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FACE TO FACE WITH KAISERISM

by

JAMES W. GERARD

Late Ambassador to the German Imperial Court,
Author of "My Four Years in Germany"

New York
George H. Doran Company
Copyright, 1918,
by George H. Doran Company
Copyright, 1918, by The Public Ledger Company
Copyright, Canada, 1918, by The Public Ledger Company

Printed in the United States of America

TO

COLONEL EDWARD M. HOUSE

STATESMAN AND FRIEND

THE AUTHOR

DEDICATES THIS BOOK

[Illustration: PAPER MONEY USED IN PRISON CAMPS]

[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A PRISON CAMP MONEY CERTIFICATE
ISSUED AT THE PRISON CAMP OF NEUHAMMER]

[Illustration: PAPER MONEY ISSUED AGAINST PROPERTY IN GERMANY.
REALLY A "GREENBACK" OR ALMOST FIAT MONEY]

[Illustration: POSTAGE STAMPS ISSUED AT RUHLEBEN PRISON CAMP.
USED BY PRISONERS WRITING TO EACH OTHER IN THE CAMP.]

[Illustration: FACSIMILE REPRODUCTION OF THE KAISER'S VISITING
CARD]

[Illustration: THE VISITING CARD OF THE CROWN PRINCE, REPRODUCED
IN FACSIMILE]

[Illustration: THE KAISER AND VON TREUTLER TAKEN IN THE NORWEGIAN
TOWN OF ODDE IN 1910]

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

In some measure this book is a continuation of MY FOUR YEARS IN
GERMANY, the narrative here being carried up to the time of my
return home, with some observations on the situation I have found
in the United States.

What I want especially to impress upon the people of the United
States is that we are at war because Germany invaded the United
States--an invasion insidiously conceived and vigorously
prosecuted for years before hostilities began;--that this war is
our war;--that the sanctity of American freedom and of the
American home depend upon what we do _NOW_.

JAMES W. GERARD.

NEW YORK,
APRIL FIRST, 1918.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER                                                             PAGE

I     PERSONALITY OF THE KAISER AND SOMETHING OF THE KING BUSINESS   13

II    WHO DOES THE KAISER'S THINKING AND WHO DECIDED ON THE BREAK
      WITH AMERICA?                                                  32

III   WHO SANK THE "LUSITANIA"?                                      42

IV    THE KAISER AND "LÈSE-MAJESTÉ"                                  49

V     WHEN THE KAISER THOUGHT WE WERE BLUFFING                       55

VI    THE INSIDE OF GERMAN DIPLOMACY                                 73

VII   GERMANY'S PLAN TO ATTACK AMERICA                               84

VIII  GERMANY'S EARLY PLOTS IN MEXICO                               111

IX    THE KULTUR OF KAISERDOM--THE GERMAN SOUL                      129

X     THE LITTLE KAISERS                                            143

XI    ROYALTY'S RECREATION                                          148

XII   THE ETERNAL FEMININE                                          157

XIII  HOME LIFE AND "BRUTALITY" OF THE PEOPLE                       166

XIV   AIMS OF THE AUTOCRACY                                         174

XV    AUSTRIA-HUNGARY--THE KAISER'S VASSAL STATE                    196

XVI   GERMAN INFLUENCE ON THE NORTHERN NEUTRALS                     217

XVII  SWITZERLAND--ANOTHER KIND OF NEUTRAL                          230

XVIII A GLIMPSE OF FRANCE                                           237

XIX   MY INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF SPAIN                           251

XX    GERMAN SPIES AND THEIR METHODS                                263

XXI   EN ROUTE HOME--KAISERISM IN AMERICA                           273

XXII  THAT INTERVIEW WITH THE KAISER                                300

XXIII THE FUTURE KAISER--THE CROWN PRINCE AND HIS BROTHERS          312

XXIV  WHEN GERMANY WILL BREAK DOWN                                  323

XXV   THE ERRORS OF EFFICIENT GERMANY                               340

XXVI  PRESIDENT WILSON AND PEACE                                    346

XXVII AFTER THE WAR, WHAT?                                          368

ILLUSTRATIONS

                                                                    PAGE

THE KAISER AND VON TREUTLER                               _Frontispiece_

THE IRON CROSS                                                       36

THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY STAFF, BERLIN                              50

FACSIMILE OF AN ORDER ISSUED BY COMMANDER OF GERMAN PRISON CAMP
OF DOEBERITZ                                                         78

COVER OF PAMPHLET BY JOHN L. STODDARD                               104

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN IN COURTYARD OF EMBASSY, AUGUST, 1916              126

EXAMPLE OF A COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL OFFERED FOR SALE                   152

VIEWS OF A TYPICAL HOLSTEIN COUNTRY HOME                            188

MAIN STAIRWAY IN THE AMERICAN EMBASSY, BERLIN                       210

AMBASSADORS SHARP AND GERARD, PARIS, FEBRUARY, 1917                 240

THE "INFANTA ISABELLA"                                              274

PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AFTER BANQUET GIVEN AMBASSADOR GERARD ON JANUARY
6TH, 1917                                                           304

THE CROWN PRINCE AND CROWN PRINCESS                                 316

REPRODUCTION OF ZEPPELIN POST CARD OF PATRIOTIC SENTIMENT           336

ZEPPELIN POST CARD SOLD IN GERMANY                                  336

FACE TO FACE WITH KAISERISM

CHAPTER I

PERSONALITY OF THE KAISER AND SOMETHING OF THE KING BUSINESS

To the American mind the Kaiser is the personification of
Germany. He is the arch enemy upon whom the world places the
responsibility for this most terrible of all wars. I have sat
face to face with him in the palace at Berlin where, as the
personal representative and envoy of the President of the United
States, I had the honor of expressing the viewpoint of a great
nation. I have seen him in the field as the commanding general of
mighty forces, but I also have seen him in the neutral countries
through which I passed on my return home and in my own beloved
land--in the evidence of intrigue and plotting which this
militaristic monarch has begotten and which is to-day "the
Thing," as President Wilson calls it, which has brought the
American people face to face with kaiserism in the greatest
conflict of all history.

What manner of man is he? What is his character? How much was he
responsible for what has happened--how much his General Staff?
What of the Crown Prince and what of the neutral peoples and
their rulers whom Germany has intimidated and would fain
subjugate if it suited her purpose? These are the questions I
shall attempt to answer out of my experiences in Germany and my
contacts with the rulers of other countries in my journeys to and
from Berlin and Washington.

To illustrate the craft of the Kaiser, I believe I can perform no
better service to Americans than to reveal an incident which has
not hitherto been published. It occurred at the New Year's
reception of 1914 when the Ambassadors of all the foreign
countries represented at the German court, were ranged in a large
room at the Palace. They stood about six feet apart in the order
of their residence in Berlin. The Kaiser and his aides entered
the room, and the Emperor spoke a few minutes to each envoy. He
tarried longest with the Turkish Ambassador and myself, thereby
arousing the curiosity of the other diplomats who suspected that
the Kaiser did more than merely exchange the greetings of the
season. He did.

What the German Emperor said to me interests every American
because it shows his subtlety of purpose. _The Kaiser talked at
length to me about what he called Japan's designs on the United
States. He warned me that Mexico was full of Japanese spies and
an army of Japanese colonels._ He also spoke about France, saying
that he had made every effort to make up with France, that he had
extended his hand to that country but that the French had
refused to meet his overtures, that he was through and would not
try again to heal the breach between France and Germany!

All this was in 1914, six months before the outbreak of the
European War. Little did I know then what the purpose was back of
that conversation, but it is clear now that the Emperor wished to
have the government of the United States persuaded through me
that he was really trying to keep Europe at peace and that the
responsibility for what was going to happen would be on France.
The German is so skilful at intrigue that he seeks even in
advance of an expected offensive to lay the foundation for
self-justification.

But the reference to Japan and alleged hostility against us on
the part of fanciful hordes of Japanese in Mexico made me wonder
at the time. There were many evidences subsequent to that New
Year's Day reception of an attempt to alienate us from Japan. As
a climax to it all, as a clarification of what the Emperor had in
mind, came the famous Zimmermann note, the instructions to the
German Minister in Mexico to align both Japan and Mexico against
us when we entered the war against Germany!

Plotting and intriguing for power and mastery! Such is the
business of absolute rulers.

I believe that had the old Austrian Kaiser lived a little while
longer, the prolongation of his life would have been most
disastrous both for Austria and Hungary. I believe after the
death of Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo and after a year of war the
German Emperor and autocracy were brooding over a plan according
to which, on the death of Francis Joseph, the successor should be
allowed to rule only as King or Grand-Duke of Austria, the title
of Emperor of Austria to disappear and German Princes to be
placed upon the thrones of Hungary and of a new kingdom of
Bohemia. These and the king or grand-duke of Austria were to be
subject-monarchs under the German Kaiser, who was thus to revive
an empire, if not greater, at least more powerful, than the
empires of Charlemagne and of Charles the Fifth. Many public
utterances of the German Kaiser show that trend of mind.

Emperor William deliberately wrote and published, for instance,
such a statement as this: "From childhood I have been influenced
by five men, Alexander the Great, Julius Cæsar, Theodoric II,
Frederick the Great and Napoleon. Each of these men dreamed a
dream of world empire. They failed. I have dreamed a dream of
German world empire and my mailed fist shall succeed."

Could any declaration of a life's ambition be more explicit? It
seems impossible for human ambition to stand still. Either a man
loses all stimulus of self and becomes as spiritless as a fagged
animal or ambition drives him always on--he is never content with
any success achieved. The millionaire to whom the first million,
when he was a boy, seemed the extreme limit of human wealth and
desire, presses on insatiably with the first million in his
pocket, more restless, more dissatisfied, than the hungry
farmer's boy who first carries his ambitions to the great city.

When these zealous, scheming men gain the power of kingship, they
usually bring disaster to their country. Their subjects find no
compensation in the personal ambitions which hurry a nation into
the miseries of war. Better Charles II, dallying with his
ringletted mistresses, than an Alexander the Great; better Henry
the Fourth of France, the "ever-green gallant," than Frederick
the Great, bathing his people in blood. "Happy nations have no
history."

William the Second, the present German Emperor, might well be
called the Restless Emperor. He is never satisfied to remain more
than a few days in any place or in any occupation. He commands
his armies in person. He has won distinction as a writer and a
public speaker. He is an excellent shot. He has composed music,
written verses, superintended the production of a ballet, painted
a picture; the beautiful Byzantine chapel in the Castle of Posen
shows his genius for architecture; and, clothed in a clergyman's
surplice, he has preached a sermon in Jerusalem. What ruler in
all history has exhibited such extraordinary versatility?

In my conversations with the Emperor I have been struck by his
knowledge of other countries, lands which he had never visited.
He was familiar not only with their manners, customs, industries
and public men, but with their commercial problems. Through his
conversation one can see the keen eye of the Hanseatic trader
looking with eager envy on the trade of a rival merchant. The
Emperor, incidentally, while instinctively commercial, has an
inborn contempt, if not for the law, at least for lawyers. In
October, 1915, for instance, he remarked to me, "This is a
lawyers' war, Asquith and Lloyd George in England, Poincaré and
Briand in France."

In appearance and conversation Emperor William is very manly. His
voice is strong, with a ring in it. He is a good rider. Following
the German custom, he puts on his nightshirt every afternoon
after lunch and sleeps for two hours--for the German is more
devoted to the siesta than the Spaniard or Mexican. The hours of
the Berlin Foreign Office, for example, were from eleven to one
and from four to eight. After a heavy lunch at one o'clock all
the officials took a nap for an hour or two. Also, the hours of
the bank where I did business were from ten to one and from four
till six. This meant that after six o'clock the clerks had to sit
until perhaps eight making up the books for the day.

In 1916, the Olympic games were to have taken place at Berlin,
and in September, 1913, before sailing for Germany, I attended a
luncheon at the New York Athletic Club, given by President Page,
with the members of the German Commission who had come to America
to study athletics and to see what could be done in Germany so
that the Germans could make a good showing at the games in their
own city.

After my arrival in Germany one of the members of this commission
told me that it was impossible, he believed, to organise the
Germans as athletes until German meal and business hours had been
changed. He said that with us in America young men leaving
business at four-thirty, five or five-thirty, had time in which
to exercise before their evening meal, but that in Germany the
young men ate so much at the midday meal that they required their
siesta after it, and that they did not leave their offices until
so late in the evening that exercise and practice were impossible.

On the Emperor's table his wine glasses or rather cups are of
silver. Possibly this is because he has been forbidden by his
physician to drink wine. The Germans maintain the old-fashioned
custom of drinking healths at meals. Some one far down the table
will lift his glass, look at you and smile. You are then expected
to lift your glass and drink with him and then both bow and smile
over the glasses. As the Emperor must reciprocate with every one
present, his champagne and wine are put in silver cups in order
that those drinking wine with him do not see that he consumes no
appreciable quantity of alcoholic liquor on the occasion of each
health drinking. Some people in America may have often wished for
a similar device.

