[CTRL] [4a] Revelations of an International Spy

[Kris Millegan]

 -Caveat Lector-

an excerpt from:
Revelations of an International Spy
I. T. T. Lincoln
Robert M. McBride & Company�1916
New York
--[4a]--

CHAPTER IV

EDWARD VIII's INTRIGUES FOR THE ISOLATION OF GERMANY

AT the time of her brilliant victory over France in 1871, Germany had no navy
worth mentioning, nor had she an inch of colonial possession anywhere in the
world. The consciousness of her power, so vividly demonstrated in 1870-71,
gave a great impetus to German industrial development�aided forcefully by the
huge war indemnity exacted from France. In a few years I time the world woke
up to the fact of a new world-power�United Germany. As long as Bismarck
guided Germany there did not exist a settled colonial policy, although in
1878 Germany acquired the Marshall Islands and in 1884 Luederitzbay, New
Guinea, Togoland, and the Cameroons. Bismarck was averse to any colonial
schemes. His aim was to encourage France in her colonial aspirations and to
support her in them, hoping thereby to make France forget the loss of
Alsace-Lorraine and thus pave the way for an understanding with her.

In 1884 it was Germany and France cooperating that prevented the ratification
of a treaty which England concluded with Portugal and which would have made
England supreme in the Congo Basin. In the same year Bismarck placed himself
in agreement with Baron de Gourcel, then French Ambassador in Berlin, on the
question of opposing English policy in Africa. It was in agreement with Baron
de Gourcel that Bismarck summoned the Congo Conference of 1884. In the next
year (24th of December) Bismarck signed a delimitation treaty respecting
French and German colonies in West Africa.

Germany honestly and sincerely tried to make friends of the French Republic.
It is very important to bear this in mind�for the right understanding of
later events of which I have first-hand information. In 1887 Bismarck could
declare openly in the Reichstag that "the two governments [France and
Germany] had full confidence in the sincerity and loyalty of their mutual
relations." Now�we must allude to just another cardinal point of German
policy. Kaiser Wilhelm II, as well as Bismarck, not withstanding Germany's
alliance with Austria (1879) which in 1882 by the adhesion of Italy became
the Triple Alliance, earnestly strove to preserve their friendly relations
with Russia. On the 14th of September, 1884, the emperors of Germany, Russia
and Austria met at Skiernewice (the Emperors' armies met here during the
present war, but on a different mission) to proclaim the agreement reached
six months previous between the three countries. This also is important to
remember, i.e., cooperation between Russia, Germany, and Austria. For when
England, during and after the Boer War, found her "splendid isolation" a
great peril to her, she deliberately embarked on a policy of sowing distrust
and enmity between Germany and France on the one hand, in order to draw
France into the orbit of her diplomacy and to create antagonism between
Austria and Russia on the other, in order to break the traditional friendship
between Russia and Germany and thus use Russia and France for her own selfish
ends�the isolation and destruction of Germany. I shall, in later chapters,
disclose many of the secret schemes and plots emanating from Downing Street
for the accomplishment of this diabolical scheme. Here I merely allude to it
to point out the importance and full meaning of Germany's honest endeavors
toward friendliness with all her neighbors.

Many people trace Germany Is newer policy, her "warlike" tendencies, her
"militarism," to the ascension of the present Emperor, William II. His whole
history, life, and deeds belie all such groundless insinuations. In 1888,
before the death of his grandfather, William I, the Kaiser said: "I am quite
aware that among people in general and especially abroad, I am accused of
frivolous desires of warlike fame. I indignantly spurn these unworthy
imputations."

It is true that he did not agree with Bismarck Is policy of
"non-colonization," but he continued Bismarck's policy of drawing nearer to
France and keeping good friends with Russia�whilst at the same time putting
forth every endeavor to remove causes of possible friction between his
country and England. On the 14th of June, 1890, an Anglo-German treaty was
signed, acknowledging Great Britain's supremacy over the whole basin of the
Nile (complement to Fashoda agreement with France).

In 1891, on December 4th, the Kaiser in a public speech referred to France as
"the chivalrous enemy." It was France who did not respond to the many offers
and attempts of friendship; she harbored thoughts of hatred and hopes of
revenge. She went far out of her way to prepare for them. In spite of the
political, religious, moral, social, and military gulf that separates the two
countries, France and Russia entered into an alliance (known as the Dual
Alliance) in 1895. Still the present Kaiser continued his advances toward
France for her friendship.

