Mr. Bodkin made it clear that, through the Post Office officials, certain letters to and from persons abroad had been examined and copied, and in some cases delivered; since August 4th letters for Norway and Sweden posted in any part of the United Kingdom were sent to London and there examined. Several of these were to and from the prisoner.
The main part of the evidence against Lody was taken in camera and has never been made public, but that it was overwhelming there can be no doubt; indeed, Lody himself admitted that he had had a fair trial, and was quite justly dealt with. It was, however, mentioned that his letters contained reports on such places as Queensferry, near the naval base at Rosyth, and various other places round the coast.
There was a very remarkable incident when Lody himself gave evidence, an incident which gives us a good deal of insight into the real character of this remarkable spy.
Having admitted that his name was on the German Navy List, he said that when he went to Berlin at the end of July he reported himself to "a certain department," making a request that he should not be sent on active service as he was an invalid, having undergone a serious operation some years before and being unfit to do any fighting. Narrating events in Berlin, Lody said, "A proposition was put before me by a certain person."
"Are you willing," counsel asked him, "to give the name of that person?"
Then for the first time Lody's iron nerve broke down. He burst into heavy sobs, and in a voice almost choked with emotion, replied: "I have pledged my word of honour not to give that name, and I cannot do it. Although names have been discovered in my documents, I do feel that I have not broken my word of honour."
"Are you unwilling," counsel asked, "to tell us the position in life that person occupies?"
Again Lody hesitated; then he added quietly that the person was a superior naval officer. "I was summoned to see him," he said; "and I had three or four interviews with him."
Then came a question which provoked a very remarkable reply. "Are you willing," asked counsel, "to tell the court what took place at those interviews with your superior officer?"
"I am willing to tell the court," said Lody."And I am willing not to conceal anything, but I should like it not to be in public, as I shall certainly refer to very essential and important affairs."
Lody was then asked to give the "principal instruction" that he received, and he did so readily. He was to remain in England until the first engagement had taken place between the two Powers, and send information as regards the actual losses of the British Fleet. Then he was at liberty to go on to New York; he had previously asked for permission to do so. He was also told to get all the information he could with regard to the movements of the Fleet, and what was going on in England, but was specially warned not to go and "spy round," but to see as much as every traveller could see.
Lody added that he was very reluctant to undertake this work, as he felt he was not well fitted for it. He pointed this out, he said. It was put to him that pressure was applied to him to induce him to undertake the mission, to which he replied: "There was no pressure, but there is certainly an understanding. If they make a suggestion you feel obliged to obey. I have never been a coward in my life, and I certainly won't be a shirker."
Let us give credit where credit is due—even in espionage. I think everyone will admit that, whatever view we may take of this spy's offence—and views on the subject of espionage will always vary widely—Lodybehaved as a brave man. He was, in the first place, absolutely loyal to his chiefs; there was about him nothing of the craven wretch as willing to sacrifice his own country as any other if he could hope by so doing to win any favour for himself. Nor would he even speak in open Court of matters which, as he thought, might have been prejudicial to us. One cannot but recognise his chivalry. It is not often that the man in the dock deserves all his counsel says about him, but Lody was an exception, and the eloquent plea on his behalf made by Mr. George Elliott, K.C., who defended him, deserves to be remembered, not only for its references to Lody, but as a tribute to British justice, which placed at the service of a dangerous adversary the skill of one of the most brilliant members of the English Bar.
Whatever his fate might be, said Mr. Elliott, he hoped the accused would remember to the last hour of his existence that he had received from the country whose interests he came to betray a trial which, for fairness, was unrivalled in history. He said, quite frankly, that he came to this country in the service of his own—as a German actuated by patriotic German motives. He had told the Court all that he could tell, refusing to speak only where it clashed with his word of honour as an officer and a gentleman. He was not a man who had sold his country for gold, and he had not attempted to corrupt a single British subject or official.
"I plead for him," said Mr. Elliott, admitting that a conviction was unavoidable, but asking the Court whether they could not find some extenuating circumstances, "not as a miserable coward, or as a fear-stricken wretch, but as a man born of a land to which he is true, whose history and traditions he cherishes. His own grandfather was a great soldier who held a fortress against Napoleon, and it is in that spirit he wishes to stand before you here to-day. He was ready to offer himself on the altar of his country. I am not here to cringe for mercy; my client is not ashamed of anything he has done. Many a man would do for England what he did for Germany—may, in fact, be now doing it. Whatever his fate, he will meet it bravely like a man."
The verdict, as usual in the case of a court-martial, was not announced until some days later, when an official statement told us that Lody had been shot. He maintained his courage to the end, and died without a tremor. Before he died he left a letter in which he admitted he had had a fair trial, and expressed appreciation of the fact that he had been treated, not as a spy, but as an officer.
Now we come to the ugliest and darkest side of the Lody case. It will be remembered that Lody was able to get about by the aid of an American passport issued in the name of Charles A. Inglis. It was thought, at first, that this was merely a passport obtainedeither by forgery or by false pretences; as a matter of fact it was a perfectly genuine document, but Lody had no right to it. How it came into his possession shows the depth of degradation to which the German General Staff are prepared to descend.
Mr. Inglis, it was ascertained after the trial, was abona fideAmerican traveller holding a genuine passport. He left his passport with the American Embassy in Berlin for registration with the German Foreign Office, or some other department. The Embassy sent it in for registrationand it was never returned. Nor was it ever heard of again until it turned up in the possession of Carl Lody—a spy in Great Britain!
The German explanation to the American Embassy was that the passport had been mislaid. The same fate, it is said, has befallen no fewer thantwo hundredUnited States and British passports in Germany, and the corollary of this astounding announcement is that at the present moment there may be two hundred German agents wandering about equipped with British and American passports which are perfectly genuine, and not in the least likely to be suspected.
The stealing of these passports by the German authorities has been the subject of an official British communication, so that there can be no doubt about the fact, whether the exact number had been stated or not. "It has come to the notice of the Foreign Secretary," says the British statement, "thatsome passports belonging to British subjects leaving Germany have been retained by the German authorities. Such cases should be reported to the Foreign Office."
I say without hesitation that I do not believe any other country on the face of the globe would descend to such methods as this. I say, moreover, that no nation capable of such conduct can be regarded as possessing a shred of public honour. It is comparable only to the white flag treachery, or the mounting of machine guns in Red Cross ambulances, which is a feature of German warfare, to the murder by bombs of non-combatants in districts where there cannot be any soldiers, to the sowing of mines on the high seas, to the making of shields for soldiers out of the bodies of miserable civilians, to the slaughter of women and children at Louvain and Aerschot. What will the civilised communities of the world have to say in the future to Germans convicted out of their own mouths of disregarding every law of God and man that may operate to their disadvantage?
But even out of the theft of the passports—no doubt regarded by them as an excellent stroke of "kultur"—the Germans are not unlikely to reap trouble. The United States is not a country to be played with, and in this passport trick there lie the elements of serious trouble. Americans will not be likely to lie down quietly while their passports are used for espionage, and it is morethan likely that the Germans have stirred up a hornets' nest about their ears. In the meantime, it is reported from Washington that the Government has instructed the Embassy in Berlin to sift the Lody-Inglis incident to the very bottom.
That incident, too, has brought about much more stringent rules with regard to passports. Henceforth no American or British passport will be recognised as valid which does not bear the certified photograph of its rightful owner, and extra photographs for registration purposes will have to be lodged with the Embassy or Consulate by which the passport is issued. In the meantime we may be quite sure that American passports in London will be the subject of very special attention. What diplomatic action the United States may take in the matter it is impossible to say, but we can be fairly sure that such a proceeding as the stealing of neutral passports and using them for the purposes of spying in Great Britain will hardly be allowed to pass without very serious protest.
