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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36412-8.txt b/36412-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d510870 --- /dev/null +++ b/36412-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9355 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ten Years Near the German Frontier, by +Maurice Francis Egan + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ten Years Near the German Frontier + A Retrospect and a Warning + +Author: Maurice Francis Egan + +Release Date: June 14, 2011 [EBook #36412] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN YEARS NEAR THE GERMAN FRONTIER *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned +images of public domain material from the Google Print +project.) + + + + + +Transcriber's notes: The author's incorrect spellings of Danish and +other foreign names and words have been retained. An incorrect +reference to the Danish King Christian IV. has been corrected in "as +all the children of King Christian IV.[IX.] were". + + + + + TEN YEARS NEAR THE + GERMAN FRONTIER + + + + + TEN YEARS + NEAR THE + GERMAN FRONTIER + + A RETROSPECT AND A WARNING + + BY + + MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN + FORMER UNITED STATES MINISTER TO DENMARK + + HODDER AND STOUGHTON + + LONDON · NEW YORK · TORONTO + + + _Copyright, 1918, + By George H. Doran Company_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +The purpose of this book is to show the reflections of Prussian +policy and activity in a little country which was indispensable to +Prussia in the founding of the German Empire, and which, in spite of +its heroic struggle in 1864, was forced to serve as the very +foundation of that power; for, if Prussia had not unrighteously +seized Slesvig, the Kiel Canal and the formation of the great German +fleet would have been almost impossible. + +The rape of Slesvig and the acquisition of Heligoland--that despised +'trouser button' which kept up the 'indispensables' of the German +Navy--are facts that ought to illuminate, for those who would be +wise, the past as a warning to the future. There is no doubt that +the assimilation of Slesvig by Prussia led to the Franco-Prussian +war, and liberated modern Germany from the difficulties that would +have hampered her intention to become the dominant power in the +world. The further acquisition of Denmark would have been only a +question of time, had not the march of the Despot through Belgium +aroused the civilised world to the reality of the German imperial +aggression--until then, unhappily, not taken seriously. Had Germany +followed the policy which induced her to hold Slesvig, in spite of +the promise that the Slesvigers, passionately Danish, might by vote +decide their own fate--and seize Denmark, the Virgin Islands, not +American, would have been German possessions. The change of policy +which sent the German army into Belgium and Northern France, instead +of into Denmark, was, in a measure, due to the belief in Germany, +that the war would be short; and, with France helpless, Russia +terrorised and England torn by political factions, she could control +the Danish Belts that lead from the North Sea to the Baltic and treat +these waters as German lakes. + +She reckoned as erroneously on that as she reckoned on controlling +the Mediterranean and on smashing the Monroe Doctrine by practically +possessing Argentine and Brazil. She built well, however, when she +made Kiel the pride of the Emperor and the Empire. Europe watched the +process, and hardly gave a thought to the outrage on humanity and +liberty it involved. The world is suffering for this indifference. +The retention of Danish Slesvig created the German sea power and the +constant threat to Denmark concerns us all. It is a world question; +and it must be answered in the interest of Democracy. + +Denmark is geographically part of Germany. In normal times you +reached Berlin from Copenhagen in a night. In a few short hours you +may see German sentinels on the Slesvig frontier, and hear the field +practice of German guns. A Zeppelin might have reached Copenhagen +from Berlin in eight hours, and an army corps might land in Jutland +in about double that time. + +Copenhagen is so near what was that centre of world politics--the +German court--its royal family is so closely allied with all the +reigning and non-reigning royal families of Europe, and its +diplomatic life so tense and comprehensive,--that it has been well +named the whispering gallery of Europe. + +I have not attempted to keep out of this sketch of my diplomatic +experiences and deductions all traces of amusement; but, as to the +terrible seriousness of the greater part of this record, I may +appropriately quote the answer of Bismarck's tailor, when that genius +of blood and iron accused him of asking an enormous price for a fur +coat, of 'joking.' 'No,' answered the tailor, 'never in business!' + +And, in spite of the fact that there are lights and even laughs in +the diplomatic career, it is a serious business; and the sooner my +fellow countrymen recognise this, the fewer international errors they +will have to regret. + + MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + CHAPTER I + + A Scrap of Paper and the Danes + 1 + + CHAPTER II + + The Menace of 'Our Neighbour to the South' + 35 + + CHAPTER III + + The Kaiser and the King of England + 46 + + CHAPTER IV + + Some Details the Germans Knew + 61 + + CHAPTER V + + Glimpses of the German Point of View in Relation + to the United States + 79 + + CHAPTER VI + + German Designs in Sweden and Norway + 98 + + CHAPTER VII + + The Religious Propaganda + 124 + + CHAPTER VIII + + The Prussian Holy Ghost + 154 + + CHAPTER IX + + 1910, 1911, 1912 + 169 + + CHAPTER X + + A Portent in the Air + 189 + + CHAPTER XI + + The Preliminaries to the Purchase of the Danish + Antilles + 203 + + CHAPTER XII + + The Beginning of 1917 and the End + 259 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A SCRAP OF PAPER AND THE DANES + + +Let us trace deliberately, with as much calmness as possible, the +beginning of that policy, of 'blood and iron' which made the German +Empire, as we knew it yesterday, possible. It began with the tearing +up of 'a scrap of paper' in 1864. It began in perfidy, treachery, and +the forcible suppression of the rights of a free people. It began in +Denmark; and nothing could make a normal American more in love with +freedom, as we know it, than to live under the shadow of a tyrannical +power, cynically opposed to the legitimate desire of a little nation +to develop its own capabilities in its own way. + +The Hanoverian on the throne of England in '76,--that 'snuffy old +drone from a German hive'--never dared to suggest that the colonies +should be crushed out of all semblance of freedom; but, suppose our +language had been different from that which his environment compelled +him to speak, and that he had resolved to force his tongue on our own +English-speaking people; suppose that he and his counsellors had +resolved that German should be the language spoken in sermons and +prayers from Washington's old church in Alexandria to Faneuil Hall; +suppose that all the colleges and schools of the country, as well as +the law courts, were forced to use this alien tongue; that a +German-speaking Empire existed to the south of us, and the minority +in this German domain, arrogant, closely connected with the +Hanoverian régime, ruled us with the mailed fist, would we submit +without constant efforts to obtain justice? + +And yet Denmark, in the province of Slesvig, has endured these things +since 1864. She alone of all the world resisted the beginning of +German tyranny, of German arrogant evolution; and her resistance was +useless because the rest of Europe saw in the future neither the +German Empire nor the Kiel Canal. + +Denmark is, as every schoolboy knows, geographically part of Germany; +and the Pan-Germans spoke of it benevolently as 'our Northern +province.' It might long ago have been their Northern province if +England and Russia had not been powers in the world and if the great +Queen Louise of Denmark, a beautiful and fragile little woman, with a +heart of gold and a will of steel, had not used all her wits to keep +her country free by the only means of diplomacy she knew--the ties of +family. + +Queen Louise, the wife of Christian IX., new king of an old line, was +not born in the purple, though her blood was the bluest in Europe. +The beautiful princesses, her three daughters, later the Empress of +Russia, Dagmar, the Queen of England, Alexandra, and the Duchess of +Cumberland, Thyra, made their frocks and were taught all the +household arts--for their father, royal by blood as he was, was a +poor officer. + +These princesses hold lovingly in remembrance the time of their +poverty; these princesses love the old times. There is a villa on the +Strandvej (the beach way) called Hvidhöre, white as befits the name, +with sculptured sea-nymphs and pretty gardens and a path under the +strand to the Sound. Here, until 1914, the Empress Dowager of Russia +and the Queen of England regularly spent part of the summer and +autumn. The Russian yacht, _The Polar Star_, and the English +_Victoria and Albert_ appeared regularly in the Sound, the officers +added to the gaiety of Copenhagen and the royal ladies went to +Hvidhöre, 'where,' as the Widow Queen of England said to my wife, +smiling, 'we can make our own beds, as we did when we were girls.' + +The servants might drop a plate or two during luncheon or stumble +over a chair; but the Empresses of Russia and of India made no +objections--'the dear old people were a little blind, perhaps, but +then they had served our father, King Christian.' And anything that +relates to their father is sacred to these ladies; and everything +concerning Denmark very dear. + +In 1907 the small parties at Hvidhöre went on as usual, though the +great royal gatherings at the palace of Fredensborg had ceased. Here, +in the time of the old Queen Louise, from sixty to eighty scions of +royalty, young and old, had often gathered under the high blue +ceiling, from which looked down beautiful white gods and goddesses. + +In 1907-8 King Frederick VIII. gave occasionally a dinner on Sunday +night at the country house not far from Copenhagen, Charlottenlund, +when it was hard to keep from turning one's back to a royalty,--there +were so many crowned heads present. There, if Queen Alexandra made it +plain that she wanted to speak to you, you, approaching her, found +yourself with your back to the King of Greece or to King Haakon of +Norway, or to the Queen of Denmark herself! + +Times have changed; the circumstances which made the late mother of +King Frederick so powerful in keeping 'the family' together can never +occur again. + +Of the four daughters of the late King Frederick, two married, one +in Sweden and the other in Germany. The Danish princess, Louise, who +became the wife of His Serene Highness, Prince Friedrich Georg +Wilhelm Bruno of Lippe-Schaumbourg, is to the Danes a lovely and +pathetic memory. They say that he treated her badly, that the bride +fled from him to the protection of her parents, whom they censured +for not taking her home before her death. The criticism--which even +found expression in public disapproval--was unreasonable, but the +mass of the Danes is always more generous than just in the treatment +of its children. In 1908-9, to mention the name of Prince Friedrich +was to commit a social error; he was taboo; every mother in Denmark +was furious at the stories told of his injuries to their dead +Princess Louise. + +Princess Ingeborg, born in 1878, married the 'blue Prince,' Charles +of Sweden, Duke of Westgothia. King Frederick VIII., after the +failure of the German marriage, kept his two other daughters, Thyra +and Dagmar, in the background. He was a very sympathetic king, and he +liked to talk of ordinary affairs; he was truly much interested in +the life immediately around him. 'I do not encourage princes in +search of wives,' he said; 'I shall keep my daughters with me.' +Princess Thyra--one cannot conceal the age of princesses, while there +is an _Almanach de Gotha_--was born on March 14th, 1880, and Princess +Dagmar on May 23rd, 1890. The Princess Thyra is of the type of her +beautiful aunt, the Queen Mother of England; like her aunt, she +looks much younger than her age; the Princess Dagmar has the quality +of this royal family, of always seeming to be ten years, in +appearance, younger than they are. They were our near neighbours for +ten years, and my wife often threatened to marry them to nice +'Americans';--King Frederick, considering this impossible, gave his +consent at once! He often brought them in to tea, and they met 'nice +Americans,' and seemed to like them very much. + +The Emperor William--who wanted to be called the Emperor of Germany +rather than the German, or Prussian Emperor, as we always called +him--showed no affection for his Danish relatives; but, nevertheless, +he did not underrate the value of Denmark as the 'whispering gallery' +of Europe. + +In the old palace of Rosenborg, in Copenhagen, there is a room so +arranged that, by means of a narrow tunnel in the wall, Christian +IV., a contemporary of Queen Elizabeth, could hear what his guards +said, in their cabinet, at all hours of the day and night. 'There is +a similar room at Potsdam,' a Dane said to me; 'William always +listens when he is not speaking!' William knew what the Danes said of +the German marriage; his plans did not lie in the way of annexing +either of the Danish princesses, whose sympathies were not with the +despoilers of the country; he had his eyes on the son of their aunt, +the Duchess of Cumberland, who was later to marry his daughter. But +royal marriages had ceased to strengthen or weaken Denmark; the +Archduke Michael of Russia 'hung around' for a time; others came; but +King Frederick walked out with his daughter, Princess Thyra, both +evidently content. Princesses are expected to make marriages of +'convenience,' but Princess Thyra, like her aunt, Princess Victoria +of England, does not seem inclined to make a marriage of that kind. +Princess Dagmar was too young to be permitted to expect suitors, when +her father lived; and the Princess Margaret, daughter of Prince +Valdemar, brother of King Frederick, for whom, it was said, overtures +had already been made on behalf of the growing Prince of the House +of Saxony, was younger still. Denmark had ceased to be a marriage +market of kings; the futility of attempting to cement international +relations by royal alliances was becoming only too evident. Prince +Valdemar, brother of King Frederick, had refused more than once a +Balkan kingdom, and, when consulted by very great personages as to a +marriage of his oldest son to the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, had +answered, like his brother Frederick, that he preferred 'to keep his +children at home.' + +Nevertheless, the previous royal marriages and the fact that nearly +every diplomat at Copenhagen was a favourite with his sovereign, sent +by a relative of the court at home to please the court at Copenhagen, +gave the post unusual prestige, and made 'conversations' possible +there which could not have taken place elsewhere. The court circle, +when one had the entrance, but not until then, was like that of an +agreeable family. Nearly every minister at Copenhagen was destined +for an embassy. When my predecessor, Mr. O'Brien, was translated to +Tokyo, our prestige was enhanced; the Danes believed that our country +but followed the usual precedent, according to which their French M. +Jusserand had been made ambassador at Washington. Even the United +States had begun to understand the importance of the post; and it was +in the line of diplomatic usage when it was rumoured that I had been +offered Vienna. I met, too, ministers to Copenhagen who considered +themselves, because of royal patronage, ambassadors by brevet, and +who exacted 'Excellency,' not as a courtesy but a right! + +Mr. Whitelaw Reid wrote to me, speaking of my post as a 'delightful, +little Dresden china court'; the epithet was pretty, and there were +times, when the young princesses and their friends thronged the +rococo rooms of the Amalieborg Palace, that it seemed appropriate. +When the processions of guests moved up the white stairs between the +line of liveried servants, some of them with quaint artificial +flowers in their caps, the sight was very like a bit out of Watteau. + +Bismarck had not looked on Denmark as a negligible country; he knew +its importance; there was a legend that one of the few persons he +really respected and feared in Europe was the old Queen Louise. +Besides, he knew the history of Denmark so well, that he chose to +correct the supposed taint in the blood of the Hohenzollerns by +choosing an Empress for William II. of 'the blood of Struense.' This +Struense, the German physician who, through the degeneracy of +Christian VII., had in 1770 become the guide, the philosopher, +and--it was said--the more than friend of his Queen, Caroline +Matilda, tried to be the Bismarck of Denmark; but he was of too soft +a mould,--the disciple of Rousseau and Voltaire rather than of +Machiavelli and Cæsar Borgia. He was drawn and quartered, after +having confessed, in the most ungentlemanly way, his relations with +the queen, sister of King George III. of England. + +It is probable that part of the Emperor's dislike to Bismarck +was due to that '_mot_' of the Iron Chancellor about the royal +marriage he had helped to make. It was the kind of '_mot_' that +William would not be likely to forget. It is an axiom of courts +that the child of a Queen cannot be illegitimate. Even the +Duke de Morny, son of Queen Hortense of Holland, bore proudly +'Hortensias' in the panels of his carriage during the Third +Empire in France. Nevertheless, though Queen Caroline Matilda had +died, in her exile at Celle, protesting her innocence, it was +understood that Struense was the father of the supposed daughter +of Christian VII., the daughter who married into the House of +Slesvig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. Her descendant, the +Princess Augusta Victoria Frederika-Louisa-Feodora-Jenny married +the Emperor William II., on February 27th, 1881, at Berlin. It was +a love match--at least on the side of the empress. One of the ladies +in waiting at the German court once told my wife that the famous +Augusta Victoria rose--the magnolia rose of our youth--was always +cherished by her imperial majesty because of its association with her +courtship--'the emperor knew how to make love!' the empress said. + +The appearance of Struense among the ancestors of the empress, to +which Bismarck is said to have so brutally alluded, was not agreeable +to the proudest monarch in Europe. Queen Caroline Matilda, sister of +the second George of England, was only fifteen years of age when she +came to Denmark to become the wife of Christian VII. in 1766. And, if +anything could have excused her later relations with Struense (her +son, Frederick VII., was undoubtedly legitimate)--it was the attitude +of her degenerate husband and her mother-in-law, Julianna Maria. +Having been dragged one bitter cold morning to the castle of +Elsinore, she confessed her guilt; but under such circumstances of +cruel oppression that the confession goes for little; circumstances, +however, were against her, and the courts of Europe only remember +that she was the daughter of a king, of blood sufficiently royal, to +make up for her declension. + +In Copenhagen, in 1908, the echoes of public opinion in London, among +the higher classes at least, showed that the momentary insecurity +caused by the reverses in the Boer war had passed. People had +forgotten the emperor's telegram to Oom Paul. Nobody wanted war; +therefore, there would be no war. 'If we have no property,' St. +Francis of Assisi, pleading for his Order to the Pope, said, 'we +shall need no soldiers to protect it.' It was forgotten that, +reversely, if we have property, we must always have armies and fleets +to protect it. It was not war that anybody wanted; but there was +property to be had, which could only be had by the use of armies and +fleets. + +In Paris (for reasons which secret history will one day disclose, and +for other reasons only too plain), the German designs were apparently +not understood by high officials who directed the course of France. +France made the mistake, as we are always likely to do, of reading +its own psychology into the minds of its opponents. Paris believed, +to use Voltaire's opinion of the prophet Habakkuk, that Germany was +capable of everything, except the very thing that Germany was +preparing without rest, without haste, and without shame to do--to +bleed her white! + +From echoes in Copenhagen, we learned, too, that in Petrograd, +Germany was better understood because the Russian spies were real +spies; they knew what they were about, and, being half oriental, they +understood how to use the scimitar of Saladin. There were other spies +who knew only the use of the battle-axe of Coeur-de-Lion; but they +were often deceived though very well paid; in fact, the ordinary paid +spy is a bad investment. In Belgium the Internationals talked +universal peace; indeed, among others than the Internationals, the +army was disliked. As in Holland, German commercial aggression was +feared. The most amazing thing is that Internationalism did not +weaken the _morale_ of the heroic Belgians when the test came. + +In Copenhagen, the idea of a permanent peace seemed untenable, and +war meant ruin to Denmark. This was not a pleasant state of mind; but +it did not induce subserviency. In the vaults of Hamlet's castle of +Elsinore on the delectable Sound, Holger Dansker sits, waiting to +save Denmark from the ruthless invader. There are brave Danes to-day +who would follow Holger, the Dane, to the death, who believe that +their country never can be enslaved; but, though the conquering +Germans spared Denmark, they did not need the knowledge of the fate +of Belgium to convince them of what they might expect as soon as it +pleased the Kaiser to act against them. The fate of Belgium had +confirmed the fears they had inherited. There is no doubt where their +hearts were, but a movement--a slight movement--against Germany would +have meant for the King of Denmark the fate of the King of Belgium or +the King of Serbia. That he is married to a princess half German by +blood would not shield him. Belgium was not spared because its queen +was of German birth. + +Copenhagen, as I have said, was not only a city of rumours, but a +city of news. The pulse of Europe could be felt there because +Europeans of distinction were passing and repassing continually, and +the Danes, like the Athenians of St. Paul's time, love to hear new +things. But there was and is one old query which all Denmark never +forgets to ask: Will Danish Slesvig come back to its motherland? +Slesvig-Holstein is the Alsace-Lorraine question in Denmark. For +Slesvig Denmark would dare much. She could not court certain +destruction but, in her heart, 'Slesvig' is written as indelibly as +'Calais' was written in the heart of the dying queen, Mary Tudor. + +She had forgiven and forgotten the loss of her fleet and the +bombardment of Copenhagen by the English in 1807 and 1814. She then +stood for France and new ideas, and Tory England made her suffer for +it. She lost Norway in 1814; she was reduced almost to bankruptcy; +and, until 1880, she could only devote her attention to the revival +of her economic life. Holstein was German; Slesvig, Danish. They +could not be united unless the language of one was made dominant over +the language of the other. The imperial law of Germany governed +Holstein; all Slesvig legislation had since 1241 been based upon the +laws of the Danish King Valdemar. To force the German law and +language on Slesvig was to wipe out all Danish ideas and ideals in +the most Danish of the provinces of Denmark. The attempt to Germanise +Slesvig took concrete form in 1830. Desiring to bring it under German +domination, Uve Lornsen, a Frisian lawyer, proposed to make the +Duchies of Slesvig and Holstein self-governing states, separated from +Denmark, and entirely under German influence. As, according to him, +only royal persons of the male lineage could govern the united +Duchies, the King of Denmark might have the title of Duke until the +male line should become extinct. Uve Lornsen met remonstrances based +on the laws and traditions of the Danes with the arrogant assertion, +uttered in German: + +'Ancient history is not to be considered; we will have it our own way +now.' + +Kristian Poulsen, a Dane, who knew both the German and the Danish +views, opposed the beginning of a process which meant the imposition +of autocratic methods on a people who were resolved to develop their +own national spirit in freedom. + +In Slesvig there are 3613 square miles. In the greater part of this +territory, consisting of 2190 square miles, Danish was the +vernacular, while 1423 square miles were populated by speakers of +German. German power had secured German teaching for 220,000 people +in churches and schools. The injustice of this will be seen when it +is understood that only 110,000 were given opportunities, religious +and educational, of hearing Danish. Danish could not be used in the +courts of law. It was required that the clergy should be educated at +the University of Kiel, and other officials of the state could have +no chance of advancement unless they used German constantly and +fluently. The teachers in the communal schools were all trained in +Germany. The Danish speech was not used in a single college. In a +word, the German influence, under the eyes of a Danish king and +government, was driving out all the safeguards of Danish national +life in Slesvig. + +King Christian VIII., partly awakened to the wrongs of the +Slesvigers, issued in 1840 a rescript insisting on the introduction +of Danish into the law courts. The German partisans were outraged by +this insult to German Kultur; no tongue but the German should be used +even in Danish Slesvig. The king, the Danish court, for over two +hundred years had been Germanised; the king did not dare to announce +himself as a nationalist; but, against the German partisans, he +decided that the Danish kings had always possessed the right of +succession in Denmark, that the succession was not confined to the +male line in Slesvig. + +In Holstein the position was different. If the Danish line should +become extinct, the succession might fall to the Russian Emperor; but +Slesvig must be Danish. On the death of King Christian VIII. in 1848, +feeling ran high in Denmark and in Slesvig-Holstein. In truth, all +Europe was in a ferment. The results of the French revolt in 1830 +were still leavening Europe. The Assembly of Holstein and Slesvig was +divided in opinion. The desire of the Germans in the provinces to +control the majority became more and more apparent. Danish interests +must disappear, the beginning of the German 'Kultur,' not yet +developed by Bismarck, must take its place. Five deputies were sent +to Copenhagen, with, among other demands, a demand that the Danish +part of the country be incorporated into the German confederation. + +The citizens of Copenhagen had reason to believe that the Holstein +counts, Moltke and Reventlow-Criminel, potent ministers and men of +strong wills, might influence King Frederick VII. to give way to the +Germans. The king determined to dismiss these ministers; the demands +of the Town Council of Copenhagen and the people of Denmark were +answered before they were made. His Majesty had 'neither the will nor +the power to allow Slesvig to be incorporated in the German +Confederation; Holstein could pursue her own course.'[1] + + [1] H. Rosendal, _The Problem of Danish Slesvig_. + +But the German opposition in the provinces had not been idle. Berlin +had shown itself favourable to the Duke of Augustenburg, and the +Prince of Noer had headed a band of rebels against Denmark and +instigated the garrison of Rendsborg to mutiny on the plea that the +Danes had imprisoned their king. A contest of arms took place between +the two parties. Prussia interfered; but Prussia was not then what it +is now. At the conclusion of a three years' war, the rebels were +defeated and the King of Denmark decreed that Slesvig should be a +separate duchy, governed by its own assembly. The German party so +juggled the election--'Fatherland Over All' governed their point of +view, the end justified the means--that the Assembly shamefully +misrepresented the Danes. It was Prussianised. + +The Danes did not lose heart--Slesvig must be Danish; but if they +allowed their language to disappear, there could be no hope for their +nationality. On the other hand, the Germans held, as they hold +to-day, that all languages must yield to theirs. The German press +would have extirpated the Danish language; it was seditious; the +Danes were rebels. From the Danish side to Tönder-Flensborg, the +official speech and that of the people was Danish. Between the two +Belts--the space can easily be traced on the map--Danish was spoken +in the churches every second Sunday. In the schools both Danish and +German was permitted; in the courts of law both languages were used. +You made your choice! The world was deceived by an unscrupulous +Assembly and the German press into the belief that Slesvig was +German, lovingly German, and that the Danes were merely restless +malcontents, hating the beneficent Prussian rule simply from a +perverted sense of their own importance. + +The crucial moment came in 1864. Denmark had no real friends in +Europe. The United States, if her people had understood the matter, +would have been sympathetic; but, at the moment, she was fighting for +her own existence as a nation. The European powers, in spite of all +their statecraft, allowed themselves to be blinded. Austria, +apparently proud and noble, allowed herself, as usual, to be made the +tool of Prussia. The two powers, on the false pretence that the right +of Christian IX. to the succession to the duchies was involved, +forced Denmark, which stood alone, to surrender Slesvig-Holstein and +Lauenburg. This was the beginning of the mighty German Empire; it +made the Kiel Canal possible, and laid the foundation of the German +Navy. Slesvig, too, supplied the best sailors in the world. Bismarck, +when he cynically treated Slesvig as a pawn in his game, had his eye +on a future navy--a navy which would one day force the British from +the dominion of the sea. + +He had his way. He became master of the Baltic and the North Sea. +Prussia, in forcing the Danish king to cede Slesvig, admitted his +right to the Duchies; yet the pretext for war on Denmark had been +that no such right existed. Prussia soon threw off her ally, Austria. +She did not want a half owner in the Holstein Canal or in the coming +fleet at Kiel. + +It must be remembered that, when Christian IX. had ascended the +throne of Denmark, it had been with the consent of all the great +European powers. They had practically guaranteed him the right to +rule Slesvig-Holstein, and yet England and France and Russia stood by +and allowed the outrage to take place. France made an attempt to +satisfy her conscience. In the treaty of peace France had this clause +inserted: + + 'H.M. the Emperor of Austria hereby transfers to H.M. the King of + Prussia all the right which according to the Treaty of Peace of + Vienna of October 30, 1864, he had acquired in respect to the + Duchies of Slesvig and Holstein, provided that the northern + districts of Slesvig shall be united to Denmark, if the + inhabitants by a free vote declare their desire to that effect.' + +This was a 'scrap of paper'--nothing more! Nevertheless a scrap of +paper may be inconvenient. Austria, never scrupulous when the +acquisition of new territory was expedient, was willing to help +Prussia to tear it up. Bosnia and Herzogovina raised their heads. +Austria wanted help from Prussia. Here was the Prussian chance to +induce her to abrogate her part in clause fifty of the peace treaty. +What matter? Denmark, in time, must be German, as Slesvig was German, +in spite of all right. Austria would play the same game with the +Slavs as Prussia had played with the Danes. Individuals might have +consciences, but nations had no system of ethics, and therefore no +canons (except those of expediency), to rule such consciences as they +had. Prussia treated the right of the Danes in Slesvig, guaranteed by +a 'scrap of paper,' to a free vote as to their fate, with contempt. +It had amused Bismarck to deceive France, the exponent of the new +democracy in Europe, but that was all. Slesvig was to be crushed +until it became quiescently Prussian. Prussia needed it, therefore it +must be Prussian. Fiat! + +This is a plain, unvarnished tale. Few of my fellow-countrymen have +known it. Some who knew it hazily concluded that Slesvig had become +German of its own free will that it might belong to a prosperous and +great empire. Others, who remembered that, even in their struggle for +freedom in 1864, the Danes paused for a moment to give us their aid +at the request of President Lincoln, had a vague idea that wrong had +been done somehow; but how great the wrong, and how terrible the +effect of the wrong was to be on the history of the world, none of +them even dreamed; and yet it was plain enough to those who watched +the policy of blood and iron of this, the new Germany. + +People who believed that Prussia had any respect for an engagement +that might seem to work against her own designs ought to have been +warned by the experience of Denmark. But there were those who +believed that the acquisition of Heligoland from the British was a +mere trifle, in which Germany had the worse of the bargain, as there +are people who held that the Danish West Indies were of no manner of +importance to us. They classed these acquisitions with that of +Alaska--'Seward's folly!' + +And, in 1864, the old powers of Europe were so satisfied with their +own methods, or so engaged with internal questions, that they let the +monstrous tyranny of the conquest of Slesvig pass almost in silence. +Prussia alone kept her eyes on one thing--the increase of her +military power. In 1878 she induced Austria to abrogate her part in +the treaty of Vienna of October 30, 1864. Austria agreed to give up +any rights acquired by her in Slesvig-Holstein under the fifth clause +of that treaty. This withdrawal (not to be irreverent, it was like +the washing of the hands of Pontius Pilate) left Slesvig naked to her +enemy. The Prussian autocrats chuckled when they found themselves +bound by a 'scrap of paper' to the restoration of the northern +districts of Slesvig to Denmark, 'if the inhabitants by a free vote +declare their desire to that effect.' + +The Imperial German statesmen, astute and unscrupulous, have always +taken religion into consideration in making their propaganda. The +German Crown Prince's sympathy with the same methods as used by +Napoleon Bonaparte was perhaps inherited from his ancestors, as +Napoleon, too, knew the political value of religion. The Church, an +enslaved Church in a despotic state,--the reverse of Cavour's famous +maxim--has always been one of statesmen's tools. They have never +hesitated to use religion as the means of accomplishing the ends of +the state. In fact, the Catholic Church in Germany was in great +danger of being enslaved. The old wars of the popes and the +emperors--so little understood in modern times--would be very +possible, had the victory of Germany been a probability. + +Let us see what happened in Slesvig. Since '64, Prussia has governed +Slesvig. This rule has been a prolonged and constant attempt to force +the Danes from their homes. A very distinguished and rather liberal +German diplomatist, Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, once asked me, 'As an +American, tell me frankly what is wrong with our position in +Slesvig?' + +'Everything,' I said. 'You seem even to assume that the religion of +the people should be the religion of the state.' + +'The state religion in Slesvig is as the state religion in Denmark, +Lutheranism.' + +'But not Germanised Lutheranism. I have the testimony of a Lutheran +pastor himself, the Reverend D. Troensegaard-Hansen, to the effect +that the authorities in Slesvig prefer German materialistic teaching +to Danish Christianity, and that all kinds of influence is brought to +bear on the clergy to make them German in their point of view. If, in +the Philippines, we attempted to do the things you do in Slesvig, +there would be no end of trouble.' + +He laughed. 'But democrats as you are, you will never keep your +promise to grant those people self-government.' + +'We will.' + +'Your democracy is not statesmanlike. It would be fatal for us to let +the Slesvigers defy our power. They must be part of Germany; there is +no way out.' + +'Either you want difficulties with them or you are worrying them just +as a great mastiff worries a small dog.' + +'But suddenly a gymnast raises the Danish flag, or somebody utters a +seditious speech in Danish, or school books are circulated in which +ultra-Danish views of history are given. If a country is to be ruled +by us, it must be a German country. We can tolerate no difference +that tends to denationalise our population. It is a dream--the Danish +idea that we shall give up what we have taken or, rather, what has +been ceded to us.' + +'Without the consent of the people?' + +'Who are the people? When you answer that I will tell what is truth. +Come, you are a democrat; by and by, when you Americans are older, +you will see democracy from a more practical point of view.' + + * * * * * + +The practical point of view in Slesvig was squeezing out gradually +the independence of the Slesvigers. The Dane loves passionately his +home, his language, his literature. He may be sceptical about many +things, but it would be difficult to persuade him to deny that the +red and white flag, the Danish flag, did not come down from heaven +borne by angels! His culture is Danish, and part of his life. He +keeps it up wistfully even when he swears allegiance to another +nation. The Danes in Denmark will never cease to regard Slesvig as +their own. It is one flesh with them; but Prussia has torn this one +body asunder. Fancy a 'free election' being permitted in a country +ruled by Prussian autocrats or a 'free election' in Alsace-Lorraine +under German rule! + +The geographical position of Denmark is unfortunate. There are +imperialists of all countries who hold that the little countries have +no right to live; Junkerism is not confined to Germany. The +geographical position of most of the little countries is unfortunate, +but none is so unfortunate as that of Denmark. When the war broke +out, it seemed to her people that the road to German conquest lay +through her borders. The Powers That Were in Germany decided to +attack Belgium, and for the moment Denmark escaped. + +Do you think that it was an easy thing for a proud people to be in +the position of old King Canute before the advancing ocean? The waves +came on, but nobody in his wildest imaginings ever dreamed that the +modern Danish Canute could stem the tide. The Danes have their army +and their navy; officers and men expected to die defending Denmark. +What else could they do? Death would be preferable to slavery. The +Dane does his best to forget; but always the echo of the words of the +sentinel in _Hamlet_ recurs: + +''Tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart.' + +No number of royal alliances counts as against a bad geographical +place in the world and the evil disposition of a strong neighbour. A +change of heart has come over the world since Germany induced Austria +to be her catspaw in 1914. The example of a country which +deliberately asserted that might makes right, and followed this +assertion with deeds that make the angels weep, has shocked the +world, and forced other nations to examine their consciences. After +all, we are a long time after Machiavelli. After the great breakdown +in Russia there was a feeling among some of the conservatives in +Denmark that the cousin of the Tsar of Russia, King George of +England, might have laid a restraining hand on the Russian parties +that forced the Tsar to abdicate. But the very mention of this seemed +utterly futile. The King of Spain, though married to an English +princess, could expect little help in any difficulty, were the +interests of the English Ministry not entirely his. The contemplation +of these alliances offers much material for the man who thinks in the +terms of history. + +When President Fallières visited Copenhagen in 1908, there was a gala +concert given at the Palace of Amalieborg in his honour. The +President was accompanied by a 'bloc' of black-coated gentlemen, some +of them journalists of distinction. + +There was no display of gold lace, and the representatives of the +French Republic were really republican in their simplicity. The +Danish court and the diplomatic corps were splendid, decorations +glittered, and the white and gold rococo setting of the concert room +was worthy of it all. The Queen of Denmark--now the Dowager +Queen--was magnificent, as she always is at gala entertainments, +possessing, as she does in her own right, some of the finest jewels +in Europe. + +Fallières represented the new order. His hostess, the Queen, is the +daughter of Charles XV., a descendant of Bernadotte. Representing the +lines of both St. Louis and Louis Philippe was the Princess Valdemar, +now dead, who, as Marie of Orleans, came of the royal blood of the +families of Bourbon and Orleans. + +It was interesting to watch this gracious princess, whose father, the +Duc de Chartres, had been with General McLellan during our Civil War. +She adapted herself to the circumstances, as she always did, and +seemed very proud of the honours shown to France. The Countess +Moltke-Huitfeldt, Louise Bonaparte, was not in Denmark at the time. +It would have added interest to the occasion, had this descendant of +the youngest brother of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte been there. + +Count Moltke-Huitfeldt, married to Louise Eugénie Bonaparte, is +almost as French in his sentiments as his wife, and, for her, when +the United States joined hands with France, it was a very happy day. +One of the events that made the fine castle of Glorup, the seat of +the Moltke-Huitfeldts, interesting was the visit of the ex-Empress +Eugénie. + +The Empress Eugénie, like all the Bonapartes, acknowledged the +validity of the Patterson-Bonaparte marriage. She has always shown a +special affection and esteem for the Countess Moltke-Huitfeldt. + +The estate of Glorup, with its artificial lake and garden, in which +Hans Christian Andersen often walked, was copied by an ancestor of +the present count's from a part of Versailles. It was at its best +during the visit of the empress, who was the most considerate of +guests. The American Bonapartes were not ranked as royal highnesses +for fear, on the part of Napoleon III. and Prince Napoleon, +'Plon-plon,' of raising unpleasant questions as to the succession. + +Jerome himself, for a short time King of Westphalia, never pretended +that his American marriage was not valid. Meeting Madame +Patterson-Bonaparte by accident in the Pitti Palace, he whispered to +the Princess of Würtemburg--she had then ceased to be Queen of +Westphalia--'There is my American wife.' Mr. Jerome Bonaparte was +offered the title of 'Duke of Sartine' by Napoleon III. if he would +give up the name of his family, which, of course, he declined to do. +Under the French laws, as well as the American, he was the +legitimate son of Jerome Bonaparte. The presence of the Countess +Moltke-Huitfeldt would have added another interesting touch to the +assemblage in Amalieborg Palace, a touch which would have served for +a footnote to history. In spite of the name 'Moltke,' Count Adam and +his wife are as French as the French themselves. Names in Denmark are +very deceptive. + +The question of war was even then, in 1908, in the air. The German +diplomatists were polite to Fallières, but they considered him heavy +and _bourgeois_, and believed that he represented the undying dislike +for Germany which the French system of education was inculcating. + +'If the French schools teach the rising generation to hate Germany, +what is the attitude of the German educators?' I asked. + +'We know that we are hated, and we teach our young to be ready for an +attack from wherever it comes; but we love peace, of course.' + +In 1908, it was generally thought that the Kaiser himself was +inclined to keep the peace. Now and then an isolated Englishman would +declare that he had his doubts, when a German traveller seemed to +know _too_ much about his country, or when amiable German guests +asked too many intimate questions. + +It was the custom for the older colleagues to offer the newer ones a +history of the Slesvig-Holstein dispute, which dated from the +fifteenth century. On my arrival, Sir Alan Johnston had presented me +with a volume on the subject by Herr Neergaard, considered the 'last +word' on the subject. The pages, I noticed, were uncut, so I felt +justified in passing it on to the newest colleagues, taking care, in +order to give him perfect freedom, not to autograph it! + +It was, as a French secretary often said, 'a complication most +complicated'; but one fact was clear--the deplorable position of a +liberty-loving people, deprived of the essentials that make life +worth living! + +The great barrier to the entire domination of Prussian ideals in this +area between the Baltic and the North Sea is the existence of the +Danish national spirit in Slesvig. 'If the other nations of Europe +had looked ahead, the power of Prussia might have been held within +reasonable bounds; the war in 1870 would have been impossible; this +last awful world-conflict would not have occurred. Germany would have +been taught her place long ago.' How often was this repeated! + +The relations between the Emperor William and the Emperor of Russia +were supposed to be unusually friendly then, after the practical +defeat of Russia by Japan. In older days, Queen Louise of Denmark +thought she had laid the foundation for a certain friendliness; but, +nevertheless, the Tsar, though closely related to the Kaiser and +dominated largely by his very beautiful German wife, was never free +to ignore the Slavic genius of his people. Kings and emperors--all +royal folk--made up a family society of their own until this war. We +have changed all that, as the man in Molière's comedy said; and yet, +as a rule, German royal princesses remained Prussian in spite of all +temptation, while other women seemed naturally to adopt the +nationalities of their husbands. The princesses connected with the +Prussian royal house seem immutably Prussian. + +The Tsar, then, like the Kaiser, cousin of the King of England, the +son of a mother who remembered Slesvig-Holstein and never liked the +Prussians, had second thoughts. (They were nearly always wrong when +his wife influenced them.) It was one thing to call the mighty +Prussian 'Willie'--all royalties have little domestic names--another +to break with France and to bow the Slavic head to German benevolent +assimilation. The Tsar might call the Emperor by any endearing +epithet, but that did not imply political friendship; King George of +Greece and Queen Alexandra were very fond of each other, but the +queen would never have attempted to give her brotherly Majesty the +Island of Crete which he badly wanted. With the death of the queen +of Christian IX., assemblies of royalties ceased in Denmark; the old +order had changed. + +There was no neutral ground where the royalties and their scions +could meet and soften asperities by the simplicity of family contact. + +The point of view in Europe had become more democratic and more keen. + +Even if there had been a Queen Louise to try to make her family, even +to the remotest grandchild, a unit, it could not have been done. +Reverence for royalty had passed out with Queen Victoria; the idols +were dissolving, and restless ideals became visible in their places. + +Prussia had drawn her states into a united empire; tributary kings +were at the chariot wheel of the Prussian Emperor, not because the +kings so willed, but because the subjects of the kings--the +commercial people, the landowners, the military caste, the +capitalists, the increasingly prosperous farmers--discovered it to be +to their advantage. + +Bismarck's policy of blood and iron meant more money and more worldly +success for the Germans. Although the smaller Teutonic states had +lost their freedom, Bismarck began to pay each of them its price in +good gold with the stamp of the empire upon it. To take and to hold +was the motto of the empire:--'We take our own wherever we find it!' + +The old Germans disappeared; the Germans who were frugal and +philosophical, poor and poetical, were emerging from the simplicity +of the past to the luxury of the present. + +As a rule, I found the Russian diplomatists very well informed and +clever. Their foreign office seemed to have no confidants outside +the bureaucratic circle. The Russian journalist, like most other +journalists, was not better or earlier informed of events than the +diplomatists. As Copenhagen was the place where every diplomat in the +world went at some time or other, one was sure to discover +interesting rumours or real news without much trouble. + +While the newspapers or magazines of nearly every other nation gave +indications in advance of the public opinion that might govern the +cabinets or the foreign offices, the Russian periodicals gave no such +clues. There was no use in keeping a Russian translator; real Russian +opinion was seldom evident, except when a royalty or a diplomatist +might, being bored by his silence, or with a patriotic object, tell +the truth. + +'What prevents war?' I asked in 1909 of one of my colleagues. + +'Lack of money,' he answered promptly, repeating the words of Prince +Koudacheff. 'Germany and Russia will fly at each other's throats as +soon as the financiers approve of it. You will not report this to +your Foreign Office,' he said, laughing, 'because America looks on +war, a general European war, as unthinkable. It would seem absurd! +Nobody in America and only ten per cent. of the thinking people in +England will believe it! As for France, she is wise to make friends +with my country, but she would be wiser if she did not believe that +Germany will wait until she is ready to make her _revanche_. There +are those in her government who hold that the _revanche_ is a +dream--that France would do well to accept solid gains for the +national dream. They are fools!' + +'Iswolsky is of the same opinion, I hear,' I said, for we had all a +great respect for Iswolsky. But when the London _National Review_ +repeated the same sentiments over and over again, it seemed +unbelievable that the Kaiser's professions of peace were not honest. +Yet individual Pan-Germans were extremely frank. 'We must have our +place in the East,' they said; 'we must cut the heart out of Slavic +ambitions, and deal with English arrogance.' In a general way, we +were always waiting for war. + +In 1909, Count Aehrenthal, then a very great Austrian, told a +celebrated financial promoter who visited our Legation, that war was +inevitable. The Austrians and the Russians feared it and believed +it--feared it so much that when I was enabled to contradict the +rumour, there was a happy sigh as the news was well documented. +Austria did not want war; Russia did not want war. + +'But the Emperor of Germany?' I asked of one of the most honourable +and keenest diplomatists in Berlin. + +'He is surrounded by a military clique; he desires to preserve the +rights and prerogatives of the German Empire, above all, the +hereditary and absolute principle without a long war. A war will do +it for him--if it is short. He himself would prefer to avoid it. Yet +he must justify the Army and the Navy; but the war must be short.' + +'But does he _want_ war?' + +'He is not bloodthirsty; he knows what war means, but he will want +what his _clique_ wants.' + +These two diplomatists are both alive--one in exile--but I shall not +mention their names. My colleagues were sometimes very frank. It +would not be fair to tell secrets which would embarrass them--for a +harmless phrase over a glass of Tokai is a different thing read +over a glass of cold water! And, in the old days, before 1914, +good dinners and good wines were very useful in diplomatic +'conversations.' Things began to change somewhat when after-dinner +bridge came in. But, dinner or no dinner, bridge or no bridge, the +diplomatic view was always serious. + +In Denmark the thoughtful citizen often said, 'We are doomed; Germany +can absorb us.' Count Holstein-Ledreborg once said, 'But Providence +may save us yet.' + +'By a miracle.' + +It seemed absurd in 1908 that any great power should be allowed to +think of conquering a smaller nation, simply because it was small. +'You don't reckon with public opinion--in the United States, for +instance,--or the view of the Hague Conference,' I said. + +'Public opinion in your country or anywhere else will count little +against Krupp and his cannon. Public opinion will not save Denmark, +for even Russia might have reason to look the other way. That would +depend on England.' + +It seemed impossible, for, like most Americans, I was almost an +idealist. The world was being made a vestibule of heaven, and the +pessimist was anathema! Was not science doing wonderful things? It +had made life longer; it had put luxuries in the hands of the poor. +The bad old days, when Madame du Barry could blind the eyes of Louis +XV. to the horrors of the partition of Poland, and when the proud +Maria Theresa could, in the same cause, subordinate her private +conscience to the temptations of national expediency, were over. No +man could be enslaved since Lincoln had lived! The Hague Conference +would save Poland in due time, the democratic majority in Great +Britain and Ireland was undoing the wrongs of centuries by granting +Home Rule for Ireland, and, as for the Little Nations, public +opinion would take care of them! + +'What beautiful language you use, Mr. Minister,' said Count +Holstein-Ledreborg; 'but you Americans live in a world of your own. +Nobody knows what the military party in Germany will do. Go to +Germany yourself. It is no longer the Germany of Canon Schmid, of +Auerbach, of Heyse, of the Lorelei and the simple musical concert and +the happy family life. Why, as many cannons as candles are hung on +the Christmas trees!' + +I repeated this speech to one of the most kindly of my colleagues, +Count Henckel-Donnersmarck, who was really a sane human creature, too +bored with artificiality to wear his honours with comfort. + +'Oh, for your dress coat,' he would say. 'Look at my gold lace; I am +loaded down like a camel. The old Germany, _cher collègue_, it is +gone. I long for it; I am not of blood and iron; the old Germany, you +will not find it, though you search even Bavaria and Silesia. And I +believe, with the great Frederick, that your great country and mine +may possess the future, if we are friends; therefore,' he smiled, 'I +will not deceive you. The Germany of the American imagination, our +old Germany, is gone.' He hated court ceremonies, whereas I rather +like them; they were beautiful and stately symbols, sanctified by +tradition. He ought to have danced at the court balls, but he never +would. He was lazy. He was grateful to my wife, because she ordered +me to dance the cotillions with Countess Henckel, who must dance with +somebody who 'ranked,' or sit for five or six hours on a crimson +bench. + +The Danes had no belief that we could or would help them in a +conflict for salvation, but they liked us. In 1909, when Dr. Cook +suddenly came, they declared that they would take 'the word of an +American gentleman' for his story of the North Pole. Sweden accepted +him at once, England was divided--King Edward against Cook; Queen +Alexandra for him! When Admiral Peary made his claim, the Queen of +England said,--'Thank heaven! it is American against American, and +not Englishman against American.' + +We were all glad of that; and I was very grateful to the Danes for +showing respect for the honour of an American, in whom none of us had +any reason to disbelieve. There was no warning from the scientists in +the United States. The German savants accepted Dr. Cook at once. In +fact, until Admiral Peary sent his message, there seemed to be no +doubt as to Cook's claims, except on the part of the Royal British +Geographical Society. I joined the Danish Royal Geographical Society +at his reception; it was not my duty to cast aspersions on the honour +of an American, of whom I only knew that he had written _The Voyage +of the Belgic_, had been the associate of Admiral Peary, and was a +member of very good clubs. Even if I had been scientific enough to +have doubts, I should have been polite to him all the same. + +As it was, Denmark was delighted to welcome Cook because he was an +American; he had apparently accomplished a great thing, and besides, +he directed attention from politics at a tremendous public crisis. +The great question for the Danish Government was as usual: Shall we +defend ourselves? Shall we build ships and keep a large army and +erect fortresses, or simply say 'Kismet' when Germany comes? The +Conservatives were for defence; the Radicals and Socialists against +it. Mr. J. C. Christensen, one of the most powerful of Danish +politicians, of the Moderate School, holding the balance of power, +was in a tight place. Alberti, the clever Radical, had been supported +by Christensen, who had been innocently involved in his fall. Alberti +languished in jail, and Christensen was being horribly assailed when +Dr. Cook came and Denmark forgot Christensen and went wild with +delight! + +In 1907-8, Denmark trembled for fear that she would lose her freedom. +When would the Germans attack? The disorder in Slesvig was perennial. +A bill for a reasonable defence had been proposed to the Danish +Parliament. King Frederick had had great difficulty in forming a +ministry. Count Morgen Friis, capable, distinguished, experienced, +but with some of the indolence of the old grand seigneur, had +refused. Richelieu could not see his way clear; nobody wanted the +responsibility. The Socialists and the Radicals, practical, if you +like, did not believe in building forts in the hope of saving the +national honour. + +King Frederick VIII. was at his wit's end for a premier, for, as I +have said, even Count Morgen Friis, a man of undoubted ability and +great influence, failed him. King Frederick, because of his desire to +stand well with his people, was never popular. His glove was too +velvety, and he treated his political enemies as well as he did his +friends. Count Friis was known to lean towards England, and he was +very popular; he would have stood for a strong defence. + +Admiral de Richelieu was a man of great influence, a devoted +Slesviger, and the greatest 'industrial,' with the exception of +State-Councillor Andersen, in Denmark; he was not keen for the +premiership, and his friends did not care that he should compromise +their business interests; for, in Denmark, business and politics do +not mix well. + +Finally, King Frederick called on Count Holstein-Ledreborg, without +doubt, with perhaps the exception of--but I must not mention living +men--the cleverest man in Denmark. Count Holstein-Ledreborg was a +recluse; he had been practically exiled by the scornful attitude +taken by the aristocracy on account of his Radicalism, but had +returned to his Renascence castle near the old dwelling-place of +Beowulf. Count Holstein-Ledreborg was the last resource, he had been +out of politics for many years. Although he was a pessimist, he was a +furious patriot. He had a great respect for the abilities of the +Radicals, like Edward Brandès, but very little for those--'if they +existed,' he said--of his own class in the aristocracy. He was one of +the few Catholics among the aristocracy, and he had a burning +grievance against the existing order of churchly things. The State +church in Denmark is, like that of Sweden and Norway, Lutheran. Until +1848, except in one or two commercial towns where there was a +constant influx of merchants, no Catholic church was permitted. The +chapel of Count Holstein in his castle of Ledreborg, was still +Lutheran. He was not permitted to have Mass said in it, as it was a +church of the commune. This made the Lord of Ledreborg furious. There +must be Lutheran worship in his own chapel, or no worship; this was +the law! + +There was something else that added to his indignation. One day, very +silently, he opened the doors that concealed a panel in the wall. +There was a very Lutheran picture indeed! It was done in glaring +colours, even realistic colours. It represented various devils, +horned and tailed and pitch-forked, poking into the fire in the lower +regions a pope and several cardinals, who were turning to crimson +like lobsters, while some pious Lutheran prelates gave great thanks +for this agreeable proceeding. 'In my own chapel,' said Count +Holstein, 'almost facing the altar; and the law will not permit me to +remove it!' + +Being an American, I smiled; thereby, I almost lost a really valued +friendship. + +'I shall arrange with the king to give a substitute for the chapel to +the commune--a school-house or a library--and have the chapel +consecrated,' he said. 'I think I see my way.' + +'"All things come to him who knows how to wait,"' I quoted. + +In 1909, at the time of the crisis, he accepted the task of forming a +cabinet to get the defence bill through Parliament, but he made one +condition with the king--that he should have his own chapel to do as +he liked with. He carried the defence bill through triumphantly and +then, having made his point, and finding Parliament unreasonable, +from his point of view, on some question or other, he told its +members to go where Orpheus sought Eurydice, and retired! He died too +soon; he would have been a great help to us in the troubled days when +we were trying to buy the Virgin Islands. He was my mentor in +European politics, and a most distinguished man; and what is better, +a good friend. At times he was sardonic. 'I would make,' he said, 'if +I had the power, Edward Brandès (Brandès is of the famous Brandès +family) minister of Public Worship!' (As Brandès is a Jew and a Greek +pagan both at once, it would have been one of those ironies of +statecraft like that which made the Duke of Norfolk patron of some +Anglican livings.) Count Holstein disliked state churches. He was a +strange mixture of the wit of Voltaire with the faith of Pascal, and +one of the most inflexible of Radicals. + +The party for the defence and for the integrity of the army and navy +had its way; but, owing to the attitude of the Socialists, a very +moderate way. 'If Germany comes, she will take us,' the Radicals said +with the Socialists; 'why waste public money on soldiers and military +bands and submarines?' + +But there are enough stalwarts, including the king, Christian, to +believe that a country worth living in is worth fighting for! + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE MENACE OF 'OUR NEIGHBOUR TO THE SOUTH' + + +In 1907, Russia seemed to me to be, for Americans, the most important +country in Europe. Our Department of State was no doubt informed as +to what the other countries would do in certain contingencies, for +none of our diplomatic representatives, although always working under +disadvantages not experienced by their European colleagues, had been +idle persons. But all of us who had even cursorily studied European +conditions knew that the actions of Germany would depend largely on +the attitude of Russia. It was to the interest of Emperor William to +keep Nicholas II. and the Romanoffs on the throne. He saw no other +way of dividing and conquering a country which he at once hated and +longed to control. + +The Balkan situation was always burning; it was the Etna and Vesuvius +of the diplomatic world; wise men might predict eruptions, but they +were always unexpected. To most people in the United States the +Balkans seemed very far off; Bulgaria with her eyes on Macedonia, the +Tsar Ferdinand and his attempt to put his son, Boris, under the +greater Tsar, him of Russia; Rumania and her ambitions for more +freedom and more territory; Serbia, with her fears and aspirations, +appeared to be of no importance--of less interest, perhaps, than +other petty kingdoms. But at one fatal moment Austria refused to +allow Serbia to export her pigs, and we came to pay about two million +dollars an hour and to sacrifice most precious lives, much greater +things, because of the ferocious growth of this little germ of +tyranny and avarice. + +Most of us have fixed ideas; if they are the result of prejudice, +they are generally bad; if they are the result of principle, that is +another question. When I went to Denmark at the request of President +Roosevelt, I had several fixed ideas, whether of prejudice or +principle I could not always distinguish. I had been brought up in a +sentiment of gratitude to Russia--she had behaved well to us in the +Civil War--and in a firm belief that her people only needed a fair +chance to become our firm friends. We must seek European markets for +our capital and our investments, and Russia offered us a free way. + +Towards the end of the year 1908, the signs in Russia were more +ominous than usual. It had always seemed to me--and the impression +had come probably from long and intimate association with some very +clever diplomatists--that Russian problems, industrially and +economically, were very similar to our own, and that, in the future, +her interests would be our interests. She was in evil hands--that was +evident; Nicholas II., after the peace of Portsmouth, was not so +pleased with the action of President Roosevelt as he ought to have +been, and the arrogant clique, the bureaucrats who controlled the +Tsar, regarded us with suspicion and dislike. + +At the same time, it was plain that a great part of the landed +nobility looked with hope to the United States as a nation which +ought to understand their problems and assist, with technical advice +and capital, in the solving of them. The Baltic Barons, many with +German names and not of the orthodox faith, preferred that the United +States, by the investments of her citizens in Russia, should hold a +balance between the French and the German financial influences, for +Germany was slowly beginning to control Russia financially, and +French capital meant a competition with the German interests which +might eventually mean a conflict and war. The well instructed among +the Russian people, including the estate owners whose interests were +not bureaucratic, feared war above all things. The Japanese war had +given them reason for their fears. + +To my mind there were three questions of great importance for us: How +could we, with self-respect, keep on good terms with Russia? How +could we discover what Germany's intentions were? And how could we +strengthen the force of the Monroe Doctrine by acquiring, through +legitimate means, certain islands on our coasts, especially the +Gallapagos, the Danish West Indies and others which, perhaps, it +might not be discreet to mention. + +While the United States seemed fixed in her policy of keeping out of +foreign entanglements, it seemed to me that the rule of conduct of a +nation, like that of an individual, cannot always be consistent with +its theories, since all intentions put into action by the party of +the first part must depend on the action and point of view of the +party of the second part. I had been largely influenced in my views +of the value of the Monroe Doctrine by the speeches and writings of +ex-President Roosevelt and Senator Lodge. It was a self-evident +truth, too, that, for the sake of democracy, for the sake of the +future of our country, the autonomy of the small nations must be +preserved. This attitude I made plain during my ten years in +Denmark; perhaps I over-accentuated it, but to this attitude I owe +the regard of the majority of the Danish people and of some of the +folk of the other Scandinavian nations. + +The position taken by Germany, under Prussian influence, in Brazil +and Argentine, certain indications in our own country, which I shall +emphasise later, the intrigues as to the Bagdad Railway, and the +threats as to what Germany might do in Scandinavia in case Russia +attempted to interfere with German plans in the East, were alarming. +Then again was the hint that Denmark might be seized if Germany found +Russia in an alliance against England. + +From my earliest youth, I knew many Germans whom I esteemed and +admired; but they were generally descendants of the men of 1848, +that year which saw the Hungarians defeated and the German lovers +of liberty exiled. There were others of a later time who believed, +with the Kaiser, that a German emigrant was simply a German +colonist--waiting! These people were so naïve in their Prussianism, +in their disdain for everything American, that they scarcely seemed +real! When a German waiter looked out of the hotel window in +Trafalgar Square and said, waving his napkin at the spectacle of the +congested traffic, 'When the day comes, we shall change all this,' we +Americans laughed. This was in the eighties. Yet he meant it; and +'we' have not changed all this even for the day! + +The alarm was sounded in South America, but few North Americans took +it seriously, and we knew how the English accepted the German +invasions to the very doors of their homes. However, when I went to +Denmark in August 1907, deeply honoured by President Roosevelt's +outspoken confidence in me, I became aware that Prussianised Germany +might at any moment seize that little country, and that, in that +case, the Danish West Indies would be German. A pleasant prospect +when we knew that Germany regarded the Monroe Doctrine as the silly +figment of a democratic brain unversed in the real meaning of world +politics. + +Again, I saw exemplified the fact that _in the eyes of the Kaiser, a +German emigrant was a German colonist_. Once a German always a +German; the ideas of the Fatherland must follow the blood, and these +ideas are one and indivisible. Consequently, no place could have been +more interesting than the capital of Denmark. Here diplomatists were +taught, made, or unmade. + +Until we were forced to join in the European concert by the +acquirement of the Philippines, the post did not seem to be +important. 'You always send your diplomatists here to learn their +art,' the clever queen of Christian IX. had said to an American. It +may not have been intended as a compliment! + +In the second place, Copenhagen was the centre of those new social +and political movements that are affecting the world; Denmark was +rapidly becoming Socialistic. + +She, one of the oldest kingdoms in the world, presented the paradox +of being the spot in which all tendencies supposed to be +anti-monarchical were working out. She had already solved problems +incidental to the evolution of democratic ideals, which in our own +country we have only begun timidly to consider. + +In the third place, Copenhagen was near the most potent country in +the world--Germany under Prussian domination. I make the distinction +between 'potency' and 'greatness.' + +And, in the fourth place, it gave anybody who wanted to be 'on his +job' a good opportunity of studying the effect of German propinquity +on a small nation. Unfortunately, in 1907-8-9-10-11, no experience in +watching German methods seemed of much value to our own people or to +the English. The English who watched them critically, like Maxse, the +editor of the _National Review_ of London, were not listened to. +Perhaps these persons were too Radical and intemperate. The English +Foreign Office had, after the Vatican, the reputation of having the +best system for obtaining information in Europe, but both the English +Foreign Office and the Vatican Secretariat seemed to have suddenly +become deaf. We Americans were too much taken up with the German +_gemütlichkeit_, or scientific efficiency, to treat the Prussian +movements with anything but tolerance. The Germans had won the hearts +of some of our best men of science, who believed in them until belief +was impossible; and, with most of my countrymen, I held that a breach +of the peace in Europe seemed improbable. There was always The Hague! +The only thing left for me was to let the Germans be as _gemütlich_ +as they liked, and to watch their attitude in Denmark, for on this +depended the ownership of the West Indies. + +My German colleagues, Henckel-Donnersmarck, von Waldhausen, and +Brockdorff-Rantzau, were able men; and, I think, they looked on me as +a madman with a fixed idea. Count Rantzau, if he lives, will be heard +of later; he is one of the well-balanced among diplomatists. I +realised early in the game that my work must be limited to watching +Germany in her relations with Denmark. I knew what was expected of +me. I had no doubt that the United States was the greatest country in +the world in its potentialities, but I had no belief, then, in its +power to enforce its high ideals on the politics of the European +world. + +In fact, it never occurred to me that our country would be called +upon to enforce them, for, unless the Imperial German Government +should take it into its head to lay hands on a country or two in +South America, it seemed to me that we might keep entirely out of +such foreign entanglements as concerned Western Europe and +Constantinople and the Balkans. If, however, there should be such +interference by France and England with the interests of Germany as +would warrant her and her active ally in attacking these countries, +Denmark and, automatically, her islands would be German. Then, we, in +self-defence, must have something to say. Secret diplomacy was +flourishing in Europe, and nothing was really clear. After the event +it is very easy to take up the rôle of the prophet, but that is not +in my line. If a man is not a genius, he cannot have the intuition of +a genius, and, while I accepted the opinions of my more experienced +colleagues, I imagined that their fears of a probable war were +exaggerated. Besides, I had been impressed by the constantly +emphasised opinion--part of the German propaganda, I now +believe--that our great enemy was Japan. + +Since the year 1874, when I had been well introduced into diplomatic +circles in Washington, I had known many representatives of foreign +powers. Since those days, so well described in Madame de +Hegermann-Lindencrone's _Sunny Side of Diplomatic Life_, the German +point of view had greatly changed. It was a far cry from the days of +the easy-going Herr von Schlözer to Speck von Sternberg and efficient +Count Bernstorff, a far cry from the amicable point of view of Mr. +Poultney Bigelow taken of the young Kaiser in the eighties, and his +revised point of view in 1915. Mr. Poultney Bigelow's change from a +certain attitude of admiration, in his case with no taint of +snobbishness, was typical of that of many of my own people. I must +confess that no instructions from the State Department had prepared +me for the German echoes I heard in Denmark; but even if Treitschke +had come to the United States to air his views at the University of +Chicago, I should probably have considered them merely academic, and +have treated them as cavalierly as I had treated the speech of the +waiter in the Trafalgar Square hotel about 'changing all that.' + +Nietzsche's philosophy seemed so atrocious as to be ineffective. But +we Americans, as a rule, take no system of philosophy as having any +real connection with the conduct of life, and, except in very learned +circles, his was looked on as no more part of the national life of +Germany than William James is of ours. In a little while, I +discovered that the Kaiser had imposed on the Prussians, at least, a +most practical system of philosophy, which our universities had come +to admire. I had not been long in Denmark when I realised that +Germany, in the three Scandinavian countries, was looked on either as +a powerful enemy or as a potential friend, and that she tried, above +all, to control the learned classes. + +The United States hardly counted; she was too far off and seemed to +be hopelessly ignorant of the essential conditions of foreign +affairs. Her diplomacy, if it existed at all, was determined by +existing political conditions at home. + +I visited Holland and Belgium; Germany loomed larger. She was bent on +commercial supremacy everywhere. One could not avoid admitting that +fact. + +As to Denmark, it was piteous to see how the Danes feared the power +that never ceased to threaten them. Prussia has made her empire +possible by establishing the beginnings, in 1864, of her naval power +at the expense of Denmark. The longer I lived in Denmark the more +strongly I felt that Germany was getting ready for a short, sharp war +in which the United States of America, it seemed to me (as I was no +prophet), was not to be a factor, but Russia was. + +The members of the German Legation were very sympathetic, especially +the Minister, Count Henckel-Donnersmarck. He loved Weimar; he loved +the old Germany. It was a delight to hear him talk of the real +glories of his country. His family, in the opinion of the Germans, +was so great that he could afford to do as he pleased; I rather think +he looked on the Hohenzollerns as rather _parvenus_. He was of the +school of Frederick the Noble rather than of William the Conqueror. + +'Do you mind talking politics?' I asked him one day. + +'It bores me,' he said, 'because there is nothing stable. My country +feels that it is being isolated. Since Algeria, in 1906, she stands +against Europe, with Austria.' + +'Stands against the United States?' + +'No, no; we shall always be at peace,' he said. 'Our interests are +not dissimilar; our military organisation is almost perfect. Yes, we +learned some lessons even from your Civil War, though you are not a +military people. Your country is full of our citizens.' + +'_Your_ citizens, Count!' + +'Ah, yes,--in Brazil and Argentine, everywhere, a German citizen is +like a Roman citizen, proud and unchanging, that is the German +citizen who understands the aims of modern Germany. _Civis Romanus +sum!_ The older ones are different; it is a question of sentiment +and memories with them. Your great German population will always keep +you out of conflict with us, though even you, who know our +literature, are at heart English--I mean politically. You cannot help +it. Your Irish blood may count, but the point of view is made by +literature. It gets into the blood. See what Homer has done for those +old savages of his. Our bankers can always manage the finances of New +York, as they manage those of London. It would be a sad day for +Germany if we should break with you; some of us know that Frederick +the Great saw your future, and believed that we always ought to be +friends. But do not imagine that your nation, great as it is, can do +anything your people wills to do. Great power, I understand, is +hidden in your country; but, as the actors say, you cannot get it +across the footlights. It is not, as Gambetta spoke of the Catholic +religion in France, a matter for export.' + +'Our education,' Count Henckel-Donnersmarck resumed, 'is practical; +Goethe and Schiller mean little now to us. Bismarck has made new men +of us. I shall not live long, and I cannot say I regret it,' he said; +'and, as the lust of power becomes the rule of the world, my son must +be a new German or suffer.' + +'Count Henckel,' as he preferred to be called, did not remain long in +Copenhagen; he was recalled because, it was reported, he did not +provide the Kaiser, who carefully read his ministers' reports, with a +sufficient number of details of life in Denmark. + +When I took his hint and went to Germany, at Christmas--Christmas was +a divine time in the old Germany!--I found that Count Henckel was +right. Berlin was hygienic, ugly, and more offensively immoral than +Paris was once said to be. + +There was an artificial rule of life. Even the lives of the boys and +girls seemed to be ordered by some unseen law. You could breathe, but +it was necessary not to consume too much oxygen at a time. That was +_verboten_; and there were cannons on the Christmas trees! + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE KAISER AND THE KING OF ENGLAND + + +It was pleasant to renew old memories among diplomatists and +ex-diplomatists in Copenhagen. I remembered the old days in +Washington, when Sir Edward Thornton's house was far up-town, when +the rows between the Chileans and Peruvians--I forget to which party +the amiable Ibañez belonged--convulsed the coteries that gathered at +Mrs. Dahlgren's, when Bodisco and Aristarchi Bey and Baron de Santa +Ana were more than names, and the Hegermann-Lindencrones[2] were the +handsomest couple in Washington. So it was agreeable to find some +colleagues with whom one had reminiscences in common. Then there were +the Americans married to members of the corps. Lady Johnston, wife of +Sir Alan; Madame de Riaño, married to one of the most well-balanced +and efficient diplomatists in Europe. These ladies made the way of my +wife and my daughters very easy. + + [2] Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone is the author of _In the Court of + Memory_ and _The Sunny Side of Diplomacy_. + +An envoy arriving at a new post has one consolation, not an +unmitigatedly agreeable one. He is sure of knowing what his +colleagues think of him. And for a while they weigh him very +carefully. The American can seldom shirk the direct question: 'Is +this your first post?' It required great strength of mind not to say: +'I had a special mission to the Indian Reservations, and I have +always been, more or less, you know----' + +'Ah, I see! Calcutta, Bombay----!' + +'Not exactly--Red Lake, you know--the Reservations, wards of our +Government.' + +'Oh, red Indians! I was not aware that you had diplomatic relations +with the old red Indian princes. But this is your first post in +Europe?' + +You cannot avoid that. However, the longer one is at a post, the more +he enjoys it. In the course of nearly eleven years, I never knew one +of my colleagues who did not show _esprit de corps_. They become more +and more kindly. You know that they know your faults and your +virtues. In the diplomatic service you are like Wolsey, naked, not to +your enemies, but to your colleagues. They can help you greatly if +they will. + +After the peace of Portsmouth, which in the opinion of certain +Russians gave all the advantages to Japan, the Emperor of Germany +spoke of President Roosevelt with added respect, we were told. The +attitude toward Americans on the part of Germans seemed always the +reflection of the point of view of the Kaiser. From their point of +view, it was only the President who counted; our nation, from the +Pan-German point of view seemed not to be of importance. + +It was rather hard to find out exactly what the Kaiser's attitude +towards us was. Some of the court circle--there were always visitors +from Berlin--announced that the Kaiser was greatly pleased by the +result of the Portsmouth conference. He knew the weakness of Russia, +and though he believed that German interests required that she should +not be strong, he feared, above all things, the preponderance of the +Yellow Races. I discovered one thing early, that the Pan-German +party propagated the idea that the Japanese alliance with England +could be used against the United States. + +It was vain to argue about this. 'Japan is your enemy; the +Philippines will be Japanese, unless you strengthen yourselves by a +quasi-alliance with us; then England, tied to Japan, can not oppose +you.' One could discover very little from the Kaiser's public +utterances; but he indemnified himself for his conventionality in +public by his frankness in private. + +He described the Danish as the most 'indiscreet of courts.' He forgot +that his own indiscretions had become proverbial in Copenhagen. +Whether this 'indiscretion' was first submitted to the Foreign Office +is a question. His diplomatists were usually miracles of discretion; +but the city was full of 'echoes' from Berlin which did not come from +the diplomatists or the court. The truth was, the Kaiser looked on +the courts of Denmark and Stockholm as dependencies, and he was +'hurt' when any of the court circle seemed to forget this. + +In his eyes, a German princess, no matter whom she married, was to +remain a German. The present Queen of Denmark, the most discreet of +princesses, never forgot that she was a Danish princess and would be +in time a Danish queen. + +Every German princess was looked upon as a propagator of the views of +the Kaiser;--the Queen of the Belgians was a sore disappointment to +him; but, then, she was not a Prussian princess. When one of the +princesses joined the Catholic Church, there was an explosion of rage +on his part. + +As far as I could gather, in 1908-9-10, he was _chambré_, as liberal +Germany said, surrounded by people who echoed his opinions, or who, +while pretending to accept them, coloured them with their own. + +It was surmised that he despised his uncle, King Edward. Evidences of +this would leak out. + +He admired our material progress, and he was determined to imitate +our methods. The loquacity of some of our compatriots amused him. + +He understood President Roosevelt so little as to imagine that he +could influence him. There was one American he especially disliked, +and that was Archbishop Ireland; but the reason for that will form +almost a chapter by itself. + +As I have said, it seemed to me most important that good feeling in +the little countries of Europe should be founded on respect for us. + +Somebody, a cynic, once said that the only mortal sin among Americans +is to be poor. That may or may not be so. It was, however, the +impression in Europe. It was difficult in Denmark to make it +understood that we were interested in literature and art, or had any +desire to do anything but make money. The attempt to buy the Danish +West Indies, made in 1902, was looked on by many of the Danes as the +manifestation of a desire on the part of an arrogant and +imperial-minded people to take advantage of the poverty of a little +country. 'You did not dare to propose to buy an island near your +coast from England or France, or even Holland,' they said. This +prejudice was encouraged by the German press whenever an opportunity +arose. And against this prejudice it was my business to fight. + +Until after the war with Spain--unfortunate as it was in some +aspects--we were disdained; after that we were supposed to have crude +possibilities. + +German propagandists took advantage of our seeming 'newness,' +forgetting that the new Germany was a _parvenu_ among the nations. +Our people _en tour_ in Europe spent money freely and gave opinions +with an infallible air almost as freely. They too frequently assumed +the air of folk who had 'come abroad' to complete an education never +begun at home; or, if they were persons who had 'advantages,' they +were too anxious for a court _entrée_, asking their representative +for it as a right, and then acting at court as if it were a divine +privilege. + +It was necessary in Denmark to accentuate the little things. The +Danes love elegant simplicity; they are, above all, aesthetic. My +predecessor, who did not remain long enough in Denmark to please +his Danish admirers, called the Danes 'the most civilised of +peoples.' I found that he was right; but they were full of +misconceptions concerning us. We used toothpicks constantly! We did +not know how to give a dinner! The values of the wine list (before +the war, most important) would always remain a mystery to us. In a +word, we were 'Yankees!' To make propaganda--the first duty of a +diplomatist--requires thought, time and money. The Germans used all +three intelligently. + +One cannot travel in the provinces without money. One cannot reach +the minds of the people without the distribution of literature. +Unhappily, Governments before the war, with the exception of the +German Government, took little account of this. + +One of the best examples of an effective propaganda, of the most +practicable and far-sighted methods, was that of the French +Ambassador to the United States, Jusserand. He did not wait to be +taught anything by the Germans. + +We have two bad habits: we read our psychology as well as our +temperament--the result of a unique kind of experience and +education--into the minds of other people, and we despise the opinion +of nations which are small. The first defect we have suffered from, +and the latter we shall suffer from if we are not careful. Who cares +whether Bulgaria respects us or not? And yet a diplomatist soon +learns that it counts. It is a grave question whether the little +countries look with hope towards democracy, or with helpless respect +towards autocracy. We see that Bulgaria counted; we shall see that +Denmark counted, too, when the moment came for our buying the Virgin +Islands. + +The German propaganda was incessant. Denmark was in close business +relations with England. Denmark furnished the English breakfast +table--the inevitable butter, bacon and eggs. But the trade relations +between England and Denmark were not cultivated as were those between +Denmark and Germany. The German 'drummer' was the rule, the English +commercial traveller the exception. + +As to the American, he seldom appeared, and when he came he spoke no +language but his own. In literature the Germans did all they could to +cultivate the interest of the Danish author. He was petted and +praised when he went to Berlin--that is, after his books had been +translated. Berlin never allowed herself to praise any Scandinavian +books in the original. As to music, the best German musicians came to +Denmark. Richard Strauss led the _Rosenkavalier_ in person; the +Berlin symphony and Rheinhart's plays were announced. Every +opportunity was taken to show Denmark Germany's best in music, art +and science. 