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law and order in a city that had already been looted and burned, and that the down trodden population had received their benevolent army with open arms and a great flag wa- ving welcome. However, I am going to record some of the more important events of this period as I have jotted them down in my diary, for they will at least be of interest to some of my friends and I shall have the satisfaction of having a permanent record of these unhappy days. It will probably extend beyond the date of this letter for I do not anticipate being able to get this off for some considerable time. The Japanese censorship will see to that! Our own Embassy officials and those of other countries together with some of the business men who went aboard the 11lfated "Panay" and the Standard 011 boats and other ships just before the capture of Nanking confidently expecting to return within a week when they left, are still cooling their heels (those who have not been killed or wounded by Japanese bombs and machine guns) out on the river or perhaps in some of the ports. We are wagering it will be another fortnight before any of them are permitted to return and longer than that before any of us are permitted to leave Nanking. We are virtually prisoners

here.

You will recall, those of you who have read earlier letters of mine, that our International Committee for Nanking Safety Zone had been negotiating withthe Chinese and Japanese for the recognition of a certain area in the city which would be kept free of soldiers and all military offices and which would not be bombed or shelled, a place where the remaining two hundred thousand of Nanking's population could take re- fuge when things became too hot, for it had become quite ob- vious that the splendid resistance which the Chinese had put up for so long at Shanghai was now broken and their morale largely gone. The terrific punishment which they had taken from the superior artillery, tanks and air force could not be endured for ever and the successful landing of Japanese troops on Hangchow Bay attacking their flank and rear was the crown- ing event in their undoing. It seemed inevitable that Nanking must soon fall.

On December 1st. Mayor Ma virtually turned over to us the administrative responsibilities for the zone together with a police force of 430 men; 30,000 piculs (2,000 tons) of rice; 10,000 bags of flour and some salt also a promise of $100,000 in cash; $80,000 of which was subsequently re- ceived. General T'ang, recently executed we have been told, charged with the defence of the city, co-operated splendidly on the whole in the very difficult task of the Military and anti-craft, and a most commendable degree of order was pre- served right up to the lastmoment when the Japanese began,

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