The Lody case has had one good effect in bringing home to a public, which is, alas! too liable to be careless in such matters, the reality of the German spy-peril in the country. The public had been so consistently deluded in this matter by those who were perfectly aware of the real facts of German espionage that it was far too much inclined to look upon everyone who insisted that there was a very real and very urgent spy danger as amere alarmist. It knows better now! Anyone who glances at the columns of the daily Press must be aware that public opinion is slowly awakening to the real urgency of the question, and, though I and others have been bitterly disappointed that our warnings have, to a great extent, gone unheeded, I am even now not without hope that we shall yet see the public insist that adequate steps shall be taken for our national safety in this respect.
It is true we may offend Germany by the drastic action the position demands. We may even, it is true, make the lot of Englishmen still, unhappily, in Germany, harder and more disagreeable. We shall regret either necessity. But the safety of the country has to come first.
Germany has never shown the slightest regard for our feelings, and I am sure that those of our countrymen who are prisoners in Germany, military or civil, would cheerfully suffer any conceivable hardship rather than that the safety of our beloved Empire should be jeopardised in the hope of making better terms for them.
To think otherwise would be to assume that patriotism had entirely departed from us.
CHAPTER X
SOME RECENT CASES
Wecan respect Lody; we can have no other feelings but the bitterest scorn and contempt for such traitorous miscreants as the ex-naval gunner, Charles Parrott, who, early in 1913, was sentenced to four years' penal servitude, under the Official Secrets Act of 1911, for selling official secrets likely to be useful to the enemy.
The class of traitor to which Parrott belongs represents the spy in his very lowest and most contemptible guise. About these wretched agents among us there is no redeeming feature. Patriotism is, to them, a word of no meaning; to their country they have no attachment: their one idea is to make money, and to do this they are willing to risk the very existence of the nation to which they belong. Show them gold, and there is no work on earth too dirty for them to undertake! And we have, I fear, many such men in our public services. It is men of this stamp who have made the very name of "spy" a by-word in all countries and all times—not the men who risk their lives in order to gain an advantage for the causeto which they are attached by every sacred obligation of honour.
Parrott, up to August, 1912, was a gunner attached to H.M.S. "Pembroke" at Sheerness. He was a warrant officer, and as such would have opportunities of obtaining information which would be denied to those of lower rank. The charge against him was, of course, not one of spying, since the offence was not committed in time of war. It was couched in the following terms:—
That he being a British officer did feloniously communicate at Ostend to a person unknown certain information in regard to the arms, armaments, dispositions and movements of ships and men of His Majesty's Navy which was calculated, or intended to be, or might be useful to an enemy.
That he being a British officer did feloniously communicate at Ostend to a person unknown certain information in regard to the arms, armaments, dispositions and movements of ships and men of His Majesty's Navy which was calculated, or intended to be, or might be useful to an enemy.
In considering Parrott's case we have to remember that he was an Englishman, in the service of the Crown in the Navy, and a British officer. He was in a position of responsibility, and his pay, with allowances, would work out at about £260 a year, so that he had not even the excuse of poverty to urge in mitigation of his horrible offence. He had been in the Navy for a number of years, and he was regarded as an efficient and trustworthy officer, so that he was able to become acquainted with matters which it was his obvious duty to guard with the most jealous care. He had been associated with the building of the "Agamemnon" on the Clyde, so that he was intimately acquainted with all those particulars of gunsand armaments which, in the event of war, it would be of the utmost interest to an enemy to know. He knew, in fact, of confidential matters of the utmost importance.
Parrott, on July 11th, 1912, asked for and obtained leave of absence, on the plea that he wanted to go to Devonport. On the same day he sent a telegram, not from Sheerness, where he lived, but from Sittingbourne, to "Richard Dinger," at an address in Berlin, saying, "Coming eight o'clock Saturday, Seymour." The same day he left Sheerness by train. A lady travelled with him as far as Sittingbourne, and then he went on alone to Dover.
Apparently he had already become an object of suspicion, for on the Admiralty Pier at Dover he was questioned by Detective-Inspector Grey. He was searched, and on him was found a piece of torn paper on which were the words: "When there is a chance," "Coming over on Saturday of that same week," "You telegraph probably Saturday, then I make all my arrangements to leave the moment I get order." On the other side of the paper were the words, "Richard Dinger, Esq.," and "With much love, yours, R."
Parrott's explanation of all this was that he had been writing to a woman in the name of another man, and that he was going to meet her at Ostend. In his pocket was found a naval signal-form, and in answer to the Inspector he admitted that he was a navalofficer, and asked that his wife should not be told about the "lady." The Inspector decided to let him go, but kept the paper.
Parrott evidently thought that the detective had no suspicion as to the real motive of his visit to Ostend, or he would surely have taken the alarm. He crossed, however, to Ostend, carefully shadowed all the time by no less acute an observer than ex-inspector Melville of Scotland Yard. When the boat arrived at Ostend, Parrott went through the station, and was joined by another man. There was no greeting, no welcome, no handshaking, not a sign of recognition; the other man simply sidled up alongside Parrott and they went off together. Mr. Melville formed the opinion that the man was a foreigner, and probably a German. They went about together for a time and then Parrott returned to Dover.
An inquiry followed, and ultimately Parrott's name was removed from the Navy List. The case against him was not, however, complete, and it was not until October that the police were able to lay him by the heels. It was then found that he was having letters addressed to him in the name of Couch delivered at a tobacconist's shop at Chelsea. Five or six letters came to him, and on November 16th two police officers went to the shop, where another letter had arrived. During the day Parrott called, the letter was given to him, and he was at once arrested.
In his presence the letter was opened. Inside were two £5 Bank of England notes—which, it was afterwards shown, had been in circulation in Germany—and a letter bearing the postmark "London, E.," which was as follows:—
Dear Mr. Couch,—I am very much obliged to you for your prompt reply to my last letter. Now I beg to place in your hands some questions in addition to my last letter. Have the goodness to leave as soon as possible for Firth of Forth, ascertaining about the following:—Which parts of the Fleet are in or off the Forth since November 5. Only the vessels of the First and Eighth Destroyer Flotilla, or which other men-of-war of any kind else? Where is the Second Destroyer Flotilla now? Have there been mobilising tests of the Flotillas and coast defences in the Firth of Forth? What are the Flotillas doing or proposing now? What number of Royal Fleet Reserve Class A are called in now for the yearly exercise? Where do they exercise? Are any of these men kept longer than a fortnight? I think it will be necessary to stay some days at Firth of Forth for gathering information about those questions. I should be much obliged if I could be informed as soon as you have got satisfying statements about one or several of these points. Do not wait to answer until you have found out all I wish to know.Enclosed £10 as travel expenses for the last and this journey. Please tell me in the next letter after having returned to London your expenses that I can hand you the balance if the £10 should not do it. I beg you to keep yourself ready, if possible also in the near future, to run over immediately to any place as soon as rumours as to extraordinary preparations of material and personal are running. In such a case please do not wait until you have received an order from me, but leave on your ownaccord, and at the same time send your address and make your doings known to me with particulars of the reason.—Yours truly,Richard.
