EFFECT IN THE CITY.
Monday, 3rd September, 1910, was indeed Black Monday for London.
By midnight on Sunday the appalling news had spread everywhere. Though
the full details of the terrible naval disasters were not yet to hand,
yet it was vaguely known that our ships had been defeated in the North
Sea, and many of them sunk.
Before 7 a.m. on Monday, however, telegrams reaching London by the
subterranean lines from the north gave thrilling stories of frightful
disasters we had, while all unconscious, suffered at the hands of the
German fleet.
With London, the great cities of the north, Liverpool, Manchester,
Sheffield, and Birmingham, awoke utterly dazed. It seemed incredible.
And yet the enemy had, by his sudden and stealthy blow, secured command
of the sea and actually landed.
The public wondered why a formal declaration of war had not previously
been made, ignorant of the fact that the declaration preceding the
Franco-German War was the first made by any civilised nation prior to
the commencement of hostilities for one hundred and seventy years. The
peril of the nation was now recognised on every hand.
Eager millions poured into the City by every train from the suburbs and
towns in the vicinity of the Metropolis, anxious to ascertain the truth
for themselves, pale with terror, wild with excitement, indignant that
our land forces were not already mobilised and ready to move eastward to
meet the invader.
As soon as the banks were opened there was a run on them, but by noon
the Bank of England had suspended all specie payments. The other banks,
being thus unable to meet their engagements, simply closed the doors,
bringing business to an abrupt standstill. Consols stood at 90 on
Saturday, but by noon on Monday were down to 42--lower even than they
were in 1798, when they stood at 47-1/4. Numbers of foreigners tried to
speculate heavily, but were unable to do so, for banking being suspended
they could not obtain transfers.
On the Stock Exchange the panic in the afternoon was indescribable.
Securities of every sort went entirely to pieces, and there were no
buyers. Financiers were surprised that no warning in London had betrayed
the position of affairs, London being the money centre of the world.
Prior to 1870 Paris shared with London the honour of being the pivot of
the money market, but on the suspension of cash payments by the Bank of
France during the Franco-German War, Paris lost that position. Had it
not been that the milliards comprising the French War indemnity were
intact in golden louis in the fortress of Spandau, Germany could never
have hoped to wage sudden war with Great Britain before she had made
Berlin independent of London in a money sense, or, at any rate, to
accumulate sufficient gold to carry on the war for at least twelve
months. The only way in which she could have done this was to raise her
rate so as to offer better terms than London. Yet directly the Bank of
England discovered the rate of exchange going against her, and her stock
of gold diminishing, she would have responded by raising the English
bank-rate in order to check the flow. Thus competition would have gone
on until the rates became so high that all business would be checked,
and people would have realised their securities to obtain the necessary
money to carry on their affairs. Thus, no doubt, the coming war would
have been forecasted had it not been for Germany's already prepared
war-chest, which the majority of persons have nowadays overlooked. Its
possession had enabled Germany to strike her sudden blow, and now the
Bank of England, which is the final reserve of gold in the United
Kingdom, found that as notes were cashed so the stock of gold diminished
until it was in a few hours compelled to obtain from the Government
suspension of the Bank charter. This enabled the Bank to suspend cash
payment, and issue notes without a corresponding deposit of the
equivalent in gold.
The suspension, contrary to increasing the panic, had, curiously enough
the immediate effect of somewhat allaying it. Plenty of people in the
City were confident that the blow aimed could not prove an effective
one, and that the Germans, however many might have landed, would quickly
be sent back again. Thus many level-headed business men regarded the
position calmly, believing that when our command of the sea was again
re-established, as it must be in a day or two, the enemy would soon be
non-existent.
Business outside the money market was, of course, utterly demoralised.
The buying of necessities was now uppermost in everyone's mind. Excited
crowds in the streets caused most of the shops in the City and West End
to close, while around the Admiralty were great crowds of eager men and
women of all classes, tearful wives of bluejackets jostling with
officers' ladies from Mayfair and Belgravia, demanding news of their
loved ones--inquiries which, alas! the casualty office were unable to
satisfy. The scene of grief, terror, and suspense was heartrending.
Certain ships were known to have been sunk with all on board after
making a gallant fight, and those who had husbands, brothers, lovers, or
fathers on board wept loudly, calling upon the Government to avenge the
ruthless murder of their loved ones.
In Manchester, in Liverpool, indeed, all through the great manufacturing
centres of the north, the excitement of London was reflected.
