GERMAN SPIES IN ENGLAND
GERMAN SPIES
IN ENGLAND
AN EXPOSURE
BY
WILLIAM LE QUEUX
AUTHOR OF
"LYING LIPS," "FATAL THIRTEEN,"
"THE FOUR FACES," ETC.
TORONTO
THOMAS LANGTON
1915
_Printed in Great Britain_
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
To the Reader 7
I. How the Truth was Hidden 11
II. The Kaiser's Secret Revealed 22
III. How the Public were Bamboozled 36
IV. Under the Kaiser's Thumb 57
V. How Spies Work 66
VI. Some Methods of Secret Agents 78
VII. Master-Spies and Their Cunning 93
VIII. The Spy and the Law 116
IX. A Remarkable Spy 138
X. Some Recent Cases 152
XI. 27,000 Aliens at Large in Great Britain 171
XII. How to End the Spy Peril 196
TO THE READER
From the outbreak of war until to-day I have hesitated to write this
book. But I now feel impelled to do so by a sense of duty.
The truth must be told. The peril must be faced.
Few men, I venture to think, have been more closely associated with, or
know more of the astounding inner machinery of German espionage in this
country, and in France, than myself.
Though the personnel of the Confidential Department established at
Whitehall to deal with these gentry have, during the past six years,
come and gone, I have, I believe, been the one voluntary assistant who
has remained to watch and note, both here and in Belgium--where the
German headquarters were established--the birth and rapid growth of
this ever-spreading canker-worm in the nation's heart.
I am no alarmist. This is no work of fiction, but of solid and serious
fact. I write here of what I know; and, further, I write with the true
spirit of loyalty. Though sorely tempted, at this crisis, to publish
certain documents, and make statements which would, I know, add greatly
to the weight of this book, I refrain, because such statements might
reveal certain things to the enemy, including the identity of those
keen and capable officials who have performed so nobly their work of
contra-espionage.
Yet to-day, with the fiercest war in history in progress, with our
bitterest enemy threatening us with invasion, and while we are
compelled to defend our very existence as a nation, yet Spies are
nobody's business!
It is because the British public have so long been officially deluded,
reassured and lulled to sleep, that I feel it my duty to now speak out
boldly, and write the truth after a silence of six years.
Much contained within these covers will probably come as a complete
revelation to many readers who have hitherto, and perhaps not unjustly,
regarded spies as the mere picturesque creation of writers of fiction.
At the outset, however, I wish to give them an assurance that, if
certain reports of mine--which now repose in the archives of the
Confidential Department--were published, they would create a very
considerable sensation, and entirely prove the truth of what I have
ventured to write within these covers.
I desire, further, to assure the reader that, since 1905, when I
first endeavoured to perform what I considered to be my duty as an
Englishman, I have only acted from the purest patriotic motives, while,
from a pecuniary point of view, I have lost much by my endeavour.
The knowledge that in the past, as now, I did what I conceived to be
but my duty to my country, was, in itself, an all-sufficient reward;
and if, after perusal of this book, the reader will only pause for a
moment and reflect upon the very serious truths it contains, then I
shall have accomplished all I have attempted.
We have, since the war, had a rude awakening from the lethargy induced
by false official assurances concerning the enemy in our midst.
It is for the nation to now give its answer, and to demand immediate
and complete satisfaction from those who were directly responsible for
the present national peril, which, if unchecked, must inevitably result
in grave disaster.
WILLIAM LE QUEUX.
Hawson Court,
Buckfastleigh, Devon.
_February, 1915._
GERMAN SPIES IN ENGLAND
CHAPTER I
HOW THE TRUTH WAS HIDDEN
The actual truth regarding Germany's secret and elaborate preparations
for a raid upon our shores has not yet been told. It will, however, I
venture to think, cause considerable surprise.
A few curious facts have, it is true, leaked out from time to time
through the columns of the newspapers, but the authorities--and more
especially the Home Office, under Mr. McKenna--have been most careful
to hide the true state of affairs from the public, and even to lull
them into a false sense of security, for obvious reasons. The serious
truth is that German espionage and treasonable propaganda have, during
past years, been allowed by a slothful military administration to take
root so deeply, that the authorities to-day find themselves powerless
to eradicate its pernicious growth.
Unfortunately for myself--for by facing the British public and daring
to tell them the truth, I suffered considerable pecuniary loss--I was
in 1905 the first person to venture to suggest to the authorities, by
writing my forecast "The Invasion of England," the most amazing truth,
that Germany was secretly harbouring serious hostile intentions towards
Great Britain.
The reader, I trust, will forgive me for referring to my own personal
experiences, for I do so merely in order to show that to the grievous,
apathetic attitude of the Government of the time the present scandalous
state of affairs is entirely due.
I had lived in Germany for a considerable period. I had travelled up
and down the country; I had lived their "home life"; I had lounged in
their officers' clubs; and I had indulged in the night-life of Berlin;
and, further, I had kept my eyes and ears open. By this, I had gained
certain knowledge. Therefore I resolved to write the truth, which
seemed to me so startling.