The Emperor is out of uniform only on rare occasions.
Occasionally, when in a foreign country, he has appeared in
civilian dress, as shown in the accompanying photograph, taken in
1910 at the small town of Odde in Norway, where he had landed
from his yacht. He appears to much better advantage in uniform
than in civilian attire. Although uniformed while at sea as an
Admiral, his favourite uniform is really that of the Hussars. In
this picture he is accompanied by Baron von Treutler, Prussian
Minister to Bavaria and Foreign Office representative with the
Kaiser. Von Treutler is a German of the world. I met him at the
Great General Headquarters, at the end of April, 1916, when the
submarine question was being discussed. He came to dinner several
times at the Chancellor's house, undoubtedly reporting back what
was said to the Emperor, and I believe that his voice was against
the resumption of ruthless submarine warfare and in favour of
peace with America. Shortly after this period he fell into
disfavour and went back to occupy his post of Minister in Munich.

In conversation, the Emperor reminds one very much of Roosevelt,
talking with the same energy, the same violence of gesture and of
voice so characteristic of our great ex-President. When the
Emperor talks all his attention is given to you and all his
mental energy is concentrated on the conversation. In this
violence of manner and voice he seems not at all German. The
average German is neither exuberant nor soft-spoken.

His favourite among his ancestors is William of Orange. Once he
attended a fancy-dress ball in costume and make-up copied from
the well-known picture of that Prince. The Emperor is strongly
built and is about five feet nine inches tall. He sits well on
his horse and walks, too, with head erect and shoulders thrown
back--a picture of military precision.

A friend of mine who was present at Kiel with his yacht, in 1910,
tells me that when all the yachts and warships had been assembled
along the long narrow waterway which constitutes that harbour,
with the crews lined up on deck or manning the yards, with bands
crashing and banners floating, the _Hohenzollern_ slowly steamed
into the harbour and passed lazily and majestically through the
waiting ships. Alone on the upper bridge stood the Monarch,
attired in full military uniform, with white coat and tight
breeches, high top boots, shining silver breastplate and silver
helmet, surmounted by an eagle, the dress of the Prussian Guard
Regiment so dear to those who portray romantic and kingly rôles
upon the stage, a figure on whom all eyes were fixed, as splendid
as that of Lohengrin, drawn by his fairy swan, coming to rescue
the unjustly accused Princess. And, alas, the Germans like all
this pomp and splendour. It appeals to something in the German
heart and seems to create a feeling of affection and humility in
the German breast.

When I talked at length one day with President Wilson on my visit
to America in October, 1916, he remarked, half to himself, in
surprise at my tale of war, "Why does all this horror come on the
world? What causes it?" "Mr. President," I answered, "it is the
king business."

I did not mean nominal kings as harmless as those of Spain and
England. I was thinking of the powerful monarchs. A German
republic would never have embarked on this war; a German Congress
would have thought twice before sending their own sons to death
in a deliberate effort to enslave other peoples. In a free
Germany teachers, ministers and professors would not have taught
the necessity of war. What German merchant in a free Germany
would have thought that all the trade of the East, all the riches
of Bagdad and Cairo and Mosul could compensate him for the death
of his first-born or restore the blind eyes to the youngest son
who now crouches, cowering, over the fire, awaiting death? For
there was no trade necessity for this war. I know of no place in
the world where German merchants were not free to trade. The
disclosures of war have shown how German commerce had penetrated
every land, to an extent unknown to the best informed. If the
German merchants wanted this war in order to gain a German
monopoly of the world's trade, then they are rightly suffering
from the results of overweening covetousness.

Experts in insanity say that the Roman Emperors as soon as they
attained the rule of the world were made mad by the possession of
that stupendous power. The sceptre of Emperor William is mighty.
No more autocratic influence proceeds from any other monarch or
ruler. But you will say how about our President in time of war?
Great power can safely be given to a president. Our presidents
have all risen from the ranks. Usually they have gone through the
school of hard knocks. And there are ways of keeping them abreast
of the people.

It is told that hidden from public view, crouched down in the
chariot in which the successful Roman pro-consul or general drove
triumphantly through the crowded streets of Rome, was a slave
celebrated for his impertinence, whose duty it was to make the
one honoured feel that, after all, he was nothing more than an
ordinary mortal blessed with a certain amount of good luck.
Probably as the chariot passed by the forum the slave would say,
after a thunderous burst of applause from the populace: "Do not
take that applause too seriously. That is the T. Quintus Cassius
Association whose chief received a hundred sesterces from your
brother-in-law yesterday, on account, with a promise of a hundred
more in case the Association's cheers seemed loud and sincere."

So in America the press, serious and comic, takes the place of
the humble slave and throws enough cold water on the head of any
temporarily successful American to reduce it to normal proportions.
Besides, the President knows that some day he must return to the
ranks, live again with his neighbours, seek out the threads of a
lost law practice or eke out a livelihood on the Chautauqua
circuit in the discomfort of tiny hotels, travelling in upper
berths instead of private cars and eating on lunch stools in small
stations instead of in the sumptuous surroundings of presidential
luxury. These are sobering prospects.

Kings, on the other hand, come to look on their subjects as toys.
A post-card popular in Austria and Germany showed the old
Emperor, Francis Joseph, seated at a table with a little
great-grand-nephew on his knee, teaching the child to move toy
soldiers about on the boards; and it is unfortunately true that
the same youngster--should the system of the Central Empires be
perpetuated--will be able to move his subjects across the map of
Europe just as he did the toy soldiers on his great-grand-uncle's
table. He will be able to tear men from their work and their
homes, to seize great scientists, great chemists, great
inventors--men who may be on the eve of discoveries or remedies
destined to rid the human race of the scourge of cancer or the
white plague--and send them to death in the marshes of Macedonia
or the fastnesses of the Carpathians because some fellow-king or
emperor has deceived or outwitted him.

In a monarchy all subjects seem the personal property of the
monarch and all expressions of power become personal. This
extends throughout all countries ruled by royalty.

When, for example, a member of the royal family dies, even in
another country, it must be lamented by the court circle of other
lands. Here is the official notice sent to all diplomats and
members of the Imperial German Court on the occasion of the death
of the Queen of Sweden.

     "The Court goes into mourning to-day for Her
     Majesty the Queen-Mother of Sweden for three weeks
     up to and including the 19th of January, 1914.

     "Ladies wear black silk dresses, for the first
     fourteen days, including January 12th, with black
     hair ornaments, black gloves, black fans and
     black jewelry; the last eight days with white hair
     ornaments, grey gloves, white fans and pearls.

     "Gentlemen wear the whole time a black band on the
     left sleeve. Civilians wear with the embroidered
     coat, during the first fourteen days, including
     January 12th, on occasions of Grand Gala, black
     buckles and swords with black sheathes. During the
     last eight days bright buckles; on occasions of
     'Half Gala' gold or silver embroidered trousers of
     the color of the uniform and in the one as in the
     other case gold or silver embroidered hat with
     white plume; with the 'small' uniform, however,
     black trousers (or knee-breeches, black silk
     stockings, shoes with black bows and the
     'three-cornered' hat with black plume). During the
     first fourteen days gentlemen wear black woolen
     vests and black gloves, in the last eight days
     black silk vests and grey gloves.

"Berlin, December 30, 1913.

"The Ober-Ceremonienmeister.
"GRAF A. EULENBURG.

     "By command of His Majesty the Emperor, mourning
     will be suspended for New Year's Day and the 17th
     and 18th of January."

So, it is apparent what a close corporation all the royal
families make and the peoples are simply viewed as the personal
property of the ruling princes. In his telegram which the German
Kaiser wrote to President Wilson on August tenth, observe that
all is personal. The Kaiser says, "I telegraphed to His Majesty
the King, _personally_, but that if, etc., I would employ _my_
troops elsewhere.... His Majesty answered that he thought _my_
offer...." He speaks of the King of the Belgians "having refused
_my_ petition for a free passage." He refers to "_my_ Ambassador
in London."

This telegram shows, on the other hand, another thing,--the great
ability of the Kaiser. Undoubtedly he knew why I was coming to
see him--to present the offer of mediation of President
Wilson--but from our conversation I do not think that he had even
in his mind prepared the answer, which sets forth his position in
entering the war.

He said, "Wait a moment, I shall write something for the
President." Then taking the telegraph blanks lying on the table,
he wrote rapidly and fluently. It was a message in a foreign
language, and, whatever we may think of its content, at any rate
it is clear, concise, consecutive and forceful.

The personal touch runs through that extraordinary series of
telegrams in the famous "Willy-Nicky" correspondence between
Kaiser Wilhelm and the last of the Romanoffs, discovered in
Petrograd by Herman Bernstein. These reveal, moreover, the
surpassing craft of the German Kaiser. He was the master schemer.
Touting for German trade, always for his advantage, he twists the
poor half-wit of the Winter Palace like a piece of straw.

Emperor William was not satisfied with a quiet life as patron of
trade. As he studied the portraits of his ancestors, he felt that
they gazed at him with reproachful eyes, demanded that he add, as
did they, to the domains of the Hohenzollerns, that he return
from war in triumph at the head of a victorious army with the
keys of fallen cities borne before him in conquering march.

One-tenth of Frederick the Great's people fell, but to the
poverty-stricken peasant woman of Prussia, lamenting her husband
and dead sons, did it matter that the rich province of Silesia
had been added to the Prussian Crown? What was it to that broken
mother whether the Silesian peasants acknowledged the Prussian
King or the Austrian Empress? Despots both. And what countless
serfs fell in the wars between the King and the Empress! I once
asked von Jagow when this war would end. He answered, "An old
history of the Seven Years' War concludes, 'The King and the
Empress were tired of war, so they made peace.' That is how this
war will end." Will it? Will it end in a draw, to be resumed when
some king feels the war fever on him? No, this war must end
despots, and with them all wars!

It is all such a matter of personal whim. For instance before
Bulgaria entered the war on the side of Germany, even the best
informed Germans predicted that King Ferdinand would never join
Germany because of an incident which occurred in the Royal Palace
of Berlin. This is how it happened:

It is the custom for one monarch to make his pals in the King
business officers of his army or navy. Thus the German Emperor
was General Field Marshal and Proprietor of the 34th "William the
first, German Emperor and King of Prussia" Infantry, and of the
7th "William the Second, German Emperor and King of Prussia"
Hussars, in the Austro-Hungarian Army; Chief of the "King
Frederick William III St. Petersburg Life Guards," the 85th
"Viburg" Infantry and the 13th "Narva" Hussars, and the "Grodno"
Hussars of the Guard, in the Russian Army; Field Marshal in British Army;
Hon. Admiral of the British Fleet and Colonel-in-Chief 1st Dragoons;
General in the Swedish Army and Flag Admiral of the Fleet; Hon.
Admiral of the Norwegian and Danish Fleets; Admiral of the
Russian Fleet; Hon. Captain-General in the Spanish Army and Hon.
Colonel of the 11th "Naumancia" Spanish Dragoons; and Hon.
Admiral of the Greek Fleet.

The King of Bulgaria was Chief of the 4th Thuringia Infantry
Regiment No. 72, in the Prussian Army. As per custom, on a visit
to Berlin he donned his uniform of the Thuringian Infantry. He
had put on a little weight, and military unmentionables, be it
known, are notoriously tight. So as he leaned far out of the
Palace window to admire the passing troops, he presented a mark
so tempting that the Emperor, in jovial mood, was impelled to
administer a resounding spank on the sacred seat of the Czar of
all the Balkans. Instead of taking the slap in the same jovial
spirit in which it was given the Czar Ferdinand, a little jealous
of the self-assumed title of Czar, became furiously angry--so
angry that even the old diplomats of the Metternich school
believed for a time that he never would forgive the whack and
even might refuse to join Germany. But Czar Ferdinand, believing
in the military power of Germany, cast his already war-worn
people in the war against the Allies, much to the regret of many
Bulgarian statesmen who, having been educated at Robert College,
near Constantinople, a college founded and maintained by
Americans, and having imbibed somewhat of the American spirit
there, were not over-pleased to think of themselves arrayed
against the United States of America.

But there is no monarch in all Europe who is more wily than Czar
Ferdinand. At a great feast in Bulgaria at which Emperor William
was present, Czar Ferdinand toasted the Emperor in Latin and
alluded to him as "_Miles Gloriosus_"--which all present took to
mean "glorious soldier"; but the exact Latin meaning of
"gloriosus" is "glorious" in its first meaning and "boastful" in
its second, a meaning well known in Berlin where, at the "Little
Theatre," in a series of plays of all ages, the "_Miles
Gloriosus_" of Plautus had just been presented--a boastful,
conceited soldier, the "_Miles Gloriosus_," the chief character
of the comedy.

Nothing illustrates more vividly the belief of the royal families
of the Central Empires in their God-given right to rule the plain
people than those few words of Maximilian written before his
ill-fated expedition to Mexico. Speaking of the Palace at
Caserta, near Naples, he wrote, "The monumental stairway is
worthy of Majesty. What can be finer than to imagine the
sovereign placed at its head, resplendent in the midst of these
marble pillars,--to fancy this monarch, like a God, graciously
permitting the approach of human beings. The crowd surges upward.
The King vouchsafes a gracious glance, but from a very lofty
elevation. All powerful, imperial, he makes one step towards them
with a smile of infinite condescension. Could Charles V, could
Maria Theresa appear thus at the head of this ascending stair,
who would not bow their heads before that majestic, God-given
power?"

