone’s lips. He had, it seemed, arisen as saviour of our beloved country. Every word of his inspired enthusiasm, and this was well illustrated at the mass meeting on Peckham Rye, when, beneath the huge flag of St. George, the white banner with the red cross,—the ancient standard of England,—which the League had adopted as theirs, he made a brilliant and impassioned appeal to every Londoner and every Englishman.

Report had it that the Germans had set a price upon his head, and that he was pursued everywhere by German spies—mercenaries who would kill him in secret if they could. Therefore he was compelled to go about with an armed police guard, who arrested any suspected person in his vicinity. The Government, who had at first laughed Graham’s enthusiasm to scorn, now believed in him. Even Lord Byfield, after a long council, declared that his efforts to inspire enthusiasm had been amazingly successful, and it was now well known that the “Defenders” and the Army had agreed to act in unison towards one common end—the emancipation of England from the German thraldom.

Some men of the Osnabrück Regiment, holding Canning Town and Limehouse, managed one night, by strategy, to force their way through the Blackwall Tunnel and break down its defence on the Surrey side in an attempt to blow up the South Metropolitan Gas Works close by.

The men holding the tunnel were completely overwhelmed by the numbers that pressed on, and were compelled to fall back, twenty of their number being killed. The assault was a victorious one, and it was seen that the enemy were pouring out, when, of a sudden, there was a dull, heavy roar, followed by wild shouts and terrified screams, as there rose from the centre of the river a great column of water, and next instant the tunnel was flooded, hundreds of the enemy being drowned like rats in a hole.

The men of the Royal Engineers had, on the very day previous, made preparations for destroying the tunnel if necessary, and had done so ere the Germans were aware of their intention. The exact loss of life is unknown, but it is estimated that over 400 men must have perished in that single instant, while those who had made the sudden dash towards the Gas Works were all taken prisoners, and their explosives confiscated.

The evident intention of the enemy being thus seen, General Sir Francis Bamford from his headquarters at the Crystal Palace gave orders for the tunnels at Rotherhithe and that across Greenwich Reach, as well as the several “tube” tunnels and subways, to be destroyed, a work which was executed without delay, and was witnessed by thousands, who watched for the great disturbances and upheavals in the bed of the river.

In the Old Kent Road the bridge over the canal, as well as the bridges in Wells Street, Sumner Road, Glengall Road, and Canterbury Road, were all prepared for demolition in case of necessity, the canal from the Camberwell Road to the Surrey Docks forming a moat behind which the defenders might, if necessary, retire. Clapham Common and Brockwell Park were covered with tents, for General Bamford’s force, consisting mostly of auxiliaries, were daily awaiting reinforcements.

Lord Byfield, now at Windsor, was in constant communication by wireless telegraphy with the London headquarters at the Crystal Palace, as well as with Hibbard on the Malvern Hills and Woolmer at Shrewsbury. To General Bamford at Sydenham came constant news of the rapid spread of the national movement of defiance, and Lord Byfield, as was afterwards known, urged the London commander to remain patient, and invite no attack until the League were strong enough to act upon the offensive.

Affairs of outposts were, of course, constantly recurring along the river bank between Windsor and Egham, and the British free-shooters and Frontiersmen were ever harassing the Saxons.

Very soon Von Kronhelm became aware of Lord Byfield’s intentions, but his weakness was apparent when he made no counter-move. The fact was that the various great cities he now held required all his attention and all his troops. From Manchester, from Birmingham, from Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield, and Hull came similar replies. Any withdrawal of troops from either city would be the signal for a general rising of the inhabitants. Therefore, having gained possession, he could only now sit tight and watch.

From all over Middlesex, and more especially from the London area, came sensational reports of the drastic measures adopted by the Germans to repress any sign of revolt. In secret, the agents of the League of Defenders were at work going from house to house, enrolling men, arranging for secret meeting-places, and explaining in confidence the programme as put forward by the Bristol committee. Now and then, however, these agents were betrayed, and their betrayal was in every case followed by a court-martial at Bow Street, death outside in the yard of the police station, and the publication in the papers of their names, their offence, and the hour of the execution.

Yet, undaunted and defiantly, the giant organisation grew as no other society had ever grown, and its agents and members quickly developed into fearless patriots. It being reported that the Saxons were facing Lord Byfield with the Thames between them, the people of West London began in frantic haste to construct barricades. The building of obstructions had, indeed, now become a mania north of the river as well as the south. The people, fearing that there was to be more fighting in the streets of London, began to build huge defences all across West London. The chief were across King Street, Hammersmith, where it joins Goldhawk Road, across the junction of Goldhawk and Uxbridge Roads, in Harrow Road where it joins Admiral Road, and Willesden Lane, close to the Paddington Cemetery, and the Latimer Road opposite St. Quintin Park Station. All the side streets leading into the Goldhawk Road, Latimer Road, and Ladbroke Grove Road, were also blocked up, and hundreds of houses placed in a state of strong defence.

