Though I deal with Britain in war-time, no pretense is made of treating so vast a subject except by way of fleeting impressions. Indeed, nothing but snap-shots of British life are possible at the moment, so kaleidoscopic are its developments and vagaries. I am conscious that the pictures I have drawn are, therefore, superficial, but no portrayal of a people in a state of flux could well be otherwise. Although the concluding chapters were written in October, conditions now (in mid-December) have altered vitally in many directions. Sir John French no longer commands the British Army in France and Flanders. Serbia has gone the way of Belgium. Gallipoli has been abandoned. The Coalition Government, established at the end of May, is widely considered a failure at the end of December. The Man in the Street, that oracle of all-wisdom in these Isles, is asking whether the war can be won without still another, and more sweeping, change of National leadership. I hope my British friends, and particularly my professional colleagues of ten years’ standing, will not find my snap-shots too under-exposed. The camera was in pro-British hands every minute of the time. If the pictures appear indistinct, I trust the photography will at least not be criticized as in any respect due to lack of sympathy with the British cause. F. W. W. London, December 20, 1915. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. The Curtain Raiser II. The First Act III. The Plot Develops IV. The Stage Managers V. Slow Music VI. The Climax VII. War VIII. The Americans IX. August Fourth X. The War Reaches Me XI. The Last Farewell XII. Safe Conduct XIII. Complacency Rules The Waves XIV. Pro-Ally Uncle Sam XV. The Helmsmen XVI. The General, The Admiral and the King XVII. "Your King And Country Want You" XVIII. War in the Dark XIX. The Internal Foe XX. The Empire of Hate XXI. The New England XXII. Quo Vadis? New Introductory Chapter HOW EUROPE VIEWS AMERICAN INTERVENTION