My daring, alas! cost me dearly. On the day prior to the publication of
the book in question, Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman, then Premier, rose
in the House of Commons and--though he had never had an opportunity of
seeing my work--deliberately condemned it, declaring that it "should
never have been written" because it was calculated to create alarm.
Who, among the readers of this book, would condemn anything he had not
even seen? Now the last thing the Government desired was that public
attention should be drawn to the necessity of preparing against German
aggression.
Once the real fear of the German peril had taken root in our islands,
there would instantly have been an irresistible demand that no money
should be spared to equip and prepare our fighting forces for a very
possible war--and then good-bye to the four-hundred-a-year payments to
Members, and those vast sums which were required to bribe the electors
with Social Reform.
In the columns of the _Times_ I demanded by what right the Prime
Minister had criticised a book which he had never even seen, and in
justice to the late Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman I must here record
that he apologised to me, privately, for committing what he termed a
"political error."
Political error! If there had been no further "political errors" in
this dear old country of ours, we should have no war to-day.
The Government was bent upon suppressing the truth of my earnest
appeal; hence I was held up to derision, and, in addition, denounced on
all hands as a "scaremonger."
Now, at the outset, I wish to say that I am no party politician.
My worst enemy could never call me that. I have never voted for a
candidate in my life, for my motto has ever been "Britain for the
British." My appeal to the nation was made in all honesty of purpose,
and in the true sense of the patriotism of one who probably has the ear
of a wide public. The late Lord Roberts realised this. Our national
hero, who, like myself, was uttering words of solemn warning, knew what
pressure the Government were endeavouring to place upon me, and how
they meant to crush me; therefore on November 29th, 1905, he wrote the
following:--
"Speaking in the House of Lords on the 10th July, 1905, I said:--'It
is to the people of the country I appeal to take up the question
of the Army in a sensible practical manner. For the sake of all
they hold dear, let them bring home to themselves what would be
the condition of Great Britain if it were to lose its wealth, its
power, its position.' The catastrophe that may happen if we still
remain in our present state of unpreparedness is vividly and forcibly
illustrated in Mr. Le Queux's new book, which I recommend to the
perusal of _every one who has the welfare of the British Empire at
heart_."
But alas! if the public disregarded the earnest warnings of "Bobs," it
was scarcely surprising that it should disregard mine--especially after
the Prime Minister had condemned me. My earnest appeal to the nation
met only with jeers and derision, I was caricatured at the music halls,
and somebody wrote a popular song which asked, "Are we Downhearted?"
Neither the British public, nor the authorities, desired the truth,
and, ostrich-like, buried their heads in the sand. Germany would never
dare to go to war, we were told, many wiseacres adding, "Not in our
time."
The violent storm of indignation sweeping upon my unfortunate head,
I confess, staggered me. The book, which had cost me eighteen months
of hard work, and a journey of ten thousand miles in a motor-car, was
declared to be the exaggerated writing of a Jingo, a sensationalist,
and one who desired to stir up strife between nations. I was both
puzzled and pained.
Shortly afterwards, I met Mr. (now Lord) Haldane--then War Minister--at
dinner at a country house in Perthshire, when, in his breezy way,
he assured me over the dinner-table that he knew Germany and German
intentions better than myself, and that there would never be war. And
he waxed humorous at my expense, and scorned Lord Roberts's warnings.
The Kaiser's cleverness in ingratiating himself with certain English
Statesmen, officers, and writers is really amazing, yet it was--though
at that time unsuspected--part of the great German plot formed against
us.
As an instance how the Emperor was cleverly misleading the British
Cabinet, Lord Haldane, speaking on June 29th, 1912, at a public dinner,
at which Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, the German Ambassador, was
present, said:--
"I speak of one whom we admire in this country and regard as one of
ourselves.
"He (the Kaiser) knows our language and our institutions as we do,
and he speaks as we do.
"The German Emperor is something more than an Emperor--he is a man,
and a great man. He is gifted by the gods with the highest gift that
they can give--I use a German word to express it--_Geist_ (spirit).
He has got _Geist_ in the highest degree. He has been a true leader
of his people--a leader in spirit as well as in deed. He has guided
them through nearly a quarter of a century, and preserved unbroken
peace. I know no record of which a monarch has better cause to be
proud. In every direction his activities have been remarkable.
"He has given his country that splendid fleet that we who know
about fleets admire; he has preserved the tradition of the greatest
army the world has ever seen; but it is in the arts of peace that
he has been equally great. He has been the leader of his people in
education, and in the solution of great social questions.
"That is a great record, and it makes one feel a sense of rejoicing
that the man who is associated with these things should be half an
Englishman. I have the feeling very strongly that in the last few
years Germany and England have become much more like each other than
they used to be. It is because we have got so much like each other
that a certain element of rivalry comes in.