With all this Von Kronhelm did not interfere. The building of such obstructions acted as a safety-valve to the excited populace, therefore he rather encouraged than discountenanced it. The barricades might, he thought, be of service to his army if Lord Byfield really risked an attack upon London from that direction.

Crafty and cunning though he was, he was entirely unaware that those barricades were being constructed at the secret orders of the League of Defenders, and he never dreamed that they had actually been instigated by the British Commander-in-chief himself.

Thus the Day of Reckoning hourly approached, and London, though crushed and starving, waited in patient vigilance.

At Enfield Chase was a great camp of British prisoners in the hands of the Germans, amounting to several thousands. Contrary to report, both officers and men were fairly well treated by the Germans, though with his limited supplies Von Kronhelm was already beginning to contemplate releasing them. Many of the higher grade officers who had fallen into the hands of the enemy, together with the Lord Mayor of London, the Mayors of Hull, Goole, Lincoln, Norwich, Ipswich, and the Lord Mayors of Manchester and Birmingham, had been sent across to Germany, where, according to their own reports, they were being detained in Hamburg and treated with every consideration. Nevertheless, all this greatly incensed Englishmen. Lord Byfield, with Hibbard and Woolmer, was leaving no stone unturned in order to reform our shattered Army, and again oppose the invaders. All three gallant officers had been to Bristol, where they held long consultation with the members of the Cabinet, with the result that the Government still refused to entertain any idea of paying the indemnity. The Admiralty were confident now that the command of the sea had been regained, and in Parliament itself a little confidence was also restored.

Yet we had to face the hard facts that nearly two hundred thousand Germans were upon British soil, and that London was held by them. Already parties of German commissioners had visited the National Gallery, the Wallace Collection, the Tate Gallery, and the British and South Kensington Museums, deciding upon and placing aside certain art treasures and priceless antiques ready for shipment to Germany. The Raphaels, the Titians, the Rubenses, the Fra Angelicos, the Velasquezes, the Elgin Marbles, the best of the Egyptian, Assyrian, and Roman antiques, the Rosetta Stone, the early Biblical and classical manuscripts, the historic charters of England, and suchlike treasures which could never be replaced, were all catalogued and prepared for removal. The people of London knew this; for though there had been no newspapers, information ran rapidly from mouth to mouth. German sentries guarded our world-famous collections, which were now indeed entirely in the enemy’s hands, and which the Kaiser intended should enrich the German galleries and museums.

One vessel flying the British flag had left the Thames laden with spoil, in an endeavour to reach Hamburg, but off Harwich she had been sighted and overhauled by a British cruiser, with the result that she had been steered to Dover. Therefore our cruisers and destroyers, having thus obtained knowledge of the enemy’s intentions, were keeping a sharp lookout along the coast for any vessels attempting to leave for German ports.

Accounts of fierce engagements in the Channel between British and German ships went the rounds, but all were vague and unconvincing. The only solid facts were that the Germans held the great cities of England, and that the millions of Great Britain were slowly but surely preparing to rise in an attempt to burst asunder the fetters that now held them.

Government, Army, Navy, and Parliament had all proved rotten reeds. It was now every man for himself—to free himself and his loved ones—or to die in the attempt.

Through the south and west of England, Graham’s clear, manly voice was raised everywhere, and the whole population were now fast assembling beneath the banner of the Defenders, in readiness to bear their part in the most bloody and desperate encounter of the whole war—a fierce guerilla warfare, in which the Germans were to receive no quarter. The firm resolve now was to exterminate them.

The swift and secret death being meted out to the German sentries, or, in fact, to any German caught alone in a side street, having been reported to Von Kronhelm, he issued another of his now famous proclamations, which was posted upon half the hoardings in London, but the populace at once amused themselves by tearing it down wherever it was discovered. Von Kronhelm was the arch-enemy of London, and it is believed that there were at that moment no fewer than five separate conspiracies to encompass his death. Londoners detested the Germans, but with a hatred twenty times the more intense did they regard those men who, having engaged in commercial pursuits in England, had joined the colours and were now acting as spies in the service of the enemy.

Hundreds of extraordinary tales were told of Germans who, for years, had been regarded as inoffensive toilers in London, and yet who were now proved by their actions to be spies. It was declared, and was no doubt a fact, that without the great army of advance-agents—every man among them having been a soldier—Germany would never have effected the rapid coup she had done. The whole thing had been carefully thought out, and this invasion was the culmination of years of careful thought and most minute study.

