MY SECOND WAR-TIME VISIT TO BERLIN _December 22._ I am just back from my second war-time trip to Berlin. It is about ten weeks since I was last in the German capital, and during the interval a big change has come over the city. Less cheering, less flag-waving, less enthusiasm; the Berliners still tell you that everything is going on all right, the papers are still very optimistic, the short official bulletins keep very dark any bad news and magnify what is good, but the atmosphere is different and one feels the change in almost everything. I arrived in Berlin on the day the German Pacific Squadron was sunk by British ships. Since the sinking of the _Emden_ nobody in Germany dared hope for any better destiny for the other ships on the high seas. They realised that all they could expect was to cause as large a loss of life as possible on the English vessels before going to their fate. The news of the affair off the Falkland Islands greatly impressed Berlin. It had not been expected that the British naval authorities would act so quickly and at one blow demolish a force whose destructiveness had given the people to hope that a longer life was in store for it. A remarkable thing is that, though Berlin got to know of the destruction of the four ships only through English sources, the Berlin papers printed it before it was published in London. The _Lokal-Anzeiger_ gave the news in a few lines as sent by a special correspondent in London. It was only last Tuesday, when I saw the English papers in Switzerland, that I realised that the _Lokal-Anzeiger_ had been able to print the news in Berlin before the Press Bureau had given it out in London. In this case the fact has no importance, but does it not show that Germany has still a wonderful information service and telegraph wire or wireless communication with London? Since last Sunday it was known in Berlin that some sort of raid was to be attempted on the eastern shores of Britain, and that this first appearance of the German fleet would be followed by numerous other visits in different parts of the English, Scotch, and Irish coasts. Then one fine day Germany might attempt to disembark a few thousand men, who, of course, would be killed or taken prisoners, but it is thought in Berlin that such a landing will stop England sending troops to the Continent and probably force her to recall some of the troops she has already sent there. My informant said that the Germans would probably make their first appearance on the British coast very soon and that afterwards a regular programme of raids, both by sea and by air, was to be carried out. I am sorry I was not in Berlin when the news of the bombardment of Scarborough was served out to the good Berlin people. The papers will no doubt have magnified its effects to cheer up the population, which seems to need it badly.