On the death of ex-President McMahon, on October 18, IS931 the Kaiser
instructed his Ambassador in Paris, Count Munster, to express his sympathies
to the bereaved family. When President Carnot was assassinated at Lyons, the
Kaiser was the first to express to his widow his sympathy, and referred to
Carnot as worthy of his great name" and as having "died on the field of
honor." On this occasion and in spite of some resistance manifested by German
opinion, he liberated two French naval officers who were imprisoned for
espionage. Again, on December 2, 1895, in a speech he said of the French
army, "Brave soldiers, fighting with the courage of despair for their
laurels, their past, their emperor." On the death of General Canrobert in
1895, and on the death of Jules Simon in 1896) he repeated his chivalrous
conduct of years ago by publicly expressing his sympathy in generous words.
Indeed, I can state as a positive fact that in 1897 Germany made overtures to
France for an all-round understanding. The reader will remember that, as
related previously, Germany, France, and Russia in 1895 undertook a joint
action against Japan wresting Port Arthur from her.

Even then, as we saw, Great Britain grew decidedly anxious. The three
countries saw that Great Britain was their common and only enemy, blocking
their legitimate expansion everywhere, opposing France in Africa and Siam in
the Far East; Russia in the Far East, Middle East (Persia, Afghanistan), and
Germany in Asia Minor.

Hence they combined against their common and only enemy. Great Britain,
seeing this growing cordiality between Germany and France, on the one hand,
and Germany, Austria, and Russia on the other, combined with the fact of the
Dual Alliance of 1895, engaged Japan (Treaty of 1902) to make war on Russia,
humiliated France in Africa (Fashoda), and prepared a deep-laid plot for
Franco-German distrust. Germany's overtures to France in 1897 were at first
responded to. On the 23rd of July a Franco-German agreement was signed about
Togoland. The same year Count Mouraview, Russia's Foreign Minister, visited
Berlin and Paris, where proposals of Franco-German rapprochement were
discussed. England grew very anxious. On the 13th of May, 1898, Mr.
Chamberlain made his famous speech that "Great Britain was looking for
friends." Meanwhile, the Kaiser continued his advances to France for her
friendship. In 1898, on the occasion of the loss of the French ship
Bourgogne, he was among the first to express his sympathies to the French
Government.

In 1898, during the Fashoda crisis with England, although she knew that
France was utterly unprepared, Germany did not take any advantage of this
weakness of France. She preserved a very correct attitude. In 1899, the
Kaiser again, on the death of President Faure, caused himself to be
represented at the funeral by his ambassador, Prince Radzivill. On the 6th of
July of the same year, being in Norwegian waters, he visited the French
training ship Iphigenia and telegraphed to President Loubet to express his
gratification both as a sailor and as a comrade "at the amiable reception
accorded" to him. In the same year Bulow, the Chancellor, said in the
Reichstag: "With France we have always so far, easily and willingly, come to
an arrangement in matters concerning colonial interest." In 1900 the Kaiser
himself supervised the arrangements for the German section of the Paris
Exhibition. In 1900 he invited the French general Bonnal to visit the German
maneuvers as his personal guest and received and treated him with superlative
attention. The same year�on March 15�Bulow could declare that between France
and Germany there was no longer any real conflict of interest whether in the
Far East or in many other parts of the world.

Why should not Germany and France live as good neighbors and good friends?
Moreover, why should not all the nations of the Continent of Europe�neighbors
as they are�live together in peace and harmony? Such thoughts passed through
the brains of statesmen, who held the destiny of Europe in their hands, just
prior to the Boer War. Far be it from me to suggest that all causes for
possible future friction were removed.

But, nevertheless, it was discernible that a closer cooperation between them
was contemplated. And this, for a specific reason. The time-honored policy of
England has ever been to prevent such concord among the continental nations.
I am not expressing an opinion; I am stating a well-known fact. The statesmen
of England considered�rightly or wrongly�that the British Empire could only
be preserved by dominating Europe through dissensions and distrust among the
continental Powers. As Chatham said long ago: "Our first duty is to see that
France does not become a naval, commercial, and colonial Power."