Dear Mr. Couch,—I am very much obliged to you for your prompt reply to my last letter. Now I beg to place in your hands some questions in addition to my last letter. Have the goodness to leave as soon as possible for Firth of Forth, ascertaining about the following:—Which parts of the Fleet are in or off the Forth since November 5. Only the vessels of the First and Eighth Destroyer Flotilla, or which other men-of-war of any kind else? Where is the Second Destroyer Flotilla now? Have there been mobilising tests of the Flotillas and coast defences in the Firth of Forth? What are the Flotillas doing or proposing now? What number of Royal Fleet Reserve Class A are called in now for the yearly exercise? Where do they exercise? Are any of these men kept longer than a fortnight? I think it will be necessary to stay some days at Firth of Forth for gathering information about those questions. I should be much obliged if I could be informed as soon as you have got satisfying statements about one or several of these points. Do not wait to answer until you have found out all I wish to know.
Enclosed £10 as travel expenses for the last and this journey. Please tell me in the next letter after having returned to London your expenses that I can hand you the balance if the £10 should not do it. I beg you to keep yourself ready, if possible also in the near future, to run over immediately to any place as soon as rumours as to extraordinary preparations of material and personal are running. In such a case please do not wait until you have received an order from me, but leave on your ownaccord, and at the same time send your address and make your doings known to me with particulars of the reason.—Yours truly,Richard.
I have given this letter in full for several reasons. Parrott was not definitely charged with giving information to Germany, but the letter is obviously the work of a German, and, moreover, a German who was working in London—for it was posted in the Eastern district! It suggests, moreover, that the Germans suspected that some naval movements were on foot, and were willing to pay handsomely to get the news; it will be noted that Parrott was practically givencarte blancheto spend what he liked without waiting for authority from his master. A subsequent examination of his banking account showed that he had paid in about fourteen £5 notes, some of which had been in circulation in Germany. He had also been in Hamburg and Flushing, two centres of German espionage.
Parrott's own explanation of the affair was that he met a woman in a London music hall and went over to Ostend to see her. While he was there he failed to meet the woman, but a man came up to him and asked him if he was expecting to meet anyone. He replied that he expected to meet a lady, and the man then professed to know about her, and said she was unable to come. After that he received a letter from the man he met at Ostend. At that time he had been dismissed from the Service, and the letterexpressed the concern of the writer, and the lady had offered to help him. He replied asking what assistance they could give, and had a letter asking him to go to Hamburg. He went and met the man, who said he was a newspaper correspondent, and asked him to write an article once a week dealing with naval matters—a story curiously like that told by the spy Schulz. He afterwards received a letter from "Richard" outlining the kind of article required. The man said: "Let me know the progress of warships building, ships launched, ships laid down, and the movements of ships. Send me a specimen article dealing with the subject." He then bought a copy of a naval paper and from it wrote an article, which he sent.
Then Parrott described how he got a letter from the lady asking him to go to Rotterdam to see her. This he did, hoping, as he said, "to induce her to come to England, as he wished to raise the question why he was dismissed from the Service." Not unnaturally the lady declined to come, but Parrott admitted that she told a man who was with her to pay his expenses, and then gave him 100 francs.
"I have little doubt but that you were entrapped by a woman," said Mr. Justice Darling, in sending Parrott to four years' penal servitude. "You have been long under suspicion," his Lordship added; "I do not believe for a moment it was a first offence."
Even the Liberal journals which had long insisted that there were no German spies in England thought this sentence was inadequate. "It will strike most people," said theDaily Chronicle, "as not erring on the side of over-severity." The case was a flagrant abuse of a most sacred trust, and deserved all the punishment the law allowed; as a matter of fact, it deserved a good deal more, and Parrott was more than lucky that he was on trial, not in Germany, but in England.
The case of Karl Gustav Ernst is of very great interest, not only as revealing some of the methods of the Kaiser's "master-spy," the man Steinhauer, but also as showing the utter futility of relying on "naturalisation" of Germans to protect us against spying.
We are constantly told that it is impossible for us to take steps against "naturalised" Germans, as we have solemnly undertaken to treat them in all respects as Englishmen, and we have even "naturalised" many Germans since the outbreak of war. The Ernst case ought to have been sufficient warning of the danger arising from the naturalised alien, but apparently there is no limit to the innocent trustfulness of our sleepy Home Office. How long it will be before we learn that a German no more changes his nature by adopting naturalisation than an ass does if he clothes himself in a lion's skin I cannot say; I only hope it will not be brought home to us by some terrible catastrophewhich will seriously affect our fighting power. Ernst, be it remembered, was not even naturalised; he claimed to have been born in England, and posed as an Englishman. Yet he was a spy; how much more, then, have we reason to suspect the recently "naturalised alien" whose national sympathies have not been blunted by birth and long residence in this country? The leopard cannot change his spots, and "once a German, always a German," is the only safe rule for us in the present crisis.
Ernst, who was a hairdresser in the Caledonian Road, London, had been for sixteen years in business there. His function was to act as a sort of "post-office" for Steinhauer of Potsdam, by whom letters were sent to him for distribution throughout England. In order to minimise risks of detection, these letters were posted in various parts of London. Ernst, of course, besides acting as "post-office," made inquiries on his own account, and did some of the work of getting into touch with other agents. He was paid all out-of-pocket expenses and a kind of retaining fee, first of £1 a month, and then, when he pointed out that the business was both risky and important, £1 10s. a month.
Ernst first came under suspicion of the Nameless Department as long ago as October, 1911, and we ought to admit with cheerful gratitude that he was a very valuable ally to us! From the very commencement the authorities were, I happen to know, aliveto what was going on, and the closest observation was kept on the hairdresser's shop. All letters were opened by the postal authorities, their contents were carefully copied, and a most useful accumulation of information thus came into the hands of the astute director of the Department. It was not specifically stated that Parrott was detected in this way, but as letters were sent to him by Ernst we may well assume that by such means the authorities were put on his track.
One of the most useful pieces of information picked up was a list of names and addresses of persons to whom letters from Germany were sent for distribution, and who were spies at Chatham, Sheerness, Portsmouth, Rosyth, and other places. An amusing feature of the case was that after all these letters had been carefully examined and copied by the Post Office they were delivered in the ordinary course with only a very slight delay, and thus the suspicions of the spies, if indeed they entertained any, were most effectually put to sleep. The Nameless Department was not quite the fool the Germans had some excuse for thinking it!
An important discovery made early in the case was thenom de guerreof Steinhauer of Potsdam. He had at that time become "Mrs. Reimers." "Mr. J. Walters, c/o K.G. Ernst" was soon found to be Ernst himself, who had long before suggested the adoption of that name to avoid suspicion.
It will illustrate the thoroughness of German methods to mention that most of the letters sent to Ernst were written on English paper, so that when he posted them there would be nothing to call special attention to them. One of the letters from Steinhauer read in court was a request for English paper and envelopes, which Ernst duly forwarded as "samples." Many of the letters intercepted by the Post Office contained money, mostly in the shape of bank-notes.
The work that Ernst was doing was sufficiently important to justify a visit from the redoubtable Steinhauer himself, as we learn from Ernst's own statement. During the time he was in custody Ernst made a statement to a detective in which he said:—
I am sorry I was introduced into this business. Kronauer introduced me. I thought it was only a private inquiry business. I have only seen Steinhauer once. That was just before Christmas in 1911.He came to my shop on a Sunday morning. My shop was open and I had several customers there. He said to me, "Are you Mr. Ernst?" and I said, "Yes." He said, "Do you know me?" I said, "No." He said, "You have heard of me, I am Steinhauer. I see you are busy now. I want to have a quiet chat with you. I will come back after the shop is closed. What time do you close?" I said, "Twelve o'clock."He said, "All right, I will come back after that, and went away. He returned later and came into my parlour, where we sat down and had a long talk."
I am sorry I was introduced into this business. Kronauer introduced me. I thought it was only a private inquiry business. I have only seen Steinhauer once. That was just before Christmas in 1911.