CHAPTER XII

DAILY LIFE OF THE BELEAGUERED

At the head of each newspaper office in and about Fleet Street was a German officer, whose duty was to read the proofs of everything before it appeared. He installed himself in the editorial chair, and the members of the staff all attempted to puzzle him and his assistants by the use of London slang. Sometimes this was passed by the officer in question, who did not wish to betray his ignorance, but more often it was promptly crossed out. Thus the papers were frequently ridiculous in their opinions and reports.

The drawn game continued.

On one side of the Thames the Germans held complete possession, while on the other the people of London were defiant behind their barricaded bridges. West London was occupied in building barricades in all quarters to prevent any further entry into London, while Von Kronhelm, with his inborn cunning, was allowing the work to proceed. In this, however, the German Commander-in-Chief did not display his usual caution, as will be seen in later chapters of this history.

Once it was rumoured that the enemy intended to besiege the barricades at the bridges by bringing their field howitzers into play, but very soon it became apparent that Von Kronhelm, with discreet forbearance, feared to excite further the London populace.

The fact that the Lord Mayor had been deported had rendered them irritable and viciously antagonistic, while the terms of the indemnity demanded, now known everywhere—as they had been published in papers at Brighton, Southampton, Bristol, and other places—had aroused within the hearts of Londoners a firm resolve to hold their own at no matter what cost.

Beyond all this remained the knowledge of Gerald Graham’s movement—that gigantic association, the League of Defenders, which had for its object the freeing of England from the grip of the now detested eagle of Germany.

Daily the League issued its bulletins, notices, manifestoes, and proclamations, all of which were circulated throughout South London. South Coast resorts were now crowded to excess by fugitive Londoners, as well as towns inland. Accommodation for them all was, of course, impossible, but everywhere were encampments over the Kentish hop fields and the Sussex pastures.

Some further idea of life in South London at this time may be obtained from the personal narrative of Joseph Cane, a tram driver, in the employ of the London County Council, living at Creek Road, Battersea. His story, written by himself, and subsequently published in the Daily Express, was as follows:—

“Five days have passed since the Germans bombarded us. I have been out of work since the seventh, when the Council suspended greater part of the tramway service, my line from Westminster Bridge included. I have a wife and four children dependent upon me, and, unfortunately, all of them are starving. We are waiting. The Defenders still urge us to wait. But this waiting is very wearisome. For nineteen days have I wandered about London in idleness. I have mixed with the crowds in the West End; I have listened to the orators in the parks; I helped to build the big barricade in the Caledonian Road; I watched the bombardment from the waterside at Wandsworth, and I saw, on the following day, German soldiers across on West Wharf.

“Since that day we South Londoners have barricaded ourselves so strongly that it will, I am certain, take Von Kronhelm all his time to turn us out. Our defences are abundant and strong. Not only are there huge barricades everywhere, but hundreds of houses and buildings have been put in a state of defence, especially the positions commanding the main thoroughfares leading to the bridges. As a member of the League of Defenders, I have been served with a gun, and practise daily with thousands of others upon the new range in Battersea Park. My post, however, is at the barricade across Tarn’s Corner and Newington Causeway, opposite the Elephant and Castle.

“Every road to the bridges at that converging point is blocked. The entrances to St. George’s Road, London Road, Walworth Road, and Newington Butts are all strongly barricaded, the great obstructions reaching up to the second storey windows. The New Kent Road remains open, as there is a barricade at the end of Great Dover Street. The houses all round are also fortified. From Tarn’s, quantities of goods, such as bales of calico, flannel, and dress materials, have been seized and utilised in our barriers. I assisted to construct the enormous wall of miscellaneous objects, and in its building we were directed by a number of Royal Engineers. Our object is to repel the invader should he succeed in breaking down the barrier at London Bridge.

“All is in readiness, as far as we are concerned. Seven maxims are mounted on our defence, while inside Tarn’s are hundreds of Frontiersmen, sharpshooters, members of rifle clubs, and other men who can shoot. Yesterday some artillery men arrived with five field guns, and upon our barricade one has been mounted. The men say they have come across from Windsor, and that other batteries of artillery are on their way to strengthen us. Therefore, old Von Kronhelm, notwithstanding all his orders and daily proclamations about this and about that, has us Cockneys to deal with yet. And he’ll find the Elephant and Castle a tough nut to crack. Hundreds of the men in our tram service are at the barricades. We never thought, a month ago, when we used to drive up and down from the bridges, that we’d so soon all of us become soldiers. Life, however, is full of ups and downs. But nowadays London doesn’t somehow seem like London. There is no traffic, and the side streets all seem as silent as the grave. The main thoroughfares, such as the Walworth, Old Kent, Kennington Park, Clapham, and Wandsworth Roads, are crowded night and day by anxious, hungry people, eager for the revenge which is declared by the Defenders to be at hand. How soon it comes no one cares. There is still hope in Walworth and Kennington, and though our stomachs may be empty we have sworn not to capitulate.