"We two nations have a great common task in the world--to make the
world better. It is because the German Emperor, I know, shares that
conviction profoundly that it gives me the greatest pleasure to give
you the toast of his name."
The Government, having sought to point the finger of ridicule at my
first warning, must have been somewhat surprised at the phenomenal
success which the book in question attained, for not only were over
a million copies sold in different editions in English, but it
was translated into no fewer than twenty-six languages--including
Japanese--and, further, was adopted as a text-book in the German
Army--though I may add that the details I gave of various vulnerable
points around our coasts were so disguised as to be of little use to
the enemy.
I had had a disheartening experience. Yet worse was to come.
A couple of years later, while making certain inquiries in Germany with
a view to continuing my campaign, and my endeavour to disclose the
real truth to the British public, I discovered, to my surprise, the
existence of a wide-spread system of German espionage in England.
Just about that time Colonel Mark Lockwood, the Member for Epping,
asked a question in the House of Commons regarding the reported
presence of spies in Essex. For his pains he was, of course, like
myself, promptly snubbed.
A week later, I ventured to declare, at a meeting in Perth, that in
our midst we were harbouring a new, most dangerous, and well-organised
enemy--a horde of German spies.
German spies in England! Who ever heard such wild rubbish! This
completed the bitterness of public opinion against me. The Press
unanimously declared that I had spoken wilful untruths; my statements
were refuted in leading articles, and in consequence of my endeavour
to indicate a grave national peril, a certain section of the Press
even went so far as to _boycott my writings altogether_! Indeed, more
than one first-class London newspaper which had regularly published my
novels--I could name them, but I will not--refused to print any more of
my work!
I was, at the same time, inundated with letters from persons who
openly abused me and called me a liar, and more than one anonymous
communication, which I have still kept, written in red ink and probably
from spies themselves, for the caligraphy is distinctly foreign,
threatened me with death.
Such was my reward for daring to awaken the country to a sense of
danger. It caused me some amusement, I must confess, yet it also taught
me a severe lesson--the same bitter lesson which the British public,
alas! taught Lord Roberts, who was so strenuously endeavouring to
indicate the danger of our unpreparedness. It told me one plain truth,
a truth spoken in the words of the noble General himself, who, with a
sigh, one day said to me, "Nothing, I fear, will arouse the public to a
sense of danger until they one day awaken and find war declared."
On the day following my speech, the German Press, which published
reports of it, called me "the German-hater," by which epithet I am
still known in the Fatherland. The editor of a certain London daily
newspaper told me to my face: "There are no spies in England"; adding,
"You are a fool to alarm the public by such a statement. Nobody
believes you."
I, however, held my own views, and felt that it was my duty to act in
one of two ways. Either I should place the confidential information
and documents which I had gathered, mostly from German sources, in the
hands of the Press, and thus vindicate myself; or give them over to
the Government, and allow them to deal with them in a befitting and
confidential manner. The latter attitude I deemed to be the correct
one, as an Englishman--even though I have a foreign name. At the War
Office the officials at first sniffed, and then, having carefully
examined the documents, saw at once that I had discovered a great and
serious truth.
For this reason I have never sought, until now, to vindicate myself in
the public eye; yet I have the satisfaction of knowing that from that
moment, until this hour of writing, a certain nameless department,
known only by a code-number,--I will refer to it as the Confidential
Department,--has been unremitting in its efforts to track down German
secret agents and their deadly work.
Through six years I have been intimate with its workings. I know
its splendid staff, its untiring and painstaking efforts, its
thoroughness, its patriotism, and the astuteness of its head director,
who is one of the finest Englishmen of my acquaintance.
There are men who, like myself, have since done work for it both at
home and abroad, and at a considerable expenditure--patriotic men who
have never asked for a single penny to cover even their expenses--men
who have presented reports which have cost them long journeys abroad,
many a watchful night, much personal danger, and considerable outlay.
Yet all the time the Home Office ridiculed the idea of spies, and thus
misled the public.
The archives of the secret department in question, which commenced
its activity after the presentation of my array of facts, would be
an amazing revelation to the public, but, alas! would, if published,
bring ignominy, disaster, and undying shame to certain persons among us
towards whom the Kaiser, the Master-Spy, has, in the past decade, been
unduly gracious.
I could name British spies. I could write things here, shameful facts,
which would, like my first allegations, be scouted with disbelief,
although I could prove them in these pages. But, as a Briton, I
will not reveal facts which repose in those secret files, records
of traitorous shame, of high-placed men in England who have lived
for years in the enjoyment of generous allowances from a mysterious
source. To write here the truth I feel sorely tempted, in spite of the
law of libel.
But enough! We are Englishmen. Let us wipe off the past, in the hope
that such traitorous acts will never be repeated, and that at last our
eyes are open to the grave dangers that beset us.
To-day we have awakened, and the plain truth of all for which I have
contended is surely obvious to the world.