He came to my shop on a Sunday morning. My shop was open and I had several customers there. He said to me, "Are you Mr. Ernst?" and I said, "Yes." He said, "Do you know me?" I said, "No." He said, "You have heard of me, I am Steinhauer. I see you are busy now. I want to have a quiet chat with you. I will come back after the shop is closed. What time do you close?" I said, "Twelve o'clock."
He said, "All right, I will come back after that, and went away. He returned later and came into my parlour, where we sat down and had a long talk."
This statement is exceedingly interesting,as we know that Steinhauer, as described in another chapter, was in London about this time, when he actually went to Buckingham Palace as a member of the Kaiser's suite. That he should be able to spare time to visit a man in Ernst's position shows what work the latter was doing, and also throws a good deal of light on the class of agent most useful to the Germans—the "small" man, whose insignificant position does so much to guard him against suspicion.
In one of his letters Ernst represented himself as "a zealous stamp collector," of course to explain, in the event of detection, the constant remittances he was receiving from Germany. This letter, addressed to "Miss Reimers," ran:—
Dear Mr. Steinhauer,—Best thanks for the 100 marks, which were handed to me mid-day to-day. If you think it right you can in future send my advance direct to me without having recourse to a third person—namely, in the following way. I am a zealous stamp collector. Many of my customers and also my assistants know this. On the occasion of the next remittance copy the following letter:—"Dear Mr. Ernst,—Your last parcel of stamps arrived just in time to be included in last month's sale. Messrs. Kurt Moeser and also Koehler, the Berlin stamp auctioneers, are realising good prices at their sales. I have enclosed 100 marks on account, and will forward balance later. A receipt for the enclosed by return will oblige."I have sent you last Sunday's paper. What I can see from the case Henschel will go over to the British Secret Service just as the doctor from Glasgow has done. It has also occurred to me thatHenschel's wife's maiden name was Miss Riley, and that one of Scotland Yard's Special Service Inspectors, who had the case in hand, was also called Riley. In conclusion, many greetings.—I remain, yours,J. Walters.
Dear Mr. Steinhauer,—Best thanks for the 100 marks, which were handed to me mid-day to-day. If you think it right you can in future send my advance direct to me without having recourse to a third person—namely, in the following way. I am a zealous stamp collector. Many of my customers and also my assistants know this. On the occasion of the next remittance copy the following letter:—
"Dear Mr. Ernst,—Your last parcel of stamps arrived just in time to be included in last month's sale. Messrs. Kurt Moeser and also Koehler, the Berlin stamp auctioneers, are realising good prices at their sales. I have enclosed 100 marks on account, and will forward balance later. A receipt for the enclosed by return will oblige."
"Dear Mr. Ernst,—Your last parcel of stamps arrived just in time to be included in last month's sale. Messrs. Kurt Moeser and also Koehler, the Berlin stamp auctioneers, are realising good prices at their sales. I have enclosed 100 marks on account, and will forward balance later. A receipt for the enclosed by return will oblige."
I have sent you last Sunday's paper. What I can see from the case Henschel will go over to the British Secret Service just as the doctor from Glasgow has done. It has also occurred to me thatHenschel's wife's maiden name was Miss Riley, and that one of Scotland Yard's Special Service Inspectors, who had the case in hand, was also called Riley. In conclusion, many greetings.—I remain, yours,J. Walters.
It may be mentioned incidentally that the "doctor from Glasgow" was Armgaard Carl Graves, a well-known spy. Henschel was a German who was accused in London on his own confession of disclosing naval secrets and of conspiring with the ex-gunner Parrott. It was suggested that certain information he gave was communicated under the understanding that he should not be prosecuted, and under the circumstances the Crown withdrew the case, the accused giving an undertaking that he would not in any way make known the matter with which he had become acquainted.
Ernst's case was hopeless from the start; in fact, so complete was the evidence, that as soon as Mr. Bodkin had opened the case for the Crown, his counsel withdrew, explaining that the prisoner had assured him he had had nothing to do with espionage, but that he (counsel) was sure Mr. Bodkin would not make an opening statement he could not justify.
Ernst was sent to seven years' penal servitude. "You are a mean, mercenary spy," said Mr. Justice Coleridge in sentencing him, "ready to betray your country to the enemy for money; equally ready, I dare say, to betray Germany to us for an increasedreward." The case could not have been better summed up.
I will now pass on to the case of Armgaard Carl Graves, which is remarkable chiefly for its extraordinary sequel. Graves, who was arrested in Glasgow, had been receiving letters at the Post Office in the name of "John Stafford." When he was taken into custody a memorandum-book found in his pocket was found to contain a number of leaves gummed together at the open edges. When they were cut apart the police found groups of figures opposite German phrases, apparently constituting a code. In a pocket-case several more groups of figures were found, the number 271 being subtracted from each. That afterwards supplied the key to the code. There was also a note in German relating to a new gun under construction by Beardmore and Company, and three code telegrams from Amsterdam. There were also found a number of maps covering the Firth of Forth and the vicinity, and a bundle of cartridge cases, including two of the latest British Army pattern. The description of the new gun was said to be practically accurate, and it was also stated that Graves' code appeared to indicate every class of ship in the Navy, and also such strategic points as Scapa Flow, Moray Firth and Cromarty—the same code which is probably being used by the naval spies still amongst us to-day.
This code, used for the telegrams betweenthe prisoner and his Continental correspondents, was, said counsel for the Crown, a very deadly one to be found in his possession. If the person utilising it were in a certain place on a certain day and found that mines were being laid, he would telegraph the figures 11,719 to 11,729. "He seems to be the ideal character for a spy," counsel added; "he has a very high intelligence, and is sociable, genial and affable, while his moral character is not of a very high standard." He was sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment. "Well—exit Armgaard Carl Graves," was the prisoner's only remark on hearing the decision.
Graves was sentenced on July 23rd, 1912. On June 7th, 1913, came the amazing announcement that he had been released. When, and why he was set at liberty, no one outside official circles knows; all the information given was that "Graves was released in due course of law, but there is no further information to give." Graves's own story was that he was released in order that he might join the British Secret Service, but this fact, and even the fact that he had been released, came to us from America. The sensational story of his release and subsequent adventures was published by theNew York Americanin the following narrative:—
Armgaard Carl Graves, former secret agent in the German service, who was convicted of espionage in England last July and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment, declares that shortly afterhis sentence he was released in order that he might join the British Secret Service.He was sent to America, and there discovered that envoys of Germany and Japan had met in New York with the object of completing an anti-American agreement. He succeeded in making a copy of the document and cabling it to the British Foreign Office.He never got any payment from England, however, so has decided to make the contents public. The agreement binds Germany not to interfere in a great Japanese scheme of colonisation in the South Seas.
Armgaard Carl Graves, former secret agent in the German service, who was convicted of espionage in England last July and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment, declares that shortly afterhis sentence he was released in order that he might join the British Secret Service.
He was sent to America, and there discovered that envoys of Germany and Japan had met in New York with the object of completing an anti-American agreement. He succeeded in making a copy of the document and cabling it to the British Foreign Office.
He never got any payment from England, however, so has decided to make the contents public. The agreement binds Germany not to interfere in a great Japanese scheme of colonisation in the South Seas.
Graves afterwards published a book in which he professed to give away many of the secrets of the German spy system. Information we have received from other sources shows that a great deal of the book is well founded, and it may well be that on the whole it is a fairly reliable exposure of German methods. But the last thing one should do is to trust or believe the spy!