In Manchester there was a panic "on 'Change," and the crowd in Deansgate
coming into collision with a force of mounted police, some rioting
occurred, and a number of shop windows broken, while several agitators
who attempted to speak in front of the infirmary were at once arrested.
Liverpool was the scene of intense anxiety and excitement, when a report
was spread that German cruisers were about the estuary of the Mersey. It
was known that the coal staithes, cranes, and petroleum tanks at
Penarth, Cardiff, Barry, and Llanelly had been destroyed; that Aberdeen
had been bombarded; and there were rumours that, notwithstanding the
mines and defences of the Mersey, the city of Liverpool, with all its
crowd of valuable shipping, was to share the same fate.
The whole place was in a ferment. By eleven o'clock the stations were
crowded by women and children sent by the men away into the
country--anywhere from the doomed and defenceless city. The Lord Mayor
vainly endeavoured to inspire confidence, but telegrams from London,
announcing the complete financial collapse, only increased the panic.
In London all through the morning, amid the chaos of business in the
City, the excitement had been steadily growing, until shortly after
three o'clock the "Daily Mail" issued a special edition containing a
copy of a German proclamation which, it was said, was now posted
everywhere in East Norfolk, East Suffolk, and in Maldon in Essex,
already occupied by the enemy.
The original proclamation had been found pasted by some unknown hand
upon a barn door near the town of Billericay, and had been detached and
brought to London in a motor-car by a correspondent.
It showed plainly the German intention was to deal a hard and crushing
blow, and it struck terror into the heart of London, for it read as will
be seen on next page.
Upon the walls of the Mansion House, the Guildhall, outside the Bank of
England, the Royal Exchange, upon the various public buildings within
the city wards, and westward beyond Temple Bar, proclamations were being
posted. Indeed, upon all the hoardings in Greater London appeared
various broadsheets side by side. One by the Chief Commissioner of
Police, regulating the traffic in the streets, and appealing to the
public to assist in the preservation of order; and a Royal Proclamation,
brief but noble, urging every Briton to do his duty, to take his part in
the defence of King and country, and to unfurl the banner of the British
Empire that had hitherto carried peace and civilisation in every quarter
of the world. Germany, whose independence had been respected, had
attacked us without provocation; therefore hostilities were, alas,
inevitable.
When the great poster printed in big capitals and headed by the Royal
Arms made its appearance it was greeted with wild cheering.
It was a message of love from King to people--a message to the highest
and to the lowest. Posted in Whitechapel at the same hour as in
Whitehall, the throngs crowded eagerly about it and sang "God Save our
Gracious King," for if they had but little confidence in the War Office
and Admiralty, they placed their trust in their Sovereign, the first
diplomat in Europe. Therefore the loyalty was spontaneous, as it always
is. They read the royal message, and cheered and cheered again.
As evening closed in yet another poster made its appearance in every
city, town, and village in the country, a poster issued by military and
police officers, and naval officers in charge of dockyards--the order
for mobilisation.
PROCLAMATION.
WE, GENERAL COMMANDING THE 3rd GERMAN ARMY,
HAVING SEEN the proclamation of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor
William, King of Prussia, Chief of the Army, which authorises
the generals commanding the different German Army Corps to
establish special measures against all municipalities and
persons acting in contradiction to the usages of war, and to
take what steps they consider necessary for the well-being of
the troops.
HEREBY GIVE PUBLIC NOTICE:
(1) THE MILITARY JURISDICTION is hereby established. It applies
to all territory of Great Britain occupied by the German Army,
and to every action endangering the security of the troops by
rendering assistance to the enemy. The Military Jurisdiction
will be announced and placed vigorously in force in every parish
by the issue of this present proclamation.
(2) ANY PERSON OR PERSONS NOT BEING BRITISH SOLDIERS, or not
showing by their dress that they are soldiers:
(a) SERVING THE ENEMY as spies;
(b) MISLEADING THE GERMAN TROOPS when charged to serve as
guides;
(c) SHOOTING, INJURING, OR ROBBING any person belonging to the
German Army, or forming part of its personnel;
(d) DESTROYING BRIDGES OR CANALS, damaging telegraphs,
telephones, electric light wires, gasometers, or railways,
interfering with roads, setting fire to munitions of war,
provisions, or quarters established by German troops;
(e) TAKING ARMS against the German troops,
=WILL BE PUNISHED BY DEATH.=
IN EACH CASE the officer presiding at the Council of War will be
charged with the trial, and pronounce judgment. Councils of War
may not pronounce ANY OTHER CONDEMNATION SAVE THAT OF DEATH.