What was the condition of the people under Maria Theresa, whom
Maximilian spoke of as possessing a power that, according to him,
was so God-given no one could fail to bow the head before her
majestic presence? The peasants, under her rule, were practically
slaves, as they could not leave the lord's lands nor even marry
without his permission, nor could they bring their children up to
any profession other than that of labourer. In other words, the
children of the slave must remain slaves.

Poor Maximilian! He was a brother of the late Emperor Francis
Joseph and a member of that Kaiserbund and royal system which,
while America was busy with domestic difficulties between the
North and South, sought to wrest from Mexico her liberty. I
wonder if the Mexicans have forgotten the incident and its
implications.

But one-man power always fails in the end. No man, king or
president, whatever he may himself think, has a brain all
powerful and all knowing. There is wisdom in counsel. Too much of
some favourite dish may lead to indigestion and that to bad
judgment at a critical time and disaster. Napoleon III, just
before 1870, was suffering from a wasting disease and so allowed
himself to be ruled by the beautiful, narrow, fascinating,
foolish Spanish Empress whom he gave to the French in a moment of
passion because, as she said to him, "The way to her room lay
through the church door." Colonel Stoffel, the French Military
Attaché to the Berlin Embassy, wrote confidentially report after
report to the Emperor telling him of the immense military
strength of Prussia and of her readiness for immediate war. But
most of these reports were afterwards found unopened in the desk
of the doting, sick and fallen Emperor.

For, after all, however divine the King, Emperor or Kaiser may
consider himself, he is but a vulnerable human being--and no
accident of birth should give even a small number of people on
this earth into the hands of a single mortal.

CHAPTER II

WHO DOES THE KAISER'S THINKING AND WHO DECIDED ON THE BREAK WITH
AMERICA?

Because the German Emperor possesses talents of no mean order,
because of his fiery energy, because of the charm of his
conversation and personality, his ambitions for world conquest
are most dangerous to the peace of the world.

Certainly of all the ruling houses of the world, the
Hohenzollerns have shown themselves the most able, and of the six
sons of the Kaiser there is not one who is unable or unworthy
from the autocratic standpoint to carry on the traditions of the
house. They are all young men who in any field of human endeavour
are more than a match for men of their age, and by reason of
these qualities, so rare in kings and princes, it has been easy
to arouse a great feeling of devotion for the royal house of
Prussia among all classes in Germany, with the possible exception
of the Social Democrats. The other kings and princes of Germany
have been overshadowed, mere puppets in the king business, by the
surpassing talents of the Hohenzollerns, and so the task of those
who, in Germany and out, hope for that evolution towards
liberalism or even democracy which alone can make the nations of
the world feel safe in making peace with Germany, is beset with
numerous difficulties.

Before the war the Emperor turned much of his enterprising talent
into peaceful channels, into the development of commercial and
industrial Germany. No one has a greater respect for wealth and
commercial success than the Emperor. He would have made a
wonderful success as a man of business. He ought to be the
richest person in the Empire, but the militaristic system which
he fostered gave that distinction to another. For the richest
person in Germany before the war was Frau Krupp-Bohlen, daughter
of the late manufacturer of cannon. She inherited control of the
factories and the greater part of the fortune of her father and
was rated at about $75,000,000. It was a contest between Prince
Henckel-Donnersmarck and the Emperor for second place, each being
reputed to possess about sixty to sixty-five million dollars.
Most of the Emperor's wealth is in landed estates, and of these
he has, I believe, about sixty scattered through the Empire. The
Emperor is credited with being a large stockholder in both the
Krupp works and the Hamburg-American Line. What a sensation it
would make in this country were the President to become a large
stockholder in Bethlehem Steel or the Winchester Arms Company!

The earnings of the Krupp's factory since the War have been
immense and doubtless the fortune of the Krupp heiress since then
has more than doubled. The subscriptions to war loans and war
charities, thrown by Frau Krupp-Bohlen and the Krupp directors
as sops to public opinion, are mere nothings to the fat earnings
made by that renowned factory in this war.

And what a sensation, too, would be caused in America if the
Bethlehem Steel Company or the United States Steel Corporation
were to purchase newspapers or take over The Associated Press in
order to control public opinion! Yet the German nation stands by,
apathetic, propagandised to a standstill, stuffed and fed by news
handed them by the Krupps and the alliance of six great
industrial iron and steel companies of western Germany.

A question which interests every inhabitant of the world to-day
is, where does the ultimate power reside in Germany?

Where is the force which controls the country? The Reichstag, of
course, has no real power; the twenty-five ruling princes of
Germany, voting in the Bundesrat through their representatives,
control the Reichstag, and the Chancellor is not responsible to
either but only to the Emperor.

Consider, for a moment, the personality of von Bethmann-Hollweg,
Chancellor of the Empire for eight or nine years. He lacked both
determination and decision. Lovable, good, kind, respected, the
Chancellor, to a surprising degree, was minus that quality which
we call "punch." He never led, but followed. He sought always to
find out first which side of the question seemed likely to
win,--where the majority would stand. Usually he poised himself
on middle ground. He could not have been the ultimate power in
the State.

I have a feeling that the Kaiser himself always felt in some
vague way that his luck lay with America, and I imagine that he
himself was against anything that might lead to a break with this
country. What, then, was the mysterious power which changed, for
instance, the policy of the German Empire towards America and
ordered unrestricted submarine war at the risk of bringing
against the Empire a rich and powerful nation of over a hundred
million population?

The Foreign Office did not have this decision. Its members, made
up of men who had travelled in other countries, who knew the
latent power of America, did not advise this step--with the
exception, however, of Zimmermann, who, carried away by his
sudden elevation, and by the glamour of personal contact with the
Emperor, the Princes and the military chiefs, yielded to the
arguments of military expediency.

The one force in Germany which ultimately decides every great
question, except the fate of its own head, is the Great General
Staff.

On one side of the Königs-Platz, in Berlin, stands the great
building of the Reichstag, floridly decorated, glittering with
gold, surrounded by statues and filled, during the sessions of
the Reichstag, with a crowd of representatives who do not
represent and who, like monkeys in a cage, jibber and debate
questions which they have no power to decide. Across the square
and covering the entire block in a building that resembles in
external appearance a jail, built of dark red brick without
ornament or display, is the home of the Great General Staff. This
institution has its own spies, its own secret service, its own
newspaper censors. Here the picked officers of the German army,
the inheritors of the power of von Moltke, work industriously.
Apart from the people of Germany, they wield the supreme power of
the State and when the Staff decides a matter of foreign policy
or even an internal measure, that decision is final.

The peculiar relations of the Emperor to the Great General Staff
make it possible for him to dismiss in disgrace a head of the
Staff who has failed. But at all times the Kaiser is more or less
controlled in his action by the Staff as a whole and at a time
when the chief of the Great General Staff is successful, the
latter, even on questions of foreign policy, claims the right
then to make a decision which the Emperor may find it difficult
to disregard. This is because in an autocratic government, as in
any other, personality counts for much. Von Tirpitz controlled
all departments of the navy, although only at the head of one.
The Ludendorff-Hindenburg combination, especially if backed by
Mackensen, can bend the will of the Emperor.

[Illustration: THE IRON CROSS. IN THE EXPECTATION OF A SHORT WAR
THOUSANDS OF THESE CROSSES WERE DISTRIBUTED IN THE FIRST MONTHS
OF THE WAR AND THE PRECEDENT THUS ESTABLISHED HAS LED TO THE
GIVING OF PERHAPS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF THESE DECORATIONS]

Yet while the head of the Great General Staff may fall, the
system always remains. An unknown, mysterious power it is,
unchanging, and relentless, a power that watches over the German
army with unseen eyes. It seeks always additions to its own ranks
from those young officers who have distinguished themselves by
their talents in the profession of arms. What does it mean to
them?

It is January twenty-seventh, the birthday of the Kaiser in a
German garrison town. The officers of the regiment are assembled
in the mess-hall, the regimental band plays the national air of
Prussia, "Heil Dir im Sieger Kranz" (Hail, thou, in the
conqueror's wreath). (The music is familiar to us because we sing
it to the words of "America." The British sing the air to the
words of "God Save the King." This music was originally written
for Louis XIV.) The health of the Emperor is proposed and drunk
with "Hurrahs" and again "Hurrahs," and then comes a telegram
from Berlin announcing the promotions and decorations granted to
some of the officers of the regiment: the most envied of all is
that younger officer, perhaps the student among them, who
receives the laconic despatch telling him that he is detailed to
the Great General Staff!

Then commences for the young officer a life of almost monastic
devotion. No amusements, no social obligations or entertainments
must interfere in the slightest with his earnest work in that
plain building of mystery which so calmly, and with such mock
modesty, faces the garish home of the Reichstag on the Königs-Platz,
in Berlin.

Who decided on the break with America? It was not the Chancellor,
notoriously opposed; it was not the Foreign Office, nor the
Reichstag, nor the Princes of Germany who decided to brave the
consequences of a rupture with the United States on the submarine
question. It was not the Emperor; but a personality of great
power of persuasion. It was Ludendorff, Quartermaster General,
chief aid and brains to Hindenburg, Chief of the Great General
Staff, who decided upon this step.

Unquestionably a party in the navy, undoubtedly von Tirpitz
himself, backed by the navy and by many naval officers and the
Naval League, advocated the policy and promised all Germany peace
within three months after it was adopted; unquestionably public
opinion made by the Krupps and the League of Six (the great iron
and steel companies), desiring annexation of the coal and iron
lands of France, demanded this as a quick road to peace. But it
was the deciding vote of the Great General Staff that finally
embarked the German nation on this dangerous course.

I do not think the Emperor himself, unless backed by the whole
public opinion of Germany, would dare to withstand the Great
General Staff which he himself creates. They are so much his
devotees that they would overrule him in what they consider his
interest.

Whatever thinking the Emperor does nowadays is more or less on
his own account. There is to-day no shining favourite who has his
ear to the exclusion of others. The last known favourite was
Prince Max Egon von Fürstenberg, a man now about fifty-four years
old, tall, handsome, possessed at one time of great wealth and a
commanding position in Austria as well as Germany, with the
privilege of citizenship in both countries. The Prince in his
capacity as Grand Marshal accompanied the Emperor, walking in
his train as the latter entered the White Hall at a great ball
early in the winter of 1914. The Emperor was stopping at the
Prince's palace in southern Germany at Donnaueschingen when the
affair at Zabern and the cutting down of the lame shoemaker there
shook the political and military foundations of the German
Empire. Prince Max together with Prince Hohenlohe, Duke of Ugest,
embarked, however, on a career of vast speculation in an
association known as the Princes' Trust. They built, for
instance, the great Hotel Esplanade in Berlin, and a hotel of the
same name in Hamburg, and an enormous combined beer restaurant,
theatre and moving picture hall on the Nollendorff Platz in
Berlin. They organised banks, and the name of the princely house
of Fürstenberg appeared as an advertisement for light beer. They
even, through their interest in a department store on the east
end of the Leipziger Strasse, sold pins and stockings and ribbons
to the working classes of Berlin. As this top-heavy structure of
foolish business enterprise tumbled, the favour of Prince Max at
the Imperial Court fell with it. For the Emperor never brooks
failure.

During the present war Von Gontard, related by marriage, I
believe, to brewer Busch in St. Louis; von Treutler, who
represented the Foreign Office; von Falkenhayn, for a while head
of the Great General Staff and Minister of War, and the Prince of
Pless, and von Plessen with several minor adjutants, have
constituted the principal figures in the surroundings of the
Emperor. Falkenhayn fell because of his failure in the attack of
Verdun, ordered by him or for which he was the responsible
commander. Von Treutler probably told the truth; he was against
the breaking of the submarine pledges to America; and Prince
Pless, who remains still in favour, never took a decided stand on
any of these questions. Prince Pless, as Prince Max was, is rich.
His fortune before the war, represented mostly by great landed
estates in Silesia, mines, etc., amounted approximately to thirty
million dollars. His wife is an Englishwoman, once celebrated as
one of the great beauties of London, daughter of Colonel and Mrs.
Cornwallis-West, and sister of the Duchess of Westminster and
Cornwallis-West, formerly married to Lady Randolph Churchill, and
now the husband of Mrs. Patrick Campbell, the well-known actress.
And therefore the position of Princess Pless has not been
enviable during this war.

Emperor William does not, like many kings and dictators, confine
himself in his search for general information regarding men and
conditions to the reports of a few persons. He always has been
accessible, seeking even to meet strangers, not merely his own
people but foreigners, thus escaping the penalty of those rulers
who shut themselves up and who have all their information and
thoughts coloured for them by the preferences and desires of
prejudiced counsellors.

The chiefs of the army are always in close touch with the Kaiser,
but he is consulted on army commands and promotions much less
than on civil and even naval promotions.