'If you speak the word culture, you must add the word +German.' This was a Berlin proverb. 'All good American singers must +have my stamp before America will hear them,' the Kaiser said. Danish +scientists were always sure of recognition in Germany, but they must +be read in German or speak in German when they visited Berlin. + +In 1908 King Edward came to Copenhagen. He was regarded principally +as the husband of the beloved Princess Alexandra. He did not conceal +the fact that Copenhagen bored him, and the Copenhageners knew it. +However, they received him with an appearance of amiability they had +not shown to the Kaiser on the occasion of his visit. + +No Dane who remembered Bismarck and Slesvig and who saw at Kiel the +growing German fleet could admire the Emperor William II. Even the +most ferocious propagandists demanded too much when they asked that. +They looked on the visits of King Frederick VIII. to Germany with +suspicion. + +When the Crown Prince, the present Christian X., married the daughter +of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, they were not altogether +pleased. They were reconciled, however, by the fact that the Crown +Princess was the daughter of a Russian mother. Besides, the Crown +Princess, now Queen Alexandrina, was chosen by Prince Christian +because he loved her. 'She is the only woman I will marry,' he had +said. And when she married him, she became Danish, unlike her +sister-in-law, the Princess Harald, who has always remained German, +much to the embarrassment of her husband, and the rumoured annoyance +of the present king, who holds that a Danish princess must be a Dane +and nothing else. + +The Danish queen's mother is the clever Grand Duchess Anastasia +Michaelovna,[3] who was Russian and Parisian, who loved the Riviera, +above all Cannes, and who was the most brilliant of widows. When the +sister of Queen Alexandrina married the German Crown Prince in 1905, +the Danes were relieved, but not altogether pleased. Those of them +who believed that royal alliance counted, hoped that a future German +Empress, so nearly akin to their queen, might ward off the +ever-threatening danger of Prussian conquest. + + [3] On the outbreak of the war, the Grand Duchess threw off her + allegiance to Germany, and resumed her Russian citizenship. + +The Crown Princess Cecilia became a favourite in Germany; it was +rumoured that she was not sufficient of a German housewife to suit +the Kaiser. + +'The Crown Princess Cecilia is adorable, but she will not permit her +august father-in-law to choose her hats,' said a visiting lady of the +German autocratic circle; 'she might, at least, follow the example of +her mother-in-law, for the Emperor's taste is unimpeachable!' My wife +remembered that this serene, well-born lady wore a hat of mustard +yellow, then a favourite colour in Berlin! + +In April 1908, King Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra made a visit to +Copenhagen. It was the custom in Denmark that, when a reigning +sovereign came on a gala visit, the Court and the diplomatists were +expected to go to the station to meet him. The waiting-room of the +station was decorated with palms which had not felt the patter of +rain for years, and with rugs evidently trodden to shabbiness by many +royal feet. Amid these splendours a _cercle_ was held. + +The visiting monarch, fresh from his journey, spoke to each of the +diplomatists in turn. He dropped pearls of thought for which one gave +equally valuable gems. + +'The American Minister, Your Majesty,' said the Chamberlain. 'Glad to +see you; where are you from?' 'Washington, the capital.' 'There are +more Washingtons?' 'Many, sir.' 'How do you like Copenhagen?' +'Greatly--almost as well as London' (insert Stockholm, Christiania, +The Hague, to suit the occasion). + +And then came the voice of the Chamberlain--'The Austrian Minister, +Your Majesty.' 'How do you like Copenhagen?' The same formula was +used until the _chargés d'affaires_, who always ended the list, were +reached: 'How long have you been in Copenhagen?' + +King Edward was accompanied by a staff of the handsomest and most +soldierly courtiers imaginable; they were the veritable splendid +captains of Kipling's _Recessional_. Queen Alexandra was attended by +the Hon. Charlotte Knollys and Miss Vivian. It was a great pleasure +to see Miss Knollys again. To those who knew her all the tiresome +waiting was worth while; she seemed like an old friend. + +The police surveillance was not so strict when the King and Queen of +England were in Copenhagen; but when any of the Russian royalties +arrived, the police had a time of anxiety though they were reinforced +by hundreds of detectives. + +In Copenhagen it was always said that the Empress Dowager, the Grand +Duke Michael, the Archduchess Olga, and others of the Romanoff +family, were only safe when in the company of some of the English +royal people. The Empress Dowager of Russia, formerly the Princess +Dagmar of Denmark, never went out without her sister. They were +inseparable, devoted to each other, as all the children of King +Christian IX. were. It was not the beauty and charm of Queen +Alexandra that saved her from attack; it was the fact that England +was tolerant of all kinds of political exiles, as a visit to Soho, in +London, will show. + +At the station, just as the King and Queen of England entered, there +was an explosion. 'A bomb,' whispered one of the uninitiated. It +happened to be the result of the sudden opening of a _Chapeau claque_ +in the unaccustomed hands of a Radical member of the Cabinet who, +against his principles, had been obliged to come in evening dress. + +We, of the Legation, always wore evening dress in daylight on gala +occasions. One soon became used to it. Our American citizens of +Danish descent always deplored this, and some of our secretaries +would have worn the uniform of a captain of militia or the court +dress of the Danish chamberlains, which, they said, under the +regulations we were permitted to wear. Not being English, I found +evening dress in the morning not more uncomfortable than the +regulation frock coat. I permitted a white waistcoat, which the Danes +never wore in the morning, but refused to allow a velvet collar and +golden buttons because this was too much like the _petit uniforme_ of +other Legations. + +There was one inconvenience, however--the same as irked James Russell +Lowell in Spain--the officers on grand occasions could not recognise +a minister without gold lace, and so our country did not get the +proper salute. On the occasion of the arrival of the King of England, +I remedied this by putting on the coachmen rather large red, white +and blue cockades. Arthur and Hans were really resplendent! + +Later, when my younger daughter appeared in society after the +marriage of the elder, there was no difficulty. All the officers who +loved parties recognised the father of the most indefatigable dancer +in court circles. A cotillion or two at the Legation amply made up +for the absence of uniforms. Our country, in the person of its +representative, after that had tremendously resounding salutes. + +Prince Hans, the brother of the late King Christian IX., who has +since died, was especially friendly with us. He was beloved of the +whole royal family. His kindliness and politeness were proverbial. +When he was regent in Greece, he had been warned that the Greeks +would soon hate him if he continued to be so courteous. His equerry, +Chamberlain de Rothe, told me that he answered: 'I cannot change; I +_must_ be courteous.' He is the only man on record who seems to have +entirely pleased a people who have the reputation of being the most +difficult in Europe. + +Prince Hans came in to call, at a reasonable time, after the arrival +of the King and Queen of England; we were always glad to see him; he +was so really kind, so full of pleasant reminiscences; he had had a +very long and full life; he was the 'uncle' of all the royalties in +Europe. He especially loved the King of England. Having lived through +the invasion of Slesvig, he was most patriotically Danish; he looked +on the Prussians as an 'uneasy' people. + +'The King of England is much interested in the condition of your +ex-President, Grover Cleveland,' he said. 'If you will have him, he +will come to tea with you; I will bring him. He is engaged to dine +with the Count Raben-Levitzau and, I think, to go to the Zoological +Gardens and to dine with the Count Friis; but he will make you a +visit, to ask personally for ex-President Cleveland and to talk of +him after, of course, he has lunched at the British Legation.' + +I said that the Legation would be deeply honoured. Informal as the +visit would be, it would be a great compliment to my country. + +'The German Legation will be surprised; but it can give no offence; I +am _sure_ that it can give no offence. King Edward is not pleased +altogether with his nephew. When the emperor came to Copenhagen in +1905 he was not so friendly to us as he is now. Poor little Denmark. +It has escaped a great danger through Bertie's cleverness,' Prince +Hans murmured. From this I gathered that Prince Hans felt that the +king's coming to the American Legation would be noticed by all the +Legations as unusual, but especially by the German Legation. From +this I judged that some danger to Denmark might have been +threatening. + +'The Kaiser dined in this room,' Prince Hans said, 'when he was here +in 1905--no, no, he took coffee in this room, and not in the +dining-room. However, as Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone has told, the +German Minister, von Schoen, who gave so many parties that all the +young Danish people loved him, and his wife could not decide where +coffee was to be taken; the Kaiser settled it himself. It is an +amusing story; it has made King Frederick laugh. If the King of +England comes to tea, you will not be expected to have boiled eggs, +as we have for the Empress Dowager of Russia and Queen Alexandra and +King George of Greece, some champagne, perhaps, and the big cigars, +of course.' + +'And, as to guests?' + +'Only the Americans of your staff, I think, who have been already +presented to the king.' + +The announcement that the King of England would take tea with us did +not cause a ripple in the household; the servants were used to kings. +King Frederick had a pleasant way of dropping in to tea without +ceremony, and the princesses liked our cakes. Besides, Hans, the +indispensable Hans, had waited on King Edward frequently, so he knew +his tastes. But the king did not come; Prince Hans said that he was +tired. He sent an equerry, with a most gracious message for Grover +Cleveland, and another inquiry as to his health. The royal cigars +lasted a long time as few guests were brave enough to smoke them. The +king at the _Cercle_ at court was most gracious. 'I hope to see you +in London,' he said. My colleagues seemed to think that his word was +law, and that I would be the next ambassador at the Court of St. +James's. I knew very well that his politeness was only to show that +he was in a special mood to manifest his regard for the country I +represented. + +The King of England was failing at the time as far as his bodily +health was concerned, but he had what a German observer called 'a +good head' in more senses than one. He still took his favourite +champagne; his cigars were too big and strong for most men, but not +too big and strong for him. He showed symptoms of asthma, but he was +alert, and firmly resolved to keep the peace in Europe, and, it was +evident--he made it very evident--he was determined to keep on the +best terms with the United States. During the pause between the parts +of the performance at the Royal Opera House, where we witnessed Queen +Alexandra's favourite ballet, _Napoli_, and heard excerpts from _I +Poliacci_ and _Cavalleria_, the king renewed the questions about +Grover Cleveland's health. Prince Hans suddenly announced that he was +dead. As every minister is quite accustomed to having all kinds of +news announced before he receives it, I could only conclude that it +was true. Several ladies of American birth came and asked me; I could +only say, 'Prince Hans says so.' Countess Raben-Levitzau, whose +husband was then Minister of Foreign Affairs, seemed to be much +amused that I should receive a bit of information of that kind +through Prince Hans. Late that night, after the gala was over, a +cable came telling me that the ex-President was well. I was glad that +I was not obliged to put out the flag at half-mast for the loss of a +President whom the whole country honoured, and who had shown great +confidence in me at one time. + +Prince Hans was full of the sayings and doings of the King of England +after his departure. He called him 'Bertie' when absent-minded, +recovering to the 'King of England' when he remembered that he was +speaking to a stranger. Once, quoting the German Emperor, he said +'Uncle Albert.' + +'Denmark will not become part of Germany in the Kaiser's time--"Uncle +Albert" will see to that. England will not fight Germany in his time +on any question; therefore Russia will not go against us.' + +'But the Crown Prince. What of him?' + +'"Uncle Albert" will see to that if the Kaiser should die--but life +is long. The King of England will cease to smoke so much, and, after +that, his health will be good; he has saved us, I will tell you, by +defeating at Berlin the designs of the Pan-Germans against Denmark.' + +The late King of England had new issues to face, and he knew it. The +cause of sane democracy would have been better served had he lived +longer. Perhaps he had been, like his brother-in-law, King Frederick +of Denmark, crown prince too long. Nevertheless, he had observed, and +he was wise. He may have been too tolerant, but he was not weak. In +Denmark, one might easily get a fair view of the characters of the +royal people. The Danes are keen judges of persons--perhaps too keen, +and the members of their aristocracy had been constantly on intimate +terms with European kings and princes. 'As for Queen Alexandra,' Miss +Knollys once said, 'she will go down in history as the most +beautiful of England's queens, but also as the most devoted of wives +and mothers. The king makes us all work, but she works most +cheerfully and is never bored.' + +The visit of the King of England caused more conjectures. What did it +mean? A pledge on the part of England that Denmark would be protected +both against Germany and Russia? Notwithstanding the opinion that the +Foreign Office in England did all the work, the diplomatists held +that kings, especially King Edward and the Kaiser, had much to do +with it. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SOME DETAILS THE GERMANS KNEW + + +I gathered that Germany, in 1908, 1909, 1910, was growing more and +more furiously jealous of England. To make a financial wilderness of +London and reconstruct the money centre of the world in Berlin was +the ambition of some of her great financiers. + +Our time had not come yet; we might grow in peace. It depended on our +attitude whether we should be plucked when ripe or not. If we could +be led, I gathered, into an attitude inimical to England, all would +be well; but that might safely be left 'to the Irish and the great +German population of the Middle West.' It was 'known that English +money prevented the development of our merchant marine'; but this, +after all, was not to the disadvantage of Germany since, if we +developed our marine, it might mean state subsidies to American ocean +steamer lines. This would not have pleased Herr Ballin. + +Count Henckel-Donnersmarck held no such opinions, but the members of +the Berlin _haute bourgeoisie_, who occasionally came to Copenhagen, +were firmly convinced that English money was largely distributed in +the United States to prejudice our people against the beneficent +German Kultur, which, as yet, we were too crude to receive. I +gathered, too, that many of the important, the rich business +representatives of Germany in our country reported that we were 'only +fit to be bled.' We were unmusical, unliterary, unintellectual. We +knew not what a gentleman should eat or drink. Our cooking was vile, +our taste in amusement only a reflection of the English music halls. +We bluffed. We were not virile. The aristocrat did not express these +opinions; but the middle class, or higher middle class, sojourners in +our land did. 'Good Heavens!' exclaimed one American at one of our +receptions to a German-American guest; 'you eat that grouse from your +fists like an animal.' + +'I am a male,' answered Fritz proudly; 'we must devour our food--we +of the virile race!' + +The pretensions of this kind of German were intolerable. He was the +most brutal of snobs. He arrogated to himself a rank, when one met +him, that he was not allowed to assume in his own country. It was +often amusing to receive a call from a spurious 'von,' representing +German interests in Milwaukee, Chicago, or Cincinnati, who patronised +us until he discovered that we knew that he would be in the seventh +heaven if he could, by any chance, marry his half-American daughter +to the most shop-worn little lieutenant in the German army! To see +him shrivel when a veritable Junker came in, was humiliating. I often +wondered whether the well-to-do German burghers of St. Louis or +Cincinnati were really imposed upon by men of this kind. + +The Nobles' Club in Copenhagen is not a club as we know clubs. There +are chairs, newspapers from all parts of the world, and bridge +tables, if you wish to use them. You may even play the honoured game +of _l'ombre_--after the manner of Christian IV., or, perhaps, His +Lordship, the High Chamberlain Polonius, of the court of his late +Majesty, King Claudius. People seldom go there. It is the one place +in Denmark where the members of the club are never found. + +The country gentlemen have rooms there when they come to town. It is +in an annex of the Hotel Phoenix. A few of the best bridge players in +Copenhagen meet there occasionally; the rest is silence; therefore it +is a safe place for diplomatic conversations. + +A very distinguished German came to me with a letter of introduction +from Munich, in 1909--late in the year. His position was settled. He +was not in the class of the spurious 'vons.' He was, however, high in +the confidence of the Kings of Saxony and Bavaria, both of whom, he +confessed, were displeased because the United States had no +diplomatic representatives at their courts. He had been _persona non +grata_ with Bismarck because of his father's liberalism; he had been +friendly with Windthorst, the Centre leader, and he had been in some +remote way connected with the German Legation at the Vatican. We +talked of Washington in the older days, of Speck von Sternberg[4] and +of his charming wife, then a widow in Berlin; of the cleverness of +Secretary Radowitz, who had been at the German Embassy at Washington; +of the point of view of von Schoen, who had been Minister to +Copenhagen. He spoke of the Kaiser's having dined in our apartment, +which von Schoen had then occupied; and then he came to the point. + + [4] Baron Speck von Sternberg died on May 23rd, 1908. + +'Is the United States serious about the Monroe Doctrine--really?' he +asked. + +'It is an integral part of our policy of defence.' + +'We, in Germany, do not take it seriously. I understand from my +friends you have lived in Washington a long time. We are familiar +with your relations with President Cleveland and of your attitude +towards President McKinley. We know,' he said, 'that President +McKinley offered you a secret mission to Rome. We know other things; +therefore, we are inclined to take you more seriously than most of +the political appointees who are here to-day and gone to-morrow. Your +position in the affair of the Philippines is well known to us. It +would be well for you to ask your ambassador at Berlin to introduce +you to the Emperor; he was much pleased with your predecessor, Mr. +O'Brien. There is, no doubt, some information you could give his +Imperial Majesty. You have friends in Munich, too, and in Dresden +there is the Count von Seebach whom you admire, I know.' + +'I admire Count von Seebach, but I am paid not to talk,' I said; 'but +about the secret mission to Rome in the Philippine matter--you knew +of that?' + +It was more than I knew, though President McKinley, through Senator +Carter, had suggested, when the Friars' difficulty had been seething +in the Philippines, a solution which had seemed to me out of the +question. But how did this man know of it? I had not spoken of it to +the Count von Seebach, or to anybody in Germany. No word of politics +had ever escaped my lips to the Count von Seebach, who was His +Excellency the Director of the Royal Opera at Dresden. + +'Yes; we know all the secrets of the Philippine affair, even that +Domingo Merry del Val came to Washington to confer with Mr. Taft. I +want to know two facts,--facts, not guesses. Your ministers who +come from provincial places, after a few months' instruction in +Washington, cannot know much except local politics. They are +like Pomeranian squires or Jutland farmers. We know that +Henckel-Donnersmarck and you are on good terms, and we are prepared +to treat you from a confidential point of view.' + +This was interesting; it showed how closely even unimportant persons +like myself were observed; it was flattering, too; for one grows +tired of the foreign assumption that every American envoy has come +abroad because, as De Tocqueville says in _Democracy in America_ he +has failed at home. + +'Mr. Poultney Bigelow, whom you doubtless know, once said in +conversation with the Kaiser, that his father would rather see him +dead than a member of your diplomatic corps, and he was unusually +well equipped for work of that kind. With few exceptions, as I have +remarked, your service is _pour rire_. What can a man from one of +your provincial towns know of anything but local politics and +business?' + +I laughed: 'But you are businesslike, too; I hear that, when the +Kaiser speaks to Americans--at least they have told me so--it is +generally on commercial subjects. He likes to know even how many +vessels pass the locks every year at Sault Sainte Marie, and the +amount of grain that can be stored in the Chicago elevators.' + +'It is useful to us,' my acquaintance said. 'You would scarcely +expect him to talk about things that do not exist in your +country--music, art, literature, high diplomacy----' + +My reply shall be buried in oblivion; it might sound too much like +_éloquence de l'escalier_. + +After an interval, not without words, I said: + +'It is not necessary for a man to have lived in Washington or New +York in order to have a grasp on American politics in relation to the +foreign problem at the moment occupying the attention of the American +people or the Department of State. Every country boy at home is a +potential statesman and a politician. I recall the impression made on +two visiting foreigners some years ago by the interest of our very +young folk in politics. "Good heavens!" said the Marquis Moustier de +Merinville, "these children of ten and twelve are monsters! They +argue about Bryan and free silver! Such will make revolutions." "I +cannot understand it," said Prince Adam Saphia. "Children ask one +whether one is a Republican or Democrat."' + +'That may be so,' he said. 'Your Presidents are not as a rule chosen +from men who live in the great cities.' + +'You forget that, while Paris is France, Berlin, Germany----' + +'No, Berlin is Prussia,' he said, smiling; 'but London is England; +Paris, France; and Vienna would be Austria if it were not for +Budapest.' + +'New York or Washington is not, as you seem to think, the United +States.' + +'That may be,' he said, 'nevertheless it is difficult for a European +to understand. It may be,' he added thoughtfully, 'there are some +things about your country we shall never come to understand +thoroughly.' + +'You will have to die first--like the man of your own country who, +crossing a crowded street, was injured mortally and cried: "Now I +shall know it _all_." You will never understand us in this world.' + +'That is _blague_,' he said. 'We Germans know all countries. Besides, +you know the German language.' + +'Who told you that? It's nonsense!' I asked, aghast. + +'The other day, I have heard that the Austrians were talking in +German to the First Secretary of the German Legation at the Foreign +Office, when you suddenly forgot yourself and asked a question in +good German!' he said triumphantly. + +This was true. Count Zichy, secretary of the Austrian-Hungarian +Legation, had dropped from French into German. Now, I had read Heine +and Goethe when I was young, and I had written the German script; +but that was long ago. There were great arid spaces in my knowledge +of the German language, but something that Count Zichy had said about +an arbitration treaty had vaguely caught my attention, and I had +blundered out, 'Was ist das, Herr Graf?' or something equally elegant +and scholarly. This was really amusing. My friends had always accused +me of turning all German conversation toward _Wilhelm Meister_ and +_Der Erlkönig_, since I could quote from both! + +'You can _finesse_,' continued the great nobleman. 'You are not +usual. Your Government has sent you here for a special mission; it is +well to pose as a poet and a man of letters, but you have been +reported to our Government as having a _mission secrète_. You are +allied with the Russians; we know that you are not rich.' This very +charming person, who always laid himself at 'the feet of the ladies' +and clicked his heels like castanets, did not apologise for +discussing my private affairs without permission, and for insinuating +that I was paid by the Russian Government. + +'Do you mean----?' + +'Nothing,' he said hastily, 'nothing; but the Russians use money +freely; they would not dare to approach _you_. Nevertheless, I warn +you that their marked regard for you must have some motive, and yours +for them may excite suspicions.' + +'Surely my friend Henckel-Donnersmarck has not reported me to the +Kaiser?' + +'Our ministers are expected to report everything to the Kaiser, +especially from Copenhagen; but Henckel-Donnersmarck does not report +enough. He is either too haughty or too lazy. My master will send him +to Weimar, if he is not more alert; but we have others!' + +'I like him.' + +'It is evident. Why?' asked the Count, with great interest. + +'I sent him a case of Lemp's beer. He says it is better than anything +of the kind made in Germany--polite but unpatriotic.' + +'You jest,' said the Count. 'You have the reputation of being +apparently never in earnest, but----' + +'You shall have a case too,' I said, 'and then you can judge whether +his truthfulness got the better of his politeness, or his politeness +of his truthfulness.' He rose and bowed, he seated himself again. + +'Remember, we shall always be interested in you,' he said; 'but there +is one thing I should like to ask--are you interested in potash?' + +'I have no business interests. If you wish to talk business, Count, +you must go to the Consul General.' + +That was the beginning. Henckel and I continued to be friends. He +seldom spoke of diplomatic matters. He assured me (over and over +again) that, if the ideas of Frederick the Great were to be followed, +Germany and the United States must remain friends. I told him that +Count von X. had said that 'if the United States could arrange to +oust England from control of the Atlantic and make an alliance with +Germany, these two countries would rule the world.' + +'You will never do that,' he said. 'You are safer with England on the +Atlantic than you would be with any other nation. I am not sure what +our ultra Pan-Germans mean by "ruling the world." You may be sure +that your Monroe Doctrine would go to splinters if our Pan-Germans +ruled the world. As for me, I am sick of diplomacy. Why do you enter +it? It either bores or degrades one. I am not curious or unscrupulous +enough to be a spy. As to Slesvig, I have little concern with it. If +Germany should find it to her interest, she might return Northern +Slesvig; but there would be danger in that for Denmark. She must live +in peace with us, or take the consequences.' + +'The consequences!' + +'Dear colleague, you know as well as I do that all the nations of the +earth want territory or a new adjustment of territory. In the Middle +Ages, nations had many other questions, and there was a universal +Christendom; but, since the Renascence, the great questions are land +and commerce. Germany must look, in self-defence, on Slesvig and +Denmark as pawns in her game. She is not alone in this. You know how +tired I am of it all. No man is more loyal to his country than I am; +but I should like to see Germany on entirely sympathetic terms with +the kingdoms that compose it and reasonably friendly to the rest of +the world; but we could not give up Slesvig, even if the Danish +Government would take it, except for a _quid pro quo_.' + +'What?' + +'Well, let us say a place in the Pacific, on friendly terms with you. +Your country can hardly police the Philippines against Japan. Germany +is great in what I fear is the New Materialism. As to Slesvig, in +which you seem particularly interested, ask Prince Koudacheff, the +Russian Minister; write to Iswolsky, the Russian Minister, or talk to +Michel Bibikoff, who is a Russian patriot never bored in the pursuit +of information. These Russians may not exaggerate the consequences as +they know what absolute power means. + +'There is one thing, Germany will not tolerate sedition in any of her +provinces, and, since we took Slesvig from Denmark in 1864, she is +one of our provinces. The Danes may tolerate a hint of secession on +the part of Iceland, which is amusing, but the beginning of sedition +in Slesvig would mean an attitude on our part such as you took +towards secession in the South. But it is unthinkable. The +demonstrations against us in Slesvig have no importance.' + + * * * * * + +Michel Bibikoff, Secretary of the Russian Legation, was most +intelligent and most alert. Wherever he is now, he deserves well of +his country. As a diplomatist he had only one fault--he underrated +the experience and the knowledge of his opponents; but this was the +error of his youth. I say 'opponents,' because at one time or other +Bibikoff's opponents were everybody who was not Russian. A truer +patriot never lived. He was devoted to my predecessor, Mr. O'Brien, +who was, in his opinion, the only American gentleman he had ever met. +He compared me very unfavourably with my courteous predecessor, who +has filled two embassies with satisfaction to his own country and to +those to whom he was accredited. + +At first Bibikoff distrusted me; and I was delighted. If he thought +that you were concealing things he would tell you something in order +to find out what he wanted to know. For me, I was especially +interested in discovering what the Tsar's state of mind was +concerning the Portsmouth peace arrangements. Bibikoff had means of +knowing. Indeed, he found means of knowing much that might have been +useful to all of us, his colleagues. A long stay in the United States +would have 'made' Bibikoff. He was one of the few men in Europe who +understood what Germany was aiming at. He predicted the present +war--but of that later. He had been in Washington only a few months. +I suffered as to prestige in the beginning only, as every American +minister and ambassador suffers from our present system of appointing +envoys. No representative of the United States is at first taken +seriously by a foreign country. He must earn his spurs, and, by the +time he earns them, they are, as a rule, ruthlessly hacked off! + +Each ambassador is supposed by the Foreign Offices to be appointed +for the same reason that so many peerages have been conferred by the +British Government. Every minister, it is presumed, has given a _quid +pro quo_ for being distinguished from the millions of his countrymen. + +'If you have the price, you can choose your embassy,' is a speech +often quoted in Europe. I cannot imagine who made it--possibly the +famous Flannigan, of Texas. It is notorious that peerages are sold +for contributions to the campaign fund in England; but places in the +diplomatic service, though governed sometimes by political influence, +cannot be said to be sold. + +I had one advantage; nobody suspected me of paying anything for my +place; and, then, I had come from Washington, the capital of the +country. + +As I said, my eyes were fixed on Russia. I found, however, that the +main business of my colleagues seemed to be to watch Germany, and +that attitude for a time left me cold. Denmark had reason to fear +Germany; but then, at that time, every other European nation was on +its guard against possible aggressions on the part of its neighbours. +I had hope that a Scandinavian Confederacy or the swelling rise of +the Social Democracy in Germany would put an end to the fears of all +the little countries. There seemed to be no hope that the attitude of +the German nation towards the world could change unless the Social +Democrats and the Moderate Liberals should gain power. + +But why should we watch Germany, the powerful, the self-satisfied, +the splendid country whose Kaiser professed the greatest devotion to +our President, and had sent his brother, Prince Henry, over to show +his regard for our nation? I was most anxious to find the reason. + +In my time, good Americans--say in 1880--when they died, went to +Paris, never to Berlin. The Emperor of Germany had determined to +change this. He tried to make his capital a glittering imitation of +Paris; he received Americans with every show of cordiality. + +Berlin was to be made a paradise for Americans and for the world; +but nearly every American is half French at heart. Nevertheless, I +do not think that we took the French attitude of revenge against +Germany seriously; we thought that the French were beginning to +forget the _revanche_; their Government had apparently become so +'international.' Many of us had been brought up with the Germans and +the sons of Germans. We read German literature; we began with Grimm +and went on to Goethe and, to descend somewhat, Heyse and Auerbach. +Without asking too many questions, we even accepted Frederick the +Great as a hero. He was easier to swallow than Cromwell, and more +amusing. + +In fact, most of us did not think much of foreign complications, the +charm of the Deutscher Club in Milwaukee, the warmth of the singing +of German _lieder_ by returned students from Freiburg or Bonn or +Heidelberg; the lavish hospitality of the opulent German in this +country, the German love for family life, and, for me personally, the +survival of the robust virtues, seemingly of German origin, among the +descendants of the Germans in Pennsylvania, impressed me. + +As far as education was concerned, I had hated to see the German +methods and ideas _servilely_ applied. I belonged to the Alliance +Française and preferred the French system as more efficient in the +training of the mind than the German. Besides, the importation of the +German basis for the doctorate of philosophy into our universities +seemed to me to be dangerous. It led young men to waste time, since +there was no governmental stamp on their work and no concrete +recognition of the results of their studies as there was in Germany; +and, this being so, it meant that the dignified degree, from the +old-fashioned point of view, would become degraded, or, at its best, +merely a degree for the decoration of teachers. It would be sought +for only as a means of earning a living, not as a preparation for +research. + +'Of course I know Spain,' said a flippant attaché in Copenhagen. 'I +have seen _Carmen_, eaten _olla podrida_, and adored the Russian +ballet in the _cachuca_!' None of my friends who thought they knew +Germany was as bad as this. Some of the professors of my +acquaintance, who had seen only one side of German life, loved the +Fatherland for its support to civilisation. _Nous avons changé--tout +cela!_ + +Other gentlemen, who had started out to love Germany, hated +everything German because they had been compelled to stand up in an +exclusive club when anybody of superior rank entered its sacred +precincts or when something of the kind happened. The man with whom I +had read Heine and worked out jokes in _Kladdertasch_ was devoted to +everything German because he had once lived in a small German town +where there was good opera! Personally, I had hated Bismarck and all +his works and pomps for several reasons:--one was because of Busch's +glorifying book about him; another for the Kulturkampf; another for +his attitude toward Hanover, and because one of my closest German +friends was a Hanoverian. + +Brought up, as most Philadelphians of my generation were, in +admiration for Karl Schurz and the men of '48, I could not tolerate +anything that was Prussian or Bismarckian; but, as Windthorst, the +creator of the Centrum party in the Reichstag, was one of my heroes, +I counted myself as the admirer of the best in Germany. + +The position of the great power, evident by its attitude to us in the +beginning of the Spanish-American war, was disquieting; but Germany +had shown a similar sensitiveness under similar circumstances many +times without affecting international relations. And German world +dominion? What, in the Twentieth Century?--the best of all possible +centuries? Civilised public opinion would not tolerate it! + +In the Balkans, of course, there would always be rows. The German +propaganda? It existed everywhere, naturally. One could see signs +of that; these signs were not even concealed. It seemed to be +reasonable enough that any country should not depend entirely on +the press or diplomatic notes to avoid misunderstanding; and a +certain attention to propaganda was the duty of all diplomatists. +Still, my observations in my own country, even before the Chicago +Exposition--when the Kaiser had done his best to impress us with the +mental and material value of everything German--had made me more than +suspicious. I had reason to be suspicious, as you will presently see. +But war? Never! + +It was Cardinal Falconio who, I think, made me feel a little chilly, +when he wrote: 'War is not improbable in Europe; you are too +optimistic. Let us pray that it may not come; but, as a diplomatist +you must not be misled into believing it impossible.' It seemed to +me that such talk was pessimistic. Other voices, from the +diplomatists of the Vatican--even the ex-diplomatists--confirmed +this. 'If the Kaiser says he wants peace, it is true--but only on his +own terms. Believe me, if the Kaiser can control Russia, and draw a +straight line to the Persian Gulf, he will close his fist on +England.' + +The people at the Vatican, if you can get them to talk, are more +valuable to an inquiring mind than any other class of men; but they +are so wretchedly discreet just when their indiscretions might be +most useful. Some of them are like King James I., who 'never said a +foolish thing and never did a wise one.' Those who helped me with +counsel were both wise in speech and prudent action but, unhappily, +hampered by circumstances. Among the wise and the prudent I do not +include the diplomatic representative of the Vatican in Paris just +before the break with Rome! + +The Russians in Copenhagen kept their eyes well on Germany; and it +was evident that, while the position of France gave the Germans no +uneasiness--they seemed to look on France with a certain +contempt--any move of Russia was regarded as important. Prince +Koudacheff, late the Russian Ambassador at Madrid, in 1907 Minister +at Copenhagen, who seldom talked politics, again returned to the +great question. + +'My brother, who is in Washington, and an admirer of your country, +says that you Americans believe that war is unthinkable. Is this your +opinion?' + +'It is--almost.' + +'Well, I will say that as soon as the bankers feel that there is +enough money, there will be a war in Europe.' + +'I wonder if your husband meant that?' I asked the Princess +Koudacheff; it was well to have corroboration occasionally, and she +was a sister-in-law of Iswolsky's; Iswolsky was a synonym for +diplomatic knowledge. + +'If he did not mean it he would not have said it. When he does not +mean to say a thing he remains silent. As soon as there is money +enough, there will be war. Germany will go into no war that will +impoverish her,' she said. Her opinion was worth much; she was a +woman who knew well the inside of European politics. + +'And who will fight, the Slavs and Teutons?' + +'You have said it! It will come.' + +I knew a Russian who, while a nobleman, was not an official. In fact, +he hated bureaucrats. He could endure no one in the Russian court +circle except the Empress Dowager, Marie, because she was +sympathetic, and the late Grand Duke Constantine, because he had +translated Shakespeare. + +'If Prince Valdemar of Denmark had been the son instead of the +brother of the Dowager Empress, Russia would have a future. As it is, +I will quote from Father Gapon for you. You know his _Life_?' + +'No,' I said. + +'Well, he has attempted to give the working-men in Russia a chance; +he has tried to gain for them one-tenth of the place which +working-men in your country have, and, in 1905, he was answered by +the massacre of the Narva gate. The Tsar is a fool, with an +imperialistic _hausfrau_ for a wife. If you will read the last words +of Father Gapon's _Life_, you will find these words: + +'"I may say, with certainty, that the struggle is quickly approaching +its inevitable climax: that Nicholas II. is preparing for himself the +fate which befell a certain English King and a certain French King +long ago, and that such members of his dynasty as escape unhurt from +the throes of the Revolution, will some day, in a not very distant +future, find themselves exiles upon some Western shore." I may live +to see this; but I hope that the Empress Marie may not. She knows +where the policy of her daughter-in-law, who has all the stupidity of +Marie Antoinette, without her charm, would lead; she says of her +son,--"he was on the right road before he married that narrow-minded +woman!"' + +This, remember, was in 1908. It was whispered even then in Copenhagen +that Russia was beginning to break up. The Dean of the Diplomatic +Corps was Count Calvi di Bergolo, honest, brave, opinionated, who +would teach you everything, from how to jump a hurdle to the gaseous +compositions in the moon. He was of the _haute école_ at the riding +school and of the _vielle école_ of diplomacy. He was very frank. He +had a great social vogue because of a charming wife and a most +exquisite daughter, now the Princess Aage. He would never speak +English; French was the diplomatic language; it gave a diplomatist +too much of an advantage, if one spoke in his native tongue. He +believed in the protocol to the letter; he was a martinet of a Dean. + +'Public opinion,' he said scornfully, 'public opinion in the United +States is for peace. In Europe, if we could all have what we want, we +should all keep the peace; but what chance of peace can there be +until Italy has the Trentino or France Alsace-Lorraine, or until +Germany gets to her place by controlling the Slavs. You are of a new +country, where they believe things because they are impossible.' + +He was a wise gentleman and he, too, watched Germany. It was plain +that he disliked the Triple Alliance. Suddenly it dawned on me 'like +thunder' that we had an interest in watching Germany, too. + +It seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Germany would one day +absorb Denmark. 'And then the Danish West Indies would automatically +become German!' This was my one thought. The 'fixed idea'! + +It is pleasanter to be Dean of the Diplomatic Corps than a new-comer. +It must be extremely difficult for a diplomatic representative to be +comfortable at once, coming from American localities where etiquette +is a matter of gentlemanly feeling only, and where artificial +conventionalities hardly count. In a monarchical country, the outward +relations are changed. Socially, rank counts for much, and the rules +of precedence are as necessary as the use of a napkin. To have lived +in Washington--not the changed Washington of 1918-19--was a great +help. After long observation of the niceties of official etiquette in +the official society of our own Capital, Copenhagen had no terrors. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +GLIMPSES OF THE GERMAN POINT OF VIEW IN RELATION TO THE UNITED STATES + + +Time passed. There were alarms, and rumours that German money was +corrupting France, that the distrust aroused by the Morocco incident +was growing, that the French patriot believed that his opponent, the +French pacifist, was using religious differences to weaken the +_morale_ of the French army and navy, to convince Germany that the +'revenge' for 1870 was forgotten. + +One day, a very clever English attaché came to luncheon; he always +kept his eyes open, and he was allowed by me to take liberties in +conversation which his chief would never have permitted; it is a +great mistake to bottle up the young, or to try to do it. + +'You are determined to be friends with Germany,' he said, 'and +Germany seems to be determined to be friends with you. Your Foreign +Office has evidently instructed you to be very sympathetic with the +German minister. He seldom sees anybody but you; but, at the same +time you have recalled Mr. Tower, whom the Kaiser likes, to give him +Mr. Hill, whom he seems not to want.' + +'It is not a question as to whom the Kaiser wants exactly; we +ostensibly sent an ambassador to the German Emperor, but really to +the German people. Mr. Hill is one of the most experienced of our +diplomatists.' + +'The Kaiser does not want that. Mr. Tower habituated him to +splendour, and he likes Americans to be splendid. Rich people ought +to spend their money in Berlin. Besides, he had been accustomed to +Mr. Tower, who, he thinks, will oil the wheels of diplomatic +intercourse. Just at this moment, when the Kaiser has lost prestige +because of his double-dealing with the Boers and his apparent deceit +on the Morocco question, he does not want a man of such devotion to +the principles of The Hague convention and so constitutional as Mr. +Hill, who may acknowledge the charm of the emperor, but who, even in +spite of himself, will not be influenced by it.' + +'How do you know this?' + +'Everybody about the court in Berlin knows it, but I hear it from +Munich. But Speck von Sternberg would have balanced Hill, if he had +lived. They think he would have influenced President Roosevelt. Tell +us the secrets of the White House--you ought to know--it was an awful +competition between Speck and Jusserand, I hear.' + +'President Roosevelt is not easily influenced,' I said. + +Persons whom I knew in Berlin wrote to me, informing me how charmed +the Kaiser was with the new ambassador; but, in Copenhagen, we +learned that what the Kaiser wanted was not a great international +lawyer, but a rich American of less intensity. + + * * * * * + +It was worth while to get Russian opinions. + +'The Kaiser is having a bad time,' I remarked to a Russian of my +acquaintance--a most brilliant man, now almost, as he said himself, +_homme sans patrie_. + +'Temporarily,' he answered; 'those indiscreet pronouncements of his +on the Boers and the reversion of his attitude against England in the +affair of Morocco have shown him that he cannot clothe inconsistency +in the robes of infallibility. He is a personal monarch and he sinks +all his personality in his character as a monarch. He is made to the +likeness of God, and there is an almost hypostatic union between God +and him! Our Tsar is by no means so absolute, though you Americans +all persist in thinking so. I have given you some documents on that +point; I trust that you have sent them to your President. I am sure, +however, that he knew _that_. Do not imagine that the emperor will be +deposed, because he has made a row in Germany. He has only discovered +how far he can go by personal methods, that is all; he has learned +his lesson--_reculer pour mieux sauter_. He has played a clever game +with you. Bernstorff, his new ambassador, will offset Hill. Your +investments in Russia will now come through German hands, and you +will get a bad blow in the matter of potash.' + +'What do you mean?' I asked. I had regarded Count Bernstorff as a +Liberal. His English experience seemed to have singled him out as +one of the diplomatists of the Central Powers--there were +several--inclined to admit that other nations had rights which +Germany was bound to respect. In private conversations, he had shown +himself very favourable to the United States, and had even +disapproved of German attacks on the Monroe Doctrine in Brazil. +'Count Bernstorff is not likely to offend Washington, or to reopen +the wound that was made at Manila.' + +'You talk as if diplomatists were not, first of all, instructed to +look after the business interests of their countries. Do you think +Bernstorff has been chosen to dance cotillions with your 'cave +dwellers' in Washington or to compliment Senators' wives? First, his +appointment is meant to flatter you. Second, he will easily flatter +you because he really likes America and it is his business to flatter +you. Third, he will do his best to induce you to assist England in +strangling Russia in favour of Turkey. Fourth, he will grip hard, +without offending you, the German monopoly of potash. He doesn't want +trouble between the United States and Germany. He knows that any +difficulty of that kind would be disastrous; he is as anxious to +avoid that as is Ballin. Under the glimmer of rank, of which you +think so much in America, commercialism is the secret of Germany's +spirit to-day. In Berlin, I heard an American, one of your +denaturalised, trying to curry favour with Prince von Bülow by saying +that the national genius of Germany demanded that Alsace-Lorraine +should be kept by Germany to avenge the insolence of Louis XIV. and +Napoleon. Prince von Bülow smiled. He knew that your compatriot was +working for an invitation to an exclusive something or other for his +wife. Bernstorff is just the man to neutralise Hill. It's iron ore +and potash in Alsace-Lorraine that the emperor cares about.' + +'And yet I know, at first hand, that the Pan-German hates Bernstorff. +If anything approaching to a Liberal Government came in Germany, +Bernstorff will be Minister of Foreign Affairs.' + +My Russian friend smiled sardonically. 'We Russians feel that our one +salvation is to oust the Turk and get to the Mediterranean. My party +would provoke a war with Germany to-morrow, if we could afford it, +and Germany knows it. Count Bernstorff, the most sympathetic of all +German diplomatists, knows this, too, and you may be sure that he +will persuade your Government that he loves you, give the Russian +programme a nasty stroke when he can, and keep the price of potash +high. I, desirous as I am of being an Excellency, would refuse to go +to Berlin to-morrow, if I had Bernstorff against me on the other +side. See what will happen to Hill! Germany may offend you, but +Bernstorff will persuade you that it is the simple _gaucherie_ of a +rustic youth who assumes the antics of a playful bear[5]--a hug or +two; it may hurt, but the jovial bear means well! If Hill should +leave Berlin, you will need a clever man who has political power with +your Government. Bernstorff will contrive to put any other kind of +man in the wrong--I tell you that.' + + [5] 'We can say without hesitation that during the last century the + United States have nowhere found better understanding or juster + recognition than in this country. More than any one else the + Emperor William II. manifested this understanding and appreciation + of the United States of America.'--Von Bülow's _Imperial Germany_, + p. 51. + +The Russian who predicted this is in exile, penniless, a man _sans +patrie_, as he says himself. When I took these notes he seemed to be +above the blows of fate! + +If the hand of Germany was everywhere, everybody was watching the +movements of the fingers. Among the English there were two parties: +One that could tolerate nothing German, the other that hated +everything Russian, but both united in one belief, that the alliance +with Japan would not hold under the influence of German intrigue and +that Italy could not long remain a member of the Triple Alliance. + +The gossip from Berlin was always full of pleasant things for an +American to hear. The Kaiser treated our compatriots with unusual +courtesy. + +In Copenhagen we were deluged with letters announcing that Count +Bernstorff's coming meant a new era; he even excelled 'Speck' in his +charm, sympathy, and everything that ought to endear him to us; in +him showed that true desire for peace of which his august master was, +of all the world, the best representative. It was even rumoured that +the German Foreign Office had begun to coquette with the Danish +Social Democrats. + +The exchange of professors between the United States and Germany was +becoming an institution. Sometimes the American professors found +themselves in awkward positions; they did not 'rank'; they had no +fixed position from the German point of view. As mere American +commoners, unrecognised by their Government, undecorated, they could +not expect attentions from the court as a right. However, the Germans +studied them and rather liked some of them, but, not being _raths_, +they were poor creatures without standing. Even if they should make +reputations approved by the great German universities, they had no +future. How green were the lawns and how pleasant the sweet waters in +the enclosed gardens of autocracy, of which the Emperor, Fountain of +Honours, kept the key! + +It was amusing to note the German attitude toward democracy, in spite +of all the pleasant things said by the High, Well-Born citizens of +the Fatherland in favour of the American brand. At the same time, one +could not help seeing that the children of the Kaiser were wiser than +the children of--let us say modestly--Light. 'If the President asked +me,' said one of the most distinguished of lawyers and the most loyal +of Philadelphians to me, 'I should be willing to live all my life in +Germany.' This was the result of the impression the charm of the +Kaiser made on the best of us. + +He has changed his opinion now; he swears by the works of his +compatriot, Mr. Beck. Even then, in 1908-9, my distinguished +Philadelphia friend could not have endured life in Germany. He forgot +that even the emperor could not give him rank, and that no matter how +cosmopolitan, how learned, how tactful he was, he would at once be a +commoner, and very much of a commoner on the day he settled there as +a resident. + +A Prussian Serene Highness, who came with letters from an Irish +relative in Hungary dropped in; he was mostly Bavarian in blood; he +had cousins in England and Italy. He liked a good luncheon, and, as +Miss Knollys always said (I quote this without shame), 'The best food +in Europe is at the American Legation!' He smoked, too, and Rafael +Estrada, of Havana, had chosen the cigars. + +'France is difficult,' said my acquaintance, His Serene Highness. 'It +is not really democratic; and England will go to pieces before it +becomes democratic. + +'You Americans have freedom with order, and you respect rank and +titles, though you do not covet them. That is why the Kaiser would +not send any ambassador not of a great family to you. All Americans +who come to Berlin desire to be presented at court. It is a sign that +you will come to our way of thinking some day. We are not so far +apart. You who write must tell your people that we are calumniated, +we are not despots. That woman, the author of _Elizabeth and Her +German Garden_, married to a friend of mine, does us harm. But most +Americans see Germany in a mellow light. We are akin in our +aspirations--Frederick the Great understood that. + +'Bismarck, great as he was, became ambitious only for his family. His +son, the coming chancellor, would have used our young emperor as a +puppet, if our emperor had not put him into his place. This is the +truth, and I am telling it to you confidentially. The British +Government will come to anarchy if it weakens the House of Lords. The +House of Commons is already weak. There is no barrier between honest +rule and the demagogues. With your magnificent Senate there will +always be a wall between the will of the _canaille_ and good +government. We Germans understand you!' + +'But suppose,' it was Mr. Alexander Weddell, then connected with the +Legation, now Consul General at Athens, who broke in, 'you should +differ from us on the Monroe Doctrine. I have recently read an +article by Mr. Frederick Wile in an English magazine on your +management of your people in Brazil.' + +'"Our people!" The Serene Highness seemed startled. 'A German is +always a German. It is the call of the blood.' + +'And something more,' Mr. Weddell said, 'a German citizen is always a +German citizen; you never admit that a German can become a Brazilian. +Suppose you should want to join your Germans in Brazil with your +Germans at home. What would become of our Monroe Doctrine?' + +'There are Germans in your country who have ceased to be Germans, and +your upper classes are Anglicised, except when they marry into one of +our great families; nevertheless, our own people would still see that +you don't go too far with your Monroe Doctrine. It has not yet been +drastically interpreted. The Monroe Doctrine is a method of defence. +To interfere with the call of the German blood from one country to +another would be offensive to us, and I cannot conceive of your +country so far forgetting itself!' + +His Serene Highness was of a mediatised house--a gentleman who had +much experience in diplomacy. He had, I think, visited Newport, and +been almost engaged to an American girl. The legend ran that, when +this lady saw him without his uniform, she broke the engagement. He +was splendid in his uniform. He thought he knew the United States; he +even quoted Bryce and De Tocqueville; he had the impression that the +Kaiser's propaganda of education was Germanising us for our good. +'The most eminent professors at your most important universities are +Germans. Your newest university, that of Chicago, would have no +reputation in Europe if it were not for the Germans. Wundt has +revolutionised your conception of psychology; your scientific and +historical methods are borrowed from us. Even your orthodox +Protestants quote Harnack. Virchow long ago put out the lights of +Huxley and Spencer. And the Catholic German in America, whom Bismarck +almost alienated from us, revolts against the false Americanism of +Cardinal Gibbons and Archbishop Ireland, whom the Kaiser rates as a +son of the Revolution. Your Catholic University has begun to be +moulded in the German way. Mgr. Schroeder, highly considered, was one +of the most energetic of the professors----' + +'Was,' I said. 'I happen to know that he was relieved of his +professorship because of those very dominating qualities you value so +much.' + +'That is regrettable; but, you see, in Germany we follow the train of +events in your country. Who has a larger audience than Münsterberg? +In the things of the mind we Germans must lead.' + +In my opinion, it is best for a diplomatist--at least for a man who +is in the avocation of diplomacy--to be satisfied with _l'eloquence +de l'éscalier_. If he writes memoirs he can always put in the +repartee he intended to make; and, if he does not, he can always +think, too, with satisfaction of what he was almost clever enough to +say! It was enough to have discovered one thing--that, with a large +number of the ruling classes in the Fatherland, the Monroe Doctrine +was looked on as an iridescent bubble. Many times afterwards this +fact was emphasised. + +The Austrians were not always so careful as the Germans to save, when +it came to democracy, American susceptibilities. They were always +easy to get on with, provided one remembered that even to the most +discerning among them, the United States, 'America' as they always +called it, was an unknown land. + +As for Count Dionys Szechenyi, the Minister of Austria-Hungary, he +was the most genial of colleagues, and he had no sympathy with +tyranny of any kind; he had no illusions as to America. + +His wife is a Belgian born, Countess Madeleine Chimay de Caraman. He +was always careful not to touch on 'Prussianism,' as the Danes called +the principle of German domination. He had many subjects of +conversation, from portrait buying to transactions in American steel +and, what had its importance in those days, a good dinner. At his +house one met occasionally men who liked to be frank, and then these +Austro-Hungarians were a delightful group. 'If we should be involved +in a war with England--which is unthinkable, since King Edward and +our Ambassador, Count Mensdorff would never allow it--I could not buy +my clothes in London,' said one very regretfully. + +This Austrian magnate heard with unconcealed amusement the German +talk of 'democracy.' 'Max Harden is sincere, but a puppet; he helps +the malcontents to let off steam; the German Government will never +allow another _émeute_ like that of 1848. Bismarck taught the +Government how to be really imperial. In Austria we are frankly +autocratic, but not so new as the Prussian. We wear feudalism like an +old glove. There are holes in it, of course, and Hungary is making +the holes larger. If the Hungarians should have their way, there +would be no more _majorats_, no more estates that can be kept in +families; and that will be the end of our feudalism. + +'As it is, things are uncomfortable enough, but a war would mean a +break-up. What do you Americans expect for Max Harden and his +_Zukunft_--exile and suppression as soon as he reaches the limit. All +the influences of the Centre could not keep the Jesuits from being +exiled! Why? They would not admit the superiority of the state. +Harden will never have the real power of the Jesuits, for the reason +that he founds his appeal on principles that vary with the occasion. +But he will go! As for the Social Democrats, they can be played with +as a cat plays with a mouse. Democracy! If the Kaiser gets into a +tight place he can always declare war! + +'Is the Imperial Chancellor responsible to the German people? No. He +is imperial because he wears the imperial livery. Can the Reichstag +appoint a chancellor? The idea is _pour rire_! My dear Mr. Minister, +you and your countrymen do not understand Prussian rule in Germany! +And the Federal Council, what chance has it against the will of our +emperor? And what have the people to do with the Federal Council? +The members are appointed by the rulers by right divine. There is +the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He rules his little duchy with +a firm hand. There is the Duke of Brunswick, the Prince of +Lippe-Schaumbourg--not to speak of the Grand Duke of Baden and a +whole nest of rulers responsible only to the Head of the House.' + +'But the people _must_ count,' I said. 'Prince von Bülow has shown +himself to be nervous about the growing power of the Social +Democrats.' + +'Oh, yes, they are very amusing. They may caterwaul in the Reichstag; +they may wrangle over the credits and the budget; but the emperor can +prorogue them at any time. The Pan-Germans could easily, if the +Reichstag were too independent, counsel the Kaiser to prorogue that +debating club altogether. + +'Who can prevent his forcing despotic military rule on the nation, +for the nation's good, of course? Everything in Germany must come +from the top--you know that. Again, the power of the rich, as far as +suffrage is concerned, is unlimited. The members of the Reichstag are +elected by open ballot. Woe be to the working man who defies his +emperor. Fortunately the rich German is not socially powerful until +he ranks. You may be as rich as Krupp, but if the Fountain of Honour +has not dashed a spray of the sacred water on you, you are as nobody. + +'The greatest American plutocrat may visit Germany and spend money +like water, and he remains a mere commoner. The Kaiser may invite him +on his yacht and say polite things, but, until he _ranks_, he is +nobody. His wife may manage to be presented at court under the wing +of the American ambassadress, but that is nothing! The poorest and +most unimportant of the little provincial baronesses outranks her. +She will always be an outsider, no matter how long she may live in +Germany. + +'With us, in Austria, an American woman, no matter whom she marries, +is never received at court. She is never "born,"' and he laughed. +'Americans can have no heraldic quarterings; but, then, we do not +pretend to be democratic. If I loved an American girl, I would marry +her, of course; but if I went to court, I should go alone. It is the +rule, and going to court is not such a rare treat to people who are +used to it. It becomes a bore.' + +To do my German diplomatic colleagues justice, they never attempted +masquerades in the guise of democrats. There were other Germans, whom +one met in society. These people were always loyal to the Fatherland. +Their attitude was that the German world was the best of all possible +worlds. + +If my own countrymen and countrywomen abroad were as solidly American +as these people were German, our politeness would not be so +frequently stretched to the breaking point. The most loyal of Germans +were American people of leisure who had lived long in Germany with +titled relatives. They enjoyed themselves; they lived for a time in +the glory of rank. + +With those who had to earn their own living in Germany, it was +another story. They did not 'rank'; they were ordinary mortals; they +had not the _entrée_ to some little provincial court, and so they saw +the Prussian point of view as it really was. The American women, +strangely enough, who had married ranking Germans loved everything +German. 'But how do you endure the interference with your daily +life?' my wife asked an American girl married to a Baron. + +'I like it; it makes one so safe, so protected; your servants are +under the law, and give you no trouble. Order is not an idea, but a +method. I know just how my children shall be educated. That is the +province of my husband. I have no fault to find.' She laughed. 'I do +not have to explain myself; I do not have to say, "I am a Daughter of +the Revolution, my uncle was Senator so-and-so"--my place is fixed, +and I like it!' + +It was a distinguished German professor who assumed the task of +convincing American University men that the German Army was +democratic, and the conclusion of his syllogism was: 'No officer is +ever admitted to a club of officers who has not been voted for by the +members.' Would you believe it? It seems incredible that democracy +should seem to depend on the votes of an aristocracy and not on +principles. But later, just at the beginning of the war, this +professor and a half dozen others signed a circular in which the same +argument was used. In 1907-8-9-10, the propaganda for convincing +Americans that Germany--that is that the Kaiser--loved us was part of +the daily life in the best society in the neutral countries. + +The Norwegians openly laughed at it. They knew only too well what the +Kaiser's opinion of them and their king, Haakon, was. Amazed by the +frequent allusions of the admirers of the Kaiser to his love for +democracy, especially the American kind, I had a talk one day with +one of the most frank and sincere of Germans, the late Baron von der +Quettenburg, the father of the present vicar of the Church of St. +Ansgar's in Copenhagen. He was a Hanoverian. He was at least seventy +years of age when I knew him, but he walked miles; he rode; he liked +a good dinner; he enjoyed life in a reasonable way; but he was +frequently depressed. Hanover, his proud, his noble, his beautiful +Hanover, was a vassal to the arrogant Prussian! + +'But, if there were a war you would fight for the Kaiser?' I asked, +after a little dinner of which any man might be proud. + +'Fight? Naturally. (I did not know that you knew so well how to eat +in America.) Fight! Yes! It would be our duty. Russia or France or +the Yellow Nations might threaten us;--yes, all my family, except the +priest, would fight. But, because one is loyal to the Kaiser through +duty, it does not mean that we Hanoverians are Prussians through +pleasure. We shall never be content until we are Hanoverians +again--nor will Bavaria.' + +'A break up of the empire by force?' + +'Oh, no!' he said. 'Not by force; but if the Government does not +distract public attention, Hanover will demand more freedom; so will +Bavaria. None of us would embarrass the Kaiser by raising the +question of--let us say--greater autonomy for our countries, if there +were question of a foreign war; but we must raise them soon.' + +'Do you think the emperor would make war to avoid the raising +of these questions, which might mean a tendency toward the +disintegration of the German monarchy?' + +'The emperor would be incapable of that; he is for peace, but the +raising of the question of a certain independence among the states +that form the German Empire can only be prevented now by a war or +some affliction equally great. Hanover can never remain the abject +vassal of Prussia.' + +'You would, then, like to see the German Emperor more democratic--a +President, like ours, only hereditary, governing quasi-independent +States?' + +'That would not suit us at all,' he laughed. 'We are quite willing +that the Reichstag should be in the power of the emperor, as it is a +mere association for talk; but we want the tributary kings to have +more power in their own states. Hanover a republic! How absurd! +Republics may be good on your continent, but, then, you know no +better; you began that way. Whoever tells us that we are democratic +in Germany, deceives you. We Hanoverians want more power for Hanover, +all the reasonable rights of our kings restored and less power for +Prussia; but that we want republicanism, oh, no! A liberal +constitution--yes; but no republic!' + + * * * * * + +An old friend, a Swedish Social Democrat, brought in to tea a German +Social Democrat; they came to meet an Icelandic composer, in whom I +was interested. The Icelander was a good composer, but filled with +curious ideas about Icelandic independence. He was not content that +Iceland should have the power of a State in the Federal Union. A +separate flag meant to him complete independence of Denmark. He +wanted to know the German Social Democrat's opinion of government. + +'It is,' said the German, 'that Hohenzollerns shall go, and people +have equality.' + +'With us it is,' said the Swede, 'that the King of Sweden shall go, +and the people have equality.' + +'But, if Germany goes to war?' I asked. + +'For a short war, we will be as one people; but after----' and he +shook his head gravely. + +In the meantime, we were told constantly of the Kaiser's charm. 'You +once said,' remarked a débutante at the German court, who had been +presented under the wing of our ambassadress, 'that if one wanted to +dislike Mr. Roosevelt, one must keep away from him! I assure you, it +is the same with the Kaiser. He is charming. For instance, notice +this: he presented a lovely cigarette case, with imperial monogram in +diamonds or something of that kind, to Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone, +the wife of the Danish Minister, when her husband was leaving. "But +my husband does not smoke," said Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone, later +in the day. "That is the reason I gave it to him," said the Kaiser; +"I knew that you like a cigarette, Madame!" _Isn't_ he charming?' + +We were told that the Kaiser loved Mark Twain. To love Mark Twain was +to be American. To be sure he turned his back very pointedly on Mark +on one occasion because Mark had dared to criticise the pension +system of the United States. Pensions for the army should not be +criticised, even if their administration were defective. All soldiers +must be taken care of. This was the first duty of a nation, and Mark +Twain forgot himself when he censured any system that put money into +the pockets of the old soldiers, even of the wives of the soldiers of +1812! And this to the War Lord, the emperor of more than a Prætorian +Guard! And as for President Roosevelt, if the Kaiser could only see +this first of republicans! This meeting had been the great joy of his +brother Prince Henry of Prussia's life. + +The Kaiser had learned much from Americans--our great capitalists, +for example. No American who was doing things was alien to him. Other +monarchs might pretend to have an interest in the United States; his +was genuine, for Germany, youngest among the nations, had so much to +learn from the giant Republic of the West which possessed everything, +except potash, the science of making use of by-products, and German +Kultur! + +President Roosevelt had just gone out of office, and President Taft +was in. He wrote to me: 'You shall remain in your post as long as I +remain in mine.' + +I was pleased and grateful. The chance that President Roosevelt had +given me, President Taft continued to give me. I was the slave of a +fixed idea, that the validity not the legality, of the Monroe +Doctrine was somewhat dependent on our acquiring by fair bargains all +the territory we needed to interpret it! + +As to Denmark in 1910, it was much more French than anything else. +And, whatever might be done in the way of propaganda by Germany, +France always remained beloved; while the English way of living +might be imitated, nobody ever thought of imitating Germany's +ways. Besides, the Danes are not good at keeping secrets, and +the whisperings of German intentions, desires, likes, and +dislikes disseminated in that city were generally supposed to be +heart-to-heart talks with the world and received by the Danes with +shrewd annotations. This the Kaiser did not approve of. It was +curious that neither he nor his uncle, the King of England, liked +Copenhagen--for different reasons! + +It was understood that the King of England disliked it because he +found it dull--the simplicity of Hvidhöre had no charms for him. He +could not join in the liking of his Queen for everything Danish, from +the ballets of De Bournonville to the red-coloured herring salad. +_Napoli_, a ballet which Queen Alexandra especially recommended to my +wife and myself, frankly bored him, and the _mise-en-scène_ of the +Royal Theatre was not equal to Covent Garden. + +The Kaiser disliked Copenhagen because he had no regard for his +Danish relatives, who took no trouble to bring out those charming +boyish qualities he could display at times: the influence of the +Princess Valdemar in Denmark displeased him; she was too French, too +democratic, and too popular, and she had something of the quality +for command of her late mother-in-law, Queen Louise. Altogether, the +Danes were not amenable to German Kultur, or subservient to the +continual threat of being absorbed in it, as the good Buddhist is +absorbed in the golden lotus! + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +GERMAN DESIGNS IN SWEDEN AND NORWAY + + +As far as insinuating, mental propaganda was concerned, Germany, as I +have said, had the advantage over 'Die dumme Schweden,' as the +Prussians always called them. 'The stupid Swedes' were the easiest +pupils of German world politics, but even the most German of the +Swedes never realised, until lately, what the Prussian dream of world +politics meant. + +Before 1914, the Swedes had been led to believe that any general +European difficulty would throw them into the hands of Russia. The +constantly recurring difficulty of the Aaland Islands was before +their eyes. Look at the map of Northern Europe and observe what the +fortifying of the Aaland Islands by a foreign power means to Sweden. +We Americans do not realise that the small nations of Europe have +neither a Monroe Doctrine nor the power of enforcing one. And, so far +as Sweden was concerned, her only refuge against the power of Russia +seemed to be Germany. + +When Austria made her ultimatum to Serbia, Sweden believed that her +moment for sacrifice or triumph had come. In August 1914, all +Scandinavia felt that the fate of the northern nations was at stake. +For Sweden the defeat of Germany meant the conquest of Sweden by the +Russians, for, sad to say, no little nation believed absolutely in +the good faith of a great one. + +The United States, where so many Scandinavians had found a home, +what of her? Too far off, and the Swedish leaders of public opinion +knew too well what had been the fate of the attempts at the Hague +conference to abrogate the Machiavellian doctrines that have been the +basis of diplomacy almost since diplomacy became a recognised science +and art. + +As for diplomacy, what had it to do with the fate of the little +nations? Scandinavia, among the rest of Europe, looked on it as a +purely commercial machine dominated essentially by local political +issues. Our State Department had a few fixed principles, but all +Europe believed that we were too ignorant of European conditions and, +more than that, too indifferent to them to be effective. The +slightest political whisper in Russia or the smallest hint from court +circles in Germany was enough to upset the equilibrium of +Scandinavian statesmen. American opinion really never counted, +because American opinion was looked on as insular. A diplomacy +labelled as 'shirt sleeve' or 'dollar' might delight those members of +Congress who had come to Washington to complete an education not yet +begun at home, but, from the European point of view, it was beneath +notice. It cannot be said that the United States was not looked on, +because of her riches and her size, with respect; but her apparent +indifference to the problem on which the peace of the world seemed, +to Europe, to depend, and her policy of changing her diplomatic +ministers or keeping them in such a condition of doubt that they kept +their eyes on home political conditions, had combined to deprive her +of importance in matters most vital to every European. This is not +written in the spirit of censure, but simply as a statement of fact. + +The Swedes, the Norwegians, the Danes had flocked to our country. In +parts of the West, during some of the political campaigns, my old +and witty friend, Senator Carter, chuckling, used to quote: + + 'The Irish and the Dutch, + They don't amount to much, + But give me the Scan-di-na-vi-an.' + +These people are a power in our political life; but they knew in +Minnesota, in Nebraska, wherever they lived in the United States, +that our country would not forcibly interfere with the designs either +of Russia or of Germany. And, in Sweden, while King Gustav and the +Conservatives saw with alarm the constant depletion of the +agricultural element in the nation by emigration to the United +States, their feeling towards our country was one of amiable +indulgence for the follies of youth. King Oscar showed this +constantly, and King Gustav went out of his way to show attentions to +our present minister, Mr. Ira Nelson Morris. Nevertheless, until +lately, American diplomacy was not taken seriously, and, when the war +opened, it was taken less seriously than ever. + +Sweden, then, fearing Russia, doubtful of England, full of German +propagandists, her ruling classes looking on France as an unhappy +country governed by _roturiers_ and pedagogues, and, except in a +commercial way, where we never made the most of our opportunities, +regarding our country as negligible, Sweden, divided violently +between almost autocratic ideas and exceedingly radical ones, was in +a perilous position from 1914 to 1918. Frankly, there are no people +more delightful than the Swedes of the upper classes whom one meets +at their country houses. Kronoval, the seat of the Count and Countess +Sparre, is one of the places where the voices of both parties may be +heard. And, when one thinks of the Swedish aristocrat, one almost +says, as Talleyrand said of the _talons rouges_, 'when the old order +changes, much of the charm of life will disappear.' Under a monarchy, +life is very delightful--for the upper classes. It is no wonder that +they do not want to let go of it. It must be remembered, in dealing +with European questions, that the Swede and the Spaniard are probably +the proudest people on the earth. Another thing must not be +forgotten: the educated classes are imperial-minded. And of this +quality German intrigue makes the most. + +A Scandinavian Confederacy, like the Grecian one, of which King +George of Greece dreamed, was not looked on with yearning by the +Pan-Germans. It must be remembered to the credit of King Gustav, +that, overcoming the rancour born of the separation, he made the +first move towards the meeting of the three kings at Malmö,[6] in the +beginning of the war. + + [6] Malmö is a town on the Swedish side of the Sound, an hour and a + half by steamboat from Copenhagen. Lord Bothwell was imprisoned + there. + +When Finland was annexed by Germany, the terror of Russia in Sweden +became less intense. Before that Sven Hedin, suspected of being a +tool of Germany, did his best to raise the threatening phantom of the +Russian terror whenever he could. The hatred and fear of Russia +revived. It was not in vain that sane-minded persons urged that +Russia would have enough to do to manage the Eastern question, to +watch Japan, to keep her designs fixed on Constantinople. The German +propaganda constantly raised the question of the fortification of the +Aaland Islands. Denmark and Norway were intensely interested in it; +it gave Count Raben-Levitzau much thought when he was Minister of +Foreign Affairs in Denmark, especially after the separation of +Norway from Sweden; and since then, it has been a burning question, +and the Foreign Office in Christiania was not untroubled. On the +question of the Aaland Islands neither the Russian nor the Swedish +diplomatists would ever speak except in conventional terms; but, when +I wanted light, I went to the cleverest man in Denmark, Count +Holstein-Ledreborg. + +'De l'esprit?' he said, laughing, 'mais oui, j'ai de l'esprit. Tout +le monde le dit; but other things are said, too. Fortunately, a bad +temper does not drive out l'esprit. You are wrong; the cleverest man +in Denmark is Edward Brandès.' But this is a digression. + +'The Swedes,' Count Holstein-Ledreborg said, 'are at heart +individualists. They would no more bear the German rule of living +than they would commit national suicide by throwing themselves into +the arms of Germany. England met with no success in Sweden in spite +of the tact of her envoys, because her ideas of Sweden are insular. +She scorns effective propaganda; she has never even attempted to +understand the Swedes. The bulk of the Swedes do not vote (1909). The +destinies of Sweden are in the hands of the Court. A king is still a +king in Sweden; but that will pass, and the movement of the Swedish +nation will be further and further away from the political ideas of +Germany.' + +In 1911 modified liberal suffrage became a Swedish institution. +Still, the State and Church remain united. Religion is not free; +nobody can hold office but a Lutheran. The 'Young Sweden' party is +governed very largely by the ideas of the German historian, +Treitschke. The philosophy of his history is reflected in the pages +of Harald von Hjarne. He is patriotic to the core, but, whether +consciously or not, he played into the hands of the Prussian +propagandist. His history, a chronicle of the lives of Kings Charles +XII. and Gustavus Adolphus, displayed in apotheosis; and the +imperialistic idea, which carries with it militarist tendencies, is +illuminated with all the radiance of Hjarne's magic pen. Sweden must +have an adequate army. + +When Norway threatened to secede, its attitude very largely due to +the bad management of the very charming and indolent King Oscar, the +Swedish army began to mobilise. The Swedes--that is the minority of +Swedes, the governing body--would not brook the thought that Norway +might become a real nation. 'We must fight!' Young Sweden said. The +Young Sweden, intolerant and imperious, did not realise that it had +Old and Young Norwegians to contend with. Now, if the Spaniard and +the Swede are the proudest folk in Europe, the Norwegian and the +Icelandic are the most stiff-necked. The Swedish pride and the +Norwegian firmness, which contains a great proportion of obstinacy, +met, and Norway became a separate monarchy with such democratic +tendencies as make American democracy seem almost despotism. + +After the success of the Liberals in 1911, there was a reaction. The +German propaganda fanned the excited patriotism of the Swedish +people; 'their army was too small, their navy inefficient'; the force +of arms must be used against Russia. In fact, Russia had her Eastern +problems; the best-informed of the Swedish diplomatists admitted +this; but the propaganda was successful; the people were tricked; +nearly forty thousand farming folk and labourers marched to the +palace of King Gustav. They had made great contributions in money for +the increase of the fleet. 'That cruiser,' said a cynical naval +attaché, 'will one day fight for Germany--when the Yellow Peoples +attack us,' he added to ward off further questions. + +Nevertheless the German influence made no points against the 'yellow +peoples.' It was against Russia all their bullets were aimed. The +Russians understood secret diplomacy well; but, either because they +despised the common people too much or because the writers on Russia +were too self-centred, nothing was done to meet this propaganda +effectively. The Swede was taught to believe that Germany was the +best-governed nation on the face of the earth, and Russia the worst; +that Germany would benevolently protect, while Russia was ready to +pounce malignantly. Russian literature gave no glimpse of light. It +was grey or black, and the language in which the Russian papers were +printed was an effectual barrier to the understanding of the Swedes, +who, as a matter of course, nearly all read German. + +Young Sweden believed that the first step on the road to greatness +was a declaration of war with Russia. Nothing could have suited the +plans of the Pan-Germans better than this, for it meant for Sweden an +alliance with Germany. The Swedish literary man and university +professors voiced, as a rule, the pro-German opinions of Young +Sweden. There were some exceptions; but there were not many. And the +worst of all this was that these men were sincere. They were not +bribed with money. They were flattered, if you like, by German +commendations. Every historical work, every scientific treatise, +every volume of poetry of any value, found publishers and even kindly +critics in Germany. Russia was the enemy, and, from the point of view +of the intellectual Swede, illiterate. + +Russia had nothing to offer except commercial opportunities at great +risks. Swedish capital might easily be invested at home or, if +necessary, there was the United States or Germany for their surplus. +The pictures of Russian life given out by the great writers who ought +to know it, were not inspiring of hope in the future of Russia. There +was no special need for the Swedish scholar to complain of the German +influence in his country since it was all in his favour. The +Government honoured him--following the German examples--and made him +part of the State. Even the English intellectuals, who, as every +Scandinavian knew, ought to have distrusted Germany, acknowledged the +superiority of German 'Kultur' without understanding that it meant, +not culture, but the worship of a Prussian apotheosis. + +One of the most agreeable of Swedish professors whom I met in +Christiania at the centennial of the Christiania University, went +over the situation with me. I had come in contact with him especially +as I had been honoured by being asked to represent Georgetown +University and further honoured by being elected dean of all the +American representatives, including the Mexican and South American. +This was in 1911. + +'Frankly,' I said, 'are not you Swedes putting all your eggs into one +basket? What have you to do with the Teuton and Slavic quarrel? Do +you believe for a moment that the ultra-Bismarckian policy which +controls Germany will consider you anything but a pawn in the +diplomatic game? I think that, as Swedes, you ought to help to +consolidate Scandinavia, and your diplomatists, instead of playing +into Germany's hands, ought to make it worth her while to support +her, as far as you choose. You are selling yourself too cheap.' + +His eyes flashed. 'You do not talk like an American,' he said. Then +he remembered himself and became polite, even 'mannered.' 