THE JUDGMENT WILL BE IMMEDIATELY EXECUTED.
(3) TOWNS OR VILLAGES in the territory in which the
contravention takes place will be compelled to pay indemnity
equal to one year's revenue.
(4) THE INHABITANTS MUST FURNISH necessaries for the German
troops daily as follows:--
1 lb. 10 oz. bread.
13 oz. meat.
3 lb. potatoes.
1 oz. tea.
1-1/2 oz. tobacco or 5 cigars.
1/2 pint wine.
1-1/2 pints beer, or 1 wine-glassful of brandy or whisky.
The ration for each horse:--
13 lb. oats.
3 lb. 6 oz. hay.
3 lb. 6 oz. straw.
(ALL PERSONS WHO PREFER to pay an indemnity in money may do so
at the rate of 2s. per day per man.)
(5) COMMANDERS OF DETACHED corps have the right to requisition
all that they consider necessary for the well-being of their
men, and will deliver to the inhabitants official receipts for
goods so supplied.
WE HOPE IN CONSEQUENCE that the inhabitants of Great Britain
will make no difficulty in furnishing all that may be considered
necessary.
(6) AS REGARDS the individual transactions between the troops
and the inhabitants, we give notice that one German mark shall
be considered the equivalent to one English shilling.
=The General Commanding the Ninth German Army Corps,
VON KRONHELM.=
Beccles, _September the Third, 1910_.
[Illustration: THE ENEMY'S FAMOUS PROCLAMATION.]
The public, however, little dreamed of the hopeless confusion in the War
Office, in the various regimental depots throughout the country, at
headquarters everywhere, and in every barracks in the kingdom. The armed
forces of England were passing from a peace to a war footing; but the
mobilisation of the various units--namely, its completion in men,
horses, and material--was utterly impossible in the face of the
extraordinary regulations which, kept a strict secret by the Council of
Defence until this moment, revealed a hopeless state of things.
The disorder was frightful. Not a regiment was found fully equipped and
ready to march. There was a dearth of officers, equipment, horses,
provisions--of, indeed, everything. Men had guns without ammunition;
cavalry and artillery were without horses; engineers only half equipped;
volunteers with no transport whatever; balloon sections without
balloons, and searchlight units vainly trying to obtain the necessary
instruments.
Horses were being requisitioned everywhere. The few horses that, in the
age of motor-cars, now remained on the roads in London were quickly
taken for draught, and all horses fit to ride were commandeered for the
cavalry.
During the turmoil daring German spies were actively at work south of
London. The Southampton line of the London and South-Western Railway was
destroyed--with explosives placed by unknown hands--by the bridge over
the Wey, near Weybridge, being blown up; and again that over the Mole,
between Walton and Esher, while the Reading line was cut by the great
bridge over the Thames at Staines being destroyed. The line, too,
between Guildford and Waterloo, was also rendered impassable by the
wreck of the midnight train, which was blown up half-way between
Wansborough and Guildford, while in several other places nearer London
bridges were rendered unstable by dynamite, the favourite method
apparently being to blow the crown out of an arch.
The well-laid plans of the enemy were thus quickly revealed. Among the
thousands of Germans working in London, the hundred or so spies, all
trusted soldiers, had passed unnoticed but, working in unison, each
little group of two or three had been allotted its task, and had
previously thoroughly reconnoitred the position and studied the most
rapid or effective means.
The railways to the east and north-east coasts all reported wholesale
damage done on Sunday night by the advance agents of the enemy, and now
this was continued on the night of Monday in the south, the objective
being to hinder troops from moving north from Aldershot. This was,
indeed, effectual, for only by a long _detour_ could the troops be moved
to the northern defences of London, and while many were on Tuesday
entrained, others were conveyed to London by the motor omnibuses sent
down for that purpose.
Everywhere through London and its vicinity, as well as Manchester,
Birmingham, Sheffield, Coventry, Leeds, and Liverpool, motor-cars and
motor-omnibuses from dealers and private owners were being requisitioned
by the military authorities, for they would, it was believed, replace
cavalry to a very large extent.
Wild and extraordinary reports were circulated regarding the disasters
in the north. Hull, Newcastle, Gateshead, and Tynemouth had, it was
believed, been bombarded and sacked. The shipping in the Tyne was
burning, and the Elswick works were held by the enemy. Details were,
however, very vague, as the Germans were taking every precaution to
prevent information reaching London.