This was France in the time of the Earl of Chatham. This is Germany to-day.
England has always attempted to prevent other nations developing to the full
their energies and abilities and making the most of their opportunities. It
is England who prevented Russia from reaching a warm water port; England, who
tried to prevent the formation of the United States of America, who destroyed
American merchant shipping; England, who�by the help of the Japanese�drove
Russia from the Far East. England, who destroyed Spain's, Portugal's and the
Netherlands' Colonies. It is now England, with the help of her erstwhile
enemies and her present dupes, who wants to prevent Germany "becoming a
naval, commercial, and colonial Power," The moment England will give up the
preposterous pretension of dominating the whole world, the peace of the world
will have come appreciably nearer.

Prior to and during the Boer War, the European nations thought the
opportunity came to dethrone England from her proud position of supreme and
domineering world power. In 1899 Delcasse, French Foreign Minister, went to
St. Petersburg, and Mouraview, Russian Minister, came to Paris. An
anti-English coalition was broached. Germany, in previous years seeing the
impossibility of cooperating with England on terms of equality, struck out
for her own path. Was that wrong or warlike?

She withdrew from the European concert in the Cretan Question (in 1898). In
the same year she passed her first naval defense act, voting about ninety
million dollars for ships and armaments. The same year (November) the Kaiser
visited the Sultan in Constantinople and Palestine. Blocked everywhere by
England in her justified endeavors for Colonial expansion�necessitated by her
growing population, industry, and commerce�she determined to utilize her
resources and energy for the rejuvenation of the Turkish Empire�with its vast
possibilities. In the next year she obtained from the Sultan in Turkey a
concession�known as the Bagdad railway concession�for the extension of the
Anatolian railway from Koniah in Asia Minor to Basra or the Bassorah on the
Persian Gulf-through Bagdad. England declined to participate in this. In
April of this same year Germany bought from Spain the Caroline and Marianne
Islands for 25,000,000 pesetas. That no anti-English policy was behind all
this, is proved by the fact that it was the Kaiser who prevented the
anti-English coalition during the Boer War.

And just at this time a very important thing took place�important for the
subsequent history of the world. In January, 1901, King Edward VII ascended
the throne of his ancestors. With him a new chapter in the history of the
world set in. He was cosmopolitan, a great traveler, intimate in his contact
with people in every station in life, and knew, above all, the world and
human nature. He was not insular, did not entertain an insular view of things
in general. He had imagination; he had a historic and geographic sense. He
saw things as they were. And he saw, first of all, that the Boer War had
shown that the foundations and whole structure of the British Empire had
commenced to shake. He saw that, in the Far East and in the Middle East,
Great Britain was being opposed by Russia, supported by France; he even saw
that a cooperation between Russia, France, and Germany was a possibility. In
Africa, he beheld the growing understanding, not to say cordiality, between
Germany and France, which the Kaiser�as we have seen�very earnestly tried to
extend to Europe. He knew of the cordiality existing between Berlin and St.
Petersburg. He knew of the Franco-Italian reconciliation in the
Mediterranean. It would be idle to ascribe to King Edward profound political
knowledge, but he possessed exceptional diplomatic abilities. Neither he, nor
Lord Esher, nor any of his trusted advisers, did plan a deliberate policy of
any kind at this time. They felt that they would have to give to Britain's
foreign policy a new direction, but none of them were guided by a clear
comprehension of Britain's necessities or of the value of various
combinations.

Incidental circumstances gave this new scheming a decidedly anti-German
coloring. First of all there was a long-standing antipathy�not to use a
stronger word�between the Kaiser and Edward, due in the first instance to the
treatment of Empress Frederick (a favorite sister of Edward) by her son, the
Kaiser. Another incidental factor of far-reaching importance was Edward's
predilection for Paris, with all the gaiety he so thoroughly enjoyed while
Prince of Wales.

There was a clique or coterie of people in England who cleverly played upon
Edward's prejudices, and by degrees succeeded in giving to Edward's
pro-French tendencies a growing anti-German point. In France they were not
slow to seize upon this opportunity. Delcasse, even after the Fashoda.
incident, declared to an intimate friend of his that he would not quit office
before he had arrived at an understanding with England. Notwithstanding all
the repeated and absolutely sincere overtures of Germany, France never gave
up the idea of a war of "revenge" against Germany. She was ready to sacrifice
much, but not to forget Alsace-Lorraine, called the "lost provinces"but which
in reality Louis XIV stole from Germany. English manufacturers, shippers,
shipbuilders, viewed with growing alarm and concern Germany's wonderful
developments in all phases, fields, and spheres. Being unable by sheer lack
of ability to emulate Germany, John Bull devised another scheme�to destroy
Germany.

