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Also they smoothed over little misunderstandings about délits de chasse, gently forbore to smile at our French, and assisted in the issue of the laisser-passer. Doubtless they performed many much more weighty and mysterious duties, but I only speak of what I know.
But to leave these countries and cities they had to be provided with a passport hardly an American among them had such a document and with a laisser-passer to be obtained from the police and countersigned by military authorities, after strict interrogation. The comedy began on the first day of mobilization, and developed into real tragedy as the days slipped by.
The Minister of War has suppressed sauf-conduits for travelers leaving Paris by rail, but they must be provided with proper identification papers. The laisser-passer, delivered by the Prefecture of Police, is still required however for all who leave Paris by automobile.
That I was officially recognized by the Belgian Government and given a laisser-passer by the military Governor of Antwerp permitting me to pass at will through both the outer and inner lines of fortifications, that a motor-car and a military driver were placed at my disposal, and that throughout the campaign in Flanders I was permitted to accompany the Belgian forces, was not due to any peculiar merits or qualifications of my own, or even to the influence exerted by the powerful paper which I represented, but to a series of unusual and fortunate circumstances which there is no need to detail here.
He accepted their credentials, destroyed them, and replaced them with a laisser-passer signed by the mayor of Laon. That dignitary, the colonel explained, to citizens of Laon fleeing to Paris and the coast had issued many passes. But as now between Laon and Paris there were three German armies, the refugees had been turned back and their passes confiscated.
We were indebted, then, on two occasions to the representatives of the United States. The laisser-passer enabling us to leave Paris had been supplied by Mr. Washburne, and the means of continuing our journey in comfort were furnished by General Hazen. I raise my hat to the memory of both those gentlemen.
The third auto which was hidden away was brought out and with Count Moltke's laisser-passer and the family's chauffeur, she will arrive safely, we hope, though we shall not rest until the man gets back.
But a few hours later they returned in sore disappointment, having been stopped near Neuilly by the French outposts, as they were unprovided with any official laisser-passer. A document of that description having been obtained, however, from General Trochu on the morrow, a second attempt was made, and this time the party speedily passed through the French lines.
"Then I will at once prepare to go," she said. The adjutant handed her a slip of paper. "Your laisser-passer to Paris," he said. "You leave in five minutes, madame!" As temporary hostess of the château Marie was free to visit any part of it, and as she passed her door a signal from Madame Benet told her that Anfossi was on the fourth floor, that he was at work, and that the coast was clear.
The other circumstance was the presence of a soldier in the vestibule who said: "Votre laisser-passer, monsieur, s'il vous platt!" If you had a laisser-passer, he was most polite; but if you lacked one, he would also have been most polite and so would the guard that took you in charge at the next station.
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