'I mean +that you talk too much like diplomatists of the old school of secret +diplomacy.' + +'I believe that there are secrets in diplomacy which no diplomatist +ever tells.' + +'But you would have us attempt to disintegrate Russia, and, at the +same time, play with Germany in order to make ourselves stronger.' + +'I did not say so. For some reason or other, the Germans call you +"stupid Swedes."' + +'Not now. That has passed. The Germans recognise our qualities,' he +added proudly. 'The English do not. The Russians look on us only as +their prey. You, being an American, are pro-Russian. I have heard +that you were particularly pro-Russian. Not,' he added hastily, 'that +you are anti-German. The German vote counts greatly in the United +States, and you could not afford to be; you might lose your "job," as +one of your ministers at Stockholm called it; but you, confess +it!--have a regard for the Russians.' + +'They are interesting. We of the North owe them gratitude for their +conduct during our Civil War. Anti-German? I love the old Germany; I +love Weimar and the Tyrol; but, speaking personally, I do not love +the Prussianisation of Germany. I have written against the +_Kulturkampf_. I dislike the "Prussian Holy Ghost" who tried to rule +us back in the '80's, but my German colleagues recognise the fact +that I see good in the German people, and love many of their +qualities.' + +'Still,' laughed the professor, who knows one of my best friends in +Rome, 'they say that you came abroad to live down your attacks in the +_Freeman's Journal_ on the German Holy Ghost.' + +I changed the subject; that was not one of the things I had to live +down. + +'Germany is our only friend, our only equal intellectually, our only +sympathetic relative by blood. The Norwegians hate us, the Danes +dislike us. We have the same ideas as the Germans, namely, that the +elect, not the merely elected, must govern. It was Martin Luther's +idea, and his idea has made Germany great.' + +'But there is nothing contrary to that idea in the Northern League, +which Count Carl Carlson Bonde and other Swedes dreamed about, is +there? You Swedes seem to believe that Martin Luther was infallible +in everything but religion. He would probably like to see most of you +burned, although you are all "confirmed."' + +The Professor laughed: 'Paris vaut une messe,' he quoted. 'I admit +that Luther would not approve of the religious point of view of our +educated classes; but, at least, we have a semblance of unity, while +you, like the English, have a hundred religions and only one sauce. +Our Lutheranism is a great bond with Germany, as well as our love of +science and our belief in authority. As to the Northern League, Count +Bonde was a dreamer.' + +'Everybody is a dreamer in Sweden who is not affected by the +Pan-German idea. Is that it?' + +'You are badly informed,' he said. 'Your Danish environment has +affected you. As long as we can control our people, we shall be +great. We have only to fear the Socialist. The decision in essential +matters must always rest with the king and the governing classes. Our +army and navy will be supported by popular vote, as in Germany; they +are the guarantees of our greatness.' + +This was the opinion of most of the autocratic and military--and to +be military was to be autocratic--classes in 1911. + +Later I spoke with one of the most distinguished of the Norwegians, +Professor Morgenstjern. He seemed to be an exception to the general +idolatry of German Kultur. + +It was impossible to get the Swede of traditions to see that +Germany's policy was to keep the three Northern nations apart--not +only the Northern nations but the other small nations. When, just +before the war, Christian X. and Queen Alexandrina visited Belgium on +their accession the German propagandists in Scandinavia were shocked; +it was _infra dig_. It was 'French.' 'The King and Queen of Denmark +will be visiting Alsace-Lorraine and wearing the tricolour!' a +disappointed hanger-on in the German Legation said. + +It was my business to find out what various Foreign Offices meant, +not what they said they meant. 'Of open diplomacy in the full sun, +there are few modern examples. Secrecy in diplomacy has become +gradually greater than it was a quarter of a century ago, not from +mere reticence on the part of ministers, but to a large extent from +the decline of interest in foreign affairs.' + +The writer of this sentence in the _Contemporary Review_ alluded to +England. This lack of interest existed even more in the United +States. And then as militarism grew in Europe, one's business was to +discover what the Admiralty thought, for in Germany and Austria, even +in France, after the Dreyfus scandal, one must be able to know what +the military dictators were about. The newspapers had a way of +discovering certain facts that Foreign Offices preferred to hide. But +the most astute newspaper owing to the necessity of having a fixed +political policy and the difficulty of finding men foolish enough or +courageous enough to risk life for money, could rarely predict with +certainty what Foreign Offices really intended to do. Besides +Foreign Offices, outside of Germany, were generally 'opportunists.' + +Few diplomatists of my acquaintance were deceived by the Kaiser's +professions of peace. That he wanted war seemed incredible, for he +had the reputation of counting the cost. He was indiscreet at times, +but his 'indiscretions' never led him to the extent of giving away +the intentions of the General Staff. That he wanted to turn the +Baltic into a German sea was evident. The Swedish 'activist' would +calmly inform you that, if this were true, Germany would treat +Sweden, and perhaps the other Scandinavian countries, as Great +Britain treated the United States--the Atlantic, as everybody knew, +being a 'British lake' and yet free to the United States! + +There was no missing link in the German propaganda in Sweden. Prussia +used the Lutheran Church as she had tried to use the German Jesuits +and failed. The good commonsense of the Swedish common people alone +saved them from making German Kultur an integral part of their +religion. When it filtered out that, notwithstanding the close +relationship of the Tsaritza of Russia with the German Emperor, the +Prussian Camorra had determined to control Russia, to humiliate her, +to control her, there were those among the leaders who saw what this +meant. They saw Finland and the Aaland Islands Germanised, and their +resources, the product of their mines and of their factories, as much +Germany's as Krupp's output. The bourgeoisie and the common people +saw no future glory or profit in this. + +The knowledge of it filtered through; the Lutheran pastor, with his +dislike of democracy, his love for the autocratic monarchy, 'all +power comes from God,' I heard him quote, without adding that St. +Paul did not say that 'All rulers come from God,'--could not +convince the hard-thinking, hard-working Swede that religion meant +subjugation to a foreign power. The Lutheran Church, which, like all +national churches, was hampered by the State, could give no +intelligent answer to his doubts, so he turned to the Social +Democrats. The governing class in Sweden seemed to take no cognisance +of the growth of democracy in the hearts of the people. Germany was +alive to it and feared it; but, in Sweden, rather than admit it and +its practical effects, the rulers ignored it, were shocked by the +great tide of emigration to the United States, yet careless of its +effects on Swedish popular opinion. + +On one occasion in Copenhagen, King Gustav asked me why so many of +his people emigrated to my country. The King of Sweden is a very +serious man, not easily influenced or distracted from any subject +that interests him, and the good of his people interested him very +much. It was a difficult question to answer, for comparisons were +always odious. + +'I can better tell you, sir, why your subjects prefer to remain at +home:--when they get good land cheap, and when they see the chance of +rising beyond their fathers' position in the social scale.' + +He began to speak, but etiquette demanded a move. When I met him +again he returned to the subject. It was better that he should talk, +and he talked well. It became evident to me that there was little +good agricultural land in Sweden to give away, and the division +between the classes was not so impassable as I had believed. He made +that clear. + +The Social Democrat in Sweden wants an equal opportunity, no wars to +be declared by the governing classes, and the abolition of the +monarchy. He is not concerned greatly with the Central Powers or the +Entente. He was glad to see the Hohenzollerns displaced, but he is +German in the sense that he is affiliated with the German Social +Democrats who, he believes, were forced to deny their principles +temporarily or they would have been thrown to the lions; and as, +above all things, he prizes a moderate amount of material comfort for +himself and his family, he will not go out of his way to be martyred; +but even he was the victim of modified German propaganda; he was too +patriotic to accept it all. + +Of late, as we know, the Liberal Party has gained strength, and the +designs of a small activist military coterie were frustrated by a +series of circumstances, of which the Luxburg revelations were not +the least; but the main reason was the coquetting of the Government +with Germany, one of the signs of which was that the Allied blockade +was not treated as a fact, while the mythical blockade by Germany was +accepted as really existing. + +Personally, I had respect for Dr. Hammarskjold, the Premier of the +conservative cabinet that ruled Sweden in the beginning of the war. +He was formerly a colleague in Copenhagen, and, with the exception of +Francis Hagerup, now Norwegian Minister at Stockholm, he is the +greatest jurist in Northern Europe. He is a Swede of Swedes, with all +the traditions of the over-educated Swede. Neutrality he desired +above all things--that is, as long as it could be preserved with +honour; but he evidently believed that, for the preservation of this +neutrality, it was most necessary to keep on very good terms with +Germany. Hammarskjold's point of view was more complicated, more +technical than that of Herr Branting, and it is to Herr Branting's +raising of the voice of the Swedish nation that a serious difficulty +with the Entente was avoided. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to put +down Hammarskjold as pro-German, for he is, first of all, +pro-Swedish. + +Edwin Bjorkman, an expert in Swedish affairs, says, after he has paid +the compliments of an honest man to the wretched Prussian +conspiracies in Sweden:-- + + 'For this German intriguing against supposedly friendly nations + there can be no defence. For the more constructive side of + Germany's effort to win Sweden, there is a good deal to be said, + not only in defence, but in praise. It was not wholly selfish or + hypocritical, and it was directed with an intelligence worthy of + emulation. All the best German qualities played a conspicuous and + successful part in that effort,--enthusiasm, thoroughness, + systematic thinking and acting, intellectual curiosity, + adaptability, and a constant linking of national and personal + interests.'[7] + + [7] _Scribner's Magazine._ + +Men, like Hammarskjold, were naturally affected by an influence which +no other nation condescended to counteract. Besides, as a good Swede, +Hammarskjold knew that, in a possible conflict with Germany, Sweden +had nothing to expect, in the way of help, from the Allies. The +German propaganda had convinced many Swedes that it was England that +deprived King Oscar of Norway with the view of isolating Sweden and +assisting Russia's move to the sea. + +The late Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herr Wallenberg, was regarded +as a friend of the Entente, and was less criticised than any other +member of the Government. Many of his financial interests were +supposed to be in France, and he has many warm friends in all social +circles in that country. He is a man of cosmopolitan experience. He +has the reputation of being the best-informed man in Europe on +European affairs. + +Dr. E. F. Dillon, in one of his very valuable articles said: 'As +far back as March 1914, he gave it as his opinion that the friction +in the Near East would in a brief space of time culminate in a +European war.' To Dr. Dillon the English-speaking world owes the +knowledge of the points of view of certain activists, entirely +under German influence, as expressed in _Schwedische Stimmen zum +Weltkrieg--Uebersetzt mit einem Vorwart verschen von Dr. Friedrich +Steve_. The real title is best translated _Sweden's Foreign Policy in +the Light of the World War_. It was a plea for war in the interests +of Germany, representing those of Germany and Sweden as one. They +were anonymous--now that some of them have had a change of mind it is +well that their names were withheld. They were evidently pro-Germans +of all Swedish political parties. It may not be out of place to say +that the papers of Dr. Dillon, such as those printed in the +_Contemporary Review_, are documents of inestimable diplomatic-social +value. + +It was the leader of the Socialists, Herr Branting, who helped to +make evident that a change had been slowly taking place among the +Swedish people. Herr Branting is of a very different type from the +generally received idea of what a Socialist is. He would not do on +the stage. In fact, like many of the constructive Socialists in +Scandinavia, he is rather more like a modern disciple of Thomas +Jefferson than of Marx or Bakounine. He knows Europe, and he brings +to the cause of democracy in Europe great power, well-digested +knowledge, and a tolerance not common in Sweden, where religious +sectarianism among the bulk of the people was as great an enemy to +political progress as the Prussian propaganda. + +The most influential man in Sweden, Herr Branting, was obliged to +renew his formal adhesion to the Lutheran Church, which he had +renounced, to hold office. The strength of Herr Branting's position, +which has lately immensely increased, may be surmised from the fact +that, in 1914, the Radicals gave 462,621 votes as against 268,631. +The Government would have been wise to have heeded this warning in +time; but the men who had engineered the Activist movement, who had +worked the Swedish folk up to their demand for stronger defences and +a greater army and navy, seemed to think that Sweden was still to be +governed from the top. + +The Swedes are not the kind of people who can be led hither and +thither by bread and the circus. They know how to amuse themselves +without the assistance of their Government and to earn their bread, +too; but when the Government, through its presumably pro-German +policy, seemed to be responsible for the curtailment of the +necessities of life, they turned on their leaders and read the riot +act to them. Sweden boldly defied Pan-Germanism. + +A great day in Sweden was April 21st, 1917. It was a turning point in +the nation's destiny. The people took matters in their own hands. +Hjalmar Branting had forced the Swartz-Lindman Cabinet into a corner; +no more secret understandings, no more disregard of the feelings of +the voters who felt that, to help their nation intelligently, they +must know what was going on. Appeals to Charles XII. or the shade of +Gustavus Adolphus no longer counted. What Germany liked or disliked +was of no moment to Branting. + +On the first of May we were all anxious in Denmark. Our Minister at +Stockholm, Mr. Ira Nelson Morris, understood the situation; he +expected no great outbreak as a result of Branting's action in the +Rigstag, revealing the existence of a secret intrigue to raise, on +the part of the Government, a guard of civilians to protect the +'privileged classes,' as the Socialists called them, against +disturbances on the part of the proletariat. Branting gave a +guarantee that no tumult among the people should take place. +Nevertheless, the German propaganda kept at work; the people were not +to be trusted. On May 1st, the party in power protected the palace +with machine guns and packed its environs with troops. It was a +rather indiscreet thing to do, since Branting had given his word for +peace, providing that the pro-German protectorate did not make war. +On May 1st at least fifty thousand of the working classes, 'the +unprivileged classes,' made their demonstration in procession quietly +and solemnly. In the provinces, on the same day, half a million +Swedes sympathetically joined in this protest against the pro-German +attitude of the Government. + +When we entered the war the ruling classes declared, either privately +or publicly, that we had made a 'mistake'; they hinted that Germany +would make us see this mistake--this out of no malevolence to America +as America, but simply from a complete lack of sympathy with our +ideals. It must be remembered that an aristocracy, a bureaucracy +without privileges is as anomalous as a British Duke without estate. +The French Revolution was a protest, as we all know, against vested +privileges. When Madame Roland, the intellectual representative of a +great class, was expected to dine with the servants at a noble +woman's house, a long nail was driven into the coffin of privilege. + +In Sweden the fight is on against the privileges which the higher +classes in Sweden have expected Germany to help them conserve. + +On October 19th a new cabinet was formed; the people demanded a +Government which would be neutral. This was the result of the +election in September. On this result--the first real step in the +Swedish nation toward political democracy--they stand to-day. +Unrestrained or uninfluenced by Prussia, the classes of Sweden who +love their privileges, will accept the situation. The death-blow to +the landed aristocracy will doubtless be the suppression of the +majorats and the conversion of the entailed estates into cash. This +seems to be one of the fundamental intentions of the new order. The +classes who look to Germany as their model and mentor are now +non-existent--naturally! + +Germany allowed to the upper classes in Sweden no intellectual +contact with the democracies of the world. The world news dripped +into Sweden carefully expurgated. Her suspicions of Russia were kept +alive as we have seen; the good feeling which existed in Denmark +towards Sweden (due to the help the Swedish troops had given when +they were quartered at Glorup, near Odense, in readiness to meet the +Prussian attack in 1848) had been gradually undermined. While Sweden +owed much of her suspicions of the other two countries to German +influence as well as her fears of Russia, Denmark was confronted with +a real danger. + +Whatever progress Sweden has made towards democracy is not due to +intelligent propaganda on the part of America or England. It needed a +war to teach the Foreign Offices that diplomatic representatives have +greater duties than to be merely 'correct' and obey technical orders. + +German propaganda had little influence in Norway, but German methods +have been used to an almost unbelievable extent in the attempt to +lower the morale of this self-respecting and independent people. The +German propaganda could get little hold on a nation that cared only +to be sufficient for itself in an entirely legitimate way. The +Norwegian can neither be laughed, argued, nor coerced out of an +opinion that he believes to be founded on a principle, and he looks +on all questions from the point of view of a free man thinking his +own thoughts. + +German propaganda, during the war, took the form of coercion. The +ordinary influences brought to bear on Sweden would not be effective +in Norway. Socialism seemed to be less destructive to the existing +order of things in Norway than it was in Sweden, because it had fewer +obstacles to overcome. It was against the Pan-German idea that the +three Scandinavian countries should form the Northern Confederation +dreamed of by Baron Carlson Bonde and others. When the late King +Oscar of Sweden came under German influence--through all the +traditions of his family he should have been French--he began to give +the Norwegian causes of offence, and his attitude intensified their +growing hatred of all privileges founded on birth, hereditary office, +or assumption of superiority founded on extraneous circumstances. As +we know, the form of Lutheranism accepted in Norway has little effect +on the political life of the people, who, as a rule, are attached to +their special form of Protestantism because of traditions (part of +this tradition is hatred of Rome, as it is supposed to represent +imperial principles) and because it leaves them free to choose from +the Bible what suits them best. It is a mistake to imagine, as some +sociologists have, that the Lutheran Church in Norway inclined the +Norwegians to sympathy with German ideas. I have never, as yet, met a +Norwegian who seemed to associate his religion with Germany or to +imagine that he owed any regard to that country because 'the light,' +as he sometimes calls it, came to him through that German of +Germans, Martin Luther. In his mind, as far as I could see, there +seemed to be two kinds of Lutheranism--the German kind and the +Norwegian kind. I am speaking now of the people of average +education--who would dare to use the phrase 'lower classes' in +speaking of the Norwegians as we use it of the Swedes or the English? +An 'average education' means in Norway a high degree of knowledge of +what the Norwegian considers essential. + +This shows that racial differences are much more potent than +religious beliefs; and yet, in considering the problems of the world +to-day, it would be vain to leave religious affairs out of the +question, worse than vain--foolish. The Crown Prince of Germany, +having studied the Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, knew this; the Kaiser, +knowing Machiavelli, understood it too well. Lutheranism in Norway is +not a political factor owing to the peculiar temperament of the +people; therefore, Germany could not make use of it. With the +intellectual classes, the independent thinkers, it has ceased to be a +factor at all. Ibsen, who was in soul a mystic, is accused of leaning +towards German philosophies even by some of his own countrymen; but +there was never a more individualistic man than he. + +In my conversation with learned and intellectual Norwegians, I +discovered no leaning whatever to autocratic ideals. They were only +aristocrats in the intellectual sense. + +'Even our upper classes,' said a Swede, an ardent admirer of the +ideas of the Liberal Swede, Count Hamilton, 'are changing. You ought +to know our people as you know the Danes. A nation as plastic as +ours, capable of breaking its traditions by making a king of Marshal +Bernadotte, a person not "born" has great capacities for adaptation; +and this is the reason why my country will not be divided between +Germanised aristocrats and a Socialistic proletariat.' + +This, after all, represents the essential attitude of the best in +Sweden. That German ideals were propagated and well received by the +ruling classes is true, but, to generalise about any country, simply +because of the attitude of the persons one meets in society, is a +mistake that would lead a diplomatic representative into all manner +of difficulties. + +To assume that Sweden could have been governed as Germany was +governed, because German is the fashionable language among the +aristocracy and the intellectuals, or because Sweden is Lutheran, or +because the university and military education is founded on German +methods, is too misleading. The Swedish folk are not the kind that +would tamely submit to the drastic rule of the autocratic +Hohenzollern. + +The German attitude toward Norway was frankly antagonistic. There was +no power there to persuade the citizens of that country that all +kultur should come from above. The Norwegian is a democrat at heart. +He believes, with reason, in the industrial future of his country; he +understands what may be done with his inexhaustible supply of 'white +coal'; he knows the value of the process for seizing the nitrates +from the air. When he heard that supplies of potash had been +discovered in Spain, a distinguished Norwegian said: 'Poor Spain! The +Prussians will seize it now; but we should be willing to meet all the +Prussian fury if we could discover potash in Norway!' + +It is an open secret that Norway, at the time of her separation from +Sweden, would have preferred a republican form of government. The +Powers, England and Russia and Germany, would not hear of this, and +the Norwegians consented to a very limited monarchy. German or +Russian princes were out of the question, and Prince Charles of +Denmark, now King Haakon, who had married the Princess Maud of Great +Britain and Ireland, was chosen. King Edward VII. was pleased with +this arrangement; he had no special objection to the cutting down of +monarchical prerogatives, provided the hereditary principle was +maintained, and the marriage strengthened the English influence in +Norway. As King Haakon and Queen Maud have a son--Prince Olav--the +Norwegians are content, especially as King Haakon knows well how to +hold his place with tact, sympathy, and discretion. + +Norway is naturally friendly to the United States and England, and, +in spite of the Kaiser's regular summer visits, it was never at all +friendly to him. The treatment of Norway, when the Germans found that +the Norwegians were openly against their methods, was ruthless. The +plot of the German military party against the capital of Norway, +which meant the blowing up of a part of the city, has been hinted at, +but not yet fully revealed. The reports of the attempt to introduce +bombs in the shape of coals into the holds of Norwegian ships bound +to America were well founded, and the misery and wretchedness +inflicted on the families of Norwegian sailors by the U-boat +'horribleness' has made the German name detested in Norway. After the +crime of the _Lusitania_, the German Minister was publicly hissed in +Christiania. + +Remaining neutral, Norwegian business men kept up such trade with the +belligerents as the U-boat on one side and the embargo on the other +permitted. War and business seem to have no scruples, and the +Norwegian merchant, like most of ours, before we joined the Allies, +felt it his duty to try to send what he could into Germany. The +British Minister at Christiania, the British Admiralty, and a +patriotic group of Norwegians did their utmost in limiting this, and, +when the United States entered the war, they were ably seconded by +the American Minister, Mr. Schmedeman. The Norwegians, in spite of +all dangers, kept their boats running, and they were shocked when the +United States tightened the embargo, with a strangle grip. + +The Norwegian press openly said that we, the friend of the little +nations, had proved faithless, and pointed to their record as friends +of democracy. The American Minister, in the midst of the storm, did +an unusual thing; he published the text of the prepared agreement, +which Nansen had sent to Washington to negotiate. There was a time, +before this, when the name of our country, formerly so beloved and +revered, was execrated among the Norwegians. Mr. Schmedeman's quick +insight calmed a storm which arose from disappointment at the +stringent demands of a nation they had hitherto considered as their +best friend. This constant friendship for us was shown on all +occasions in Copenhagen by Dr. Francis Hagerup and Dr. John Irgens, +two of the most respected diplomatists in Europe. Dr. Hagerup's +reputation is widely spread in this country. + +No human being could be imagined as a greater antithesis to the +Prussians than the Norwegians; the Norwegian is in love with liberty; +he is an idealistic individual; it is difficult, too, to believe that +the Norwegian, the Swede and the Dane are of the same race. The +Norwegian is as obstinate as a Lowland Scot and as practical; he is a +born politician; he calls a spade a spade, and he is not noted for +that great exterior polish which distinguishes the Swede and the +Dane of the educated classes. A Norwegian gentleman will have good +manners, but he is never 'mannered.' For frankness, which sometimes +passes for honesty, the Norwegian of the lower classes is unequalled. +This has given the Norwegian a reputation for rudeness which he +really does not deserve. He is no more rude than a child who looks +you in the eye and gives his opinion of your personal appearance +without fear or favour; it does not imply that he is unkind. There is +a story of a Norwegian shipowner, who, asked to dine with King +Haakon, found that a business engagement was more attractive, so he +telephoned: 'Hello, Mr. King, I can't come to dinner!' + +A Norwegian told me, with withering scorn, the 'stupid comment' of an +'ignorant Swede' on the Norwegian character: 'You have no Niagara +Falls in Sweden, no great city like Chicago, no Red Indians!' He had +said, 'We have finer cataracts than your Niagara Falls, a magnificent +city, Stockholm, the Paris of Scandinavia, and many Red Indians, but +_we_ call them Norwegians!' + +One summer day, two well-mounted German officers, probably attending +the Kaiser or making arrangements for his usual yachting trip to +Norway, came along a country road. They were splendid looking +creatures, voluminously cloaked--a wind was blowing--helmets +glittering. Our car had stopped on a side road; something was wrong. +A peasant, manipulating two great pine stems on a low, two-wheeled +cart, had barred the main road, and, as the noontide had come, sat +down to eat his breakfast. One of the officers haughtily commanded +him to clear the way, expecting evidently a frightened obedience. The +peasant put his hands in his pockets and said,--'Mr. Man, I will +move my logs when I can. First, I must eat my breakfast, you can jump +your horses over my logs; why not? Jump!' + +The officer made a movement to draw his revolver; the Norwegian only +laughed. + +'Besides,' he said, 'there is a wheel half off my cart; I cannot move +it quickly.' + +The language of the officers was terrifying. Finally, they were +compelled to jump. Neither the sun glittering on the fierce eagles +nor the curses of the officers moved this amiable man; he drank +peacefully from his bottle of schnapps and munched his black bread +and sausage as if their great persons had never crossed his path, or, +rather, he theirs. + +Neither art, literature nor music has been Germanised in Norway. Art, +of later years, has been touched by the French ultra-impressionists. +There is no humble home in the mountains that does not know Grieg. +And why? When you know Grieg and know Norway, you know that Grieg is +Norway. + +Norway is the land of the free and the home of the brave. There was +no fear that German ideas would control it, and the Prussians knew +this. What is good in German methods of education the Norwegians +adopt, but they first make them Norwegian. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA + + +Machiavelli, in _The Prince_, instructs rulers in the use of religion +as a means of obtaining absolute power; and from the point of view of +monarchs of the Renaissance and after, he would have been a fool, if +he had neglected this important bond in uniting the nations he +governed. It was not a question as to the internal faith of the +ruler; that was a personal matter; but outwardly he must conform to +the creed which gave him the greatest political advantages. There is +a pretty picture of Napoleon's teaching the rudiments of Christianity +to a little child at Saint Helena; but who imagines that he would +have hesitated to make the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca or to prostrate +himself before the idols of any powerful Pagan nation, if he could +have fulfilled his plans in the East? 'Paris vaut une Messe,' said +Henry IV. of Navarre and France with the cynicism of his tribe. Queen +Catherine di Medici and Queen Elizabeth had their superstitions. They +probably believed that all clever people have the same religion, but +never tell what it is--the religion to which Lord Beaconsfield +thought he belonged. It is against the subversion of religion, of +spirituality, to the State that democracy protests. Frankly, it is as +much against the despotism of Socialism as it is against the +Machiavellianism of His late Imperial Majesty, the German Emperor. He +hoped to become Emperor of Germany and the world, and to speak from +Berlin _urbi et ubi_. To be German Emperor did not content him. + +The Kaiser's use of religion as an adjunct to the possession of +absolute power began very early in his reign. Bismarck could teach +him nothing, though Bismarck was as decided a Hegelian as he was a +Prussian in his idea of the function of the ruler. + +Hegel, the learned author of the _Philosophy of Right_, was Prussian +to the core. He was on the side of the rulers, and he hated reforms, +or rather, feared reformers, because they might disturb the divinely +ordered authority. There must be a dot to the 'i' or it meant nothing +in the alphabet. This dot was the King. He was the darling of the +Prussian Government and the spokesman of Frederick William III. He +loathed the movement in Germany towards democratic reforms, and +watched England with distrustful eyes. The teaching of most Hegelians +in the Universities of the United States--and the Hegelian idea of +the State had made much progress here--was to minimise somewhat the +arbitrary and despotic ideas of their favourite Prussian philosopher. +No man living has yet understood the full meaning of all parts of his +philosophical teachings, but one thing was clear to all men who, like +myself, watched the application of Hegelianism to Prussia and to +Germany. The State must be supreme. + +The Catholics in Germany saw the errors of Hegelianism as applied to +the State, but they were not sufficiently enlightened or clever, and +they neglected to oppose its progress efficiently. There are various +opinions about the activities of the Fathers of the Congregation of +Jesus (founded by Saint Ignatius Loyola as a _corps d'élite_ of the +counter-reformation) in Germany and in the world in general. Bismarck +heartily disapproved of them for the same reasons as Hegel +disapproved of them. They taught that Cæsar is not omnipotent, that +the human creature has rights which must be respected, and are above +the claims of the State. In a word, in Germany, they stood for the +one thing that the Prussian monarchs detested--dissent on the part of +any subject to their growing assertion of the divine right of kings. + +Windthorst formed the Centrum, and opposed Bismarck valiantly, but +political considerations Prussianised the Centre, or Catholic party, +as they moved 'the enemies of Prussianism,' the Socialists, when the +crucial moment arrived, and burned incense to absolute Cæsar. It was +not a question of Lutheranism against Catholicism in Germany in 1872, +not a question of an enlightened philosophy, founded on modern +research against obscurantism, as most of my compatriots have until +lately thought, but a clean-cut issue between the doctrine of the +entire supremacy of the State and the inherent rights of the citizen +to the pursuit of happiness, provided he rendered what he owed to +Cæsar legitimately. That the victims of the oppression were Jesuits +blinded many of us to the motive of the attack. The educational +system of the Jesuits had enemies among the Catholics of Germany, +too, so that they lost sight of the principle underneath the Falk +laws, so dear to Bismarck. Frederick the Great and Catherine of +Russia protected the Jesuits, it is true, but they were too absolute +to fear them. Besides, as Intellectuals, they were bound to approve +of a society, which in the eighteenth century had not lost its +reputation for being the most scientific of religious bodies. + +The Falk laws were, in the opinion of Bismarck and the disciples of +the _Kulturkampf_, the beginning of the moulding of the Catholic +Church in Germany as a subordinate part of the autocratic scheme of +government. They had nothing to fear from the Lutherans--they were +already under control--and nothing to fear from the unbelieving +Intellectuals, of the Universities, for they had already accepted +Hegel and his corollaries. The main enemies of the ultra-Kaiserism +were the Catholic Church and Socialism--Socialism gradually drawing +within its circle those men who, under the name of Social Democrats, +believed that the Hohenzollern rule meant obscurantist autocracy. + +The Socialists, pure and simple, are as great an enemy to democracy +as the Pan-Germans. The varying shades of opinion among the Social +Democrats,--there are liberals among them of the school of Asquith, +and even of the school of Lloyd George, constitutional monarchists +with Jeffersonian leanings, Lutherans, Catholics, non-believers, men +of various shades of religious opinion are all bent on one +thing,--the destruction of the ideals of Government advocated by +Hegel and put into practice by the Emperor and his coterie. + +Both the Socialist and the Social Democrat came to Copenhagen. They +talked; they argued. They were on neutral soil. It was impossible to +believe, on their own evidence, that the Socialism of Marx, of Bebel, +of the real Socialists in Germany, could remedy any of the evils +which existed under imperialistic régime in that country. + +The Socialist or the Social Democrat was feared in Germany, until he +applied the razor to his throat, or, rather, attempted hari-kari when +he voted for war. The Socialists can never explain this away. His +prestige, as the apostle of peace and good-will, is gone; he is no +longer international; he is out of count as an altruist. The Social +Democrat is in a better position; he never claimed all the attributes +of universal benignity; he was still feared in Germany, but in that +harmless debating society, the Reichstag, with the flower of the +German manhood made dumb in the trenches, he could only threaten in +vain. + +In our country, pure Socialism is misunderstood. It is either cursed +with ignorant fury or looked on as merely democracy, a little +advanced, and perhaps too individualistic. It ought to be better +understood. Socialism means the negation of the individual will; the +deprivations of the individual of all the rights our countrymen are +fighting for. It is a false Christianity with Christian precepts of +good-will, of love of the poor, of equality, fraternity, +liberty,--phrases which have, on the lips of the pure Socialist, the +value of the same phrases uttered by Robespierre and Marat. + +'I find,' said a Berlin Socialist, whom I had invited to meet Ben +Tillett, the English Labour Agitator, 'that Danish Socialism is +merely Social Democracy. Given a fair amount of good food and +comfort, schools, and cheap admittance to the theatres, the +Copenhagen Socialists seem to be contented. You may call it +"constructive Socialism," but I call it Social Degeneracy. We, +following the sacred principles of Marx and Bakounine, different as +they were, must destroy before we can construct. In the future, every +honest man will drive in his own car, and the best hospitals will not +be for those that pay, but for those who cannot pay. Cagliostro said +we must crush the lily, meaning the Bourbons; we must crush all that +stands in the way of the perfect rule which will make all men equal. +We must destroy all governments as they are conducted at present; we +have suffered; all restrictive laws must go!' + +Ben Tillett could not come to luncheon that day, so we missed a tilt +and much instruction. The European Socialist's only excuse for +existence is that he has suffered, and he has suffered so much that +his sufferings must cry to God for justice. As to his methods, they +are not detestable. They are so reasonable, so Christian, that some +of us lose sight of his principles in admiring them. The Kaiser has +borrowed some of the best of the Socialistic methods in the +organisation of his superbly organised Empire, and that makes Germany +strong. But sympathy with the Socialists anywhere is misplaced. Their +principles are as destructive as their methods are admirable. Their +essential article of faith is that the State, named the Socialistic +aggregation, shall be supreme and absolute. + +As to the other enemies of despotism in Germany, the Jesuits, they +were downed simply because Bismarck and the Hegelian Ideal would not +tolerate them. They exalted, as Hegel said, the virtue of +resignation, of continency, of obedience, above the great old Pagan +virtues, which ought to distinguish a Teuton. The Jesuits, German +citizens, few in number, apparently having no powerful friends in +Europe or the world, were cast out, as the War Lord would have cast +out the Socialist if he had dared. But the Socialists were a growing +power; they had shown that they, like the unjust steward in the +parable, know how to make friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness. + +The Jesuits went; the Catholic party, the Centre was placated by the +request of Germany to have the Pope arbitrate the affair of the +Caroline Islands and by the colonial policy of Bismarck in 1888 in +supporting the work of Cardinal Lavigerie in Africa. The Catholic +population of Germany, more than one-third of the whole, accepted +the dictum that the State had the right to exile German citizens +because they disagreed with the Government as to the freedom of the +human conscience. However, as the Catholic Germans were divided in +sentiment as to the value of the Jesuit system of education, which in +this country seems to be very plastic, they were at last fooled by +the Centrum, their party, into the acceptance of a compromise. + +To Copenhagen, there came, after the opening of the war, an old +priest, who had been caught in the net in Belgium; 'That Christians +should forgive such horrors as the Germans commit! Why do not the +Christian Germans protest? I confessed a German Colonel, a Catholic, +who had lain a day and a night in a field outside a Belgian town. He +was dying when some of your Americans found him, and brought him to +me. "I suffered horrors during the night," he said, "horrors almost +unbearable. I groaned many times; I heard the voices of men passing; +these men heard me." "There is a wounded man," one said, and they +came to me. "He's a German," the other said, "qu'il crève" (let him +die). And they passed on. "This," I thought, in my agony, "this, in a +Christian land where the story of the Good Samaritan is read from the +pulpits; yet they leave me to die. But when I remembered, Father, the +atrocities for which I had been obliged to shoot ten of my own +soldiers, I understood why they had passed me by."' The good priest, +who had many friends in Germany, repeated over and over again: 'Whom +the gods wish to destroy, they first make mad; the Catholics in +Germany must be mad!' + +Bismarck had used Falk and the Liberals to divide and control. He +later found it necessary to placate Windthorst and the Centrum, then +a 'confessional,' or religious party. It has changed since that +time; it is now, like the Social Democratic block, made up of persons +of various shades of religious opinion, but having similar political +ideas. It represents a determination not to allow the State to be +absolute, and, no doubt, if the United States had realised its +position, it might have been strengthened by intelligent propaganda +to be of use in breaking the Prussian autocracy. But hitherto even +travelled Americans have regarded it as a remnant of the Middle Ages, +and hopelessly reactionary. It was part of the Kaiser's policy to +make the rest of the world think so, for he had adopted and adapted +this Bismarckian chart while throwing the pilot of many stormy seas +overboard. Bismarck lived to see the heritage of despotism, which he +had destined for his oldest son, seized by a young monarch, whose +capabilities he had underrated. Then, the Danes say, he uttered the +sneer, 'I will freshen the Hohenzollern blood with that of Struense!' + +The German propaganda for controlling the Church in the United States +had been well thought out in 1866. The emigrants from Germany, just +after 1848, were not open to the influence of Prussian ideas; they +had had more than sufficient of them, but when the great crowd of +Germans came in later, it was time to inject the proper spirit of +Prussianism into their veins. + +It is well known that the Emperor William had his eyes on the +Vatican. He was wise enough to see that if the Catholic Church lost +in one place, she was certain to gain in another; it was not +necessary for him to read Macaulay's eloquent passage on the Papacy, +as most statesmen who speak English do. But his indiscretions in +speech and writing, whether premeditated or not, for the _Zeitgeist_ +and the orthodox Lutherans must be propitiated--were constantly +nullifying his plans. + +As to the spiritual essence of the Catholic Church, the emperor did +not recognise it. Papal Rome was dangerous to him as long as it +remained independent; he coquetted with Harnack and with the most +advanced of the higher critics who whittled the Bible into a +pipestem. How he squared himself with the orthodox Lutherans, +apparently nearly two-thirds of the population, can only be shown by +his constant allusions to the Prussian God. As a State Church, +yielding obedience almost entirely to the governing power of the +country, he had little fear of Lutheranism in its varying shades of +opinion. The Jews he evidently always distrusted. He regarded them as +Internationalists and not to be recognised until they became of the +State Church; then they might aspire, for certain considerations, to +be _rath_ and even to wear the precious _von_. + +The emperor wanted control of the Vatican. He knows history (at least +we thought so in Copenhagen), and he was sympathetic with his +ancestors in all their quarrels with the Holy See on the subject of +the investitures; the emperor had wisely foreseen that difficulties +of the same kind between the Vatican and himself might easily break +out, were not the Vatican modernised or controlled. He knew that the +claims of the Popes to dethrone rulers could never be revived since +they were not inherent in the Papacy, but only admitted by the +consent of Christendom, which had ceased to exist as a political +entity; but the question of the right of a lay emperor to control the +policy of the Holy Father in matters of the religious education, +marriage, church discipline of Catholics might at any time arise. He +knew the _non possumus_ of Rome too well to believe that in a +spiritual crisis she could be moved by the threats of any ruler. If +His Imperial Majesty could have forced the principle of some of his +ancestors that the religion of a sovereign must be that of his +subjects, the question might be settled. If he could have arranged +the religion of his subjects as easily as he settled the question as +to the authenticity of the Flora of Lucas in Berlin in favour of +Director Bode, how clear the way would have been! As it was, he knew +too well what he might expect from Rome in a crisis where he, +following the Prussian _Zeitgeist_, might wish to infringe on the +spiritual prerogatives. To understand the world every European +diplomatist of experience knows the Vatican must not be ignored, and, +while the War Lord, the future emperor of the world, hated to +acknowledge this, he was compelled to do it. The Vatican, that had +nullified the May laws and defeated Falk, their sponsor, might give +the emperor trouble at any time. Catholics of the higher classes all +over Europe were ceasing to be Royalists. The Pope, Leo XIII., had +even accepted the French Republic, and for the part of Cardinal +Rampolla and of Archbishop Ireland in this the Kaiser hid his +rancour. He must be absolute as far as the right of his family and +those of the hereditary succession went, and quite as absolute in his +control over such laws as were for the increase of the Kultur of his +people. + +At one time, since the present war opened, it was rumoured at +Copenhagen that plural marriages were to be allowed, to increase the +population of a nation so rapidly being depleted. I was astonished to +hear a German Lutheran pastor--he was speaking personally, and not +for his church--say that there was nothing against this in the +teachings of Luther or Melanchthon. He quoted the affair of a +Landgraf of Hesse in the sixteenth century. + +'But the Kaiser would not consent to this,' I said. 'Why not?' +responded the pastor. 'He knows his Old Testament; he has the right +of private interpretation especially when the good of the State is to +be considered.' + +'Over a third of the Germans are Catholics; the Pope would never +consent to that.' + +'There would be an obstacle,' he admitted; 'but the Kaiser, in the +interests of the nation, would have his way. Our nation must have +soldiers. You Americans,' he added, bitterly, 'are killing our +prospective fathers in the name of Bethlehem. We must make up the +deficit by turning to the Hebraic practice.' + +'You cannot bring the Catholics to that, and I doubt whether any +decent people would consent to it, in spite of your quotation from +Luther's precedent. No Pope could allow it.' + +'A Pope can do anything--whom you shall forgive,' he laughed, 'is +forgiven.' + +'A Pope cannot do anything; the moment he approved of plural +marriages in the interest of any nation, he would cease to be Pope. +He cannot abrogate a law both divine and natural, and I doubt----' + +'Do not doubt the power of the head of the German people, the +Shepherd of his Church. The German people are the religious, the +spiritual counterparts of the true Israelites, were begotten by the +spirit, mystical Jehovah who made Israel the prophet-nation; +mystically He has designated the German tribes as their successors. +He lives in us. This war is His doing; our Kultur, which is saturated +with our religion, is inspired by Him. He must destroy that the elect +may live.' + +'Again, I repeat, Germany can no more accept such debasing of the +moral currency than she can encourage the production of illegitimate +children at the present moment. I do not believe that there is a +hospital in Berlin, especially arranged for the caring for the +offspring of army nurses and soldiers. It is a calumny.' + +'We must have boy children,' said the pastor, 'but that is going too +far. Still, _Deutschland über alles_. We may one day have a German +Pope with modern ideas.' + +My friend of St. Peter's Lutheran German Church was out of town. I +asked another friend to report the conversation to him. Our mutual +friend said that Pastor Lampe smiled and said, 'There are extremists +in every country. Tell the American Minister to read Dr. Preuss in +the _Allgemeine Evangelische_, _Lutherische Kirchenzeitung_.' + +But I am out of due time; Dr. Preuss's famous _Passion of Germany_, +in full, appeared later, in 1915. + +It is true that Austria's vote at the Conclave had defeated Cardinal +Rampolla as a candidate for the Papacy. The Emperor of Austria had +permitted himself to be used as a tool of the German Emperor, not +willingly, perhaps, for Rampolla stood for many things political +which the Absolutists hated. Nevertheless, he had done it, to the +disgust of the College of Cardinals, who thus saw a forgotten weapon +of the lay power used against themselves. They abolished the right of +veto, which Austria as a Catholic Power had retained. But the +Conclave elected a Pope who did not please the Kaiser. He was a +kindly man of great religious fervour, impossible to be moved by +German cajoling or threats. The knowledge of the crime of Germany +killed him. Nevertheless, the Emperor William had curbed the power +of Rampolla, as he hoped to destroy that of Archbishop Ireland in the +Great Republic of the West. A powerful Church with a tendency to +democracy was what he feared, and Archbishop Ireland, a frankly +democratic prelate, the friend of France, the admirer of Lafayette, +had dared to raise his powerful hand against the religious propaganda +of the All Highest in the United States of America, where one day +German Kultur was to have a home. The great Napoleon had thought of +his sister, the Princess Pauline, as Empress of the Western +hemisphere. Why not one of our imperial sons for the crude Republic +which had helped Mexico in the old, blind days to eject Maximilian? +Napoleon had made his son, later the Duke of Reichstadt, King of +Rome. Why should not one of the sons of our Napoleonic Crown Prince +be even greater, a German Pope--at least a German Prince of the +Church expounding Harnack with references to Strauss's _Life of +Jesus_? Why not? The vicegerent of the Teutonic God? + +From many sources it leaked out that the Kaiser looked on the Most +Reverend John Ireland as an enemy of his projects both in Europe and +the United States. The Archbishop of St. Paul was known to be the +friend of Cardinal Rampolla. All who knew the inside of recent +history were aware that he had been consulted by Leo XIII. on vital +matters pertaining to France, in which country the ultra-Royalists, +who had managed to wrap a large part of the mantle of the Church +around them, were making every possible mistake and opposing the +Pope's determination to recognise the Republic. Archbishop Ireland +had been educated in France; he had served in the Civil War as +chaplain; he knew his own country as few ecclesiastics knew it. He, +growing up with the West, in the most American part of the West, had +brought all the resources of European culture, of an unusual +experience in world affairs, to a country at that time not rich in +men of his type. In the East, the Catholic Church had had prelates +like Cardinal Cheverus, Archbishop of Boston, a number of them, but +St. Paul was little better than a trading station when John Ireland +finished the first part of his education in France. The tide of +emigration had not yet begun to raise questions on the answers to +which the future of the country depended. It required far-sighted men +to consider them sanely. From the beginning Archbishop Ireland +reflected on them. He saw the danger of rooting in new soil the bad, +old weeds, the seeds of which were poisoning Europe. He was familiar +with the _coulisses du Vatican_, knew that Rome ecclesiastically +would try to do the right thing. But Rome ecclesiastically depends +very largely on the information it receives from the countries under +consideration. + +The attitude of the opponents of the Catholic Church is due, as a +rule, to their ignorance of anything worth knowing about the Church +and their utter disregard of its real history. Their narrow attitude +is illustrated by the story that President Roosevelt, in a Cabinet +Meeting was once considering the form of a document which official +etiquette required, should be addressed to the Pope. 'Your Holiness,' +said the President. A member of the Cabinet objected. This title from +a Protestant President! 'Do you want me to call the Pope the Son of +the Scarlet Lady?' asked the President. The objection was as valid as +that of the Puritan who objected to sign a letter 'Yours faithfully' +because he was not _his_ faithfully! + +In the celebrated _Century_ article of 1908, the handling of which +showed that the editors of the _Century_ held their honour higher +than any other possession, an allusion to Archbishop Ireland +appeared. I have been informed that it showed the animus of the +Kaiser against the Archbishop, who with Cardinal Gibbons, the Bishops +Keane, Spalding, O'Gorman, and Archbishop Riordan seconded by the +present Bishop of Richmond, Denis O'Connell, had defeated, after a +frightful struggle, the attempt of Kaiserism to govern the Catholic +Church in this country. Its beginnings seemed harmless enough. + +A merchant named Peter Paul Cahensly of Limburg, Prussia, suggested +at the Catholic Congress of Trier, the establishment of a society for +protecting German emigrants to the United States, both at the port of +leaving and the port of arriving. Another Catholic Congress met in +Bamburg, Bavaria, three years later. Connection was made with the +Central Verein, which at its convention took up the matter zealously. +But the zeal waned, and in 1888, Herr Cahensly came to New York in +the steerage so that he could know how the German emigrant lived at +sea. He arranged that the German emigrants should be looked after in +New York and then left for home. It was reasonable enough that +Cahensly should interest himself in the welfare of the Germans at the +point of departure, but entirely out of order that he should attempt +any control of the methods for taking care of the emigrants on this +side. + +It was suspected that Cahensly had talked over a plan for retaining +the Catholic Germans, especially in the West, where they formed large +groups, as still part of their native country. This had already been +tried among the Lutherans, and had for a time succeeded. The Swedish +Lutherans, segregated under the direction of German-educated +pastors, were considered to have been well taken care of. The war has +shown that the Americans of Swedish birth in the West showed +independence. + +The suspicions entertained by the watchful were corroborated when, in +1891, Cahensly presented a memorial to the Papal Secretary of State, +Cardinal Rampolla, making the plea that the 'losses' to the Church +were so great, owing to the lack of teaching and preaching in German, +that a measure ought to be taken to remedy this evil by appointing +foreign Bishops and priests, imported naturally, so that each +nationality would use the language of its own country. + +The object aimed at was to put the English language in the +background, to have the most tender relations, those between God and +little children, between the growing youths and Christianity, +dominated by a mode of thought and expression which would alienate +them from their fellows. In business, a man might speak such English +as he could; but English was not good enough for him in the higher +relations of life. He might earn money in 'this crude America,' but +all the finenesses of life must be German. I think I pointed out in +the New York _Freeman's Journal_ at the time, that, if there were a +special German Holy Ghost, as some of these Germanophiles seemed to +believe, he had failed to observe that there was little in the +'heretical' English language so devoid of all morality as the dogmas +proposed to govern the conduct of life in some of the Wisconsin +papers, printed in German. + +Some clear-sighted Americans, Cardinal Gibbons and Archbishop Ireland +at their head, saw what this meant. Kaiserism was concealed in the +glow of piety. The proceedings of the Priester Verein Convention, in +Newark, September 26, 1892, is on record. The Ordinary of the +Diocese, Bishop Wigger, had protested against the stand the German +Priests' Society proposed to take; he had announced his disapproval +in advance of 'Cahenslyism'; he was stolidly against the appointment +of 'national,' that is, trans-Atlantic Bishops selected because they +spoke no language but their own. + +The choice of the 'Germanisers' was the Reverend Dr. P. J. +Schroeder--Monseigneur Schroeder, rather; he had been imported by +Bishop Keane, afterwards Archbishop, to lecture at the Catholic +University. Bishop Keane, like most Americans before the war, +believed that Germany held many persons of genius who honoured us by +coming over. When Dr. Schroeder's name was mentioned, a caustic +English prelate had remarked: 'I thought the Americans had enough +mediocrities in their own country without going abroad for them.' But +Mgr. Schroeder had a very high opinion of himself. American Catholics +were heretical persons, of no metaphysical knowledge; they could not +count accurately the number of angels who could dance on the point of +a needle! He arrogantly upheld the German idea. English-speaking +priests were neither willing nor capable. The emigrants in the United +States would be Germans or nothing--_aut Kaiser aut nullus_. + +The German priests in the West claimed the right to exclude from the +Sacraments all children and their parents who did not attend their +schools, no matter how inefficient they were. The controversy became +international. + +In Germany, to deny the premises of Mgr. Schroeder was to be +heretical, worthy of excommunication; in this country there was a +camp of Kaiserites who held the same opinion. It is true that +Bismarck had opened the _Kulturkampf_ in the name of the unity of +the Fatherland. It is true that the Kaiser would gladly have claimed +the right his ancestors had struggled for--of investing Bishops with +the badges of authority--and that he gave his hearty approbation to +the exile of the Jesuits. Nevertheless, he was the Kaiser! Compared +with him, the President of the United States was an upstart, and +Cardinal Gibbons was to the ultra-Germans almost an anathema as +Cardinal Mercier is! There was a fierce struggle for several years. +Bombs, more or less ecclesiastical, were dropped on Archbishop +Ireland's diocese. + +To hear some of these bigots talk, we would have thought that this +brave American was Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun. But the right won. +Cahenslyism was stamped out, and here was another reason why the +Kaiser did not love Archbishop Ireland, and another reason why +Bavaria and Austria, backed up by Prussia, protested against every +attempt on the part of Rome to give him the Cardinal's hat. This +would have meant the highest approval of a prelate who stood for +everything the Kaiser and the Bavarian and Austrian courts detested. + +The _curia_ is made up of the councillors of the Pope; a layman might +be created Cardinal--it is not a sacerdotal office in itself--and +while the Pope would reject with scorn the request that a temporal +Government should nominate a bishop, he might accept graciously a +request that a certain prelate be made a cardinal from the ruler of +any nation. + +If President Roosevelt had been willing to make such a request to Leo +XIII.--he was urged to do it by many influential Protestants who saw +what Archbishop Ireland had done in the interest of this +country--there is no doubt that his request would have been granted. +The Cardinals are 'created' for distinguished learning. One might +quote the comparatively modern example of Cardinals Newman and +Gasquet; for traditional reasons, because of the importance of their +countries in the life of the Church; and they might be created, in +older days, for political reasons. But the wide-spread belief that a +Cardinal was necessarily a priest leads to misconceptions of the +quality of the office. + +If the French Republic were to follow the example of England and +China, send an envoy to the Holy See, and make a 'diplomatic' +_rapprochement_, neither Rome nor any nation in Europe would be +shocked if His Holiness should consent to a suggestion from the +President of the French Republic and 'create,' let us say, Abbé Klein +a Cardinal. + +Archbishop Ireland with his group of Americans saved us from the +insults of the propaganda of Kaiserism. This name was synonymous with +all things political and much that is social, loathed by the +absolutes in Austria, Bavaria and, of course, Germany. The creation +of Archbishop Ireland as a Cardinal would have been looked on by +these powers as a deadly insult to them, on the part of the Pope. +They made this plain. + +The failure of the Cahensly plan caused much disappointment in +Germany. The Kaiser, in spite of his flings at the Catholic +Church--witness a part of the suppressed _Century_ article and the +letter to an aunt 'who went over to Rome'--was quite willing to +appear as her benefactor. Much has been made of his interest in the +restoration of the Cathedral of Cologne. This, after all, was simply +a national duty. A monarch with over one-third of his subjects +Catholics, taking his revenues from the taxes levied on them, could +scarcely do less than assist in the preservation of this most +precious historical monument. + +He seemed to have become regardless of the opinion of his subjects. +He had heart-to-heart talks with the world; one of these talks was +with Mr. William Bayard Hale; the _Century Magazine_ bought it for +$1,000.00. It was to appear in December 1908. That its value as a +'sensation' was not its main value may be inferred from the character +of the editors, Richard Watson Gilder, Robert Underwood Johnson and +Clarence Clough Buel--a group of scrupulously honourable gentlemen. +This conversation with Mr. Hale took place on the Kaiser's yacht. It +was evidently intended for publication, for the most indiscreet of +sovereigns do not talk to professional writers without one eye on the +public. + +Speaking of his _Impressions of the Kaiser_, the Hon. David Jayne +Hill says: 'It seemed like a real personal contact, frank, sincere, +earnest and honest. One could not question that, and it was the +beginning of other contacts more intimate and prolonged; especially +at Kiel, where the sportsman put aside all forms of court etiquette, +lying flat on the deck of the _Meteor_ as she scudded under heavy +sail with one rail under water; at Eckernforde, where the old tars +came into the ancient inn in the evening to meet their Kaiser and +drink to his Majesty's health a glass of beer.' + +'Did you ever see anything more democratic in America?' the Kaiser +asked, gleefully, one time. 'What would Roosevelt think of this?' he +inquired at another. + +'Hating him, as many millions no doubt do,' Mr. Hill continues, 'it +would soften their hearts to hear him laugh like a child at a good +story, or tell one himself. Can it be? Yes, it can be. There is such +a wide difference between the gentler impulses of a man and the rude +part ambition causes him to play in life! A rôle partly self-chosen, +it is true, and not wholly thrust upon him. A soul accursed by one, +great, wrong idea, and the purposes, passions, and resolutions +generated by it. A mind distorted, led into captivity, and condemned +to crime by the obsession that God has but one people, and they are +his people; that the people have but one will, and that is his will; +that God has but one purpose, and that is his purpose; and being +responsible only to the God of his own imagination, a purely tribal +divinity, the reflection of his own power-loving nature, that he has +no definite responsibility to men.' + +Nevertheless, in Copenhagen, we understood from those who knew him +well that he was a capital actor, that he never forgot the footlights +except in the bosom of his family, and even there, as the young +princes grew older, there were times when he had to hide his real +feelings and assume a part. In 1908, he was determined that the +United States should be with him; he never lost an opportunity of +praising President Roosevelt or of expressing his pleasure in the +conversation of Americans. I think I have said that he boasted that +he knew Russia better than any other man in Germany, and it seemed as +if he wanted to know the United States to the minutest particular. + +It is a maxim among diplomatists that kings have no friends, and that +the only safe rule in conducting one's self towards them are the +rules prescribed by court etiquette. It is likewise a rule that +politeness and all social courtesies shall be the more regarded by +their representatives as relations are on the point of becoming +strained between two countries. How little the Kaiser regarded this +rule is obvious in the case of Judge Gerard, who however frank he +was at the Foreign Office--and the outspoken methods he used in +treating with the German Bureaucrats were the despair of the lovers +of protocol--was always most discreet in meetings with the Kaiser. I +was asked quietly from Berlin to interpret some of his American +'parables,' which were supposed to have an occult meaning. There was +a tale of a one-armed man, with an inimitable Broadway flavour, that +'intrigued' a high German official. I did my best to interpret it +diplomatically. But, though our Ambassador, the most 'American' of +Ambassadors, as my German friends called him, gave out stories at the +Foreign Office that seemed irreverent to the Great, there was no +assertion that he was not most correct in his relations with the +German Emperor. Yet, one had only to hear the rumours current in +Copenhagen from the Berlin Court just after the war began, to know +that the emperor had dared to show his claws in a manner that +revealed his real character. Judge Gerard's book has corroborated +these rumours. + +The fact that I had served under three administrations gave me an +unusual position in the diplomatic corps, irrespective entirely of +any personal qualities, and--this is a digression--I was supposed to +be able to find in Ambassador Gerard's parables in slang their real +menace. A very severe Bavarian count, who deplored the war +principally because it prevented him from writing to his relations in +France, from paying his tailor's bill in London, and from going for +the winter to Rome, where he had once been Chamberlain at the +Vatican, said that he had heard a story repeated by an attaché of the +Foreign Office and attributed to Ambassador Gerard, a story which +contained a disparaging allusion to the Holy Father. As a Catholic, +I would perhaps protest to Ambassador Gerard against this +irreverence which he understood had given the Foreign Minister great +pain, as, I must know, the German Government is most desirous of +respecting the feelings of Catholics. + +'Impossible,' I said. 'Our Ambassador is a special friend of Cardinal +Farley's and he has just sent several thousand prayer-books to the +English Catholic prisoners in Germany.' Thus the story was told.[8] + + [8] I regret that I cannot give the story in the rhyme, which was + Bavarian French. + +It seemed that among the evil New Yorkers with whom the Ambassador +consorted, there was an American, named Michael, whose wife went to +the priest and complained that Michael had acquired the habits of +drinking and paying attention to other ladies. 'Very well,' said the +priest, 'I will call on Thursday night, if he is at home, and I'll +take the first chance of remonstrating with him.' + +The evening came; the priest presented himself, and entered into a +learned conversation on the topics of the hour, while Michael hid +himself behind his paper, giving no opportunity for the pastor to +address him. However, he knew that his time would come if he did not +make a move into the enemy's country. + +'Father,' he said, lowering his paper, 'you seem to know the reason +for everything that's goin' on to-day; maybe you'll tell me the +meanin' of the word "diabetes"?' + +'It is the name of a frightful disease that attacks men who beat +their wives and spend their money on other women, Mike.' + +'I'm surprised, Father,' said Michael, 'because I'm readin' here that +the Pope has it.' + +It was necessary for me to explain that this was one of our folklore +stories, and could be traced back to _Gesta Romanorum_--merely one of +the merry jests of which the German literature itself of the Middle +Ages was so full, of the character, perhaps, of Rheinhard the Fox! +This is an example of the way our Ambassador played on the Germans' +sense of humour, as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tried to play on +Hamlet's pipe! + + * * * * * + +The German propaganda went on in the United States. Look at France, +look at Italy, in comparison with Germany's respect for religion! The +Falk laws were no longer of importance; Catholics were to be +encouraged to go into the political service, having hitherto been +'rather discouraged' and even under suspicion, as von Bülow admitted. + +The German was obsessed by the one idea--the preponderance of the +Fatherland.[9] He was conscientious, he had for years cultivated a +false conscience which judged everything by one standard: Is this +good for the spread of German Kultur? + + [9] The Army Bill of 1913 'met with such a willing reception from + all parties as has never before been accorded to any requisition + for armaments on land or at sea.'--Von Bülow's _Imperial Germany_, + p. 201. + +'What do you think of all this?' I asked one of the most +distinguished diplomatists in Europe, now resident in Berlin, the +representative of a neutral country. 'There will be no peace in +Europe until Germany gets what she wants. She knows what she wants, +and since 1870 she has used every possible method to attain it.' + +To return to the indiscretions of the Kaiser--indiscretions that were +not always uncalculated. Mr. Clarence Clough Buel, one of the editors +of _The Century_, felt obliged, in justice, to give an authoritative +explanation of Dr. Hale's suppressed 'interview.' His account was +printed in _The New York World_ for December 26, 1917: 'The proof of +this interview had been passed by the German Foreign Office, with not +more than half a dozen simple verbal changes. They were made in a +bold, ready hand, but as there was no letter, we could not be sure +that the proofs had been revised by the Emperor. The usual +hair-splitting of great men and officialdom had been anticipated, so +with considerable glee, the trifling plate changes were rushed, and +the big "sixty-four" press was started to toss off 100,000 copies.' + +The London _Daily Telegraph_ 'interview' of October 28, 1908, was a +thunderbolt, and the editors of _The Century_, at the urgent request +of the German Government, suppressed the edition. I had been informed +by Mr. Gilder of the facts. I was very glad of it, as I was enabled +to explain this very interesting episode at the Danish Foreign +Office. Mr. Clarence Buel writes (it was his duty to read the last +galley proofs):--'But in the last cold reading I had grave suspicion +that the Kaiser's reference to the Virgin Mary might be construed by +devout Catholics as a slur on an important tenet of their faith. So +the sacred name was deleted, and the Kaiser's diction slightly +assisted in the kindly spirit for which editors are not so often +thanked by the writing fraternity as they should be. This incident is +mentioned to show the protective attitude of the magazine, and also +to indicate that the original "leak" as to the contents of the +interview came from an employee of the printing office. Only some one +familiar with the galley proofs could have known that the Virgin Mary +had figured in the manuscript, for the name did not appear in the +printed pages and consequently could not have reached the public +except for the killing of the interview. Let it be said, with +emphasis, that there was nothing in the Kaiser's references to the +part taken by the Vatican in looking out for the interests of the +Church in world politics which could have caused serious irritation +in any part of Europe. As a student at the Berlin University, I had +attended some of the debates in the Landtag during the famous +_Kulturkampf_ over the clerical laws devised by bold Bismarck to +loosen the Catholic grip on the cultural life of Prussian Poland. +Knowing the nature of that controversy, and the usual, familiar +attitude of (Protestant) Europeans toward religious topics, I could +believe that everything in the article bearing on Church and State, +from the over-lord of most Lutherans, was offered in a respectful +spirit, and would hardly make a ripple across the sea.' + +Mr. Buel admits that the Kaiser criticised the action of the Pope and +spoke slurringly of the Virgin Mary. Mr. Buel evidently means that +the Foreign Offices of the world would not have been stirred by the +censure of the Kaiser or by even some frivolous comments on the +Blessed Virgin. Mr. Buel, who is discretion itself, having been one +of those who practically gave his word of honour that the 'interview' +should be suppressed, was evidently desirous that public curiosity +should not be too greatly excited as to its tenor. He does not excuse +the Kaiser, but as he is a very liberal Protestant himself, speeches +coming from a ruler, that would excite indignation even among +Catholics in Europe, naturally do not strike him as insulting. It +leaked out long ago that in the 'interview' His Imperial Majesty +alluded to Archbishop Ireland in rather disrespectful terms. + +Only the staunch Americanism of the Catholics of this country saved +them from this insidious propaganda. If this spirit did not exist +among them, they would have been led to believe that the Central +Powers were the only European countries in the world where a Catholic +was free to practise his religion. + +We know what the German propaganda working on politicians did in +Canada among the French-speaking population. We saw, in the beginning +of the war, how the Protestants of Ulster were used. There is a +passage in Mr. Wells's _Mr. Britling Sees It Through_ which +illuminates this. + +'England will grant Home Rule,' said a Prussian closely connected +with the Berlin Foreign Office, 'and then Sir Edward Carson and his +Ulsterites will, with his mutineering British army, keep England too +busy to fight us.' They believed this in very high quarters in +Germany. + +But when the British Government did not put the Home Rule Bill in +force, the propagandists turned to certain Irish Intellectuals. 'You +had better be governed by Germany than England,' said the followers +of Sir Roger Casement, and the sentiment, whether uttered +academically or not, found a hundred echoes. + +But first had been heard the German-inspired cry of the Ulsterites, +'We had rather be governed by Germany than the Irish, by the Kaiser +rather than the Irish Roman Catholic Bishops.' Most of us knew that +there was no such danger, for Home Rule would have naturally cut into +the political power of the Irish Bishops by strengthening the secular +element forced into the background by the unfortunate conditions in +Ireland, which had prevented the Catholic laymen from acquiring +higher education, and obliging the clergy to become political +leaders. It made no difference. The fermenters of religious +dissension in Ireland played into the hands of the Prussians; there +was laughter in Hell. + +We knew that the slogan, 'Better be governed by Germany than by +Ulster,' was not echoed in our own country among men of Irish blood. +But when Germany, through her agents, began to suggest an Irish +Republic, protected by the Imperial Eagle, a small party formed in +the United States, not pro-German, but anti-English. This was before +we went into the war. 'Every defeat of the English is a gain for +Ireland,' the German propagandist repeated over and over again. It +sank in; the Ulsterites thundered, and Sinn Fein, which had been +non-political, became suddenly revolutionary. + +In our country the effect of all this was marked. Every sentiment of +religion and patriotism was played upon. Only those who received the +confidences of some of those deceived Revolutionists of the unhappy +Easter Day know how bitter was the feeling against England generated +by the conspiracies in the interest of Prussian domination. Then we +gloriously took our stand and went in. The practical answer came. The +Swedish Lutherans and the Sinn Fein Catholics took up their arms +without waiting to be drafted; Ireland must look after herself until +the invaders were driven out of France and Belgium! + +If the Secret Service is ever permitted to take the American public +and the world into its confidence, the strength, the cleverness, and +the permeativeness of the propaganda, especially religious, in the +United States, will be shown to be astounding. 'What, son of Luther, +strikes at the German breast of your forefathers!' To use a phrase +that would not be understood at the Berlin Foreign Office, the +Prussian propagandist had us 'coming and going.' + +One could not help admiring the skill of these people. We, in our +honest shirt sleeves were left gaping. Shirt sleeves and dollar +diplomacy were beautiful things in the opinion of people who believed +that the little red schoolhouse and the international Hague +Conference were all that were needed to keep us free and make the +world safe for democracy! There are no such beautiful things now. If +we are to fight the devil with fire, we ought to know previously what +kind of fire the devil uses. That requires the use of chemical +experts, and the German experts, before this war, were not employed +on the side of the angels. We have won; but do not let us imagine +that we have killed the devil. + +The propaganda still went on, and honest people were influenced by +it. 'The Pope belongs to us,' the German propagandists said. 'He has +not reprimanded Cardinal Mercier,' replies some logical person, 'and +Cardinal Mercier has done more harm to German claims even in Germany +than any other living man.' 'The Pope sympathises with our claims; he +is the friend of law and order, consequently, he is with us.' Easily +impressed folk among the Allies accepted this. They believed the tale +that the Italian rout in the autumn of 1917 was due to Catholic +officers, who were paraded through every city in Europe with +'traitor' placarded on each back! A foolish story to direct attention +from the efforts of the paid conspirators who did the mischief. They +saw only the surface of things. They seemed to think that the theorem +of Euclid that a straight line is the shortest distance from one +point to another holds in the political underworld. The Pope was +attacked, which pleased the propagandists. 'O Holy Father, see how I, +Head of the German Lutheran Church, love you, and see! your wicked +enemies are my enemies.' And so the German propagandist divided and +discouraged! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE PRUSSIAN HOLY GHOST + + +The Prussic acid had permeated every vein and artery of the Lutheran +Church in Germany. Whatever religious influence that could be brought +to bear on the Danes was used; but they look with suspicion on any +mixture of religion and politics. Besides, their kind of Lutheranism +is more liberal than the German. With the proper apologies I must +admit that they are not, at present, easily accessible to any +religious considerations that will interfere with their individual +comfort. The union between the Lutherans in Denmark and the Lutherans +in Germany is not close. The Danes will not accept the doctrine, +preached in Germany, that Martin Luther was the glorious author of +the war, and that victory for Germany must be in his name! I had many +friends in Germany. One, a Lutheran pastor, wrote in 1914: + +'Your country, though pretending to be neutral, is against us, and +you, once dear friend, are against us. You are no longer a child of +light.' + +The effect of the religious propaganda has been too greatly +underrated for the simple and illogical reason that religion, in the +opinion of the people of the outside world, moulded for long years by +the German school of philosophy, had concluded that religion had +ceased to be an influence in men's lives. + +The Pope, because he had lost his temporal power, was effete, +reduced to the position of John Bunyan's impotent giant! Lutheranism, +in fact, all Protestant sects, were giving up the ghost, under the +blows of Hæckel, Virchow, Rudolf Harnack and the rest of the school +of higher critics! These men laid the foundation stones for the +acceptance of Nietzsche--Schopenhauer being outworn--and the learned +as well as the more ignorant of the cultured seemed to think that, as +German scholars had settled the matter, faith in Christianity was +only the prejudice of the weak. + +The Kaiser knew human nature better than this. While he believed in +his Prussian Holy Ghost--Napoleon had his star--he was not averse to +seeing the spiritual foundations of the world, especially the +dogmatic part, which supported Christianity, disintegrated. +Discussing the effect of this, I was forced, in March of 1918, to say +publicly, 'The Kaiser is the greatest enemy to Christianity in +Europe.' The reception of many protests from apparently sincere +persons confirmed me in my belief that the propaganda had been more +insidious than most of us believed. Let us turn now to the effect of +the ruthless propaganda in Germany itself. Note this letter: + + 'You, I can almost forgive, because, as I have told you often, + you dwell religiously in darkness; but your Protestant country, + which owes its best to us, I cannot forgive. In the name of + Bethlehem, you kill our sons, and corrupt our cousins, Karl and + Bernhard, whom you know in America. Karl, when he was in my house + last week, was insolent; he dared to say that the Germans in + America were Americans, that, if Martin Luther sympathised with + our glorious struggle, he was in hell! This is wild American + talk; but I fear that too many of our good people in America have + been "Yankeefied" and lost their religion. However, our glorious + Kaiser has not been idle all these years; the good Germans in + your misled country, not bought by English gold, will arise + shortly and demand that no more ammunition shall be sent to be + used against their relatives. I saw your relation, Lagos, in + Fiume; he cares nothing for Luther or the Prussian cause, but he + is only a Hungarian, with Irish blood, and he will only speak of + his Emperor respectfully, and say nothing against our enemies in + America; his son has been killed in Russia; it is a judgment upon + a man who is so lukewarm. The Austrian Emperor is forced to help + us; he, too, is tainted with the blood of anti-Christ. I have + heard that, when the war broke out, and they told him, he said: + "I suppose we shall fight those damned Prussians again!" Was this + jocose? Lagos laughed; it is no time to laugh; Karl and Bernhard + will go back to where they belong, in Pennsylvania, accursed for + their treachery,--vipers we have cherished, false to the + principles of Luther.' + +An honest man, sincere enough, with no sense of humour, and a very +good friend until one contradicted his Pan-Germanism. One might +differ from him, with impunity, on any other question! 