Great Britain was not secure in the Far East and in central Asia against
Russian expansion. She encountered France in north and central Africa. She
feared Russian influence in the Balkans, but she feared German native
ability, thrift, and efficiency above all. She was ready to pay any price, to
give up centuries�old, political traditions, aye, corner-stones of her
political fabric; she was willing to hand over Morocco to France, a
contingency she consistently opposed all the time; she was willing to
withdraw her navy from the Far East, handing it over to her ally Japan; she
was willing absolutely to reverse her time-honored policy in central Asia,
handing over Persia to Russia (which she did); she was willing to reestablish
her greatest and most dreaded political rival �Russia�after the latter's
defeat in Manchuria by Japan; she was willing to reestablish Russian
domination in the Balkans, at the risk even of having to give up
Constantinople to the Russians; she was willing to do all this and much
more�but she was not willing to emulate Germany and try to beat her at her
own game: science, efficiency, thrift, good government. She was willing to
make her erstwhile enemies (Russia and France) her friends and
fellow-conspirators, but she was not willing to make a friend of Germany�who
has never been her enemy. How this was plotted and carried out I will now
describe.

The year of 1906 was ushered in by events of far-reaching importance in many
parts of the world, which to the uninitiated seem to be unconnected with one
another but in reality they have a very close bearing to one another. On the
10th of January, Sir Charles Hardinge, British Ambassador to St. Petersburg,
presented his letters of recall to the Tzar, from whom he received a golden
snuff-box, having been appointed Permanent Under-secretary of State of
Foreign Affairs. On the 15th of January, the conference to settle the Morocco
questions opened at Algeciras. On the 19th of January the French Ambassador
left London on a visit to Paris; the German Ambassador in London paid a visit
to King Edward VII at Windsor Castle (third week in January). Belgium
mobilized secretly in January; Austria declared a tariff war against Servia
on account of a customs union entered into between Servia and Bulgaria the
year previous. In February, Bulgaria addressed a note to Turkey relative to
crimes committed by Albanian and Greek Bands on Bulgarians in Macedonia; also
the Antwerp Fortification Bill passed by Belgian Parliament. In March, Russia
passed a new military law; King Edward visited Paris (incognito);
Anglo-Turkish conflict over Egyptian boundary question; rising in Yemen;
Rumanian secret consignment of rifles captured in Kolozsvar, Hungary. In
April, M. Isvolsky was appointed Foreign Minister of Russia. In May, he
visited Paris.

My report on the situation in France to "D" could not be finished until I had
obtained the secrets of M. Legrange through Celeste. I therefore took the
train for Brussels. At the chancellery of the British Legation in Brussels I
found Mr. Percy Wyndham, who consented to join me at a dinner, which, as
usual, took place at the Hotel de la Poste. Of course, I played off some of
the intelligence I had obtained in Paris. I told him that I had heard in
Paris that, at the conference at Windsor Castle, war with Germany was
discussed, but it was decided to postpone it for several reasons. Of these
reasons I heard whispers, but I was never satisfied with mere whispers. I had
hoped Mr. Wyndham might know something more. As a matter of fact, the British
Legation knew only that there was a danger of war, that Belgium secretly
mobilized in January, and that England was ready with her navy and
expeditionary force, but they did not know the gist of the conversation at
Windsor Castle in the last week of January.

"Well, Wyndham, I hear nice things in Paris�the negotiations with Russia are
going well. His Majesty sent Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace to St. Petersburg,
after a visit to Algeciras. I very much fear we are approaching a European
war. To me it is unthinkable that Great Britain should enter into a treaty
with Russia. It is a crime against humanity."