Always with him is the head of the Civil Cabinet, who advises
with the Emperor on all appointments and promotions on the civil
side of the Government, helping even to make and unmake
Ambassadors and Chancellors. Admiral von Mueller, head of the
Marine Cabinet, is constantly in the Emperor's company. He is a
shrewd, capable, reasonable man; for a long time Admiral von
Mueller was against taking the chance of war with America and
perhaps, even to the end, persisted in this course. After the
fall of von Tirpitz, von Mueller acquired more real power. But in
a sense it is incorrect to speak of the forced retirement of von
Tirpitz as a "fall," because from his retirement he was able to
carry on such a campaign in favour of "ruthless" submarine war
that the mass of the people, Reichstag deputies, the General Staff,
and all came over to his point of view and von Bethmann-Hollweg,
who had brought about his dismissal, was forced officially to adopt
the policy first sponsored by this skilful old sea-dog and politician.

WHO SANK THE "LUSITANIA"?

Who is responsible for the sinking of the _Lusitania_, for the
deliberate murder which has always remained deep in the
consciousness of every American, and which at the outset turned
this great nation against Germany?

In the first place there was no mistake--no question of orders
exceeded or disobeyed. Count von Bernstorff frankly, boldly,
defiantly, and impudently advertised to the world, with the
authority of the German Government, that the attempt to sink the
_Lusitania_ would be made. The Foreign Office, no doubt,
acquainted him with the new policy. Von Tirpitz, then actual head
of the Navy Department and virtual head of the whole navy, openly
showed his approval of the act, and threw all his influence in
favor of a continuation of ruthless tactics. But a question which
involved a breach of international law, a possible break with a
friendly power, could not be decided by even the Foreign Office
and Navy together.

The Great General Staff claims a hand in the decision of all
questions of foreign policy which even remotely affect the
conduct of the war. Similarly it was the duty of the Foreign
Office to point out the possible consequences under the rules of
international law; but when the question of submarine warfare was
to be determined, the consultation was usually at the Great
General Headquarters. At these meetings von Tirpitz or the navy
presented their views and the Great General Staff sat with the
Emperor in council, although it was reported in Charleville at
the time of the settlement of May, 1916, that Falkenhayn,
speaking in favour of submarine war, had been rebuked by the
Emperor, and told to stick to military affairs.

All the evidence points to the Emperor himself as the responsible
head who at this time ordered or permitted this form of murder.
The orders were given at a time when the Emperor dominated the
General Staff, not in one of those periods, as outlined in a
previous chapter when the General Staff, as at present, dominated
the Emperor. When I saw the Kaiser in October, 1915, he said that
he would not have sunk the _Lusitania_, that no gentleman would
have killed so many women and children. Yet he never disapproved
the order. Other boats were sunk thereafter in the same manner
and only by chance was the loss of life smaller when the _Arabic_
was torpedoed. It is argued that, had the Emperor considered
beforehand how many non-combatants would be killed, he would not
have given the order to sink that particular boat. But what a
lame excuse! A man is responsible for the natural and logical
results of his own acts. It may be too that Charles IX, when he
ordered, perhaps reluctantly, the massacre of St. Bartholomew,
did not know that so many would be killed, but there can be no
Pilate-washing-of-the-hands,--Emperor William was responsible. He
must bear the blame before the world.

Blood-shed in honorable war is soon forgotten; but the cowardly
stroke by which the Kaiser sought to terrorise America, by which
he sent to a struggling death of agony in the sea, the peaceful
men and women and children passengers of the _Lusitania_, may
ever remain a cold boundary line between Germany and America
unless the German people utter a condemnation of the tragedy that
rings true and repentant.

We want to live at peace with the world when this war is over, to
be able to grasp once more the hands of those now our enemies,
but how can any American clasp in friendship the hand of Germans
who approve this and the many other outrages that have turned the
conscience of the world against Germany?

To Americans in Berlin, the sinking of the _Lusitania_ came like
a lightning stroke. No Bernstorff warnings had prepared us. I
believed I would be recalled immediately. In making preparations
to leave, I sent a secretary to see the head of one of the
largest banks in Germany, a personal friend, to ask him, in case
we should leave, to take for safe-keeping into his bank our
silver, pictures, etc. He said to my secretary, "Tell Judge
Gerard that I will take care of his valuables for him, but tell
him also, that if the _Mauretania_ comes out to-morrow we shall
sink her, too."

That was the attitude of a majority of the business men of
Germany. German casualties at that time had been great so that
the mere loss of human life did not appal as would have been the
case in a country unused to the daily posting of long lists of
dead and wounded. Consequently the one feeling of Germany was of
rejoicing, believing indeed that victory was near, that the
"damned Yankees" would be so scared that they would not dare
travel on British ships, that the submarine war would be a great
success, that France and England deprived of food, steel and
supplies from America soon would be compelled to sue for peace,
especially since the strategically clever, if unlawful, invasion
of France by way of Belgium had driven the French from the best
coal and iron districts of their country.

I do recall that one Imperial Minister, a reasonable individual
whose name I think it best not to mention, expressed in private
his sorrow, not only for the deed itself, but for the mistaken
policy which he saw, even then, would completely turn in the end
the sympathies of America to the Entente Allies. And there were
others,--among the intellectuals, and, especially, among the
merchants of Hamburg and Frankfort who had travelled in the outer
world both on pleasure and business, who realised what a profound
effect the drowning of innocent men, women and children would
have on our peace-loving people.

Many of these men said to me, "The sinking of the _Lusitania_ is
the greatest German defeat of all the war. Its consequences will
be far-reaching; its impression, deep and lasting."

The Teutonic Knights, from whom the ruling class of Prussia is
descended, kept the Slavic population in subjection by a reign of
physical terror. This class believes that to rule one must
terrorise. The Kaiser himself referring to the widespread
indignation caused by German outrages of the present war, has
said: "The German sword will command respect."

Terrorism--"Schrecklichkeit"--has always formed a part, not only
of German military inclination, but of German military policy. I
often said to Germans of the Government, "Are you yourselves
subject to being terrorised? If another nation murdered or
outraged your women, your children, would it cause you to cringe
in submission or would you fight to the last? If you would fight
yourselves, what is there in the history of America which makes
you think that Americans will submit to mere frightfulness; in
what particular do you think Americans are so different from
Germans?" But they shrugged their shoulders.

I have heard that in parts of Germany school children were given
a holiday to celebrate the sinking of the _Lusitania_. I was busy
with preparations, too anxious about the future to devote much
time to the study of the psychology of the Germans in other parts
of Germany at this moment, but with the exception of the one
Cabinet Minister aforementioned, and expressions of regret from
certain merchants and intellectuals, it cannot be denied that a
great wave of exultation swept over Germany. It was felt that
this was a master stroke, that victory was appreciably nearer and
that no power on earth could withstand the brute force of the
Empire.

Mingled with this was a deep hate of all things American
inculcated by the Berlin Government. And we must understand,
therefore, that no trick and no evasion, no brutality will be
untried by Germany in this war. It was against the rules of war
to use poison gas, but first the newspapers of Germany were
carefully filled with official statements saying the British and
French had used this unfair means. Coincidentally with these
reports the German army was trying by this dastardly innovation
to break the British lines. It was not a new procedure. Months
before the _Lusitania_ crime, the newspapers and people had been
poisoned with official statements inflaming the people against
America, particularly for our commerce with the Entente in war
supplies.

It was the right, guaranteed by a treaty to which Germany was a
signatory, of our private individuals to sell munitions and
supplies, but as Prince von Buelow once remarked on December
13th, 1900, in the Reichstag, "I feel no embarrassment in saying
here, publicly, that for Germany, right can never be a determining
consideration."

Indeed the tame professors were let loose and many of them rushed
into government-paid print to prove that, according to law, the
murders of the _Lusitania_ were justified. A German chemist
friend of mine told me that the chemists of Germany were called
on, after poison gas had been met by British and French, to
devise some new and deadly chemical. Flame throwers soon appeared
together with more insidious gases. And it is only because of the
vigilance of other nations that German spies have not succeeded
in sowing the microbes of pestilence in countries arrayed against
lawless Germany.

Remember there is nothing that Kaiserism is not capable of trying
in the hope of victory.

CHAPTER IV

THE KAISER AND "LÈSE-MAJESTÉ"

The talents and ability and agreeable personality of the German
Emperor must not blind us to the fact that he is the centre of
the system which has brought the world to a despair and misery
such as it never has known since the dawn of history. We must
remember that all his utterances disclose the soul of the
conqueror, of a man intensely anxious for earthly fame and a
conspicuous place in the gallery of human events; envious, too,
of the great names of the past, his ears so tuned for admiration
and applause that they fail to hear the great, long drawn wail of
agony that echoes around the world. His eyes are so blinded with
the sheen of his own glory that they do not see the mutilated
corpses, the crime, the pestilence, the hunger, the incalculable
sorrow that sweeps the earth from the jungles of Africa to the
frozen plains of the North, from Siberia to Saskatchewan, from
Texas to Trieste, from Alaska to Afghanistan--everywhere he has
brought the dark angel of mourning to millions upon millions of
desolate homes.

Do you remember that picture of the Conquerors, Cæsar and
Alexander, Attila and Napoleon, Charlemagne and Cambyses, astride
their horses or in chariots in the centre of the picture, dark,
gloomy, menacing? On each side of them, lining a vast plain that
fades in the distance, lie the dead--stiff, cold, grey,
reproachful;--yet all the victims of those conquerors, as well as
all their battalions do not equal the countless number that have
already drenched a forgiving earth with their dying blood in this
war:--victims all of the vain-glorious ambition of a single
mortal--the German Kaiser.

But the despot who sends his subjects to die, as Frederick the
Great said, "in order to be talked about" is not indigenous to
any one particular country. Like conditions produce like results.
The career of Louis XIV, the "Sun King," for instance, whose wars
and extravagances sowed the seeds of the French Revolution, is
epitomised in two phrases uttered by him: "I am the State" and "I
almost had to wait."

After the French Revolution, another despot, the first Napoleon,
not only sought the conquest of the world, but made his ex-waiter
and ex-groom marshals and his washerwomen duchesses ape the
manners and customs of the old régime. Despotism has been
characteristic of many generations but the world had thought
itself rid of the worst offenders.

Royalty still lives to torture and retard civilisation. Its
methods of perpetuation are unchanged from the middle ages. What
is lèse-majesté but a survival of feudalism, a kind of slavery to
inviolable tradition--the immunity of the monarch and his family
from that criticism and freedom of discussion which is the
essence of democracy?

[Illustration: THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY STAFF, BERLIN: MR.
GERARD IN THE CENTER]

To commit lèse-majesté, to speak slightingly of royalty in
Germany, is a very serious offence.

I have taken the following examples of decisions in lèse-majesté
cases not from the records of the lower courts, the decisions of
which may be reversed, but from the records of the Imperial
Supreme Court at Leipzig, the highest court in the land.

For instance: The defendant, a speaker at a meeting consisting
chiefly of sympathisers with the socialist cause, made the
following statement in reference to a speech of the Kaiser:

"Under the protection of the highest power of the State the
gauntlet has been flung before the (socialist) Party, the
gauntlet which means a combat for life and death. Well, then, so
far as the insult concerns our Party, we are so far above it,
that the mudslinging--no matter from what direction it may
come--cannot touch us."

The defence pointed out that the defendant "had considered each
word carefully before he had made the speech, and that in doing
so, wanted to avoid any possibility of lèse-majesté."

The Supreme Court held that although the defendant carefully
selected his words and tried to evade prosecution, he must be
adjudged guilty, because his audience could not have misunderstood
the insinuation. The sentence was affirmed.

Dangerous as it is to say anything that can be construed as
derogatory of the authority, of the Kaiser it is equally
dangerous to attack the dead members of the Royal House.

The editor of the _Volkswacht_ had published in his paper an
article entitled "The German Characteristics of the Hohenzollerns"
which the Lower Court interpreted to be a reply to a statement of
the Kaiser, which had referred to a group of people considered
unworthy by him to be called "Germans." Without doubt the editor
was alluding to the Kaiser's speech, made at Koenigsberg to the
newly enlisted army recruits, in which he called the socialists
"vaterlandslose Gesellen," i.e., scoundrels without any country.
The writer, however, discussed "the conduct of the Elector
Joachim of Brandenburg and of his brother Albrecht, Elector of
Mainz, before and during the election of Emperor Charles V."

The defence claimed that the defendant could not be held guilty
of lèse-majesté against the Kaiser since the defendant "criticised
the Kaiser's ancestors and not the Kaiser himself." But the Court
held that it was the intent of the defendant to discredit the
"House of the Hohenzollerns, and that the Kaiser by implication,
being the living head of the Hohenzollern family, was thereby
insulted." The Court further states that the defendant's article
could not be regarded as a scientific or historical contribution
since the _Volkswacht's_ subscribers, consisting chiefly of
workingmen, had neither any understanding of nor interest in
dynastic intrigues of the sixteenth century.

Even those Americans who have expressed themselves freely about
the Kaiser will, after the war is over, be compelled to take
their "cures" in some country other than Germany, for in one
case it was held that an American citizen was rightfully
convicted in Baden of lèse-majesté because of statements made by
him in Switzerland.

The Court held that the judgment of the Lower Court must be
sustained, since the German Imperial Laws have precedence over
any treaties engaged in by the Grand Duchy of Baden and the
United States and "that the fact that the defendant had become a
citizen of the United States does not exempt him from prosecution
in the German Imperial Courts."