'Our pulpits +are thundering for the Lord, Luther, and a German victory!' + +There had been a movement in England for a union of the Anglican +Church with the Lutheran branch of Protestantism in Denmark. It may +have been extended to Norway and Sweden as well, but I do not know. +There was much opposition on the part of the Germanised Lutherans: +'It would be giving up the central principle of Lutheranism to submit +to re-consecration and reordination by the Anglican Bishops. It would +be as bad as going to Rome or Russia or Abyssinia for Holy Orders. In +Denmark, especially, Luther, through Bergenhagen, had cut off the +falsely-claimed Apostolical succession. How could a national Church +remain national and become English?' + +If I remember rightly, Pastor Storm, a clergyman greatly +distinguished for his character, learning, and breadth of view, was +in favour of such a union; he did not think it meant the +Anglicanising of the Lutheran Church. Men like Pastor Storm were +placed in the minority. The Germans were against it. Bishop Rördam, +the primate, Bishop of Zeeland, told me that German influence could +have had nothing to do with the decision; he said, 'It is true that, +if we wanted the Apostolical succession we could go either to Rome or +Russia. We are well enough as we are.' + +When the attempt at the union failed, those pastors in Germany who +had watched the progress of the undertaking, rejoiced greatly. My +former friend, the Lutheran pastor, wrote: + + 'The Anglican Church is a great enemy to our German Kultur, + though German influence among its divines is becoming greater and + greater. I am obliged to you for the American books on St. Paul. + I read them slowly. I observe with joy that all the authorities + quoted are from German sources; surely such good men as the + authors of these books must see that your country is recreant to + the memories of the great Liberator, Martin Luther, in not + preaching against the export of arms from your country to the + Entente and the starving of our children! I thank you for the + books, and also for the one by the French priest, which is, of + course, worthless, as he sneers at Harnack. Later, these French + will know our Kultur with a vengeance! I gather from the volumes + of Canon Sheehan, as you call him, that the influence on clerical + education in Ireland is German. We have driven the French + influence from your universities, too, and the theological + schools of Harvard and Yale, thanks to the great Dr. Münsterberg, + who is opposed by a creature called Schofield, are German. The + power of our cultural Lutheranism is spreading against the errors + of Calvin in the College of Princeton, and the Roman Catholic + colleges in the States are becoming more enlightened by the + presence of men like the late Magistrate Schroeder, who may be + tolerated by us as the entering wedge of our Kultur. You have + been frank; I am frank with you. I have received your translation + of Goethe's _Knowest Thou the Land_ and _The Parish Priest's + Work_. As your ancient preceptor, I will say that both are bad.' + +He is, after all, an honest man. Of course, I do not hear from him. +His two sons are dead, in Russia; he probably talks less of +'judgments' now, poor soul! He was only part of the machine of which +the Kaiser was the god! + +The perverted state of mind of these honest men in whom a false +conscience has been carefully cultivated was amazing. On December +23rd, 1915, a Danish Bishop wrote a letter of good-will to a +colleague of his in Germany, saying, among other things, 'Even the +victor must now bear so many burdens that for a generation he must +lament and sigh under them.' The German pastor answered on December +27th: + + 'Do you remember, at the beginning of the war, you answered, to + my well-grounded words, "We must, we will, and we shall win," + "How can that ever be?" The question has been answered; from + Vilna to Salonica, from Antwerp to the Euphrates, in Courland and + Poland, our armies are triumphant; we take our own wherever we + find it, and we hold it! I pity you,' the amiable pastor + continued; 'I have the deepest commiseration for you neutrals, + that you should remain outside of this wonderfully great + experience of God's glory, you, above all, who call yourselves + Scandinavians and are of the stock of the German Martin Luther. + You hold nought of the mighty things that God has now for a year + and a half been bestowing on the Fatherland. He who has little, + from him shall be taken away what he has. This war is not a + _kaffeeklarch_, and the work of a soldier is not embroidery. Our + Lord God, who let His son die on the Cross is not the Chairman of + a tea party, and He who came to bring, not peace, but a sword, is + not a town messenger. He lives, He reigns, He triumphs! The chant + of the Bethlehem angels, "peace on earth" is as veritable as + when it was for the first time heard. There lay on the manger the + Infant who as a Man was to conquer, that He might give peace to + earth. Our Germans, who in 1870 bled, died and conquered, won for + their own country and Scandinavia and Central Europe forty-four + years of peace. For these nations and for a more permanent peace + in this world our country is battling to-day. Gloria! Victoria! + We will throw down our arms only when we have conquered, that + this peace may reign.' + +Bishop Koch, of Ribe--Jacob Riis's old town in Denmark--was the +writer of the first letter. It is not necessary to name the writer of +the second; his name is legion! It is not for the right, for the +defence of the poor, the helpless, the forsaken, for the old woman, +pitifully weeping, in the hands of the bloody supermen, to whom, +according to this pious pastor, Christ sent the sword, that Germany +may rule, and force her dyes, and her 'by-products,' and her +ruthless, selfish brutality on the world. If John the Baptist lived +to-day, and had asked these good pastors to follow him in the real +spirit of Christianity, one may be sure that they would have found +some excuses for the energetic Salome, who gloated over the +precursor's head. + +Frequently the German pastors made flying visits to Copenhagen--after +the war began--not in the old way, when in the summer they came, with +hundreds of their countrymen, bearing frugal meals, and wearing long +cloaks and cocks' feathers in their hats. The day of the very cheap +excursion had passed. Now, they came to 'talk over' things, to assure +their Danish brethren of the stock 'of Luther' that it was a crime to +be neutral. + +I had gone to the house of a very distinguished Lutheran clergyman, +Professor Valdemar Ammundsen, to listen to a 'talk' by Pasteur +Soulnier, of the Lutheran Church in Paris: Mr. Cyril Brown, the keen +observer and clever writer, accompanied me. We were struck with the +evidences of Christian charity and breadth of kindness shown by +Pasteur Soulnier. He had only words of praise for his Catholic +brethren in France; there was no word of bitterness or hatred in his +discourse; but his voice broke a little when he spoke of Rheims, and +he seemed like old Canon Luçon, the guardian of that beloved +cathedral, who cannot understand that men can be such demons as the +destroyers have shown themselves to be. We were late for dinner, and +Mr. Brown and I stepped into a restaurant of a position sufficiently +proper for diplomatic patronage, to dine. + +The day after, as I was taking my walk, accompanied by my private +secretary, a man took off his hat and addressed me. He spoke English +with an accent. + +'Pardon me; I do not know your name; but I know your friend, Pastor +Lampe, one of the most learned of our young divines; I have seen you +talking to him; I likewise recognised your companion at dinner last +night, Mr. Cyril Brown; he is an American well known in Berlin. My +name is Pastor X. I was formerly of Bremen. May I have a few words +with you?' + +'Certainly,' I said, interested, 'if you will walk to +Friedericksberg.' + +'Part of the way, sir,' he said. + +My secretary whispered,--'Another spy? Shall I pump him?' + +We had been frequently followed. Only a short time before, when I had +escorted my wife and Frau Frederika Hagerup, lady-in-waiting to Queen +Maud of Norway, for a short walk, we had been closely followed, by +eavesdroppers. At the corner of the Amaliegade and Saint Anna's +place, just opposite the Hotel King of Denmark, men had crawled up +within earshot, and one had accompanied us the whole distance. Was +this a similar case? + +'Spy?' I said in French. 'Well let him talk!' + +My young secretary shook his head; his way of dealing with suspected +spies was to wring their necks, if possible. From a long experience +with spies, it is my conclusion that much money is wasted on them. +Some are very agreeable, and give the party of the second part much +amusement. The German pastor, in his rusty black, looked so +respectable, too! He took the right, which showed that he did not +understand that I was a Minister. A well brought up German, who knew +my rank, would have taken my left side even if he were about to +strangle me! + +'Bitte,' I said, 'but speak English!' + +'I must beg pardon,' he answered; 'I could not forbear to tell you +what I thought of your conversation at the restaurant last night. I +should have interrupted you, but I was in the middle of my dinner.' + +_His_ sacred dinner; ours did not count. + +'I heard you say to Mr. Cyril Brown that the German nation at present +is the greatest enemy to Christianity in the world.' + +'No, no, Herr Pastor,' I interrupted; 'I said that the Emperor +William is the worst enemy of Christianity in the world.' + +'Ah, it is the same thing. You Americans call yourselves Christians,' +he broke out, 'and yet your bombs from Bethlehem have shattered my +son's leg and they killed thousands of our children. Your nation is +Protestant. You ought to be with us against impious France and +idolatrous Italy--I spit on Italy--the _cocotte_ of the nations, the +handmaid of the Papish prostitute of Rome! And yet you say that our +most Christian nation is not Christian! How can you say it? We are +not at war, yet you treat us as enemies!' + +'We shall soon be at war. The Ambassador of the United States at +Berlin is sending Americans out of that city. He feels, evidently, +that, in spite of his influence with the Chancellor, you will begin +your U-boat outrages, and then we must be at war! That is plain. But +I think you have said enough. Herr Pastor, good-bye!' + +'No, no,' he said. 'Answer me one question: why do you say that we +Germans are un-Christian? Our Christianity is the most beautiful, the +most learned, the most cultured!' + +The young are relentless critics; I knew that my secretary was +calling me names for 'picking up' this strange German clergyman in +the street. Moreover, the secretary was beautifully attired; his +morning coat was perfect; his tall hat tilted back at the right +degree, and the triple white carnation in his buttonhole was a sight +to see. (Dear chap! he is in the greasy automobile service in +Flanders now!) And his cane! (If you walk out without a cane in +polite Copenhagen, you are looked on as worse than nude.) Fancy! To +be seen walking with a threadbare German pastor with a bulbous +umbrella! He groaned; he knew that I would pause on the brink of an +abyss for a little refreshing theological conversation! + +'You cannot deny, Herr Pastor,' I said, 'that you people in Germany +swear by Harnack, that Strauss's _Life of Jesus_ is a book that you +look on with great admiration, that much of the foolish "higher +criticism" like the attacks on Saint Luke,[10] which Sir William +Ramsay has so carefully refuted, and all the sneering at the +fundamentals of Christianity have come from Germany, with the +approval of the Emperor.' + + [10] _The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the + New Testament_, by Sir William M. Ramsay. Hodder and Stoughton. + +'There are no English scientific theologians. I do not know your +Ramsay. We are learned; we study; we see many of the Christian myths +in an allegorical sense, but yet we adore the German God, who is with +us, and we believe in Christ, though our learned ones may dissipate +much that the populace hold. There must be a broad law for the +Christian divine; a narrow one for the humble believer. We may not +accept miracles, we of the learned, but we may not disturb the belief +of the people in them. Culture must come from the top. The Catholics +among us still accept the miracles, but they are most retrograde of +the Germans. We are gaining upon them. It is the _Zeitgeist_; when we +have conquered, with their help, we shall teach them the real lesson +of Christianity! The German God will not brook idolatry. Our +scientists disprove myths, but we work in the line of Luther still. +He disproved myths!' + +'I do not hold a brief for Martin Luther,' I said, 'but I think that +he would have cursed any man who denied the divinity of Christ. You +talk of a German God. He is not a Christian God, and I repeat to you +what you heard me say to my friend in the restaurant.' + +'It is well, sir,' he said, 'to hear this coming from an American who +defends the starving of our children and the supplying of arms to +slaughter us. We have God on our side--the German God. We only!' + +'Good day, sir,' I said; 'you corroborate my impression about your +Christianity!' + +I took off my hat, and crossed the street. He stood still; 'These +Americans are rude!' my secretary heard him say. + +This would seem impossible to me--if I had not been a part of the +episode; if it seems impossible to you--the result probably of some +misunderstanding on my part--let me quote a few examples of the +result of the Prussian propaganda among a people whom we considered, +at least, honest and not un-Christian. But, first: on the Long Line +for my usual walk with Mr. Myron Hofer, one of the first Americans to +rush from his post at the Legation and join the Aviation Corps, I saw +the pastor again. Mr. Hofer saw him coming towards us, and said: + +'You ought not to stand in the wind, if that man speaks to you; let +us go on.' + +'Go on,' I said, 'but come back to rescue me in a minute or two.' + +'Excellency,' the pastor said, 'I have heard from Pastor Lampe who +you are. Forgive me for addressing you!' And he passed on, hat in +hand. + +What can one make of this bigotry and Phariseeism? Have these +qualities developed only since the war? Will they disappear after the +war? 'And the devils besought him, saying: If thou cast us out hence, +send us unto the herd of swine. And he said to them: Go. But they +going out went into the swine, and behold the whole herd ran +violently down a steep place into the sea: and they perished in the +waters.' + +We all know that London was an unfortified city. Read this, from the +_Evangelische-lutherische Kirchenzeitung_, written in 1915. It is an +answer to the truthful charge that children, helpless women, old men, +civilians going quietly about their business, had been slaughtered by +the pitiless rain of death from the skies. The Danish Lutherans, +among whom this pious sheet had been circulated with a view to +exciting their sympathies, did not accept this. + + 'London has ceased to be a city without the defence of + fortifications; it is filled with such numbers of aeroplanes and + anti-aircraft guns, that, as we are all aware, the Zeppelins can + attack it at night only. To attack London is to make an offensive + on a den of murderers.' + +'If you ask me,' says the _Protestenblatt_, Number 18, 'how shall I +build up the kingdom of God,' my answer is: 'Be a good German! Stand +fast by the Fatherland. Do your duty and fill your mission. _Seek to +submerge yourself in German spirit, in German mind._ Be German in +piety and will, which simply means, be true, faithful, and valiant. +Help as best you can towards our victory; help to make our Fatherland +grow and wax mighty.'[11] + + [11] Dr. J. P. Bang's translation. Doctor Bang deserves well of all + lovers of freedom for his translation into Danish of typical + sermons from German pastors possessed of the spirit of hatred. Dr. + Bang is a professor of theology in the University of Copenhagen. It + ought to be remembered that the University of Copenhagen, in a + neutral country geographically part of Germany, made no protest + against the audacious volume. + +It is true that there are Protestants in Germany who will not accept +the 'Fatherland' as God and eternal life or as a life continued in +the memories of later generations, as a Hessian peasant put it in a +letter written from the Front. His attitude shows how barren all this +rhetoric seems to the unhappy soldier who must obey. Those who knew +the lives of truly religious Germans before the war must believe that +these arrogant, feverish, diabolical utterances do not represent +them. The Lutheran households where the fear of God and the love of +one's neighbour reigned cannot have entirely disappeared; the old +Christian spirit must fill some hearts. But here is a man, a Lutheran +divine, whose pious books have 'circulated in the Army in millions of +copies.' He is a very great clergyman; if you saw him in the streets +of Lübeck, or Hamburg, or Berlin, many hats would be raised; even +officers in the Army would greet him with respect. He is +Geheimkonsistorialrath! 'Likewise,' he writes, in his book, _Strong +in the Lord_--'the blessings of the Reformation are at stake. Shall +French ungodliness, shall Russian superstition, shall English +hypocrisy rule the world? Never! For the blessing of our faith, for +the freedom of our conscience, for our Germanism and for our Gospel, +we shall fight and struggle and make every sacrifice. _Ein' feste +Burg ist unser Gott._ And, if the world were full of devils, we shall +maintain our Empire!' + +According to Dr. Conrad, Germany is a great surgeon. She must cut; +she must even kill, if necessary, the nation that stands in the way +of her beneficient Kultur! + +So strenuously has the name of Martin Luther been made use of by +these fanatics, that the fact is lost sight of in Germany, that the +question is not one of religion. There is scarcely a war even in +modern times with which religion had so little to do as this; but to +hear these shriekers from the pulpit, one would think that Martin +Luther was the instigator of the war and that the Kaiser is his +prophet! What the Catholic population in Germany--in Bavaria, in +Silesia--what the Jews in Berlin and Munich think of all this, we +have not yet discovered. A Cardinal holding the standard of Luther, +with two Rabbis gracefully toying with its gilded tassels is a sight +the preachers offer to us when they appeal to Luther as the +representative of Germany. Luther was no democrat; he would scarcely +have approved of President Wilson's speeches; but yet he would not +have worshipped the trinity of the Kaiser, the Crown Prince and the +Prussian Holy Ghost as the Godhead! + +Think of the tremendous force that must have perverted these 'men of +God!' Who can help believing in the miracle of the swine driven into +the sea after this, or in the old Latin adage, 'Whom the Gods wish to +destroy, they first make mad,' or in Shakespeare's 'Lilies that +fester smell far worse than weeds?' Religion is made a mark to cover +avarice and arrogant ambition, Christianity, to veil a god more +material than the Golden Calf. + +The learned Danes answered the shrieks of the preachers, and the +specious reasonings of such scientists as Wilhelm von Bode, Wundt, +Richard Dehmel, Wilhelm Röntgen, Ernest Haeckel, Sudermann, etc., +with dead silence, erudition and art had been corrupted. 'In Italy,' +Christopher Nyrop,[12] the Dane, says, 'which, when the manifesto of +the German learned appeared, was not among the belligerent States, +the amazement and the disappointment were so great that the +ninety-three signers, "representatives of German Kultur," were named +_Verräter der deutschen Kultur_, traitors to German Kultur.' It was +only necessary to change 'Vertreter' to 'Verräter.' And among them +were Max Reinhart, Harnack, Gerhard Hauptmann, Siegfried Wagner! + + [12] Devoted to France, the friend of M. Jusserand; a great romance + philologer. + +The wonder and amazement were even greater when there was no protest +from the Catholics or the Lutherans of Germany against the +inexcusable outrage on Louvain or Rheims. The remonstrances of the +Pope were unheeded. It was the policy of the German Government to +suppress them as far as possible. It wanted to give the impression +that the Holy Father was theirs, and too many thoughtless persons +fell in with this idea. That the German Catholics were misinformed +by Bethmann-Hollweg and the War Office makes their position worse. + +The proofs offered by the Dean of the Cathedral of Rheims proved that +this horror, the destruction of the sacred symbol of the French +nation, was not 'a military necessity.' + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +1910-1911-1912 + + +The visits of Mr. John R. Mott to the Scandinavian countries were +events; his was a name to conjure with. When an intimation of his +coming appeared in the papers, our Legation was bombarded with +requests for the opportunity of meeting him. 'We must,' my wife often +said, 'make it understood that every American of good repute shall be +welcome in our house; and it is our mission to give our Danish +friends an opportunity to meet him.' + +The Danes came to know this and, whenever there was an American in +Copenhagen worth while--I do not mean merely having what is called +'social position'--we were always glad to arrange that the right +persons should meet. We were not socially indiscriminate, but we were +certainly eclectic. We wanted Mr. Mott for three meals a day, but he +was always, like Martha, so busy about many things, that we could +only secure him for a short breakfast or something like that, with +one of his warmest admirers, Count Joachim Moltke, who is devoted to +the moral improvement of young men, and Chamberlain and Madame Oscar +O'Neill Oxholm. The only rift in the lute of the affection of certain +Danish ladies for my wife was that she allowed Mr. Mott to leave +Copenhagen on various occasions without 'making an occasion' for them +to meet him. Among these ladies were Mademoiselle Wedel-Hainan, one +of the ladies in-waiting to the Queen Dowager, and others interested +in the cultivation of reverence for Christianity among their +compatriots. The result of Mr. Mott's masterly work was shown when +the war broke out. The 'red-blooded' who formerly looked at the Young +Men's Christian Association as rather effeminate and effete must, in +view of what it has done in Europe, forever close their lips. + +At this time, in 1909, we had expectations of another visitor. +Cardinal Gibbons almost promised to make the Northern trip; he would +come to Copenhagen, it was intimated in a Baltimore newspaper. Great +interest was shown among these agreeable Athenians, the cosmopolitan +Danes. The question of etiquette bothered me; Sweden had still remote +relations with the Holy See, though the Catholic religion is still +practically proscribed in that country. At least, the King of Sweden +writes, I think, a letter once a year to his 'cousin,' the Pope, or +is it to his 'cousins,' the Cardinals; but Denmark, though very +liberal since 1848 in its religious attitude, has not such vaguely +official relations. I was informed that no Cardinal had visited +Denmark since the Reformation. I made inquiries in the proper +quarters at once. Of course, I might give Cardinal Gibbons his rank +as a Prince of the Church, and even the most exalted who should go in +after him at our dinner would be pleased. He could not come. His one +hasty trip to Europe, after his friends had raised my hopes of his +visiting us, was to be present at the Conclave that elected Benedict +XV. Pius X. had died of a broken heart, and the heart of the +Cardinal was sore and troubled at the horrors thrust upon the world. +What he has done to fill our army and navy with courageous men +contemporaneous history shows. + +But the great visit, the epoch, which dulled even the glories of the +coming of the Atlantic Squadron, was that of ex-President Roosevelt. +To the Danes it was almost as if Holger Dansker, who, as everybody +knows, is waiting in the vaults of Hamlet's castle at Elsinore to +protect Denmark, had burst into the light. + +From the European point of view, which took no account of our home +politics, ex-President Roosevelt was not only the most important +figure in America, but in the world, and the most picturesque. Even +under the New Democracy, men will probably count more than nations +in the minds of our brethren across the sea. However large +collectiveness may loom in the future, there will be some man or +other who will show above it, who will be a part greater than the +whole. Mr. Roosevelt had made the Panama Canal possible; he had +succeeded when De Lesseps had failed; he had forced, more than any +other President before him, the respect of Europe; the Radicals +wanted to greet him because he had curbed the power of the +capitalists; kings and prime ministers welcomed him because +they--even the Kaiser--feared his potentialities. That he would be +the next President of the United States nobody in Europe doubted. +These people were not welcoming, as they thought, a man like General +Grant, who had merely done a great thing. The American who was coming +was not only a man of splendid past, but one with a future that was +rising up like thunder. You can imagine the excitement in Copenhagen +when it was announced that he would pay that city a short visit. From +Copenhagen he was to go to Christiania to make a Nobel Prize speech. +The death of Björnson occurred just at this time; it was mourned in +both Norway and Denmark as a national loss; but even this did not +affect the reception of the ex-President. + +'We would have rejoiced in our sorrow for nobody else,' the Norwegian +Minister said. + +King Frederick VIII. had made all his arrangements to go to the +Riviera; his health was not good. He sent for me; he was doubtful +whether the rumours of Mr. Roosevelt's visit were well founded or +not. + +'If he comes, this most distinguished citizen of yours, I will see +that he is received with the greatest courtesy; I will do as much for +him as if he were an Emperor. He and his family shall be given the +Palace of Christian VII. during their stay. My son, the Crown Prince, +will go to greet him; I regret, above all things, that I cannot be +here.' + +Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt came; he saw; he conquered, but Mrs. Roosevelt +won all hearts. The young folks, Kermit and Ethel, fled from all +gaieties and ceremonies and explored the town; if I remember they +courted not the smiles of kings and princes; but they searched +intensively for specimens of old pewter. + +Mr. Roosevelt's trunks did not arrive in time; he and Mrs. Roosevelt +were obliged to wear their travelling clothes. In the long history of +court life in Denmark this had occurred only once on a gala occasion, +and the guest had been Her Majesty the Queen of England, when she was +Princess of Wales. She had accepted the result with the utmost +simplicity. Mrs. Roosevelt, the ladies of the court said, was 'royal' +in the charming way in which she accepted this unpleasant accident; +she has contradicted practically the stories that American ladies +have the plebeian habit of 'fussiness.' The Crown Princess declared +that Mrs. Roosevelt was 'adorable,' and the Crown Prince referred to +the pleasure of this visit nearly every time, during the last eight +years, I met him. 'He is a Man,' he said. + +The Marshal of the Court arranged the etiquette admirably, and there +was not the slightest hitch. Some of my colleagues who knew that Mr. +Roosevelt, as an ex-President, had no official rank, wondered how the +technical details of the reception of a 'commoner' had been arranged. +The Court and the Foreign Office offered all the courtesies usually +bestowed on royal highnesses. The Legation and the Consulate were +particularly proud of the decorations of the railway station, and +grateful to the Minister of Commerce who was responsible for them. + +As usual, Admiral de Richelieu was both thoughtful and generous. The +best part of the programme, the voyage and breakfast on the _Queen +Maud_--we went to Elsinore--and a hundred other agreeable details +were arranged perfectly by him and Commander Cold, director of the +Scandinavian-American Line. + +A great dinner, such as only Danes can manage to perfect at short +notice, was offered to him by the Mayor and the Municipality of +Copenhagen. His speech was eagerly looked for. It charmed the +Moderates; the extreme Socialists, who had claimed him for their own, +were disappointed. 'Your Radicalism is our Conservatism,' said +Chamberlain Carl O'Neill Oxholm. + +Later, we heard that the Kaiser was disappointed in Mr. Roosevelt. +This was from one of the Berlin court circles. Mr. Roosevelt (this +was said _sub rosa_) had not been too Radical, but too frank. After +all, there was no reason why a man who had represented the people of +one of the greatest nations on earth should be too reverential to the +All Highest! + +When Mr. Roosevelt left Denmark, he left an impression of force, of +virility, of dignity, of honesty that became part of the history of +the country. + +In 1911 Loubet, the French ex-President, came with his son Paul and a +staff of delegates to the International Congress of Public and +Private Charities. He was very genial and frank--qualities inherited +by his son. His conversation was directed to the rapid reconstruction +of France after 1870. 'A country that can do that has little to +fear,' he said, 'if we can avoid the pitfalls of professional +politicians. That may be our difficulty. Our enemies are glad that +there should be dissensions among us, vital dissensions, not the +healthy differences of opinion you have in your country.' + +'Et "la revanche?"' + +'Ah, Monsieur le Ministre,' answered one of his staff, 'how can he +speak of that, with the German Minister, Mr. Waldhausen, so near us? +He is beckoning to you now. It is not "revanche" we want, but the +return of our territory. If that could be done without war! Paul, his +son, will talk international politics with you, if you like. As to +local politics, the Royalists do wrong in mixing religion and +politics; it forces the hand of the Opposition, and makes the +attitude of us Republicans misunderstood. In spite of all +dissensions, France is one at heart; but the voice of the country is +not for war. Of course, we may have to fight in our colonies.' + +'Tripoli?' I asked. + +'No,' he answered smiling. 'That's the leading question. We must +fight as you fought the Red Indians. We have no fear of war at +present--our ways are the ways of peace.' + +'Naturally,' I answered, 'since the German Minister tells me that +Germany will never fight France unless attacked, and he sees no signs +of that.' + +'The Belgians are growing restless because Hamburg is taking all the +Brazilian coffee trade,' he said, absent-mindedly. + +'Which means, interpreted,' I answered, 'that we might well look +after our interests in Brazil.' + +'Like all Frenchmen,' he said, 'I am ignorant of foreign geography, +but our Ambassador in Washington is different; he knows the world, +and the United States.' + +I thanked him; I was always glad to hear Frenchmen speak well of Mr. +Jusserand. He deserved all the praise they could give him. + +'My friend,' said Paul Loubet, 'says the world and the United States, +which means, I suppose, that Europe is one world and the United +States another.' 'It almost seems so in Europe; but your acquisition +of the Philippines will probably make you more and more a part of the +European world.' 'I am afraid that George Washington and Lafayette +would not have liked this,' said the ex-President. + +One of the French delegates asked me whether it was true that the +Germans would try to make terms with us for a cession of some foreign +territory for one of the Philippine Islands. Waldhausen was at my +elbow; I, smiling, put the question to him. + +'It is Arcadian,' he said. + +'Germany never gives up what she holds,' said the Frenchman, also +smiling. 'Otherwise, you might induce her to surrender Heligoland to +England, for a consideration, with the understanding that England +should give it back to Denmark.' + +Waldhausen laughed. + +'Such generosity is too far in advance of our time. I am afraid +Admiral von Tirpitz might object.' + +Von Tirpitz, for those behind the scenes in German politics, was much +in the public eye. It was well understood that as far as the naval +programme was concerned, he was Germany. If the seizing of Slesvig +and the completion of the Kiel canal made the German Fleet possible, +with the acquiring of Heligoland, the efforts of Admiral von Tirpitz +had made it a Navy. Through all the financial difficulties of the +German Government, difficulties that alone prevented it from +attacking France, von Tirpitz had held fast to the axiom that +Germany's future was on the ocean. He was not the kind of marine +minister who sticks fast to his desk and 'never goes to sea.' He had +become the 'captain of the King's navee' by knowing his business, +and, more than that, by studying the caprices of his Imperial +Master's mind, as well as its fixed determination. Many times I had +been told by candid friends in the diplomatic corps that the German +Emperor had no respect for our navy, that he knew every ship by +heart, that nevertheless, he examined as far as possible any new +inventions adopted by our naval experts who were most kind in +permitting German naval attachés and experts to examine them. In 1911 +the coming of the Atlantic Squadron had excited interest in the naval +position of our country. One scarcely ever saw an American flag on +the ocean. Whatever Columbia did or wanted to do, she did not rule +the seas; so our flag on the ships of the Atlantic Squadron was a +delight to all Americans and somewhat of a surprise to foreigners. + +At Kiel the general impression seemed to be that the Atlantic +Squadron represented our whole navy! The Kaiser and von Tirpitz knew +better, of course. Privately the Kaiser expressed his amusement at +our attempt to build warships--he and von Tirpitz had secrets of +their own. However, America was important enough to be given a +sedative until his designs on France and Russia were completed. One +might suspect this, then; but who could believe it! + +My correspondents in Germany--people who know are wonderful helps to +a man in the diplomatic service--concerned themselves largely with +von Tirpitz and General von Freytag-Loringhoven. Von Tirpitz was the +German Navy and the very intelligent writings of General the Baron +von Freytag-Loringhoven made us almost think that he was the Army. + +'Is he related to Freytag?' I had asked. + +'What, the novelist?' + +'The author of _Debit and Credit_?' I added. + +'Certainly not; he is one of the greatest of the Baltic baronial +families.' + +If I had asked a Bourbon, in the reign of Louis XIV., whether he was +related to Crébillon, he could not have been more shocked. Von +Freytag-Loringhoven cut a great figure in Berlin. He had Russian +affiliations, being of a Baltic family; his father had been well +known in diplomacy. He knew Russia as well as he knew Germany; he was +technical and experienced, and his writings were supposed to give +indications of the ideas of the General Staff. The Russians in +Copenhagen talked much of von Freytag-Loringhoven. I must repeat +that, in interesting myself in German personalities, I was not +considering them in relation to the future of my own country. There +were some among my friends, like James Brown Scott--men of +foresight--who seemed to have a wider vision. I was interested +because I feared that the autonomy of a little nation was at stake, +and because the absorption of that little nation would mean the +assumption of the Danish Antilles. + +That Germany had consulted Russia about a question to make war with +England a pretext for seizing Denmark, we suspected. The end of the +Japanese War had curbed Russia's eastern ambition for a time. How +were we to be sure that the Baltic and the North Sea might not, +under German tutelage, attract her? + +If von Freytag-Loringhoven's utterances were to be taken seriously, +it was evident that war was in the air; and why was von Tirpitz +building up the German Navy? The distributors of rumours in Denmark +said that all hopes of a Scandinavian confederacy were to be ended by +a quarrel with England, a move on France, and the division of +Scandinavia into two parts, one nominally Russian, the other, +Denmark, to be actually German, while Norway should gradually be +terrorised into submission. This shows how excited public opinion +was. The German propaganda spread pleasant reports of the peaceful +intentions of the Kaiser, the Crown Prince, and the personages in +power in Germany. Above all, we were told how charming the Crown +Princess Cecilia was, and how potent her influence would be in +warding off any attempts of the Pan-Germans on Denmark, even if +Germany and England should fly at each other's throats. + +People in the court circle, who knew how little royal family +alliances count to-day in actual politics, admitted that the Crown +Princess was most charming and sympathetic; she is the sister of the +Queen of Denmark, and she had become as German as it was possible for +the daughter of a Russian mother to be. Her sister, Queen +Alexandrina, had become thoroughly Danish, but then her tendencies +had always been towards democracy and the simplicities of life. + +The German news vendors alternately praised the Crown Prince and +depreciated him. If he were violent, it was against the wishes of his +father--he was a second Prince Hal trying on the imperial crown. As a +rule, however, he was brought out of the background to show his +virtues. On several occasions he had evinced more knowledge of what +was going on than his father. This was notable in the Eulenberg +scandal, when he fearlessly laid bare a horrible ulcer which was +beginning to eat into the heart of the army. On this subject he and +Max Harden, of the _Zukunft_, were in amazing alliance. Whatever may +be said of the Crown Prince's political ambitions--and we believed +and do believe that they meant world conquest--he is very much of a +man. In 1911, it was understood that he would not condescend to wear +the peace-mask that seemed to conceal his father's face. Dr. von +Bethmann-Hollweg, the Chancellor, was temporising as usual. The +Moroccan affair led to nothing because Germany's financial backers +were not ready for war. The Chancellor was attacked by von +Heydebrand; the Danish press gave graphic accounts of the scene when +the Crown Prince, from the royal box, applauded every insult that the +powerful Junker heaped on the Chancellor, who was merely the tool of +the Kaiser. It was the time of the Emperor to temporise; the time had +not come to strike; Germany was not rich enough. Russia was still +doubtful. France, in the imperial opinion, was not sufficiently +corrupted, and the dissensions between Ulster and the rest of Ireland +had not yet reached that poisonous growth which, in that opinion, +would force mutiny and sedition to poison the English. The Crown +Prince probably, in his frankness, voiced more than his own inner +sentiments. At any rate, to us near the frontier, it seemed so. +However, the incident was used to the credit of the Crown Prince. +Fair and open dealing for him! England might interfere in Morocco and +other places to prevent his country from taking a place 'in the sun'; +but let us have it out! + +In the secret councils of the Social Democrats was the hope that, if +a Hohenzollern must succeed the Kaiser, it would not be the Crown +Prince. In spite of his amiabilities and his apparently youthful +point of view of life--though there were fewer indiscretions to his +credit than are generally attributed to Crown Princes--it was known +that he was military to the core, and that in his time the soldier of +the world would never lack employment. While the Kaiser was +constantly insisting that more soldiers and more sailors and Krupp +von Bohlen's newest instruments of destruction were pawns in the game +of peace, his son made no pretence of agreeing with him. Clever or +not, he had held that a straight line was the shortest way from one +given point to another. And the Zabern incident and several others +showed that the Crown Prince meant, when his chance came, to make war +after the Napoleonic method and to exalt the sword above the pen and +the ploughshare. + +The Social Democrats in Denmark were not flattered when he said that +'one day the Social Democrats would go to court!' But he was right; +they went to court as their old Emperor went to Carrossa, when they +accepted the war! The German writers said, too, that in France his +admiration for Napoleon endeared him to the French. If he appeared in +Paris, he would be as popular as King Edward of England was when he +was Prince of Wales! 'Who knows,' one of their writers said, 'he may +make the hopes of the Duke de Reichstadt his own, and live to see +them fulfilled'? I called the attention of an Austrian friend to +this. This gentleman, high in favour in 1909, but somewhat gloomed in +1914, owing to a _bon mot_, said: 'But the French remember that the +heir of Napoleon, who might have completed his father's conquests, +was the son of an Austrian mother.' He was _gemütlich_, like his +grandfather, they said, and how sweetly amiable to the American +ladies who had married into the superior race! More than one titled +American hoped to be saved from the position of morganaticism in the +future through the kindness of His Imperial Highness. But the fixity +of will has been underrated. Napoleon tried to conquer Europe; his +eyes were on the kingdoms of Solomon and of the jewelled monarchs of +the East. Why he failed, the Crown Prince believed he had discovered. +There was no reason, therefore, why a Prussian Napoleon might not +succeed, and no necessity to repeat the defeats of Moscow and +Waterloo. The Prince would begin by fighting Waterloo first and then +putting Russia out of commission! + +In 1913 Mr. Frederick Wile, then correspondent of the London _Daily +Mail_, wrote: 'He is the idol of the German Army almost to a greater +degree than his father. His _Hunting Diary_ is amusing. He writes of +his sympathy with his 'sainted' ancestor Frederick the Great, in the +dictum that everybody should be allowed to pursue happiness and +salvation in his own sweet way.' Holy Moses! + + * * * * * + +It was not difficult to get near to the characters of the +important men in power in Germany. A night's run took one to Berlin, +and at Flensberg, a few hours from our Legation, one could see the +German war vessels. There were constant visits of Germans of +distinction; Prince Eitel Friedrich often came in his yacht, and the +Waldhausens--Madame Waldhausen was a Belgian--were constantly +entertaining guests of all countries. Princess Harald, the wife of +Prince Harold, brother of the King of Denmark, attracted many +Germans, with whom she was in sympathy. + +At court very few Germans appeared, unless they were of high official +rank. Both King Christian X. and the Queen seemed to prefer to speak +English, and nothing irritated the King, who speaks English and +French and German well, more than any attempt on the part of a +diplomatist to speak to him in Danish. It is best, I think, for +diplomatists at court to use French. One is always more guarded in +speaking a foreign language, but every member of the Danish Court +spoke English and seemed to like it. Prince Valdemar and the Princess +Marie always spoke English in their family. Prince Valdemar's French +was not so good as his English, and, in the beginning, the Princess +Marie found the learning of Danish slow work, and she had, during the +exile of her family in England, become entirely at home in the +English language. Prince Axel, their son, who recently visited +America as the guest of the American Navy, spoke English admirably. +Like all his family, he is in love with freedom. + +Nevertheless, German was much spoken in Denmark, and the intercourse +between the two countries close. The point of view of Germany, or, +rather, the Germans, was better understood in Denmark than perhaps in +any other country, the more so because the Danes, naturally satirical +and entirely disillusioned as to the altruism of great European +nations, looked with clear eyes at the progress, or, rather, the +evolution of Germany. Whatever progress Germany had made, many of +them, like the learned Dr. Gudmund Schütte, who reluctantly agreed +that the reconquest of Slesvig would be 'to commit suicide in order +to escape death,' never seemed to utter a word of German without +remembering the loss of their provinces. + +The most astonishing things were the intellectual greatness and +exact training of the German thinkers and doers, and, at the same +time, their lack of independence. With the outside world, as far as +one could gather from the press and conversations with the English, +French and Americans--though my fellow countrymen, as a rule, showed +little interest in foreign affairs--it was plain that the German +political parties were supposed to be static: the Conservatives +Junkerish, the Centrists intensely Catholic, following the slightest +signal of the Pope, the Socialists devoted to the ideas of Bebel, and +the Liberal-Nationalists fixed in their opinion that a moderate +constitutional monarchy was to be, in Germany, the solution of all +problems. + +We knew better than that in Denmark. Through the whole Catholic world +the German propagandists spread the opinion that the Centre party was +strictly 'denominational.' Nothing could be more untrue. The +traditions of Windthorst, who had boldly defined to Bismarck the +difference between what was due to Christ and what to Cæsar, were +rapidly disappearing. The fiction remained that the Centre was +constantly opposing the policy of the emperor, when at every session +of the Reichstag, the Centre became more and more 'political' and +more subservient to the designs of the Government. One could see the +changing policy in the pages of the _Social Democrat_, the Socialist +organ in Denmark. The Danish Socialists were always influenced by +their German brethren; but destructive Socialism finds, up to the +present time, no place in the Social Democratic scheme, and this is +due, not only to the Danish temperament, but to the dislike on the +part of Social Democrats to the growing power of Syndicalism. + +The leaders of the Socialists and of the Centrists are not great men. +Of the Centre, which had rightfully boasted of Windthorst and +Mallinkrot as the opponents of ultra-Imperialism, Hertling and +Erzberger were the most important. All Germany recognised the +intellectual ability of Hertling. Baron von Hertling, Professor of +the University of Munich, represented apparently everything that the +fashionable Prussian philosophical system did not. 'Glory is the only +religion of great men' is a doctrine he abhors; philosophically, he +is the direct enemy of Kant and Hegel, above all, of Nietzsche and +Schopenhauer. Nobody denies those qualities of mind that had made his +name as well known philosophically in learned circles as that of +Cardinal Mercier. He had been prime minister of Bavaria, and he, of +all men, might have been expected to see the abyss to which +Imperialism was tending. It was easy, in Denmark, to perceive that, +in the Reichstag, all parties--there were some individual exceptions, +like Liebknecht--had begun to be slaves of the emperor as represented +by his subservient grand-viziers, the Chancellors. Both the Centre, +from which much was expected, and the mixed party, called the Social +Democrats, from which stronger resistance to Imperialism had been +hoped, gradually became the upholders of the doctrine of conquest. + +Erzberger, of the Centre, is a later development of the change that +took place in the attitude of Hertling. With Lieber and Spahn, +veteran politicians, the Centre position became one of compromise. + +The Centre had managed to grow stronger and stronger after the +_Kulturkampf_, against which it had started as a party of defence. +Matthias Erzberger, who had begun as a school teacher, wisely chose +the Centre Party as a road to power. He has gained step by step by +his unconquerable audacity. In 1911 even the Chancellor seemed to +fear him. He is a bold speculator, and his rivals, even in his own +party, predicted that he would come to grief through his Napoleonic +idea of finance. From 1911 the parties in the Reichstag became more +and more Imperialistic, the Prussian tone more and more insolent as +regards foreign countries. The _cameraderie_ of the Kaiser at times, +his fits of arrogant indiscretion--checked suddenly after the +'interviews' of 1908--continued to give us 'lookers-on in Vienna' +grave concern. In spite of the encomiums made by nearly all my best +European friends--many of them English--and all my compatriots who +had been received at court, we in Denmark distrusted the Kaiser. I +must say that my Danish friends, except the Chamberlain and Madame de +Hegermann-Lindencrone, seldom praised him. To them he had been most +courteous. I remembered that the most chivalrous of men, +Hegermann-Lindencrone, never would speak ill of a sovereign to whose +court he had been accredited. Count Carl Moltke, a good Dane, never, +even in confidence, allowed a word of censure to pass his lips when +the Kaiser was mentioned by his critics; I often wondered what he +thought! + +As to the Emperor Francis Joseph, I had reason to have a great +respect and affection for him--even of gratitude. It is the fashion +to tear his reputation to pieces now, a fashion that will pass. + +At any rate, even his detractors will be glad to hear the story that, +when the war broke out and he was ill and very drowsy, one of his +Chamberlains said, 'Our army is in the field, sire!' 'Fighting those +damned Prussians again!' he said, contentedly; and went to sleep +again! He liked France, but he disliked the French Government. 'Your +President,' he said to a distinguished French sailor, with a touch +of contempt, 'is a bourgeois!' He did not mean a 'commoner'--with him +'bourgeois' implied a man who was not a soldier; and the emperor +could not understand that a European country should be well ruled by +a man who could not himself take the field; at any time, the Emperor +would have gladly taken it against these 'Prussian parvenus,' I am +sure. + +More and more, the representatives of the stolen provinces, like +Slesvig and Alsace-Lorraine, became disheartened by their weakness in +the Reichstag. The representatives of Poland received no political +support from the Centre; yet these Poles were ardent Catholics, and +their representative, Prince Radziwell, made eloquent speeches. The +delegates from Alsace-Lorraine, the Abbé Wetterlé being the most +audacious, were as little regarded as 'Hans Peter,' H. P. Hanssen, +the one Danish representative in the Reichstag. If the Centre had not +posed as Catholic, which implied, if not an unusual regard for the +liberties of the oppressed, at least a certain Christian charity for +the persecuted, censure might have been silent. If the Socialists had +not been the open and apparently unrelenting opponents of political +oppression, the good Samaritan might have tried to succour their +victims, while reflecting that the robbers who had inflicted the +wound were at least not hypocrites; but here were von Hertling and +Martin Spahn and Groeber and the rest of the Centre, who knew what +the tyranny of Bismarck had meant; here were the followers of the +later Bebel--willing to join the Centrists on many political +questions, the friends of the Imperial autocracy! Here were two +groups, antagonistic and irreconcilable in principle, but both united +when it was expedient to support plans of world conquest! + +The Centre still used religion as a tool to uphold the Government. +The Pope and the Kaiser were as antagonistic on many questions as +Popes and Kaisers have ever been since Christianity was imperfectly +accepted by the Teutons. Windthorst, a great man of the type of +O'Connell, but greater, had forced Bismarck to revoke some of the +infamous May laws in 1888. Still, certain German citizens, the +members of the congregation of the Redemptionists, were exiled. The +Centre protested--for effect. The Jesuits were at last admitted on +condition that they were not allowed to speak in the churches, and +that under no circumstances should they be permitted to speak in +public on religious subjects. Prince von Bülow publicly admitted that +there was a lack of toleration shown to Catholics, and there were +certain parts of Germany in which professors of the Catholic faith +were still under disabilities. The question of the admission of the +Jesuits and the other religious congregations ought to have been +considered as justly as it would have been in the United States. The +Centrists' representatives gave the impression of being violently +interested in the preservation of the rights of German citizens to +preach and teach any doctrines that were not immoral or seditious, +and then, at a breath from the Government, allowed these priests to +be treated as the Danish Lutheran pastors were treated in +Slesvig.[13] + + [13] 'My old commander, the late General Field-Marshal Freiheer von + Loë, a good Prussian and a good Catholic, once said to me that, in + this respect, matters would not improve until the well-known + principle of French law "_que la recherche de la paternité était + interdite_" is changed to "_la recherche du confessional était + interdite_."'--Von Bülow: _Imperial Germany_, p. 185. + +I am not writing from the point of view of any creed at this moment, +but only from that of a democracy which encourages reasonable +freedom of speech, the use of equal opportunities, and preserves to +everybody alike the free exercise of his religion. The Centre has +shown as little sympathy with democracy of this kind as the +Socialists. The latter party deserve no sympathy from any class of +Americans. Their methods are, as worked out in Denmark and Germany, +admirable. Religious bodies, interested in actively loving their +neighbours as themselves, have much to learn from them, but the +German Socialists played a worse part during the war than Benedict +Arnold in our Revolution. They did not act the part of Judas only +because they never acknowledged Christ. + +The bane of every civilised country seems to be party politics. After +theological hatreds, the ordinary variety of political hatreds and +compromises is the worst. The Centre has become corrupt and +time-serving, the Socialists expedient and slavish, all because the +Imperial Head, the Chancellor, could scatter the spoils! + + + + +CHAPTER X + +A PORTENT IN THE AIR + + +'This is the first page of my diary and the last,' wrote William H. +Seward. 'One day's record satisfies me that, if I should every day +set down my hasty impressions, based on half information, I should do +injustice to everybody around me and to none more than my intimate +friends.' + +This is true; and, when suspicion seemed to reign everywhere, after +August 1914, and one's private papers were never safe, in spite of +the fidelity of our servants--and no strangers were ever blessed with +better servants than my wife and I--it became all the more necessary +not to put down explicitly the day's talk. And the colleagues were +very frank--except when their Foreign Officers instructed them to say +something for export. If we were at the end of the world, I might +give daily conversations that would have a certain interest, but +probably some persons whom I have the honour to call friends, and +even intimate friends, might be misunderstood. A diplomatic corps in +a city like Copenhagen is one large family, and in Copenhagen the +court treats its members, who are sympathetic, with unusual courtesy, +and, at every fitting opportunity, makes them of the royal circle, +which is a very cosy and cheerful one. + +The years 1910, 1911, and 1912 were eventful ones, not because things +happened, but because things were about to happen. It was a period of +unrest. The diplomatic conversations at this time occupied themselves +with the position of Germany. + +Henckel-Donnersmarck had gone to Weimar, much to my regret. He was +supposed to have retired to private life because the Kaiser did not +find his reports minute enough, but, knowing him, it seemed to me +that he was glad to be out of a position which bored him thoroughly, +and which exacted of him duties that he did not care to fulfil. +Denmark was becoming more and more Socialistic, and even the +Conservatives were so extremely 'advanced,' that Count Henckel found +himself rather out of place. He made no country-house visits in the +summer, and gave dinners in the winter only when he could not help +it. Beyond certain conversations with me on political subjects +already mentioned, he did not go. Literature and the simpler aspects +of life interested him--children especially. We amused ourselves by +mapping out the career of his son, Leo, a very young person of marked +individualistic qualities. + +For impressions of Germany and Austria, one had to go to other +sources. The upheaval in Germany caused by the Kaiser's disregard of +public opinion in 1908 had caused most of my colleagues some concern. +Nobody wanted war. The Austrians and the Russians alike were +horrified at the thought of it. + +In 1909 there had been rumours of grave events; Count Ehrenthal had +announced privately to some bankers that 'war was evitable.' Count +Szechenyi, the Austrian-Hungarian, a lover of peace, if there ever +was one, met me one day on the steps of the Foreign Office, in a +state of trepidation. Mr. Michel Bibikoff, of the Russian Legation, +had seen me several times on the subject of the possible conflict, +academically and personally, of course, as our Government was +supposed to have no great interest in war in Europe. A speech made by +Mr. Alexander Konta, whose son, Geoffrey, was one of the best private +secretaries I ever had, put me on the track (Mr. Konta, an American +of Hungarian birth, had been conducting some financial affairs in his +native country). I suspected there would be no war since Count +Ehrenthal had announced to the financiers that there would be war. In +my opinion, it was a question of the fall or rise of stocks. Count de +Beaucaire, the French Minister, was intensely interested; a flame lit +in the Balkans might involve France. The English Minister, Sir Alan +Johnstone, seemed to take matters more calmly; we all expected his +Foreign Office to send him to Vienna, and his calmness was a +sedative. He, a prospective ambassador, was supposed to know +something of conditions, but Count Szechenyi discovered that he was +nervous, too. It struck me that it was rather absurd for me not to +know something definite. + +There was an old friend, deep in the diplomatic secrets of the +Vatican, who knew the Balkans well, who disliked Russia as much as he +suspected Germany. It was easy to get an opinion from him because he +knew I would use it with discretion. There was a clever old +Hanoverian noble, much in the secrets of the court at Berlin, and +there was Frederick Wile in Berlin, who knew many things. When Count +Szechenyi, rather pale, came up the stairs of the Foreign Office, and +said, 'My God! There will be war!' + +'No,' I answered, 'it is settled--there will be no war. I give you my +word of honour.' + +'You are sure?' + +'I have just told Bibikoff, and he is delighted.' + +I have been grateful many times to Frederick Wile, who was once a +student of mine, but that day I was more grateful than ever, for war +_is_ hell and I was glad to relieve my friends' minds. + +That night there was a _cercle_ at court. King Frederick VIII., the +most affable of kings, greatly interested in the Danes in America, +had been praising Count Carl Moltke, who had shown a great interest +in the Americans of Danish blood; it was an interesting subject. To +speak well of Count Moltke, who had the good taste to marry an +American, is always a genuine pleasure, though, I believe, he would +have left Washington if the sale of the Danish West Indies had been +mooted in his time. Then the king said, 'Your country is fortunate +not to be entangled in European affairs. There is talk of war. As the +American Minister, you have no interest, except a humanitarian one, +in a European war; you do not trouble yourself about the question +seriously.' I bowed, being discreet, I hope. Suddenly a deep voice, +audible everywhere, called out: 'But Egan told Szechenyi that the +propositions had been accepted, and there will be no war.' The king +turned to me; I was not especially desirous of admitting that I had +been making investigations, and still less desirous of revealing my +sources of information. + +Before the king could ask a question, Sir Alan Johnstone cut in, just +behind me, 'From whom did you hear it?' + +'From a journalist,' I answered, remembering Frederick Wile. + +'It will be in the papers to-morrow, then,' said the king. + +I was relieved. I should have hesitated to appear to have shown such +interest to the king as my mention of the other authorities might +have revealed. + +It was announced later, but not in the next day's papers. However, +the apprehension still remained. The Kaiser was for peace--yes!--but +on his own terms. + +The one objection to Mr. Seward's dictum on the exact keeping of +journals is that the writer, after the facts--unrelated and distorted +as they are each day--are seen in the light of experience, the +diarist finds it only too easy to prophesy for the public, because +now he _knows_. This is a temptation; but, as I look back, I must +confess that in 1910, in spite of the anxiety of my colleagues, +Germany seemed mainly important as regards her attitude to the sale +of the Danish East Indies to us. Lord Salisbury's trade of Zanzibar +for Heligoland was always in my mind. The correspondence of Mr. John +Hay and other investigations had led me to believe that the failure +of the proposed sale in 1901-1902 had been caused by German +opposition. I was, I must confess, glad to see the friendliness +between Germany and the United States. I knew rather well that it +could never grow very deep; the German point of view of the Monroe +Doctrine was too fixed for that. I knew, too, that if the very +Radical and Socialistic parties in Denmark continued to grow, the +island must be sold, and likewise that, if the United States and +Germany were unfriendly, the Social Democrats, who were too near +their German brethren not to be in sympathy with their brethren, +might turn the scale in favour of retaining the Islands. The eyes of +my colleagues were on Germany; mine were also, but for different +reasons. While they feared that Germany might want some of their +territory--we knew that, in spite of the Triple Alliance Germany and +Austria were one, Italy always being an 'outsider'--I was anxious to +save from Germany islands that might be hers if she should absorb +Denmark. I confess, with repentant tears, if you will, I had not the +slightest belief in the disinterestedness, when it came to a question +of territory, of any nation, except our own--and that might have its +limitations! + +In August 1910, I was very glad to go to visit the Raben-Levitzaus. +One reason was that the Count and Countess Raben-Levitzau are among +the most cosmopolitan and interesting people in Europe; another was, +that Chamberlain and Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone were to be at the +castle of Aalholm. Raben-Levitzau had been Minister of Foreign +Affairs. He had married Miss Moulton, one of the most beautiful +ladies in Europe and the daughter of Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone by +her first marriage. Hegermann-Lindencrone had been minister to +Washington when I was at Georgetown College doing some philosophical +work under Father Guida and Father Carroll; but I had been permitted +to go into society occasionally and the fame of Hegermann-Lindencrone +was just beginning. Mutual acquaintances and memories established a +friendship, and I came to know him as one of the cleverest, most +farseeing and kind of diplomatists. If he has an enemy in the world, +that enemy must be one of the few human beings worthy of eternal +damnation! + +The conversation is always good at Aalholm. Raben-Levitzau was rather +depressed; he was out of public life, which he loved. He had gone out +in 1908 with the J. C. Christensen ministry, owing to the fact that +Alberti, the Minister of Justice, had been found guilty of some +inexcusable manipulation of the public money. Alberti, with the rest +of the reigning ministry had been invited to the wedding of my +daughter Patricia, in September 1908. He very courteously declined, +giving as a reason that he was 'engaged'; he went to jail on that +day. He was a polite man. Raben-Levitzau resigned through the most +delicate sentiment of honour, in spite of the remonstrances of his +friends. + +I found him not against the sale, though he seemed to regards it as +very improbable. He felt that the Danes had ceased to practise the +art--if they ever had it--of ruling colonies, and, I think, that the +tremendous expenses of the Socialistic régime in Denmark, where the +poor are practically supported in all difficulties by State funds, +would render improvements in distant possessions almost impossible. +Sentimentally he would hate to see the red and the white of the +Dannebrog cease to fly amid the flags of Holland, of England, of +France, on the other side of the Atlantic. Hegermann-Lindencrone was +frankly for the sale, though it was not then in question. I asked +about Germany's design on Denmark, rumours of which were in +everybody's mouth. He--he was still Danish Minister in Berlin--said +that, since the completion of the Kiel Canal, Germany had no reason +for assuming Denmark. This was reassuring. + +Nevertheless, when one caught the reflections of German opinion in +Denmark, one became surer than ever that the new Empire was not +inclined to accept the isolation which European politicians were +apparently forcing on her. Hegermann-Lindencrone and his wife were +favourites at the German Court; the Kaiser made a point of +signalising his regard for them. Madame Hegermann was by birth an +American, a Greenough of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and never for a +moment does she forget it, though she has borrowed from the best +European society all the cultivation it could give her, in addition +to her natural talent and charm. The Kaiser showed his best side to +the Hegermann-Lindencrones, and they believed that personally he had +no evil designs on the peace of the world. + +As a Dane, Hegermann-Lindencrone's task at Berlin had not been easy, +with discontent in Slesvig always threatening to break out, although +for a time he had, as secretary of Legation, Eric de Scavenius, who +knew Germany as well as Denmark, who was as patriotically firm as he +was humanly genial. He seemed to think that the sale of the Islands +in 1902 had failed because the sum offered was comparatively small, +others because of the governmental scandals, and of the opposition of +the Princess Marie and the East Asiatic Company. + +This was interesting; he did not believe that either the German +Government of that time or the industrials, like Herr Ballin, were +against it--in fact, German interests on the Islands, especially +those of the Hamburg-American Line, were deemed as safe in the hands +of the Americans as those of the Danes. The time was, however, not +ripe for taking up the question; national opinion was against it, and +the great Danish industrials, like Etatsraad Andersen, Admiral de +Richelieu, Commander Cold, Holger Petersen and others had not yet had +their opportunity of testing the national feeling. As far as I could +see in 1910, England and France gave the matter no consideration, +though, to his horror, I occasionally informed the Count de Beaucaire +that an attempt on our part might be made to buy Martinique and +Jamaica and Curaçoa, unless the Danish Islands could be linked into +our belt. 'If I thought you were serious, I should oppose you with +all my might!' he said. + +The South American representatives showed indifference when I +mentioned the Gallapagos Islands. The buying of islands was a fixed +idea with me, and I liked to talk about it. Diplomatic opinion was +inclined to treat the prospect as chimerical, but it was evident that +neither Sweden nor Norway liked it. However, as I have said, the time +had not come. + +I discovered that, when it came to the matter of patent laws, etc., +Denmark could not act without the example of Germany, and I gathered +from this, that, when the time should come, Germany might expect to +have something to say. In the meantime, there were other questions to +study, but somehow or other all of them seemed to hinge on Germany's +attitude. She was the sphinx of Europe. + +It was in June, 1911, that the Atlantic Squadron stopped at Denmark +on its way to Germany. Admiral Badger, suave and sympathetic, was in +command. The four war vessels made a great effect, but the officers +and sailors a greater. Before they left for Kiel--it was a visit of +courtesy to the German Navy--the officers gave various dances on +board, and the decorum, the elegance, and, above all, the good +manners and good dancing of these gentlemen were praised even by +those who had been led to believe that most 'Yankees' were crude and +unpolished. + +King Frederick expressed to me most cordially the honour done his +nation by the visit, and was very much amused by the flattering +attentions paid by the American sailors at Tivoli to the Danish +girls. 'I saw them myself!' he said. He was delighted by the 'tenue' +of the officers, and complimented by the enthusiasm of the sailors, +who had apparently taken a great fancy to him. + +After one of the receptions given by the American officers, the +equerry who had been appointed to look after the Admiral and his +immediate suite, came to me in great perplexity. He held in his hand +a little box. 'I am in difficulty,' he said, 'and I have come to ask +you to help me out of it. His Majesty has received several letters +from the American sailors, and there is one which especially amused +him. It seems that he pleased the men by asking for the Scandinavians +in your navy. A sailor thanks him for this, addressing him as 'dear +King,' declaring that the men like Copenhagen so much that they beg +His Majesty to induce the Admiral to stay a few days longer. Of +course, His Majesty cannot do that, but he has asked me to give the +little medal in this box to the sailor. I am told that is against the +rules, which seem to be very strict. I really cannot tell the King +that I have not given the medal to the worthy sailor; you know the +King's kindness of heart. I am at my wit's end, so I appeal to you. +It seems so difficult to arrange without infringing upon the +discipline.' + +'It is easy enough,' I said. 'When in a quandary of this kind, call +in the Church.' + +We found the chaplain, and the amiable Frederick VIII. received a +note of gratitude, addressed 'Dear King.' + +The French and the Russians were especially interested in the coming +of the squadron, but it was made rather evident that the Germans +would have preferred that the warships might have gone directly to +Kiel. To stop at Copenhagen and Stockholm was looked on as rather +tarnishing the compliment to the Imperial Master. There were several +private intimations that I had arranged it with a view to making the +Danes feel that the United States admired their qualities and desired +to stimulate their national ambition. 'It was as if the Magi had +concluded to visit a lesser monarch on their way to Bethlehem,' said +a sarcastic Dane I met at Oxholm's château of Rosenfeldt; 'the +ultra-Imperialists hold you responsible for it.' I replied that it +was a great honour to be mistaken for Providence! + +The few pro-German writers on the Danish press rejoiced at the +compliment the United States was showing Germany; the press itself +was delighted. There were always some sarcastic paragraphs in the +Danish papers, the result of a German propaganda which allowed +nothing good in any other nation. These took the form of slight +sneers at the gaiety of our sailors and their open-handedness. The +response was indignantly made that American sailors were the only +sailors in the world who had too much to spend--and they spent this +largely in racing about in taxi-cabs, the cheapness of which amazed +them. There were rumours of depredation made by our men among the +beautiful flower beds in the Kongens Nytor. I investigated them. +There was not one valid case. + +What did the visit of the squadron to Kiel mean? Germany again! Were +we afraid of the Kaiser? Was an alliance to be made between the two +great nations? Where did England come in? It was an arrangement, +offensive and defensive, against Japan? The United States would cede +the Philippines to Germany, to save those islands from the Yellow +Peril? 'Germany and the United States would drive the English from +the Atlantic, control the Pacific, and rule the world'--this was part +of a toast drunk by some enthusiastic German-Americans at a dinner in +the Hotel Bristol, which, fortunately, I had refused to attend. From +a diplomatic point of view, when in doubt, one always ought to refuse +a public dinner. Dinners are more dangerous to diplomatists than +bombs! + +My son, Gerald, now in France, arranged a glorious game of baseball +between two of the crews of the squadron. Some of the American Colony +said it was 'educational.' The Danes, although Mr. Cavling, editor of +_Politiken_, gave a valuable silver vase to the winner, seemed to +look on it that way rather than as an amusement. The visit of the +_North Carolina_, the _Louisiana_, the _Kansas_ and the _New +Hampshire_ made an epoch, to which Americans could always allude with +justifiable pride. + +Prince Hans, the 'uncle of Europe,' the elder brother of Frederick +VIII., our neighbour, was very ill at the time of the visit. The +dances put on the programme of a cotillion, to be directed by +Mr. William Kay Wallace, then Secretary of Legation, were, of course, +cancelled. Prince Hans, dying as he was, sent an attendant to the +Legation, to thank my wife for her courtesy. There was great fear +that His Highness would die, and thus force us to cancel our own gala +dinner, and naturally put an end to all festivities on the part of +the court and the navy. 'My uncle will not die until everything is +over,' said Prince Gustav; 'he is too polite!' He was. He died just +before the dinner given by King Frederick and Queen Louise, but the +news of his death was kept back by his own request, until the dinner +was over and the 'cercle' had begun; then the sad news began to be +whispered. + +In 1912 the English and Russian squadrons appeared in the Sound. This +occasioned uneasiness. Some of the Danes asked 'did it mean a protest +against the presumed alliance between the United States and Germany? +Or was it an intimation to Germany that England and Russia had their +eyes on Germany? As to the second question, I had no answer; as to +the first, I laughed, and translated into my best Danish that such an +alliance would come when 'the sea gives up its dead.' It was a +curious allusion to make, in the light of horrible events that had +not yet occurred; I think I got it out of one of Jean Ingelow's +poems. By comparison with the glitter and gaiety of the Americans, +both the English and Russians seemed sad, and their officers rather +bored, too. Tea and cakes and conversation were no compensation in +the eyes of the Danes, who love to dance, for the American naval +bands and the claret punch of Admiral Badger's men--the navy was +'wet' then! I have no doubt, however, that the English chargé +d'affaires and the Russian Minister, were not obliged to see so many +lovelorn damsels, asking for the addresses or for news of various +sailor men, to whom they were engaged or expected to be. _Calypso ne +pouvait pas consoler_--for a time; but one or two marriages did +actually occur! The dancing of the American officers, and the weather +had been so 'marvellous'! How these enterprising sailor men managed +to engage themselves to young persons who spoke no English and +understood no language but Danish it was difficult to understand. +They had lost no time, however, but I left the problem to the +Consulate. The officers had been more discreet. + +Many times before the English and Russian ships left the Sound, the +question, What will the Germans do now? was asked. The Copenhageners, +as I have said, like the old Athenians, are much given to the +repeating of new things. 'Now all the Athenians and strangers that +were there' (the Danes call diplomatists 'strangers') 'employed +themselves in nothing else but either in telling or in hearing some +new things,' says St. Luke. This makes Copenhagen a most amusing +place, though, unlike the Athenians, the Danes only talk of new +things in their moments of leisure. + +One day just before the English and Russian vessels left, the +question as to what Germany would do was answered. A Zeppelin from +Berlin sailed over the masts of the English and Russian ships. +Copenhagen was indignant, but amused. We were invited to take the +trip back to Berlin in the Zeppelin--the fare was one hundred +kroner, or rather marks. What could be more pacific? But the Zeppelin +continued to float majestically, by preference over that space in the +Sound occupied by the English and Russians. Was it a threat? Was it a +notice served to these possible enemies that Germany had more +powerful instruments, more insidious, more deadly, than even the +great gun of the _Lion_ which we had admired so much? + +It was a portent in the sky! I reported it to my Government. It +seemed significant enough. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE PRELIMINARIES TO THE PURCHASE OF THE DANISH ANTILLES + + +The more I studied the relations of Germany to Denmark, the more +important it seemed to me that a great nation like ours, bound by the +most solemn oaths to the vindication of the cause of liberty and even +to the protection of the little nations, should have a special +interest in a country which deserved our respect and sympathy. + +As I have said, the Danes never for a moment forgot the loss of +Slesvig, and never ceased to fear the mightily growing power of which +that loss had been the foundation. If Germany, whose future was on +the sea, had not acquired Slesvig, would Kiel and the good Danish +sailors she acquired with Slesvig, have been possible as a means of +her aggrandisement? + +Danish diplomatists seemed to think that Germany, now that she had +created the Kiel Canal, had no further designs on Denmark, whom the +Pan-Germans continued, however, to call, 'our Northern province.' +This was the opinion of Hegermann-Lindencrone, of Raben-Levitzau, and +I have heard a similar opinion credited to the present Danish +Minister at Berlin, Count Carl Moltke, though he did not express it +to me. My old friend, Count Holstein-Ledreborg, was not altogether of +that opinion. 'In case of war with England, Denmark would be seized +by our neighbour, naturally,' he said; 'unless we go carefully we +are doomed to absorption.' Count Holstein-Ledreborg knew Germany +well. He had lived in that country for many years, having shaken the +dust of his native land from his soles because many of his friends +and relatives--in fact, nearly all the aristocratic class in +Denmark--had practically turned their backs on him on account of his +political Liberalism. This he told me. He had returned, with his +family, to his beautiful estate at Ledreborg, and, for a short time, +became prime minister, in order to do what seemed impossible--to +unite the factions in Parliament in favour of a bill for the defence +of the kingdom. Against England? England had no designs. Against +Russia? Russia was allied to France, and she could hardly join hands +with Germany. The intentions of the Kaiser? But the Kaiser seemed to +be a peaceful opportunist. Even the acute Lord Morley had more than +once, in conversation, put him down as a lover of peace; but--There +was always a 'but' and the General Staff of the German Army! + +Study the personality of the important personages as one might, there +were always these things to be considered as obstacles to clear +vision:--the growing corruption of principle in the Reichstag and +among the German people, if Hamburg represented them, and the point +of view of the military caste. In 1911 the increasing riches--the +thirst for money had become a veritable passion--of the German people +seemed to indicate that one of the principal obstacles to aggression +which would involve war was being rapidly removed. The difference +between the American desire for money and the German was, as I was +often compelled to point out, that, while the German desired great +possessions to have and to hold, the American wanted them in order to +use them; and, in spite of the industrious 'muck rakers,' it was +evident that our enormously rich men were not hoarding their wealth +for the sake of greed and selfish power as the German rich were +doing. Possibly, as our Government does nothing for art or for music +or for the people in need, there is a greater necessity for private +benevolence than in countries where the Government subsidises even +the opera. Nevertheless, the fact remains; the European rich man +hoarded more than the American. And Germany, in spite of the +extravagance of Berlin and the great cities, was hoarding. It was a +bad sign for the world. + +Of Slesvig, Prince Bismarck said in 1864, 'Dat möt wi hebben.' He +was terribly in earnest, and he spoke in his own Low German. At any +moment, the Kaiser might say of Denmark, 'Her must we have.' But how +foolish this statement must seem to the Pacifists and all the more +foolish in the mind of a Minister who ought not to be carried away by +rumour or guesses or to be determined by anything but the exact +truth! + +It would have been foolish if, in 1911, a serious man behind the +scenes could have trusted any country in the European concert to act +in any way that was not for its own national ends. A damaging +confession this, but the truth is the truth. We all know how amazed +some statesmen were when President Roosevelt refused the Chinese +spoil, when Cuba was restored, and promises to the Filipinos began to +be kept. If Denmark should be 'assumed,' the Danish Antilles would be +the property of the nation that 'assumed' it. As it was apparently to +the interest of the Pan-Germans to keep the Danes in suspense, and, +as most of the Danes distrusted the intentions of their neighbours, +it was not well to assume that there was smoke and no fire. + +Besides, were there not other powers who might find it to their +advantage to prevent the Danish West Indies from falling into our +hands? We were not, from 1907 to 1914, in such a state of security as +we imagined, in spite of our system of peace treaties. _Dans les +coulisses_ of all countries, there was a certain amount of cynicism +as to the effect of these peace treaties, and very little belief, +except among the international lawyers, that anything binding or +serious had been accomplished by them. After all, my business was to +hoe my own row, but I listened with great respect to such men as my +colleague, now the Norwegian Minister at Stockholm, Mr. Francis +Hagerup, and other legal-minded men. However, I determined to make +the task of saving the Islands from 'assimilation' as easy as +possible for my successor or his successor. I hoped, of course, for +the chance of doing something worth while for the country seemed to +be mine, and President Wilson--I shall always be most grateful to +him--gave me the happiness of doing humbly what I could. + +In 1907 I found that the irritation caused by the attitude of our +Government in the matter of the Islands had not worn away. The +majority of the Danes had really never wanted to sell the Islands. +'Why should a great country like yours want to force us to sell the +Danish Antilles? You pretend to be democratic, but you are really +imperialists. It is not a question of money with us; it is a question +of honour. Your country has approached us only on the side of +money--and when you knew that our poverty consented.' + +This was the substance of conservative opinion. There was a +widespread distrust, especially among the upper classes in Denmark, +as to our intentions. The title of a brochure written by James Parton +in 1869 was often quoted against us, for the Danes have long +memories. It was entitled _The Danish West Indies: Are we Bound in +Honour to pay for Them?_ 'An arrogant nation, no longer democratic' +because we had seized the Philippines! It must be said that a +minister desiring to make a good impression on the people had little +help from the press at home. Foreign affairs were treated as of no +real importance in the organs of what is called our popular opinion. +The American point of view, as so well understood over all the world +now, was not explained; but sensational stories describing the +exaggerated splendours of our millionaires, frightful tales of +lynching in the South, the creation of an American Versailles on +Staten Island, which would make the Sun King in the Shades grow pale +with envy, the luxuries of American ladies, were invariably +reproduced in the Danish papers. President Roosevelt was looked upon +as the one idealist in a nation mad for money, and even he had a +tremendous fall in the estimation of the Radicals when he spoke of a +Conservative democracy in Copenhagen. It was necessary to overcome a +number of prejudices which were constantly being fostered, partly by +our own estimate of ourselves as presented by the Scandinavian papers +in extracts from our own. + +Then, again, the real wealth of our people, our art and +literature--which count greatly in Denmark--were practically unknown. +Everything seemed to be against us. The press was either contemptuous +or condescending; we were not understood. + +It is true that nearly every family in Denmark had some +representative in the United States, but their representatives were, +as a rule, hard-working people, who had no time to give to the study +of the things of the mind among us. In spite of all their +misconceptions, which I proposed to dissipate to the best of my +ability, I found the Danes the most interesting people I had ever +come in contact with, except the French, and, I think the most +civilised. There was one thing certain:--if the Danish West India +Islands were so dear to Denmark that it would be a wound to her +national pride to suggest the sale of them to us, no such suggestion +ought to be made by an American Minister. First, national pride is a +precious thing to a nation, and the more precious when that nation +has been great in power, and remains great in heart in spite of its +apparently dwindling importance. It was necessary, then, to discover +whether the Danes could, in deference to their natural desire to see +their flag still floating in the Atlantic Ocean, retain the Islands, +and rule them in accordance with their ideals. Their ideals were very +high. They hoped that they could so govern them that the inhabitants +of the Islands might be fairly prosperous and happy under their rule. +They were not averse to expending large sums annually to make up the +deficit occasioned by the possession of them. The Colonial Lottery +was depended upon to assist in making up this budget. The Danes have +no moral objections to lotteries, and the most important have +governmental sanction. + +Under the administrations of Presidents Roosevelt and Taft it was +useless to attempt to reopen the question. All negotiations, since +the first in 1865, had failed. That of 1902, and the accompanying +scandals, the Danes preferred to forget. President Roosevelt's +opinion as to the necessity of our possessing the Islands was well +known. In 1902 the project for the sale had been defeated in the +Danish Upper House by one vote. Mr. John Hay attributed this to +German influence, though the Princess Marie, wife of Prince +Valdemar, a remarkably clever woman, had much to do with it, and she +could not be reasonably accused of being under German domination. The +East-Asiatic Company was against the sale and likewise a great number +of Danes whose association with the Islands had been traditional. +Herr Ballin denied that the German opposition existed; he seemed to +think that both France and England looked on the proposition coldly. +At any rate, he said that Denmark gave no concessions to German +maritime trade that the United States would not give, and that the +property of the Hamburg-American Line would be quite as safe in the +hands of the United States as in those of Denmark. In 1867 Denmark +had declined to sell the Islands for $5,000,000, but offered to +accept $10,000,000 for St. John and St. Thomas, or $15,000,000 for +the three. Secretary Seward raised the price to $7,500,000 in gold +for St. Thomas, St. John and Santa Cruz. Denmark was willing to +accept $7,500,000 for St. Thomas and St. John; Santa Cruz, in which +the French had some rights, might be had for $3,750,000 additional. +Secretary Seward, after some delay, agreed to give $7,500,000 for the +two islands, St. Thomas and St. John. The people of St. John and St. +Thomas voted in favour of the cession. In 1902 $5,000,000 was offered +by the United States. Diligent inquiries into the failure of the +sale, although the Hon. Henry White, well and favourably known in +Denmark, was sent over in its interest, received the answer from +those who had been behind the scenes, '$5,000,000 was not enough, +unaccompanied by a concession that might have deprived the +transaction of a merely mercenary character.' + +At that time Germany might have preferred to see the Islands in the +hands of the United States rather than in those of any other +European power. It was apparently to the interest of the United +States to encourage the activities of that great artery of +emigration, the Hamburg-American Line. She did not believe that the +United States would fail to raise the spectre of the Monroe Doctrine +against either of the nations who owned Bermuda or Mauritius, if one +of them proposed to place her flag over St. Thomas. + +In 1892 the question of Spain's buying St. Thomas, in order to defend +Puerto Rico, thrown out by an obscure journalist, was a theory to +laugh at. Germany was practically indifferent to our acquisition of +islands on the Atlantic coast that might possibly bring us one day in +collision with either England or France. As to the Pacific, her point +of view was different. + +Her politicians even then cherished the sweet hope that the Irish in +the United States and Canada might force the hand of our Government +against 'perfidious Albion' if the slightest provocation was given. +Besides, in 1868, Germany had done her worst to the Danes. She had +taken Slesvig, and had ruined Denmark financially; she had made Kiel +the centre of her naval hopes; she could neither assume Denmark nor +borrow the $7,500,000--then a much greater sum than now--for her own +purposes. I have never had reason to believe that Germany prevented +the sale of the Danish Antilles in 1902. + +The Congressional Examination of the scandalous rumours that might +have reflected on the honour of certain Danish gentlemen and of some +of our own Congressmen are a matter of record, and show no traces of +any such domination. Curiously enough, there was a persistent rumour +of a secret treaty with Denmark which gave the United States an +option on the Islands. No such treaty existed, and no Danish Minister +of Foreign Affairs of my acquaintance would have dreamed of +proposing such an arrangement. + +It is hardly necessary to dwell here on the value of these Islands to +the United States. President Roosevelt, President Wilson, Senator +Lodge, most persistently, made the necessity of possessing these +islands, through legitimate purchase, very plain. + +The completion of the Panama Canal increased their already great +importance. If such men as Seward, Foster, Olney, Root, Hay, and our +foremost naval experts considered them worth buying before the issues +raised by the creation of the Panama Canal were practical, how much +more valuable had they become when that marvellous work was +completed! Many interests contributed to the desirability of our +acquiring islands in the West Indies--every additional island being +of value to us--but the great public seemed to see this as through a +glass--darkly. + +Puerto Rico was of little value in a strategic way without the Danish +Antilles. A cursory examination of the map will show that Puerto +Rico, with no harbours for large vessels and its long coast line, +would offer no defences against alien forces. Naval experts had +clearly seen the hopelessness of defending San Juan. Major Glassford, +of the Signal Corps, in a report often quoted and carefully studied +by people intelligently interested in the active enforcement of the +Monroe Doctrine rather than its mere statement as a method of defence +on paper, said that 'St. Thomas might be converted into a second +Gibraltar.' He was right. The frightful menace of the cession of +Heligoland to Germany was an example of what might happen if we +failed to look carefully to the future. Besides, even those advocates +of peace, right or wrong, who infested our country before the war, +who were not sympathetic with the acquisition of territory, ought to +have remembered that one of the best guarantees of peace was to leave +nothing to fight about as far as these islands of value in our +relations 'to the region of the Orinoco and the Amazon' and the +Windward Passages were concerned. The German occupation of +Brazil--increasing so greatly that the Brazilians were alarmed, the +European prejudices, made evident during the Spanish-American War as +existing in South and Central America--were all occasions for +thought. + +'The harbour of Charlotte Amalie,' wrote Major Glassford, writing of +St. Thomas, 'and the numerous sheltered places about the island offer +six and seven fathoms of water. Besides, this harbour and the +roadsteads are on the southern side of the island, completely +protected from the prevailing strong winds. If this place were +strongly fortified and provisioned'--the number of inhabitants are +small compared with Puerto Rico--'it would be necessary for an enemy +contemplating a descent upon Puerto Rico to take it into account +first. The location on the north-east side of the Antilles is in +close proximity to many of the passages into the Caribbean Sea, and +affords an excellent point of observation near the European +possessions in the archipelago. It is also a centre of the West +Indian submarine cable systems, being about midway between the +Windward Passage and the Trinidad entrance into the Caribbean Sea.' + +Other interests distracted attention from the essential value of +these islands for local reasons, party reasons, which are the curse +of all modern systems of government. The failure to purchase the +Islands in 1892 did not discourage Senator Lodge. On March 31st, +1898, the Committee on Foreign Affairs reported a bill authorising +the President to buy the Danish West India Islands for a naval and +coal station. On this bill, Senator Lodge made a most interesting and +valuable report, in which he said, after stating that the fine +harbour of St. Thomas possessed all the required naval and military +conditions--'It has been pointed out by Captain Mahan, as one of the +great strategic points in the West Indies.' 