"It is something new to me to see you in the role of a moralist, Lincoln. You
must look facts in the face. We have come to the conclusion that, in view of
certain developments in many parts of the world, we cannot possibly remain in
isolation. Russia was undermining our influence in the Far East and although
that was checked by the Anglo-Japanese treaty of 1902 and particularly by the
Japanese victory in Manchuria, we could not feel comfortable about Asia.
Japan, our ally, cannot be trusted, and the Japanese alliance might prove
even more dangerous to British interests in the Far East than Russian
expansion. Being driven from the East, Russia will surely again turn her
attention to the Middle East and European Turkey."

"This will raise some of the most vital problems of English policy."

"You know," he continued, "of our perennial difficulties in the Persian Gulf
and in Persia. Russia has approached already too near to the frontier of our
Indian Empire. The only buffer States separating her from India are
Afghanistan and Persia. I do not think we need trouble ourselves about
Afghanistan. For although the present Ameer is not so friendly to us as his
father was, he would certainly resist with all his power any encroachment of
Russia upon her borders. But with Persia it is different."

He then went on to dwell on recent Anglo-Russian rivalry in Persia. How
Russia in 1900 lent 22,500,000 roubles to Persia, out of which sum Persia had
to pay off her English debt of �500,000 so that Russia remained her only
creditor. How Russia took possession through her Belgian hirelings of all the
Persian custom houses and ports except Fars and ports on the Persian Gulf.
Default in payment gives right of control of customs houses to Russia.

"The building by Russia of a military road from Tabriz to Teheran cannot but
cause us anxiety," continued Mr. Wyndham. "The Russian-Persian Commercial
Treaty signed in 1902 nearly ruined out Indian tea trade to Persia and caused
a rapid extension of Russian influence in Persia.

"Indeed, Russia is not trying to conceal her designs upon Persia. With great
difficulty we induced the Shah of Persia to come to London, which, as you
know, he did in August of 1902, visiting King Edward. On his way back he
visited Paris, which he left on September 17th for Warsaw. Three days later
the Novoye-Vremya of St. Petersburg published the following lines: 'One of
the roads by which it is possible to reach the open ocean, lies through
Persia.' Our ambassador in St. Petersburg reported to Downing Street that
this was inserted at the direct command of the Russian Government. In other
words, it was a threat leveled at us. This was followed by Russia opening a
steamship service from Odessa to the Persian Gulf, although there was no
trade existing whatever. Indeed, we know that the Russian Government secretly
subsidized the steamer Kornniloff with �5,000 per round voyage. In 1903,
Russia built a military road from Tabriz to Kazvin. All these open
encroachments on Persia, coupled with Russia's secret intrigues in Teheran,
compelled Lord Lansdowne to declare in the House of Lords, 'Great Britain
will resist by all means in its power the attempt of any other nation to
establish itself in force on the shores of the Gulf.'"

"To emphasize Lord Lansdowne's speech in London, Lord Curzon, our Viceroy in
India, left Karachi (India) for the Gulf, accompanied by four cruisers. This
was a demonstration against Russia. However, these perennial bickerings could
not go on in the Middle East without a clash of arms sooner or later. Now an
armed conflict between us and Russia would sound the death knell of the
Entente Cordiale�which is the corner-stone of our foreign policy."

"I know," I replied, "and it is for this reason that I maintain that the
Entente Cordiale will, nay, must, ultimately lead you into a war with
Germany. It will compel you to extend it to Russia, which will then have a
decidedly anti-German point, and that will be disastrous. Why not rather make
up your differences with Germany? It would not entail such enormous political
sacrifices as the Anglo-Russian agreement, should the present negotiations
lead to that result."

"We distrust Germany-that explains all," was his cryptic reply.

"Rather say you fear Germany and are jealous of her, and I agree with you," I
retorted. "But tell me a single reason why you should not rather compose your
differences with Germany? An Anglo-German treaty, removing all causes of
friction between the two countries and paying due regard to Germany's
justifiable colonial ambitions, would make you secure in Asia, in the Middle
East-everywhere. Besides it would be the only true safeguard of the peace of
the world. Mind you, I am using this word in its true application, and not in
the rhetorical sense of diplomatic after-dinner speeches."

