I am now going to relate the story of what is, perhaps, the most
extraordinary mission on which I have ever been employed. It will, I
think, come as a surprise to many of the best-informed politicians on
the Continent, including the highly placed personages whose schemes I
was the means of detecting and defeating.
It was during the war between the British and Boers in South Africa,
at a period which I do not care to specify more particularly, that I
had the honour to receive a request to proceed without loss of time
to Petersburg, and wait upon M. Witte. It is chiefly this Minister’s
unjust dismissal that has provoked me to make this disclosure.
I was particularly gratified at being sent for by the great Russian
Minister, because his action was a demonstration of the high
confidence reposed in my loyalty. Although I was known to be a Pole
by descent, and the favourite and confidant of the German Emperor,
who had constantly employed me to combat Russian intrigues, yet M.
Witte felt no fear in intrusting me with the secrets of Russian
statecraft.
The moment I arrived in Petersburg, I went without waiting to change
or refresh myself to wait on my client. Our interview took place, not
at the Ministry of Finance, where M. Witte would have been surrounded
by spies, but at a small private house in a suburb of the Russian
capital.
The Finance Minister received me in a small study, the walls of which
were lined with works on political economy and kindred subjects.
‘I have asked you to meet me here,’ the Minister explained, as soon
as I had seated myself, and lighted the cigar which he pressed upon
me, ‘because I don’t wish the fact that we are in communication to
be known to a single person in the Russian Empire. In particular,
it must be kept a strict secret from the Minister of War. It is
against him that you will be acting really, and I shall have to ask
you to pledge yourself that in case of your proceedings attracting
his attention, you will lead him to suppose that you have been
commissioned by some foreign Power.’
‘That will be easy,’ I replied. ‘Russia has plenty of watchful
enemies. Shall I say Great Britain?’