In another case a newspaper editor criticised a speech delivered
by the Kaiser before the Reichstag on December 6th, 1898. The
defendant did not refer to the person of the emperor himself, but
simply attacked and ridiculed the propositions and proposals made
by His Imperial Majesty. The defence pointed out that the
Kaiser's speech was not an act of the Kaiser's own personal will,
but only an act of government for which the Imperial Chancellor
should be responsible, and that the defendant was not conscious
of the fact that the criticism contained in his article could be
an insult to the person of the Kaiser.

It was held, however, by the Court that a criticism of the
Kaiser's speech at the opening of the Reichstag is _always_ to be
regarded as a criticism of the Kaiser's person, and that the plea
that the Imperial Chancellor should be responsible for acts of
government of this sort is not sustained.

In other words it is, in Germany, a crime to criticise or
ridicule any proposition uttered by the sacred lips of the
Kaiser.

If the Kaiser announces that two and two make five, jail awaits
the subject who dares to ridicule that novel arithmetical
proposition.

It is because of these convictions for lèse-majesté that the
Berliners, when discussing the Emperor at their favourite table
or "Stammtisch" in the beer halls and cafés, always refer to him
as "Lehmann."

CHAPTER V

WHEN THE KAISER THOUGHT WE WERE BLUFFING

_An Unpublished Diary_

Kaiserdom is an institution with which the American people are
really unacquainted--a complex institution the parallel of which
does not exist elsewhere. How it sought to play double with the
United States is in a general way familiar to Americans, but I
think the record of what happened in the eighteen months
preceding our break with Germany will illustrate exactly the
currents and cross-currents of official opinion which led the
United States to be scrupulously cautious in its course before
entering the war. As I talked with the Emperor or the Chancellor
or the Foreign Minister, I jotted down from time to time notes of
their conversation as well as brief summaries of the information
available to me from other sources. Naturally I cabled to the
Department of State the most significant news, but much of this
was not published because our Government was proceeding
cautiously and did not wish to be embarrassed by publicity of its
negotiations. There is every reason now, however, why the facts
should be known. I am reproducing here the diary I kept from
June, 1915, to the end of January, 1917, when unrestricted
submarine warfare was resumed and our break with Germany came. I
did not have the idea then of ever publishing my memoranda, so my
comments were written without restraint. They show, I am sure,
what the general trend of sentiment was in Germany for and
against submarine warfare and disclose, too, that while the
Emperor was often in the background and seemingly not the most
powerful factor in the situation, it was his system that
dominated Germany, his spirit that bred the lust for military
gain at whatever cost--even the respect of the whole civilised
world. Here are the notes as I penned them at the time:

_June, 1915._ Lincoln never passed through a crisis greater than
that with which the President is contending. He is fighting,
first, for humanity and some decency in war, and, second,
determining whether a European Emperor shall or shall not dictate
the political attitude of certain of our citizens.

It is regrettable to be compelled to think that the German nation
knows no treaty or law except the limit of its own desires.

We are still awaiting the second _Lusitania_ note and I fear that
Germany will never consent to abandon its present hideous method
of submarine war. It is extraordinary to hear Germans of all
classes extoll mere brute force as the only rule of international
life. It is a warning to us to create and increase our fleet and
coast defences.

The Germans not only do not fear war with us, but state frankly
they do not believe we dare to declare it, call us cowardly
bluffers and say our notes are worse than waste paper. Breaking
diplomatic relations means nothing.

Von Wiegand, the newspaper correspondent, is just back from
Przemysl and says the Russians were defeated by woful lack of
artillery and ammunition. Their power for offence is broken for
many months. From the West I hear the French are rather
discouraged.

Germany has ample food and gets all copper, etc., necessary for
war purposes through Sweden in exchange for potash and other
commodities.

An officer of the war ministry, who comes to see me about
prisoners, etc., told me last night that because the French have
kept several hundred Germans as prisoners in Dahomey and other
places in Africa, fifteen thousand French prisoners will be sent
to work in the unhealthy swamps of Holstein. I have cabled the
State Department often about this Dahomey business, transmitting
the request of Germany that these prisoners be sent to Europe.
Germans cannot be beaten on reprisals.

Two or three German-Americans have attacked the President,
Secretary Bryan and our Government, some publicly. I have ordered
their passports taken away and hope to be sustained. To permit
them to continue poisoning the atmosphere would be taken as a
sign of weakness here. No one who abuses his own country, its
government or its Chief is entitled to protection from that
country.

We have the visiting of British prisoners in good shape now, that
prohibition put on our visiting and inspecting the camps was
abolished in March by the "treaty" I arranged between England and
Germany. It was not until March twenty-ninth that we finally got
passes to visit camps under the "treaty." The prisoners say they
are badly treated when they are first captured, but we know only
of their treatment in the camps.

I do not believe all the atrocity stories; but one of our
servants in this house came back from the East front recently and
said the orders were to kill all Cossacks. Our washerwoman
reports that her son was ordered to shoot a woman in Belgium and
I myself have heard an officer calmly describe the shooting of a
seven-year-old Belgian girl child, the excuse being that she had
tried to fire at an officer.

If the _Lusitania_ business settles down, I hope the suggestion
made to me by the authorities here and cabled to the State
Department, will be carried into effect. This was that each
American and Spanish Ambassador, having charge of prisoners in
belligerent countries, should meet in Switzerland and discuss the
whole prison situation. Each Ambassador would be accompanied by
representatives of whatever authorities deal with prisoners (here
the War Ministry) in the country to which he is accredited. To
prevent unseemly discussions the actual talking would be done by
the Ambassadors (coached by those representatives). In addition
to doing away with many misunderstandings and helping the
prisoners, there are great possibilities in such a meeting. We
could all give each other useful "tips" on the caring for
prisoners, inspections, camps, package delivery, mail, etc.

There is plenty of food in Germany now and enough raw materials
to carry on the war. Raw materials for peaceful industries are
needed.

A suggestion--why not start a great government chemical school or
give protection for a certain number of years to dyestuffs,
medicine, chemical, and cyanide material? All these industries
are run here by the trustiest trusts that ever trusted, and by
their methods keep American manufacturers from starting the
business. A Congressman represents one of the best firms, hence
his statements that it is impossible to start such manufactures
in America. Our annual tribute to these trusts is enormous. One
dyestuff company here employs over five hundred chemists. Only
big or protected business can compete. This war has shown that we
should not be dependent on other countries for so many manufactures.

Gifts from America within the last week have been refused in
Saxony.

I fear that Germany will not give up its present method of
submarine war. Each month new and more powerful submarines are
added.

Perhaps it is worth a war to have it decided that the United
States of America is not to be run from Berlin.

Germans in authority feel that our "New Freedom" is against their
ideas and ideals. They hate President Wilson because he embodies
peace and learning rather than war.

In regard to prisoners, Mr. Harte reports prisoners in Russia and
Siberia better treated than was reported.

I hear for the first time of growing dissatisfaction among the
plain people, especially at the great rise in food prices.
Germany is getting everything she wants, however, through Sweden,
including copper, lard, etc. Von Tirpitz and his Press Bureau
were too much for the Chancellor; the latter is not a good
fighter. Zimmermann, if left to himself, would, of course, have
stopped this submarine murder.

I hope the President never gives in on the embargo on arms; if he
ever gives in on that, we might as well hoist the German Eagle on
the Capitol.

_July, 1915._ I think that the firm tone of the President's note
(of June 9, 1915) will make the Germans climb down. There seems a
general disposition to be pleased with the note and an expectation
that matters can be arranged. The great danger is that the
Germans may again get the idea that we do not dare to declare
war. In such case they will again become difficult to handle.

Zimmermann and von Jagow are both quite pleased with the tone of
the note.

They both talk now of keeping Belgium, the excuse being that the
Belgians hate the Germans so that if Belgium again became
independent it would be only an English outpost. Meyer Gerhard,
Bernstorff's special envoy, has arrived and has broken into print
over the sentiment in America. I am afraid he makes it too
peaceful, and, therefore, the Germans will be encouraged to
despise America.

While the authorities here think the idea of freedom of the seas
good, they think the idea of freedom of land too vague. They want
to know exactly what it means and say the seas should be free
because they belong to no one, but that land is the private
property of various nations. They compare the situation to a city
street, where every one is interested in keeping the streets free
but would resent a proposal that private houses also should be
made common meeting ground if not common property. Unfortunately
for Germany and the world, the German armies are winning and this
will be considered a complete vindication of the military and
caste system and everything which now exists. As Cleveland said,
we are confronted by a condition, not a theory. _Germany, unless
beaten, will never directly or indirectly agree to any freedom of
land or disarmament proposal._

The Emperor probably will see me soon. He has been rabid on the
export of arms from the United States to the Allies, but like all
Germans, when they see we cannot be scared into a change of
policy, he is making a nice recovery.

Was told by a friend at the Foreign Office that the German note
would contain a proposition that regular passenger ships should
not be torpedoed without notice, but must carry no cargo other
than passengers' baggage. Have heard Marine Department rather
opposes this, but may favor proposition as to ships inspected and
certified to carry no arms or ammunition. No note until after
July fourth, they say at Foreign Office, on tip from Washington.
(Note--German note was delivered to me July 8, 1915.)

Chancellor and von Jagow have been in Vienna, probably over
Balkan question. The situation there hinges on Bulgaria. Germany
wants a direct strip of territory for itself or Austria to
Constantinople. Thirteen million pounds in gold sent recently by
Germany to Turkey to keep the boys in line. Principal Socialist
paper, the _Vorwaerts_, has been suppressed because it spoke of
peace; reason given is that this kind of talk would encourage
enemies of Germany.

The Germans are becoming more strict, even women now entering
Germany must strip to the skin and take down their back hair. The
wife of Hearst's correspondent here had to submit to this the
other day.

At first, newspaper correspondents had to promise they would not
go to enemy territory, next that they would not go to neutral
territory (after one correspondent went to Denmark and sent out
dispatches about the movement against annexing Belgium). Now the
correspondents must promise not to go home. This is to keep
secret the internal conditions. The women stormed a butter shop
here the other day and our Consul reports, in Chemnitz, quite a
serious food riot. The military were called out and the fire
department turned hose on the crowd.

In Austria, I hear men up to fifty-five are being called to the
colours and even the infirm taken for the army. There are said to
be seven German and five Austrian army corps invading Servia. The
losses of the invaders are reported to be heavy. To date, the
German dead in this war number about seven hundred thousand.
People who offered private hospitals at the beginning of the war
and who were told these were not needed, have been requested to
open them. I was told the remaining civil population of Vouziers,
France (in German hands), had been removed to make room for
German wounded.

The note of July 21, 1915, in which the President said he would
regard the sinking of ships without warning as "deliberately
unfriendly," is received with hostility by press and Government.
Of course, the party of frightfulness has conquered those of
milder views, owing largely to the aggressive newspaper campaign
conducted by von Tirpitz, Reventlow and Company. The Germans
generally are, at present, in rather a waiting attitude, perhaps
anxious to see what our attitude toward England will be--but this
will not affect their submarine policy. The Foreign Office now
claims, I hear, that I am hostile to Germany, but that claim was
to be expected. Of course, I had no more to do with the American
note than they did, but it is impossible to convince them of
that, so I shall not try.

Germany has the Balkan situation well in hand. Roumania can do
nothing in the face of recent Russian defeats and has just
consented to allow grain to be exported to Austria and Germany,
but has, I think, not yet consented to allow the passage of
ammunition to Turkey. The pressure, however, is great. If not
successful, perhaps German troops will invade Servia so as to get
a passage through to Turkey.

A minister from one of the Balkan States told me the situation of
Roumania, Greece and Bulgaria was about the same, each state can
last in war only about three months, so all are trying to gauge
three months before the end and then come in on the winning side.

The Bulgarian Minister of the Public Debt got in here by mistake
the other day, insisting he had an appointment; he _had_ an
appointment with the Treasurer, Helfferich, whose office is
nearby. This shows, perhaps, that Bulgaria is getting money here.

Also the Germans are sending back to Russia, Russians of
revolutionary tendencies, who were prisoners here, with money
and passports in order that they may stir up trouble at home.

The Germans are making a great effort to take Warsaw, even old
Landsturm men are in the fighting line; I think they will get it,
and then they hope to turn two million men and strike a great
blow in France--thus they expect to end the war by October.

I notice now a slight reaction from annexation toward giving up
all or part of Belgium; but I must say I hear very little of
popular dissatisfaction with the war. Everything seems to be
going smoothly; but they are scraping the bottom of the box on
getting men for the army.

It is not pleasant to be hated by so many millions. The Germans
naturally make me the object of their concentrated hate. I
received an anonymous letter in which the kindly writer rejoices
that so many Americans were drowned in the Chicago disaster. This
shows the state of mind.

The Emperor is at the front, "Somewhere in Galicia." They keep
him very much in the background, I think, with the idea of
disabusing the popular mind of the idea that this is "his war."
After all, accidents may happen, and even after a victorious war
there may be a day of reckoning. The Chancellor went to the front
yesterday, probably to see the Emperor about the American
question.