According to Graves—whose account we should accept with considerable reserve—the heads of the departments of the spy-organisation in Berlin are all German officers, recruited from "the old feudal aristocracy." He declares that though they plan the work, they never execute it. "No active or commissioned officer," he says, "does Secret Service work." He shows, too, that whatever ethics they may hold about doing dirty work themselves, the German officers wash their hands entirely of the methods their subordinates may choose or find it necessary to adopt. One of them explained the matterto him in terms which admit of no misunderstanding. He said:—
We cannot afford to be squeamish. The interests at stake are too vast to let personal ethical questions stand in the way. What would be required of you in the first instance is to gain for us information such as we seek. The means by which you gain this information will be left entirely to your own discretion. We expect results.
We cannot afford to be squeamish. The interests at stake are too vast to let personal ethical questions stand in the way. What would be required of you in the first instance is to gain for us information such as we seek. The means by which you gain this information will be left entirely to your own discretion. We expect results.
It was also made clear to him that he had only himself to depend upon, and if he got into trouble he would get no help. "Be pleased to understand," was the official warning given at the first interview, "that this service is dangerous, and no official assistance could be given in any circumstances."
As to the agents employed in this work, Graves says the Personal Branch, the most important, is managed from the Wilhelmstrasse, the German Foreign Office, the Emperor in person, or his immediate Privy Councillor. He adds:—
The personnel consists of all classes of men and women. Princes and counts, lawyers and doctors, actors and actresses, mondaines of the great world, demi-mondaines of the half-world, waiters and porters, all are made use of as occasion requires. It may well happen that your interesting acquaintance in the saloon of an express steamer, or your charming companion in the tea-room of the Ritz, is the paid agent of some Government.
The personnel consists of all classes of men and women. Princes and counts, lawyers and doctors, actors and actresses, mondaines of the great world, demi-mondaines of the half-world, waiters and porters, all are made use of as occasion requires. It may well happen that your interesting acquaintance in the saloon of an express steamer, or your charming companion in the tea-room of the Ritz, is the paid agent of some Government.
A sinister side of the profession is also revealed; grave risks are run by the spy evenfrom his own side. A woman named Olga Bruder, whose death in a hotel on the Russian border was described as suicide, is said to have been poisoned; a Lieutenant von Zastrov was compelled to fight duels until he was at last killed. They knew too much, Graves declares, and the death sentence came from their own employers. One can well believe it, for the records of German espionage show that in their own interests the Germans stick at nothing.
One episode which Graves relates concerns a famous dancer, still living, whom the Germans believed to be a Russian Government spy. They suspected that she had an "affair" with a young officer in the Potsdam garrison, and one night they became interested in a gold "vanity bag" which the young officer had given to her; they believed it contained some secret military intelligence. How they got possession of it was very clever.
The dancer was at supper at the Ice Palace in Berlin, and her bag lay on the table. A "clumsy" waiter upset a glass of champagne on the cloth. Instantly the cloth was whipped off, and, with the bag inside it, was taken away. A moment or two later back came the waiter with the bag and many apologies. The waiter was a clever spy, and in the moment or two that he had been absent the incriminating letter had been secured. The bag was offered to the dancer, who at once opened it, and finding the letter had disappeared, promptly said the bag was nothers. But she was put over the frontier just the same.
Many more cases might be cited to show the ramifications of the German spy system in England, but I have selected the foregoing as typical, and most of the others follow more or less the same general outline. They all point to the same conclusion: that the number of German agents in England is endless, that they are to be found in all places and in all ranks of society, that they are clever and daring to the last degree, and that nothing is too large or too small for their attention. Many of them, no doubt, have been interned; many of them, no doubt, are still at work, risking everything in their ceaseless efforts to bring about our undoing. There is only one effective protection—to make a clean sweep of all Germans and Austrians, naturalised or not, and confine them in the concentration camps until the war is over. Treat them properly, by all means, but put them out of the way of doing us harm.
This drastic measure, it is true, will not protect us against the traitor within our gates, but it would at least do much to remove the greatest source of peril.
CHAPTER XI
27,000 ALIENS AT LARGE IN GREAT BRITAIN
Weknow, from official sources, that in spite of all the foolish self-congratulation of Mr. McKenna and his friends—who are "getting on" towards Birthday Honours,—and his attempt to gag theGlobe, there are some 27,000 alien enemies still at large in Great Britain, and upon their activities on their country's behalf, until recently our only check was the shadowy form of "registration" that we have adopted. Even many of those interned are now being released upon bonds being given by responsible citizens.
Unfortunately, anyone who ventures to suggest that these people—whose bonds may be signed by persons in German pay—may constitute a very serious danger, is at once branded, officially, as an alarmist, and accused of attempting to manufacture a "spy scare," whatever official optimists may mean by that term.
I am no alarmist, and the last thing I should wish to see in our country would be a scare of any description. But as I have, for so many years, made a special study of the spy question, as the evidence I was able tolay before the Government caused the establishment of our anti-espionage precautions, I think, without undue egotism, I may claim to know something about the matter. I should have remained silent unless I had been absolutely convinced that there is still a very real and very grave peril of espionage owing to our supineness in this matter of aliens living here practically uncontrolled, and certainly owing to their great numbers not being under anything like effective supervision.
The popular idea of the spy still seems to be that he is, invariably, an individual sent specially from Germany to wander about this country picking up such scraps of information as he can. There could be no more dangerous delusion. The Germans are far too acute to trust to such methods; they know a great deal too much about the science of espionage to dream of thinking that foreigners sent hap-hazard into this country—obviously strangers and, therefore, most likely to invite attention—are likely to be able to carry out safely the difficult and dangerous work of espionage. Their secret agents are chosen, invariably, with the utmost care and method.
The "foreign" spy is not the worst peril; the real danger comes from those who, for years, have made their homes among us, who have married Englishwomen, and have become so familiar to their neighbours that they are in little or no danger of being underthe slightest suspicion. This has been proved over and over again, both here and in France, during the present war.
The case of the barber Ernst was a good instance. This man had carried on business at the same shopfor sixteen years, and we can be quite sure that the last thing his neighbours thought of him was that he was a spy in German pay! No. He was a good Englishman like the rest of us. Yet, it was shown that he was a secret agent of the most dangerous character, and even worthy of a personal visit from the great and distinguished Steinhauer himself!
Now I hope that the many who have read my books over the last twenty years will at least believe that I am one of the last men to be suspected of any desire to belittle my own countrymen. I am simply an Englishman who has tried to interest them. To-day I point a peril to each and all of my million readers. But I wish to make it quite clear that nothing I say in this connection should be taken as reflecting on the work of our Confidential Department—a department which has done magnificently and which in every way I respect. They have matched brains against brains, and cunning against cunning, and the balance of the account is decidedly in their favour. They have, indeed, fooled Steinhauer's agents all through—examined their correspondence and their reports, tracked the agents down by the information thus gained, arrested a largenumber of them, and to a very great extent smashed the organisation in its original form. So much I cheerfully admit, and congratulate them heartily upon their success. My point is that the work has not gone far enough, that what they have done has not been adequately supplemented, that much yet remains to be done before we can assume that a reasonable degree of security has been attained.
On October 8th last, a very important statement was issued by the Home Secretary, describing the steps that had been taken "to deal with the system of espionage on which Germany has placed so much reliance." I have shown elsewhere how the Confidential Department came into being, and how it was able to "discover the ramifications of the German Secret Service in England." In this statement Mr. McKenna says:—
The agents ... were watched and shadowed without in general taking any hostile action or allowing them to know that their movements were watched. When, however, any actual step was taken to convey documents or plans of importance from this country to Germany, the spy was arrested, and in such cases evidence sufficient to secure his conviction was usually found in his possession.Proceedings under the Official Secrets Act were taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions, and in six cases sentences were passed varying from eighteen months to six years' penal servitude. At the same time steps were taken to mark down and keep under observation all the agents known to have been engaged in this traffic, so that when any necessity arose the police might lay handsupon them at once; and accordingly on August 4th, before the declaration of war, instructions were given by the Home Secretary for the arrest of twenty known spies, and all were arrested.
