UNDER THE KAISER'S THUMB
By every subtle and underhand means in her power Germany has prepared
for her supreme effort to conquer us.
Armies of her spies have swarmed, and still swarm, over Great Britain,
though their presence has been, and is even to-day, officially denied.
The method adopted at the outset was to scatter secret agents
broadcast, and to allot to each the collection of certain information.
Men, and women too, in all walks of life have made observations,
prepared plans, noted the number of horses locally, the fodder
supplies, the direction of telegraph-lines, the quickest method of
destroying communications, blowing up tunnels, etc.; in fact, any
information which might be of use in the event of a raid upon our
shores.
Each group of spies has acted under the direction of a secret-agent,
termed a "fixed post," and all have been, in turn, visited at
periods varying from one month to six weeks by a person not likely
to be suspected--usually in the guise of commercial-traveller,
debt-collector, or insurance-agent, who collected the reports and made
payments--the usual stipend being ten pounds per month. Some spies in
the higher walks of life were, of course, paid well, as much as one
thousand pounds a year being given in one case--that of a lady who,
until recently, lived in Kensington--and in another to a German who,
until a few weeks ago, was highly popular in the diplomatic circle.
The chief bureau, to which all reports from England were sent, was an
innocent-looking office in the Montagne de la Cour, in Brussels--hence
Ostend was so often made a rendezvous between spies and traitors.
It is certainly as well that the authorities have already taken
precautions to guard our reservoirs. As far back as five years ago,
a large number of the principal water supplies in England were
reconnoitred by a band of itinerant musicians, who, though they played
mournful airs in the streets, were really a group of very wide-awake
German officers. They devoted three months to the metropolis--where
they succeeded in making a complete plan of the water-mains supplying
East London--and then afterwards visited Manchester, Glasgow,
Birmingham, Liverpool, Leeds, and Newcastle. At the latter place they
were detected, and being warned by the authorities, fled. They were
"warned" because at that time there was no Act to deal with them.
Just at this juncture a most fortunate incident occurred, though
probably it will be met with an official denial. A young German who
had been making observations around Rosyth and beneath the Forth
Bridge, was detected, and fled. The police sought him out and he was
compelled to again fly without paying his rent, leaving his suit-case
behind. After a month the landlady took this bag to the police, who,
on opening it, found a quantity of documents, which were sealed up
and sent to London. They were soon found to be most instructive, for
not only was there a list of names of persons hitherto unsuspected of
espionage, but also a little book containing the secret code used by
the spies! Needless to say, this has been of the greatest use to those
engaged in the work of contra-espionage. Of the good work done by the
latter, the public, of course, know nothing, but it may be stated that
many a confidential report destined for Berlin was intercepted before
it reached the spy's post-office, the shop of the barber Ernst, in
London--to which I will later on refer--and many a judicious hint has
been given which has caused the suspect to pack his, or her, belongings
and return by the Hook of Holland route.
East Anglia has, of course, been the happy hunting ground of spies,
and the counties of Lincoln, Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex have, long
ago, been very thoroughly surveyed, and every preparation made for a
raid. It was found--as far back as four years ago--that next door, or
in the vicinity of most village post-offices near the coast-line of
those counties, a foreigner had taken up his residence, that German
hairdressers and jewellers were everywhere setting up shops where
custom did not warrant it; that Germans took sea-side furnished houses
or went as paying guests in the country, even in winter; while, of
course, the number of German waiters--usually passing as Austrians--had
increased greatly.
When the Kaiser rented Highcliffe Castle, in Hampshire, under the
pretext that he was ill, he brought with him no fewer than thirty
secretaries. Why? A foreigner who comes here to recuperate does not
want thirty secretaries--even though he may be an Emperor! Napoleon
never wanted such a crowd of scribblers about him.
But the truth was that these thirty secretaries were engaged with their
Imperial master-spy in reorganising and perfecting the various sections
of his amazing spy-system in this country--a system that the British
Government were with culpable untruthfulness declaring only existed in
the imagination of a novelist--myself. I wrote pointing out this, but
only execrations again fell upon my unfortunate head. I was laughed at
as a "sensationalist," scorned by the Party of Criminal Apathy, and a
dead set was made at me by a certain section of the Press to jeer at,
and crush myself and all my works into oblivion.
Let us go a step further. Mr. Anthony Nugent, who writes with
considerable authority in the _Globe_, shall here speak.
"The oddest situation in England," he says, "was just before the
outbreak of the war. We had then, not only an Ambassador's cloak in
London covering Prince Lichnowsky, but a real Ambassador in Herr
Kühlmann, Companion of the Victorian Order. [I wonder if he still
wears the honourable insignia?] The Ambassador was an honest man, and
believed that he had a free hand in trying to improve our relations
with Germany. He was only here to give us 'taffy'--as the Yankees
say. All his speeches at Oxford and at City banquets were sincere
enough from his point of view, but he knew nothing of what was going
on in the Chancelleries at Berlin, or downstairs in the Embassy
residence at Carlton House Terrace.