_August, 1915._ I had a conversation last week of one hour and a
half with the Chancellor. He sent for me because I had written
him to take no more trouble about my seeing the Emperor. He
explained, of course, first that he did not know I wanted to see
the Emperor, and second that it was impossible to see the
Emperor. They keep the Emperor well surrounded. _Now_ I do not
want to see him. He is hot against Americans and the matters I
wanted to talk of are all settled--one way. I cabled an
interesting report on the Emperor's conversation re America.

The Chancellor is still wrong in his head; says it was necessary
to invade Belgium, break all international laws, etc. I think,
however, that he was personally against the fierce Dernburg
propaganda in America. I judge that von Tirpitz, through his
press bureau, has egged on the people so that this submarine war
will continue. _An official confessed to me that they had tried
to get England to interfere, together with them, in Mexico, and
Germans "Gott strafe" the Monroe Doctrine in their daily prayers
of hate._

Warsaw, as I predicted officially, long ago, will soon fall.

No great news--we are simply waiting for the inevitable submarine
"accident."

Unless there is a change of sentiment in the Government I think
the submarine commanders will be careful.

The Chancellor talked rather freely but again said it was
impossible to leave Belgium to become an outpost of the English,
but possibly with Germans in possession of the forts, the
railways and with commercial rights in Antwerp it might be
arranged.

There is a faction here led by deputy Bassermann, Stresemann,
Fahrmann, etc., who are attacking the Chancellor. They represent
great industrials who want to annex Belgium, Northern France,
Poland and anything else that can be had, for their own ultimate
advantage. A man named Hirsch is hired by the Krupp firm to
"accelerate" this work. Krupps also pay the expenses of the
"Oversea Service" which is feeding news to America.

A paper against annexation of Belgium has been signed, I am told,
by Dernburg, Prince Hatzfeld and others, and will be presented to
the Chancellor to-day. I believe many are to sign it; but of
those who have signed are Hatzfeld, who is one of the three big
Dukes of Prussia; Prince Henckel-Donnersmarck, who is the second
richest subject in Germany--(85 years old, he was in 1870 first
Governor of Lorraine)--von Harrach, who is a man of great
ability, highly respected, as is also Professor Delbrück.

The Reichstag meets in a few days. The Socialists are holding
daily caucuses, but have not yet decided on any party action.
Undoubtedly they will vote for the new ten milliard loan, with
Liebknecht and a few others dissenting. Probably a split will
also develop in the National Liberal Party; Bassermann and others
have been attacking the Chancellor, but I think other members
will dissent. It is quite probable that there will be a
discussion about the _object_ of the war, and permission will be
asked for public discussion, the Socialists perhaps claiming that
they have consented to a defensive war only, and that now that
the war is on enemy territory peace should be at least discussed.
There may also be talk about the annexation of Belgium and food
prices. The Socialists are greatly incensed at those who are
holding food for high prices.

Personally, I think that Germany now wants peace but does not
want to say so openly.

A relative of a Field Marshal told me to-day that Germany's
killed to date were 600,000 and 200,000 crippled for life.

I must say that the plain people still seem perfectly tame and
ready to continue the war. However, there may also be a protest
in the Reichstag about the treatment by non-commissioned officers
of Landsturm men who have never served but who now, in the
process of scraping the box, are called to the colors.

The Germans hope by a great movement to capture a great part of
the Russian army; probably they will fail. They also entertain
hopes that in such case Sweden will enter Finland and two Balkan
States declare for them. Balkan Ministers here tell me the defeat
of Russia makes it impossible for Roumania to enter, but they
fear an invasion by the Germans. All diplomatic work is now
centred in the Balkans.

Successes in Russia have made the people here very cocky. Hence,
probably, the torpedoing of the _Arabic_. Also great hope of
Bulgaria coming in with Germany; there is no more dissatisfaction
heard over the war. I have as yet received nothing from
Washington regarding the _Arabic_.

I have just spent four half days at Ruhleben, where civilian
Britishers are interned, so as to give every prisoner a chance to
speak to me personally.

There is much talk of creating an independent Poland. The
Reichstag session has developed no opposition.

A fac-simile of that infernal advertisement[A] of the Cleveland
Automatic Tool Company in the _American Machinist_ was laid on
the desk of every member of the Reichstag; and the papers are
full of accounts of great deliveries of war munitions by America,
possibly preparing people for a break. If Bulgaria comes in,
Germany will undoubtedly take a strip in Servia and keep a road
to Constantinople and the East. The new Turkish Ambassador has
just arrived. The old one was not friendly to Enver Bey and so
was bounced; he remains here, however, as he fears if he went to
Turkey he would get some "special" coffee. The hate for Americans
grows daily.

[Footnote A: This was an advertisement in an American newspaper
about machines for the manufacture of particularly deadly shells
and was much used in Germany to show how America was helping the
Entente.]

All rumours are that in the recent council at Posen the
Chancellor, advocating concessions in submarine war, won out over
von Tirpitz. But von Tirpitz will die hard, and there will be
trouble yet, as the Navy will be very angry if the present
methods are abandoned. Members of the Reichstag have telegraphed
backing up the Chancellor; but it is hard for any civilian idea
to prevail against Army or Navy.

Probably the Admiralty will say that the submarine which
torpedoed the _Arabic_ was lost, in order to avoid disgracing an
officer.

If the _Arabic_ question is not complicated with the _Lusitania_
a solution will be easier. The common people have been aroused by
von Tirpitz's press bureau and it will be simpler for the
Chancellor to "back track," taking as an example a case like the
_Arabic_ when the ship was going West and carried no ammunition.

The defeat of the Russians is undoubtedly crushing. Is England
waking up too late? There will be a big offensive soon against
the West lines.

I have heard nothing up to to-day from the State Department re
the _Arabic_, except one cable asking me to request a report.

A correspondent has just been in and says that the General Staff
people threaten to expel him because he went to Copenhagen and
sent out news about the petition to the Chancellor not to annex
Belgium. The Foreign Office had no objection; this shows how the
line is forming between the Chancellor and the Military. All
correspondents to-day say the Germans are trying to dragoon them
into sending only news which the General Staff wants sent, and
the Military have added their censorship to that of the Foreign
Office.

An official told me that Bernstorff, while not exactly exceeding
his instructions in his "_Arabic_ Note" (of Sept. 1, 1915), had
put the matter in a manner they did not approve.

Orders have now, apparently, been given to all German officials
to say that the war will last a long time--at least a year and a
half.

It is expected that Persia will come in under German leadership
and attack India.

Our Military Attaché, Colonel Kuhn, was finally presented to the
Kaiser and had a pleasant chat with him. Colonel Kuhn says all
fighting on the West is with artillery and hand grenades. Rifles
are thrown aside.

Germans have spies "piking off" our Embassies in Paris, London
and Petrograd.

Great airship attacks on London may be expected. In one of the
recent attacks nine thousand eight hundred bombs (fire and
explosive) were dropped. I get this from good authority.

Foreign Office quite elated over their Balkan triumph.
Personally, I think it was one of the most effective bits of
German "diplomacy" in the history of the Empire.

CHAPTER VI

THE INSIDE OF GERMAN DIPLOMACY

_The Diary Continued_

_October, 1915._ There is a tendency here to say Bernstorff went
too far. But this is all for the public, von Jagow told a
correspondent so to-day; but, of course, he did not know about
the note of Austria to Servia either! The Marine people are
positively raging. The paper which Reventlow writes for, the
_Tages Zeitung_, was suppressed yesterday; I hear on account of
an article on this _Arabic_ settlement, but I am not yet sure.

There is talk now of marching to Egypt.

More and more men are being called to colours. But Germany seems
to be able to take care of all fronts. The Emperor is now in the
West. The Foreign Office leads the rejoicing over the Entente's
invasion of Greece and the violation of its neutrality and says
that talk about Belgium is now shown to be _cant_.

Weather is rotten and we shall have a melancholy winter. Feel the
war more--deaths and prices. Six hundred and eighty thousand
killed to October first, and many crippled. Food way up, but they
cannot starve Germany out.

Suppression of the _Tages Zeitung_ means that the Chancellor has
at last exhibited some backbone and will fight von Tirpitz. The
answer of Germany depends on the outcome of this fight. It is
possible that von Falkenhayn and the army party may sustain the
Chancellor as against von Tirpitz. It is quite likely that a sort
of safe conduct will be offered in the note for ships especially
engaged in passenger trade. Much stress will be laid on English
orders to merchant ships to ram submarines.

The Kaiser is at Pless, a castle of Prince of Pless, in Silesia,
near Breslau, where he moved after the attempt of French fliers
to bombard him at Charleville on the West Front. The Germans
probably will have Lemberg in a few days. This may prevent
Roumania coming in. There is talk here of an attempted revolution
in Moscow. There is said to be jealousy of Hindenburg and on
account of this, Mackensen was put forward to be the hero of the
Galician Campaign. Captain Enochs, one of our observers in
Austria, was forced out of Austria because of German pressure and
our other military observers will follow soon.

Many commercial magnates have arrived in town to argue with the
government against war with America; but some are in favor of the
continuance of bitter submarine war, notably one who sees his
Bagdad railway menaced by possible English success in the
Dardanelles.

_November, 1915._ A man who saw Tisza tells me the Serbs inquired
if they could get peace and retain their territories. They were
answered, "No."

It is said that Italy has also felt out for peace, but was
answered that she must deal with Austria alone--and Austria says
that she will not include Italy in any general peace but will
wallop her alone after general peace is made.

I am working hard to get British prisoners properly clothed.
Winter is already here. Efforts to starve Germany will not
succeed. We shall be on meat and butter cards, but that is only a
precaution. The people still are well in hand. Constant rumours
of peace keep them hopeful. Men over forty-five not yet called.
They seem to have plenty of troops. The military are careless of
the public opinion of neutrals; they say they are winning and do
not need good opinion. I am really afraid of war against us after
this war--if Germany wins. We had snow, ice, and cold weather at
the end of October.

There have been uneasy movements among the people in Leipzig, a
great industrial centre, and the _Volkzeitung_, a Socialist paper
there, has been put under permanent preventive censorship.

All these movements start with the question of the price of food.

The Prussian Junkers, however, are really benefited by the war.
They get, even with a high "stop price," three times as much as
formerly for their agricultural products and pay only a small
sum, sixty pfennig daily, for the prisoners of war who now work
their fields. They may, in addition, have to pay the keep of the
prisoners, but that is very small. Camp commanders are allowed
sixty-six pfennig per head per diem.

There is much talk of peace. The shares of the Hamburg-American
Line and the shares of the Hamburg-South American Line have risen
enormously in price from fifty-six to one hundred and forty in
one case. This may be caused by an advantageous sale of some
shares of the Holland-American Line or by promise of a subsidy,
or by hopes of peace.

There is no question but that every man under forty-five that can
drag a rifle has been drafted for the army, with the possible
exception of men working in railways, munitions, etc.

Yesterday I noticed many women working on the roadbed of the
railway.

The new Peruvian Minister is named von der Heyde; his father was
a German.

The Greek Minister still thinks Greece will stay out of the war.
His father is one of the cabinet.

The Germans are very glad to get rid of Brand Whitlock. For some
time they have been looking for an excuse to expel him.

The dyestuff and other chemical manufacturers are getting quite
scared about possible American competition. I hope the Democrats
will give protection to these new industries and will also enact
some "anti-dumping" legislation.

The German cities are adding to the general weight of debt by
incurring large debts for war purposes, such as relief of
soldiers' families, etc.

The former Turkish Ambassador, who is against the Young Turks, is
living here. He is afraid to go back and also the Germans are
keeping him in stock in case the Young Turks go out of power, and
possibly to stir up trouble in Egypt, as his wife is a daughter
of one of the Khedives.

There are lots of suspicious looking Spaniards about, possibly
cooking up an attack on Gibraltar.

Any German peace talk includes payment of a large subsidy by
England, Russia, and France; Italy to be left to Austria to
finish.

The export of gold has now been formally forbidden.

There is no doubt whatever that the population in the conquered
portion of Poland has been for a long time in need of food.

Our Military Attaché, Colonel Kuhn, just back from Servia, says
the Germans have, literally, stacks of ammunition and had begun
preparing last spring for the present attack, even little
mountain wagons and new harness being all ready. Only about six
German corps are there.

The hate against Americans here is deep-seated and bitter. Hans
Winterfeldt, a prominent German banker, with American citizenship,
just came in to tell me that at the annual meeting to-day of the
great Allegemeine Electricitäts Gesellschaft a fight was started
against him because of his American citizenship, and he was not,
therefore, re-elected a director. He thinks of resigning from all
banks, etc., and returning to America.

_December, 1915._ Red Cross Doctor Schmidt just in from Servia
says Belgrade was completely plundered.

Having lots of difficulty getting the Germans to give the English
prisoners clothes.

Hate of Americans worse than ever.

Germans are not resentful when I fight to get things for English
prisoners; they only say they hope our Ambassadors are doing the
same for Germans.

Much disappointment at Dr. Snoddy's mission not yet being
permitted to work in Russia.

Last Tuesday night I ran into quite a peace demonstration, called
by placards the night of the Peace Interpretation in the
Reichstag. Soon disbanded by the police with many arrests. One
man told me that they were tired of a silly war and days without
meat. There has been nothing in the papers about these demonstrations;
of course, each arrest makes an anarchist for life.