The agents ... were watched and shadowed without in general taking any hostile action or allowing them to know that their movements were watched. When, however, any actual step was taken to convey documents or plans of importance from this country to Germany, the spy was arrested, and in such cases evidence sufficient to secure his conviction was usually found in his possession.
Proceedings under the Official Secrets Act were taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions, and in six cases sentences were passed varying from eighteen months to six years' penal servitude. At the same time steps were taken to mark down and keep under observation all the agents known to have been engaged in this traffic, so that when any necessity arose the police might lay handsupon them at once; and accordingly on August 4th, before the declaration of war, instructions were given by the Home Secretary for the arrest of twenty known spies, and all were arrested.
This figure, it is added, does not cover over two hundred who were under suspicion or noted to be kept under special observation, the great majority of whom were interned at, or soon after, the declaration of war.
Now, although the spy organisation which had been established before the war may have been partially broken up, Mr. McKenna admits that "it is still necessary to takethe most rigorous measuresto prevent the establishment of any fresh organisation, and to deal with individual spies who might previously have been working in this country outside the organisation, or who might be sent here under the guise of neutrals after the declaration of war."
Here really we have the crux of the whole matter. It is easy enough to deal with the known spy; it is easy enough in time of war for the Post Office to watch very closely correspondence not only with Germany, but also with neutral countries, from which letters can so easily be sent into Germany—as I have sent them—and it is easy enough to censor cables. Mr. McKenna says:—
This censorship has been extremely effective in stopping secret communications by cable or letter with the enemy, but as its existence was necessarily known to them, it has not, except in a few instances, produced materials for the detection of espionage.
This censorship has been extremely effective in stopping secret communications by cable or letter with the enemy, but as its existence was necessarily known to them, it has not, except in a few instances, produced materials for the detection of espionage.
I should think not, indeed! Would any sane person suspect the German Secret Service of such imbecility as endeavouring to send important reports by post or cable from this country in time of war, except as a last desperate resort to deal with some unexpected situation in an apparently harmless message? It was this very thing that brought about the downfall of Lody, and the fact that he attempted to send a cable-message shows how urgent he thought it was that his message should reach its destination as soon as possible. He trusted to luck, but luck failed him. If I thought our Confidential Department regarded such a proceeding as normal, I should indeed be in despair.
Remember one highly important fact. It is perfectly easy to-day to travel from Holland or Denmark to Berlin, and there is no difficulty in anyone with a British or American passport travelling from this country to Holland. Some two hundred British and American passports have been "mislaid"—in plainer language, stolen—by the German authorities. Can we think for a moment that it would be impossible for the Germans to find agents quite willing to run, as commercial travellers or what not, the trivial risk of making the journey from England to Holland, where their information could be handed over for conveyance to Berlin?
Lody came to England as an American; I have no doubt he could have gone back to Berlin in the same guise if he had wanted to.We know perfectly well that every scrap of official news published here finds its way to Berlin in a very short time—a distinguished British General a few days ago stated that the German commanders had copies of the London papers within a few hours of publication. Where, then, assuming a spy in England has secured some useful information, lies the difficulty of transmitting it to those who are ready and anxious to receive it?
Suspected passengers on the steamers, it may be said, can be searched, and letters found upon them examined. Is it to be imagined that a spy's reports would be written in copperplate on a large sheet of paper for all and sundry to read? Need they even be written at all?
Censorship on mails and on cables, and the close examination of cross-Channel passengers are excellent precautions, but, after all, we are only locking the door after the horse has been stolen. Admit that the spy is here, grant that he has got hold of a piece of important information, and I will wager that he finds means of transmitting it to his Government, if he possesses an ounce of sense.
The man Louis Trabbaut, sentenced at Marlborough Street, had passed through the German lines nine times between London and Brussels. More than this, it has been shown that the Kaiser, since the war began, has been using a courierto send letters to London! On October 8th, Mr. H.L. Reiach, editor of theYachting Monthly, received a card from Vice-Admiral K. von Eisendecher, who is attached to the Kaiser's suite, stating that he would no longer subscribe for that journal. There is no reason, as theDaily Mailpointed out, why this particular communication should not have been sent by open post in the ordinary way, but for some reason the Kaiser's Admiral preferred to use the secret courier service. The letter, written at Karlsruhe, was evidently brought over by a courier, stamped with an English penny stamp, and posted in the South-West district of London.
I wonder what else came over by that courier, and, still more, what went back!
"It is practically impossible," said a high police official discussing this incident, "to prevent this smuggling of letters." The only certain way to prevent it would be to detain and strip every passenger arriving at our South and East Coast ports, and minutely examine every article of their clothing. The authorities have power to detain and search any suspected person, but that is very different from searching every passenger—man, woman and child. The real remedy lies not in these palliatives; the disease is desperate enough to call for drastic remedies. We must stop so far as is humanly possible—and no one asks more—the collection of information here. And there is only one really effective way of doing this—intern or deport every individual of enemy birth, naturalised or not, until the end of the war.
Now I am not alone in holding this opinion; it has been expressed by our judges, and by much more exalted individuals than my humble self. So recently as October 27th, the Recorder of Pontefract said:—
All those who have not been naturalised at all should be deported until the end of the war. Those who had been naturalised during the past ten years, since when Germany has been competing navally with England, should be interned under supervision but allowed to conduct their business; men naturalised over ten years ago should be allowed to live on their own premises under substantial bond for their good behaviour under police supervision.
All those who have not been naturalised at all should be deported until the end of the war. Those who had been naturalised during the past ten years, since when Germany has been competing navally with England, should be interned under supervision but allowed to conduct their business; men naturalised over ten years ago should be allowed to live on their own premises under substantial bond for their good behaviour under police supervision.
This is the opinion, not of a layman, but of a judge, speaking with all the authority and responsibility which must attach to his high office. Must we write him down as a spy-maniac or an alarmist?
Lord Leith of Fyvie is a nobleman who has been giving special attention to the spy-peril, more particularly along the East Coast. Here is his view, expressed at Torquay as recently as October 23rd:—
At last the chief spy has been removed from the neighbourhood of Rosyth (it was late enough, I might remark!), and the Government has recognised the necessity of making a wholesale sweep of aliens. There cannot be any distinction between classes. The only exception ought to be in favour of English women who have married aliens. All others ought to be transported to a neutral country; out of Great Britain they must go. Such a course would certainly be the most humane course that could be taken. Originally the East Coast was the mostdangerous zone, but in view of the desire of the "Head spy and devil Emperor William" to seize Calais, it was necessary to deal with the whole coast.
At last the chief spy has been removed from the neighbourhood of Rosyth (it was late enough, I might remark!), and the Government has recognised the necessity of making a wholesale sweep of aliens. There cannot be any distinction between classes. The only exception ought to be in favour of English women who have married aliens. All others ought to be transported to a neutral country; out of Great Britain they must go. Such a course would certainly be the most humane course that could be taken. Originally the East Coast was the mostdangerous zone, but in view of the desire of the "Head spy and devil Emperor William" to seize Calais, it was necessary to deal with the whole coast.