'The Danish Islands,' he +concluded, 'could easily be governed as a territory, could be readily +defended from attack, occupy a commanding strategic position, and are +of incalculable value to the United States, not only as part of the +national defences, but as removing by their possession a very +probable cause of foreign complications.' + +My predecessors in Denmark, Messrs. Risley, Carr, Svendsen, were of +this opinion. The arguments of Mr. Carr, expressed in his despatches, +are invincible. Mr. O'Brien, who was minister plenipotentiary to +Denmark until he was sent as ambassador to Japan, saw, as I did, in +1907, that the Danes and their Government were in no mood to accept +any suggestions on the subject. However, I discussed the matter +academically with each minister of Foreign Affairs, saying that the +United States would make no proposition at any time which might +offend the national self-respect of the Danes, that in fact, as +valuable as the Islands would be to us and as expedient as it might +be for the Danes to sell them to us, their Government must give some +unequivocal sign that it was willing to part with them before we +should seriously take up the question again. Neither Count +Raben-Levitzau nor Count William Ahlefeldt-Laurvig gave me any +official encouragement, though I hardly expected it as I had taken +means to sound public opinion on my own account. Both Count +Raben-Levitzau and Count Ahlefeldt were Liberal Ministers of Foreign +Affairs, and I knew that, if there was any hope that a sale might be +made, they would give me reasonable encouragement. Besides, I was +doubtful whether the price--which might probably be asked--reasonable +enough in my eyes and in the eyes of those European diplomatists who +knew what Heligoland and Gibraltar meant to Germany and to +England--would not have raised such an outcry among voters at home, +who had not yet learned to weigh any transaction with a foreign +Government--except commercially, in terms of dollars and cents, that +another failure might have followed. It was out of the question to +risk that. + +Many of my friends among the more conservative of the Danes scorned +the idea of the sale on any terms. Among these was Admiral de +Richelieu, whose father is buried in St. Thomas, and who is the most +intense of Danish patriots. If objections to the sale on the part of +my best friends in Denmark had governed me, I should have despaired +of it. However, my friends, like de Richelieu, felt that our +Government would be glad to see the Danish West India Islands +improved as far as the Danes could improve them. De Richelieu, +Etatsraad Andersen--Etatsraad meaning Councillor of State--Holger +Petersen, Director Cold, formerly Governor of the Islands, Hegemann, +who bore the high title of _Geheimekonferensraad_, were among those +most interested in the Islands. + +Hegemann, since dead, was the only one of the group who thought that +the Danish Government could never either improve the Islands socially +or make them pay commercially. 'The Danes are bad colonisers,' he +said. He was a man of great common-sense, of wide experience, and a +philanthropist who never let his head run away with his heart. He did +a great deal for technical education in Denmark. In fact, there was +scarcely any movement for the betterment of the country economically +in which he was not interested. He had great properties in the island +of Santa Cruz; but he looked on the Danish possession of the Islands +as bad for the reputation of his native country and worse for the +progress of the Islands and the Islanders. 'The present Government is +too mild in its treatment of the blacks,' he said; 'equality, liberty +and fraternity, the motto of the ruling party, is excellent, but it +will not work in the Islands.' Besides, the construction of the +Panama Canal was drawing the best labourers from them. He was +interested in sugar and even in sea cotton; he thought that, the +tariff restrictions being removed and a market for labour made, +something might be done by us towards making the Islands a profitable +investment. I was entirely indifferent as to that--our great need of +the Islands was not for commercial uses. + +The prevailing opinion in Court circles was against the sale, based +on no antagonism to the United States, but on the desire that Denmark +should not lose more of its territory. The Faroe Islands, Greenland +and Iceland were still appendages; but Iceland was always restive, +and Greenland seemed, in the eyes of the Danes, to have only the +value of remotely useful territory. They had been shorn of territory +by England, by Sweden, and, last of all, by Germany. + +Our Government, knowing well how strong the national pride was, and +how reasonable, permitted me to show it the greatest consideration. +When the East-Asiatic Company, which had important holdings in St. +Thomas, proposed that the national sentiment should be tested, and +each Danish citizen asked to make a pecuniary sacrifice for the +retention of the Islands, I was permitted to express sympathy with +the movement, and to assist it in every way compatible with my +position. + +The attempt failed. It was evident that the majority of the people, +whatever were their sentiments, knew that it was impracticable to +attempt to govern the Islands from such a distance. If it had been +possible to retain them with honour, with justice to the inhabitants, +who for a long time had been desirous of union with the United +States, no amount of money would have induced Denmark to part with +the last of her colonial possessions. As it was, the prospect was not +at all clear. + +In modern times, a man who aspires to do his duty in diplomacy must +be honest and reasonably frank. To pretend to admire the institutions +of a nation, to affect a sympathy one does not feel, with a view to +obtaining something of advantage to one's own country, was no doubt +possible when foxes were preternaturally cunning and crows +unbelievingly vain, but not now. The whole question of the Islands +was a matter which must be settled by the commonsense of the Danes at +the expense of their sentiment; no pressure on our part could be +used, short of such arguments as might point to the forcible +possession of the Islands temporarily in case of war; but the fact +that the United States preferred to give what seemed to be an +enormous sum--(though $25,000,000 have to-day scarcely the purchasing +power of the $15,000,000 demanded for the three Islands from +Secretary Seward in 1867)--rather than run the risk of future +unpleasant complications with a small and friendly State, showed that +the intentions of our Government were on a par with its professions. + +When the proposed sale of the Islands stopped, largely because +Senator Sumner disliked President Johnson, and the treaty lapsed in +1870 in spite of the support of Secretary Fish, King Christian IX. +wrote, in a proclamation to the people of the Danish Islands--a +majority of whom had consented to the proposed sale,--'The American +Senate has not shown itself willing to maintain the treaty made, +although the initiative came from the United States themselves.' The +king had only consented to the sale to lighten the terrible financial +burdens imposed on his country by the unjust war which Germany and +Austria had forced upon Denmark with a view to the theft of Slesvig; +and his consent would never have been given had not Secretary Seward, +the predecessor of Secretary Fish, reluctantly agreed that the vote +of the inhabitants should be taken. He was more democratic than Mr. +Seward. + +King Christian would not sign the treaty, which gave $7,500,000 to +Denmark for the two Islands of St. Thomas and St. John, until Mr. +Seward consented to 'concede the vote.' The Danes were frank in +admitting that their 'poverty, but not their will,' consented. 'Ready +as We were to subdue the feelings of Our heart, when We thought that +duty bade Us so to do,' continued the king in his proclamation, 'yet +We cannot otherwise than feel a satisfaction that circumstances have +relieved Us from making a sacrifice which, notwithstanding the +advantages held out, would always have been painful to Us. We are +convinced that You share these sentiments, and that it is with a +lightened heart You are relieved from the consent which only at Our +request You gave for a separation from the Danish crown.' + +The king added that he entertained the firm belief that his +Government, supported by the Islanders, would succeed in making real +progress, and end by effacing all remembrances of the disasters that +had come upon them, his overseas dominions. Affairs in the mother +country did look up; the Danes developed their country, in spite of +the worst climatic conditions, into a land famous for its scientific +farming. A wit has said that Denmark, after the loss of Slesvig, was +divided like old Gaul, itself, into three parts,--butter, eggs and +bacon. The Danes, cast into a condition of moral despondency and +temporal poverty, with their national pride stricken, and their soil +outworn, seized the things of the spirit and made material things +subservient. Religion and patriotism, developed by Bishop Grundtvig, +saved the mother country; but the Islands continued to go through +various stages of hope and fear. The United States was too near and +Denmark too far off. Home politics were generally paramount, and each +new governor was always obliged to consider the sensitiveness of his +Government to the amount of expenditure allowed. There were persons +in power at home who seemed to see the Islands from the point of view +of Bernardin de Saint Pierre--sentimentally. The happy black men were +to dance under spreading palms, gently guided by Danish Pauls and +Virginias! The black men were only too willing to dance under palms, +whether spreading or not, and to be guided by any idyllic persons +who, leaving them the pleasures of existence, would take the trials. +All the governors suffered more or less from the Rousseau-like point +of view taken by the Government. Mr. Helvig Larsen was the last who +was expected to be 'idyllic.' One of the fears often expressed to me +was that 'the Americans would treat the blacks badly--we have all +read _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, you know.' + +Even Her Majesty, the Dowager Queen Louise, one of the best-informed +women in Europe, had her doubts about our attitude to the negroes. +'You have black nurses,' Her Majesty said to me; 'why are your +people, especially in the South, not more kind to their race?' Queen +Louise, who was sincerely interested in the welfare of her coloured +subjects, would listen to reason. I sent her the _Soul of the Black_, +which shows unconsciously why social equality in this case would be +undesirable, but not until Booker Washington's visit did Her Majesty +understand the attitude that sensible Americans, who know the South, +take on the subject of the social equality of our coloured +fellow-citizens. During my stay in Europe this matter was frequently +discussed. + +Some of my German colleagues politely insinuated that 'democracy' was +little practised in a country where a President could be severely +censured for inviting a coloured man of distinction to lunch. And +nearly all the Danes of the modern school took this point of view. +The naval officers, who are always better informed as to foreign +conditions than most other men, readily understood that social +equality assumes a meaning in the United States which would imply the +probability of what is known as 'amalgamation.' While the German +critic of our conditions might very well understand the impossible +barrier of caste in his own country and object to 'permanent +marriages' with women of the inferior 'yellow' races, he seemed to +think that the laws in some of the United States against the +marriages of blacks and whites were un-Christian and illogical. + +'But you would not encourage such marriages?' I asked of one of the +most distinguished Danes at the Copenhagen University. + +'Why not?' he asked. + +From my point of view, the case was hopeless. And every now and then +an extract from an American paper, containing the account of a +lynching with all the gruesome details described, would be translated +into Danish. I never believed in censoring the press until I came to +occupy a responsible position in Denmark. I confess, _mea +culpa_!--that I wanted many times to have the right to say what +should or should not be reprinted for foreign consumption! The +newspapers seemed to have no regard for the plans of the +diplomatists, believing news is news! There will always be the +irrepressible conflict! + +One of my wife's friends in Denmark, the late Countess Rantzau, born +of the famous theatrical family of the Poulsens, who was well-read, +and who knew her Europe well, produced one day an old embroidered +screen for my benefit. There were the palms; there was an ancient +African with a turban on his very woolly head; there was a complacent +young person in stiff skirts seated at his feet, looking up to him +with adoring eyes. 'Antique?' I asked, preparing to admire the work +of art; the tropical foliage of acanthus leaves was so flourishing in +the tapestry, and the luncheon had been so good! + +'It is not as a work of art that I show it to the American Minister, +but to let him know that we Danes love the virtues of the blacks. +This is Uncle Tom and Little Eva!' + +It was intended to soften a hard heart! + +In October 1910 Mr. Andrew Carnegie telegraphed that Mr. Booker +Washington would pay a visit to Denmark. I had met Mr. Booker +Washington with Mr. Richard Watson Gilder in New York, and I admired +him very greatly. However, I felt that I should be embarrassed by +his visit, as I knew both King Frederick and Queen Louise were +interested in him and would not only expect me to present him, but +likewise--they were the fine flowers of courtesy--wish my wife and +myself to dine at Amalieborg Palace with him. When Admiral +Bardenfleth, the queen's chamberlain, came to inquire as to when Mr. +Booker Washington should arrive, I suggested that Her Majesty, who +had often shown her high appreciation of Mr. Washington's work, might +like to talk with him informally, as I knew that she had many +questions to ask, and that he himself would be more at his ease if I +were not present. The Admiral thanked me. I said the same thing to +the Master of Ceremonies of the Court when he came on behalf of the +king. + +For charm of manner, ease, the simplicity that conceals the +perfection of social art, and at least apparent sympathy with one's +difficulties, let the high officials of the Court of Denmark be +commended! The Master of Ceremonies was delighted. Their Majesties +would miss me from the introduction and regret that Mrs. Egan and I +would not be present at the dinner, which, however, would be earlier +than usual, as I had said that Mr. Booker Washington must catch a +train; it would also be very unceremonious. His Majesty would ask +only his immediate _entourage_. + +I was pleased with myself (a fatal sign by the way!); Mr. Washington +would have all the honour due him. I arranged to attend his lecture, +with all the Americans I could collect. I sent the landau with two +men on the box, including the magnificent Arthur and the largest +cockades, to meet Mr. Washington. In 1910, King Frederick used only +carriages and the diplomatists followed his example, though some of a +more advanced temperament had taken to motor cars. Mr. Washington +was pleased. He loved the landau and the cockades, and Arthur, our +first man, who had been 'in diplomacy twenty-five years,' treated him +with distinction. + +'You have honoured my people and my work most delicately,' he said to +me. 'I thank you for sending me the king's invitation to dinner to +the Hôtel d'Angleterre. Too much public talk of this honour in the +United States would do my people and myself much harm. I will make, +in print, an acknowledgment of your courtesy, so effective and so +agreeable. To have my work recognised in this manner by the most +advanced Court in Europe is indeed worth while, and to have this +honour without too much publicity is indeed agreeable.' + +Mr. Washington's lecture had been a great success. It had helped, +too, to do away with the impression that lynching is to the Americans +of North America what bull fights are to those of South America. The +most awkward question constantly put to me at Court and in society +was, 'But why do you lynch the black men?' + +Filled with satisfaction at the result of my machinations (a bad +state of mind, as I have said), I was bending over my desk one +morning when two correspondents of American newspapers were +announced. They came from London; I had met them both before. + +'Cigars?' + +'Yes. We do not want to give you trouble, Mr. Minister; you were very +decent to us all in the Cook affair, but we shall make a good story +out of this Booker Washington visit, and we think it is only fair to +say that we are going to 'feature' you. There is nothing much doing +now, and we've been asked to work this thing up. We know on the best +authority that the king will give a dinner to Booker Washington; you +will respond with a reception; Mrs. Egan will be taken in to dinner +by Mr. Washington; there will be lots of ladies there--in a word, +we'll get as big a sensation out of it as the newspapers did out of +the Roosevelt-Booker Washington incident. It will do you good in the +North, and, as you're a Philadelphian, you need not care what the +South thinks.' + +These gentlemen meant to be kind; they were dropping me into a hole +kindly, but they _were_ letting me into a hole! + +'It is not a question as to _how_ I feel,' I said; 'it is a question +of raising unpleasant discussions, of injuring the coloured people by +holding out false hopes, which, hurried into action, excite new +prejudices against them. President Roosevelt, when he invited Booker +Washington to lunch, acted as I should like to act now, but I would +regret the ill-feeling raised by discussions of such an incident as +greatly as he regretted it; but,' I added, 'you have your duty to +your papers, which must have news, although the heavens fall. If my +wife is taken in to dinner by Mr. Booker Washington at Court, if I +give the reception you speak of----' + +'You will,' said the elder newspaper man, joyously; 'it is a matter +of rigid etiquette. We have a private tip!' + +'Very well, when I do these things, I shall not complain if you +headline them.' + +'Sensation in Denmark,' he read, from a slip. 'Wife of American +Minister is taken in to Dinner by Representative Coloured Man. +Perfect Social Equality Exemplified by Reception to Mr. Booker +Washington at American Legation! London will like you all the better +for that,' he said, laughing. + +'As "tout Paris" liked President Roosevelt,' I answered. + +I shivered a little. 'Come to lunch to-morrow, but do not let us talk +on this subject. If I am compelled by etiquette, as you insist I +shall, I'll swallow the headlines. I shall ask Mr. Hartvig of some +London papers and the _New York World_ to meet you.' And off they +went! + +If I were a Spartan person and really loved to perform my duties in +the most idealistic way, I should have treated the situation greatly, +nobly, and unselfishly; I should not have been pleased at the +prospect of cheating my journalistic friends out of a good story; +but, not being Spartan and really not loving difficult duties, I felt +that I had done enough in giving them a luncheon worthy of the +reputation of our Legation, with _sole à la Bernaise_ and the best +Sauterne. + +Mr. Washington called before he went to the king's dinner; he was all +smiles, and his evening suit was perfect. He said 'good-bye,' and I +was thankful that the event of his visit was over; he was not only +satisfied, but radiant and grateful. + +Consul-General Bond and his wife, Dr. Brochardt, of the Library of +Congress, and several other interesting people were to come in, to +dine and to play bridge this evening. I fancied the disappointment of +the newspaper men when they should arrive, to find no reception in +progress and no Booker Washington. I think I told my guests of the +remarkably clever way--I hope I did not use that phrase--by which +they had been outwitted. + +We were about to go into the drawing-room for coffee when a card was +brought in. 'Mr. Booker Washington.' Some of the guests, those from +the South especially, wanted to see him; but I trembled when I +imagined the scene that would meet the reporters, who were, I knew, +sure to come about nine o'clock. The drawing-room would be +brilliantly lighted, half a dozen charming ladies in evening gowns +would be there, surrounding the eminent apostle! Enter the writers, +and then would follow an elaborate sketch of the social function to +be described as a New Step in Social Evolution, the Dawn of a New +Day, a Symbol of Entire Social Equality. I knew that the elder +newspaper man, a friend of Stead's, was quite capable of all this! + +'Coffee will be served in my study,' I said, not waiting to consult +my wife. 'I will see Mr. Washington, at least for a moment, _alone_.' + +The group of guests moved off reluctantly. Mr. Washington waited in +the back drawing-room, where both the Kaiser and Colonel Roosevelt +had once stood, though at different times. His train would be late; +he came in the fulness of his heart, to tell me that King Frederick +and Queen Louise had been most sympathetic. He was enthusiastic about +the discernment and commonsense of Queen Louise, who had read his +book and followed every step of his work with great interest. 'I was +glad to have Her Majesty know that the best men of my race are with +me, that the opposition to me comes, not from the whites, but from +that element in my own race which wants to enjoy the luxuries of life +and its leisure without working! I thank you again, Mr. Minister, for +arranging this affair in such a way as to preserve my dignity and to +prevent me from appearing as if I were vain; yet I am legitimately +proud of the great honour I have received. I shall now go to my +hotel, and arrange for my departure.' + +'I have ordered the carriage,' I said. + +Just then, the footman threw the doors open, and in came the two +newspaper men, resplendent as a starry night, one wearing a Russian +decoration. + +'Alone?' he said. + +'With Dr. Booker Washington.' + +'The reception?' + +'Dr. Booker Washington has just come to describe his dinner at the +Court. Let me present you two gentlemen. Dr. Washington has little +time; if you will accompany him to the hotel, he will, I am sure, +give you an interview. Mr. Hartvig of the _New York World_ will be +present, too.' + +'Stung!' said the younger newspaper man. + +'Lunch with me to-morrow,' I said; 'I have some white Bordeaux.' + +Dr. Washington gave a prudent interview and the incident was closed. +May he rest in peace. He was a great man, a modest, intelligent and +humble man, and no calumny can lessen his greatness. + +This is a digression to show that the social question in the United +States, much as it might have seemed to people who looked on Denmark +as entirely out of our orbit, had its importance in the affair of the +purchase of the Islands, which then interested me more than anything +else in the world. + +Pastor Bast was the only Methodist clergyman in Copenhagen. His good +works are proverbial and not confined to his own denomination. The +Methodists were few; indeed, I think that even Pastor Bast's children +were Lutherans. Having recommended one of his charities, I was asked +by a very benevolent Dane: + +'Are the Methodists really Christians in America?' + +'Why do you ask that question?' + +'I have read that there is a division in their ranks because most of +them refuse to admit black people on equal terms. If that is so, I +cannot help Pastor Bast's project, although I can see that it has +value.' + +It was in vain to explain the difference of opinion on the +'Afro-American question' which separated the Northern and Southern +Methodists; he could not understand it. I hope, however, that Pastor +Bast received his donation. + + * * * * * + +In August 1910, the unrest in Europe, reflected in Denmark, was +becoming more and more evident. The diplomatic correspondents during +the succeeding years--some of it has been made public--showed this. + +Japan, it was understood, would, with the Mexican difficulty, keep +the United States out of any entanglements in Europe. So sure were +some of the distinguished Danes of our neutrality in case of war--a +contingency in which nobody in the United States seemed to +believe--that I was asked to submit to my Government, not +officially, a proposal to Denmark for the surrender of Greenland to +us, we to give, in return, the most important island in the +Philippines--Mindanao. Denmark was to have the right to transfer to +Germany this island for Northern Slesvig. The Danish Government had +no knowledge of this plan, which was, however, presented in detail to +me. + +Against it was urged the necessity of Denmark's remaining on good +terms with Germany. 'We could never be on good terms with our +Southern Neighbour, if we possessed Slesvig; besides, the younger +Danes in Slesvig are so tied up with Germany economically that their +position would be more complicated. 'In fact,' this Slesviger said, +'though I hate the Prussian tyranny, I fear that our last state would +be worse than our first. Germany might accept the Philippine Island, +and retake Slesvig afterwards. Unless we could be protected by the +Powers, we should regard the bargain as a bad one. Besides, England +would never allow you to take Greenland.' It was an interesting +discussion _in camera_. + +These discussions were always informal--generally after luncheon--and +very enlightening. Admiral de Richelieu, who will never die content +until Slesvig is returned to Denmark, looked on the arrangement as +possible. + +'Germany wants peace with you; she could help you to police the +Philippines; Greenland would be more valuable to you than to us,--and +Slesvig would be again Danish.' + +'But suppose we should propose to take the Danish Antilles for +Mindanao?' I asked. + +'Out of the question,' he said, firmly. 'You will never induce us to +part with the West Indies. We can make them an honourable appendage +to our nation; but Greenland, with your resources, might become +another Alaska.' + +De Richelieu is one of the best friends I have in the world; but, +when it came to the sale of the Islands, he saw, not only red, but +scarlet, vermilion, crimson and all the tints and shades of red! + +In 1915, it seemed to me that my time had come to make an attempt to +do what nearly every American statesman of discernment had, since +Seward's time, wanted done. It must be remembered that, if I seem +egoistical, I am telling the story from the point of view of a +minister who had no arbitrary instructions from his Government, and +very little information as to what was going on in the minds of his +countrymen as to the expediency of the purchase. It is seldom +possible to explain exactly the daily varying aspect of foreign +politics in a European country to the State Department; if one keeps +one's ear to the ground, one often discovers the beginning of social +and political vibrations in the evening which have quite vanished +when one makes a report to one's Government in the morning. Again, +mails are slow; we had no pouch; any document, even when closed by +the august seal of the United States might be opened 'by mistake.' +Long cables, filled with minutiæ, were too expensive to be +encouraged. Besides, they might be deciphered and filed by +under-clerks, who probably thought that 'Dr. Cook had put Denmark on +the Map,'--only that, and nothing more! I knew one thing--that my +colleague, Constantin Brun, was for the sale; another, that Erik de +Scavenius, the youngest Minister of Foreign Affairs in Europe, was as +clever as he was patriotic and honourable, and as resourceful as +audacious. He had an Irish grandfather. That explained much. Another +thing I assumed--that my Government trusted me, and had given me, +without explicitly stating the fact, _carte blanche_. However, I +prepared myself to be disavowed by the State Department if I went too +far. I knew that, provided I was strictly honourable, such a +disavowal would mean a promotion on the part of the President. I had +done my best to accentuate the good reasons given by my predecessors, +especially Carr and Risley, for they were beyond denial, for our +buying the Islands. One despatch I had sent off in May or June 1915, +almost in despair, a despatch in which I repeated the fear of German +aggression and quoted Heligoland, which had become as much a part of +my thoughts and talk in private as the appearance of the head of +Charles I. in that of Dickens's eccentric character. + +In June 1915, no nation had the time or the leisure or the means of +interfering with the project, for war means concentration, and I had +found means of knowing that Germany would not coerce Denmark in the +matter. I hoped and prayed that our Government would take action. I +knew, not directly, but through trusted friends like Robert Underwood +Johnson, lately Editor of _The Century Magazine_, what point of view +nearly every important journal in the United States would take. +Senator Lodge's views were well known; in fact, he had first inflamed +my zeal. President Wilson had put himself on record in this momentous +matter. Unless public opinion should balk at the price--$50,000,000 +would not have been too much--the purchase would be approved of by +the Senate and the House. This seemed sure. + +Against these arguments was the insinuation made and widely but +insidiously spread, that Germany approved the sale because she +expected to borrow the amount of money paid! In June 1915, it was +plain to all who read the signs of the times, that we could not long +keep out of the war. 'I did not raise my boy to be a soldier' was +neither really popular in the United States nor convincing, for, sad +as it may seem, disheartening as it is to those who believe in that +universal peace which Christ never promised, the American of the +United States is a born fighter! + +If the Islands were to be ours, now was the acceptable time. In +Denmark, the prospect looked like a landscape set for a forlorn hope. +Erik de Scavenius, democrat, even radical, though of one of the most +aristocratic families in Denmark, would consider only the good of his +own country. He was neither pro-German, pro-English nor pro-American. +Young as he was, his diplomatic experience had led him to look with a +certain cynicism on the altruistic professions of any great European +nation. He relied, I think, as little as I did on the academic +results of the Hague conferences. + +Denmark needed money; the Government, pledged to the betterment of +the poor, to the advancement of funds to small farmers, to the +support of a co-operative banking system in the interest of the +agriculturists, to old-age pensions, to the insurance of the working +man and his support when involuntarily idle, to all those Socialistic +plans that aim at the material benefit of the proletariat,[14] and in +addition to this, to the keeping up of a standing army as large as +our regular army before the war, now 'quasi-mobilised,'--could ill +afford to sink the State's income in making up the deficit caused by +the expenses of the Islands. + + [14] In Rome, 'the proletariat' meant the people who had children. + +The Radicals, like Edward Brandès, despaired of righteously ruling +their Islands on the broad, humanitarian principles they had +established in Denmark. The position of the Government was so +precarious that to raise the question might have serious +consequences. This we all knew, and none better than Erik de +Scavenius. It will be seen that the difficulties on the Danish side +were greater than on ours. The price, which, reasonably enough, would +be greater than that offered in previous times, would hardly be a +very grave objection from the American point of view, since the war +had made us more clear-minded, for our people are most generous in +spending money when they see good reasons for it. + +It would take much time to unravel the intricacies of Danish +politics. 'Happy,' said my friend, Mr. Thomas P. Gill,[15] visiting +Denmark in 1908, 'is that land which is ruled by farmers!' I have +sometimes doubted this. The Conservatives naturally hated the Social +Democrats, and the Government was kept in power by the help of the +Social Democrats. The Conservatives would have gladly pitched the +Government to Hades, if they had not had a great fear that Erik de +Scavenius and perhaps Edward Brandès, the Minister of Justice, were +too useful to lose during the war when the position of Denmark was so +delicate. The recent elections have shown how weak the present +Government is. + + [15] Mr. Thomas P. Gill is the permanent Secretary of the Irish + Agricultural and Technical Board. + +The Danes, as I have said, are probably the most civilised people in +Europe, but an average American high school boy thinks more logically +on political questions. A union of such intellectual clearness with +such a paralysis of the logical, political qualities of the mind as +one finds in Denmark, is almost incredible. They seem to feel in +matters of politics but not to think. After a large acquaintance +among the best of the young minds in Denmark, I could only conclude +that this was the result of unhappy circumstances: the pessimism +engendered by the nearness to Germany, the fact that the Dane was +not allowed to vote until he became almost middle-aged, and the +absence, in the higher schools, of any education that would +cultivate self-analysis, and which would force the production of +mental initiative. Sentiment was against the sale of the +Islands,--therefore, the cause already seemed lost! + +The press, as a rule, would be against it, but the press in Denmark, +though everybody reads, has not a very potent influence. I was sure +of _Politiken_, a journal which most persons said was 'yellow,' but +which appealed to people who liked cleverness. The press, I was sure, +would be against the sale largely for reasons of internal politics. +The farmers would not oppose the sale as a sale--in itself--the +possession of a great sum of money, even while it remained in the +United States, meant increased facilities for the import of fodder, +etc., but J. C. Christensen, their leader, must be reckoned with. +There were local questions. Politics is everywhere a slippery game, +but in Denmark it is more slippery than anywhere else in the world, +not even excepting in, let us say, Kansas. + +J. C. Christensen had stubbed his toe over Alberti, who had, until +1908, been a power in Denmark, and who, in 1915, was still in the +Copenhagen jail. He had been prime minister from 1905 until Alberti's +manipulation of funds had been discovered in 1908. Under the short +administration of Holstein-Ledreborg, he had been Minister of +Worship, but he smarted over the accident which had driven him +undeservedly out of office. Socialism, curious as it may seem to +Americans, is not confined to the cities in Denmark. It thrives in +the farmlands. In the country, the Socialists are more moderate than +in the cities. In the country, Socialism is a method of securing to +the peasant population the privileges which it thinks it ought to +have. It is a pale pink compared with the intense red of the extreme +urban Internationalists. J. C. Christensen represented the Moderates +as against the various shades of Left, Radical and Socialistic +opinions. Besides J. C. Christensen, though his reputation was beyond +reproach, needed, perhaps, a certain rehabilitation, and he had a +great following. A further complication was the sudden rise of +violent opposition to the Government because of the decision made by +the secular authorities in favour of retaining in his pulpit Arboe +Rasmussen, a clergyman who had gone even further towards Modernism in +his preaching than Harnack. However, as the Bishops of the Danish +Lutheran Church had accepted this decision, it seemed remarkable +that an opposition of this kind should have developed so +unexpectedly. + +In June 1915, my wife and I were at Aalholm, the principal castle of +Count Raben-Levitzau. I was hoping for a favourable answer to my +latest despatch as to the purchase of the Islands. A visit to Aalholm +was an event. The Count and Countess Raben-Levitzau know how to make +their house thoroughly agreeable. Talleyrand said that 'no one knew +the real delights of social intercourse who had not lived before the +French Revolution.' One might easily imitate this, and say, that if +one has never paid a visit to Aalholm, one knows little of the +delights of good conversation. Count Raben's guests were always +chosen for their special qualities. With Mr. and Mrs. Francis +Hagerup, Señor and Señora de Riaño, Count and Countess Szchenyi,[16] +Chamberlain and Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone, Mrs. Ripka, and the +necessary additional element of young folk, one must forget the cares +of life. During this visit, there was one care that rode behind me in +all the pleasant exclusions about the estate. It constantly asked me: +What is your Government thinking about? Will the President's +preoccupations prevent him from considering the question of the +purchase? Does Mr. Brun, the Danish Minister, fear a political crisis +in his own country? It is difficult to an American at home to realise +how much in the dark a man feels away from the centre of diplomacy, +Washington, especially when he has once lived there for years and +been in touch with all the tremulous movements of the wires. + + [16] Dr. Francis Hagerup, Norwegian Minister to Copenhagen, now at + Stockholm. Count Szchenyi, Austro-Hungarian Minister, Señor de + Riaño, now Spanish Minister at Washington. + +One day at Aalholm, the telephone rang; it was a message from the +Clerk of the Legation, Mr. Joseph G. Groeninger of Baltimore. I put +Clerk with a capital letter because Mr. Groeninger deserved +diplomatically a much higher title. During all my anxieties on the +question of the purchase, he had been my confidant and encourager; +the secretaries had other things to do. The message, discreetly +voiced in symbols we had agreed upon, told me that the way was clear. +Our Government was willing,--secrecy and discretion were paramount +necessities in the transaction. + +Returning to Copenhagen, I saw the Foreign Minister. The most direct +way was the best. I said, 'Excellency, will you sell your West Indian +Islands?' + +'You know I am for the sale, Mr. Minister,' he said, 'but--' he +paused, 'it will require some courage.' + +'Nobody doubts your courage.' + +'The susceptibilities of our neighbour to the South----' + +'Let us risk offending any susceptibilities. France had rights.' + +'France gave up her rights in Santa Cruz long ago; but I was not +thinking of France. Besides the price would have to be dazzling. +Otherwise the project could never be carried.' + +'Not only dazzling,' I said, 'but you should have more than +money--our rights in Greenland; His Majesty might hesitate if it were +made a mere question of money. He is like his grandfather, Christian +IX. You know how he hated, crippled as Denmark was in 1864, to sell +the Islands.' + +'You would never pay the price.' + +'Excellency,' I said, 'this is not a commercial transaction. If it +were a commercial transaction, a matter of material profit, my +Government would not have entrusted the matter to me, nor would I +have accepted the task, without the counsel of men of business. +Besides, commercially, at present, the Islands are of comparatively +small value. I know that my country is as rich as it is generous. It +is dealing with a small nation of similar principles to its own, and +with an equal pride. Unless the price is preposterous, as there is no +ordinary way of gauging the military value of these Islands to us, I +shall not object. My Government does not wish me to haggle. And I am +sure that you will not force me to do so by demanding an absurd +price. You would not wish to shock a people prepared to be generous.' + +He will ask $50,000,000, I thought; he knows better than anybody that +we shall be at war with Germany in less than a year. I felt dizzy at +the thought of losing the Gibraltar of the Caribbean! However, I +consoled myself, while Mr. de Scavenius looked thoughtfully, pencil +in hand, at a slip of paper. After all, _I_ thought, the President, +knowing what the Islands mean to us, will not balk at even +$50,000,000. While Mr. De Scavenius wrote, I tried to feel like a man +to whom a billion was of no importance. + +He pushed the slip towards me, and I read: + +'$30,000,000 dollars, expressed in Danish crowns.' + +The crown was then equal to about twenty-six cents. + +I said, 'There will be little difficulty about that; I consider it +not unreasonable; but naturally, it may frighten some of my +compatriots, who have not felt the necessity of considering +international questions. You will give me a day or two?' + +'The price is dazzling, I know,' he said. + +'My country is more generous even than she is rich. The transaction +must be completed before----' + +Mr. de Scavenius understood. My country was neutral _then_; it was +never necessary to over-explain to him; he knew that I understood the +difficulties in the way. + +It was agreed that there should be no intermediaries; Denmark had +learned the necessity of dealing without them by the experience in +1902. I was doubtful as to the possibility of complete secrecy. What +the newspapers cannot find out does not exist. 'There are very many +persons connected with the Foreign Office,' he said thoughtfully. + +'I may say a similar thing of our State Department. I wish the +necessity for complete secrecy did not exist,' I said. 'The press +_will_ have news.' + +A short time after this I was empowered to offer $25,000,000 with our +rights in Greenland. As far as the Foreign Office and our Legation +were concerned, the utmost secrecy was preserved. There were no +formal calls; after dinners, a word or two, an apparently chance +meeting on the promenade (the Long Line) by the Sound. Rumours, +however, leaked out on the Bourse. The newspapers became alert. +_Politiken_, the Government organ, was bound to be discreet, even if +its editor had his suspicions. There were no evidences from the +United States that the secret was out. In fact, the growing war +excitement left what in ordinary times would have been an event for +the 'spot' light in a secondary place. + +In Denmark, as the whispers of a possible 'deal' increased in number, +the opponents of the Government were principally occupied in thinking +out a way by which it could be used for the extinction of the +Council--President (Prime Minister) Zahle, the utter crushing of the +Minister of War, Peter Munch, who hated war and looked on the army as +an unnecessary excrescence, and the driving out of the whole +ministry, with the exception of Erik de Scavenius and, perhaps, +Edward Brandès, the Minister of Finance, into a sea worthy to engulf +the devil-possessed swine of the New Testament. There are, by the +way, two Zahles--one the Minister, Theodore, a bluff and robust man +of the people, and Herluf Zahle, of the Foreign Office, chamberlain, +and a diplomatist of great tact, polish and experience. + +Mr. Edward Brandès and Mr. Erik de Scavenius, interviewed, denied +that there was any question of the sale. 'Had I ever spoken to Edward +Brandès on the subject of the sale?' I was asked point-blank. As I +had while in Copenhagen, only formal relations with the members of +the Government, except those connected with the Foreign Office, I was +enabled to say No quite honestly. It was unnecessary for me to deny +the possession of a secret not my own, too, because, when asked if I +had spoken to the Foreign Minister on the subject of the sale, I +always said that I was always hoping for such an event, I had spoken +on the subject to Count Raben-Levitzau, Count Ahlefeldt-Laurvig and +Erik de Scavenius whenever I had a chance. I felt like the boy who +avoided Sunday School because his father was a Presbyterian and his +mother a Jewess; this left me out. I trembled for the fate of Mr. de +Scavenius and Mr. Edward Brandès when their political opponents (some +of them the most imaginative folk in Denmark) should learn the facts. +A lie, in my opinion, is the denying of the truth to those who have a +moral right to know it. The press had no right whatever to know the +truth, but even the direct diplomatic denial of a fact to persons who +have no right to know it is bound to be--uncomfortable! I was +astonished that both Mr. Brandès and Mr. Scavenius had been so +direct; political opponents are so easily shocked and so loud in +their pious appeals to Providence! For myself, I was sorry that I +could not give Mr. Albert Thorup, of the Associated Press, a 'tip.' +He is such a decent man, and I shall always be grateful to him, but I +was forced to connive at his losing a great 'scoop.' + +The breakers began to roar; anybody but the Foreign Minister would +have lost his nerve. Two visiting American journalists, who had an +inkling of possibilities of the truth, behaved like gentlemen and +patriots, as they are, and agreed to keep silent until the State +Department should give them permission to release it. These were Mr. +William C. Bullitt, of the Philadelphia _Ledger_, and Mr. Montgomery +Schuyler, of the New York _Times_. The newspaper, _Copenhagen_, was +the first to hint at the secret, which, by this time, had become a +_secret de Polichinelle_. Various persons were blamed; the Parliament +afterwards appointed a committee of examination. On August 1st, 1916, +I find in my diary,--'Thank heaven! the secret is out in the United +States, but not through us.' 'Secret diplomacy' is difficult in this +era of newspapers. If we are to have a Secretary of Education in the +cabinet of the future, why not a Secretary of the Press? + +A happy interlude in the summer of 1916 was the visit of Henry Van +Dyke and his wife and daughter. It was a red letter night when he +came to dinner. We forgot politics, and talked of Stedman, Gilder and +the elder days. + +The first inkling that the _secret de Polichinelle_ was out came from +a cable in _Le Temps_ of Paris. Mr. Bapst, the French Minister, who +had very unjustly been accused of being against the sale, came to +tell me he knew that the Treaty had been signed by Secretary Lansing +and Mr. Brun in Washington. I was not at liberty to commit myself +yet, so I denied that the Treaty had been signed in Washington. Mr. +Bapst sighed; I knew what he thought of me; but I had told the truth; +the Treaty had been signed in New York. + +Sir Henry Lowther, the British Minister, was frankly delighted that +the question of the Islands was about to be opened. Irgens, formerly +Minister of Foreign Affairs in Norway, and a good friend to the +United States, shook his head. 'If Norway owned islands, we would +never give them up,' he said; but he was glad that they were going to +us. The other colleagues, including Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, the +German Minister, were occupied with other things. Count Rantzau was +desirous of keeping peace with the United States. I think that he +regarded war with us as so dangerous as to be almost unthinkable. I +found Count Rantzau a very clever man; he played his game fairly. It +was a game, and he was a colleague worth any man's respect. He is one +of the most cynical, brilliant, forcible diplomatists in Europe, with +liberal tendencies in politics. If he lives, he ought to go far, as +he is plastic and sees the signs of the times. I found him +delightful; but he infuriated other people. One day, when he is +utterly tired of life, he will consciously exasperate somebody to +fury, in order to escape the trouble of committing suicide himself. + +The plot thickened. The ideas of the Foreign Office were, as a rule, +mine--but here there was sometimes an honest difference. I was +willing to work with the Foreign Office, but not under it. De +Scavenius never expected this, but I think it was sometimes hard for +him to see that I could not, in all details, follow his plans. +Nothing is so agreeable as to have men of talent to deal with; and I +never came from an interview with de Scavenius or Chamberlain Clan, +even when, perhaps, de Scavenius did not see my difficulties +clearly, without an added respect for these gentlemen. + +The air was full of a rumour that the United States, suspected in +Europe, in spite of the fair treatment of Cuba and the Philippines, +of imperialism, had made threats against Denmark, involving what was +called 'pressure.' Whether it was due to enemy propaganda or not, the +insinuation that the Danish West Indies would be taken by force, +because Denmark was helpless, underlay many polite conversations. + +'The United States would not dare to oblige France or England or a +South American Republic to give up an island. She does not attempt to +coerce Holland; but in spite of the pretensions to altruism, she +threatens Denmark.' + +This was an assertion constantly heard. The charges of imperialism +made in our newspapers against some of the 'stalwart' politicians who +were supposed to have influenced President McKinley in older days, +were not forgotten. Letters poured in, asking if it were possible +that I had used threats to the Danish Government. + +The Danish politicians were turning their ploughshares into swords. +On August 4th the Rigstag went into 'executive session.' Chamberlain +Hegermann-Lindencrone still heartily approved of the sale. He had, he +said, tried to arrange it, under President McKinley's administration, +through a hint from Major Cortelyon when he was in Paris. The +attitude of the press became more and more evident. Mr. Holger +Angelo, one of the best 'interviewers' in the Danish press, and very +loyal to his paper, the _National News_ (_National Tidende_), came to +see me. Personally, he was desirous not to wound me or to criticise +the conduct of my Government; but he was strongly against the sale, +yet he could find no valid arguments against it. He was obliged to +admit reluctantly that the only ground on which his paper could make +an attack was the denial of the Cabinet Ministers that any +negotiations had existed. This was the line all the opposition papers +would follow. + +Nobody would say that the purchase had been negotiated on any grounds +unfavourable to the national sensibilities of the Danes. Even Admiral +de Richelieu admitted that neither my Government nor myself had +failed to give what help could be given to his plans for improving +the economic conditions of the Islands. + +On August 10th the debate in the Rigstag showed, as had been +expected, that Mr. J. C. Christensen, who held the balance of power, +would demand a new election under the New Constitution. A furious +attack was made on Messrs. Brandès and de Scavenius for having denied +the existence of negotiations. All this was expected. Nobody really +wanted a new election. It was too risky under war conditions. + +Suddenly the rumour was revived that the British Fleet would break +the neutrality of Denmark by moving through the Great Belt, and that +the United States was secretly preparing to send its fleet through +the Belt to help the British. The reason of this was apparent: every +rumour that corroborated the impression that the United States would +become a belligerent injured the chances of the sale. Such delay, to +my knowledge, was an evil, since the continued U-boat horror made a +war imminent. In spite of all optimism, advice from the American +Embassy at Berlin, direct and indirect, pointed that way. The crisis +would no doubt be delayed--this was our impression--but it must come. +Count Brockdorff-Rantzau hoped to the last that it might be avoided, +and Prince Wittgenstein of his Legation, who knew all sides, seemed +to believe that a conflict with the United States might yet be +avoided. And there was still a dim hope, but it became dimmer every +day, so that my desire to expedite matters became an obsession. + +On August 12th, J. C. Christensen seemed to hold the Folkerting (the +Lower House) in the hollow of his hand. He moved to appeal to the +country, and to leave the question of a sale to a new Rigstag. This +meant more complications, more delay, and perhaps defeat through the +threatening of the war clouds. J. C. Christensen's motion was +defeated by eleven votes. + +On August 14th it was concluded that the quickest and least dangerous +way of securing assent to the sale was by an appeal to the people, +not through a general election, but through a plebiscite, in which +every man and woman of twenty-nine would vote, under the provisions +of the New Constitution. + +The Landsting (the Upper House) held a secret meeting. If a coalition +ministry should not be arranged and the motion for a plebiscite +should fail, there would certainly be a general election. This would, +I thought, be fatal, as it would probably mean a postponement of the +sale until after the close of the war. In the meantime, we heard the +German representatives of the Hamburg-American Line at St. Thomas +were carrying on 'some unusual improvements.' These activities, begun +without the knowledge of the Governor, who was then in Denmark, were +stopped by the Minister of Justice, Mr. Edward Brandès, when the +knowledge of them was brought to the Danish Government. On August +15th I was convinced that one of the most important men in Denmark, +indeed in Europe, Etatsraad H. N. Andersen, of the East Asiatic +Company, approved of the sale. This I had believed, but I was +delighted to hear it from his own lips. + +Political confusion became worse. In some circumstances the Danes are +as excitable as the French used to be. It looked, towards the end of +August, as if the project of the sale was to be a means of making of +Denmark, then placid and smiling under a summer sun, a veritable +seething cauldron. The gentlemen of the press enjoyed themselves. I, +who had the reputation of having on all occasions a _bonne presse_, +fell from grace. I had not, it is true, concealed the truth by +diplomatic means, as had Mr. Edward Brandès and Mr. Erik de +Scavenius, but I had talked 'so much and so ingenuously' to the +newspaper men, as one of them angrily remarked, that they were sure a +man, hitherto so frank, had nothing to conceal; and yet there had +been much concealed. + +The Opposition, which would have been pleasantly horrified to +discover any evidence of bribery, or, indeed, any evidence of the +methods by which our Legation had managed its side of the affair +(they hoped for the worst), could discover very little; when they +called on de Scavenius to show all the incriminating documents in the +case, they found there was nothing incriminating, and the documents +were the slightest scraps of paper. + +Knowing how far away our Department of State was, how busy and how +undermanned, owing to the attitude which Congress has hitherto +assumed towards it, I acted as I thought best as each delicate +situation arose, always arranging as well as I could not to +compromise my Government, and to give it a chance to disavow any +action of mine should it be necessary. I had found this a wise course +in the Cook affair. I had resolved to take no notice of Dr. Cook, +until the Royal Danish Geographical Society determined to recognise +him as a scientist of reputation. + +When Commander Hovgaard, who had been captain of the king's yacht, +asked me to go with the Crown Prince, President of the Geographical +Society, to meet the American explorer, I went; but my Government was +in no way committed. In fact, President Taft understood the situation +well; receiving no approval of Dr. Cook from me, he merely answered +Dr. Cook's telegram, congratulating him on 'his statement.' I must +say that, when the Royal Geographical Society received Cook, no word +of disapproval from any American expert had reached our Legation or +the Geographical Society itself. The Society, with no knowledge of +the Mount McKinley incident, behaved most courteously to an American +citizen who appeared to have accomplished a great thing. The only +indication that made me suspect that Dr. Cook was not scientific was +that he spoke most kindly of all his--may I say it?--step-brother +scientists! But, as I had accompanied the Crown Prince, in gratitude +for his kind attention to a compatriot, I felt sure that a wise +Department would only, at the most, reprimand me for exceeding the +bounds of courtesy. + +Suddenly a crashing blow struck us; Edward Brandès, in the midst of a +hot debate, in which he and de Scavenius were fiercely attacked, +announced that the United States was prepared to exert 'friendly +pressure.' Brandès is too clever a man to be driven into such a +statement through inadvertence; he must have had some object in +making it. What the object was I did not know--nobody seemed to know. +Even de Scavenius seemed to think he had gone too far, for whatever +were the contents of Minister Brun's despatches, it was quite certain +that neither he nor our Government would have allowed a threat made +to Denmark involving the possession of her legitimately held +territory to become public. + +Something had to be done to avoid the assumption that we were no more +democratic than Germany. 'We wanted the territory from a weaker +nation; we were prepared to seize it, if we could not buy it! We +Americans were all talking of the rights of the little nations. +Germany wanted to bleed France, and she took Belgium after having +insolently demanded that she should give up her freedom. We, the most +democratic of nations, prepared to pay for certain Islands; but if it +was not convenient for a friendly power to sell her territory, we +would take it.' This was the inference drawn from Mr. Edward Brandès' +words in Parliament. I could not contradict a member of the +Government, and yet I was called on, especially by Danes who had +lived in the United States, to explain what this 'pressure' meant. + +Many Danish women who approved of the social freedom of American +women, but mistrusted our Government's refusing them the suffrage, +took the question up with me. 'Pressure _et tu Brute_!' The women +were to vote in the plebiscite. Some of their leaders balked at the +word 'pressure,' but a country which had hitherto refused the +suffrage to American women was capable of anything. Mr. Edward +Brandès had performed a great service to his country in letting out +some of the horrors of our secret diplomacy. Mr. Constantin Brun, +whose loyalty to his own country I invoked in these interviews, was, +they said, 'corrupted' in the United States; he was more American +than the Americans! I should have much preferred to be put in the +'Ananias Society' so suddenly formed of Mr. Brandès and Mr. de +Scavenius than to have myself set down as an imperialist of a country +as arrogant as it was grasping, which not only threatened to seize +Danish territory, but which, while pretending to hold the banner of +democracy in the war of nations, deprived the best educated women in +the world (Mrs. Chapman Catt had said so) of their inalienable right +to vote! + +Fortunately, I had once lectured at the request of some of the +leading suffragists. Bread cast upon the waters is often returned, +toasted and buttered, by grateful hands. Madame de Münter--wife of +the Chamberlain--and Madame Gad, wife of the Admiral, were great +lights in the Feminist movement. + +Madame Gad is a most active, distinguished and benevolent woman of +letters. There were others, too, who felt that there must be some +redeeming features in a condition of society which produced a +Minister who was so devoted to woman suffrage as I was (as my wife +gave some of the best dinners in Denmark, nobody expected _her_ to go +beyond that!). To Madame de Münter I owed much good counsel and a +circle of defenders; to Madame Gad (if we had an Order of Valiant +Women, I should ask that she be decorated), I am told I owe the +chance that helped to turn the women's vote in our favour, and +induced many ladies, who were patriotic traditionalists, to abstain +from voting. The general opinion, as far as I could gauge it--and I +tried to get expert testimony--was that the women's vote would be +against us. + +The _National News_ (_National Tidende_) had never been favourable to +the United States, though personally I had no reason to complain of +it. It was moderate in politics, not brilliant, but very well +written. The virtue of its editor was outraged by the denial of the +two Ministers that negotiations for the sale of the Islands had been +in process. This position in defence of the truth edified the +community. 'Truth, though the heavens fall!' was his motto; he kept +up a fusillade against the sale. Except that one of my interviews had +been unintentionally misquoted, I had hitherto been out of the +newspapers--though I was no longer, in the opinion of the whole +press, the sweet and promising young poet of sixty-five who had +written sonnets--now I was forced in. + +An interview appeared triumphantly in the _National News_. It was +attributed to one of the most discreet officials of the State +Department. It denied 'pressure,' which would have pleased me, if it +had not also contradicted my repeated statement that the Senate of +the United States would not adjourn without ratifying the treaty. It +was a blow. I questioned at once the authenticity of the interview. +The Senate, I had said, would ratify the treaty before the end of the +session. The Danish Foreign Office and the public took my word for +it. Unless I could get a disavowal of the interview by cable, it +would seem that the Department of State was not supporting me. The +Foreign Office itself, with the problem of our entering the war +before it, was beginning to be disheartened. The authenticity of the +interview meant failure, the triumph of the enemies of the sale! +After a brief interval, a denial of the interview, which had been +fabricated in London, came to our Legation. There was joy in +Nazareth, but it did not last long. + +With the permission of the Foreign Office, I prepared to give this +very definite denial from our State Department to the press. It was +a busy evening. The staff of the Legation was small, and the +necessity of sending men to the Rigstag to watch the debate in the +Landsting, where the treaty was being considered, of gathering +information, and of translating and copying important documents +relating to the Islands for transmission to the United States, +strained our energies. Moreover, the Secretary of Legation, Mr. +Alexander Richardson Magruder, had just been transferred to +Stockholm. Mr. Joseph G. Groeninger, the Clerk, who knew all the +details relating to the affair of the Islands, was up to his eyes in +work. Mr. Cleveland Perkins, the honorary attaché, was struggling +heroically with Danish reports, and I was at the telephone receiving +information, seeing people, and endeavouring to discover just where +we stood. A most trustworthy--but inexperienced--young man was in +charge of the downstairs office, where Mr. Groeninger, the +omniscient, usually reigned. I telephoned to him a memorandum on the +subject of 'pressure' which the bogus interview had denied. It was a +quotation from the 'interview,' to be made the subject of comment, +and then the denial. Both of these were sent up on the same piece of +typewritten paper, and O.K.ed by me, as a matter of routine. It was +not until late in the night that the young man discovered that a +mistake had been made. He was most contrite, though the mistake was +my fault and due to thoughtlessly following the usual routine. He +telephoned at once to the _National News_ and to the other newspapers +explaining that he had made a mistake. The _National News_ preferred +to ignore his explanation. The opportunity of accusing the Ministry +of further duplicity was too tempting. De Scavenius had lied again, +and I had connived at it. The denial of the Washington telegram was +'faked' by the American Minister in collusion with the Minister of +Foreign Affairs! It must be admitted that _Politiken_, edited by the +terribly clever Cavling, had driven the slower-witted _National +Tidende_ to desperation. I had a bad morning; then I resolved to draw +the full fire of the _National News_ on myself. I owed it to de +Scavenius, who had become rather tired of being called a liar in all +the varieties of rhetoric of which Copenhagen slang is capable. From +the American point of view, after I had made my plan, it was +amusing--all the more amusing, since, after the first regret that I +had unwittingly added to the _opera bouffe_ colour of the occasion, I +saw that the _National Tidende_ would become so abusive against me, +that I should soon be an interesting victim of vituperative +persecution. I repeated calmly the truth that the 'interview' was a +fabrication, adding that I had no intention to attack the honour of +the _National Tidende_; it had been deceived; I merely wanted it +understood that my Government was not in the habit of contradicting +its responsible representatives (_Politiken_ kindly added that the +_National Tidende_ had received its information from the 'coloured +door-keeper at the White House'). More fire and fury signifying +nothing! The most elaborate frightfulness in print missed its mark, +as nobody at the Legation had time to translate the rhetoric of the +Furies, and besides, the _National Tidende_ had no case. As I hoped, +the diplomatic sins of the Foreign Office in keeping the secret were +forgotten in the flood of invective directed against me. The result +was expressed in my diary:--'The row has proved a help to the treaty; +I did not know I had so many friends in Denmark. My hour of +desolation was when I feared that somebody in the State Department +had permitted himself to be interviewed. It was a dark hour!' After +this tempest in a tea-pot, all talk about 'pressure' ceased; the air +was, at least, clear of that--and I thanked heaven. + +September came in; the debates in the Rigstag continued. +Various papers were accused of having prematurely divulged the +secret--especially _Copenhagen_. It was amusing--the secret among +business men had long before the revelation of _Copenhagen_ become an +open secret. In fact, one of these gentlemen had come to me and +informed me of the various attitudes of people on the Bourse; at the +Legation, we never lacked secret information. The debate, as +everybody knew, and the threat of an investigation of the +responsibility for letting out the secret was a bit of comedy, +probably invented for the provinces, for a Copenhagener is about as +easily fooled as a Parisian. + +On September 9th, I had one of the greatest pleasures I have ever +experienced. I announced to the Foreign Office that the treaty had +been ratified, without change, by the Senate. Still the Opposition +made delays. The Foreign Minister did all in his power to expedite +matters. It was hoped that charges of 'graft' could be developed +against the Ministers. 'If you had had a _bonne presse_, as usual,' a +candid friend said to me, 'you might have been accused of bribing. As +it is, the _National Tidende_ attitude showed that you never offered +that paper any money!' + +'As much as I regret the attitude of the _National Tidende_,' I said, +'I could as soon imagine myself taking a bribe as of the editor's +accepting one. The attack was a great advantage to me.' + +'You Yankees turn everything to your advantage,' the candid friend +said. + +On September 27th, Ambassador and Mrs. Gerard arrived. It was a red +letter day. Mr. Gerard showed the strain of his work, but, like all +good New Yorkers, was disposed 'to take the goods the gods provided' +him--one of them was a dinner at the Legation of which he approved. +Praise from Brillat-Savarin would not have delighted us more than +this. The Legation, to use the diplomatic phrase, threw themselves +at the feet of Mrs. Gerard. Gerard deserved the title, given him by +the Germans, of 'the most American of American Ambassadors.' Mrs. +Gerard was cosmopolitan, with an American charm, but also with a +touch of the older world that always adds to the social value of +an ambassadress. I had arranged, in advance of Judge Gerard's +coming, a luncheon with my colleague across the street, Count +Brockdorff-Rantzau. It was interesting. Mr. and Mrs. Swope were +present, Their Serene Highnesses the Prince and Princess Sayn +Wittgenstein-Sayn, Count Wedel, and, I think, Dr. Toepffer. Judge +Gerard told me that he spoke little French, but he got on immensely +well with Count Rantzau, who spoke no English. Count Wedel, with his +love for Old Germany, of the Weimar of Goethe, of the best in +literature, will, I trust, live to see a happier new order of things +in his native country. The Wittgensteins were charming young people. +The Prince was connected with almost every great Russian, French and +Italian family. If ambassadors are not put out of fashion by the new +order of things, the Princess, closely connected with important +families of England, would be a fortunate ambassadress to an +English-speaking country. Peace ought to come to men of good-will, +and I am persuaded that there are men of good-will in Germany. + +September, October, even December came in, and the political +factions still fought, ostensibly about the sale, but really for +control, Copenhageners said, of the $25,000,000! Every chance was +taken to delay the matter until after the war. German propaganda and +bribing was talked of, but there was no evidence of it. In my +opinion, it was largely a question as to who should spend the +$25,000,000. In a Monarchy such a horror was to be expected +naturally! In a Republic like ours, the patriotic Republicans would +cheerfully see the equally patriotic Democrats control the funds, +but, then, Republics are all Utopias, the lands of the Hope +fulfilled! All this was amusing to many observers--embarrassing and +humiliating to Danes who respected reasonable public opinion and the +dignity of their country. It was terrible to me who saw the war +coming, for Mr. Gerard and my private informants in Germany left me +in no doubt about that. Even Count Szchenyi, always for peace, and +with us in sympathy, declared that 'the U-boat war would go on, not +to crush England, but as part of the Germanic League to enforce +Peace.' And the use of the U-boat meant war for us! + +On all sides, I was told that the women's votes would be against the +sale. It was not unreasonable to believe that ladies, just +emancipated, would vote against their late lords and masters, at +least for the first time. Besides, as Mrs. Chapman Catt had made very +clear during her fateful visit to Denmark, the liveliest, the most +reasonable, the most intellectual women in the world were deprived by +the unjust laws of the country that wanted the Islands of the right +to vote. Even the fact that Mr. Edward Brandès, a noted ladies' man, +was on the side of the angels, might have no effect. He began to be +tired of the whole thing. He hoped, I really believe, that the +Islands would settle the question and sink into the sea! We _must_ +have the women's vote. Madame Gad helped to save the day. + +'You will, in your annual _conférence_,' she said to me, 'explain the +position of the American women, and your words will be reprinted, not +only all over Denmark, but throughout Sweden and Norway. The editor +of _Politiken_ will give you his famous "_Politiken Hus_," and your +words will make good feeling.' + +'I can honestly say,' I answered, 'that I want the women to vote. In +fact, in my country, they have only to want the suffrage badly enough +to have it! It is the fault of their own sex, not of ours, if they do +not get it!' + +It was agreed that I should speak on 'The American Woman and her +Aspirations,' at _Politiken Hus_, on the evening of December 5th. The +proceeds were to go to charity. And I never knew, until I began to +prepare my lecture, how firmly I believed that Woman Suffrage was to +be the salvation of the world. Without exaggeration, I believe it +will be, since men have made such an almost irremediable mess of +worldly affairs. My friend, the late Archbishop Spalding, once said +that women had, since the deluge, been engaged in spoiling the +stomach of man, and now they prepared to spoil his politics! I have +some reason to believe that a report of my lecture might have +converted him to higher ideals. I was told by some ladies that it had +a great effect on their husbands. + +In the meantime, the tardy delegates, summoned from St. Thomas and +Santa Cruz, arrived. They were called simply to delay action. The +Foreign Minister was heartily ashamed of the transaction on the part +of his opponents; it was palpably childish. The plebiscite must be +delayed as long as possible. The United States had done its part in +a most prompt and generous manner. The press could give only +sentimental reasons against the sale; Denmark found the Islands a +burden; she wanted our rights in Greenland; she needed the +$25,000,000, but her politicians were willing to risk anything rather +than give the control of the money to a Ministry they were afraid to +turn out. A coalition Ministry, that is, the addition of new members +without portfolios to the present Ministry, was agreed to, J. C. +Christensen representing the Moderate Left, Theodore Stauning, a +Socialist, and two others. Nobody really wanted a general election +until after the war. + +On the evening of December 5th, I drove to _Politiken Hus_. There was +a red light over the door. This meant _alt udsolgt_, 'standing room +only.' What balm for long anxieties this! Mr. William Jennings Bryan +looking at the crowded seats of a Chautauqua Meeting could not have +felt prouder. + +I recalled the night on which King Christian X. had asked me if I +always delivered the same lecture during a season's tour in the +provinces. I said, 'Yes, sir.' 'But if people come a second time?' +'Oh, they never come a second time, sir.' At least, for the first +time, the red light was lit,--who cared for a second time? + +The hall was crowded. Sir Ralph Paget, who seldom went out, had come, +and, at some distance--Sir Ralph was of all men the most +anti-Prussian--were the Prince and Princess Wittgenstein. 'All +Copenhagen,' Madame Gad said, which was equivalent to 'Tout Paris.' I +did my best. + +At the reception afterwards at Admiral Urban Gad's, the ladies--some +of them of great influence in politics--told me I had said the right +things. I had the next day a _bonne presse_. The provincial papers +all over Scandinavia reprinted the most important parts of the +discourse with approval, and letters of commendation from all parts +of Denmark--from ladies--came pouring in. One from a constant +correspondent in Falster, a 'demoiselle,' which is a much better word +than 'old maid,' who was sometimes in very bad humour with 'America,' +wrote that, after what I said of the American women's position, she +would like to marry an American, and that, though opposed to the +sale, she and her club would refrain from voting. Her offer to marry +an American has not been withdrawn. A few days after this, an +American paper containing an account of a lynching in the South, with +the most terrible details graphically described, reached Copenhagen. +The newspaper man who brought it to me consented, after some +argument, for old friendship's sake, not to release it at this +inauspicious moment. + +Time dragged; but the news from the provinces was consoling. The +Foreign Office seemed still to be discouraged, and I am sure that +Edward Brandès again wished that the Danish Antilles had suffered +extinction. Even the enamelled surface of de Scavenius began to crack +a little. Dilatory motions of all kinds were in order. The +examination by the Parliamentary committees at which the delegates +from the West Indies were present, had ceased to be even amusing. It +was a farce without fun. The plebiscite could be put off no longer; +on December 15th, the vote was taken. For the sale, 283,694; against +the sale, 157,596. A comparatively small vote was cast. Many voters +abstained. These were mostly Conservatives and Moderates. At last, it +had come, but after what anxiety, doubts, fears, efforts,--but always +hopes! + +The Opposition proposed to continue objections to the sale of all the +Islands. This would mean more appalling delays, and, with the U-boat +menace increasing, failure. On December 16th, I entered the Foreign +Office just as Djeved Bey, the Turkish Minister, was taking his +leave; he had not been very sympathetic with the Turkish-German +alliance; he was very French. After a few minutes' talk, I saw the +Minister of Foreign Affairs. He looked unhappy and harassed, which +was unusual. In the midst of alarms, he had always retained a certain +calm, which gave everybody confidence. When the petrels flew about +his head and the storms dashed, he was astonishingly courageous. +To-day, he sighed. In spite of the plebiscite, he seemed to think +that we were beaten. I was astonished. I had always thought that we +had one quality, at least, in common--we liked embarrassing +situations. I soon discovered the reason for this apparent loss of +nerve. + +'Would our Government agree to take less than the three Islands?' + +It was plain that the Opposition, not always fair, was tiring him and +Brandès out; I could understand their position, and sympathise with +their discouragement, but not feel it. + +'To admit a new proposition on our part would be to interfere in the +interior politics of Denmark,' I said. 'The plebiscite was arranged +on the question of the treaty; it meant the cession of all the Danish +Islands or nothing.' The Rigstag should not prepare such a change +without making a new appeal to the country. I knew it was in the +power of the Rigstag to refuse to ratify the vote of the people. It +would simply mean a delay of the decision if it did so. I would make +no proposition to my Government for a change in the treaty; if such +a proposition was seriously made, I must step down and out at once. + +De Scavenius approved of what I said. I believed that we would win, +in spite of dire prophecies. On Wednesday, December 20th, 1916, the +vote in the Folkstag was taken; it stood,--90 for the sale; 19 +against it. On December 21st, it stood, in the Landstag, 40 votes for +the sale, and 19 against it. + +Ambassador Gerard who had come to Copenhagen again, was among the +first to offer his congratulations. He was most cordial. The sale was +a fact. 'Just in time,' de Scavenius said. Just in time! The War +Cloud was about to burst, and the Legation must prepare for it. The +Islands had hitherto cut off my view; I now saw a New World. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE BEGINNING OF 1917 AND THE END + + +At the end of 1916, the affair of the Islands was practically +settled. Every now and then a newspaper put forth a rumour that +brought up the question again. _Copenhagen_, a journal which was very +well written, announced as a secret just discovered, that the United +States, even after Congress had appropriated the $25,000,000 for the +sale of the Islands, would not agree to accept them at once. This +excited much discussion which, however, was soon stopped. It was +remarkable how the fury and fire of the controversy disappeared. +People seemed to forget all the hard names they had called one +another. I forgave the _National News_, and later even attempted to +get printing material for the paper from the United States. The need +of printing material had become so great, that an attempt was made to +print one edition in coal tar! The embargo was drastic. If the +_National News_ had had a good case against me and interfered with +the sale, perhaps I might not have been so forgiving; one's motives +are always mixed. + +New difficulties were coming upon us, and I think that most of our +diplomatic representatives knew that we were unprepared for them. +Since the opening of the war, we had been adjured to be neutral. That +was sometimes hard enough. But, as it seemed inevitable that our +country must be drawn into the war (though we were told that the +popular air at home was 'I Did not Raise My Boy to be a Soldier') it +seemed necessary to be prepared. Captain Totten--now Colonel--our +military attaché, urged 'preparedness' in season and out of season. +The position of a Minister who wants to be prepared for a coming +conflict, but is obliged to act as if no contest were possible, is +not an easy one. Besides, through the departure of Mr. Francis +Hagerup, the Norwegian Minister, to Stockholm, I had become Dean of +the Diplomatic Corps. I represented, when I went to Court officially, +the Central Powers as well as their enemies. 'You are Atlas,' the +king said, when I presented myself as Dean for the first time; 'you +bear all the Powers of the world on your shoulders!' + +He regretted that the Foreign Ministers could not meet at a neutral +Court on occasions of ceremony. I think His Majesty believed that the +members of the diplomatic corps were in the position of the heralds +of the elder time--exempt, at least outwardly, from all the hatreds +developed by the war, and ready to look on the enemy of to-day as +their friend of to-morrow. This is good diplomacy; I agreed with His +Majesty, but wondered whether, if His Majesty's country was in the +position of Belgium, he would have instructed his Minister to be +polite to the representative of the invader. I had my doubts, for if +there were ever a king passionately devoted to his country, it is +King Christian X. After the sinking of the _Lusitania_, my position +would have been terribly difficult, if my German and Austrian +colleagues had not acted in a way that made it possible for me to +forget that I had said, on hearing of Bernstorff's warning, 'The day +after an American is killed without warning at sea, we will declare +war!' It was undiplomatic; but I had said it to Count Rantzau, to +Prince Wittgenstein, to Count Raben-Levitzau, to Prince Waldemar, to +the Princes, to other persons, and, I think, at the Foreign Office. A +very distinguished German had replied, in the true Junker spirit, +'But your great Government would not bring a war on itself for the +sake of the lives of a few hundred _bourgeoisie_.' And, when I stood, +foolish and confounded, recognising that the time had not come for +our Government to act, he said: 'You see you were wrong. Your +Government is not so altruistic as you thought, nor so ready to bring +new disasters on the world.' + +Count Rantzau always took a moderate tone. When in difficulty he +could switch the conversation to a passage in the _Memoirs_ of St. +Simon, or some other chronicle--a little frivolous--of the past. +Count Szchenyi was hard hit--his brother-in-law, Mr. Vanderbilt, had +perished among the _bourgeoisie_ on the _Lusitania_; it was a subject +to be avoided. Prince von Wittgenstein simply said that it was a pity +that the _Lusitania_ carried munitions of war, though they were not +high explosives, but he made no excuses. It was evident that these +gentlemen regretted the horrible crime. + +The few Germans one met in society were inclined to blame what they +called the stupidity of the captain of the steamship; they had the +testimony of the hearing taken from the London _Times_, at their +finger ends, and they knew 'the name of the firm in Lowell, +Massachusetts, whose ammunition had been exported on the +_Lusitania_.' Their opinions I always heard at second-hand. A great +Danish lady, whose family the King of Prussia and the present Emperor +had honoured, sent me from the country all the signed portraits of +the Kaiser, torn to pieces. 'I could not write,' she said afterwards +at dinner, 'I could not say what I thought,--I had promised my +husband to be silent,--but you know what I meant,' and she added in +Danish, 'damn little Willie!' + +The only place in which representatives of the warring nations saw +one another was in church, that is, in the church of St. Ansgar; but +Count Szchenyi and Prince von Wittgenstein were always so deeply +engaged in prayer that they could not see the French Minister or the +Belgian. The English church--one of the most beautiful in +Copenhagen--was frequented only by the English and a few Americans, +so the Rector, the Rev. Dr. Kennedy, was never troubled about the +position of his pews, nor was the Russian pope across the street from +St. Ansgar's. + +Mr. Francis Hagerup had been a model Dean. Everybody trusted and +respected him; it seemed a pity that he should go away from +Copenhagen, after such good service, without the usual testimonial +from the diplomatic corps; but there were difficulties in the way. +Would Sir Henry Lowther, the English, and Baron de Buxhoevenden, the +Russian Minister, permit their names to go on a piece of plate with +those of Count Brockdorff-Rantzau and Count Szchenyi? Count Szchenyi, +always kindness itself, had his eye on two silver vegetable dishes of +the true Danish-Rosenborg type. He consulted me as the Dean. I wanted +Mr. Hagerup to have these beautiful things, and Szchenyi seemed to +think that the matter could be arranged. I agreed to get the +signatures to the proposition, expressed in French, that the dishes +should be bought from the court jeweller, the famous Carl Michelsen, +who had designed them. I doubt whether any of the Tiffanys have more +foreign decorations than Michelsen; it is worth while being a +jeweller and an artist in Denmark. + +The gift was to show the unusual honour to an unusual Dean, offered +by all the diplomatic corps in time of war. I had the opinion of the +ladies sounded; they were all against it, especially one of the most +intellectual ladies of the diplomatic corps, Madame de Buxhoevenden. +She warned me that my attempt would be a failure. However, I sent the +paper out, done in the most diplomatic French. Hans, our messenger, +asked for the ladies first. If they were at home, he waited for +another day. After I had all the signatures and they were engraved on +the dishes, the Baroness de Buxhoevenden bore down on me, warlike. + +'Quelle horreur,' she said. 