“Food is on its way to us, so it is said. We have regained command of the sea, therefore the ports are reopened, and in a day or two food will no longer be scarce.

“I saw this morning a poster issued by the League of Defenders, the Daily Bulletin, it is called, declaring that relief is at hand. I hope it is, for the sake of my distracted wife and family. The County Council have been very good to us, but as money won’t buy anything, what is the good of it? The supply is growing daily more limited. Half a crown was paid yesterday by a man I know for a small loaf of bread at a shop in the Wandsworth Road.

“Our daily life at the barricade is monotonous and very wearying. Now that the defences are complete and there is nothing to do, everyone is anxious to have a brush with the enemy, and longing that he may make an attack upon us. As newspapers are very difficult to get within the barricades, several new ones have sprung up in South London, most of them queer, ill-printed sheets, but very interesting on account of the news they give.

“The one most in favour is called The South London Mirror. I think it is in connection with the Daily Mail. It now and then gives photographs, like the Daily Mirror. Yesterday it gave a good one of the barricade where I am stationed. The neighbourhood of the Elephant presents an unusual picture, for everywhere men are scrambling over the roofs, and windows of the houses are being half-covered with sheet iron, while here and there is seen protruding the muzzle of a Maxim.

“I hear on the best authority that explosives are already in position under all the bridges, ready to blow them up at any moment. Yesterday I went along to Southwark Bridge to see the defences there. They are really splendid. Before they can be taken by assault the loss of life must be appalling to the enemy. There are mines laid in front by which the Germans could be blown to atoms. Certainly our first line of defence is at least a reliable one. Now that Londoners have taken the law into their own hands, we may perhaps hope for some success. Our Army, our Navy, our War Office, our Admiralty, have proved themselves utterly incompetent.

“By day and by night we guard our barricades. The life is an idle one, now that there is no further work to do. Imagine a huge wall erected right across the road from Tarn’s front to the public-house opposite, an obstruction composed of every conceivable object that might resist the German bullets, and with loopholes here and there to admit of our fire. Everything, from paving-stones torn up from the footpath to iron coal-scuttles, has been used in its construction, together with thousands of yards of barbed wire. Roughly, I believe that fully a thousand men are holding my own particular defence, every one of them members of this new League, which, encouraged and aided by Government, is making such rapid progress in every direction. Every man who stands shoulder to shoulder with me has sworn allegiance to King and Country, and will fight and die in the defence of the city he loves. During the past four days I have only been home once. Alas! my clean little home is now one of suffering and desolation. I cannot bear to hear the children cry for bread, so I now remain at my post, bearing my own humble part in the defence of London. The wife bears up in patience, as so many thousands of the good wives of humble folk are now doing. She is pale-faced and dark-eyed, for privation is fast telling upon her. Yet she uttered no word of complaint. She only asked me simply when this cruel war would end.

“When? Ay, when?

“It will end when we have driven the Germans back into the sea—when we have had blood for blood—when we have avenged the lives of those innocent Englishmen and Englishwomen who have been killed in Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, and Yorkshire. Then the war will end—with victory for our dear old England.

“Of tobacco and drink there is still an abundance. Of the latter, alas, we see examples of its abuse every day. Men and women, deprived of food in many cases, have recourse to drink, with terrible effect. In every quarter, as one walks through South London, one sees riotous drunkenness, and often a lawlessness, which, if not put down by the people themselves, would quickly assume alarming proportions. There are no police now; but the Defenders act the part of officers of the law, and repress any acts of violence or riotous behaviour.

“A certain section of the public are, of course, in favour of stopping the war at all costs, and towards that end are continually holding meetings, and have even gone the length of burning the barricade outside the police station in Kennington Road. This shameful act was committed last night, and one of its perpetrators was, I hear, caught and promptly lynched by the infuriated mob. The barricade is now in rapid process of re-building. On every hand, horses—or the few that now remain in South London—are being killed and used as food. Even such meat as that is at a price almost prohibitive. This afternoon a company of military telegraph engineers came to our barricade, and established telephonic communication between us and the similar obstructions at London Bridge, and on our right in Great Dover Street. From one hour to another we never know when Von Kronhelm may give the order to attack the bridges, therefore through the whole twenty-four hours we have to be alert and watchful, even though we may smoke and gossip around our stacks of piled arms. When the conflict comes it will be a long and bloody one, that is certain. Not a man in South London will shirk his duty to the Empire. The future, whether England shall still remain Mistress of the World, lies with us. It is that important all-present fact that the League of Defenders is impressing upon us from all the hoardings, and it is also the fact which stimulates each one of us to bear our part in the defence of our homes and our loved ones.

“Germany shall yet rue the day when she launched her legions upon us.”