"As a matter of debate your argument is unanswerable. I admit that much. But
this is not a question of argument-it is a question of selfinterest, national
interest, pure and simple. You must not forget Fashoda. If after the Fashoda
incident, and after all the French bitterness during the Boer War, we would
have entered into a general treaty with Germany, eine Verbruderungs
Treaty�Frauce and Russia would have interpreted it as directed against them.
Now I want you to follow my reasoning in regard to the deciding factors in
Downing Street. During and after Fashoda, the Kaiser was bidding high for
French friendship. We cannot, of course, consider for a moment to stand by
and watch the formation of a coalition or entente of Russia, Germany,
Austria-Hungary, and France in which Italy must be included. There are two
possibilities and two only: either we join this entente of European Powers or
we prevent its consummation. The first is out of the question. To join such
an entente would be to join an association of thiefs in order to be robbed;
or rather, to surrender our leading position, if you prefer this" (he
corrected himself when I laughed at his former expression). "Therefore we had
to make such a combination impossible. How? To side with Germany? That was
very carefully considered, but rejected for the following reasons: to join
with Germany would not only have sharpened the antagonism and rivalry between
ourselves and Russia and France, but would certainly have resulted in a war.
Now such a war could only have had one ending�the victory of the
Anglo-German, Austro-Hungarian coalition. That means just this, which you
don't seem to understand, mon cher�the strengthening of Germany, the raising
of Germany to a real world-power position, at our cost�Vous voyez voila."

"And will not your present policy lead you into war�the results of which
might, nay, will, be more disastrous? Besides, why not enter a general
European combination? Why not? Do you think, furthermore, that Russia will
play your game?"

"I know it is schlecht mit Russland Kirschen zu fressen" (Mr. Wyndham was
wont to quote French and German aside as he went along), "but it will be easy
to make Russia play our game. There is Persia, Constantinople, the hegemony
of the Balkans, prizes much coveted by Russia and only through us can they
get them."

"And when she gets them she will swallow you, I retorted.

"There will be Germany to help us. Germany beaten and humiliated will be
willing and glad to accept our alliance�but she will have to take a secondary
position. You see our whole policy in a nutshell. If an Anglo-German
combination wins the next war, Germany will subjugate us, with or without the
help of Russia. If an Anglo-Franco-Russian combination wins, we shall retain
our leading position�France being a decaying 'country and Russia being
unwieldy. Should she, however, become dangerous, we shall call Germany in."

"But suppose-that an Anglo-Franco-Russian combination would be defeated-what
then?"

"That is unthinkable. We shall have other helpers besides. Our scheme is very
comprehensive."

Not only Mr. Wyndham spoke thus. All the British diplomats I discussed this
question with gave expression to the very same views. It was in vain to argue
with any of them; in vain to point to Germany's record since 1871,
notwithstanding the many opportunities to "conquer," if conquest had been her
aim, so notable during the Russo-Japanese Wax. It was useless to appeal to
facts. As Sir Arthur Hardinge remarked once during a luncheon he gave in
honor of Mr. Rowntree and myself at the Legation in Brussels: "We diplomats
are like lawyers; we have to plead for, and uphold, a cause which we know to
be wrong."

True to my customary methods of work, I did not pursue my conversation
further, although I was curious to know the exact details of "the
comprehensible scheme" Mr. Wyndham referred to. I could, however, guess its
outline.

I was just making plans to investigate this aspect thoroughly, when Mr.
Rowntree decided to send me to Switzerland to start there also an
investigation. This was wholly unwelcome to me, as it was arranged between
"D"and myself that I should go to Copenhagen. I could not persuade Mr.
Rowntree to desist, or at any rate postpone the Swiss investigation. So I had
to go. I went to Switzerland and from there continued to mail and wire my
arguments for the stopping of the Swiss investigation. All in vain. At last
after a few days of fruitless wiring, I got a telegram from Mr. Rowntree,
telling me to meet him at Bale. Copenhagen now looked far away. Mr. Rowntree
arrived in Bale and within a few hours of his arrival he was convinced that
an investigation in Switzerland for his book was an impossibility. The very
same day I returned to London,. while Mr. Rowntree, accompanied by Mrs.
Rowntree, decided to spend a holiday in Switzerland.