'How did you get my husband's name?' + +'When you were out!' I said. + +'I think it disgraceful all the same, that my husband's name should +appear on the same plate with those of the enemies of my country.' + +'On the second plate, Madame, the enemies' appear,' I +answered,--'there are two!' + +Hagerup was so touched when I took the plates to him that I saw tears +in his eyes. The Baroness de Buxhoevenden remained very friendly to +me, 'because,' she said, 'she loved my wife so much.' Not long after, +she died in Russia, heartbroken. She had faced the inclemencies of +the weather and the first outbreak of the Revolution (she was a sane +woman, an imperialist, but one who would have had imperialism reform +itself, well-read and deeply religious) to see her daughter, the +young Baroness Sophie, who was one of the maids of honour to the late +Czarina. This young lady was ill and imprisoned with the imperial +family. She was the only child of the Buxhoevendens--their son, a +brave soldier, having died some years before. You can imagine the +anxiety of the Buxhoevendens when the unrestrained ferocity of the +mob in Petrograd broke out. Madame de Buxhoevenden could not see her +daughter, though, thanks to the American Ambassador, who never failed +to do a kind thing for us in Copenhagen, she managed to have a +message from her. A lover of Russia, like her husband, of order, of +reason in Government, she died. + +With all the Russians I knew, love of country was a passion. They +might differ among themselves. Meyendorff might look on Bibikoff as a +'clever boy' and smile amicably at his vagaries; Bibikoff might +declare that 'Baron Meyendorff had, as St. Simon said of the Regent +d'Orleans, all the talents, but the talent of using them'; but they +were fervently devoted to Russia. They were in a labyrinth, and, as +at the time of the French Revolution, everybody differed in opinion +as to the best way out. It was from the Russians I first heard of +Prince Karl Lichnowsky. I think it was Meyendorff, who once said: +'The Austrian Ambassador to London and Prince Lichnowsky are such +honest men that the Prussians find it easy to deceive them into +deceiving the English as to the designs of Germany!' + +One great difficulty would have stood in the way, had I, as Dean, +been willing to accept the kindly hint of the king and attempt to +arrange that all the corps should go as usual together at New Years +and on birthdays to Court. There was the conduct of the German +Government to the French Ambassador at the opening of the war. It was +frightfully rude, even savage, and unprecedented. It shocked +everybody. It will be difficult to explain it when relations between +the belligerents are resumed again. It seems to be a minor matter, +but it corroborated the variation of the old proverb,--'Scratch a +Prussian and you find a Hun.' The tale of the insults heaped on the +French Ambassador is a matter of record for all time. + +Judge Gerard has told his own story. + +The Russian ladies coming out of Berlin were treated no better than a +group of cocottes driven from a city might have been. The condition +of the Russian ladies when they reached Copenhagen was deplorable. +They all possessed the inevitable string of pearls, which every +Russian young girl of the higher class receives before her marriage. +These and the clothes they wore were all they were allowed to bring +out of the super-civilised city of Berlin. It did not prevent them +from smiling a little at the plight of the old Princess de ----, one +of the haughtiest and richest of the noble ladies, who loved the +baths of Germany more than her compatriots approved of. Her carefully +dressed wig--never touched before except by the tender fingers of her +two maids--was lifted off her head, while the German soldiers looked +underneath it for secret documents! + +From all this it will be seen that, notwithstanding the politeness of +the representatives of the Central Powers in Copenhagen, it would +have been impossible for the diplomatic corps to unite itself in the +same room, even for a moment. + +Everybody went to see Mr. Francis Hagerup off; but this was at the +railway station, where people were not obliged to seem conscious of +one another's presence. This would have been impossible at Court. + +Social life in Copenhagen has fixed traditions (very fixed, in spite +of the democracy of the people); they make it delightful. Society is +all the better for fixed, artificial rules. They enable everybody to +know his place and produce that ease that cannot exist where there +is a constant expectancy of the unexpected; but they were not proof +against the savagery which Germany's action had indicated. + +When Count Szchenyi's mother died, his colleagues, disliking the +action of his country as they did, sent messages of condolence +privately, through me, then a 'neutral.' When Madame de Buxhoevenden +died, deep sympathy was expressed by the diplomatists on the other +side, but the utter disregard, on the part of the Germans in Berlin +for the ordinary decencies of social life caused society in +Copenhagen to become resentful and cold and suspicious whenever a +German appeared in a 'neutral' house. It seemed incredible that +hatred should have so carried away those around the German Emperor, +who had formerly seemed only too anxious to observe the smallest +social decencies, that the civilised world was willing to retort in +kind. + +Even in the convents, the German Sisters were 'suspect,' and it took +all the tact of the Superiors to emphasise the fact that these ladies +by their vows were bound to look on all with the eyes of Christ. +'Yes,' a Belgian Sister had answered, 'with the eyes He turned to the +impenitent thief!' + +However, religious discipline is strong, and it is the business of +those set apart from the world to overcome even their righteous +anger. Still, when I saw the expression on the face of the Abbé de +Noë, who had been a Papal Zouave and was still at heart a French +soldier, on a great festival, as he gave the kiss of peace to two +German priests on the altar steps, I felt that the grace of God is +compelled sometimes to run uphill! + +Commercial transactions formed a great part of the work of the +Legation when Great Britain began seriously to restrain alien foreign +trade and to put a firm hand on such neutrals as adopted the motto +of some of the English merchants, before they were awakened, +'Business as usual.' I am afraid that I gave little satisfaction; our +instructions were not precise. That some of our great business people +should have fallen into a panic after August 1914,--men of the +highest ability, of the most scientific imagination, who foresaw +contingencies to the verge of the impossible--seemed amazing. In +conversation with some of these gentlemen as late as the spring of +1914, when I had come home to deliver some lectures at Harvard +University, I was convinced that they knew what Germany's aims were +in the East. They were aware of the negotiations regarding the Bagdad +Railway and the opposition which existed between German and Russian +claims. How long would Germany be satisfied with the English and +Russian predominance? + +They discussed this. Some of them had travelled much in Germany; they +were willing to admit that the Balkan question could be settled only +by war. In 1914, Secretary Bryan seemed to be sure that no war cloud +threatened. When I saw him early in that year, he was entirely +absorbed in the Mexican question and in extending the knowledge of +the minutiæ of the Sacred Scriptures among American travellers in +Palestine. I had just opened my lips (having silently listened to the +most delectable eloquence I have ever heard) to say that Russia had +begun to mobilise and that Germany would be ready to pounce by +September, when Mr. John Lind came in, and the Secretary had +attention for no other man. The affairs of Europe faded. + +The Germans, as far as I could see, had great hopes of a breakdown of +the Allies through treachery in the French Government itself. From +such private information as we could get, it seemed that they relied +on treachery among the Italians--especially among the 'Reds.' There +is a French lady who wore the pearls of the Deutsche Bank, whose +husband they had bought, and there were others it was said. + +Our means of getting private information was not great. We had no +money for secret service or for organisation. When we went into the +war, our Legation had neither the offices nor the staff to meet the +event. This was not the fault of the State Department, but of the +system on which it rests. It was necessary to have a decent official +place in which to receive people, a place which was elegant and +simple at the same time. This we had, but barely room enough for +ordinary work. + +If a distinguished visitor came, he was ushered into the salon or the +dining-room. If Sir Ralph Paget, the British Minister, came hurriedly +on business a moment after Count Szchenyi arrived, he was shown into +the dining-room, as the three offices were always full of people. +After the war opened, the Legation--a very elegant apartment, which I +secured through the foresight of my predecessor, Mr. T. I. +O'Brien--was often like a bit of scenery in a modern French farce, +where people disappear behind all kinds of screens and curtains in +order to avoid embarrassments. Mr. Allard, the Belgian, to whom we +were devoted, came one day by appointment, and almost met Prince +Wittgenstein in the salon, while the Turkish Minister held the +dining-room, confronted by Lady Paget, who was led off to Mrs. Egan's +rooms on pretence of hearing a Victrola which happened to have been +lent to somebody a few days before. + +The State Department would have permitted me to rent, on urgent +request, a satisfactory place, but the coal bill would have amounted +to three thousand dollars a year. As I had not recovered from the +expenses of the entertainment of the Atlantic Squadron (they were +small enough considering the pleasure the gentlemen of that squadron +gave us) and other outlays, I felt that the coal bill would be too +great, and even with the war cloud on the horizon, the State +Department was not in a position to give us a reasonable amount of +money or the necessary rooms for a staff such as the British had been +obliged to collect. The British Government owned its own house, which +answered the demands made on it. The fiery Captain Totten gave the +Legation no peace. We were not prepared; we knew it. It would have +absorbed twenty thousand dollars to put us on an efficient basis. And +our staff for the very delicate work must be specialists; one cannot +pick up specialists for the salary paid to a secretary of Legation or +even to a Minister. + +It is different to-day; the old system has broken down now. Money is +supplied, even to that most starved of all the branches of the +service, the State Department, where men, like ten I could name, work +for salaries which a third rate bank clerk in New York would +refuse--and poor men too! As things were, the Legation did the best +it could. + +The greatest difficulty was to get trustworthy information. What were +the German military plans? What were the social conditions in +Germany? As to financial conditions, it was comparatively easy to +secure information. The German financiers would never have consented +to the war had they not scientifically analysed the situation. +Industrials, like Herr Ballin, counted on a short war; they had +provided. We knew, too, that the military authorities, which overrode +the civil, believed that the Foreign Office could manage to +ameliorate the consequences of their insolence and arrogance. It was +strange that these very military authorities thought that the United +States would not fight under any circumstances, for they had +voluminous reports in their archives on the details of our military +position. Our Government had always been generous in giving +information to foreign military attachés. In fact, a German officer +once boasted to me that his war office had filed the secrets of every +military establishment in the world, except the Japanese. + +That we were despised for our inaction was plain; Americans were +treated with contempt by certain Austrian officials, until some +enterprising newspaper announced that a great army of American +students had made a hostile demonstration in New York against +Germany! A change took place at once; even in France, it was believed +that the United States would make only a commercial war. I remember +that the Vicomte de Faramond, who deserves the credit of having +unveiled Prussian schemes before many of his brother diplomatists +even guessed at them, asked me anxiously, 'You _must_ fight, but is +it true that it will be only a commercial war? I think, if I know +America, that you will fight with bayonets.' He has an American wife. + +Ambassador Gerard was quietly warning Americans to leave Berlin; and +yet we were 'neutral,' and the German Government believed that we +would remain neutral at least in appearance. No German seemed to +believe that we were neutral at heart, though there were those among +the expatriated who held that we ought to be, in spite of the +_Lusitania_ and our traditions. One of the puzzles of this was (every +American in Copenhagen tried to solve it) the effect that a long +residence in Germany had on Americans. 'I sometimes read the English +papers,' said one of these; 'I try to be fair, but I am shocked by +their calumnies. The Kaiser loves the United States; he has said it +over and over again to Americans, and yet you will not believe it.' + +'Belgium!' + +'Oh, the Germans have made a fruitful and orderly country out of +Belgium.' + +This kind of American helped to deceive the Germans into the belief +that our patience would endure all the insults of Cataline. There was +very little opportunity to compare notes with my colleagues in Sweden +and Norway. They were busy men. I fancy Mr. Morris's real martyrdom +did not begin in Sweden until after Easter Sunday, 1917. Mr. +Schmedeman doubtless had his when the rigours of the embargo struck +Norway; but for me, the worst time was when we were 'neutral'! + +As to the German Foreign Office, why should it listen to the warnings +of our Ambassador, in November, who might be recalled by a change of +administration in March? + +Six months before election, no American envoy has any real influence +at the Foreign Office with which he deals. The chances are that the +policy of the last four years will be reversed by the election in +November. Up to the last moment, as far as I could see, the Foreign +Office in Berlin believed that the growing warlike democratic +attitude would be softened by the new Administration, which, it was +informed, would not dare to make Colonel Roosevelt Secretary of +State. + +'Secretary of State,' an Austrian said, 'how could an ex-President +condescend to become Secretary of State. One might as well expect a +deposed Pope to become Grand Electeur!' + +Previous to November 7th, 1916, the day of the Presidential election, +our situation was looked on by all the diplomatists and all the +Foreign Offices as fluid. It might run one way or the other. There +was a widely diffused opinion in Denmark that, as President Wilson +had been elected on a peace platform for his first term, Germany +might go as far as she liked without drawing the United States into +the conflict. + +In Berlin, in high circles, the election of Mr. Hughes was considered +certain. He was supposed to represent capital, and capital would +think twice before burning up values. The Kaiser had given Colonel +Roosevelt up; 'Sa conduite est une grande illusion pour notre +Empereur,' Count Brockdorff-Rantzau had said. I learned from Berlin +that the ex-President had been approached by a representative of +the Kaiser of sufficient rank, who had reminded Colonel Roosevelt of +the honours the Kaiser had showered upon him during his European +tour. 'I was also well received by the King of the Belgians,' +Colonel Roosevelt answered. 'C'est une grande illusion,' Count +Brockdorff-Rantzau repeated, more in sorrow than in anger. 'The +Emperor did not think that the ex-President would turn against him!' + +Until election day, every American diplomatist in Europe merely +marked time. He represented a Government which was without power for +the time being. + +An expatriated Irish-American came in to sound us as to the +prospects. 'President Wilson will have a second term,' I said; 'the +West is with him, and Mr. Hughes's speeches are not striking at the +heart of the people.' + +'He is pro-English, God forbid!' he said. 'Wilson means war!' + +'We may have, on the other hand, Colonel Roosevelt as Secretary of +State for War.' + +'God forbid!' he said. He had stepped between two stools; he still +lives in Germany--a man without a country. + +We were still 'neutral,' and the election was some months off. Count +Rantzau saw the danger which the military party was courting. He was +too discreet to make confidential remarks which I would at once +repeat to my Government; he knew, of course, that I would not repeat +them to my colleagues, who never, however, asked me what he said to +me. He was equally tactful, but we saw that he was exceedingly +nervous about the outcome of the U-boat aggression. It was worth +while to know his attitude, for he represented much that was really +important in Germany. He began to be more nervous, and many things he +said, which I cannot repeat, indicated that the military party was +running amuck. He was always decent to Americans, and he was shocked +when he found that his _laissez passer_, which I obtained from him +for the Hon. D. I. Murphy and his wife to pursue their journey to +Holland, was treated as 'a scrap of paper.' Mr. Murphy had not +received the corroborative military pass, which one of my secretaries +had obtained at the proper office, consequently Mrs. Murphy was +treated shamefully at the German frontier. I remonstrated, of course, +but it was evident that the military authorities had orders to treat +all civil officials as inferiors. + +Miss Boyle O'Reilly had a much worse experience at the frontier. Her +papers had been taken from her boxes at a hotel in Copenhagen, +carefully examined, and put back. Miss O'Reilly had had many +thrilling experiences (people imitated Desdemona--and loved her for +the dangers she had passed through) but like most of her compatriots +she could not be induced to disguise her opinions or to really +believe that there were spies everywhere. Being a Bostonian, she +could not say 'damn,' but she never used the name of the Kaiser +without attaching to it, with an air of perfect neutrality, the Back +Bay equivalent for that dreadful adjective. She made a great success +in Copenhagen. Her magnificent lace, presented to her by an uncle who +had been a chamberlain to Cardinal Rampolla, was extravagantly +admired at the dinner Mrs. Egan gave for her. Miss O'Reilly, +according to some of the experts present, had reason to be proud of +it. After the adventure of the note books at the hotel, it was almost +hopeless to imagine that Miss Boyle O'Reilly would be allowed to +cross the frontier, in spite of her passport and the courtesy of the +German Legation. She was undaunted as any other daughter of the gods. +She tried it, and came back, not very gently propelled, but with the +calm contentment of one who had said what she thought to various +official persons on the frontier. We were glad to get her back on any +terms. People asked for invitations to meet her; we were compelled to +adopt her as a daughter of the house to retain her. The experts in +lace were horrified to find that the vulgar creatures at the +frontier--smelling of sausage and beer--had injured the precious +texture. They seemed to have thought that its threads were barbed +wire. We protested; Miss Boyle O'Reilly demanded damages. Ambassador +Gerard seemed to be impressed by the fact that the lace had been part +of a surplice of the late Cardinal Rampolla's. We made this very +plain, but the German authorities took it very lightly; they were so +frivolous, so lacking in tact and justice, that Miss Boyle O'Reilly +became more 'neutral' than ever. + +In spite of Count Rantzau's courtesy, we were having constant trouble +at the frontier. Every Dane who had relatives in the United States +expected us to protest against the rigidity of the search. 'I did not +mind when they took all my letters; but when they rubbed me with +lemon juice to bring out secret writing, I said it was too much'; +said one of these ladies, who had to be escorted to her own Foreign +Office. + +Mrs. William C. Bullitt, just married, had to be coached into +'neutrality.' 'Good gracious! I always say what I think,' she +remarked, declaring that, of course, the German, His Serene Highness +she was to go into dinner with, must see how wrong the Belgian +business was! Mr. and Mrs. Bullitt had some trouble at the frontier, +but her diary, uncensored, came over safe for our delight. + +The Spanish Minister, Aguera, who had lately been superseded by his +brother, had his own troubles, which, however, he wore very lightly. +He was as neutral as his temperament, which was rather positive, +allowed him to be. When he left to be promoted, the pro-Germans +enthusiastically announced that the German Government had complained +of him to Madrid. + +The cause of the war, it was generally conceded, was the question of +the way to the Near East and the control of the East. Now that +Germany had practically all of the Bagdad Railway and more than that, +a clear way to the Persian Gulf, would she cut short the war, if she +could? Count Rantzau, without explicitly admitting that his country's +chief aim had been accomplished, said Yes. The great desire of his +nation was for peace. The U-boat war was only a means of forcing +peace. 'We do not want to crush England! Heaven forbid!' said Count +Szchenyi, 'but we tolerate the U-boat war only as an instrument for +obliging England to make peace. Peace,' he said, 'we must have peace +or all the world will be in anarchy,' I do not think he 'accepted' +the U-boat war, except diplomatically. Another distinguished +representative of one of the Central Powers, making a flying visit, +said, first assuming that the 'North American' and English interests +were identical--'Peace may bring Germany and England close together. +We are too powerful to be kept apart. With Germany ruler of the land +of the world, and England of the sea,--what glory might we not +expect!' + +'If the Allies do not accept the Chancellor's peace note, I give them +up!' cried Szchenyi. 'People talk democracy and the need of it among +us! Why, Hungary is verging on a democracy of which you Americans, +with your growing social distinctions, have no conception of. What we +want is peace, to save the world!' + +When the new Emperor Karl ascended the Austro-Hungarian throne, +Szchenyi, whose ideas were more liberal than some of the old régime +liked, became a prime favourite at court, and was removed to the +Foreign Office. + +Before the fall of Russia, it was generally conceded that Germany, in +holding Turkey and Bulgaria, had gained her main purpose. Both of +these countries hated her in their hearts. We had proof of this. What +more did she want? Only peace on her own terms, perhaps slightly +modified, owing to the hardness of the hearts of the English; if she +could gain England, she could deal with France and easily with +Russia. Before the Czar abdicated, it was understood in diplomatic +circles that Germany believed it was time to stop. While there was no +immediate danger of starvation in Germany, there was great +inconvenience. Moreover, the great commercial position of Germany was +each day that prolonged the war melting like ice on summer seas; and +a short war had been promised to the German nation. Parties in +Germany were divided as to indemnities and the retention of Belgium. +Antwerp was as a cannon levelled at the breast of England (Hamburg +had good reason for not wanting Antwerp retained as a rival city in +German territory); but the way to the Persian Gulf, the submission of +Bulgaria and Turkey, the possession of the key to the Balkans, the +Near East, meant the confusion of the English in India. The Germans +were ready to oust the English from their place in the sun! It was +plain that the diplomatists, at least, looked on the Alsace-Lorraine +question as of small importance in comparison. Alsace-Lorraine, as +Bismarck admitted, had nothing to do with national glory. It was a +proposition of iron and potash. As to Italy, 'We must always live on +good terms with such a dangerous neighbour,' said the Austrians. +'Prussia would throw us over to-morrow for any advantage in the East. +If she could hamstring the Slavs, we might appeal in vain against her +destroying our scraps of paper!' + +We knew that the Austrian distrust of Prussia never slept. But +Austria and Germany were absolute monarchies--against the world. + +It was the general belief that Rumania would not be drawn into the +war. The Swedish Legation at Rome seemed to be of a different +opinion. It was noted for the accuracy of its information, but this +time we doubted. As observers, it seemed incredible to us in +Copenhagen, that she should be allowed to sacrifice herself; but the +rumours from Rome persisted. One well-known British diplomatist, Sir +Henry Lowther, formerly the British Minister at Copenhagen, had never +wavered in his doubts as to the solidarity of Russia. At the +beginning of the war, he had said, to my astonishment, 'Our great +weakness is Russia; if you do not come in and offset it, I fear +greatly.' Events proved that he was right. + +For those of the diplomatic corps who came in contact with people +from the Near East, or with the Turkish diplomatists, the great +question was--the designs of Germany in the East. One of the +advantages of diplomatic life is that one comes in contact with the +most interesting people. In spite of a determination to follow all +the rules of the protocol as closely as possible Terence's +announcement, through the lips of Chremes, was good enough for +me,--'Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum puto,' and consequently, I +made profit out of good talk wherever I found it. I saw too little of +Dr. Morris Jastrow, of the University of Pennsylvania, in 1908, when +he came to Copenhagen with a group of distinguished orientalists; but +one of his sentences remained in my mind (I quote from memory), 'The +crucial question, and a terrible answer it may be when Germany gives +it to the world, is, Who shall control Bulgaria and Serbia and +Constantinople. Settle the matter of the road to the East, so that +Germany and Austria may not join in monopolising it, and then, we can +begin to talk of a tranquil Europe.' + +Much later, I had a long talk with Rudolph Slatin, who had been a +close friend of King Edward's, and who knew the East. He had had too +many favours from England to be willing to take arms against her; he +was Austrian, but not pro-Prussian. His views were not exactly those +of Dr. Jastrow's, as Dr. Jastrow afterwards expressed them,[17] but +one could read between the lines. The Eastern route was the real core +of the war. Russia knew this when she began to make preparations for +mobilisation in the early spring of 1914. All the Turks I met, +including the two ministers, confirmed this. + + [17] In _The War and the Bagdad Railway_. J. B. Lippincott & Co. + +Lady Paget, the wife of the British Minister, who came to Copenhagen +in 1916, knew more of the inside history of the war in the Balkans +than the _soi-disant_ experts who talked. She seldom talked; but the +Serbians, who adored her, did not hesitate to sing the praises of her +knowledge and of her efforts to save them. To her very few intimates +it was plain that she, as well as her husband, looked on the Balkans +as the key to the cause of the war. The Serbians that I knew, men of +all classes, said that, if Lady Paget had been listened to, Serbia +would have been saved to herself and the Allies. Whether this was +true or not, the Serbians believed it. + +The missionaries driven out of Turkey who came to the Legation were +full of the Eastern situation, and the wrongs of the Armenians. The +stories of the missionaries, driven out, made one feel that Germany +was paying--even from the point of view of her longed-for +conquest--too high a price for the possession of Turkey. The Turkish +Ministers were more French than German in their sympathies, but to +them the Armenians were deadly parasites. They looked on them as the +Russian Yunker looked on the lower class of Jews. + +Miss Patrick of Roberts College, passed our way. She was ardent, +sincere, naturally diplomatic,--discreet is a better word. But one +could see that the Turks and the Balkan peoples, whatever might be +their difference of opinion, or their own desire for territory, felt +that the German control meant the closing of the steel fist upon +them. The young Turks believed that they could hold the Dardanelles, +when they once turned the Germans out, and that Turkey might be the +land of the Turks. To attain this, they did not fail to appeal to +all the bigotry of the Moslem. One could see that Serbia despaired of +the Allies, that the Bulgarians believed that their untenable +position was due to the intrigues of Czar Ferdinand and to the +blundering of these same Allies. America was a land of promise, the +hope of freedom; but America seemed too far off. The Balkans peoples +felt that even America, had, while conserving her democracy at home, +cared little for the rights of the people abroad. This feeling +existed in all the neutral nations. A graduate of Roberts College +with whom I had talked of our interest in the small nations, smiled. +'The attitude of your country to the smaller nations reminds me of a +famous speech of the author of _Utopia_ when one of his household +congratulated him on Henry VIII.'s putting his arms about the +Chancellor's neck. 'If the King's Grace could gain a castle in France +by giving up my head, off it would go.' I did not dream, in January +1916, how soon we should begin to 'make the world safe for +democracy.' Mr. Vopika, our Minister to Rumania, came on the way home +from Bucharest about this time. He was full of interesting +information, and very cheerful, though practically imprisoned in +Copenhagen, as no boats were running. More and more it became plain +that Russia was breaking, and that Germany would soon be lifted from +that doubt which had begun to worry her statesmen. There was talk of +the Grand Rabbi going to Washington as Ambassador, which seemed to +infuriate the young Turkish Party. + +Aaronshon, the expert for the Jewish Agricultural Society in +Palestine, came; a wonderful man, capable of great things, and shrewd +beyond the power of words to express. He did not deny that the +Turkish Crown Prince had been shot, having first fired at Enver +Pasha. Harold al Raschid is a novice to him in his knowledge of +Eastern things that Western diplomatists ought to know. From all +sources came the corroboration of the fact that, once sure of Russia, +with the Slavs in her grasp, Germany held, in her own opinion, the +keys to the world. + +Opinions differed as to whether she was starving or not. Rumania had +helped her with oil and perhaps coal. The Chinese Minister at Berlin +said that she could hold out longer than China could in similar +circumstances, as his citizens would be compelled to reduce +themselves to less than two meals, and the Germans were coming down +from four! We know on the authority of the actor in the episode that +he had paid twenty marks in a restaurant in Berlin for a portion of +roast fowl; it was tough, and he laid down his knife and fork in +despair, when two ladies, at a table near him, politely asked if they +might take it! + +Rumours, very disturbing, as to the conditions of Russia, came to us +from all sides. Our neighbour, Prince Valdemar, looked disturbed when +one asked as to the health of the Empress Dowager, who had been most +kind to my daughter, Carmel. He seemed to think that she would be +safe, though I heard him say that a revolution seemed inevitable. The +forcible and insolent 'conversations' on the part of Germany with +Norway--shortly before October 16th, 1916, she had actually +threatened war--had ceased for the moment. + +Mr. Angel Carot, the French journalist, who was correspondent of the +Petrograd press, had reported on good authority that the Germans were +preparing a descent on Jutland. Vicomte de Faramond seemed to think +that the rumour was well founded. 'We know the point of view that +the Berlin Foreign Office has; Count Rantzau represents it,' said Mr. +de Scavenius, 'but who can not tell from day to day what the General +Staff will do?' The General Staff kept its secrets. + +Poland was in a frightful condition. The Germans were not only +impoverishing the landed proprietors, but seizing their cattle and +forcing their farm people into the army. A Pole fighting for German +autocracy was in as pitiable position as a Slesviger fighting for the +enslaving of his own land. The Poles were not inclined toward a +republic, but there was not one of their noble families from whom +they would draw a constitutional king. A son of the Austrian Grand +Duke Stefan, who was popular in Poland, was much spoken of. I felt +that I ought to be flattered when a Polish prince and princess came, +well introduced, to lay the plan before me, as a diplomatist who +might assist in making a royal marriage! I concealed my surprise; but +it was delightful to hear of my 'relations avec des grandes personnes +dans toutes les chancelleries du monde.' And what a pleasure to hear, +'we know that even the Quirinal and the Vatican, etc. You who are +three times minister of the United States.' The 'three times minister +of the United States' puzzled me at first; then I remembered that one +of the German papers, I think it was _Die Woche_, had said the same +thing, meaning that I had served under three Presidents. + +Our Polish guests were willing, under the circumstances, to approve +of the marriage with Archduke Stefan's son, provided a Catholic +princess, of liberal political views, could be found. To have a +German princess forced on them would mean new disturbances,--revolts, +dissatisfaction. There was perhaps the Princess Margaret of Denmark, +who had every quality, they understood, to make an ideal Queen of +Poland. 'Every quality,' I agreed, 'to make a man happy--but it must +be the right man.' I knew that Prince Valdemar, who had refused +Balkan thrones, was not desirous of marrying his daughter to a prince +'simply because he was a prince.' Would I sound His Royal Highness? +'I know,' I answered, 'that Prince Valdemar believes in happy +marriages, not in brilliant ones. In fact, I had heard him say that +he did not want Denmark to be looked on only as an arsenal for the +making of crowns.' + +The prince and princess went on their way, to consult more +influential persons. They would not have welcomed a republic; in +February 1916 the German grip was strong in Poland, and a Danish +princess, the daughter of a French mother, seemed to offer them hope +in the gloom. + +The fears of the Austrians, of the Russians, of the Poles, of the +Bulgarians that, if the war continued, anarchy must ensue, were not +concealed. The Polish prince and princess believed that Russia would +have a change of Government, but this change, they thought, would be +brought about by a 'palace revolution,' for Petrograd was the centre +of intrigues. The British Minister was accused of working in the +interests of the Grand Duke Nicholas; the German propaganda, as far +as we could discover, was for the practical application of 'divide +and conquer.' Baron de Meyendorff, whose cheerfulness was as +proverbial as his discretion, was uneasy; but as, unlike his chief, +Baron de Buxhoevenden, he belonged to the more liberal party, this +was taken as a sign that he was uncertain whether the new elements in +Russian political life would develop in an orderly way or not. + +Baron de Buxhoevenden, the most calm, the most self-controlled of all +my colleagues, was unusually silent; his wife, than whom Russia had +no more intelligent and patriotic woman in her borders, had said that +the war would either break or make Russia. 'The Russian people,' she +said, 'since the beginning of the war, are better fed than they ever +were. The suppression of _vodka_ has enabled them to pay their taxes +and to begin to get rid of the parasites who prey on thoughtless +drunkards. Their prosperity will either induce them to rebel against +their rulers, or to accept the government because of their improved +conditions.' + +'But why are they better fed?' I had asked. + +'We are exporting nothing. The Russian peasant eats the food he +raises. Butter is no longer a luxury. I have hopes for Russia--and +fears.' + +Her fears were justified. The murder of Rasputin called attention to +the dissensions in the Russian court. Admiring the Empress Dowager, +as everybody in the court circle did, it seemed amazing that her son, +of whom we knew little, should have permitted this peasant to acquire +such influence over his wife. There were fashionable ladies who knelt +to this strange apostle of the occult, who kissed his hands with +fervour. But murder was murder, and coming not so long after the +killing of the Crown Prince of Turkey, it gave the impression that +the oriental point of view as to the value of human life existed in +both countries. As time went on, Russia occupied our vision more and +more. + +In spite of the revelations that have been made, revelations which +show that the only secrets are those buried with men who have found +it to their honour or interest to keep them--the details of the +reasons which caused Russia to mobilise in July are not fully known. +How the Russians gained their information of the intentions of +Germany in their regard is very well known. The most clever of +Russian spies was always in the confidence of the Kaiser; he paid for +his knowledge with his life. + +As days passed, it became evident that the Royal Couple in Russia +were being gradually isolated. Calumnies almost as evil and quite as +baseless against the Tsarina as those published about Marie +Antoinette were freely circulated. To review here this campaign of +malice is not necessary. There were no chivalrous swords ready to +leap from the scabbards for her. The age of chivalry seemed indeed +dead. The poor lady was not even picturesque, whereas her brilliant +mother-in-law, Dagmar of Denmark, was still beautiful and +picturesque; she was imperial, but then she understood what democracy +meant. It is said that she believed that, if her son had appeared in +his uniform on horseback, surrounded by a staff of men who +represented traditions, the revolution would not have begun. Neither +the Tsar not the Tsarina understood what tradition meant to the +Russian mind. The empress was a German at heart,--an overfond and +superstitious mother. Good women have never made successful rulers, +as a rather cynical Russian said to me, _à propos_ of the Empress +Catherine. The nobility disliked her because she kept aloof from +them. The glitter and the pomp of court life which the Russian +aristocracy loved, the consideration which monarchs are expected to +show for the social predilections of their subjects were disregarded +by her. Living in perpetual fear, her nerves were shattered. All her +interests centred in her family and in the unbending conviction of a +German princess that the divine right of kings is a dogma. She was as +incapable of understanding that there were powers in the nation which +could destroy as was Marie Antoinette before she met destruction. We +understood at Copenhagen that she looked on all the acts of the +emperor that were not autocratic as weak; members of the Duma must be +subservient and grateful; otherwise, it was the duty of the Tsar to +treat them with the severity they deserved. The concessions, which, +if granted earlier would have saved the emperor, were very +moderate--merely a responsible ministry and a constitution. The Tsar, +under the influence of the empress, the reactionary Protopopoff and +the little clique of exclusives, who had forgotten everything +valuable and learned nothing new, refused to grasp these ropes of +salvation. The strength of the Grand Duke Nicholas-Michailovitch +amazed and disconcerted this clique. 'If,' said one of the elderly +Russian gentlemen we knew, 'he is not exiled, he will try to be +President of all the Russias one day!' The emperess dowager was +distrusted by the party around the empress. The empress dowager +believed in prosecuting the war, for she knew that Russia could only +follow her destiny happily freed from German control. + +From February until March, 1917, Russia continued to be the one +subject of discussion in diplomatic circles. It was the general +opinion that the empress was the great obstacle to the emperor's +giving a liberal constitution to his people. The Danish court, though +the Emperor William had accused it of indiscretion, was silent. +Prince Valdemar, who was, like all the sons and daughters of King +Christian IX., devoted to the dowager empress, was plainly uneasy. We +all knew that his sympathies were with the Liberal Party and against +the pro-German and absolutist clique. 'The Russian people have +endured much,' he said on March 10th, the day on which the news of +the Tsar's abdication arrived; and, afterwards,--'Thank God--so far +it has been almost a bloodless Revolution.' + +'Why,' asked the devout Danish Conservative, who believed that kings +were still all-powerful, 'why does not King George of England help +his cousin?' + +It was only too plain that in spite of all warnings, 'his cousin' had +put himself beyond all human help. + +The Russian soldiers calmly doffed their caps and said 'I will go +home for my part of the land!' The condition of Petrograd was such +that chaos had come again. To save the lives of the Tsar and Tsarina, +Kerensky insisted that capital punishment should be abolished. Count +Christian Holstein-Ledreborg, fresh from Russia, reported that at the +soldiers' meeting in the banquet room of the Winter Palace, speakers +imposed silence by shooting at the ceiling! There was an attempt on +the part of the new democrats to have prostitution, hitherto the +luxury of the rich, put within the reach of all. + +Russia had gone out of the war; it was surely time for us to go in. +On April 7, 1917, I informed the Foreign Office that the President at +Congress had declared us in a state of war with Germany. Further +patience would have been a crime. + +From that day the Legation took on a new aspect. Our decks were +cleared for observation and action. Mr. Cleveland Perkins, who had +courageously assumed the duties of the Secretary of Legation although +relieved by a secretary, had new and difficult duties thrust upon +him, to which he was fully equal. Mr. Seymour Beach Conger and Mr. +John Covington Knapp were invaluable. No words of mine can express my +sense of their self-sacrificing patriotism. Mr. Groeninger did three +men's work and Captain Totten kept us all up to the mark by his +fiery and persistent enthusiasm. No great dinners now! Even if we had +been in the mood, fire and food had become too scarce. Mr. Conger did +a most important service; he looked after the crowds of late comers +from Germany, and discovered what light they could throw on German +conditions. The State Department came to the rescue of our staff, +which was few but fit; Mr. Grant-Smith was sent from Washington, with +instructions to spend all the money that was necessary. He made a +complete organisation, and I, struck heavily in health, laid down my +task regretfully, leaving it in hands more competent under the +changed circumstances. + +There is no use in hiding the fact that, even before Russia broke, we +who feared the triumph of Germany had many dark days; but there was +never a time when my colleagues of the Allies despaired. How Mr. +Allart, our Belgian colleague, lived through it, I do not know! The +Danes stood by him manfully, and he never lacked the sympathy of his +colleagues; but he suffered. + +'The moment that England is seriously inconvenienced,' a German +Professor of Psychology had said, 'she will give in.' We know how +false this was. The race, pronounced degenerate, whose fibre was +supposed to be eaten up with an inordinate love of sport, showed +bravery to the backbone when it awakened to the real issues of the +war. The upper classes of the English were splendid beyond words. +Their sacrifices were terrible in the beginning, but their example +told; and long before the crash of Russia came, there was no question +of 'business as usual.' The British nation had realised that it was +fighting, not only for its life, but for the principle on which its +life is based. Yet the victory was by no means sure. 'The Empire may +go down under the assaults of the Huns--let it go rather than that +we should make a single compromise,' said Sir Ralph Paget. Mr. +Gurney, Colonel Wade, and all the staunch men connected with his +Legation, echoed his words. + +Mr. Wells, the novelist preacher, may say what he will of the failure +of English education, but it has produced men of a quality which all +the men can understand and admire.[18] As to the French, they, too, +had their sober hours, and the saddest was caused, perhaps, by the +dread that we had forgotten what the war was for; such soldiers as +they were!--Captain de Courcel and Baron Taylor, suffering from +wounds, and yet counting every hour with pain that kept them from +their duty. But we came in none too soon; from my point of view, it +is unreasonable to believe that the apparent disintegration of +Germany and Austria was the cause of our victory. The cause of it was +the increase of man power on the Western Front. In Copenhagen, our +best military experts said, 'If the United States can be ready in +time to supply the losses of the French and English; if your aviators +can get to work, victory is assured.' These experts feared that we +would be too slow, and there were dark, very dark, days in 1916 and +1917. + + [18] Of all the many young men I knew in England and Ireland, most + of them the sons or grandsons of old friends, there are only three + alive; two of them, the sons of Mr. Thomas P. Gill, of the Irish + Technical and Agricultural Board, have been made invalids in the + war. + +President Wilson's ideals were, in the beginning, looked on as +doctrinaire--breezes from the groves of the Academies. Some of the +elders and scribes of Europe, adept in the methods that nullified the +good intentions of the Hague conferences, looked on his explanation +of the aims of the conflict as the courtiers of Louis XIV. might have +contemplated the pages of Chateaubriand's _Genius of Christianity_, +if Chateaubriand had lived at Port Royal in the time of those cynics; +but the people in all the Scandinavian countries took to them as the +expression of their aspirations. The chancelleries of Europe heard a +new voice with a new note, but the people did not find it new. +President Wilson found himself, when he gave the reasons of our +country for entering the war, interpreting the meaning of the people. +Until he spoke the war seemed to mean the saving of the territory of +one nation, or the regaining it for another, or the existence of a +nation's life. Standing out of the European miasma, with nothing to +gain except the fulfilment of our ideals, and all to lose if there +were to be losses of life and material, we gave a meaning to the +war,--a new meaning which had been obscured. + +Nevertheless, let us not forget that Germany has not changed her +ideals; all the forces of the civilised world have not succeeded in +changing them. Of democracy, in the American sense of the word, she +has no more understanding than Russia--nor at present does she really +want to have. + +To a certain extent she conquered us. She obliged us to adopt her +methods of warfare; to imitate her system of espionage; to +co-ordinate, for the moment at least, all the functions of national +life under a system as centralised as her own. If she gave temperance +to Russia, an army to England, religion to France, she almost +succeeded in depriving our Western hemisphere of its faith in God. + +Her efficiency was so expensive that it was making her bankrupt; she +was paying too much for her perfection of method. To justify it in +the eyes of her own people she went to war. France was to pay her +debts and Russia to be the way of an inexpensive road to the East. +Her methods in peace cost her too much; a short war would save her +credit. To our regret, perhaps remorse, we have been forced by her to +fight her Devil with his own fire; and now we hope for a process of +reconstruction in this great and populous country based on our own +ideals; but we cannot change the aspirations or the hearts of the +Germans. We can only take care that they keep the laws made by +nations who have well-directed consciences,--this lesson I have +learned near to their border. + + THE END + +Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the +Edinburgh University Press + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ten Years Near the German Frontier, by +Maurice Francis Egan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN YEARS NEAR THE GERMAN FRONTIER *** + +***** This file should be named 36412-8.txt or 36412-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/4/1/36412/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned +images of public domain material from the Google Print +project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ten Years Near the German Frontier + A Retrospect and a Warning + +Author: Maurice Francis Egan + +Release Date: June 14, 2011 [EBook #36412] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN YEARS NEAR THE GERMAN FRONTIER *** + + + + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned +images of public domain material from the Google Print +project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="trnote"> +<h2>Transcriber's note</h2> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors have been repaired silently. Word errors +have been corrected and a <a href="#trcorrections">list of corrections</a> +can be found after the book. The author's incorrect spellings of Danish +and other foreign names and words have been retained, such as "Holger +Dansker" for "Holger Danske", "Amalieborg" for "Amalienborg", "Hvidhöre" +for "Hvidöre". An incorrect reference to the Danish King Christian IV. for +Christian IX. has been <a href="#TC_11">corrected</a>.</p> +<p class="center"><a href="#CONTENTS">The Table of Contents can be found +here.</a></p> + +</div> + + + +<h1 class="topmarg caps">Ten Years Near the<br /> +German Frontier</h1> + +<p class="center caps">A Retrospect and a Warning</p> + +<p class="center topmarg caps">By</p> + +<p class="center w45 caps"><span class="larger">Maurice Francis Egan</span><br /> +Former United States Minister to Denmark</p> + +<p class="center smaller topmarg caps">Hodder and Stoughton<br /> +London · New York · Toronto</p> + +<hr class="w45" /> + +<p class="center italic">Copyright, 1918,<br /> +By George H. Doran Company</p> + +<hr class="w65" /> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_v" id="Page_v" title="[Pg v]"></a></p> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> + + +<p>The purpose of this book is to show the reflections +of Prussian policy and activity in a little country +which was indispensable to Prussia in the founding of +the German Empire, and which, in spite of its heroic +struggle in 1864, was forced to serve as the very foundation +of that power; for, if Prussia had not unrighteously +seized Slesvig, the Kiel Canal and the formation +of the great German fleet would have been almost +impossible.</p> + +<p>The rape of Slesvig and the acquisition of Heligoland—that +despised 'trouser button' which kept up the +'indispensables' of the German Navy—are facts that +ought to illuminate, for those who would be wise, the +past as a warning to the future. There is no doubt that +the assimilation of Slesvig by Prussia led to the Franco-Prussian +war, and liberated modern Germany from the +difficulties that would have hampered her intention to +become the dominant power in the world. The further +acquisition of Denmark would have been only a question +of time, had not the march of the Despot through +Belgium aroused the civilised world to the reality of +the German imperial aggression—until then, unhappily, +not taken seriously. Had Germany followed the policy +which induced her to hold Slesvig, in spite of the promise +that the Slesvigers, passionately Danish, might by vote<a class="pagenum" name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi" title="[Pg vi]"></a> +decide their own fate—and seize Denmark, the Virgin +Islands, not American, would have been German possessions. +The change of policy which sent the German +army into Belgium and Northern France, instead of +into Denmark, was, in a measure, due to the belief in +Germany, that the war would be short; and, with France +helpless, Russia terrorised and England torn by political +factions, she could control the Danish Belts that lead +from the North Sea to the Baltic and treat these waters +as German lakes.</p> + +<p>She reckoned as erroneously on that as she reckoned +on controlling the Mediterranean and on smashing the +Monroe Doctrine by practically possessing Argentine +and Brazil. She built well, however, when she made +Kiel the pride of the Emperor and the Empire. Europe +watched the process, and hardly gave a thought to the +outrage on humanity and liberty it involved. The world +is suffering for this indifference. The retention of Danish +Slesvig created the German sea power and the constant +threat to Denmark concerns us all. It is a world +question; and it must be answered in the interest of +Democracy.</p> + +<p>Denmark is geographically part of Germany. In +normal times you reached Berlin from Copenhagen in a +night. In a few short hours you may see German sentinels +on the Slesvig frontier, and hear the field practice of +German guns. A Zeppelin might have reached Copenhagen +from Berlin in eight hours, and an army corps might +land in Jutland in about double that time.</p> + +<p>Copenhagen is so near what was that centre of world +politics—the German court—its royal family is so closely<a class="pagenum" name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii" title="[Pg vii]"></a> +allied with all the reigning and non-reigning royal families +of Europe, and its diplomatic life so tense and comprehensive,—that +it has been well named the whispering +gallery of Europe.</p> + +<p>I have not attempted to keep out of this sketch of +my diplomatic experiences and deductions all traces of +amusement; but, as to the terrible seriousness of the +greater part of this record, I may appropriately quote +the answer of Bismarck's tailor, when that genius of +blood and iron accused him of asking an enormous price +for a fur coat, of 'joking.' 'No,' answered the tailor, +'never in business!'</p> + +<p>And, in spite of the fact that there are lights and +even laughs in the diplomatic career, it is a serious business; +and the sooner my fellow countrymen recognise +this, the fewer international errors they will have to +regret.</p> + +<p class="right caps">Maurice Francis Egan.</p> + + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<p class="toc"> <span class="num caps">Page</span></p> +<ol class="toc"> +<li><p class="center">CHAPTER I</p> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_I" class="smcap">A Scrap of Paper and the Danes</a> +<span class="num">1</span></p></li> +<li><p class="center">CHAPTER II</p> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_II" class="smcap">The Menace of 'Our Neighbour to the South'</a> +<span class="num">35</span></p></li> +<li><p class="center">CHAPTER III</p> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_III" class="smcap">The Kaiser and the King of England</a> +<span class="num">46</span></p></li> +<li><p class="center">CHAPTER IV</p> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_IV" class="smcap">Some Details the Germans Knew</a> +<span class="num">61</span></p></li> +<li><p class="center">CHAPTER V</p> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_V" class="smcap">Glimpses of the German Point of View in Relation to the United States</a> +<span class="num">79</span></p></li> +<li><p class="center">CHAPTER VI</p> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_VI" class="smcap">German Designs in Sweden and Norway</a> +<span class="num">98</span></p></li> +<li><p class="center">CHAPTER VII</p> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_VII" class="smcap">The Religious Propaganda</a> +<span class="num">124</span></p></li> +<li><p class="center">CHAPTER VIII</p> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII" class="smcap">The Prussian Holy Ghost</a> +<span class="num">154</span></p></li> +<li><p class="center">CHAPTER IX</p> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_IX" class="smcap">1910, 1911, 1912</a> +<span class="num">169</span></p></li> +<li><p class="center">CHAPTER X</p> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_X" class="smcap">A Portent in the Air</a> +<span class="num">189</span></p></li> +<li><p class="center">CHAPTER XI</p> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_XI" class="smcap">The Preliminaries to the Purchase of the Danish Antilles</a> +<span class="num">203</span></p></li> +<li><p class="center">CHAPTER XII</p> +<p><a href="#CHAPTER_XII" class="smcap">The Beginning of 1917 and the End</a> +<span class="num">259</span></p></li> +</ol> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_1" id="Page_1" title="[Pg 1]"></a></p> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /> +<span class="chapintro">A SCRAP OF PAPER AND THE DANES</span></h2> + + +<p>Let us trace deliberately, with as much calmness as +possible, the beginning of that policy, of 'blood and +iron' which made the German Empire, as we knew it +yesterday, possible. It began with the tearing up of 'a +scrap of paper' in 1864. It began in perfidy, treachery, +and the forcible suppression of the rights of a free +people. It began in Denmark; and nothing could make +a normal American more in love with freedom, as we +know it, than to live under the shadow of a tyrannical +power, cynically opposed to the legitimate desire of a +little nation to develop its own capabilities in its own +way.</p> + +<p>The Hanoverian on the throne of England in '76,—that +'snuffy old drone from a German hive'—never +dared to suggest that the colonies should be crushed out +of all semblance of freedom; but, suppose our language +had been different from that which his environment +compelled him to speak, and that he had resolved to +force his tongue on our own English-speaking people; +suppose that he and his counsellors had resolved that +German should be the language spoken in sermons and +prayers from Washington's old church in Alexandria +to Faneuil Hall; suppose that all the colleges and +schools of the country, as well as the law courts, were +forced to use this alien tongue; that a German-speaking +Empire existed to the south of us, and the minority<a class="pagenum" name="Page_2" id="Page_2" title="[Pg 2]"></a> +in this German domain, arrogant, closely connected +with the Hanoverian régime, ruled us with the mailed +fist, would we submit without constant efforts to obtain +justice?</p> + +<p>And yet Denmark, in the province of Slesvig, has endured +these things since 1864. She alone of all the world +resisted the beginning of German tyranny, of German +arrogant evolution; and her resistance was useless because +the rest of Europe saw in the future neither the +German Empire nor the Kiel Canal.</p> + +<p>Denmark is, as every schoolboy knows, geographically +part of Germany; and the Pan-Germans spoke of it benevolently +as 'our Northern province.' It might long +ago have been their Northern province if England and +Russia had not been powers in the world and if the great +Queen Louise of Denmark, a beautiful and fragile little +woman, with a heart of gold and a will of steel, had not +used all her wits to keep her country free by the only +means of diplomacy she knew—the ties of family.</p> + +<p>Queen Louise, the wife of Christian <span class="smcap lc">IX.</span>, new king of +an old line, was not born in the purple, though her blood +was the bluest in Europe. The beautiful princesses, +her three daughters, later the Empress of Russia, Dagmar, +the Queen of England, Alexandra, and the Duchess +of Cumberland, Thyra, made their frocks and were taught +all the household arts—for their father, royal by blood +as he was, was a poor officer.</p> + +<p>These princesses hold lovingly in remembrance the +time of their poverty; these princesses love the old +times. There is a villa on the Strandvej (the beach +way) called <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Hvidöre">Hvidhöre</span>, white as befits the name, with +sculptured sea-nymphs and pretty gardens and a path +under the strand to the Sound. Here, until 1914, the +Empress Dowager of Russia and the Queen of England<a class="pagenum" name="Page_3" id="Page_3" title="[Pg 3]"></a> +regularly spent part of the summer and autumn. The +Russian yacht, <i>The Polar Star</i>, and the English <i>Victoria +and Albert</i> appeared regularly in the Sound, the officers +added to the gaiety of Copenhagen and the royal ladies +went to Hvidhöre, 'where,' as the Widow Queen of +England said to my wife, smiling, 'we can make our +own beds, as we did when we were girls.'</p> + +<p>The servants might drop a plate or two during luncheon +or stumble over a chair; but the Empresses of Russia +and of India made no objections—'the dear old people +were a little blind, perhaps, but then they had served +our father, King Christian.' And anything that relates +to their father is sacred to these ladies; and everything +concerning Denmark very dear.</p> + +<p>In 1907 the small parties at Hvidhöre went on as +usual, though the great royal gatherings at the palace of +Fredensborg had ceased. Here, in the time of the old +Queen Louise, from sixty to eighty scions of royalty, +young and old, had often gathered under the high blue +ceiling, from which looked down beautiful white gods and +goddesses.</p> + +<p>In 1907-8 King Frederick <span class="smcap lc">VIII.</span> gave <a class="corr" name="TC_1" id="TC_1" title="was: ocasionally">occasionally</a> a +dinner on Sunday night at the country house not far +from Copenhagen, Charlottenlund, when it was hard to +keep from turning one's back to a royalty,—there were +so many crowned heads present. There, if Queen Alexandra +made it plain that she wanted to speak to you, +you, approaching her, found yourself with your back +to the King of Greece or to King Haakon of Norway, or +to the Queen of Denmark herself!</p> + +<p>Times have changed; the circumstances which made +the late mother of King Frederick so powerful in keeping +'the family' together can never occur again.</p> + +<p>Of the four daughters of the late King Frederick, two<a class="pagenum" name="Page_4" id="Page_4" title="[Pg 4]"></a> +married, one in Sweden and the other in Germany. +The Danish princess, Louise, who became the wife of +His Serene Highness, Prince Friedrich Georg Wilhelm +Bruno of Lippe-Schaumbourg, is to the Danes a lovely +and pathetic memory. They say that he treated her +badly, that the bride fled from him to the protection +of her parents, whom they censured for not taking her +home before her death. The criticism—which even +found expression in public disapproval—was unreasonable, +but the mass of the Danes is always more generous +than just in the treatment of its children. In 1908-9, +to mention the name of Prince Friedrich was to commit +a social error; he was taboo; every mother in Denmark +was furious at the stories told of his injuries to their +dead Princess Louise.</p> + +<p>Princess Ingeborg, born in 1878, married the 'blue +Prince,' Charles of Sweden, Duke of Westgothia. King +Frederick <span class="smcap lc">VIII.</span>, after the failure of the German marriage, +kept his two other daughters, Thyra and Dagmar, +in the background. He was a very sympathetic king, +and he liked to talk of ordinary affairs; he was truly +much interested in the life immediately around him. +'I do not encourage princes in search of wives,' he said; +'I shall keep my daughters with me.' Princess Thyra—one +cannot conceal the age of princesses, while there +is an <i>Almanach de Gotha</i>—was born on March 14th, +1880, and Princess Dagmar on May 23rd, 1890. The +Princess Thyra is of the type of her beautiful aunt, the +Queen Mother of England; like her aunt, she looks +much younger than her age; the Princess Dagmar has +the quality of this royal family, of always seeming to be +ten years, in appearance, younger than they are. They +were our near neighbours for ten years, and my wife +often threatened to marry them to nice 'Americans';—King<a class="pagenum" name="Page_5" id="Page_5" title="[Pg 5]"></a> +Frederick, considering this impossible, gave his +consent at once! He often brought them in to tea, and +they met 'nice Americans,' and seemed to like them +very much.</p> + +<p>The Emperor William—who wanted to be called the +Emperor of Germany rather than the German, or Prussian +Emperor, as we always called him—showed no +affection for his Danish relatives; but, nevertheless, he +did not underrate the value of Denmark as the 'whispering +gallery' of Europe.</p> + +<p>In the old palace of Rosenborg, in Copenhagen, there +is a room so arranged that, by means of a narrow tunnel +in the wall, Christian <span class="smcap lc">IV.</span>, a contemporary of Queen +Elizabeth, could hear what his guards said, in their +cabinet, at all hours of the day and night. 'There is a +similar room at Potsdam,' a Dane said to me; 'William +always listens when he is not speaking!' William +knew what the Danes said of the German marriage; his +plans did not lie in the way of annexing either of the +Danish princesses, whose sympathies were not with the +despoilers of the country; he had his eyes on the son of +their aunt, the Duchess of Cumberland, who was later +to marry his daughter. But royal marriages had ceased +to strengthen or weaken Denmark; the Archduke +Michael of Russia 'hung around' for a time; others +came; but King Frederick walked out with his daughter, +Princess Thyra, both evidently content. Princesses are +expected to make marriages of 'convenience,' but Princess +Thyra, like her aunt, Princess Victoria of England, +does not seem inclined to make a marriage of that +kind. Princess Dagmar was too young to be permitted +to expect suitors, when her father lived; and the Princess +Margaret, daughter of Prince Valdemar, brother of +King Frederick, for whom, it was said, overtures had<a class="pagenum" name="Page_6" id="Page_6" title="[Pg 6]"></a> +already been made on behalf of the growing Prince of +the House of Saxony, was younger still. Denmark had +ceased to be a marriage market of kings; the futility of +attempting to cement international relations by royal +alliances was becoming only too evident. Prince Valdemar, +brother of King Frederick, had refused more +than once a Balkan kingdom, and, when consulted by +very great personages as to a marriage of his oldest son +to the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, had answered, like +his brother Frederick, that he preferred 'to keep his +children at home.'</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, the previous royal marriages and the +fact that nearly every diplomat at Copenhagen was a +favourite with his sovereign, sent by a relative of the +court at home to please the court at Copenhagen, gave +the post unusual prestige, and made 'conversations' +possible there which could not have taken place elsewhere. +The court circle, when one had the entrance, +but not until then, was like that of an agreeable family. +Nearly every minister at Copenhagen was destined for +an embassy. When my predecessor, Mr. O'Brien, was +translated to Tokyo, our prestige was enhanced; the +Danes believed that our country but followed the usual +precedent, according to which their French M. Jusserand +had been made ambassador at Washington. Even +the United States had begun to understand the importance +of the post; and it was in the line of diplomatic +usage when it was rumoured that I had been offered +Vienna. I met, too, ministers to Copenhagen who considered +themselves, because of royal patronage, ambassadors +by brevet, and who exacted 'Excellency,' not as +a courtesy but a right!</p> + +<p>Mr. Whitelaw Reid wrote to me, speaking of my post +as a 'delightful, little Dresden china court'; the epithet<a class="pagenum" name="Page_7" id="Page_7" title="[Pg 7]"></a> +was pretty, and there were times, when the young princesses +and their friends thronged the rococo rooms of +the <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Amalienborg">Amalieborg</span> Palace, that it seemed appropriate. +When the processions of guests moved up the white +stairs between the line of liveried servants, some of them +with quaint artificial flowers in their caps, the sight was +very like a bit out of Watteau.</p> + +<p>Bismarck had not looked on Denmark as a negligible +country; he knew its importance; there was a legend +that one of the few persons he really respected and +feared in Europe was the old Queen Louise. Besides, +he knew the history of Denmark so well, that he chose +to correct the supposed taint in the blood of the Hohenzollerns +by choosing an Empress for William <span class="smcap lc">II.</span> of 'the +blood of Struense.' This Struense, the German physician +who, through the degeneracy of Christian <span class="smcap lc">VII.</span>, had +in 1770 become the guide, the philosopher, and—it was +said—the more than friend of his Queen, Caroline Matilda, +tried to be the Bismarck of Denmark; but he was +of too soft a mould,—the disciple of Rousseau and +Voltaire rather than of Machiavelli and Cæsar Borgia. +He was drawn and quartered, after having confessed, +in the most ungentlemanly way, his relations with the +queen, sister of King George <span class="smcap lc">III.</span> of England.</p> + +<p>It is probable that part of the Emperor's dislike to +Bismarck was due to that '<i lang="fr">mot</i>' of the Iron Chancellor +about the royal marriage he had helped to make. It +was the kind of '<i lang="fr">mot</i>' that William would not be likely +to forget. It is an axiom of courts that the child of a +Queen cannot be illegitimate. Even the Duke de Morny, +son of Queen Hortense of Holland, bore proudly 'Hortensias' +in the panels of his carriage during the Third +Empire in France. Nevertheless, though Queen Caroline +Matilda had died, in her exile at Celle, protesting<a class="pagenum" name="Page_8" id="Page_8" title="[Pg 8]"></a> +her innocence, it was understood that Struense was the +father of the supposed daughter of Christian <span class="smcap lc">VII.</span>, the +daughter who married into the House of Slesvig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. +Her descendant, the +Princess Augusta Victoria Frederika-Louisa-Feodora-Jenny +married the Emperor William <span class="smcap lc">II.</span>, on February +27th, 1881, at Berlin. It was a love match—at least on +the side of the empress. One of the ladies in waiting +at the German court once told my wife that the famous +Augusta Victoria rose—the magnolia rose of our youth—was +always cherished by her imperial majesty because +of its association with her courtship—'the emperor knew +how to make love!' the empress said.</p> + +<p>The appearance of Struense among the ancestors of +the empress, to which Bismarck is said to have so brutally +alluded, was not agreeable to the proudest monarch +in Europe. Queen Caroline Matilda, sister of the second +George of England, was only fifteen years of age when +she came to Denmark to become the wife of Christian +<span class="smcap lc">VII.</span> in 1766. And, if anything could have excused her +later relations with Struense (her son, Frederick <span class="smcap lc">VII.</span>, +was undoubtedly legitimate)—it was the attitude of +her degenerate husband and her mother-in-law, Julianna +Maria. Having been dragged one bitter cold morning +to the castle of Elsinore, she confessed her guilt; but +under such circumstances of cruel oppression that the +confession goes for little; circumstances, however, were +against her, and the courts of Europe only remember +that she was the daughter of a king, of blood sufficiently +royal, to make up for her declension.</p> + +<p>In Copenhagen, in 1908, the echoes of public opinion +in London, among the higher classes at least, showed +that the momentary insecurity caused by the reverses in +the Boer war had passed. People had forgotten the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_9" id="Page_9" title="[Pg 9]"></a> +emperor's telegram to Oom Paul. Nobody wanted +war; therefore, there would be no war. 'If we have +no property,' St. Francis of Assisi, pleading for his +Order to the Pope, said, 'we shall need no soldiers to +protect it.' It was forgotten that, reversely, if we have +property, we must always have armies and fleets to +protect it. It was not war that anybody wanted; but +there was property to be had, which could only be had +by the use of armies and fleets.</p> + +<p>In Paris (for reasons which secret history will one +day disclose, and for other reasons only too plain), the +German designs were apparently not understood by +high officials who directed the course of France. France +made the mistake, as we are always likely to do, of reading +its own psychology into the minds of its opponents. +Paris believed, to use Voltaire's opinion of the prophet +Habakkuk, that Germany was capable of everything, +except the very thing that Germany was preparing +without rest, without haste, and without shame to do—to +bleed her white!</p> + +<p>From echoes in Copenhagen, we learned, too, that in +Petrograd, Germany was better understood because the +Russian spies were real spies; they knew what they +were about, and, being half oriental, they understood +how to use the scimitar of Saladin. There were other +spies who knew only the use of the battle-axe of Coeur-de-Lion; +but they were often deceived though very well +paid; in fact, the ordinary paid spy is a bad investment. +In Belgium the Internationals talked universal peace; +indeed, among others than the Internationals, the army +was disliked. As in Holland, German commercial aggression +was feared. The most amazing thing is that +Internationalism did not weaken the <i lang="fr">morale</i> of the heroic +Belgians when the test came.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_10" id="Page_10" title="[Pg 10]"></a> +In Copenhagen, the idea of a permanent peace seemed +untenable, and war meant ruin to Denmark. This was +not a pleasant state of mind; but it did not induce subserviency. +In the vaults of Hamlet's castle of Elsinore +on the delectable Sound, Holger <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Danske">Dansker</span> sits, waiting +to save Denmark from the ruthless invader. There are +brave Danes to-day who would follow Holger, the Dane, +to the death, who believe that their country never can +be enslaved; but, though the conquering Germans +spared Denmark, they did not need the knowledge of +the fate of Belgium to convince them of what they might +expect as soon as it pleased the Kaiser to act against +them. The fate of Belgium had confirmed the fears +they had inherited. There is no doubt where their +hearts were, but a movement—a slight movement—against +Germany would have meant for the King of +Denmark the fate of the King of Belgium or the King +of Serbia. That he is married to a princess half German +by blood would not shield him. Belgium was not spared +because its queen was of German birth.</p> + +<p>Copenhagen, as I have said, was not only a city of +rumours, but a city of news. The pulse of Europe could +be felt there because Europeans of distinction were +passing and repassing continually, and the Danes, like +the Athenians of St. Paul's time, love to hear new things. +But there was and is one old query which all Denmark +never forgets to ask: Will Danish Slesvig come back +to its motherland? Slesvig-Holstein is the Alsace-Lorraine +question in Denmark. For Slesvig Denmark +would dare much. She could not court certain destruction +but, in her heart, 'Slesvig' is written as indelibly +as 'Calais' was written in the heart of the dying queen, +Mary Tudor.</p> + +<p>She had forgiven and forgotten the loss of her fleet<a class="pagenum" name="Page_11" id="Page_11" title="[Pg 11]"></a> +and the bombardment of Copenhagen by the English in +1807 and 1814. She then stood for France and new +ideas, and Tory England made her suffer for it. She +lost Norway in 1814; she was reduced almost to bankruptcy; +and, until 1880, she could only devote her +attention to the revival of her economic life. Holstein +was German; Slesvig, Danish. They could not be +united unless the language of one was made dominant +over the language of the other. The imperial law of +Germany governed Holstein; all Slesvig legislation had +since 1241 been based upon the laws of the Danish King +Valdemar. To force the German law and language on +Slesvig was to wipe out all Danish ideas and ideals in +the most Danish of the provinces of Denmark. The +attempt to Germanise Slesvig took concrete form in +1830. Desiring to bring it under German domination, +Uve Lornsen, a Frisian lawyer, proposed to <a class="corr" name="TC_2" id="TC_2" title="was: made">make</a> the +Duchies of Slesvig and Holstein self-governing states, +separated from Denmark, and entirely under German +influence. As, according to him, only royal persons of +the male lineage could govern the united Duchies, the +King of Denmark might have the title of Duke until +the male line should become extinct. Uve Lornsen met +remonstrances based on the laws and traditions of the +Danes with the arrogant assertion, uttered in German:</p> + +<p>'Ancient history is not to be considered; we will have +it our own way now.'</p> + +<p>Kristian Poulsen, a Dane, who knew both the German +and the Danish views, opposed the beginning of a process +which meant the imposition of autocratic methods on +a people who were resolved to develop their own national +spirit in freedom.</p> + +<p>In Slesvig there are 3613 square miles. In the +greater part of this territory, consisting of 2190 square<a class="pagenum" name="Page_12" id="Page_12" title="[Pg 12]"></a> +miles, Danish was the vernacular, while 1423 square +miles were populated by speakers of German. German +power had secured German teaching for 220,000 people +in churches and schools. The injustice of this will be +seen when it is understood that only 110,000 were given +opportunities, religious and educational, of hearing +Danish. Danish could not be used in the courts of law. +It was required that the clergy should be educated at +the University of Kiel, and other officials of the state +could have no chance of advancement unless they used +German constantly and fluently. The teachers in the +communal schools were all trained in Germany. The +Danish speech was not used in a single college. In a +word, the German influence, under the eyes of a Danish +king and government, was driving out all the safeguards +of Danish national life in Slesvig.</p> + +<p>King Christian <span class="smcap lc">VIII.</span>, partly awakened to the wrongs +of the Slesvigers, issued in 1840 a rescript insisting on +the introduction of Danish into the law courts. The +German partisans were outraged by this insult to German +<span lang="de">Kultur</span>; no tongue but the German should be used +even in Danish Slesvig. The king, the Danish court, +for over two hundred years had been Germanised; the +king did not dare to announce himself as a nationalist; +but, against the German partisans, he decided that the +Danish kings had always possessed the right of succession +in Denmark, that the succession was not confined to the +male line in Slesvig.</p> + +<p>In Holstein the position was different. If the Danish +line should become extinct, the succession might fall to +the Russian Emperor; but Slesvig must be Danish. On +the death of King Christian <span class="smcap lc">VIII.</span> in 1848, feeling ran +high in Denmark and in Slesvig-Holstein. In truth, all +Europe was in a ferment. The results of the French<a class="pagenum" name="Page_13" id="Page_13" title="[Pg 13]"></a> +revolt in 1830 were still leavening Europe. The Assembly +of Holstein and Slesvig was divided in opinion. The +desire of the Germans in the provinces to control the +majority became more and more apparent. Danish interests +must disappear, the beginning of the German +'<span lang="de">Kultur</span>,' not yet developed by Bismarck, must take +its place. Five deputies were sent to Copenhagen, with, +among other demands, a demand that the Danish part +of the country be incorporated into the German confederation.</p> + +<p>The citizens of Copenhagen had reason to believe that +the Holstein counts, Moltke and Reventlow-Criminel, +potent ministers and men of strong wills, might influence +King Frederick <span class="smcap lc">VII.</span> to give way to the Germans. The +king determined to dismiss these ministers; the demands +of the Town Council of Copenhagen and the people +of Denmark were answered before they were made. +His Majesty had 'neither the will <a class="corr" name="TC_3" id="TC_3" title="was: not">nor</a> the power to allow +Slesvig to be incorporated in the German Confederation; +Holstein could pursue her own course.'<a name="FNanchor_1" id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + +<p>But the German opposition in the provinces had not +been idle. Berlin had shown itself favourable to the +Duke of Augustenburg, and the Prince of Noer had +headed a band of rebels against Denmark and instigated +the garrison of Rendsborg to mutiny on the plea that +the Danes had imprisoned their king. A contest of +arms took place between the two parties. Prussia interfered; +but Prussia was not then what it is now. At +the conclusion of a three years' war, the rebels were +defeated and the King of Denmark decreed that Slesvig +should be a separate duchy, governed by its own assembly. +The German party so juggled the election—'Fatherland +Over All' governed their point of view, the end<a class="pagenum" name="Page_14" id="Page_14" title="[Pg 14]"></a> +justified the means—that the Assembly shamefully misrepresented +the Danes. It was Prussianised.</p> + +<p>The Danes did not lose heart—Slesvig must be Danish; +but if they allowed their language to disappear, +there could be no hope for their nationality. On the +other hand, the Germans held, as they hold to-day, that +all languages must yield to theirs. The German press +would have extirpated the Danish language; it was +seditious; the Danes were rebels. From the Danish side +to Tönder-Flensborg, the official speech and that of the +people was Danish. Between the two Belts—the space +can easily be traced on the map—Danish was spoken +in the churches every second Sunday. In the schools +both Danish and German was permitted; in the courts +of law both languages were used. You made your +choice! The world was deceived by an unscrupulous +Assembly and the German press into the belief that +Slesvig was German, lovingly German, and that the Danes +were merely restless malcontents, hating the beneficent +Prussian rule simply from a perverted sense of their own +importance.</p> + +<p>The crucial moment came in 1864. Denmark had +no real friends in Europe. The United States, if her +people had understood the matter, would have been +sympathetic; but, at the moment, she was fighting for +her own existence as a nation. The European powers, +in spite of all their statecraft, allowed themselves to be +blinded. Austria, apparently proud and noble, allowed +herself, as usual, to be made the tool of Prussia. The +two powers, on the false pretence that the right of +Christian <span class="smcap lc">IX.</span> to the succession to the duchies was involved, +forced Denmark, which stood alone, to surrender +Slesvig-Holstein and Lauenburg. This was the beginning +of the mighty German Empire; it made the Kiel<a class="pagenum" name="Page_15" id="Page_15" title="[Pg 15]"></a> +Canal possible, and laid the foundation of the German +Navy. Slesvig, too, supplied the best sailors in the +world. Bismarck, when he cynically treated Slesvig as +a pawn in his game, had his eye on a future navy—a +navy which would one day force the British from the +dominion of the sea.</p> + +<p>He had his way. He became master of the Baltic and +the North Sea. Prussia, in forcing the Danish king to +cede Slesvig, admitted his right to the Duchies; yet the +pretext for war on Denmark had been that no such right +existed. Prussia soon threw off her ally, Austria. She +did not want a half owner in the Holstein Canal or in the +coming fleet at Kiel.</p> + +<p>It must be remembered that, when Christian <span class="smcap lc">IX.</span> had +ascended the throne of Denmark, it had been with the +consent of all the great European powers. They had +practically guaranteed him the right to rule Slesvig-Holstein, +and yet England and France and Russia +stood by and allowed the outrage to take place. +France made an attempt to satisfy her conscience. In +the treaty of peace France had this clause inserted:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'H.M. the Emperor of Austria hereby transfers to H.M. +the King of Prussia all the right which according to the Treaty +of Peace of Vienna of October 30, 1864, he had acquired in +respect to the Duchies of Slesvig and Holstein, provided that +the northern districts of Slesvig shall be united to Denmark, +if the inhabitants by a free vote declare their desire to that +effect.'</p></div> + +<p>This was a 'scrap of paper'—nothing more! Nevertheless +a scrap of paper may be inconvenient. Austria, +never scrupulous when the acquisition of new territory +was expedient, was willing to help Prussia to tear it +up. Bosnia and <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Herzegovina">Herzogovina</span> raised their heads. Austria<a class="pagenum" name="Page_16" id="Page_16" title="[Pg 16]"></a> +wanted help from Prussia. Here was the Prussian +chance to induce her to abrogate her part in clause fifty +of the peace treaty. What matter? Denmark, in time, +must be German, as Slesvig was German, in spite of all +right. Austria would play the same game with the +Slavs as Prussia had played with the Danes. Individuals +might have consciences, but nations had no system of +ethics, and therefore no canons (except those of expediency), +to rule such consciences as they had. Prussia +treated the right of the Danes in Slesvig, guaranteed +by a 'scrap of paper,' to a free vote as to their fate, +with contempt. It had amused Bismarck to deceive +France, the exponent of the new democracy in Europe, +but that was all. Slesvig was to be crushed until it became +quiescently Prussian. Prussia needed it, therefore +it must be Prussian. Fiat!</p> + +<p>This is a plain, unvarnished tale. Few of my fellow-countrymen +have known it. Some who knew it hazily +concluded that Slesvig had become German of its own +free will that it might belong to a prosperous and great +empire. Others, who remembered that, even in their +struggle for freedom in 1864, the Danes paused for a +moment to give us their aid at the request of President +Lincoln, had a vague idea that wrong had been done +somehow; but how great the wrong, and how terrible +the effect of the wrong was to be on the history of the +world, none of them even dreamed; and yet it was plain +enough to those who watched the policy of blood and +iron of this, the new Germany.</p> + +<p>People who believed that Prussia had any respect for +an engagement that might seem to work against her +own designs ought to have been warned by the experience +of Denmark. But there were those who believed +that the acquisition of Heligoland from the British was<a class="pagenum" name="Page_17" id="Page_17" title="[Pg 17]"></a> +a mere trifle, in which Germany had the worse of the +bargain, as there are people who held that the Danish +West Indies were of no manner of importance to us. +They classed these acquisitions with that of Alaska—'Seward's +folly!'</p> + +<p>And, in 1864, the old powers of Europe were so <a class="corr" name="TC_4" id="TC_4" title="was: satified">satisfied</a> +with their own methods, or so engaged with internal +questions, that they let the monstrous tyranny of the +conquest of Slesvig pass almost in silence. Prussia alone +kept her eyes on one thing—the increase of her military +power. In 1878 she induced Austria to abrogate her +part in the treaty of Vienna of October 30, 1864. Austria +agreed to give up any rights acquired by her in +Slesvig-Holstein under the fifth clause of that treaty. +This withdrawal (not to be irreverent, it was like the +washing of the hands of Pontius Pilate) left Slesvig +naked to her enemy. The Prussian autocrats chuckled +when they found themselves bound by a 'scrap of paper' +to the restoration of the northern districts of Slesvig to +Denmark, 'if the inhabitants by a free vote declare their +desire to that effect.'</p> + +<p>The Imperial German statesmen, astute and unscrupulous, +have always taken religion into consideration in +making their propaganda. The German Crown Prince's +sympathy with the same methods as used by Napoleon +Bonaparte was perhaps inherited from his ancestors, +as Napoleon, too, knew the political value of religion. +The Church, an enslaved Church in a despotic state,—the +reverse of Cavour's famous maxim—has always been +one of statesmen's tools. They have never hesitated to +use religion as the means of accomplishing the ends of +the state. In fact, the Catholic Church in Germany was +in great danger of being enslaved. The old wars of the +popes and the emperors—so little understood in modern<a class="pagenum" name="Page_18" id="Page_18" title="[Pg 18]"></a> +times—would be very possible, had the victory of Germany +been a probability.