"Those who descend the Duke of York's steps in Pall Mall, will see
a common, unpretentious door on the right hand side, part of the
way down. That was one of the entrances to the Embassy, and quite a
different class of people used it from those gay folk who came boldly
in motor-cars to the front door, which sported the decoration of the
Imperial eagle. It was by the lower door there passed the principals
in the espionage system, and it was in the lower rooms that Herr
Kühlmann interviewed his 'friends.' He was a tall, good-looking man,
with a specious suggestion of being straightforward and open dealing,
but probably there never was so tortuous-minded a person at the
Embassy. He was there for many years, and knew all who were worth
knowing. He it was who furnished the reports on which the Emperor
and the Crown Prince acted.
"Prince Lichnowsky, for instance, foresaw that in the event of war,
the Unionists in Ulster would support the Government. Herr Kühlmann
had sent over spies who masqueraded as journalists, and they came
back from Belfast believing that civil war was inevitable. Herr
Kühlmann accepted their view, and thus deceived the Kaiser and the
German Chancellor. The same gentleman was much interested in the
Indian movement, and I remember discussing with him the causes that
led to the murder of a great Anglo-Indian official at the Imperial
Institute. He was convinced that India was ripe for revolt. Again
he deceived the Emperor on the subject. The German spy system was
wide, and it was thorough, but its chief lacked imagination, and took
niggling and petty views. In a word it is efficient in signalling,
prying into arrangements, spreading false news, and securing minor
successes, and that it can still do here, but had it realised how the
whole world would be opposed to it, there would have been no war."
The gross licence extended to our alien enemies in peace-time has,
surely, been little short of criminal. Fancy there having been a
"German Officers' Club" in London, close to Piccadilly Circus! Could
anyone imagine an "English Officers' Club" in Berlin--or in any other
Continental capital, for the matter of that? In the first place, there
would not have been a sufficient number of English officers to run a
club, even if it had been allowed by the German authorities, which
would have been most unlikely. But, on the other hand, there were
enough German officers in London, not only to support a club, but to
give a large and expensive ball not very long ago at a well-known West
End hotel!
Germany has a large army, and a considerable navy, but is leave
lavished with such prodigality on her officers as to make it worth
their while to have a special club of their own in the metropolis?
One can hardly imagine this to be the case. Why, then, were there
so many German officers in London? We may be sure that they were
not here for the benefit of _our_ country. The German Officers'
Club was no secret society, and was, therefore, winked at by the
sleepy British authorities. The War Office may have argued that it
enabled them to keep an eye on them, and there may be something in
that plea. But what possible justification could have been found for
allowing a considerable number of German officers to assemble near
Southborough--between Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells--not so very long
ago, and to carry out what practically amounted to a "Staff Ride" in
the "Garden of England" over a very important strategic position? Fancy
such a piece of espionage being attempted in Germany! It is even known
that the German Ambassador dined with the officers in question.
Had the German Officers' Club been under observation, could this have
possibly been done without the cognisance of the authorities? The
authorities knew of all that was in progress, but calmly looked on,
and, as usual, did nothing. The downfall of England was being plotted,
but what did they care, so long as all went smoothly and they enjoyed
their own social standing and their own emoluments.
There is an air of refreshing candour and simplicity in the official
statement that no alien enemy is permitted to reside in a prohibited
area without a special licence granted, after his case has been
carefully examined, by the police.
Now, we know that proprietors and managers of hotels and licensed
premises, as well as prominent residents, are usually on good terms
with the police. It would surely be to their interest to cultivate good
relations with them. And as the Lord Chancellor has assured us that the
Germans are people of "greater astuteness," it is only reasonable to
suppose they would be particularly careful to entrust their spying work
in this country to only the smartest and most crafty emissaries.
One can imagine that a really clever German spy "bent on business" has
had but very little difficulty in hoodwinking the honest man in blue,
and obtaining from him the "permit" required for his signalling, or
other work on the coast.
The experiences of the last four months at Liége, Antwerp, Mons,
Rheims, Ypres, and other places, has taught us that it is not always
the alien who is the spy. In each of those towns men who had lived for
years as highly respectable and law-abiding citizens, and whom everyone
believed to be French or Belgian, suddenly revealed themselves as
secret agents of the invaders, acting as their guides, and committing
all sorts of outrages.
In our own country it is the same. There are to-day many who have lived
among us for years, and are highly respected, only waiting for the
signal to be given to commence their operations.
It is true that bombs from German air machines have been dropped on
English ground--one fell in a garden at Dover and damaged a cabbage, or
maybe two--also that Zeppelins flew over Norfolk and dropped bombs, but
so far no air fleet from Germany has given the signal for German spies
to start their arranged work of destruction in our midst, for the enemy
has declared with its usual cynical frankness that their army of spies
will only start their dastardly work when all is ready for the raid and
the fleet of Zeppelins sail over London and give the signal.