The Government recently decided to arrest all enemy aliens between the ages of 17 and 45. This, of course, meant that all men of military age were to be arrested, and it was a welcome step. No doubt this decision, which was announced on October 22nd, considerably reduced the danger of espionage arrangements that had previously been made, by removing many of the agents. But are we to assume that the Home Secretary considers that no German over 45 is capable of acting the part of a spy? Or is he under the impression that 45 is the utmost age attained by Germans in this country?
"After this war," said Mr. Justice Ridley at Worcester Assizes on October 22nd, "we must make an end of spies. The German nation appears to think that it can conquer Europe by a system of espionage. We will have no more of that." Most people will concur with the learned judge's view, but will regard it as rather belated to wait till "the end of the war" to make an end of the German espionage which is rampantnow!
It is often represented by well-meaning people that it would be unjust, and not in accordance with British fair-play, to take steps against aliens who have become naturalised. We are told that these people havebeen promised the full liberty accorded to British-born subjects, and that to treat them in a manner different from other Englishmen would be to go back upon our solemn undertaking.
I confess this argument leaves me unmoved. We have no use for the unpatriotic get-rich-at-the-expense-of-your-neighbour arguments. We are Britons, and Britons we will remain in spite of the puny leading articles in unimportant papers. Naturalisation, in the great majority of cases, means absolutely nothing; it is, indeed, usually adopted purely for business reasons. Seldom does a German become so imbued with profound veneration for our institutions and customs that nothing short of citizenship of our Empire will satisfy his sacred feelings of patriotism. Moreover, naturalisation is one of the spy's favourite devices, and surely one of his best methods of disarming any possible suspicion.
But these are not ordinary times, and the requirements of the situation as we see it cannot surely be met by ordinary methods. Nothing is more jealously guarded in this country than the right to be protected from arbitrary imprisonment. No one in England can be arrested and kept in custody for more than a few hours without being fully informed of the nature of the charge against him, and brought before a magistrate, whose duty it is to decide whether there is aprima faciecase against him, upon which he should be sent for trial. That, in ordinary times, isthe British practice. Yet, only a few days before I write, the High Court refused an order, under the Habeas Corpus Act, that an Englishman, who had been imprisoned for over a week without any charge having been made against him, should be brought up for trial.
The case was a remarkable one. A collision had occurred between a submarine and a British steamer, and the captain of the steamer was arrested. No charge being preferred against him, application was made to the High Court. It was stated in Court that a charge might be made, but that it was against the interests of the nation that it should be stated. The application was therefore refused.
Looking at the absolute stringency of English law on this subject at ordinary times, that was a very remarkable decision, but I venture to think it was absolutely correct, since the interests of the State must at all times over-ride the rights of the individual. The question of the guilt or innocence of the captain, it should be remembered, was not before the Court, and was not even discussed.
The same rule, I contend, should be applied to the naturalised alien. It was Burke who said that it was not possible to frame an indictment against a nation, but we can say with tolerable certainty that no German loses his German sympathies simply because he takes out naturalisation papers at the British Home Office.
Undoubtedly, if it were determined to intern or deport all of alien birth, whether naturalised or not, there would be many cases of hardship, and many people who are good citizens and perfectly loyal to the country of their adoption would suffer. Many such are suffering to-day. I am not going to suggest for a moment that every one of the thousands of aliens we have interned in the concentration camps is dangerous, either as a spy or as a combatant. I do insist, however, that many of them are, and to catch all the guilty we must necessarily, though with regret, inflict hardship on some who are innocent. Exactly the same conditions apply to the naturalised alien; in many cases they apply with even greater force.
In his published statement from which I have already quoted, Mr. McKenna parades with intense satisfaction the absence, since the war began, of any outrages traceable to aliens. He says:—
Another matter which has engaged the closest attention of the police has been the possibility of conspiracies to commit outrages. No trace whatever has been discovered of any such conspiracy, and no outrage of any sort has yet been committed by any alien—not even telegraph wires having been maliciously cut since the beginning of the war.
Another matter which has engaged the closest attention of the police has been the possibility of conspiracies to commit outrages. No trace whatever has been discovered of any such conspiracy, and no outrage of any sort has yet been committed by any alien—not even telegraph wires having been maliciously cut since the beginning of the war.
As a dose of soothing-syrup administered in Mr. McKenna's "best bedside manner" this is inimitable; as a contribution to the solution of a very serious problem, it lacks finality. I wonder whether it has everoccurred to the Home Secretary, or the sleepy Department over which he presides, that, up to the present moment, there has not been the slightest necessity for any alien to commit an outrage of any description, and that to have done so before the time was ripe would merely have meant rousing such an outburst here that, when the time did come, there would probably not have been an alien left at liberty to give help at the psychological moment? What, in the name of Johnson, would it profit a German, or Germany, to blow up at the present moment a tube station or one or two bridges on our main lines? The time for that was when we were moving the Expeditionary Force, if at all, under present conditions. But the movement of the Expeditionary Force was carried out with such speed and secrecy that hardly anyone knew what was going on, and in any case a slight delay to a few units of that Force would not have been a vital matter.
Now whether it is possible or not, whether it has a faint chance of success or whether it is foredoomed to hopeless failure, an invasion of England is at the present moment the dearest dream of every German heart. To compass that, they are prepared to make any and every sacrifice. Personally, I have no fear that to-day such an invasion would have the remotest chance of success, but that is not the belief of Germans, military or civilian. They believe that it is not onlypossible, but that it must succeed, and we know that plans for carrying it out have been carefully elaborated for years past.
Suppose the Germans come. Troops will be instantly hurried towards the scene of their landing by every railway in England. What, then, I ask, would be the value of a few skilfully placed charges of explosive? What, then, would be the value of a successful attempt to cut the trunk telephone or telegraph wires running along one of our main lines of communication? What would it mean to us if an important bridge on a main line were shattered, and many trainloads of troops delayed for hours? Remember that in the unlikely event of invasion time will be calculated by minutes, for the Germans must rely upon the effects of a desperate dash to strike us in a vital spot before we could overwhelm them by accumulated reinforcements.
But Mr. McKenna tells us "there is no evidence of a conspiracy to commit outrages." Let us fold our arms and sleep! I wonder what the War Office would tell him if he hinted that there was no evidence that the Germans were planning to invade us, and that they had better cease the arrangements they are very properly making to deal with such a contingency, however remote or unlikely it may appear!
It is not in the least degree likely that all the German arrangements and plans have been made for outside operations only, andthat every internal device that could help to ruin us has been neglected; that is not at all the German way. It has already been officially admitted that there is reason for believing that the Germans have established petrol stores in these islands. Is there any reason why they should not equally have established depots of explosives for use in the same contingency?
Our naval authorities say quite plainly that, with the present disposition of the Fleet, no invading force above the proportions of a raiding party intended to create panic could ever hope to reach these shores. To that, I think, the great majority of our people, supremely confident in our splendid Navy, cordially subscribe. But in war no chances can be taken, for the unexpected always happens, and though we may not discuss the measures that have been adopted, it is known that the War Office authorities have done everything possible to provide for even such a remote contingency. Can we say that the Home Office has done everything possible to cut the claws of the German plotters, when so many potential enemies are still allowed to be at large amongst us? And further, many enemy aliens are now being released, and returning to their employment in hotels.
Mr. McKenna has quite justifiably claimed that the Confidential Department has broken up the organisation of spies that existed in England before the war. For that, I desirequite sincerely to give them every credit. The Home Secretary has admitted, however, the necessity of taking every possible step to deal with those who have come here since the war began. And in this connection a very serious position has been created by the swarms of unhappy refugees from Belgium who have been pouring into the country for several months past. Among these thousands, it is absolutely certain, there must be many clever German agents, possibly men who have long lived in Belgium, and speak French or Flemish without a trace of German accent.