</p> + +<p>Let us see what happened in Slesvig. Since '64, Prussia +has governed Slesvig. This rule has been a prolonged +and constant attempt to force the Danes from their +homes. A very distinguished and rather liberal German +diplomatist, Count Brockdorff-Rantzau, once asked me, +'As an American, tell me frankly what is wrong with our +position in Slesvig?'</p> + +<p>'Everything,' I said. 'You seem even to assume that +the religion of the people should be the religion of the +state.'</p> + +<p>'The state religion in Slesvig is as the state religion in +Denmark, Lutheranism.'</p> + +<p>'But not Germanised Lutheranism. I have the testimony +of a Lutheran pastor himself, the Reverend D. +Troensegaard-Hansen, to the effect that the authorities +in Slesvig prefer German materialistic teaching to Danish +Christianity, and that all kinds of influence is brought +to bear on the clergy to make them German in their +point of view. If, in the Philippines, we attempted to +do the things you do in Slesvig, there would be no end +of trouble.'</p> + +<p>He laughed. 'But democrats as you are, you will +never keep your promise to grant those people self-government.'</p> + +<p>'We will.'</p> + +<p>'Your democracy is not statesmanlike. It would be +fatal for us to let the Slesvigers defy our power. They +must be part of Germany; there is no way out.'</p> + +<p>'Either you want difficulties with them or you are +worrying them just as a great mastiff worries a small +dog.'</p> + +<p>'But suddenly a gymnast raises the Danish flag, or<a class="pagenum" name="Page_19" id="Page_19" title="[Pg 19]"></a> +somebody utters a seditious speech in Danish, or school +books are circulated in which ultra-Danish views of +history are given. If a country is to be ruled by us, it +must be a German country. We can tolerate no difference +that tends to denationalise our population. It is a +dream—the Danish idea that we shall give up what we +have taken or, rather, what has been ceded to us.'</p> + +<p>'Without the consent of the people?'</p> + +<p>'Who are the people? When you answer that I will +tell what is truth. Come, you are a democrat; by and +by, when you Americans are older, you will see democracy +from a more practical point of view.'</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>The practical point of view in Slesvig was squeezing +out gradually the independence of the Slesvigers. The +Dane loves passionately his home, his language, his literature. +He may be sceptical about many things, but +it would be difficult to persuade him to deny that the red +and white flag, the Danish flag, did not come down from +heaven borne by angels! His culture is Danish, and +part of his life. He keeps it up wistfully even when he +swears allegiance to another nation. The Danes in +Denmark will never cease to regard Slesvig as their +own. It is one flesh with them; but Prussia has torn +this one body asunder. Fancy a 'free election' being +permitted in a country ruled by Prussian autocrats or +a 'free election' in Alsace-Lorraine under German rule!</p> + +<p>The geographical position of Denmark is unfortunate. +There are imperialists of all countries who hold that +the little countries have no right to live; Junkerism +is not confined to Germany. The geographical position +of most of the little countries is unfortunate, but none +is so unfortunate as that of Denmark. When the war +broke out, it seemed to her people that the road to German<a class="pagenum" name="Page_20" id="Page_20" title="[Pg 20]"></a> +conquest lay through her borders. The Powers That +Were in Germany decided to attack Belgium, and for +the moment Denmark escaped.</p> + +<p>Do you think that it was an easy thing for a proud +people to be in the position of old King Canute before +the advancing ocean? The waves came on, but nobody +in his wildest imaginings ever dreamed that the modern +Danish Canute could stem the tide. The Danes have +their army and their navy; officers and men expected +to die defending Denmark. What else could they do? +Death would be preferable to slavery. The Dane does +his best to forget; but always the echo of the words of +the sentinel in <i>Hamlet</i> recurs:</p> + +<p>''Tis bitter cold, and I am sick at heart.'</p> + +<p>No number of royal alliances counts as against a bad +geographical place in the world and the evil disposition +of a strong neighbour. A change of heart has come over +the world since Germany induced Austria to be her +catspaw in 1914. The example of a country which deliberately +asserted that might makes right, and followed +this assertion with deeds that make the angels weep, +has shocked the world, and forced other nations to examine +their consciences. After all, we are a long time +after Machiavelli. After the great breakdown in Russia +there was a feeling among some of the conservatives in +Denmark that the cousin of the Tsar of Russia, King +George of England, might have laid a restraining hand +on the Russian parties that forced the Tsar to abdicate. +But the very mention of this seemed utterly futile. The +King of Spain, though married to an English princess, +could expect little help in any difficulty, were the interests +of the English Ministry not entirely his. The contemplation +of these alliances offers much material for +the man who thinks in the terms of history.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_21" id="Page_21" title="[Pg 21]"></a> +When President Fallières visited Copenhagen in 1908, +there was a gala concert given at the Palace of Amalieborg +in his honour. The President was accompanied +by a 'bloc' of black-coated gentlemen, some of them +journalists of distinction.</p> + +<p>There was no display of gold lace, and the representatives +of the French Republic were really republican in +their simplicity. The Danish court and the diplomatic +corps were splendid, decorations glittered, and the white +and gold rococo setting of the concert room was worthy +of it all. The Queen of Denmark—now the Dowager +Queen—was magnificent, as she always is at gala entertainments, +possessing, as she does in her own right, some +of the finest jewels in Europe.</p> + +<p>Fallières represented the new order. His hostess, the +Queen, is the daughter of Charles <span class="smcap lc">XV.</span>, a descendant of +Bernadotte. Representing the lines of both St. Louis +and Louis Philippe was the Princess Valdemar, now +dead, who, as Marie of Orleans, came of the royal blood of +the families of Bourbon and Orleans.</p> + +<p>It was interesting to watch this gracious princess, +whose father, the Duc de Chartres, had been with General +McLellan during our Civil War. She adapted herself +to the circumstances, as she always did, and seemed +very proud of the honours shown to France. The +Countess Moltke-Huitfeldt, Louise Bonaparte, was not +in Denmark at the time. It would have added interest +to the occasion, had this descendant of the +youngest brother of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte +been there.</p> + +<p>Count Moltke-Huitfeldt, married to Louise Eugénie +Bonaparte, is almost as French in his sentiments as his +wife, and, for her, when the United States joined hands +with France, it was a very happy day. One of the events<a class="pagenum" name="Page_22" id="Page_22" title="[Pg 22]"></a> +that made the fine castle of Glorup, the seat of the +Moltke-Huitfeldts, interesting was the visit of the ex-Empress +Eugénie.</p> + +<p>The Empress Eugénie, like all the Bonapartes, acknowledged +the validity of the Patterson-Bonaparte +marriage. She has always shown a special affection and +esteem for the Countess Moltke-Huitfeldt.</p> + +<p>The estate of Glorup, with its artificial lake and garden, +in which Hans Christian Andersen often walked, was +copied by an ancestor of the present count's from a +part of Versailles. It was at its best during the visit +of the empress, who was the most considerate of guests. +The American Bonapartes were not ranked as royal +highnesses for fear, on the part of Napoleon <span class="smcap lc">III.</span> and Prince +Napoleon, 'Plon-plon,' of raising unpleasant questions +as to the succession.</p> + +<p>Jerome himself, for a short time King of Westphalia, +never pretended that his American marriage was not +valid. Meeting Madame Patterson-Bonaparte by accident +in the Pitti Palace, he whispered to the Princess of Würtemburg—she +had then ceased to be Queen of Westphalia—'There +is my American wife.' Mr. Jerome Bonaparte +was offered the title of 'Duke of Sartine' by +Napoleon <span class="smcap lc">III.</span> if he would give up the name of his family, +which, of course, he declined to do. Under the French +laws, as well as the American, he was the legitimate son +of Jerome Bonaparte. The presence of the Countess +Moltke-Huitfeldt would have added another interesting +touch to the assemblage in Amalieborg Palace, a touch +which would have served for a footnote to history. +In spite of the name 'Moltke,' Count Adam and his wife +are as French as the French themselves. Names in +Denmark are very deceptive.</p> + +<p>The question of war was even then, in 1908, in the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_23" id="Page_23" title="[Pg 23]"></a> +air. The German diplomatists were polite to Fallières, +but they considered him heavy and <i lang="fr">bourgeois</i>, and +believed that he represented the undying dislike for +Germany which the French system of education was +inculcating.</p> + +<p>'If the French schools teach the rising generation to +hate Germany, what is the attitude of the German educators?' +I asked.</p> + +<p>'We know that we are hated, and we teach our young +to be ready for an attack from wherever it comes; but +we love peace, of course.'</p> + +<p>In 1908, it was generally thought that the Kaiser himself +was inclined to keep the peace. Now and then an +isolated Englishman would declare that he had his doubts, +when a German traveller seemed to know <em>too</em> much about +his country, or when amiable German guests asked too +many intimate questions.</p> + +<p>It was the custom for the older colleagues to offer the +newer ones a history of the Slesvig-Holstein dispute, +which dated from the fifteenth century. On my arrival, +Sir Alan Johnston had presented me with a volume on +the subject by Herr Neergaard, considered the 'last +word' on the subject. The pages, I noticed, were uncut, +so I felt justified in passing it on to the newest colleagues, +taking care, in order to give him perfect freedom, not +to autograph it!</p> + +<p>It was, as a French secretary often said, 'a complication +most complicated'; but one fact was clear—the +deplorable position of a liberty-loving people, deprived +of the essentials that make life worth living!</p> + +<p>The great barrier to the entire domination of Prussian +ideals in this area between the Baltic and the North +Sea is the existence of the Danish national spirit in +Slesvig. 'If the other nations of Europe had looked<a class="pagenum" name="Page_24" id="Page_24" title="[Pg 24]"></a> +ahead, the power of Prussia might have been held within +reasonable bounds; the war in 1870 would have been +impossible; this last awful world-conflict would not have +occurred. Germany would have been taught her place +long ago.' How often was this repeated!</p> + +<p>The relations between the Emperor William and the +Emperor of Russia were supposed to be unusually +friendly then, after the practical defeat of Russia by +Japan. In older days, Queen Louise of Denmark +thought she had laid the foundation for a certain friendliness; +but, nevertheless, the Tsar, though closely related +to the Kaiser and dominated largely by his very +beautiful German wife, was never free to ignore the +Slavic genius of his people. Kings and emperors—all +royal folk—made up a family society of their own until +this war. We have changed all that, as the man in +Molière's comedy said; and yet, as a rule, German royal +princesses remained Prussian in spite of all temptation, +while other women seemed naturally to adopt the nationalities +of their husbands. The princesses connected with +the Prussian royal house seem immutably Prussian.</p> + +<p>The Tsar, then, like the Kaiser, cousin of the King of +England, the son of a mother who remembered Slesvig-Holstein +and never liked the Prussians, had second +thoughts. (They were nearly always wrong when his +wife influenced them.) It was one thing to call the +mighty Prussian 'Willie'—all royalties have little domestic +names—another to break with France and to +bow the Slavic head to German benevolent assimilation. +The Tsar might call the Emperor by any endearing +epithet, but that did not imply political friendship; King +George of Greece and Queen Alexandra were very fond +of each other, but the queen would never have attempted +to give her brotherly Majesty the Island of Crete which<a class="pagenum" name="Page_25" id="Page_25" title="[Pg 25]"></a> +he badly wanted. With the death of the queen of Christian +<span class="smcap lc">IX.</span>, assemblies of royalties ceased in Denmark; the +old order had changed.</p> + +<p>There was no neutral ground where the royalties and +their scions could meet and soften asperities by the simplicity +of family contact.</p> + +<p>The point of view in Europe had become more democratic +and more keen.</p> + +<p>Even if there had been a Queen Louise to try to make +her family, even to the remotest grandchild, a unit, it +could not have been done. Reverence for royalty had +passed out with Queen Victoria; the idols were dissolving, +and restless ideals became visible in their +places.</p> + +<p>Prussia had drawn her states into a united empire; +tributary kings were at the chariot wheel of the Prussian +Emperor, not because the kings so willed, but because +the subjects of the kings—the commercial people, the +landowners, the military caste, the capitalists, the increasingly +prosperous farmers—discovered it to be to +their advantage.</p> + +<p>Bismarck's policy of blood and iron meant more money +and more worldly success for the Germans. Although +the smaller Teutonic states had lost their freedom, Bismarck +began to pay each of them its price in good gold +with the stamp of the empire upon it. To take and to +hold was the motto of the empire:—'We take our own +wherever we find it!'</p> + +<p>The old Germans disappeared; the Germans who were +frugal and philosophical, poor and poetical, were emerging +from the simplicity of the past to the luxury of the +present.</p> + +<p>As a rule, I found the Russian diplomatists very well +informed and clever. Their foreign office seemed to<a class="pagenum" name="Page_26" id="Page_26" title="[Pg 26]"></a> +have no confidants outside the bureaucratic circle. The +Russian journalist, like most other journalists, was not +better or earlier informed of events than the diplomatists. +As Copenhagen was the place where every diplomat +in the world went at some time or other, one was +sure to discover interesting rumours or real news without +much trouble.</p> + +<p>While the newspapers or magazines of nearly every +other nation gave indications in advance of the public +opinion that might govern the cabinets or the foreign +offices, the Russian periodicals gave no such clues. +There was no use in keeping a Russian translator; real +Russian opinion was seldom evident, except when a royalty +or a diplomatist might, being bored by his silence, or with +a patriotic object, tell the truth.</p> + +<p>'What prevents war?' I asked in 1909 of one of my +colleagues.</p> + +<p>'Lack of money,' he answered promptly, repeating +the words of Prince Koudacheff. 'Germany and Russia +will fly at each other's throats as soon as the financiers +approve of it. You will not report this to your Foreign +Office,' he said, laughing, 'because America looks on +war, a general European war, as unthinkable. It would +seem absurd! Nobody in America and only ten per +cent. of the thinking people in England will believe it! +As for France, she is wise to make friends with my country, +but she would be wiser if she did not believe that +Germany will wait until she is ready to make her <i lang="fr">revanche</i>. +There are those in her government who hold +that the <i lang="fr">revanche</i> is a dream—that France would do +well to accept solid gains for the national dream. They +are fools!'</p> + +<p>'Iswolsky is of the same opinion, I hear,' I said, for +we had all a great respect for Iswolsky. But when the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_27" id="Page_27" title="[Pg 27]"></a> +London <i>National Review</i> repeated the same sentiments +over and over again, it seemed unbelievable that the +Kaiser's professions of peace were not honest. Yet individual +Pan-Germans were extremely frank. 'We must +have our place in the East,' they said; 'we must cut the +heart out of Slavic ambitions, and deal with English +arrogance.' In a general way, we were always waiting +for war.</p> + +<p>In 1909, Count Aehrenthal, then a very great Austrian, +told a celebrated financial promoter who visited our +Legation, that war was inevitable. The Austrians and +the Russians feared it and believed it—feared it so much +that when I was enabled to contradict the rumour, +there was a happy sigh as the news was well documented. +Austria did not want war; Russia did not +want war.</p> + +<p>'But the Emperor of Germany?' I asked of one +of the most honourable and keenest diplomatists in +Berlin.</p> + +<p>'He is surrounded by a military clique; he desires +to preserve the rights and prerogatives of the German +Empire, above all, the hereditary and absolute principle +without a long war. A war will do it for him—if it is +short. He himself would prefer to avoid it. Yet he +must justify the Army and the Navy; but the war must +be short.'</p> + +<p>'But does he <em>want</em> war?'</p> + +<p>'He is not bloodthirsty; he knows what war means, +but he will want what his <i lang="fr">clique</i> wants.'</p> + +<p>These two diplomatists are both alive—one in exile—but +I shall not mention their names. My colleagues +were sometimes very frank. It would not be fair to +tell secrets which would embarrass them—for a harmless +phrase over a glass of Tokai is a different thing<a class="pagenum" name="Page_28" id="Page_28" title="[Pg 28]"></a> +read over a glass of cold water! And, in the old days, +before 1914, good dinners and good wines were very +useful in diplomatic 'conversations.' Things began to +change somewhat when after-dinner bridge came in. +But, dinner or no dinner, bridge or no bridge, the diplomatic +view was always serious.</p> + +<p>In Denmark the thoughtful citizen often said, 'We +are doomed; Germany can absorb us.' Count Holstein-Ledreborg +once said, 'But Providence may save us yet.'</p> + +<p>'By a miracle.'</p> + +<p>It seemed absurd in 1908 that any great power should +be allowed to think of conquering a smaller nation, simply +because it was small. 'You don't reckon with public +opinion—in the United States, for instance,—or the view +of the Hague Conference,' I said.</p> + +<p>'Public opinion in your country or anywhere else will +count little against Krupp and his cannon. Public +opinion will not save Denmark, for even Russia might +have reason to look the other way. That would depend +on England.'</p> + +<p>It seemed impossible, for, like most Americans, I was +almost an idealist. The world was being made a vestibule +of heaven, and the pessimist was anathema! Was +not science doing wonderful things? It had made life +longer; it had put luxuries in the hands of the poor. +The bad old days, when Madame du Barry could blind +the eyes of Louis <span class="smcap lc">XV.</span> to the horrors of the partition of +Poland, and when the proud Maria Theresa could, in the +same cause, subordinate her private conscience to the +temptations of national expediency, were over. No man +could be enslaved since Lincoln had lived! The Hague +Conference would save Poland in due time, the democratic +majority in Great Britain and Ireland was undoing the +wrongs of centuries by granting Home Rule for Ireland,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_29" id="Page_29" title="[Pg 29]"></a> +and, as for the Little Nations, public opinion would take +care of them!</p> + +<p>'What beautiful language you use, Mr. Minister,' +said Count Holstein-Ledreborg; 'but you Americans +live in a world of your own. Nobody knows what the +military party in Germany will do. Go to Germany +yourself. It is no longer the Germany of Canon Schmid, +of Auerbach, of Heyse, of the Lorelei and the simple +musical concert and the happy family life. Why, as +many cannons as candles are hung on the Christmas trees!'</p> + +<p>I repeated this speech to one of the most kindly of my +colleagues, Count Henckel-Donnersmarck, who was really +a sane human creature, too bored with artificiality to wear +his honours with comfort.</p> + +<p>'Oh, for your dress coat,' he would say. 'Look at +my gold lace; I am loaded down like a camel. The old +Germany, <i lang="fr">cher collègue</i>, it is gone. I long for it; I am +not of blood and iron; the old Germany, you will not +find it, though you search even Bavaria and Silesia. +And I believe, with the great Frederick, that your great +country and mine may possess the future, if we are friends; +therefore,' he smiled, 'I will not deceive you. The +Germany of the American imagination, our old Germany, +is gone.' He hated court ceremonies, whereas I rather +like them; they were beautiful and stately symbols, +sanctified by tradition. He ought to have danced at +the court balls, but he never would. He was lazy. He +was grateful to my wife, because she ordered me to dance +the cotillions with Countess Henckel, who must dance +with somebody who 'ranked,' or sit for five or six hours +on a crimson bench.</p> + +<p>The Danes had no belief that we could or would help +them in a conflict for salvation, but they liked us. In +1909, when Dr. Cook suddenly came, they declared that<a class="pagenum" name="Page_30" id="Page_30" title="[Pg 30]"></a> +they would take 'the word of an American gentleman' +for his story of the North Pole. Sweden accepted him +at once, England was divided—King Edward against +Cook; Queen Alexandra for him! When Admiral Peary +made his claim, the Queen of England said,—'Thank +heaven! it is American against American, and not Englishman +against American.'</p> + +<p>We were all glad of that; and I was very grateful to +the Danes for showing respect for the honour of an +American, in whom none of us had any reason to disbelieve. +There was no warning from the scientists in +the United States. The German savants accepted Dr. +Cook at once. In fact, until Admiral Peary sent his +message, there seemed to be no doubt as to Cook's claims, +except on the part of the Royal British Geographical +Society. I joined the Danish Royal Geographical Society +at his reception; it was not my duty to cast aspersions +on the honour of an American, of whom I only knew +that he had written <i>The Voyage of the Belgic</i>, had been +the associate of Admiral Peary, and was a member of +very good clubs. Even if I had been scientific enough +to have doubts, I should have been polite to him all +the same.</p> + +<p>As it was, Denmark was delighted to welcome Cook +because he was an American; he had apparently accomplished +a great thing, and besides, he directed attention +from politics at a tremendous public crisis. The great +question for the Danish Government was as usual: +Shall we defend ourselves? Shall we build ships and +keep a large army and erect fortresses, or simply say +'Kismet' when Germany comes? The Conservatives +were for defence; the Radicals <a class="corr" name="TC_5" id="TC_5" title="was: not">and</a> Socialists against it. +Mr. J. C. Christensen, one of the most powerful of Danish +politicians, of the Moderate School, holding the balance<a class="pagenum" name="Page_31" id="Page_31" title="[Pg 31]"></a> +of power, was in a tight place. Alberti, the clever Radical, +had been supported by Christensen, who had been +innocently involved in his fall. Alberti languished in +jail, and Christensen was being horribly assailed when +Dr. Cook came and Denmark forgot Christensen and +went wild with delight!</p> + +<p>In 1907-8, Denmark trembled for fear that she would +lose her freedom. When would the Germans attack? +The disorder in Slesvig was perennial. A bill for a reasonable +defence had been proposed to the Danish Parliament. +King Frederick had had great difficulty in forming +a ministry. Count Morgen Friis, capable, distinguished, +experienced, but with some of the indolence of the old +grand seigneur, had refused. Richelieu could not see +his way clear; nobody wanted the responsibility. The +Socialists and the Radicals, practical, if you like, did +not believe in building forts in the hope of saving the +national honour.</p> + +<p>King Frederick <span class="smcap lc">VIII.</span> was at his wit's end for a premier, +for, as I have said, even Count Morgen Friis, a man of +undoubted ability and great influence, failed him. King +Frederick, because of his desire to stand well with his +people, was never popular. His glove was too velvety, +and he treated his political enemies as well as he did his +friends. Count Friis was known to lean towards England, +and he was very popular; he would have stood for a +strong defence.</p> + +<p>Admiral de Richelieu was a man of great influence, +a devoted Slesviger, and the greatest 'industrial,' with +the exception of State-Councillor Andersen, in Denmark; +he was not keen for the premiership, and his friends +did not care that he should compromise their business +interests; for, in Denmark, business and politics do not +mix well.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_32" id="Page_32" title="[Pg 32]"></a> +Finally, King Frederick called on Count Holstein-Ledreborg, +without doubt, with perhaps the exception +of—but I must not mention living men—the cleverest +man in Denmark. Count Holstein-Ledreborg was a +recluse; he had been practically exiled by the scornful +attitude taken by the aristocracy on account of his Radicalism, +but had returned to his Renascence castle near +the old dwelling-place of Beowulf. Count Holstein-Ledreborg +was the last resource, he had been out of +politics for many years. Although he was a pessimist, +he was a furious patriot. He had a great respect for the +abilities of the Radicals, like Edward Brandès, but very +little for those—'if they existed,' he said—of his own +class in the aristocracy. He was one of the few Catholics +among the aristocracy, and he had a burning grievance +against the existing order of churchly things. The State +church in Denmark is, like that of Sweden and +Norway, Lutheran. Until 1848, except in one or two +commercial towns where there was a constant influx of +merchants, no Catholic church was permitted. The +chapel of Count Holstein in his castle of Ledreborg, +was still Lutheran. He was not permitted to have +Mass said in it, as it was a church of the commune. +This made the Lord of Ledreborg furious. There must +be Lutheran worship in his own chapel, or no worship; +this was the law!</p> + +<p>There was something else that added to his indignation. +One day, very silently, he opened the doors that +concealed a panel in the wall. There was a very Lutheran +picture indeed! It was done in glaring colours, even +realistic colours. It represented various devils, horned +and tailed and pitch-forked, poking into the fire in the +lower regions a pope and several cardinals, who were +turning to crimson like lobsters, while some pious<a class="pagenum" name="Page_33" id="Page_33" title="[Pg 33]"></a> +Lutheran prelates gave great thanks for this agreeable +proceeding. 'In my own chapel,' said Count Holstein, +'almost facing the altar; and the law will not permit +me to remove it!'</p> + +<p>Being an American, I smiled; thereby, I almost lost +a really valued friendship.</p> + +<p>'I shall arrange with the king to give a substitute +for the chapel to the commune—a school-house or a +library—and have the chapel consecrated,' he said. 'I +think I see my way.'</p> + +<p>'"All things come to him who knows how to wait,"' +I quoted.</p> + +<p>In 1909, at the time of the crisis, he accepted the task +of forming a cabinet to get the defence bill through Parliament, +but he made one condition with the king—that +he should have his own chapel to do as he liked with. +He carried the defence bill through triumphantly and +then, having made his point, and finding Parliament +unreasonable, from his point of view, on some question +or other, he told its members to go where Orpheus sought +Eurydice, and retired! He died too soon; he would +have been a great help to us in the troubled days when +we were trying to buy the Virgin Islands. He was my +mentor in European politics, and a most distinguished +man; and what is better, a good friend. At times +he was sardonic. 'I would make,' he said, 'if I had +the power, Edward Brandès (Brandès is of the famous +Brandès family) minister of Public Worship!' (As +Brandès is a Jew and a Greek pagan both at once, it would +have been one of those ironies of statecraft like that +which made the Duke of Norfolk patron of some Anglican +livings.) Count Holstein disliked state churches. He was +a strange mixture of the wit of Voltaire with the faith +of Pascal, and one of the most inflexible of Radicals.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_34" id="Page_34" title="[Pg 34]"></a> +The party for the defence and for the integrity of the +army and navy had its way; but, owing to the attitude +of the Socialists, a very moderate way. 'If Germany +comes, she will take us,' the Radicals said with the Socialists; +'why waste public money on soldiers and military +bands and submarines?'</p> + +<p>But there are enough stalwarts, including the king, +Christian, to believe that a country worth living in is +worth fighting for!</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<div><a class="pagenum" name="Page_35" id="Page_35" title="[Pg 35]"></a></div> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /> +<span class="chapintro">THE MENACE OF 'OUR NEIGHBOUR TO THE +SOUTH'</span></h2> + + +<p>In 1907, Russia seemed to me to be, for Americans, +the most important country in Europe. Our Department +of State was no doubt informed as to what the +other countries would do in certain contingencies, for +none of our diplomatic representatives, although always +working under disadvantages not experienced by their +European colleagues, had been idle persons. But all of +us who had even cursorily studied European conditions +knew that the actions of Germany would depend largely +on the attitude of Russia. It was to the interest of +Emperor William to keep Nicholas <span class="smcap lc">II.</span> and the Romanoffs +on the throne. He saw no other way of dividing and +conquering a country which he at once hated and +longed to control.</p> + +<p>The Balkan situation was always burning; it was +the Etna and Vesuvius of the diplomatic world; wise +men might predict eruptions, but they were always unexpected. +To most people in the United States the +Balkans seemed very far off; Bulgaria with her eyes on +Macedonia, the Tsar Ferdinand and his attempt to put +his son, Boris, under the greater Tsar, him of Russia; +Rumania and her ambitions for more freedom and more +territory; Serbia, with her fears and aspirations, appeared +to be of no importance—of less interest, perhaps, +than other petty kingdoms. But at one fatal moment<a class="pagenum" name="Page_36" id="Page_36" title="[Pg 36]"></a> +Austria refused to allow Serbia to export her pigs, and +we came to pay about two million dollars an hour and +to sacrifice most precious lives, much greater things, +because of the ferocious growth of this little germ of +tyranny and avarice.</p> + +<p>Most of us have fixed ideas; if they are the result of +prejudice, they are generally bad; if they are the result +of principle, that is another question. When I went to +Denmark at the request of President Roosevelt, I had +several fixed ideas, whether of prejudice or principle +I could not always distinguish. I had been brought up +in a sentiment of gratitude to Russia—she had behaved +well to us in the Civil War—and in a firm belief that +her people only needed a fair chance to become our firm +friends. We must seek European markets for our +capital and our investments, and Russia offered us a +free way.</p> + +<p>Towards the end of the year 1908, the signs in Russia +were more ominous than usual. It had always seemed +to me—and the impression had come probably from +long and intimate association with some very clever +diplomatists—that Russian problems, industrially and +economically, were very similar to our own, and that, +in the future, her interests would be our interests. +She was in evil hands—that was evident; Nicholas <span class="smcap lc">II.</span>, +after the peace of Portsmouth, was not so pleased +with the action of President Roosevelt as he ought +to have been, and the arrogant clique, the bureaucrats +who controlled the Tsar, regarded us with suspicion and +dislike.</p> + +<p>At the same time, it was plain that a great part of +the landed nobility looked with hope to the United +States as a nation which ought to understand their problems +and assist, with technical advice and capital, in<a class="pagenum" name="Page_37" id="Page_37" title="[Pg 37]"></a> +the solving of them. The Baltic Barons, many with +German names and not of the orthodox faith, preferred +that the United States, by the investments of her citizens +in Russia, should hold a balance between the French +and the German financial influences, for Germany was +slowly beginning to control Russia financially, and French +capital meant a competition with the German interests +which might eventually mean a conflict and war. The +well instructed among the Russian people, including the +estate owners whose interests were not bureaucratic, +feared war above all things. The Japanese war had +given them reason for their fears.</p> + +<p>To my mind there were three questions of great importance +for us: How could we, with self-respect, keep +on good terms with Russia? How could we discover +what Germany's intentions were? And how could we +strengthen the force of the Monroe Doctrine by acquiring, +through legitimate means, certain islands on our +coasts, especially the Gallapagos, the Danish West Indies +and others which, perhaps, it might not be discreet to +mention.</p> + +<p>While the United States seemed fixed in her policy +of keeping out of foreign entanglements, it seemed to me +that the rule of conduct of a nation, like that of an individual, +cannot always be consistent with its theories, +since all intentions put into action by the party of the +first part must depend on the action and point of view +of the party of the second part. I had been largely +influenced in my views of the value of the Monroe +Doctrine by the speeches and writings of ex-President +Roosevelt and Senator Lodge. It was a self-evident +truth, too, that, for the sake of democracy, for the sake +of the future of our country, the autonomy of the small +nations must be preserved. This attitude I made plain<a class="pagenum" name="Page_38" id="Page_38" title="[Pg 38]"></a> +during my ten years in Denmark; perhaps I over-accentuated +it, but to this attitude I owe the regard of the +majority of the Danish people and of some of the folk of +the other Scandinavian nations.</p> + +<p>The position taken by Germany, under Prussian influence, +in Brazil and Argentine, certain indications in +our own country, which I shall emphasise later, the +intrigues as to the Bagdad Railway, <a class="corr" name="TC_6" id="TC_6" title="added: and">and </a>the threats as to +what Germany might do in Scandinavia in case Russia +attempted to interfere with German plans in the East, +were alarming. Then again was the hint that Denmark +might be seized if Germany found Russia in an alliance +against England.</p> + +<p>From my earliest youth, I knew many Germans whom +I esteemed and admired; but they were generally descendants +of the men of 1848, that year which saw the +Hungarians defeated and the German lovers of liberty +exiled. There were others of a later time who believed, +with the Kaiser, that a German emigrant was simply +a German colonist—waiting! These people were so +naïve in their Prussianism, in their disdain for everything +American, that they scarcely seemed real! When a +German waiter looked out of the hotel window in Trafalgar +Square and said, waving his napkin at the spectacle +of the congested traffic, 'When the day comes, we shall +change all this,' we Americans laughed. This was in the +eighties. Yet he meant it; and 'we' have not changed +all this even for the day!</p> + +<p>The alarm was sounded in South America, but few +North Americans took it seriously, and we knew how +the English accepted the German invasions to the very +doors of their homes. However, when I went to Denmark +in August 1907, deeply honoured by President Roosevelt's +outspoken confidence in me, I became aware that Prussianised<a class="pagenum" name="Page_39" id="Page_39" title="[Pg 39]"></a> +Germany might at any <a class="corr" name="TC_7" id="TC_7" title="was: monemt">moment</a> seize that little +country, and that, in that case, the Danish West Indies +would be German. A pleasant prospect when we knew +that Germany regarded the Monroe Doctrine as the silly +figment of a democratic brain unversed in the real meaning +of world politics.</p> + +<p>Again, I saw exemplified the fact that <em>in the eyes of +the Kaiser, a German emigrant was a German colonist</em>. Once a German always a German; the ideas of the Fatherland +must follow the blood, and these ideas are one and +indivisible. Consequently, no place could have been more +interesting than the capital of Denmark. Here diplomatists +were taught, made, or unmade.</p> + +<p>Until we were forced to join in the European concert +by the acquirement of the Philippines, the post did not +seem to be important. 'You always send your diplomatists +here to learn their art,' the clever queen of Christian +<span class="smcap lc">IX.</span> had said to an American. It may not have been +intended as a compliment!</p> + +<p>In the second place, Copenhagen was the centre of +those new social and political movements that are <a class="corr" name="TC_8" id="TC_8" title="was: effecting">affecting</a> +the world; Denmark was rapidly becoming Socialistic.</p> + +<p>She, one of the oldest kingdoms in the world, presented +the paradox of being the spot in which all tendencies +supposed to be anti-monarchical were working out. She +had already solved problems incidental to the evolution +of democratic ideals, which in our own country we have +only begun timidly to consider.</p> + +<p>In the third place, Copenhagen was near the most +potent country in the world—Germany under Prussian +domination. I make the distinction between 'potency' +and 'greatness.'</p> + +<p>And, in the fourth place, it gave anybody who wanted +to be 'on his job' a good opportunity of studying the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_40" id="Page_40" title="[Pg 40]"></a> +effect of German propinquity on a small nation. Unfortunately, +in 1907-8-9-10-11, no experience in watching +German methods seemed of much value to our own people +or to the English. The English who watched them +critically, like Maxse, the editor of the <i>National Review</i> +of London, were not listened to. Perhaps these persons +were too Radical and intemperate. The English Foreign +Office had, after the Vatican, the reputation of having +the best system for obtaining information in Europe, +but both the English Foreign Office and the Vatican +Secretariat seemed to have suddenly become deaf. We +Americans were too much taken up with the German +<i lang="de">gemütlichkeit</i>, or scientific efficiency, to treat the +Prussian movements with anything but tolerance. The +Germans had won the hearts of some of our best men of +science, who believed in them until belief was impossible; +and, with most of my countrymen, I held that a breach +of the peace in Europe seemed improbable. There was +always The Hague! The only thing left for me was to +let the Germans be as <i lang="de">gemütlich</i> as they liked, and to +watch their attitude in Denmark, for on this depended +the ownership of the West Indies.</p> + +<p>My German colleagues, Henckel-Donnersmarck, von +Waldhausen, and Brockdorff-Rantzau, were able men; +and, I think, they looked on me as a madman with a +fixed idea. Count Rantzau, if he lives, will be heard of +later; he is one of the well-balanced among diplomatists. +I realised early in the game that my work must be limited +to watching Germany in her relations with Denmark. +I knew what was expected of me. I had no doubt that +the United States was the greatest country in the world +in its potentialities, but I had no belief, then, in its power +to enforce its high ideals on the politics of the European +world.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_41" id="Page_41" title="[Pg 41]"></a> +In fact, it never occurred to me that our country would +be called upon to enforce them, for, unless the Imperial +German Government should take it into its head to lay +hands on a country or two in South America, it seemed +to me that we might keep entirely out of such foreign +entanglements as concerned Western Europe and Constantinople +and the Balkans. If, however, there should +be such interference by France and England with the +interests of Germany as would warrant her and her active +ally in attacking these countries, Denmark and, automatically, +her islands would be German. Then, we, +in self-defence, must have something to say. Secret +diplomacy was flourishing in Europe, and nothing was +really clear. After the event it is very easy to take up +the rôle of the prophet, but that is not in my line. If +a man is not a genius, he cannot have the intuition of +a genius, and, while I accepted the opinions of my more +experienced colleagues, I imagined that their fears of +a probable war were exaggerated. Besides, I had been +impressed by the constantly emphasised opinion—part +of the German propaganda, I now believe—that our great +enemy was Japan.</p> + +<p>Since the year 1874, when I had been well introduced +into diplomatic circles in Washington, I had known +many representatives of foreign powers. Since those +days, so well described in Madame de Hegermann-Lindencrone's +<i>Sunny Side of Diplomatic Life</i>, the German +point of view had greatly changed. It was a far cry +from the days of the easy-going Herr von Schlözer to +Speck von <a class="corr" name="TC_9" id="TC_9" title="was: Sternburg">Sternberg</a> and efficient Count Bernstorff, a +far cry from the amicable point of view of Mr. Poultney +Bigelow taken of the young Kaiser in the eighties, and +his revised point of view in 1915. Mr. Poultney Bigelow's +change from a certain attitude of admiration, in<a class="pagenum" name="Page_42" id="Page_42" title="[Pg 42]"></a> +his case with no taint of snobbishness, was typical of +that of many of my own people. I must confess that no +instructions from the State Department had prepared +me for the German echoes I heard in Denmark; but +even if Treitschke had come to the United States to air +his views at the University of Chicago, I should probably +have considered them merely academic, and have +treated them as cavalierly as I had treated the speech +of the waiter in the Trafalgar Square hotel about 'changing +all that.'</p> + +<p>Nietzsche's philosophy seemed so atrocious as to be +ineffective. But we Americans, as a rule, take no system +of philosophy as having any real connection with the +conduct of life, and, except in very learned circles, his +was looked on as no more part of the national life of +Germany than William James is of ours. In a little +while, I discovered that the Kaiser had imposed on the +Prussians, at least, a most practical system of philosophy, +which our universities had come to admire. I +had not been long in Denmark when I realised that +Germany, in the three Scandinavian countries, was +looked on either as a powerful enemy or as a potential +friend, and that she tried, above all, to control the learned +classes.</p> + +<p>The United States hardly counted; she was too far off +and seemed to be hopelessly ignorant of the essential +conditions of foreign affairs. Her diplomacy, if it existed +at all, was determined by existing political conditions +at home.</p> + +<p>I visited Holland and Belgium; Germany loomed +larger. She was bent on commercial supremacy everywhere. +One could not avoid admitting that fact.</p> + +<p>As to Denmark, it was piteous to see how the Danes +feared the power that never ceased to threaten them.<a class="pagenum" name="Page_43" id="Page_43" title="[Pg 43]"></a> +Prussia has made her empire possible by establishing +the beginnings, in 1864, of her naval power at the expense +of Denmark. The longer I lived in Denmark the more +strongly I felt that Germany was getting ready for a +short, sharp war in which the United States of America, +it seemed to me (as I was no prophet), was not to be a +factor, but Russia was.</p> + +<p>The members of the German Legation were very sympathetic, +especially the Minister, Count Henckel-Donnersmarck. +He loved Weimar; he loved the old Germany. +It was a delight to hear him talk of the real glories of his +country. His family, in the opinion of the Germans, +was so great that he could afford to do as he pleased; I +rather think he looked on the Hohenzollerns as rather +<i lang="fr">parvenus</i>. He was of the school of Frederick the Noble +rather than of William the Conqueror.</p> + +<p>'Do you mind talking politics?' I asked him one +day.</p> + +<p>'It bores me,' he said, 'because there is nothing +stable. My country feels that it is being isolated. +Since Algeria, in 1906, she stands against Europe, with +Austria.'</p> + +<p>'Stands against the United States?'</p> + +<p>'No, no; we shall always be at peace,' he said. 'Our +interests are not dissimilar; our military organisation is +almost perfect. Yes, we learned some lessons even from +your Civil War, though you are not a military people. +Your country is full of our citizens.'</p> + +<p>'<em>Your</em> citizens, Count!'</p> + +<p>'Ah, yes,—in Brazil and Argentine, everywhere, a +German citizen is like a Roman citizen, proud and unchanging, +that is the German citizen who understands +the aims of modern Germany. <i lang="la">Civis Romanus sum!</i> +The older ones are different; it is a question of sentiment<a class="pagenum" name="Page_44" id="Page_44" title="[Pg 44]"></a> +and memories with them. Your great German +population will always keep you out of conflict with us, +though even you, who know our literature, are at heart +English—I mean politically. You cannot help it. Your +Irish blood may count, but the point of view is made by +literature. It gets into the blood. See what Homer has +done for those old savages of his. Our bankers can +always manage the finances of New York, as they manage +those of London. It would be a sad day for Germany +if we should break with you; some of us know that +Frederick the Great saw your future, and believed that +we always ought to be friends. But do not imagine +that your nation, great as it is, can do anything your +people wills to do. Great power, I understand, is hidden +in your country; but, as the actors say, you cannot +get it across the footlights. It is not, as Gambetta +spoke of the Catholic religion in France, a matter for +export.'</p> + +<p>'Our education,' Count Henckel-Donnersmarck resumed, +'is practical; Goethe and Schiller mean little +now to us. Bismarck has made new men of us. I shall +not live long, and I cannot say I regret it,' he said; 'and, +as the lust of power becomes the rule of the world, my son +must be a new German or suffer.'</p> + +<p>'Count Henckel,' as he preferred to be called, did not +remain long in Copenhagen; he was recalled because, it +was reported, he did not provide the Kaiser, who carefully +read his ministers' reports, with a sufficient number of +details of life in Denmark.</p> + +<p>When I took his hint and went to Germany, at Christmas—Christmas +was a divine time in the old Germany!—I +found that Count Henckel was right. Berlin was +<a class="corr" name="TC_10" id="TC_10" title="was: hygenic">hygienic</a>, ugly, and more offensively immoral than Paris +was once said to be.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_45" id="Page_45" title="[Pg 45]"></a> +There was an artificial rule of life. Even the lives +of the boys and girls seemed to be ordered by some unseen +law. You could breathe, but it was necessary +not to consume too much oxygen at a time. That was +<i lang="de">verboten</i>; and there were cannons on the Christmas +trees!</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<div><a class="pagenum" name="Page_46" id="Page_46" title="[Pg 46]"></a></div> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /> +<span class="chapintro">THE KAISER AND THE KING OF ENGLAND</span></h2> + + +<p>It was pleasant to renew old memories among diplomatists +and ex-diplomatists in Copenhagen. I remembered +the old days in Washington, when Sir Edward +Thornton's house was far up-town, when the rows between +the Chileans and Peruvians—I forget to which +party the amiable Ibañez belonged—convulsed the coteries +that gathered at Mrs. Dahlgren's, when Bodisco and +Aristarchi Bey and Baron de Santa Ana were more +than names, and the Hegermann-Lindencrones<a name="FNanchor_2" id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> were +the handsomest couple in Washington. So it was agreeable +to find some colleagues with whom one had reminiscences +in common. Then there were the Americans +married to members of the corps. Lady Johnston, wife +of Sir Alan; Madame de Riaño, married to one of the +most well-balanced and efficient diplomatists in Europe. +These ladies made the way of my wife and my daughters +very easy.</p> + +<p>An envoy arriving at a new post has one consolation, +not an unmitigatedly agreeable one. He is sure of +knowing what his colleagues think of him. And for a +while they weigh him very carefully. The American +can seldom shirk the direct question: 'Is this your +first post?' It required great strength of mind not to +say: 'I had a special mission to the Indian Reservations,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_47" id="Page_47" title="[Pg 47]"></a> +and I have always been, more or less, you +know——'</p> + +<p>'Ah, I see! Calcutta, Bombay——!'</p> + +<p>'Not exactly—Red Lake, you know—the Reservations, +wards of our Government.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, red Indians! I was not aware that you had +diplomatic relations with the old red Indian princes. But +this is your first post in Europe?'</p> + +<p>You cannot avoid that. However, the longer one is +at a post, the more he enjoys it. In the course of nearly +eleven years, I never knew one of my colleagues who did +not show <i lang="fr">esprit de corps</i>. They become more and more +kindly. You know that they know your faults and your +virtues. In the diplomatic service you are like Wolsey, +naked, not to your enemies, but to your colleagues. They +can help you greatly if they will.</p> + +<p>After the peace of Portsmouth, which in the opinion +of certain Russians gave all the advantages to Japan, +the Emperor of Germany spoke of President Roosevelt +with added respect, we were told. The attitude toward +Americans on the part of Germans seemed always the +reflection of the point of view of the Kaiser. From their +point of view, it was only the President who counted; +our nation, from the Pan-German point of view seemed +not to be of importance.</p> + +<p>It was rather hard to find out exactly what the Kaiser's +attitude towards us was. Some of the court circle—there +were always visitors from Berlin—announced +that the Kaiser was greatly pleased by the result of +the Portsmouth conference. He knew the weakness +of Russia, and though he believed that German interests +required that she should not be strong, he feared, +above all things, the preponderance of the Yellow +Races. I discovered one thing early, that the Pan-German<a class="pagenum" name="Page_48" id="Page_48" title="[Pg 48]"></a> +party propagated the idea that the Japanese +alliance with England could be used against the United +States.</p> + +<p>It was vain to argue about this. 'Japan is your +enemy; the Philippines will be Japanese, unless you +strengthen yourselves by a quasi-alliance with us; then +England, tied to Japan, can not oppose you.' One could +discover very little from the Kaiser's public utterances; +but he indemnified himself for his conventionality in +public by his frankness in private.</p> + +<p>He described the Danish as the most 'indiscreet of +courts.' He forgot that his own indiscretions had become +proverbial in Copenhagen. Whether this 'indiscretion' +was first submitted to the Foreign Office is a +question. His diplomatists were usually miracles of +discretion; but the city was full of 'echoes' from Berlin +which did not come from the diplomatists or the +court. The truth was, the Kaiser looked on the courts +of Denmark and Stockholm as dependencies, and he +was 'hurt' when any of the court circle seemed to forget +this.</p> + +<p>In his eyes, a German princess, no matter whom she +married, was to remain a German. The present Queen +of Denmark, the most discreet of princesses, never forgot +that she was a Danish princess and would be in time a +Danish queen.</p> + +<p>Every German princess was looked upon as a propagator +of the views of the Kaiser;—the Queen of the Belgians +was a sore disappointment to him; but, then, she +was not a Prussian princess. When one of the princesses +joined the Catholic Church, there was an explosion of +rage on his part.</p> + +<p>As far as I could gather, in 1908-9-10, he was <i lang="fr">chambré</i>, +as liberal Germany said, surrounded by people who<a class="pagenum" name="Page_49" id="Page_49" title="[Pg 49]"></a> +echoed his opinions, or who, while pretending to accept +them, coloured them with their own.</p> + +<p>It was surmised that he despised his uncle, King Edward. +Evidences of this would leak out.</p> + +<p>He admired our material progress, and he was determined +to imitate our methods. The loquacity of some +of our compatriots amused him.</p> + +<p>He understood President Roosevelt so little as to +imagine that he could influence him. There was one +American he especially disliked, and that was Archbishop +Ireland; but the reason for that will form almost a chapter +by itself.</p> + +<p>As I have said, it seemed to me most important that +good feeling in the little countries of Europe should be +founded on respect for us.</p> + +<p>Somebody, a cynic, once said that the only mortal sin +among Americans is to be poor. That may or may not +be so. It was, however, the impression in Europe. It +was difficult in Denmark to make it understood that we +were interested in literature and art, or had any desire +to do anything but make money. The attempt to buy +the Danish West Indies, made in 1902, was looked on by +many of the Danes as the manifestation of a desire on +the part of an arrogant and imperial-minded people to +take advantage of the poverty of a little country. 'You +did not dare to propose to buy an island near your coast +from England or France, or even Holland,' they said. +This prejudice was encouraged by the German press +whenever an opportunity arose. And against this prejudice +it was my business to fight.</p> + +<p>Until after the war with Spain—unfortunate as it was +in some aspects—we were disdained; after that we were +supposed to have crude possibilities.</p> + +<p>German propagandists took advantage of our seeming<a class="pagenum" name="Page_50" id="Page_50" title="[Pg 50]"></a> +'newness,' forgetting that the new Germany was a +<i lang="fr">parvenu</i> among the nations. Our people <i lang="fr">en tour</i> in +Europe spent money freely and gave opinions with an +infallible air almost as freely. They too frequently assumed +the air of folk who had 'come abroad' to complete +an education never begun at home; or, if they were +persons who had 'advantages,' they were too anxious +for a court <i lang="fr">entrée</i>, asking their representative for it as +a right, and then acting at court as if it were a divine +privilege.</p> + +<p>It was necessary in Denmark to accentuate the little +things. The Danes love elegant simplicity; they are, +above all, aesthetic. My predecessor, who did not remain +long enough in Denmark to please his Danish admirers, +called the Danes 'the most civilised of peoples.' I found +that he was right; but they were full of misconceptions +concerning us. We used toothpicks constantly! We +did not know how to give a dinner! The values of the +wine list (before the war, most important) would always +remain a mystery to us. In a word, we were 'Yankees!' +To make propaganda—the first duty of a diplomatist—requires +thought, time and money. The Germans used +all three intelligently.</p> + +<p>One cannot travel in the provinces without money. +One cannot reach the minds of the people without the +distribution of literature. Unhappily, Governments before +the war, with the exception of the German Government, +took little account of this.</p> + +<p>One of the best examples of an effective propaganda, +of the most practicable and far-sighted methods, was +that of the French Ambassador to the United States, +Jusserand. He did not wait to be taught anything by +the Germans.</p> + +<p>We have two bad habits: we read our psychology as<a class="pagenum" name="Page_51" id="Page_51" title="[Pg 51]"></a> +well as our temperament—the result of a unique kind of +experience and education—into the minds of other people, +and we despise the opinion of nations which are small. +The first defect we have suffered from, and the latter +we shall suffer from if we are not careful. Who cares +whether Bulgaria respects us or not? And yet a diplomatist +soon learns that it counts. It is a grave question +whether the little countries look with hope towards +democracy, or with helpless respect towards autocracy. +We see that Bulgaria counted; we shall see that Denmark +counted, too, when the moment came for our buying +the Virgin Islands.</p> + +<p>The German propaganda was incessant. Denmark was +in close business relations with England. Denmark +furnished the English breakfast table—the inevitable +butter, bacon and eggs. But the trade relations between +England and Denmark were not cultivated as were those +between Denmark and Germany. The German 'drummer' +was the rule, the English commercial traveller the exception.</p> + +<p>As to the American, he seldom appeared, and when +he came he spoke no language but his own. In literature +the Germans did all they could to cultivate the +interest of the Danish author. He was petted and +praised when he went to Berlin—that is, after his books +had been translated. Berlin never allowed herself to +praise any Scandinavian books in the original. As to +music, the best German musicians came to Denmark. +Richard Strauss led the <i lang="de">Rosenkavalier</i> in person; +the Berlin symphony and Rheinhart's plays were announced. +Every opportunity was taken to show Denmark +Germany's best in music, art and science. 'If +you speak the word culture, you must add the word +German.' This was a Berlin proverb. 'All good American<a class="pagenum" name="Page_52" id="Page_52" title="[Pg 52]"></a> +singers must have my stamp before America will hear +them,' the Kaiser said. Danish scientists were always +sure of recognition in Germany, but they must be read in +German or speak in German when they visited Berlin.</p> + +<p>In 1908 King Edward came to Copenhagen. He was +regarded principally as the husband of the beloved +Princess Alexandra. He did not conceal the fact that +Copenhagen bored him, and the Copenhageners knew it. +However, they received him with an appearance of +amiability they had not shown to the Kaiser on the +occasion of his visit.</p> + +<p>No Dane who remembered Bismarck and Slesvig and +who saw at Kiel the growing German fleet could admire +the Emperor William <span class="smcap lc">II.</span> Even the most ferocious propagandists +demanded too much when they asked that. +They looked on the visits of King Frederick <span class="smcap lc">VIII.</span> to Germany +with suspicion.</p> + +<p>When the Crown Prince, the present Christian <span class="smcap lc">X.</span>, +married the daughter of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, +they were not altogether pleased. They +were reconciled, however, by the fact that the Crown +Princess was the daughter of a Russian mother. Besides, +the Crown Princess, now Queen Alexandrina, was chosen +by Prince Christian because he loved her. 'She is +the only woman I will marry,' he had said. And when +she married him, she became Danish, unlike her sister-in-law, +the Princess <span class="sic" title="[sic]">Harald</span>, who has always remained +German, much to the embarrassment of her husband, and +the rumoured annoyance of the present king, who holds +that a Danish princess must be a Dane and nothing else.</p> + +<p>The Danish queen's mother is the clever Grand Duchess +Anastasia Michaelovna,<a name="FNanchor_3" id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> who was Russian and Parisian,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_53" id="Page_53" title="[Pg 53]"></a> +who loved the Riviera, above all Cannes, and who was +the most brilliant of widows. When the sister of Queen +Alexandrina married the German Crown Prince in 1905, +the Danes were relieved, but not altogether pleased. +Those of them who believed that royal alliance counted, +hoped that a future German Empress, so nearly akin to +their queen, might ward off the ever-threatening danger +of Prussian conquest.</p> + +<p>The Crown Princess Cecilia became a favourite in +Germany; it was rumoured that she was not sufficient of +a German housewife to suit the Kaiser.</p> + +<p>'The Crown Princess Cecilia is adorable, but she +will not permit her august father-in-law to choose her +hats,' said a visiting lady of the German autocratic circle; +'she might, at least, follow the example of her mother-in-law, +for the Emperor's taste is unimpeachable!' +My wife remembered that this serene, well-born lady +wore a hat of mustard yellow, then a favourite colour in +Berlin!</p> + +<p>In April 1908, King Edward <span class="smcap lc">VII.</span> and Queen Alexandra +made a visit to Copenhagen. It was the custom in +Denmark that, when a reigning sovereign came on a gala +visit, the Court and the diplomatists were expected to +go to the station to meet him. The waiting-room of the +station was decorated with palms which had not felt the +patter of rain for years, and with rugs evidently trodden +to shabbiness by many royal feet. Amid these splendours +a <i lang="fr">cercle</i> was held.</p> + +<p>The visiting monarch, fresh from his journey, spoke +to each of the diplomatists in turn. He dropped pearls +of thought for which one gave equally valuable gems.</p> + +<p>'The American Minister, Your Majesty,' said the +Chamberlain. 'Glad to see you; where are you from?' +'Washington, the capital.' 'There are more Washingtons?'<a class="pagenum" name="Page_54" id="Page_54" title="[Pg 54]"></a> +'Many, sir.' 'How do you like Copenhagen?' +'Greatly—almost as well as London' (insert Stockholm, +Christiania, The Hague, to suit the occasion).</p> + +<p>And then came the voice of the Chamberlain—'The +Austrian Minister, Your Majesty.' 'How do you like +Copenhagen?' The same formula was used until the +<i lang="fr">chargés d'affaires</i>, who always ended the list, were reached: +'How long have you been in Copenhagen?'</p> + +<p>King Edward was accompanied by a staff of the handsomest +and most soldierly courtiers imaginable; they +were the veritable splendid captains of Kipling's <i>Recessional</i>. +Queen Alexandra was attended by the Hon. +Charlotte Knollys and Miss Vivian. It was a great +pleasure to see Miss Knollys again. To those who knew +her all the tiresome waiting was worth while; she seemed +like an old friend.</p> + +<p>The police surveillance was not so strict when the +King and Queen of England were in Copenhagen; but +when any of the Russian royalties arrived, the police had +a time of anxiety though they were reinforced by hundreds +of detectives.</p> + +<p>In Copenhagen it was always said that the Empress +Dowager, the Grand Duke Michael, the Archduchess Olga, +and others of the Romanoff family, were only safe when +in the company of some of the English royal people. +The Empress Dowager of Russia, formerly the Princess +Dagmar of Denmark, never went out without her sister. +They were inseparable, devoted to each other, as all +the children of King Christian <span class="smcap lc"><a class="corr" name="TC_11" id="TC_11" title="was: IV.">IX.</a></span> were. It was not the +beauty and charm of Queen Alexandra that saved her +from attack; it was the fact that England was tolerant +of all kinds of political exiles, as a visit to Soho, in London, +will show.</p> + +<p>At the station, just as the King and Queen of England<a class="pagenum" name="Page_55" id="Page_55" title="[Pg 55]"></a> +entered, there was an explosion. 'A bomb,' whispered +one of the uninitiated. It happened to be the result of +the sudden opening of a <i lang="fr">Chapeau claque</i> in the unaccustomed +hands of a Radical member of the Cabinet +who, against his principles, had been obliged to come in +evening dress.</p> + +<p>We, of the Legation, always wore evening dress in +daylight on gala occasions. One soon became used to +it. Our American citizens of Danish descent always +deplored this, and some of our secretaries would have +worn the uniform of a captain of militia or the court +dress of the Danish chamberlains, which, they said, +under the regulations we were permitted to wear. Not +being English, I found evening dress in the morning +not more uncomfortable than the regulation frock coat. +I permitted a white waistcoat, which the Danes never +wore in the morning, but refused to allow a velvet collar +and golden buttons because this was too much like the +<i lang="fr">petit uniforme</i> of other Legations.</p> + +<p>There was one inconvenience, however—the same as +irked James Russell Lowell in Spain—the officers on +grand occasions could not recognise a minister without +gold lace, and so our country did not get the proper +salute. On the occasion of the arrival of the King of +England, I remedied this by putting on the coachmen +rather large red, white and blue cockades. Arthur and +Hans were really resplendent!</p> + +<p>Later, when my younger daughter appeared in society +after the marriage of the elder, there was no difficulty. +All the officers who loved parties recognised the father of +the most indefatigable dancer in court circles. A cotillion +or two at the Legation amply made up for the absence +of uniforms. Our country, in the person of its representative, +after that had tremendously resounding salutes.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_56" id="Page_56" title="[Pg 56]"></a> +Prince Hans, the brother of the late King Christian +<span class="smcap lc">IX.</span>, who has since died, was especially friendly with +us. He was beloved of the whole royal family. His +kindliness and politeness were proverbial. When he +was regent in Greece, he had been warned that the Greeks +would soon hate him if he continued to be so courteous. +His equerry, Chamberlain de Rothe, told me that he +answered: 'I cannot change; I <em>must</em> be courteous.' +He is the only man on record who seems to have entirely +pleased a people who have the reputation of being the +most difficult in Europe.</p> + +<p>Prince Hans came in to call, at a reasonable time, +after the arrival of the King and Queen of England; +we were always glad to see him; he was so really kind, +so full of pleasant reminiscences; he had had a very +long and full life; he was the 'uncle' of all the royalties +in Europe. He especially loved the King of England. +Having lived through the invasion of Slesvig, he was +most patriotically Danish; he looked on the Prussians +as an 'uneasy' people.</p> + +<p>'The King of England is much interested in the condition +of your ex-President, Grover Cleveland,' he said. +'If you will have him, he will come to tea with you; I +will bring him. He is engaged to dine with the Count +Raben-Levitzau and, I think, to go to the Zoological +Gardens and to dine with the Count Friis; but he will +make you a visit, to ask personally for ex-President +Cleveland and to talk of him after, of course, he has +lunched at the British Legation.'</p> + +<p>I said that the Legation would be deeply honoured. +Informal as the visit would be, it would be a great compliment +to my country.</p> + +<p>'The German Legation will be surprised; but it can +give no offence; I am <em>sure</em> that it can give no offence.<a class="pagenum" name="Page_57" id="Page_57" title="[Pg 57]"></a> +King Edward is not pleased altogether with his nephew. +When the emperor came to Copenhagen in 1905 he was +not so friendly to us as he is now. Poor little Denmark. +It has escaped a great danger through Bertie's cleverness,' +Prince Hans murmured. From this I gathered that +Prince Hans felt that the king's coming to the American +Legation would be noticed by all the Legations as unusual, +but especially by the German Legation. From this I +judged that some danger to Denmark might have been +threatening.</p> + +<p>'The Kaiser dined in this room,' Prince Hans said, +'when he was here in 1905—no, no, he took coffee in this +room, and not in the dining-room. However, as Madame +Hegermann-Lindencrone has told, the German Minister, +von Schoen, who gave so many parties that all the young +Danish people loved him, and his wife could not decide +where coffee was to be taken; the Kaiser settled it himself. +It is an amusing story; it has made King Frederick +laugh. If the King of England comes to tea, you will +not be expected to have boiled eggs, as we have for the +Empress Dowager of Russia and Queen Alexandra and +King George of Greece, some champagne, perhaps, and +the big cigars, of course.'</p> + +<p>'And, as to guests?'</p> + +<p>'Only the Americans of your staff, I think, who have +been already presented to the king.'</p> + +<p>The announcement that the King of England would +take tea with us did not cause a ripple in the household; +the servants were used to kings. King Frederick +had a pleasant way of dropping in to tea without ceremony, +and the princesses liked our cakes. Besides, +Hans, the indispensable Hans, had waited on King +Edward frequently, so he knew his tastes. But the +king did not come; Prince Hans said that he was tired.<a class="pagenum" name="Page_58" id="Page_58" title="[Pg 58]"></a> +He sent an equerry, with a most gracious message for +Grover Cleveland, and another inquiry as to his health. +The royal cigars lasted a long time as few guests were +brave enough to smoke them. The king at the <i lang="fr">Cercle</i> +at court was most gracious. 'I hope to see you in +London,' he said. My colleagues seemed to think that +his word was law, and that I would be the next ambassador +at the Court of St. James's. I knew very well +that his politeness was only to show that he was in a +special mood to manifest his regard for the country I +represented.</p> + +<p>The King of England was failing at the time as far as +his bodily health was concerned, but he had what a +German observer called 'a good head' in more senses +than one. He still took his favourite champagne; his +cigars were too big and strong for most men, but not too +big and strong for him. He showed symptoms of asthma, +but he was alert, and firmly resolved to keep the peace +in Europe, and, it was evident—he made it very evident—he +was determined to keep on the best terms with the +United States. During the pause between the parts of +the performance at the Royal Opera House, where we +witnessed Queen Alexandra's favourite ballet, <i>Napoli</i>, and +heard excerpts from <i lang="it">I <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Pagliacci">Poliacci</span></i> and <i lang="it">Cavalleria</i>, the king +renewed the questions about Grover Cleveland's health. +Prince Hans suddenly announced that he was dead. +As every minister is quite accustomed to having all kinds +of news announced before he receives it, I could only +conclude that it was true. Several ladies of American +birth came and asked me; I could only say, 'Prince +Hans says so.' Countess Raben-Levitzau, whose husband +was then Minister of Foreign Affairs, seemed to be much +amused that I should receive a bit of information of that +kind through Prince Hans. Late that night, after the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_59" id="Page_59" title="[Pg 59]"></a> +gala was over, a cable came telling me that the ex-President +was well. I was glad that I was not obliged to put out the +flag at half-mast for the loss of a President whom the +whole country honoured, and who had shown great confidence +in me at one time.</p> + +<p>Prince Hans was full of the sayings and doings of the +King of England after his departure. He called him +'Bertie' when absent-minded, recovering to the 'King +of England' when he remembered that he was speaking +to a stranger. Once, quoting the German Emperor, he +said 'Uncle Albert.'</p> + +<p>'Denmark will not become part of Germany in the +Kaiser's time—<span class="corr" title="was: '">"</span>Uncle Albert<span class="corr" title="was: '">"</span> will see to that. England +will not fight Germany in his time on any question; +therefore Russia will not go against us.'</p> + +<p>'But the Crown Prince. What of him?'</p> + +<p>'"Uncle Albert" will see to that if the Kaiser should +die—but life is long. The King of England will cease +to smoke so much, and, after that, his health will be +good; he has saved us, I will tell you, by defeating at +Berlin the designs of the Pan-Germans against Denmark.'</p> + +<p>The late King of England had new issues to face, and +he knew it. The cause of sane democracy would have +been better served had he lived longer. Perhaps he had +been, like his brother-in-law, King Frederick of Denmark, +crown prince too long. Nevertheless, he had observed, +and he was wise. He may have been too tolerant, but +he was not weak. In Denmark, one might easily get a +fair view of the characters of the royal people. The +Danes are keen judges of persons—perhaps too keen, and +the members of their aristocracy had been constantly on +intimate terms with European kings and princes. 'As +for Queen Alexandra,' Miss Knollys once said, 'she will<a class="pagenum" name="Page_60" id="Page_60" title="[Pg 60]"></a> +go down in history as the most beautiful of England's +queens, but also as the most devoted of wives and +mothers. The king makes us all work, but she works +most cheerfully and is never bored.'</p> + +<p>The visit of the King of England caused more conjectures. +What did it mean? A pledge on the part of +England that Denmark would be protected both against +Germany and Russia? Notwithstanding the opinion +that the Foreign Office in England did all the work, +the diplomatists held that kings, especially King Edward +and the Kaiser, had much to do with it.</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<div><a class="pagenum" name="Page_61" id="Page_61" title="[Pg 61]"></a></div> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /> +<span class="chapintro">SOME DETAILS THE GERMANS KNEW</span></h2> + + +<p>I gathered that Germany, in 1908, 1909, 1910, was growing +more and more furiously jealous of England. To +make a financial wilderness of London and reconstruct +the money centre of the world in Berlin was the ambition +of some of her great financiers.</p> + +<p>Our time had not come yet; we might grow in peace. +It depended on our attitude whether we should be plucked +when ripe or not. If we could be led, I gathered, into +an attitude inimical to England, all would be well; but +that might safely be left 'to the Irish and the great +German population of the Middle West.' It was 'known +that English money prevented the development of our +merchant marine'; but this, after all, was not to the +disadvantage of Germany since, if we developed our +marine, it might mean state subsidies to American ocean +steamer lines. This would not have pleased Herr Ballin.</p> + +<p>Count Henckel-Donnersmarck held no such opinions, +but the members of the Berlin <i lang="fr">haute bourgeoisie</i>, who +occasionally came to Copenhagen, were firmly convinced +that English money was largely distributed in the United +States to prejudice our people against the beneficent +German Kultur, which, as yet, we were too crude to receive. +I gathered, too, that many of the important, the +rich business representatives of Germany in our country +reported that we were 'only fit to be bled.' We were +unmusical, unliterary, unintellectual. We knew not what<a class="pagenum" name="Page_62" id="Page_62" title="[Pg 62]"></a> +a gentleman should eat or drink. Our cooking was vile, +our taste in amusement only a reflection of the English +music halls. We bluffed. We were not virile. The +aristocrat did not express these opinions; but the middle +class, or higher middle class, sojourners in our land did. +'Good Heavens!' exclaimed one American at one of +our receptions to a German-American guest; 'you eat +that grouse from your fists like an animal.'</p> + +<p>'I am a male,' answered Fritz proudly; 'we must +devour our food—we of the virile race!'</p> + +<p>The pretensions of this kind of German were intolerable. +He was the most brutal of snobs. He arrogated to himself +a rank, when one met him, that he was not allowed +to assume in his own country. It was often amusing to +receive a call from a spurious 'von,' representing German +interests in Milwaukee, Chicago, or Cincinnati, who patronised +us until he discovered that we knew that he would +be in the seventh heaven if he could, by any chance, +marry his half-American daughter to the most shop-worn +little lieutenant in the German army! To see him shrivel +when a veritable Junker came in, was humiliating. I +often wondered whether the well-to-do German burghers +of St. Louis or Cincinnati were really imposed upon by +men of this kind.</p> + +<p>The Nobles' Club in Copenhagen is not a club as we +know clubs. There are chairs, newspapers from all +parts of the world, and bridge tables, if you wish to use +them. You may even play the honoured game of <i lang="fr">l'ombre</i>—after +the manner of Christian <span class="smcap lc">IV.</span>, or, perhaps, His Lordship, +the High Chamberlain Polonius, of the court of his +late Majesty, King Claudius. People seldom go there. +It is the one place in Denmark where the members of the +club are never found.</p> + +<p>The country gentlemen have rooms there when they<a class="pagenum" name="Page_63" id="Page_63" title="[Pg 63]"></a> +come to town. It is in an annex of the Hotel Phoenix. A +few of the best bridge players in Copenhagen meet there +occasionally; the rest is silence; therefore it is a safe +place for diplomatic conversations.</p> + +<p>A very distinguished German came to me with a +letter of introduction from Munich, in 1909—late in the +year. His position was settled. He was not in the +class of the spurious 'vons.' He was, however, high in +the confidence of the Kings of Saxony and Bavaria, +both of whom, he confessed, were displeased because +the United States had no diplomatic representatives at +their courts. He had been <i lang="la">persona non grata</i> with +Bismarck because of his father's liberalism; he had +been friendly with Windthorst, the Centre leader, and he +had been in some remote way connected with the German +Legation at the Vatican. We talked of Washington +in the older days, of Speck von Sternberg<a name="FNanchor_4" id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> and of his +charming wife, then a widow in Berlin; of the cleverness +of Secretary Radowitz, who had been at the German +Embassy at Washington; of the point of view of von +Schoen, who had been Minister to Copenhagen. He +spoke of the Kaiser's having dined in our apartment, +which von Schoen had then occupied; and then he came +to the point.</p> + +<p>'Is the United States serious about the Monroe Doctrine—really?' +he asked.</p> + +<p>'It is an integral part of our policy of defence.'</p> + +<p>'We, in Germany, do not take it seriously. I understand +from my friends you have lived in Washington a +long time. We are familiar with your relations with +President Cleveland and of your attitude towards President +McKinley. We know,' he said, 'that President +McKinley offered you a secret mission to Rome. We<a class="pagenum" name="Page_64" id="Page_64" title="[Pg 64]"></a> +know other things; therefore, we are inclined to take +you more seriously than most of the political appointees +who are here to-day and gone to-morrow. Your position +in the affair of the Philippines is well known to us. It +would be well for you to ask your ambassador at Berlin +to introduce you to the Emperor; he was much pleased +with your predecessor, Mr. O'Brien. There is, no doubt, +some information you could give his Imperial Majesty. +You have friends in Munich, too, and in Dresden there is +the Count von Seebach whom you admire, I know.'</p> + +<p>'I admire Count von Seebach, but I am paid not to +talk,' I said; 'but about the secret mission to Rome in +the Philippine matter—you knew of that?'</p> + +<p>It was more than I knew, though President McKinley, +through Senator Carter, had suggested, when the Friars' +difficulty had been seething in the Philippines, a solution +which had seemed to me out of the question. But how +did this man know of it? I had not spoken of it to the +Count von Seebach, or to anybody in Germany. No +word of politics had ever escaped my lips to the Count +von Seebach, who was His Excellency the Director of +the Royal Opera at Dresden.</p> + +<p>'Yes; we know all the secrets of the Philippine affair, +even that Domingo Merry del Val came to Washington +to confer with Mr. Taft. I want to know two facts,—facts, +not guesses. Your ministers who come from +provincial places, after a few months' instruction in +Washington, cannot know much except local politics. +They are like Pomeranian squires or Jutland farmers. +We know that <a class="corr" name="TC_12" id="TC_12" title="was: Henckel-Donnnersmarck">Henckel-Donnersmarck</a> and you are on +good terms, and we are prepared to treat you from a +confidential point of view.'</p> + +<p>This was interesting; it showed how closely even unimportant +persons like myself were observed; it was<a class="pagenum" name="Page_65" id="Page_65" title="[Pg 65]"></a> +flattering, too; for one grows tired of the foreign assumption +that every American envoy has come abroad +because, as De Tocqueville says in <i>Democracy in America</i> +he has failed at home.</p> + +<p>'Mr. Poultney Bigelow, whom you doubtless know, +once said in conversation with the Kaiser, that his father +would rather see him dead than a member of your diplomatic +corps, and he was unusually well equipped for +work of that kind. With few exceptions, as I have remarked, +your service is <i lang="fr">pour rire</i>. What can a man from +one of your provincial towns know of anything but local +politics and business?'</p> + +<p>I laughed: 'But you are businesslike, too; I hear +that, when the Kaiser speaks to Americans—at least +they have told me so—it is generally on commercial +subjects. He likes to know even how many vessels pass +the locks every year at Sault Sainte Marie, and the +amount of grain that can be stored in the Chicago +elevators.'</p> + +<p>'It is useful to us,' my acquaintance said. 'You +would scarcely expect him to talk about things that do +not exist in your country—music, art, literature, high +diplomacy——'</p> + +<p>My reply shall be buried in oblivion; it might sound +too much like <i lang="fr">éloquence de l'escalier</i>.</p> + +<p>After an interval, not without words, I said:</p> + +<p>'It is not necessary for a man to have lived in Washington +or New York in order to have a grasp on American +politics in relation to the foreign problem at the +moment occupying the attention of the American people +or the Department of State. Every country boy at home +is a potential statesman and a politician. I recall the +impression made on two visiting foreigners some years +ago by the interest of our very young folk in politics.<a class="pagenum" name="Page_66" id="Page_66" title="[Pg 66]"></a> +"Good heavens!" said the Marquis Moustier de Merinville, +"these children of ten and twelve are monsters! +They argue about Bryan and free silver! Such will +make revolutions." "I cannot understand it," said Prince +Adam Saphia. "Children ask one whether one is a +Republican or Democrat."'</p> + +<p>'That may be so,' he said. 'Your Presidents are not +as a rule chosen from men who live in the great cities.'</p> + +<p>'You forget that, while Paris is France, Berlin, Germany——'</p> + +<p>'No, Berlin is Prussia,' he said, smiling; 'but London +is England; Paris, France; and Vienna would be Austria +if it were not for Budapest.'</p> + +<p>'New York or Washington is not, as you seem to think, +the United States.'</p> + +<p>'That may be,' he said, 'nevertheless it is difficult for +a European to understand. It may be,' he added thoughtfully, +'there are some things about your country we shall +never come to understand thoroughly.'</p> + +<p>'You will have to die first—like the man of your own +country who, crossing a crowded street, was injured +mortally and cried: "Now I shall know it <em>all</em>." You +will never understand us in this world.'</p> + +<p>'That is <em>blague</em>,' he said. 'We Germans know all +countries. Besides, you know the German language.'</p> + +<p>'Who told you that? It's nonsense!' I asked, aghast.</p> + +<p>'The other day, I have heard that the Austrians were +talking in German to the First Secretary of the German +Legation at the Foreign Office, when you suddenly forgot +yourself and asked a question in good German!' he said +triumphantly.</p> + +<p>This was true. Count Zichy, secretary of the Austrian-Hungarian +Legation, had dropped from French into +German. Now, I had read Heine and Goethe when I<a class="pagenum" name="Page_67" id="Page_67" title="[Pg 67]"></a> +was young, and I had written the German script; but +that was long ago. There were great arid spaces in my +knowledge of the German language, but something that +Count Zichy had said about an arbitration treaty had +vaguely caught my attention, and I had blundered out, +'<span lang="de">Was ist das, Herr Graf?</span>' or something equally elegant +and scholarly. This was really amusing. My friends +had always accused me of turning all German conversation +toward <i lang="de">Wilhelm Meister</i> and <i lang="de">Der Erlkönig</i>, since I +could quote from both!</p> + +<p>'You can <i lang="fr">finesse</i>,' continued the great nobleman. +'You are not usual. Your Government has sent you +here for a special mission; it is well to pose as a poet +and a man of letters, but you have been reported to our +Government as having a <i lang="fr">mission secrète</i>. You are allied +with the Russians; we know that you are not rich.' +This very charming person, who always laid himself at +'the feet of the ladies' and clicked his heels like castanets, +did not apologise for discussing my private affairs without +permission, and for insinuating that I was paid by the +Russian Government.</p> + +<p>'Do you mean——?'</p> + +<p>'Nothing,' he said hastily, 'nothing; but the Russians +use money freely; they would not dare to approach +<em>you</em>. Nevertheless, I warn you that their marked regard +for you must have some motive, and yours for them may +excite suspicions.'</p> + +<p>'Surely my friend Henckel-Donnersmarck has not reported +me to the Kaiser?'</p> + +<p>'Our ministers are expected to report everything to the +Kaiser, especially from Copenhagen; but Henckel-Donnersmarck +does not report enough. He is either too haughty +or too lazy. My master will send him to Weimar, if he +is not more alert; but we have others!'</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_68" id="Page_68" title="[Pg 68]"></a> +'I like him.'</p> + +<p>'It is evident. Why?' asked the Count, with great +interest.</p> + +<p>'I sent him a case of Lemp's beer. He says it is better +than anything of the kind made in Germany—polite but +unpatriotic.'</p> + +<p>'You jest,' said the Count. 'You have the reputation +of being apparently never in earnest, but——'</p> + +<p>'You shall have a case too,' I said, 'and then you can +judge whether his truthfulness got the better of his politeness, +or his politeness of his truthfulness.' He rose and +bowed, he seated himself again.</p> + +<p>'Remember, we shall always be interested in you,' he +said; 'but there is one thing I should like to ask—are +you interested in potash?'</p> + +<p>'I have no business interests. If you wish to talk +business, Count, you must go to the Consul General.'</p> + +<p>That was the beginning. Henckel and I continued to +be friends. He seldom spoke of diplomatic matters. He +assured me (over and over again) that, if the ideas of +Frederick the Great were to be followed, Germany and +the United States must remain friends. I told him that +Count von X. had said that 'if the United States could +arrange to oust England from control of the Atlantic +and make an alliance with Germany, these two countries +would rule the world.'</p> + +<p>'You will never do that,' he said. 