Scenes of extraordinary enthusiasm marked the departure of the Fifth
Regiment of Line from the Pepiniere barracks to-day. Long before six
o'clock, the appointed hour of departure, the Avenue Portalis and the
steps of the Church of Saint-Philippe du Roule were black with people.

At six o'clock the bugles sounded, the iron gates opened, and the
regiment, with fixed bayonets, swung out into the road amid ringing
cheers and shouts of "Vive la France!" As the standard-bearer passed,
the cheer increased in volume, and men stood with bared heads and waved
their hats in the air. The regiment entrained last night for the Belgian
frontier.




_Friday, August 7._


This is the sixth day of mobilization. Steady rain during the morning.
Temperature at five P.M. 16 degrees centigrade.

Disembarking of British troops in France has begun, and the greatest
enthusiasm is reported from the northern departments. I went to see the
Duc de Loubet this morning and met there Mr. De Courcey Forbes, who told
me that the French mobilization was working like clock-work two days
ahead of scheduled time. He said that about a hundred Germans and
Austrians had been arrested as spies. They were tried by court martial
at eleven o'clock yesterday morning, and fifty-nine of them, who were
found guilty, were shot at Vincennes at four o'clock the same afternoon.