What steps are being taken to guard against this peril? It must be remembered that in the case of these unfortunate people there can be no question of passports, or papers of any kind. The great majority of them are quite glad enough to have escaped with their lives, without troubling about their papers, even had they wished to do so. There would not be the slightest difficulty in German agents slipping over amongst these thousands without any risk of detection, and we can be tolerably confident that many have done so.
It has been suggested that some of the better educated Belgians, about whosebona fidesthere could be no question, should be given the work of tracking down any possible impostors. They would probably be glad of the work, and in this direction they could do much to help us. They would be only too keen upon doing so, for most of them arefilled with a hatred of everything German, beside which our own growing dislike is a mere nothing. To lay by the heels one of the German spies who have contributed so powerfully to the ruin of Belgium would be, to the average refugee, the keenest delight. I believe this plan would be well worth a trial, and I should like to see it put into effect immediately.
The trial and conviction on a charge of high treason of Mr. Nicholas Emil Herman Adolph Ahlers, a naturalised German who, for some years, acted as German Consul in Sunderland, is a remarkable and emphatic corroboration of every word I have written as to the manner in which the authorities are dealing with the alien peril.
Mr. Ahlers was accused of assisting German reservists to return to Germany after the declaration of war. It was alleged that he sought out our enemies, impressed upon them the necessity of returning to Germany, and gladly paid their fares. The striking feature of the affair was, it is alleged, Ahlers' own statement, "Although naturalised, I am a German at heart."
On December 9th, the prisoner was convicted of high treason, and sentenced to death. Yet anything more farcical could not well be imagined, and was certainly well in keeping with the tactics of the Home Office. Mr. Ahlers was prosecuted for having "adhered to the King's enemies." Yet he had only, after all, succoured the King'senemies to the extentactually allowed to him by the Order in Council! As Mr. Justice Bankes justly observed at the appeal, it is abhorrent to the mind that a man should be sentenced to death for doing what the Home Secretary's circular expressly permitted.
As exposed in the Court of Appeal, the whole prosecution was simply another effort of the authorities to mislead and gull the public, and to play to the gallery.
When this amazing prosecution was undertaken, and the Solicitor-General was sent down to Durham to invoke the majesty of the law,the Home Office must have knownthat the Order in Council, issued by that same department, gave alien enemies—up to August the 11th—the right to leave our shores! Therefore Mr. Ahlers ought never to have been prosecuted and sentenced to death. What was presented to the public as a grim and terrible tragedy, turned out to be an amusing, though hollow comedy. Yet we find, even in the final scene at the Court of Appeal, the Solicitor-General gallantly protesting that the Order in Council had nothing to do with the case.
Of course, as the Press pointed out, had the matter been anything but the merest jest produced for the purpose of making the people of this country believe that the Government were at last tackling the spy peril in earnest, the Minister, or other official, who drew up the Order in Council might have found himself in an awkward position. Itallowed alien enemies, without any distinction as to whether they were combatants or not, to leave this country and join the King's enemiesfor a full week after war had been declared, and whoever was responsible for it was much more deserving of condemnation than the unfortunate "German at heart."
But a further fact seems to have escaped the notice of the public. It is this. When the conviction for high treason had been obtained against Mr. Ahlers—a conviction improperly obtained—the Government, with their conscience awakened, hastened to prepare the public for the comedy by issuing from the Press Bureau the following illuminating communication:—
"The conviction of Ahlers is subject to appeal, the judge having granted a certificate of appeal on certain points of law which arose at the trial. The sentence of death was the only one which the judge could pronounce in accordance with the law on a conviction for high treason. If, on the appeal, the conviction is affirmed, the Secretary of State for Home Affairs will consider the question of advising a commutation of the death-sentence with a view to substituting a term of penal servitude or imprisonment."
"The conviction of Ahlers is subject to appeal, the judge having granted a certificate of appeal on certain points of law which arose at the trial. The sentence of death was the only one which the judge could pronounce in accordance with the law on a conviction for high treason. If, on the appeal, the conviction is affirmed, the Secretary of State for Home Affairs will consider the question of advising a commutation of the death-sentence with a view to substituting a term of penal servitude or imprisonment."
The whole prosecution was a ghastly hoax, for Mr. Ahlers had committed no legal offence. The proceedings, so dignified and realistic, which resulted in him lying under sentence of death for a crime which he had not committed, was merely a hollow pretence in order to give a sop to the public.
It reflects no credit upon our authorities, whoever was responsible, and such proceedings are, surely, not in accordance with the high morality of British justice. It is important, however, as serving as yet another example of the pitiful rule-of-thumb methods which are being adopted towards this grave peril.
If the Home Department, in its wisdom, bestirs itself in future and prosecutes dangerous aliens and spies, it is to be hoped that it will not endeavour to further mislead us by presenting such a lamentable spectacle as it has done in the case of Mr. Ahlers.
Surely this is not the moment when the Department should be engaged in trying to discover whether the German soldiery were guilty of any atrocities in Belgium. The futility of the latter I pointed out to Mr. McKenna in a letter I ventured to address to him at the Home Office on December 11th, 1914.
It ran as follows:—
"Sir,—Though seven days have now elapsed since my letter of December 3rd, I am still awaiting a reply, as I am anxious—in the interests of the public—to have an explanation of the matter to which it refers."I desire to point out to your Department—which, according to Mr. Aitken's letter to me of November 16th, is making an inquiry into allegations of outrages by German troops, and in which my aid is requested—that any further waste of public time and public money may be avoided if it will—as it no doubt can do if it wishes—obtain, through the proper channels, a copy of Generalvon Bülow's Proclamation posted in Liége on August 22nd last. In this, the General in question declares in reference to the destruction of the town of Andenne:—"'It iswith my consentthat the General had the whole place burned down, and about one hundred people shot.'"In addition, three official reports of the Royal Belgian Commission, sent to me by His Excellency the Belgian Minister, are before me, and I have interviewed M. Carton de Wiart, Belgian Minister of Justice, regarding them."Further, I would point out that your Department might, with advantage, examine the proclamation of Field-Marshal Von der Goltz, and also Major Deckmann's poster published at Grivegnée."As these, no doubt, will be as available to you as they are to the public Press, perhaps your Department may obviate further waste of time by examining them."Meanwhile, I await, with anticipation, a reply to my letter of December 3rd."
"Sir,—Though seven days have now elapsed since my letter of December 3rd, I am still awaiting a reply, as I am anxious—in the interests of the public—to have an explanation of the matter to which it refers.
"I desire to point out to your Department—which, according to Mr. Aitken's letter to me of November 16th, is making an inquiry into allegations of outrages by German troops, and in which my aid is requested—that any further waste of public time and public money may be avoided if it will—as it no doubt can do if it wishes—obtain, through the proper channels, a copy of Generalvon Bülow's Proclamation posted in Liége on August 22nd last. In this, the General in question declares in reference to the destruction of the town of Andenne:—
"'It iswith my consentthat the General had the whole place burned down, and about one hundred people shot.'
"In addition, three official reports of the Royal Belgian Commission, sent to me by His Excellency the Belgian Minister, are before me, and I have interviewed M. Carton de Wiart, Belgian Minister of Justice, regarding them.
"Further, I would point out that your Department might, with advantage, examine the proclamation of Field-Marshal Von der Goltz, and also Major Deckmann's poster published at Grivegnée.
"As these, no doubt, will be as available to you as they are to the public Press, perhaps your Department may obviate further waste of time by examining them.
"Meanwhile, I await, with anticipation, a reply to my letter of December 3rd."