It is hard to get butter. The women storm the butter shops and
market.

In a new building (where the Consulate is) they are taking off
the _copper_ roof.

[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF AN ORDER ISSUED BY COMMANDER OF
GERMAN PRISON CAMP OF DOEBERITZ. MANY CAMP COMMANDERS, WITHOUT
AUTHORITY, UNDERTOOK TO MAKE PRISONERS SUFFER FOR ALLEGED AND
UNPROVED MISDEEDS OF THE BRITISH. I HAD GREAT TROUBLE IN WATCHING
FOR ORDERS OF THIS CHARACTER AND SECURING THEIR ANNULMENT:

     ORDER.

     The unheard-of and rough treatment, which,
     according to reliable information, has been
     accorded to civilian prisoners, and particularly
     German women and children who remain in England,
     has caused the withdrawal of all privileges
     formerly granted to English Prisoners of War. On
     this account, permission for all kinds of
     amusements and games has been cancelled.

     The time for bathing has been limited to 10
     minutes.

     The English Prisoners of War, Mc Lachlan, was shot
     dead early on the 7th. August, whilst attempting
     to escape.

     The English Prisoner of War, Orton, has been
     summoned to a Military Trial owing to resistance
     agairest to Authority.

Alberti

Oberst und Kommandant
des Gefangenenlagers Döberitz.]

Of a sudden--peace talk. The Chancellor is waiting to address the
Reichstag, waiting to get the sentiment of the members who are
all in Berlin, and then swim with it. Many members, who are not
Socialists, favour peace, and the Chancellor will be forced to
make some sort of a declaration on why they are fighting and for
what.

A Reichstag member told me the Reichstag will say and do things
it did not dream of doing six months ago. There are many quiet
meetings of members going on.

Hindenburg is out with an interview saying it is not yet time for
peace. This is a Government measure to stamp out peace talk among
the Reichstag members.

Am having a hard fight to get the British prisoners properly
clothed for the winter. Of course, the Germans have rather a
difficult time with so many prisoners, but that is no excuse if
men die of cold. The weather is and has been bitterly cold.

Saw von Jagow lately, but only on business and commercial
questions. Zimmermann lunched here to-day. Roeder, of the
_World_, is here making a study of German industrial conditions.
I introduced him to Gutmann, of the Dresdner Bank; Rathenau, head
of the Allegemeine Electricitäts Gesellschaft; Dr. Solf, Colonial
Minister, and others. I think his report will be very sound and
worth reading.

There is no question but that there is a deep-seated hatred of
America here, _which must be reckoned with sooner or later_.

I don't expect things to be easy, but I wish to goodness all
Americans would stay at home.

Greek Minister still thinks Greece will remain neutral.

Probably greatest need of Germany is lubricating oil for
machines, etc. Germans claim to have a copper mine in Servia. I
never heard of one there.

Dr. Ohnesorg, U. S. N., and Osborne back from inspecting camps.
They report bad conditions; they were not allowed (contrary to
our "treaty") to talk out of hearing of camp officers to the
prisoners in Lemburg Camp. These prisoners are 2,000 Irish, and
the reason, of course, for the refusal of the usual permission is
that the Germans, through the notorious Sir Roger Casement, have
been trying to seduce the Irish, and do not want the soldier
prisoners to tell us about it. I have learned, through other
sources, that the Germans seduced about 30 Irish. I told von
Jagow what I had learned and asked what the Germans had done with
these victims--whether they were in the German army or not. He
said, "No, most of them had been sent to Ireland to raise hell
there." I suppose they were landed from submarines.

I think the German press has received orders to step softly on
the von Papen-Boy-ed recall. The greatest danger now lies in
Austria, and over the _Ancona_ note. There is a large body of
manufacturers, ship-owners, etc., here who at the last moment
declare themselves against war with the U. S. A. and use their
influence to that end, but in Austria no such interests exist to
help toward peace. However, pressure from Germany may be brought
to bear.

I think Germany will not send successors to von Papen and Boy-ed
even with safe conduct; whether they will ask the recall of our
attachés is another question not yet decided.

An official tells me confidentially that Rintelen was sent to
America to buy up the product of the Dupont Powder Company, and
that if he did anything else he exceeded his instructions.

Shop people in Berlin with whom I have talked are getting sick of
the war.

I hear rumours that Germany is trying, through its Minister in
China, to come to an understanding with Japan and Russia.

The banks are sending circulars to all safe-deposit box holders,
trying to get them to give up their gold.

An American clergyman has just told me the German church body has
refused to receive an American Church deputation and has written
a very bitter letter.

An official has told me that no new Military Attaché will be sent
to America. The naval people have not yet decided.

I am very glad to hear Colonel House is coming over. There are
many things I want to tell the President but which I do not dare
to commit to paper.

A newspaperman supposed to be of the _New York_ ---- had an
interview with Zimmermann the other day, and Zimmermann sent some
messages by him to the President. I do not know what the
messages are. We all suffer much from amateur diplomats.

Anthony Czarnecki, a very intelligent Chicagoan, an American of
Polish descent, is here representing Victor Lawson and the
_Chicago Daily News_. He informs me that the Spy Nest is
contemplating an attack on the Administration because of the
taking away of Archibald's and others' passports.

My impression is that the Austrians, owing to pressure from here,
will eventually give in on the _Ancona_ business. I think the
present a good time to force the settlement of the _Lusitania_
question.

     NOTE. I do not suppose that any Ambassador ever
     suffered as much from amateur "super Ambassadors"
     as I did.

     The German Foreign Office, trying to be modern and
     up-to-date at times, paid more attention to the
     tales of pro-German American correspondents than
     they did to the utterances of President Wilson.

     Of course, the Germans succeeded in taking many of
     those correspondents in their camp. In the Hotel
     ---- in Berlin an agent of the German Government
     who possessed American citizenship was always
     ready to arrange trips to the front or to make an
     advance of money to an American correspondent who
     would promise to be "good."

     Some received cash, some were paid in interviews
     with prominent officials, some received both,
     before all was continually dangled the blue
     ribbon--the hope of an interview with the
     Kaiser--and some, thank God, were real Americans
     and refused all the offered temptations--news or
     money.

     An American gentleman who lived for a time at this
     hotel has given me a written statement which
     throws a light on the activities of certain of
     these gentry and which I may some day use. In this
     he states how one of these gentlemen claimed that
     the Imperial Chancellor always sent for him to
     consult him on his attitude towards America and
     that he had advised him to make a bold front and
     bluff. Hence, perhaps the note of January
     thirty-first which suddenly announced the ruthless
     submarine war.

     I have proof that one of this traitorous gang went
     about Berlin personating me. What scheme he was
     cooking up I do not know.

     Zimmermann was particularly weak in being advised
     by one of these shady individuals.

I think the German Government will allow Ford or any of his
angels to come here, but the Peace Ark seems pretty well wrecked.

Provincial and small newspapers are much more bitter against
America than the larger ones.

Von Jagow told me the other day that he thought the feeling here
against America was so bitter that, eventually, war would be
inevitable.

Received following anonymous letter:

     "I am enabled to-day to give your Excellency news
     of the utmost importance, Germany is at the end of
     its forces and the Imperial Government is inclined
     to make peace cost what may! One of the most
     prominent and influential members of the Reichstag
     has assured me, that the general conviction of the
     parliament is dominated by the absolute necessity,
     to pull back and to strive for peace as soon as
     possible. The financial aspect given by Dr.
     Helfferich is disastrous, the military situation,
     taken in the whole, unsatisfactory and the
     confidential information, given by Herr von Jagow
     in the committee with regard to the Egyptian
     expedition, discouraging if not hopeless. The
     Government and particularly Herr von Bethmann wish
     for peace, but believe themselves restrained by
     public opinion and by the fear of the
     Pan-Germanists. It's now the psychological moment
     for intervention by the United States and there
     can be no doubt, that it should and will be
     exercised in favour of humanity, culture and
     freedom, in favour of the prevalence of the
     Anglo-Saxon race and the future development of the
     new world against Prussian barbarity, Imperial
     despotism and Teutonic slavery!

22. XII. 1915.
OLD GENTLEMAN."

CHAPTER VII

GERMANY'S PLAN TO ATTACK AMERICA

_The Diary Continued_

_January, 1916._ Many of the intelligent rich are expressing the
fear that after this war the Socialist high price system,
governmental seizure of food, control of raw materials, etc.,
will be continued and also that the owners of large landed
estates will be compelled to subdivide them.

We are getting vague and conflicting reports in the newspapers
here about the sinking of the _Persia_. There seems to be no end
to this business. Perhaps it is best to have the inevitable _come
now_. The hate of America has grown to such an extent under
careful Government stimulus that I am quite sure we will be the
first attacked after the war. Therefore, if it is to come, it had
better come now when we would start with a certain fleet in
command of the seas, making it impossible for agitators,
dynamiters, and spies to be sent to Mexico and South America and
into the U. S. A. through Canada and Mexico. From the highest to
the lowest I get intimations that at the first chance America
will be attacked.

There is still a spirit of confidence in ultimate success, amply
justified, it would seem, by the military situation.

A lot of dyestuffs mysteriously left Germany recently in spite of
the embargo, and got to Holland, billed to America, where it
remains, awaiting a permit from the British. Perhaps the Germans
are getting worried about the possible building-up of the
industry at home. The profits of the German dyestuff "trust" are
certainly great enough to tempt the trust to do anything to keep
the monopoly. Hardly a company pays less than 24 per cent.
dividends.

The Kaiser is still laid up with a boil on his neck.

I am waiting the arrival of Colonel House, who, I suppose, will
be here in ten days or so.

S. S. McClure of the good ship _Nutty_ (Proprietor Ford), Herman
Bernstein and Inez Milholland Boissevain, likewise of the crew,
have been here. Their stories are most amusing. Apparently, now,
the nuttiest have voted to remain a permanent committee at The
Hague; salary (five thousand suggested) to each to be paid by
Ford--with washing and expenses.

The Reichstag, sitting in "Budget Commission," is getting quite
worked up over the censorship and the Socialists are demanding
the freedom of the press.

Yesterday one member said he thought it would do the U. S. A.
good if they knew what the Germans really thought of Americans.

The spy system here is very complete and even the President and
Cabinet at home in America are surrounded. Heydebrand, leader of
the Conservative Party, called the uncrowned King of Prussia,
said yesterday in the Prussian Chamber that "America was among
the worst enemies of Germany." I am convinced that Germany, as
now advised, either will attack America or land in South America,
if successful in this war. Falkenhayn, Chief of the General
Staff, said, referring to America, "It is hard to stop a
victorious army."

I have just returned from three days in Munich. I visited two
prison camps and the American Red Cross Hospital in Munich and
conferred with Archdeacon Nies (of the American Episcopal
Church), who is permitted to visit Bavarian prison camps, talk to
prisoners, and hold services in English. These Bavarian camps are
under Bavarian, not Prussian, rule.

Munich seems lively and contented. I saw great quantities of
soldiers there and at Ingolstadt.

I expect Colonel House about the 26th, and shall be very glad to
see him.

Morgenthau was here for a day. I took him to see von Jagow, where
we talked for an hour. Later, through some Germans, he met
Zimmermann, who asked him if he did not think the German-Americans
in America would rise in rebellion if trouble came between
Germany and America.

Von Jagow was very explicit in saying that Germany had made no
agreement with us about submarine commanders. He said distinctly
that Germany reserved the right to change these orders at any
time. On the general question, he again said that the submarine
was a new weapon and that the rules of international law must be
changed, apparently claiming the right for Germany to change
these rules at will and without the consent of any other power
involved.

Morgenthau sailed Sunday, the sixth, from Copenhagen. The
newspapers to-day and last night print articles to the effect
that the negotiations are taking a more favourable course.

_February, 1916._ I dined last night at von Jagow's. He said I
would get a note to-day which would accept all Bernstorff's
propositions except, as he put it, one word, viz.: Germany will
acknowledge liability for the loss of American lives by the
sinking of the _Lusitania_, but will not acknowledge that the act
of sinking was illegal. He said that international law had to be
changed, that the submarine was a new weapon, and that, anyway,
if a break came with America, that they had a lot of new
submarines here and would make an effective submarine blockade of
England. To-day a cipher from the German Foreign Office came in
to be forwarded to the State Department for Bernstorff, so I
suppose this is what he referred to. Probably the Germans are in
earnest on this proposition. It is now squarely up to the
American people to decide.

Of course, I am very much disturbed at the turn of affairs, but I
am doing nothing except repeating to Lansing what is said to me,
and trying to convince the Germans that we are in earnest.

I was very glad to see Colonel House in Berlin, for many reasons,
and, especially, that the President may get his view of the
situation here. He had long talks with the Chancellor, von Jagow,
and Zimmermann, and also met Dr. Solf, the Colonial Minister; von
Gwinner, head of the Deutsche Bank; Gutmann, of the Dresdner
Bank; and Dr. Rathenau, head of the Allegemeine Electricitäts
Gesellschaft and many corporations, who is now engaged with the
General Staff in providing raw materials for Germany.

I think the Germans are getting short of copper and nickel,
especially the latter. Copper lightning rods of churches have
been taken and an effort was made to take the brass reading desk
in the American Church and the fittings in the Japanese Embassy.