The reader will be rather surprised to hear that I returned to London. Did
not I desire to go to Copenhagen? Oh, yes; it was precisely for this reason
that I went to London. I convinced Mr. Rowntree that we should not
investigate Switzerland. By the way, what seemed too difficult before was
very easily accomplished. I secured the assistance of a very high official of
the Canton of Bale, and of the Canton of Berne to support my view, and Mr.
Rowntree could not but yield before these weighty and unanimous experts. It
was necessary now to convince Mr. Rowntree that we should start an
investigation in Denmark. But in order to be successful, I had to have
letters of introduction from Sir Edward Grey to the British Minister in
Copenhagen, who would, as in Brussels and Paris, introduce me to ministers
and high permanent officials in Copenhagen.

So I went to London, got my letters from the Foreign Office, and was off to
Copenhagen. As I anticipated, Sir Edward Grey's letters had the desired
results. To lend an air of reality to my supposed investigations, I requested
the usual letters of introduction, As a matter of solid fact, I did not
investigate anything except international, political, and  diplomatic
intrigues. Will Mr. Rowntree contradict me? Did I investigate anything in
Denmark? I was there five weeks, returned, and advised Mr. Rowntree to drop
Denmark too, and let me concentrate for the time being upon France and
Belgium. Does Mr. Rowntree remember this? Can he say what I did in Copenhagen
for him? No, he cannot. I was there for important things. Now it was very
important for me to visit, just at this time, Copenhagen.

Both the dynasties of Russia and Great Britain being closely related to the
Danish Court, it was felt by both countries that Copenhagen might be a good
"clearing house"�which indeed it was. The old King Christian IX actively
supported the efforts for an understanding for the following reasons: His
daughters, the Dowager Empress of Russia and the Queen of England, influenced
him in that direction�both having been anti-German. Both were, indeed,
willing tools in the hands of the anti-German conspirators. It is not so
generally known as it ought to be that it was mainly Queen Alexandra and her
sister who prevented an Anglo-Russian war over the Dogger Bank incident.

Furthermore, King Christian hoped that an Anglo-Russian-French combination
might provide him with an opportunity for revenge for 1866. Not that he ever
hoped or desired to attack Germany, but during those months of secret
negotiations he was indeed promised, definitely promised, that for
facilitating the landing of an Anglo-French force in North Schleswig-Holstein
he would be given Schleswig-Holstein, including Altona and the Kiel Canal.
For it should be remembered the discussion of an Anglo-Russian-French Entente
did not by any means move within academic limits, nor was it prompted by
tender considerations for "the peace of Europe."

In Copenhagen, I had a most remarkable experience�remarkable even for a
diplomatic spy. I was staying at the Grand Hotel National. There was a round,
big-faced, clean-shaven, spectacled gentleman much in evidence there, who
smoked a brand of cigars, the bands of which bore his own smiling face. This
gentleman took an unusual interest in me�a flattering unction which aroused
my suspicion and watchfulness. His portrait brand of cigars I found
remarkably good, after one of his excellent dinners.

His attentions, went on for two or three days, and I was curious to know what
was to follow. One evening, again dining together, we were talking about
Rhine wines�a subject of which he knew a good deal�when he ostentatiously
pulled out a magnificent watch from his watch pocket and looked at its dial.
To my astonishment I saw a double eagle in diamonds and other precious
stones. Whether it was the Russian or Austrian double eagle, I could not
tell. He put it away again. He went on talking on Rhine wines, when, to my
greater astonishment, after ten or fifteen minutes, he pulled out another
magnificent watch from his other vest pocket with the same eagle in diamonds.
I could not repress my curiosity.

"Do you carry two watches on you?" I asked.

"I do, because these two watches are a very treasured possession to me." He
pulled them both out, unchained them, and put them into my hands.

"This one is a gift from Tzar Nicholas, the other from Empress Marie, his
mother," he said.

I took a good look at them. Both had the Russian eagle set in diamonds, and
other precious stones, whilst the other side contained the monograms of the
Tzar and the Dowager Empress respectively. Inside I saw engraved a date. It
was clear to me, my host was a Russian something. But beyond saying "how
interesting, they are beautiful," I closed up like an oyster.

"I thought you would like to see them," was his sententious reply.

"Certainly I am interested," I urged. "Are they presents from the high
personages personally whose monograms they bear I"

"That is a question to which I will only reply providing you answer one of my
questions," he said.

"That depends upon the question, I countered.

"Well, Monsieur Lincoln, I am curious to know why there are so often
messengers from two or three ministries coming to you with messages? Why do
you drive so often to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of
Interior and the British Legation?"

"Oh, ho, I comprehend, I replied with great hilarity. "You have followed me
or had me followed. Why, it is very simple. I am here to make an
investigation for an English philanthropist, covering Danish agriculture and
kindred subjects," wherewith I produced my credentials.

"Yes, yes, that is a very clever blind. Very clever, indeed. But you should
then see people who are engaged in agriculture and not statesmen and
diplomats. You see, Monsieur Lincoln, your blind does not deceive me. It only
makes me more curious. Of course, I have no right to ask you or to know what
you are doing here. But you asked me a question relating to my two watches.
Now, sir, I propose a bargain; to wit, I will tell you my story if you will
tell me yours. Agreed?"

This was indeed a prosperous situation. I was not so keen for his story,
which might be sheer invention, but I, was immediately on the alert to locate
his precise personality and its official implications. I jocularly agreed to
his terms.

It developed that he was the chief secret service man in Denmark of the
Russian Secret Police. It was his special duty to watch and hunt down
Nihilists. Whenever the Tzar or the Dowager Empress of Russia sojourned in
Copenhagen�which during the lifetime of King Christian IX was very
frequently, he was attached to their person and was around them day and
night. He told me some interesting and hair-curling Nihilist hunts. But what
interested me infinitely more was the fact that he was in personal attendance
upon the Tzar and his mother whenever they were in Copenhagen.

Indeed, when Queen Alexandra and her sister, the Dowager Empress of Russia,
spent their few weeks together every autumn in Copenhagen, he was always with
them and overheard many a conversation. It was this year�1906�that Queen
Alexandra of England and her sister were to spend their common holidays for
the first time in their beautiful seashore villa, "Hvidore," they had
recently bought not far from Copenhagen on the Strandvej. A tunnel was just
being cut under the road so that the royal ladies might walk down to their
shore garden without the necessity of crossing the public highway (the
"Hvidore" stands on an elevated garden across the road). Indeed, I had the
privilege-through Mr. M____, the man with the two watches, a privilege I
greatly enjoyed�of going through the villa.

What a chance by coincidence! Here was a man who was in personal attendance
upon the Tzar and his mother, who overheard many remarks and conversations.
Was he not a trusted, a most trusted, agent, and did he not know all the
wire-pullers in Copenhagen? The very man I wanted! He could tell me all. I
desired to know more. During the few days of our acquaintanceship I had
several reasons to learn that he was a great friend of England and France.
Consequently I saw my chance. I told him I was an English secret service man
in the diplomatic branch; showed him my credentials from Brussels and Paris,
a private letter I received from Sir George Bonham, British Minister at
Berne, and many other English diplomatic papers. He calmly remarked, "I
thought SO." He immediately volunteered to help me in MY mission. "I will be
glad and proud to help Great Britain," he said.

This conversation was the beginning of a very close acquaintanceship,
ripening into friendship. We dined every evening I was free; he drove me in
his superb carriage any time I wanted, along the Strandvej to the Hermitage.
He drove me to the races, where he lost and I won. He bad a villa not far
from "Hvidore," but on the shore. There we used to spend some lovely
evenings, such as one only finds under the northern skies�never getting dark
during the summer months. Whenever we decided on an afternoon to spend the
evening out there, he sent out an abundant supply of Rudesheimer or
Iohannisberger Auslese�he had the best Rhine and Moselle wines in
Copenhagen�with plenty of ice, so that by the time we arrived they were
deliciously cold-having just the bouquet that an epicure desires.

We then drove out into the Strandvej, the most beautiful drive in, Europe�on
your right, driving north of Copenhagen, the Hermitage with summer villas
charmingly situated in dainty gardens; on your left, the Sund, the silvery
streak that separates Denmark from Sweden; silvery, not in language of
romance or fiction, but in reality. There it lay, smooth, wide and large;
silent save for the gentle and sweet hushaby rhythms of its shoreward
motions, sh�sh�. And we sat in the garden of his villa; at our feet the sea;
across, the shipping lights of Swedish coast. We were alone. Nothing
disturbed our silence, our thoughts, our conversation, save the merry
laughter of a cycling party cheerfully ringing out into the stillness of
night or the rhythmic sound of the hoofs of a passing horse.
--[cont]--
Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
Omnia Bona Bonis,
All My Relations.
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
Kris

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