I think from underground rumours that the Germans and the
propagandists will endeavour to embroil us with Japan.

Baroness von Schroeder, a von Tirpitz spy, stated the other day
that Japan would send a note to the United States of America
making demands on the U. S. in regard to the Japanese immigration
question.

There was a well-defined report that Germany would issue a
manifesto stating that enemy merchant ships would be fired on
without notice and this because of orders alleged to have been
found on British ships ordering merchant ships to fire on
submarines at sight.

The Chancellor told me he was ready for peace but that all his
emissaries had met with a cold reception in the Allied countries
of France, England and Russia.

A fight against the Chancellor has been started in the home of
the Junkers--the Prussian Chamber. The powerful liberal papers
are jumping hard on the disturbers and the Chancellor hit back
quite hard. These Junkers are demanding unlimited submarine war
and are stirred up by von Tirpitz. It is one of their last kicks
as soon a real suffrage will have to be introduced in Prussia.
The Chancellor foreshadowed this in opening this Prussian
Chamber; hence the tears!

The visit of Colonel House here was undoubtedly, from this end, a
success; and I am glad that he can give the President a fresh and
impartial view.

March first we go on a milk and butter card regime. I have put
the Polish question (food) up to Zimmermann, and asked informally
whether proper guarantees against the direct or indirect taking
of food and money from Poland will be stopped, if relief is sent;
no answer yet.

In spite of what I was told by certain exalted personages last
autumn, I think that if the war continues much longer the
President will be welcomed as a mediator. In fact, there are a
number of cartoons and articles appearing in the newspapers
which, in tone, are against the President because he does not
insist on peace.

I think that we may soon look for a very strong German attack on
the West Front, an endeavour to break through before the time
when the French and English are contemplating their offensive,
which is probably some time in March.

At or about the same time there will probably be great Zeppelin
attacks on London and on other English centres. It is reported
that in their next offensive the Germans will use a more deadly
form of poison gas.

I had the grippe, went to Partenkirchen for a few days, but the
first night in country air since July, 1914, was too much for me
and filled me with such energy that I tried skiing, fell down and
broke my collar-bone, came to Berlin and can sit at my desk, but
am very uncomfortable.

I think Germany was about to offer to sink no merchant ships
without notice and putting crews, etc., in safety, if England
would disarm merchant ships, but now, since the President's
letter to Stone, both the Chancellor and von Jagow say they are
convinced that America has a secret understanding with England
and that nothing can be arranged.

Captain Persius points out in to-day's _Tageblatt_ that it is not
submarines alone that are now, without notice, going to sink
armed merchant ships, but cruisers, etc., will take a hand.

It is reported that the Kaiser went to Wilhelmshafen to warn
submarine commanders to be careful and that submarines will hunt
in pairs, one standing ready to torpedo while the other warns.
The German losses at Verdun are small as artillery fire
annihilated enemy first. I think an attack will be made now in
another part of the front.

Germany has forbidden the _import_ of many articles of luxury;
this is to keep exchange more normal and keep gold in the
country. This probably will continue after the war.

Some newspaper men just in from Verdun report the Germans saving
men--losses small--going at it with artillery, probably over
1,000 guns, and making a slow and almost irresistible push. Some
military attachés think there may be a strong attack somewhere
else on the front.

This Verdun attack was undoubtedly made to keep Roumania out.

I think the food question here is getting very serious, but
before they are starved out they will starve six million
Belgians, eleven million Russians and Poles and two million
prisoners; so that, after all, this starvation business is not
practical.

There was a Grand Council of War last week at Charleville to
determine whether von Tirpitz's proposition, to start an
unlimited submarine blockade of England, should be started or
not--i.e., sink all ships, enemy and neutral, at sight.
Falkenhayn was for this, the Chancellor against, and von Tirpitz
lost. The decision, of course, was made by the Emperor.

Great advertising efforts are being made on the question of the
Fourth War Loan. It will, of course, be announced as successful.

There are undoubtedly two submarine parties in Germany and there
may be an unlimited blockade of England.

I think Germany, as at present advised, is willing, if merchant
ships are disarmed, to agree to sink no boats whatever without
warning and without putting passengers and crew in safety. The
Admiralty approves of this.

One of the American correspondents publishes an article in the
_Lokal Anzeiger_ on America, in which he makes some statements no
loyal American should make just now.

The "illness" of von Tirpitz is announced. I think it means his
resignation, and have just cabled, although it is possible that
his resignation may never be publicly announced. For one thing,
the Kaiser and army people began to think it was a bad innovation
to have any officer or official appealing to cheap newspapers and
the "man in the street" in a conflict with superior authority.

I heard that at Charleville conference both the Chancellor and
von Jagow said they would resign if von Tirpitz's policy of
unlimited submarine war on England was adopted.

The food question is becoming really acute--the village people
are about starving in some sections and are not as well off as
the people in the big towns; it is the policy to keep the people
in the cities as content as possible in order to prevent riots,
demonstrations, etc.

Some Germans have asked me if the sending of a German "Colonel
House" to America would be agreeable to the President. Probably
the Envoy would be Solf, and he could talk informally to the
President and prominent people. If sent he would require a safe
conduct from England and France.

I hear the submarines now are mostly engaged in mine laying, at
the mouth of the Thames.

Events are beginning to march. At first von Tirpitz's "illness"
was announced, then came his resignation. Yesterday was his
birthday and a demonstration was expected; there were many police
out, but I could see no demonstrators. The row may come in the
Reichstag.

There are two sources of danger; first, a failure at Verdun and
the new food regulations may make people ready to accept
Tirpitz's guarantee that if he is allowed his way the war can be
won and ended. He has a large following already who favour this
plan; second, there are some Reichstag members and others who
think the Tirpitz people can never be reconciled unless there is
a new Chancellor.

The Chancellor sent for me Friday. I think the Chancellor wants
to keep peace with America and also wishes to make a general
peace. He talked, or rather I talked, a little about terms. He
still wants to hang on to Belgium, but I think will give most of
it up; but is fixed for an indemnity from France. The loss of
life here is affecting every one, the Chancellor is a very good
man, and I think honestly desires an honourable peace.

Potatoes are restricted from to-day, 10 pounds per head in 12
days, not much, bacon and lard practically not to be had, butter
only in small quantities and meat out of reach of the poor.

I told the Chancellor I thought a great source of danger to the
good relations of Germany and U. S. A. was in Mexico, that if we
had trouble there, had to raise a large army and rouse the
military spirit at home, the President might find it hard to hold
the people. This struck him as a new view, as most Germans think
that Mexican troubles are to their advantage, and I am sure
Villa's attacks are "made in Germany."

I shall not come home; both the Chancellor and von Jagow have
begged me not to go.

I sent a cable about the possible stirring up of our coloured
people by propagandists. I notice that there are great fires in
many cities of the South.

It is reported that Prussian State Railways were given the banks
as additional security for the last loan, but I do not see how
this could be, as the railways are Prussian and the Loan
Imperial.

Several South American diplomats here think that in case of war
between U. S. and Germany public opinion in their countries will
demand the seizure of the German ships and possible war.

_April, 1916._ I am just off to the Reichstag where the
Chancellor is to speak. I have no news here and none from
America, but it seems to me five boats sunk almost at once will
rather strain things at home. Here they do not want war with
America. Perhaps von Tirpitz before leaving gave these submarine
commanders these orders to sink at sight.

I think the Germans will eventually encircle and take Verdun,
mostly now for moral effect.

Von Jagow will shortly give Conger (_Associated Press_) an
interview disclaiming any intention on Germany's part of
attacking America after the war. "A guilty conscience, etc.," and
"Qui s'excuse, s'accuse."

Every night fifty million Germans cry themselves to sleep because
all Mexico has not risen against us.

Part of Germany goes soon on meat ration. The food question is
becoming acute, but they will last through here.

I think that the Germans would now, in spite of previous
statements by a high authority, welcome the intervention of the
President looking toward peace. Colonel House is so relied on
here that he would be doubly welcome as the bird with the olive
branch.

It looks more and more as if the issue of the campaign would be
peace or war! On this issue the Germans at the last moment will
have to side with the President.

The recent sessions of the Reichstag have been lively. Liebknecht
caused a row on several occasions. Once by interrupting the
Chancellor to imply that the Germans were not free, next to deny
that the Germans had _not_ wished the war, and another time by
calling attention to the attempts of the Germans to induce
Mohammedan and Irish prisoners of war to desert to the German
arms, the Irish being attacked through Sir Roger Casement.
Liebknecht finally enraged the Government by calling out that the
loan subscription was a swindle.

The German-American spies and traitors are hard at work at 48
Potsdammer Strasse and also at the Oversea News Service, a
concern paid for by Krupps. Mr. ----, in addition, gains money by
getting permits for goods to go out of Germany, capitalising his
"pull" as it were. Some of the money for their dirty work is
given them by Roselius of Bremen, proprietor of the "Caffee Hag."
----, a traitor, who also writes against the President, also
works with the gang.

This cry in America that German babies have not sufficient milk
is all rot. One of our doctors has reported on the subject. The
cry is only raised to get a hole in the British blockade.

The Germans are going at Verdun carefully, and an imitation of
each French position or trench they wish to take--planned from
airmen's and spies' reports--is constructed behind the German
lines and the German soldiers practise taking it until they are
judged letter perfect and are put to work to capture the
original.

It is said the Germans have developed a submarine periscope so
small as to be almost invisible, which works up and down so that
only at intervals, for a second or so, does it appear above the
water. Also, it is said the wireless vibrations by means of
copper plates at each end are transmitted through the boat, and
every member of the crew learns the wireless code, and no matter
where working can catch the vibrations.

Note about the _Sussex_ and other four ships just in. I think
Germany is now determined to keep peace with America as the plain
people are convinced that otherwise the war will be lengthened--a
contingency abhorrent to all.

_May, 1916._ I delivered the last American note to von Jagow
to-day. He said they probably would not answer, and then engaged
me in gossipy conversation.

These people want peace and will gladly accept the President as
mediator.

The Pope, they think, will want brokerage--a "Makler Lohn"--as
they call it--concessions for the church, such as the return of
the Jesuits, etc.

If they get good and sick of war here, perhaps they may not feel
like revenge after all--but there is an ever-present danger we
must prepare for.

The fact that I was given detailed instructions as to leaving,
etc.--which they undoubtedly learned, with their wonderful spy
system--helped the _Sussex_ settlement.

The Chancellor and I became great friends as a result of my stay
at the Hauptquartier. The League of Truth gang attacked me
lately. The Government published a certificate in the _Official
Gazette_ to the effect that I was their fair-haired boy,
etc.--very nice of them. I really think they recognise that the
propaganda was an awful failure and want to inaugurate the era of
good feeling.

I did not go to the front at the Hauptquartier as reported. I had
enough to do in Charleville, but did witness the splendid relief
work being done by the Americans who are feeding 2,200,000 of the
population of Northern France. Twenty thousand of the inhabitants
of Lille, Roubaix-Tourcoing, are being sent under circumstances
of great barbarity to work in the fields in small villages. I
spoke to the Chancellor and he promised to remedy this.

Germans say they will take Verdun. A military treaty with Sweden
is reported; a large Swedish Military Commission is now here,
receiving much attention.

While at Charleville, in connection with American work, I asked,
at one village, to see the German Army stores so as to convince
myself that the German Army was not using the stores from
America. I saw that one-half the stores came from _Holland_.

I think the psychological moment is approaching when Colonel
House should appear as the President's White Emissary of Peace.

While the food question here is pressing, the harvest will be
good, if present indications continue. Rye is the principal crop
and this is harvested about July 12th. I think, however, Germany
can last, and in very desperation may try a great offensive which
may break the French lines and change the whole position. The
people here, although tired of war, are well disciplined and will
see this thing through without revolution.

We are rather in calm after the last crisis. The Chancellor sent
for me and said he hoped we would do something to England or
propose a general peace, otherwise his position here will become,
he thinks, rather hard. Delbrück, vice-chancellor, very hostile
to America, is out--failure as Minister of Interior to organise
food supply is the real reason.

Yesterday I had a talk with the Chancellor. The occasion was the
Polish Relief question which I shall now take up direct with
Helfferich, who, as I predicted, is the new Minister of the
Interior and Vice-Chancellor. He is a very business-like man and
did much for the favourable settlement of our last crisis.

The Chancellor seemed rather downcast yesterday, without apparent
cause. He says that Germany from now on will have two months of
hardship on the food question, but that after that things will
be all right. The crops, as I have seen on my shooting place, are
magnificent and the rye harvest will probably begin even before
July 15th.

Mrs. Gerard has just returned from a week in Budapest with her
sister. The Hungarians are once more gay and confident. The
Italians, their hereditary foes, are being driven back, and on
the Russian front there seems to be a sort of tacit truce--no
fighting and visiting in trenches, etc.--terms of great
friendliness.

(This was the beginning of the fraternisation which led, a year
later, to the collapse of Russia.)

At the races here last Sunday there was an absolutely record
crowd and more money bet than on any previous day in German
racing history. The cheaper field and stands were so full of
soldiers that the crowd seemed grey, which goes to show that the
last man is not at the front.

State Socialism makes advances over here. A proposition is now