'You are safer +with England on the Atlantic than you would be with +any other nation. I am not sure what our ultra Pan-Germans +mean by "ruling the world." You may be sure +that your Monroe Doctrine would go to splinters if our +Pan-Germans ruled the world. As for me, I am sick of +diplomacy. Why do you enter it? It either bores or +degrades one. I am not curious or unscrupulous enough<a class="pagenum" name="Page_69" id="Page_69" title="[Pg 69]"></a> +to be a spy. As to Slesvig, I have little concern with it. +If Germany should find it to her interest, she might +return Northern Slesvig; but there would be danger in +that for Denmark. She must live in peace with us, or +take the consequences.'</p> + +<p>'The consequences!'</p> + +<p>'Dear colleague, you know as well as I do that all the +nations of the earth want territory or a new adjustment +of territory. In the Middle Ages, nations had many +other questions, and there was a universal Christendom; +but, since the Renascence, the great questions are land +and commerce. Germany must look, in self-defence, on +Slesvig and Denmark as pawns in her game. She is not +alone in this. You know how tired I am of it all. No +man is more loyal to his country than I am; but I should +like to see Germany on entirely sympathetic terms with +the kingdoms that compose it and reasonably friendly +to the rest of the world; but we could not give up Slesvig, +even if the Danish Government would take it, except +for a <i lang="la">quid pro quo</i>.'</p> + +<p>'What?'</p> + +<p>'Well, let us say a place in the Pacific, on friendly +terms with you. Your country can hardly police the +Philippines against Japan. Germany is great in what +I fear is the New Materialism. As to Slesvig, in which +you seem particularly interested, ask Prince Koudacheff, +the Russian Minister; write to Iswolsky, the Russian +Minister, or talk to Michel Bibikoff, who is a Russian +patriot never bored in the pursuit of information. These +Russians may not exaggerate the consequences as they +know what absolute power means.</p> + +<p>'There is one thing, Germany will not tolerate sedition +in any of her provinces, and, since we took Slesvig from +Denmark in 1864, she is one of our provinces. The<a class="pagenum" name="Page_70" id="Page_70" title="[Pg 70]"></a> +Danes may tolerate a hint of secession on the part of +Iceland, which is amusing, but the beginning of sedition +in Slesvig would mean an attitude on our part such as +you took towards secession in the South. But it is unthinkable. +The demonstrations against us in Slesvig have +no importance.'</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>Michel Bibikoff, Secretary of the Russian Legation, +was most intelligent and most alert. Wherever he is +now, he deserves well of his country. As a diplomatist +he had only one fault—he underrated the experience and +the knowledge of his opponents; but this was the error +of his youth. I say 'opponents,' because at one time +or other Bibikoff's opponents were everybody who was +not Russian. A truer patriot never lived. He was devoted +to my predecessor, Mr. O'Brien, who was, in his +opinion, the only American gentleman he had ever met. +He compared me very unfavourably with my courteous +predecessor, who has filled two embassies with satisfaction +to his own country and to those to whom he was +accredited.</p> + +<p>At first Bibikoff distrusted me; and I was delighted. +If he thought that you were concealing things he would +tell you something in order to find out what he wanted +to know. For me, I was especially interested in discovering +what the Tsar's state of mind was concerning +the Portsmouth peace arrangements. Bibikoff had means +of knowing. Indeed, he found means of knowing much +that might have been useful to all of us, his colleagues. +A long stay in the United States would have 'made' +Bibikoff. He was one of the few men in Europe who +understood what Germany was aiming at. He predicted +the present war—but of that later. He had been in +Washington only a few months. I suffered as to prestige<a class="pagenum" name="Page_71" id="Page_71" title="[Pg 71]"></a> +in the beginning only, as every American minister and +ambassador suffers from our present system of appointing +envoys. No representative of the United States is at +first taken seriously by a foreign country. He must earn +his spurs, and, by the time he earns them, they are, as a +rule, ruthlessly hacked off!</p> + +<p>Each ambassador is supposed by the Foreign Offices +to be appointed for the same reason that so many +peerages have been conferred by the British Government. +Every minister, it is presumed, has given a <i lang="la">quid pro quo</i> for +being distinguished from the millions of his countrymen.</p> + +<p>'If you have the price, you can choose your embassy,' +is a speech often quoted in Europe. I cannot imagine +who made it—possibly the famous Flannigan, of Texas. +It is notorious that peerages are sold for contributions +to the campaign fund in England; but places in the +diplomatic service, though governed sometimes by political +influence, cannot be said to be sold.</p> + +<p>I had one advantage; nobody suspected me of paying +anything for my place; and, then, I had come from +Washington, the capital of the country.</p> + +<p>As I said, my eyes were fixed on Russia. I found, +however, that the main business of my colleagues seemed +to be to watch Germany, and that attitude for a time +left me cold. Denmark had reason to fear Germany; but +then, at that time, every other European nation was on +its guard against possible aggressions on the part of its +neighbours. I had hope that a Scandinavian Confederacy +or the swelling rise of the Social Democracy in Germany +would put an end to the fears of all the little countries. +There seemed to be no hope that the attitude of the +German nation towards the world could change unless +the Social Democrats and the Moderate Liberals should +gain power.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_72" id="Page_72" title="[Pg 72]"></a> +But why should we watch Germany, the powerful, +the self-satisfied, the splendid country whose Kaiser +professed the greatest devotion to our President, and +had sent his brother, Prince Henry, over to show his +regard for our nation? I was most anxious to find the +reason.</p> + +<p>In my time, good Americans—say in 1880—when they +died, went to Paris, never to Berlin. The Emperor of +Germany had determined to change this. He tried to +make his capital a glittering imitation of Paris; he +received Americans with every show of cordiality.</p> + +<p>Berlin was to be made a paradise for Americans and +for the world; but nearly every American is half French +at heart. Nevertheless, I do not think that we took the +French attitude of revenge against Germany seriously; +we thought that the French were beginning to forget the +<i lang="fr">revanche</i>; their Government had apparently become +so 'international.' Many of us had been brought up +with the Germans and the sons of Germans. We read +German literature; we began with Grimm and went on +to Goethe and, to descend somewhat, Heyse and Auerbach. +Without asking too many questions, we even accepted +Frederick the Great as a hero. He was easier to swallow +than Cromwell, and more amusing.</p> + +<p>In fact, most of us did not think much of foreign complications, +the charm of the <span lang="de">Deutscher</span> Club in Milwaukee, +the warmth of the singing of German <i lang="de">lieder</i> by returned +students from Freiburg or Bonn or Heidelberg; the lavish +hospitality of the opulent German in this country, the +German love for family life, and, for me personally, the +survival of the robust virtues, seemingly of German origin, +among the descendants of the Germans in Pennsylvania, +impressed me.</p> + +<p>As far as education was concerned, I had hated to<a class="pagenum" name="Page_73" id="Page_73" title="[Pg 73]"></a> +see the German methods and ideas <em>servilely</em> applied. I +belonged to the <span lang="fr">Alliance Française</span> and preferred the +French system as more efficient in the training of the +mind than the German. Besides, the importation of +the German basis for the doctorate of philosophy into +our universities seemed to me to be dangerous. It led +young men to waste time, since there was no governmental +stamp on their work and no concrete recognition +of the results of their studies as there was in Germany; +and, this being so, it meant that the dignified degree, +from the old-fashioned point of view, would become +degraded, or, at its best, merely a degree for the decoration +of teachers. It would be sought for only as a +means of earning a living, not as a preparation for research.</p> + +<p>'Of course I know Spain,' said a flippant attaché in +Copenhagen. 'I have seen <i>Carmen</i>, eaten <i lang="es">olla podrida</i>, +and adored the Russian ballet in the <i lang="es">cachuca</i>!' None of +my friends who thought they knew Germany was as bad +as this. Some of the professors of my acquaintance, +who had seen only one side of German life, loved the +Fatherland for its support to civilisation. <i lang="fr">Nous avons +changé—tout cela!</i></p> + +<p>Other gentlemen, who had started out to love Germany, +hated everything German because they had been compelled +to stand up in an exclusive club when anybody +of superior rank entered its sacred precincts or when +something of the kind happened. The man with whom +I had read Heine and worked out jokes in <i lang="de">Kladdertasch</i> +was devoted to everything German because he had once +lived in a small German town where there was good +opera! Personally, I had hated Bismarck and all his +works and pomps for several reasons:—one was because +of Busch's glorifying book about him; another for the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_74" id="Page_74" title="[Pg 74]"></a> +<span lang="de">Kulturkampf</span>; another for his attitude toward Hanover, +and because one of my closest German friends was a +Hanoverian.</p> + +<p>Brought up, as most Philadelphians of my generation +were, in admiration for Karl Schurz and the men of '48, I +could not tolerate anything that was Prussian or Bismarckian; +but, as Windthorst, the creator of the Centrum +party in the <span lang="de">Reichstag</span>, was one of my heroes, I counted +myself as the admirer of the best in Germany.</p> + +<p>The position of the great power, evident by its attitude +to us in the beginning of the Spanish-American war, was +disquieting; but Germany had shown a similar sensitiveness +under similar circumstances many times without +affecting international relations. And German world +dominion? What, in the Twentieth Century?—the best +of all possible centuries? Civilised public opinion would +not tolerate it!</p> + +<p>In the Balkans, of course, there would always be rows. +The German propaganda? It existed everywhere, naturally. +One could see signs of that; these signs were not +even concealed. It seemed to be reasonable enough that +any country should not depend entirely on the press or +diplomatic notes to avoid misunderstanding; and a certain +attention to propaganda was the duty of all diplomatists<span class="corr" title="was: ,">.</span> +Still, my observations in my own country, even before +the Chicago Exposition—when the Kaiser had done his +best to impress us with the mental and material value of +everything German—had made me more than suspicious. +I had reason to be suspicious, as you will presently see. +But war? Never!</p> + +<p>It was Cardinal Falconio who, I think, made me feel +a little chilly, when he wrote: 'War is not improbable +in Europe; you are too optimistic. Let us pray that it +may not come; but, as a diplomatist you must not be<a class="pagenum" name="Page_75" id="Page_75" title="[Pg 75]"></a> +misled into believing it impossible.' It seemed to me that +such talk was pessimistic. Other voices, from the diplomatists +of the Vatican—even the ex-diplomatists—confirmed +this. 'If the Kaiser says he wants peace, it is +true—but only on his own terms. Believe me, if the Kaiser +can control Russia, and draw a straight line to the Persian +Gulf, he will close his fist on England.'</p> + +<p>The people at the Vatican, if you can get them to talk, +are more valuable to an inquiring mind than any other +class of men; but they are so wretchedly discreet just +when their indiscretions might be most useful. Some of +them are like King James <span class="smcap lc">I.</span>, who 'never said a foolish +thing and never did a wise one.' Those who helped me +with counsel were both wise in speech and prudent action +but, unhappily, hampered by circumstances. Among +the wise and the prudent I do not include the diplomatic +representative of the Vatican in Paris just before the +break with Rome!</p> + +<p>The Russians in Copenhagen kept their eyes well on +Germany; and it was evident that, while the position +of France gave the Germans no uneasiness—they seemed +to look on France with a certain contempt—any move of +Russia was regarded as important. Prince Koudacheff, +late the Russian Ambassador at Madrid, in 1907 Minister +at Copenhagen, who seldom talked politics, again returned +to the great question.</p> + +<p>'My brother, who is in Washington, and an admirer of +your country, says that you Americans believe that war +is unthinkable. Is this your opinion?'</p> + +<p>'It is—almost.'</p> + +<p>'Well, I will say that as soon as the bankers feel that +there is enough money, there will be a war in Europe.'</p> + +<p>'I wonder if your husband meant that?' I asked +the Princess Koudacheff; it was well to have corroboration<a class="pagenum" name="Page_76" id="Page_76" title="[Pg 76]"></a> +occasionally, and she was a sister-in-law of +Iswolsky's; Iswolsky was a synonym for diplomatic +knowledge.</p> + +<p>'If he did not mean it he would not have said it. When +he does not mean to say a thing he remains silent. As +soon as there is money enough, there will be war. Germany +will go into no war that will impoverish her,' she said. +Her opinion was worth much; she was a woman who +knew well the inside of European politics.</p> + +<p>'And who will fight, the Slavs and Teutons?'</p> + +<p>'You have said it! It will come.'</p> + +<p>I knew a Russian who, while a nobleman, was not an +official. In fact, he hated bureaucrats. He could endure +no one in the Russian court circle except the Empress +Dowager, Marie, because she was sympathetic, and the +late Grand Duke Constantine, because he had translated +Shakespeare.</p> + +<p>'If Prince Valdemar of Denmark had been the son +instead of the brother of the Dowager Empress, Russia +would have a future. As it is, I will quote from Father +Gapon for you. You know his <i>Life</i>?'</p> + +<p>'No,' I said.</p> + +<p>'Well, he has attempted to give the working-men in +Russia a chance; he has tried to gain for them one-tenth +of the place which working-men in your country have, +and, in 1905, he was answered by the massacre of the +Narva gate. The Tsar is a fool, with an imperialistic +<i lang="de">hausfrau</i> for a wife. If you will read the last words of +Father Gapon's <i>Life</i>, you will find these words:</p> + +<p>'"I may say, with certainty, that the struggle is quickly +approaching its inevitable climax: that Nicholas <span class="smcap lc">II.</span> is +preparing for himself the fate which befell a certain +English King and a certain French King long ago, and +that such members of his dynasty as escape unhurt from<a class="pagenum" name="Page_77" id="Page_77" title="[Pg 77]"></a> +the throes of the Revolution, will some day, in a not +very distant future, find themselves exiles upon some +Western shore.<span class="corr" title='added: "'>"</span> I may live to see this; but I hope that +the Empress Marie may not. She knows where the policy +of her daughter-in-law, who has all the stupidity of Marie +Antoinette, without her charm, would lead; she says of +her son,—"he was on the right road before he married +that narrow-minded woman!"'</p> + +<p>This, remember, was in 1908. It was whispered even +then in Copenhagen that Russia was beginning to break +up. The Dean of the Diplomatic Corps was Count Calvi +di Bergolo, honest, brave, opinionated, who would teach +you everything, from how to jump a hurdle to the gaseous +compositions in the moon. He was of the <i lang="fr">haute école</i> at +the riding school and of the <i lang="fr"><span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: vieille">vielle</span> école</i> of diplomacy. He +was very frank. He had a great social vogue because +of a charming wife and a most exquisite daughter, now +the Princess <span class="sic" title="[sic]">Aage</span>. He would never speak English; +French was the diplomatic language; it gave a diplomatist +too much of an advantage, if one spoke in his native +tongue. He believed in the protocol to the letter; he +was a martinet of a Dean.</p> + +<p>'Public opinion,' he said scornfully, 'public opinion +in the United States is for peace. In Europe, if we could +all have what we want, we should all keep the peace; but +what chance of peace can there be until Italy has the +Trentino or France Alsace-Lorraine, or until Germany +gets to her place by controlling the Slavs. You are of +a new country, where they believe things because they +are impossible.'</p> + +<p>He was a wise gentleman and he, too, watched Germany. +It was plain that he disliked the Triple Alliance. Suddenly +it dawned on me 'like thunder' that we had an interest +in watching Germany, too.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_78" id="Page_78" title="[Pg 78]"></a> +It seemed to be a foregone conclusion that Germany +would one day absorb Denmark. 'And then the Danish +West Indies would automatically become German!' +This was my one thought. The 'fixed idea'!</p> + +<p>It is pleasanter to be Dean of the Diplomatic Corps +than a new-comer. It must be extremely difficult for a +diplomatic representative to be comfortable at once, +coming from American localities where etiquette is a +matter of gentlemanly feeling only, and where artificial +conventionalities hardly count. In a monarchical country, +the outward relations are changed. Socially, rank counts +for much, and the rules of precedence are as necessary +as the use of a napkin. To have lived in Washington—not +the changed Washington of 1918-19—was a great +help. After long observation of the niceties of official +etiquette in the official society of our own Capital, Copenhagen +had no terrors.</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<div><a class="pagenum" name="Page_79" id="Page_79" title="[Pg 79]"></a></div> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /> +<span class="chapintro">GLIMPSES OF THE GERMAN POINT OF VIEW IN +RELATION TO THE UNITED STATES</span></h2> + + +<p>Time passed. There were alarms, and rumours that +German money was corrupting France, that the distrust +aroused by the Morocco incident was growing, that the +French patriot believed that his opponent, the French +pacifist, was using religious differences to weaken the +<i lang="fr">morale</i> of the French army and navy, to convince Germany +that the 'revenge' for 1870 was forgotten.</p> + +<p>One day, a very clever English attaché came to luncheon; +he always kept his eyes open, and he was allowed by +me to take liberties in conversation which his chief +would never have permitted; it is a great mistake to +bottle up the young, or to try to do it.</p> + +<p>'You are determined to be friends with Germany,' +he said, 'and Germany seems to be determined to be +friends with you. Your Foreign Office has evidently +instructed you to be very sympathetic with the German +minister. He seldom sees anybody but you; but, at the +same time you have recalled Mr. Tower, whom the Kaiser +likes, to give him Mr. Hill, whom he seems not to +want.'</p> + +<p>'It is not a question as to whom the Kaiser wants exactly; +we ostensibly sent an ambassador to the German +Emperor, but really to the German people. Mr. Hill +is one of the most experienced of our diplomatists.'</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_80" id="Page_80" title="[Pg 80]"></a> +'The Kaiser does not want that. Mr. Tower habituated +him to splendour, and he likes Americans to be splendid. +Rich people ought to spend their money in Berlin. +Besides, he had been accustomed to Mr. Tower, who, +he thinks, will oil the wheels of diplomatic intercourse. +Just at this moment, when the Kaiser has lost prestige +because of his double-dealing with the Boers and his +apparent deceit on the Morocco question, he does not +want a man of such devotion to the principles of The +Hague convention and so constitutional as Mr. Hill, +who may acknowledge the charm of the emperor, but +who, even in spite of himself, will not be influenced +by it.'</p> + +<p>'How do you know this?'</p> + +<p>'Everybody about the court in Berlin knows it, but +I hear it from Munich. But Speck von Sternberg would +have balanced Hill, if he had lived. They think he +would have influenced President Roosevelt. Tell us the +secrets of the White House—you ought to know—it was +an awful competition between Speck and Jusserand, I +hear.'</p> + +<p>'President Roosevelt is not easily influenced,' I +said.</p> + +<p>Persons whom I knew in Berlin wrote to me, informing +me how charmed the Kaiser was with the new ambassador; +but, in Copenhagen, we learned that what the Kaiser +wanted was not a great international lawyer, but a rich +American of less intensity.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>It was worth while to get Russian opinions.</p> + +<p>'The Kaiser is having a bad time,' I remarked to a +Russian of my acquaintance—a most brilliant man, now +almost, as he said himself, <i lang="fr">homme sans patrie</i>.</p> + +<p>'Temporarily,' he answered; 'those indiscreet pronouncements<a class="pagenum" name="Page_81" id="Page_81" title="[Pg 81]"></a> +of his on the Boers and the reversion of his +attitude against England in the affair of Morocco have +shown him that he cannot clothe inconsistency in the +robes of infallibility. He is a personal monarch and he +sinks all his personality in his character as a monarch. +He is made to the likeness of God, and there is an almost +hypostatic union between God and him! Our Tsar is +by no means so absolute, though you Americans all +persist in thinking so. I have given you some documents +on that point; I trust that you have sent them to your +President. I am sure, however, that he knew <em>that</em>. Do +not imagine that the emperor will be deposed, because +he has made a row in Germany. He has only discovered +how far he can go by personal methods, that +is all; he has learned his lesson—<i lang="fr">reculer pour mieux +sauter</i>. He has played a clever game with you. Bernstorff, +his new ambassador, will offset Hill. Your investments +in Russia will now come through German +hands, and you will get a bad blow in the matter of +potash.'</p> + +<p>'What do you mean?' I asked. I had regarded Count +Bernstorff as a Liberal. His English experience seemed +to have singled him out as one of the diplomatists of the +Central Powers—there were several—inclined to admit +that other nations had rights which Germany was bound +to respect. In private conversations, he had shown himself +very favourable to the United States, and had even +disapproved of German attacks on the Monroe Doctrine +in Brazil. 'Count Bernstorff is not likely to offend +Washington, or to reopen the wound that was made at +Manila.'</p> + +<p>'You talk as if diplomatists were not, first of all, +instructed to look after the business interests of their +countries. Do you think Bernstorff has been chosen to<a class="pagenum" name="Page_82" id="Page_82" title="[Pg 82]"></a> +dance cotillions with your 'cave dwellers' in Washington +or to compliment <a class="corr" name="TC_13" id="TC_13" title="was: Senator's">Senators'</a> wives? First, his appointment +is meant to flatter you. Second, he will easily +flatter you because he really likes America and it is his +business to flatter you. Third, he will do his best to +induce you to assist England in strangling Russia in +favour of Turkey. Fourth, he will grip hard, without +offending you, the German monopoly of potash. He +doesn't want trouble between the United States and +Germany. He knows that any difficulty of that kind +would be disastrous; he is as anxious to avoid that as is +Ballin. Under the glimmer of rank, of which you think +so much in America, commercialism is the secret of +Germany's spirit to-day. In Berlin, I heard an American, +one of your denaturalised, trying to curry favour with +Prince von Bülow by saying that the national genius of +Germany demanded that Alsace-Lorraine should be kept +by Germany to avenge the insolence of Louis <span class="smcap lc">XIV.</span> and +Napoleon. Prince von Bülow smiled. He knew that +your compatriot was working for an invitation to an +exclusive something or other for his wife. Bernstorff is +just the man to neutralise Hill. It's iron ore and potash +in Alsace-Lorraine that the emperor cares about.'</p> + +<p>'And yet I know, at first hand, that the Pan-German +hates Bernstorff. If anything approaching to a Liberal +Government came in Germany, Bernstorff will be Minister +of Foreign Affairs.'</p> + +<p>My Russian friend smiled sardonically. 'We Russians +feel that our one salvation is to oust the Turk and get +to the Mediterranean. My party would provoke a war +with Germany to-morrow, if we could afford it, and +Germany knows it. Count Bernstorff, the most sympathetic +of all German diplomatists, knows this, too, and +you may be sure that he will persuade your Government<a class="pagenum" name="Page_83" id="Page_83" title="[Pg 83]"></a> +that he loves you, give the Russian programme a nasty +stroke when he can, and keep the price of potash high. +I, desirous as I am of being an Excellency, would refuse +to go to Berlin to-morrow, if I had Bernstorff against +me on the other side. See what will happen to Hill! +Germany may offend you, but Bernstorff will persuade +you that it is the simple <i lang="fr">gaucherie</i> of a rustic youth who +assumes the antics of a playful bear<a name="FNanchor_5" id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>—a hug or two; +it may hurt, but the jovial bear means well! If Hill +should leave Berlin, you will need a clever man who has +political power with your Government. Bernstorff will +contrive to put any other kind of man in the wrong—I +tell you that.'</p> + +<p>The Russian who predicted this is in exile, penniless, +a man <i lang="fr">sans patrie</i>, as he says himself. When I +took these notes he seemed to be above the blows +of fate!</p> + +<p>If the hand of Germany was everywhere, everybody +was watching the movements of the fingers. Among the +English there were two parties: One that could tolerate +nothing German, the other that hated everything Russian, +but both united in one belief, that the alliance with Japan +would not hold under the influence of German intrigue +and that Italy could not long remain a member of the +Triple Alliance.</p> + +<p>The gossip from Berlin was always full of pleasant +things for an American to hear. The Kaiser treated our +compatriots with unusual courtesy.</p> + +<p>In Copenhagen we were deluged with letters announcing<a class="pagenum" name="Page_84" id="Page_84" title="[Pg 84]"></a> +that Count Bernstorff's coming meant a new era; he +even excelled 'Speck' in his charm, sympathy, and everything +that ought to endear him to us; in him showed +that true desire for peace of which his august master +was, of all the world, the best representative. It was +even rumoured that the German Foreign Office had begun +to coquette with the Danish Social Democrats.</p> + +<p>The exchange of professors between the United States +and Germany was becoming an institution. Sometimes +the American professors found themselves in awkward +positions; they did not 'rank'; they had no fixed position +from the German point of view. As mere American +commoners, unrecognised by their Government, undecorated, +they could not expect attentions from the +court as a right. However, the Germans studied them +and rather liked some of them, but, not being <i lang="de">raths</i>, +they were poor creatures without standing. Even if they +should make reputations approved by the great German +universities, they had no future. How green were the +lawns and how pleasant the sweet waters in the enclosed +gardens of autocracy, of which the Emperor, Fountain +of Honours, kept the key!</p> + +<p>It was amusing to note the German attitude toward +democracy, in spite of all the pleasant things said by the +High, Well-Born citizens of the Fatherland in favour of +the American brand. At the same time, one could not +help seeing that the children of the Kaiser were wiser +than the children of—let us say modestly—Light. 'If +the President asked me,' said one of the most distinguished +of lawyers and the most loyal of Philadelphians to me, +'I should be willing to live all my life in Germany.' This +was the result of the impression the charm of the Kaiser +made on the best of us.</p> + +<p>He has changed his opinion now; he swears by the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_85" id="Page_85" title="[Pg 85]"></a> +works of his compatriot, Mr. Beck. Even then, in 1908-9, +my distinguished Philadelphia friend could not have +endured life in Germany. He forgot that even the +emperor could not give him rank, and that no matter +how cosmopolitan, how learned, how tactful he was, he +would at once be a commoner, and very much of a commoner +on the day he settled there as a resident.</p> + +<p>A Prussian Serene Highness, who came with letters +from an Irish relative in Hungary dropped in; he was +mostly Bavarian in blood; he had cousins in England +and Italy. He liked a good luncheon, and, as Miss Knollys +always said (I quote this without shame), 'The best +food in Europe is at the American Legation!' He +smoked, too, and Rafael Estrada, of Havana, had chosen +the cigars.</p> + +<p>'France is difficult,' said my acquaintance, His Serene +Highness. 'It is not really democratic; and England +will go to pieces before it becomes democratic.</p> + +<p>'You Americans have freedom with order, and you +respect rank and titles, though you do not covet them. +That is why the Kaiser would not send any ambassador +not of a great family to you. All Americans who come +to Berlin desire to be presented at court. It is a sign +that you will come to our way of thinking some day. +We are not so far apart. You who write must tell your +people that we are calumniated, we are not despots. +That woman, the author of <i>Elizabeth and Her German +Garden</i>, married to a friend of mine, does us harm. +But most Americans see Germany in a mellow light. +We are akin in our aspirations—Frederick the Great +understood that.</p> + +<p>'Bismarck, great as he was, became ambitious only +for his family. His son, the coming chancellor, would +have used our young emperor as a puppet, if our emperor<a class="pagenum" name="Page_86" id="Page_86" title="[Pg 86]"></a> +had not put him into his place. This is the truth, and +I am telling it to you confidentially. The British Government +will come to anarchy if it weakens the House of +Lords. The House of Commons is already weak. There +is no barrier between honest rule and the demagogues. +With your magnificent Senate there will always be a wall +between the will of the <i lang="fr">canaille</i> and good government. +We Germans understand you!'</p> + +<p>'But suppose,' it was Mr. Alexander Weddell, then +connected with the Legation, now Consul General at +Athens, who broke in, 'you should differ from us on the +Monroe Doctrine. I have recently read an article by +Mr. Frederick Wile in an English magazine on your +management of your people in Brazil.'</p> + +<p>'"Our people!" The Serene Highness seemed startled. +'A German is always a German. It is the call of the +blood.'</p> + +<p>'And something more,' Mr. Weddell said, 'a German +citizen is always a German citizen; you never admit +that a German can become a Brazilian. Suppose you +should want to join your Germans in Brazil with your +Germans at home. What would become of our Monroe +Doctrine?'</p> + +<p>'There are Germans in your country who have ceased +to be Germans, and your upper classes are Anglicised, +except when they marry into one of our great families; +nevertheless, our own people would still see that you +don't go too far with your Monroe Doctrine. It has not +yet been drastically interpreted. The Monroe Doctrine +is a method of defence. To interfere with the call of the +German blood from one country to another would be +offensive to us, and I cannot conceive of your country so +far forgetting itself!'</p> + +<p>His Serene Highness was of a mediatised house—a<a class="pagenum" name="Page_87" id="Page_87" title="[Pg 87]"></a> +gentleman who had much experience in diplomacy. He +had, I think, visited Newport, and been almost engaged +to an American girl. The legend ran that, when this +lady saw him without his uniform, she broke the engagement. +He was splendid in his uniform. He thought he +knew the United States; he even quoted Bryce and De +Tocqueville; he had the impression that the Kaiser's +propaganda of education was Germanising us for our +good. 'The most eminent professors at your most important +universities are Germans. Your newest university, +that of Chicago, would have no reputation in Europe if +it were not for the Germans. Wundt has revolutionised +your conception of psychology; your scientific and +historical methods are borrowed from us. Even your +orthodox Protestants quote Harnack. Virchow long ago +put out the lights of Huxley and Spencer. And the +Catholic German in America, whom Bismarck almost +alienated from us, revolts against the false Americanism +of Cardinal Gibbons and Archbishop Ireland, whom the +Kaiser rates as a son of the Revolution. Your Catholic +University has begun to be moulded in the German way. +Mgr. Schroeder, highly considered, was one of the most +energetic of the professors——'</p> + +<p>'Was,' I said. 'I happen to know that he was relieved +of his professorship because of those very dominating +qualities you value so much.'</p> + +<p>'That is regrettable; but, you see, in Germany we +follow the train of events in your country. Who has a +larger audience than Münsterberg? In the things of the +mind we Germans must lead.'</p> + +<p>In my opinion, it is best for a diplomatist—at least +for a man who is in the avocation of diplomacy—to be +satisfied with <i lang="fr"><a class="corr" name="TC_14" id="TC_14" title="was: l'eloquence de l'éscalier">l'éloquence de l'escalier</a></i>. If he writes memoirs +he can always put in the repartee he intended to make;<a class="pagenum" name="Page_88" id="Page_88" title="[Pg 88]"></a> +and, if he does not, he can always think, too, with satisfaction +of what he was almost clever enough to say! +It was enough to have discovered one thing—that, +with a large number of the ruling classes in the Fatherland, +the Monroe Doctrine was looked on as an iridescent +bubble. Many times afterwards this fact was emphasised.</p> + +<p>The Austrians were not always so careful as the Germans +to save, when it came to democracy, American susceptibilities. +They were always easy to get on with, provided +one remembered that even to the most discerning among +them, the United States, 'America' as they always called +it, was an unknown land.</p> + +<p>As for Count Dionys Szechenyi, the Minister of Austria-Hungary, +he was the most genial of colleagues, and he +had no sympathy with tyranny of any kind; he had no +illusions as to America.</p> + +<p>His wife is a Belgian born, Countess Madeleine Chimay +de Caraman. He was always careful not to touch on +'Prussianism,' as the Danes called the principle of German +domination. He had many subjects of conversation, from +portrait buying to transactions in American steel and, +what had its importance in those days, a good dinner. +At his house one met occasionally men who liked to be +frank, and then these Austro-Hungarians were a delightful +group. 'If we should be involved in a war with England—which +is unthinkable, since King Edward and our +Ambassador, Count Mensdorff would never allow it—I +could not buy my clothes in London,' said one very +regretfully.</p> + +<p>This Austrian magnate heard with unconcealed amusement +the German talk of 'democracy.' 'Max Harden +is sincere, but a puppet; he helps the malcontents to +let off steam; the German Government will never allow<a class="pagenum" name="Page_89" id="Page_89" title="[Pg 89]"></a> +another <i lang="fr">émeute</i> like that of 1848. Bismarck taught +the Government how to be really imperial. In Austria +we are frankly autocratic, but not so new as the Prussian. +We wear feudalism like an old glove. There are holes +in it, of course, and Hungary is making the holes larger. +If the Hungarians should have their way, there would +be no more <i>majorats</i>, no more estates that can be kept +in families; and that will be the end of our feudalism.</p> + +<p>'As it is, things are uncomfortable enough, but a war +would mean a break-up. What do you Americans +expect for Max Harden and his <i lang="de">Zukunft</i>—exile and +suppression as soon as he reaches the limit. All the +influences of the Centre could not keep the Jesuits from +being exiled! Why? They would not admit the +superiority of the state. Harden will never have the +real power of the Jesuits, for the reason that he founds +his appeal on principles that vary with the occasion. But +he will go! As for the Social Democrats, they can be +played with as a cat plays with a mouse. Democracy! +If the Kaiser gets into a tight place he can always declare +war!</p> + +<p>'Is the Imperial Chancellor responsible to the German +people? No. He is imperial because he wears the +imperial livery. Can the Reichstag appoint a chancellor? +The idea is <i lang="fr">pour rire</i>! My dear Mr. Minister, you and +your countrymen do not understand Prussian rule in +Germany! And the Federal Council, what chance has +it against the will of our emperor? And what have the +people to do with the Federal Council? The members +are appointed by the rulers by right divine. There is +the Duke of <a class="corr" name="TC_15" id="TC_15" title="was: Mecklenberg-Schwerin">Mecklenburg-Schwerin</a>. He rules his little +duchy with a firm hand. There is the Duke of Brunswick, +the Prince of Lippe-Schaumbourg—not to speak of the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_90" id="Page_90" title="[Pg 90]"></a> +Grand Duke of Baden and a whole nest of rulers responsible +only to the Head of the House.'</p> + +<p>'But the people <em>must</em> count,' I said. 'Prince von +Bülow has shown himself to be nervous about the growing +power of the Social Democrats.'</p> + +<p>'Oh, yes, they are very amusing. They may caterwaul +in the Reichstag; they may wrangle over the credits and +the budget; but the emperor can prorogue them at any +time. The Pan-Germans could easily, if the Reichstag +were too independent, <a class="corr" name="TC_16" id="TC_16" title="was: council">counsel</a> the Kaiser to prorogue +that debating club altogether.</p> + +<p>'Who can prevent his forcing despotic military rule +on the nation, for the nation's good, of course? Everything +in Germany must come from the top—you know +that. Again, the power of the rich, as far as suffrage +is concerned, is unlimited. The members of the Reichstag +are elected by open ballot. Woe be to the working man +who defies his emperor. Fortunately the rich German +is not socially powerful until he ranks. You may be as +rich as Krupp, but if the Fountain of Honour has not +dashed a spray of the sacred water on you, you are as +nobody.</p> + +<p>'The greatest American plutocrat may visit Germany +and spend money like water, and he remains a mere +commoner. The Kaiser may invite him on his yacht +and say polite things, but, until he <em>ranks</em>, he is nobody. +His wife may manage to be presented at court under +the wing of the American ambassadress, but that is +nothing! The poorest and most unimportant of the +little provincial baronesses outranks her. She will always +be an outsider, no matter how long she may live in +Germany.</p> + +<p>'With us, in Austria, an American woman, no matter +whom she marries, is never received at court. She is<a class="pagenum" name="Page_91" id="Page_91" title="[Pg 91]"></a> +never "born,"' and he laughed. 'Americans can have +no heraldic quarterings; but, then, we do not pretend +to be democratic. If I loved an American girl, I would +marry her, of course; but if I went to court, I should +go alone. It is the rule, and going to court is not such +a rare treat to people who are used to it. It becomes +a bore.'</p> + +<p>To do my German diplomatic colleagues justice, they +never attempted masquerades in the guise of democrats. +There were other Germans, whom one met in society. +These people were always loyal to the Fatherland. Their +attitude was that the German world was the best of all +possible worlds.</p> + +<p>If my own countrymen and countrywomen abroad +were as solidly American as these people were German, +our politeness would not be so frequently stretched to +the breaking point. The most loyal of Germans were +American people of leisure who had lived long in Germany +with titled relatives. They enjoyed themselves; they +lived for a time in the glory of rank.</p> + +<p>With those who had to earn their own living in Germany, +it was another story. They did not 'rank'; they +were ordinary mortals; they had not the <i lang="fr">entrée</i> to some +little provincial court, and so they saw the Prussian point +of view as it really was. The American women, strangely +enough, who had married ranking Germans loved everything +German. 'But how do you endure the interference +with your daily life?' my wife asked an American girl +married to a Baron.</p> + +<p>'I like it; it makes one so safe, so protected; your +servants are under the law, and give you no trouble. +Order is not an idea, but a method. I know just how my +children shall be educated. That is the province of my +husband. I have no fault to find.' She laughed. 'I do<a class="pagenum" name="Page_92" id="Page_92" title="[Pg 92]"></a> +not have to explain myself; I do not have to say, "I am +a Daughter of the Revolution, my uncle was Senator +so-and-so"—my place is fixed, and I like it!'</p> + +<p>It was a distinguished German professor who assumed +the task of convincing American University men that +the German Army was democratic, and the conclusion +of his syllogism was: 'No officer is ever admitted to +a club of officers who has not been voted for by the +members.' Would you believe it? It seems incredible +that democracy should seem to depend on the votes of +an aristocracy and not on principles. But later, just +at the beginning of the war, this professor and a half +dozen others signed a circular in which the same argument +was used. In 1907-8-9-10, the propaganda for convincing +Americans that Germany—that is that the Kaiser—loved +us was part of the daily life in the best society +in the neutral countries.</p> + +<p>The Norwegians openly laughed at it. They knew +only too well what the Kaiser's opinion of them and +their king, Haakon, was. Amazed by the frequent +allusions of the admirers of the Kaiser to his love for +democracy, especially the American kind, I had a talk +one day with one of the most frank and sincere of Germans, +the late Baron von der Quettenburg, the father of the +present vicar of the Church of St. Ansgar's in Copenhagen. +He was a Hanoverian. He was at least seventy years +of age when I knew him, but he walked miles; he rode; +he liked a good dinner; he enjoyed life in a reasonable +way; but he was frequently depressed. Hanover, his +proud, his noble, his beautiful Hanover, was a vassal to +the arrogant Prussian!</p> + +<p>'But, if there were a war you would fight for the +Kaiser?' I asked, after a little dinner of which any man +might be proud.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_93" id="Page_93" title="[Pg 93]"></a> +'Fight? Naturally. (I did not know that you knew +so well how to eat in America.) Fight! Yes! It would +be our duty. Russia or France or the Yellow Nations +might threaten us;—yes, all my family, except the +priest, would fight. But, because one is loyal to the +Kaiser through duty, it does not mean that we Hanoverians +are Prussians through pleasure. We shall never +be content until we are Hanoverians again—nor will +Bavaria.'</p> + +<p>'A break up of the empire by force?'</p> + +<p>'Oh, no!' he said. 'Not by force; but if the Government +does not distract public attention, Hanover will +demand more freedom; so will Bavaria. None of us +would embarrass the Kaiser by raising the question of—let +us say—greater autonomy for our countries, if +there were question of a foreign war; but we must raise +them soon.'</p> + +<p>'Do you think the emperor would make war to avoid +the raising of these questions, which might mean a +tendency toward the disintegration of the German +monarchy?'</p> + +<p>'The emperor would be incapable of that; he is for +peace, but the raising of the question of a certain independence +among the states that form the German +Empire can only be prevented now by a war or some +affliction equally great. Hanover can never remain the +abject vassal of Prussia.'</p> + +<p>'You would, then, like to see the German Emperor +more democratic—a President, like ours, only hereditary, +governing quasi-independent States?'</p> + +<p>'That would not suit us at all,' he laughed. 'We are +quite willing that the Reichstag should be in the power +of the emperor, as it is a mere association for talk; +but we want the tributary kings to have more power in<a class="pagenum" name="Page_94" id="Page_94" title="[Pg 94]"></a> +their own states. Hanover a republic! How absurd! +Republics may be good on your continent, but, then, you +know no better; you began that way. Whoever tells +us that we are democratic in Germany, deceives you. +We Hanoverians want more power for Hanover, all the +reasonable rights of our kings restored and less power +for Prussia; but that we want republicanism, oh, no! +A liberal constitution—yes; but no republic!'</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>An old friend, a Swedish Social Democrat, brought +in to tea a German Social Democrat; they came to meet +an Icelandic composer, in whom I was interested. The +Icelander was a good composer, but filled with curious +ideas about Icelandic independence. He was not content +that Iceland should have the power of a State in the +Federal Union. A separate flag meant to him complete +independence of Denmark. He wanted to know the +German Social Democrat's opinion of government.</p> + +<p>'It is,' said the German, 'that Hohenzollerns shall +go, and people have equality.'</p> + +<p>'With us it is,' said the Swede, 'that the King of +Sweden shall go, and the people have equality.'</p> + +<p>'But, if Germany goes to war?' I asked.</p> + +<p>'For a short war, we will be as one people; but after——' +and he shook his head gravely.</p> + +<p>In the <a class="corr" name="TC_17" id="TC_17" title="was: meantine">meantime</a>, we were told constantly of the Kaiser's +charm. 'You once said,' remarked a débutante at the +German court, who had been presented under the wing +of our ambassadress, 'that if one wanted to dislike +Mr. Roosevelt, one must keep away from him! I assure +you, it is the same with the Kaiser. He is charming. +For instance, notice this: he presented a lovely cigarette +case, with imperial monogram in diamonds or something +of that kind, to Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_95" id="Page_95" title="[Pg 95]"></a> +the wife of the Danish Minister, when her husband +was leaving. "But my husband does not smoke," said +Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone, later in the day. +"That is the reason I gave it to him," said the Kaiser; +"I knew that you like a cigarette, Madame!" <em>Isn't</em> he +charming?'</p> + +<p>We were told that the Kaiser loved Mark Twain. To +love Mark Twain was to be American. To be sure he +turned his back very pointedly on Mark on one occasion +because Mark had dared to criticise the pension system +of the United States. Pensions for the army should not +be criticised, even if their administration were defective. +All soldiers must be taken care of. This was the first +duty of a nation, and Mark Twain forgot himself when +he censured any system that put money into the pockets +of the old soldiers, even of the wives of the soldiers of 1812! +And this to the War Lord, the emperor of more than a +Prætorian Guard! And as for President Roosevelt, if +the Kaiser could only see this first of republicans! This +meeting had been the great joy of his brother Prince +Henry of Prussia's life.</p> + +<p>The Kaiser had learned much from Americans—our +great capitalists, for example. No American who was +doing things was alien to him. Other monarchs might +pretend to have an interest in the United States; his +was genuine, for Germany, youngest among the nations, +had so much to learn from the giant Republic of the +West which possessed everything, except potash, the +science of making use of by-products, and German +Kultur!</p> + +<p>President Roosevelt had just gone out of office, +and President Taft was in. He wrote to me: 'You +shall remain in your post as long as I remain in +mine.'</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_96" id="Page_96" title="[Pg 96]"></a> +I was pleased and grateful. The chance that President +Roosevelt had given me, President Taft continued to +give me. I was the slave of a fixed idea, that the validity +not the legality, of the Monroe Doctrine was somewhat +dependent on our acquiring by fair bargains all the territory +we needed to interpret it!</p> + +<p>As to Denmark in 1910, it was much more French +than anything else. And, whatever might be done in +the way of propaganda by Germany, France always +remained beloved; while the English way of living +might be imitated, nobody ever thought of imitating +Germany's ways. Besides, the Danes are not good at +keeping secrets, and the whisperings of German intentions, +desires, likes, and dislikes disseminated in that city were +generally supposed to be heart-to-heart talks with the +world and received by the Danes with shrewd annotations. +This the Kaiser did not approve of. It was curious that +neither he nor his uncle, the King of England, liked +Copenhagen—for different reasons!</p> + +<p>It was understood that the King of England disliked +it because he found it dull—the simplicity of Hvidhöre +had no charms for him. He could not join in the liking +of his Queen for everything Danish, from the ballets +of De Bournonville to the red-coloured herring salad. +<i lang="it">Napoli</i>, a ballet which Queen Alexandra especially recommended +to my wife and myself, frankly bored him, +and the <i lang="fr">mise-en-scène</i> of the Royal Theatre was not equal +to Covent Garden.</p> + +<p>The Kaiser disliked Copenhagen because he had no +regard for his Danish relatives, who took no trouble +to bring out those charming boyish qualities he could +display at times: the influence of the Princess Valdemar +in Denmark displeased him; she was too French, too +democratic, and too popular, and she had something of<a class="pagenum" name="Page_97" id="Page_97" title="[Pg 97]"></a> +the quality for command of her late mother-in-law, Queen +Louise. Altogether, the Danes were not amenable to +German Kultur, or subservient to the continual threat +of being absorbed in it, as the good Buddhist is absorbed +in the golden lotus!</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<div><a class="pagenum" name="Page_98" id="Page_98" title="[Pg 98]"></a></div> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /> +<span class="chapintro">GERMAN DESIGNS IN SWEDEN AND NORWAY</span></h2> + + +<p>As far as insinuating, mental propaganda was concerned, +Germany, as I have said, had the advantage over '<span lang="de">Die +dumme Schweden</span>,' as the Prussians always called them. +'The stupid Swedes' were the easiest pupils of German +world politics, but even the most German of the Swedes +never realised, until lately, what the Prussian dream of +world politics meant.</p> + +<p>Before 1914, the Swedes had been led to believe that +any general European difficulty would throw them into +the hands of Russia. The constantly recurring difficulty +of the Aaland Islands was before their eyes. Look at +the map of Northern Europe and observe what the fortifying +of the Aaland Islands by a foreign power means to +Sweden. We Americans do not realise that the small +nations of Europe have neither a Monroe Doctrine nor +the power of enforcing one. And, so far as Sweden was +concerned, her only refuge against the power of Russia +seemed to be Germany.</p> + +<p>When Austria made her ultimatum to Serbia, Sweden +believed that her moment for sacrifice or triumph had +come. In August 1914, all Scandinavia felt that the +fate of the northern nations was at stake. For Sweden +the defeat of Germany meant the conquest of Sweden +by the Russians, for, sad to say, no little nation believed +absolutely in the good faith of a great one.</p> + +<p>The United States, where so many Scandinavians had<a class="pagenum" name="Page_99" id="Page_99" title="[Pg 99]"></a> +found a home, what of her? Too far off, and the Swedish +leaders of public opinion knew too well what had been +the fate of the attempts at the Hague conference to +abrogate the Machiavellian doctrines that have been +the basis of diplomacy almost since diplomacy became a +recognised science and art.</p> + +<p>As for diplomacy, what had it to do with the fate of +the little nations? Scandinavia, among the rest of +Europe, looked on it as a purely commercial machine +dominated essentially by local political issues. Our +State Department had a few fixed principles, but all +Europe believed that we were too ignorant of European +conditions and, more than that, too indifferent to them +to be effective. The slightest political whisper in Russia +or the smallest hint from court circles in Germany was +enough to upset the equilibrium of Scandinavian statesmen. +American opinion really never counted, because +American opinion was looked on as insular. A diplomacy +labelled as 'shirt sleeve' or 'dollar' might delight +those members of Congress who had come to Washington +to complete an education not yet begun at home, but, +from the European point of view, it was beneath notice. +It cannot be said that the United States was not looked +on, because of her riches and her size, with respect; +but her apparent indifference to the problem on which +the peace of the world seemed, to Europe, to depend, +and her policy of changing her diplomatic ministers +or keeping them in such a condition of doubt that they +kept their eyes on home political conditions, had combined +to deprive her of importance in matters most vital to +every European. This is not written in the spirit of +censure, but simply as a statement of fact.</p> + +<p>The Swedes, the Norwegians, the Danes had flocked +to our country. In parts of the West, during some of<a class="pagenum" name="Page_100" id="Page_100" title="[Pg 100]"></a> +the political campaigns, my old and witty friend, Senator +Carter, chuckling, used to quote:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'The Irish and the Dutch,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">They don't amount to much,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But give me the Scan-di-na-vi-an.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>These people are a power in our political life; but +they knew in Minnesota, in Nebraska, wherever they +lived in the United States, that our country would not +forcibly interfere with the designs either of Russia or of +Germany. And, in Sweden, while King Gustav and the +Conservatives saw with alarm the constant depletion of +the agricultural element in the nation by <a class="corr" name="TC_18" id="TC_18" title="was: emigratiom">emigration</a> to +the United States, their feeling towards our country +was one of amiable indulgence for the follies of youth. +King Oscar showed this constantly, and King Gustav +went out of his way to show attentions to our present +minister, Mr. Ira Nelson Morris. Nevertheless, until +lately, American diplomacy was not taken seriously, +and, when the war opened, it was taken less seriously +than ever.</p> + +<p>Sweden, then, fearing Russia, doubtful of England, +full of German propagandists, her ruling classes looking +on France as an unhappy country governed by <i lang="fr">roturiers</i> +and pedagogues, and, except in a commercial way, where +we never made the most of our opportunities, regarding +our country as negligible, Sweden, divided violently +between almost autocratic ideas and exceedingly radical +ones, was in a perilous position from 1914 to 1918. +Frankly, there are no people more delightful than the +Swedes of the upper classes whom one meets at their +country houses. Kronoval, the seat of the Count and +Countess Sparre, is one of the places where the voices +of both parties may be heard. And, when one thinks<a class="pagenum" name="Page_101" id="Page_101" title="[Pg 101]"></a> +of the Swedish aristocrat, one almost says, as Talleyrand +said of the <i lang="fr">talons rouges</i>, 'when the old order changes, +much of the charm of life will disappear.' Under a +monarchy, life is very delightful—for the upper classes. +It is no wonder that they do not want to let go of it. +It must be remembered, in dealing with European questions, +that the Swede and the Spaniard are probably the +proudest people on the earth. Another thing must +not be forgotten: the educated classes are imperial-minded. +And of this quality German intrigue makes +the most.</p> + +<p>A Scandinavian Confederacy, like the Grecian one, of +which King George of Greece dreamed, was not looked +on with yearning by the Pan-Germans. It must be +remembered to the credit of King Gustav, that, overcoming +the rancour born of the separation, he made the +first move towards the meeting of the three kings at +Malmö,<a name="FNanchor_6" id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> in the beginning of the war.</p> + +<p>When Finland was annexed by Germany, the terror +of Russia in Sweden became less intense. Before that +Sven Hedin, suspected of being a tool of Germany, did +his best to raise the threatening phantom of the Russian +terror whenever he could. The hatred and fear of Russia +revived. It was not in vain that sane-minded persons +urged that Russia would have enough to do to manage +the Eastern question, to watch Japan, to keep her designs +fixed on Constantinople. The German propaganda constantly +raised the question of the fortification of the +Aaland Islands. Denmark and Norway were intensely +interested in it; it gave Count Raben-Levitzau much +thought when he was Minister of Foreign Affairs in<a class="pagenum" name="Page_102" id="Page_102" title="[Pg 102]"></a> +Denmark, especially after the separation of Norway from +Sweden; and since then, it has been a burning question, +and the Foreign Office in Christiania was not untroubled. +On the question of the Aaland Islands neither the Russian +nor the Swedish diplomatists would ever speak except +in conventional terms; but, when I wanted light, I went +to the cleverest man in Denmark, Count Holstein-Ledreborg.</p> + +<p>'<span lang="fr">De l'esprit?</span>' he said, laughing, '<span lang="fr">mais oui, j'ai de +l'esprit. Tout le monde le dit</span>; but other things are said, +too. Fortunately, a bad temper does not drive out +<span lang="fr">l'esprit</span>. You are wrong; the cleverest man in Denmark +is Edward Brandès.' But this is a digression.</p> + +<p>'The Swedes,' Count Holstein-Ledreborg said, 'are +at heart individualists. They would no more bear the +German rule of living than they would commit national +suicide by throwing themselves into the arms of Germany. +England met with no success in Sweden in spite of the +tact of her envoys, because her ideas of Sweden are insular. +She scorns effective propaganda; she has never even +attempted to understand the Swedes. The bulk of the +Swedes do not vote (1909). The destinies of Sweden are +in the hands of the Court. A king is still a king in Sweden; +but that will pass, and the movement of the Swedish +nation will be further and further away from the political +ideas of Germany.'</p> + +<p>In 1911 modified liberal suffrage became a Swedish +institution. Still, the State and Church remain united. +Religion is not free; nobody can hold office but a Lutheran. +The 'Young Sweden' party is governed very largely by +the ideas of the German historian, Treitschke. The +philosophy of his history is reflected in the pages of Harald +von Hjarne. He is patriotic to the core, but, whether +consciously or not, he played into the hands of the Prussian<a class="pagenum" name="Page_103" id="Page_103" title="[Pg 103]"></a> +propagandist. His history, a chronicle of the lives of +Kings Charles <span class="smcap lc">XII.</span> and Gustavus Adolphus, displayed +in apotheosis; and the imperialistic idea, which carries +with it militarist tendencies, is illuminated with all the +radiance of Hjarne's magic pen. Sweden must have an +adequate army.</p> + +<p>When Norway threatened to secede, its attitude very +largely due to the bad management of the very charming +and indolent King Oscar, the Swedish army began to +mobilise. The Swedes—that is the minority of Swedes, +the governing body—would not brook the thought that +Norway might become a real nation. 'We must fight!' +Young Sweden said. The Young Sweden, intolerant +and imperious, did not realise that it had Old and Young +Norwegians to contend with. Now, if the Spaniard +and the Swede are the proudest folk in Europe, the +Norwegian and the Icelandic are the most stiff-necked. +The Swedish pride and the Norwegian firmness, which +contains a great proportion of obstinacy, met, and Norway +became a separate monarchy with such democratic +tendencies as make American democracy seem almost +despotism.</p> + +<p>After the success of the Liberals in 1911, there was a +reaction. The German propaganda fanned the excited +patriotism of the Swedish people; 'their army was too +small, their navy inefficient'; the force of arms must +be used against Russia. In fact, Russia had her Eastern +problems; the best-informed of the Swedish diplomatists +admitted this; but the propaganda was successful; +the people were tricked; nearly forty thousand farming +folk and labourers marched to the palace of King Gustav. +They had made great contributions in money for the +increase of the fleet. 'That cruiser,' said a cynical naval +attaché, 'will one day fight for Germany—when the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_104" id="Page_104" title="[Pg 104]"></a> +Yellow Peoples attack us,' he added to ward off further +questions.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless the German influence made no points +against the 'yellow peoples.' It was against Russia all +their bullets were aimed. The Russians understood +secret diplomacy well; but, either because they despised +the <a class="corr" name="TC_19" id="TC_19" title="was: commom">common</a> people too much or because the writers on +Russia were too self-centred, nothing was done to meet +this propaganda effectively. The Swede was taught +to believe that Germany was the best-governed nation +on the face of the earth, and Russia the worst; that +Germany would benevolently protect, while Russia was +ready to pounce malignantly. Russian literature gave no +glimpse of light. It was grey or black, and the language +in which the Russian papers were printed was an effectual +barrier to the understanding of the Swedes, who, as a +matter of course, nearly all read German.</p> + +<p>Young Sweden believed that the first step on the road +to greatness was a declaration of war with Russia. Nothing +could have suited the plans of the Pan-Germans better +than this, for it meant for Sweden an alliance with +Germany. The Swedish literary man and university +professors voiced, as a rule, the pro-German opinions +of Young Sweden. There were some exceptions; but +there were not many. And the worst of all this was +that these men were sincere. They were not bribed +with money. They were flattered, if you like, by German +commendations. Every historical work, every scientific +treatise, every volume of poetry of any value, found +publishers and even kindly critics in Germany. Russia +was the enemy, and, from the point of view of the intellectual +Swede, illiterate.</p> + +<p>Russia had nothing to offer except commercial opportunities +at great risks. Swedish capital might easily<a class="pagenum" name="Page_105" id="Page_105" title="[Pg 105]"></a> +be invested at home or, if necessary, there was the United +States or Germany for their surplus. The pictures +of Russian life given out by the great writers who ought +to know it, were not inspiring of hope in the future of +Russia. There was no special need for the Swedish +scholar to complain of the German influence in his +country since it was all in his favour. The Government +honoured him—following the German examples—and +made him part of the State. Even the English intellectuals, +who, as every Scandinavian knew, ought +to have distrusted Germany, acknowledged the superiority +of German 'Kultur' without understanding that it meant, +not culture, but the worship of a Prussian apotheosis.</p> + +<p>One of the most agreeable of Swedish professors whom +I met in Christiania at the centennial of the Christiania +University, went over the situation with me. I had come +in contact with him especially as I had been honoured by +being asked to represent Georgetown University and +further honoured by being elected dean of all the American +representatives, including the Mexican and South American. +This was in 1911.</p> + +<p>'Frankly,' I said, 'are not you Swedes putting all your +eggs into one basket? What have you to do with the +Teuton and Slavic quarrel? Do you believe for a moment +that the ultra-Bismarckian policy which controls Germany +will consider you anything but a pawn in the diplomatic +game? I think that, as Swedes, you ought to help to +consolidate Scandinavia, and your diplomatists, instead +of playing into Germany's hands, ought to make it worth +her while to support her, as far as you choose. You are +selling yourself too cheap.'</p> + +<p>His eyes flashed. 'You do not talk like an American,' +he said. Then he remembered himself and became +polite, even 'mannered.' 'I mean that you talk too<a class="pagenum" name="Page_106" id="Page_106" title="[Pg 106]"></a> +much like diplomatists of the old school of secret diplomacy.'</p> + +<p>'I believe that there are secrets in diplomacy which +no diplomatist ever tells.'</p> + +<p>'But you would have us attempt to disintegrate Russia, +and, at the same time, play with Germany in order to +make ourselves stronger.'</p> + +<p>'I did not say so. For some reason or other, the +Germans call you "stupid Swedes."'</p> + +<p>'Not now. That has passed. The Germans recognise +our qualities,' he added proudly. 'The English do not. +The Russians look on us only as their prey. You, being +an American, are pro-Russian. I have heard that you +were particularly pro-Russian. Not,' he added hastily, +'that you are anti-German. The German vote counts +greatly in the United States, and you could not afford to +be; you might lose your "job," as one of your ministers +at Stockholm called it; but you, confess it!—have a +regard for the Russians.'</p> + +<p>'They are interesting. We of the North owe them +gratitude for their conduct during our Civil War. Anti-German? +I love the old Germany; I love Weimar and +the Tyrol; but, speaking personally, I do not love the +Prussianisation of Germany. I have written against the +<i lang="de">Kulturkampf</i>. I dislike the <span class="corr" title="was: '">"</span>Prussian Holy Ghost<span class="corr" title="was: '">"</span> who +tried to rule us back in the '80's, but my German colleagues +recognise the fact that I see good in the German people, +and love many of their qualities.'</p> + +<p>'Still,' laughed the professor, who knows one of my +best friends in Rome, 'they say that you came abroad +to live down your attacks in the <i>Freeman's Journal</i> on +the German Holy Ghost.'</p> + +<p>I changed the subject; that was not one of the things +I had to live down.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_107" id="Page_107" title="[Pg 107]"></a> +'Germany is our only friend, our only equal intellectually, +our only sympathetic relative by blood. The +Norwegians hate us, the Danes dislike us. We have the +same ideas as the Germans, namely, that the elect, not the +merely elected, must govern. It was Martin Luther's idea, +and his idea has made Germany great.'</p> + +<p>'But there is nothing contrary to that idea in the Northern +League, which Count Carl Carlson Bonde and other Swedes +dreamed about, is there? You Swedes seem to believe +that Martin Luther was infallible in everything but religion. +He would probably like to see most of you burned, although +you are all "confirmed."'</p> + +<p>The Professor laughed: '<span lang="fr">Paris vaut une messe,</span>' he +quoted. 'I admit that Luther would not approve of +the religious point of view of our educated classes; but, +at least, we have a semblance of unity, while you, like +the English, have a hundred religions and only one sauce. +Our Lutheranism is a great bond with Germany, as well +as our love of science and our belief in authority. +As to the Northern League, Count Bonde was a +dreamer.'</p> + +<p>'Everybody is a dreamer in Sweden who is not affected +by the Pan-German idea. Is that it?'</p> + +<p>'You are badly informed,' he said. 'Your Danish +environment has affected you. As long as we can control +our people, we shall be great. We have only to fear +the Socialist. The decision in essential matters must +always rest with the king and the governing classes. +Our army and navy will be supported by popular +vote, as in Germany; they are the guarantees of our +greatness.'</p> + +<p>This was the opinion of most of the autocratic and +military—and to be military was to be autocratic—classes +in 1911.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_108" id="Page_108" title="[Pg 108]"></a> +Later I spoke with one of the most distinguished of +the Norwegians, Professor Morgenstjern. He seemed +to be an exception to the general idolatry of German +Kultur.</p> + +<p>It was impossible to get the Swede of traditions to see +that Germany's policy was to keep the three Northern +nations apart—not only the Northern nations but the +other small nations. When, just before the war, Christian <span class="smcap lc">X.</span> +and Queen Alexandrina visited Belgium on their accession +the German propagandists in Scandinavia were shocked; +it was <i lang="la">infra dig</i>. It was 'French.' 'The King and Queen +of Denmark will be visiting Alsace-Lorraine and wearing +the tricolour!' a disappointed hanger-on in the German +Legation said.</p> + +<p>It was my business to find out what various Foreign +Offices meant, not what they said they meant. 'Of +open diplomacy in the full sun, there are few modern +examples. Secrecy in diplomacy has become gradually +greater than it was a quarter of a century ago, not from +mere reticence on the part of ministers, but to a large +extent from the decline of interest in foreign affairs.'</p> + +<p>The writer of this sentence in the <i>Contemporary Review</i> +alluded to England. This lack of interest existed even +more in the United States. And then as militarism grew +in Europe, one's business was to discover what the +Admiralty thought, for in Germany and Austria, even +in France, after the Dreyfus scandal, one must be able +to know what the military dictators were about. The +newspapers had a way of discovering certain facts that +Foreign Offices preferred to hide. But the most astute +newspaper owing to the necessity of having a fixed +political policy and the difficulty of finding men foolish +enough or courageous enough to risk life for money, +could rarely predict with certainty what Foreign Offices<a class="pagenum" name="Page_109" id="Page_109" title="[Pg 109]"></a> +really intended to do. Besides Foreign Offices, outside +of Germany, were generally 'opportunists.'</p> + +<p>Few diplomatists of my acquaintance were deceived +by the Kaiser's professions of peace. That he wanted +war seemed incredible, for he had the reputation of +counting the cost. He was indiscreet at times, but his +'indiscretions' never led him to the extent of giving +away the intentions of the General Staff. That he +wanted to turn the Baltic into a German sea was evident. +The Swedish 'activist' would calmly inform you that, +if this were true, Germany would treat Sweden, and +perhaps the other Scandinavian countries, as <a class="corr" name="TC_20" id="TC_20" title="was: Gerat">Great</a> +Britain treated the United States—the Atlantic, as everybody +knew, being a 'British lake' and yet free to the +United States!</p> + +<p>There was no missing link in the German propaganda +in Sweden. Prussia used the Lutheran Church as she +had tried to use the German Jesuits and failed. The +good commonsense of the Swedish common people alone +saved them from making German Kultur an integral +part of their religion. When it filtered out that, notwithstanding +the close relationship of the Tsaritza of +Russia with the German Emperor, the Prussian Camorra +had determined to control Russia, to humiliate her, to +control her, there were those among the leaders who saw +what this meant. They saw Finland and the Aaland +Islands Germanised, and their resources, the product of +their mines and of their factories, as much Germany's as +Krupp's output. The bourgeoisie and the common people +saw no future glory or profit in this.</p> + +<p>The knowledge of it filtered through; the Lutheran +pastor, with his dislike of democracy, his love for the +autocratic monarchy, 'all power comes from God,' I +heard him quote, without adding that St. Paul did not<a class="pagenum" name="Page_110" id="Page_110" title="[Pg 110]"></a> +say that 'All rulers come from God,'—could not convince +the hard-thinking, hard-working Swede that religion +meant subjugation to a foreign power. The Lutheran +Church, which, like all national churches, was hampered +by the State, could give no intelligent answer to his +doubts, so he turned to the Social Democrats. The governing +class in Sweden seemed to take no cognisance of the +growth of democracy in the hearts of the people. Germany +was alive to it and feared it; but, in Sweden, rather than +admit it and its practical effects, the rulers ignored it, +were shocked by the great tide of emigration to the United +States, yet careless of its effects on Swedish popular opinion.</p> + +<p>On one occasion in Copenhagen, King Gustav asked +me why so many of his people emigrated to my country. +The King of Sweden is a very serious man, not easily +influenced or distracted from any subject that interests +him, and the good of his people interested him very much. +It was a difficult question to answer, for comparisons +were always odious.</p> + +<p>'I can better tell you, sir, why your subjects prefer to +remain at home:—when they get good land cheap, and +when they see the chance of rising beyond their fathers' +position in the social scale.'</p> + +<p>He began to speak, but etiquette demanded a move. +When I met him again he returned to the subject. It +was better that he should talk, and he talked well. It +became evident to me that there was little good agricultural +land in Sweden to give away, and the division +between the classes was not so impassable as I had believed. +He made that clear.</p> + +<p>The <a class="corr" name="TC_21" id="TC_21" title="was: social">Social</a> Democrat in Sweden wants an equal +opportunity, no wars to be declared by the governing +classes, and the abolition of the monarchy. He is +not concerned greatly with the Central Powers or the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_111" id="Page_111" title="[Pg 111]"></a> +Entente. He was glad to see the Hohenzollerns displaced, +but he is German in the sense that he is affiliated with +the German Social Democrats who, he believes, were +forced to deny their principles temporarily or they +would have been thrown to the lions; and as, above +all things, he prizes a moderate amount of material +comfort for himself and his family, he will not go out of +his way to be martyred; but even he was the victim of +modified German propaganda; he was too patriotic to +accept it all.</p> + +<p>Of late, as we know, the Liberal Party has gained +strength, and the designs of a small activist military +coterie were frustrated by a series of circumstances, of +which the Luxburg revelations were not the least; but the +main reason was the coquetting of the Government with +Germany, one of the signs of which was that the Allied +blockade was not treated as a fact, while the mythical +blockade by Germany was accepted as really existing.</p> + +<p>Personally, I had respect for Dr. <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Hammarskjöld">Hammarskjold</span>, the +Premier of the conservative cabinet that ruled Sweden +in the beginning of the war. He was formerly a colleague +in Copenhagen, and, with the exception of Francis +Hagerup, now Norwegian Minister at Stockholm, he is +the greatest jurist in Northern Europe. He is a Swede +of Swedes, with all the traditions of the over-educated +Swede. Neutrality he desired above all things—that is, +as long as it could be preserved with honour; but he +evidently believed that, for the preservation of this +neutrality, it was most necessary to keep on very good +terms with Germany. Hammarskjold's point of view +was more complicated, more technical than that of Herr +Branting, and it is to Herr Branting's raising of the voice +of the Swedish nation that a serious difficulty with the +Entente was avoided. Nevertheless, it would be wrong<a class="pagenum" name="Page_112" id="Page_112" title="[Pg 112]"></a> +to put down Hammarskjold as pro-German, for he is, +first of all, pro-Swedish.</p> + +<p>Edwin Bjorkman, an expert in Swedish affairs, says, +after he has paid the compliments of an honest man to +the wretched Prussian conspiracies in Sweden:—</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'For this German intriguing against supposedly friendly +nations there can be no defence. For the more constructive +side of Germany's effort to win Sweden, there is a good deal +to be said, not only in defence, but in praise. It was not +wholly selfish or hypocritical, and it was directed with an +intelligence worthy of emulation. All the best German +qualities played a conspicuous and successful part in that +effort,—enthusiasm, thoroughness, systematic thinking and +acting, intellectual curiosity, adaptability, and a constant +linking of national and personal interests.'<a name="FNanchor_7" id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></p></div> + +<p>Men, like Hammarskjold, were naturally affected by +an influence which no other nation condescended to +counteract. Besides, as a good Swede, Hammarskjold +knew that, in a possible conflict with Germany, Sweden +had nothing to expect, in the way of help, from the Allies. +The German propaganda had convinced many Swedes +that it was England that deprived King Oscar of Norway +with the view of isolating Sweden and assisting Russia's +move to the sea.</p> + +<p>The late Minister of Foreign Affairs, Herr Wallenberg, +was regarded as a friend of the Entente, and was less +criticised than any other member of the Government. +Many of his financial interests were supposed to be in +France, and he has many warm friends in all social circles +in that country. He is a man of cosmopolitan experience. +He has the reputation of being the best-informed man in +Europe on European affairs.</p> + +<p>Dr. E. F. Dillon, in one of his very valuable articles +said: 'As far back as March 1914, he gave it as his<a class="pagenum" name="Page_113" id="Page_113" title="[Pg 113]"></a> +opinion that the friction in the Near East would in a +brief space of time culminate in a European war.' To +Dr. Dillon the English-speaking world owes the knowledge +of the points of view of certain activists, entirely under +German influence, as expressed in <i lang="de">Schwedische Stimmen +zum Weltkrieg<span class="corr" title="was: -">—</span>Uebersetzt mit einem <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Vorwort">Vorwart</span> <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: versehen">verschen</span> von +Dr. Friedrich Steve</i>. The real title is best translated +<i>Sweden's Foreign Policy in the Light of the World War</i>. +It was a plea for war in the interests of Germany, representing +those of Germany and Sweden as one. They were +anonymous—now that some of them have had a change +of mind it is well that their names were withheld. They +were evidently pro-Germans of all Swedish political +parties. It may not be out of place to say that the +papers of Dr. Dillon, such as those printed in the <i>Contemporary +Review</i>, are documents of inestimable diplomatic-social +value.</p> + +<p>It was the leader of the Socialists, Herr Branting, +who helped to make evident that a change had been +slowly taking place among the Swedish people. Herr +Branting is of a very different type from the generally +received idea of what a Socialist is. He would not do +on the stage. In fact, like many of the constructive +Socialists in Scandinavia, he is rather more like a modern +disciple of Thomas Jefferson than of Marx or Bakounine. +He knows Europe, and he brings to the cause of democracy +in Europe great power, well-digested knowledge, and +a tolerance not common in Sweden, where religious +sectarianism among the bulk of the people was as great +an enemy to political progress as the Prussian propaganda.</p> + +<p>The most influential man in Sweden, Herr Branting, +was obliged to renew his formal adhesion to the Lutheran +Church, which he had renounced, to hold office. The +strength of Herr Branting's position, which has lately<a class="pagenum" name="Page_114" id="Page_114" title="[Pg 114]"></a> +immensely increased, may be surmised from the fact +that, in 1914, the Radicals gave 462,621 votes as against +268,631. The Government would have been wise to +have heeded this warning in time; but the men who +had engineered the Activist movement, who had worked +the Swedish folk up to their demand for stronger defences +and a greater army and navy, seemed to think that Sweden +was still to be governed from the top.</p> + +<p>The Swedes are not the kind of people who can be +led hither and thither by bread and the circus. They +know how to amuse themselves without the assistance +of their Government and to earn their bread, too; but +when the Government, through its presumably pro-German +policy, seemed to be responsible for the curtailment +of the necessities of life, they turned on their +leaders and read the riot act to them. Sweden boldly +defied Pan-Germanism.</p> + +<p>A great day in Sweden was April 21st, 1917. It was +a turning point in the nation's destiny. The people +took matters in their own hands. Hjalmar Branting +had forced the Swartz-Lindman Cabinet into a corner; +no more secret understandings, no more disregard of +the feelings of the voters who felt that, to help their +nation intelligently, they must know what was going +on. Appeals to Charles <span class="smcap lc">XII.</span> or the shade of Gustavus +Adolphus no longer counted. What Germany liked or +disliked was of no moment to Branting.</p> + +<p>On the first of May we were all anxious in Denmark. +Our Minister at Stockholm, Mr. Ira Nelson Morris, +understood the situation; he expected no great outbreak +as a result of Branting's action in the <a class="corr" name="TC_22" id="TC_22" title="was: Rigsdag">Rigstag</a>, +revealing the existence of a secret intrigue to raise, on +the part of the Government, a guard of civilians to protect +the 'privileged classes,' as the Socialists called<a class="pagenum" name="Page_115" id="Page_115" title="[Pg 115]"></a> +them, against disturbances on the part of the proletariat. +Branting gave a guarantee that no tumult among the +people should take place. Nevertheless, the German +propaganda kept at work; the people were not to be +trusted. On May 1st, the party in power protected the +palace with machine guns and packed its environs with +troops. It was a rather indiscreet thing to do, since +Branting had given his word for peace, providing that +the pro-German protectorate did not make war. On +May 1st at least fifty thousand of the working classes, +'the unprivileged classes,' made their demonstration in +procession quietly and solemnly. In the provinces, on +the same day, half a million Swedes sympathetically +joined in this protest against the pro-German attitude +of the Government.</p> + +<p>When we entered the war the ruling classes declared, +either privately or publicly, that we had <a class="corr" name="TC_23" id="TC_23" title="was: make">made</a> a 'mistake'; +they hinted that Germany would make us see this mistake—this +out of no malevolence to America as America, +but simply from a complete lack of sympathy with our +ideals. It must be remembered that an aristocracy, +a bureaucracy without privileges is as anomalous as a +British Duke without estate. The French Revolution +was a protest, as we all know, against vested privileges. +When Madame Roland, the intellectual representative +of a great class, was expected to dine with the servants +at a noble woman's house, a long nail was driven into the +coffin of privilege.</p> + +<p>In Sweden the fight is on against the privileges which +the higher classes in Sweden have expected Germany to +help them conserve.</p> + +<p>On October 19th a new cabinet was formed; the +people demanded a Government which would be neutral. +This was the result of the election in September. On<a class="pagenum" name="Page_116" id="Page_116" title="[Pg 116]"></a> +this result—the first real step in the Swedish nation +toward political democracy—they stand to-day. Unrestrained +or uninfluenced by Prussia, the classes of +Sweden who love their privileges, will accept the situation. +The death-blow to the landed aristocracy will doubtless +be the suppression of the majorats and the conversion +of the entailed estates into cash. This seems to be one +of the fundamental intentions of the new order. The +classes who look to Germany as their model and mentor +are now non-existent—naturally!</p> + +<p>Germany allowed to the upper classes in Sweden no +intellectual contact with the democracies of the world. +The world news dripped into Sweden carefully expurgated. +Her suspicions of Russia were kept alive as we have +seen; the good feeling which existed in Denmark towards +Sweden (due to the help the Swedish troops had given +when they were quartered at Glorup, near Odense, in +readiness to meet the Prussian attack in 1848) had been +gradually undermined. While Sweden owed much of +her suspicions of the other two countries to German influence +as well as her fears of Russia, Denmark was +confronted with a real danger.</p> + +<p>Whatever progress Sweden has made towards democracy +is not due to intelligent propaganda on the part of +America or England. It needed a war to teach the +Foreign Offices that diplomatic representatives have +greater duties than to be merely 'correct' and obey technical +orders.</p> + +<p>German propaganda had little influence in Norway, +but German methods have been used to an almost unbelievable +extent in the attempt to lower the morale of +this self-respecting and independent people. The German +propaganda could get little hold on a nation that cared +only to be sufficient for itself in an entirely legitimate<a class="pagenum" name="Page_117" id="Page_117" title="[Pg 117]"></a> +way. The Norwegian can neither be laughed, argued, +nor coerced out of an opinion that he believes to be +founded on a principle, and he looks on all questions +from the point of view of a free man thinking his own +thoughts.</p> + +<p>German propaganda, during the war, took the form of +coercion. The ordinary influences brought to bear on +Sweden would not be effective in Norway. Socialism +seemed to be less destructive to the existing order of +things in Norway than it was in Sweden, because it had +fewer obstacles to overcome. It was against the Pan-German +idea that the three Scandinavian countries +should form the Northern Confederation dreamed of by +Baron Carlson Bonde and others. When the late King +Oscar of Sweden came under German influence—through +all the traditions of his family he should have been +French—he began to give the Norwegian causes of +offence, and his attitude intensified their growing hatred +of all privileges founded on birth, hereditary office, +or assumption of superiority founded on extraneous +circumstances. As we know, the form of Lutheranism +accepted in Norway has little effect on the political +life of the people, who, as a rule, are attached to their +special form of Protestantism because of traditions +(part of this tradition is hatred of Rome, as it is supposed +to represent imperial principles) and because it leaves +them free to choose from the Bible what suits them +best. It is a mistake to imagine, as some sociologists +have, that the Lutheran Church in Norway inclined +the Norwegians to sympathy with German ideas. I +have never, as yet, met a Norwegian who seemed to +associate his religion with Germany or to imagine that +he owed any regard to that country because 'the light,' +as he <a class="corr" name="TC_24" id="TC_24" title="was: sometines">sometimes</a> calls it, came to him through that German<a class="pagenum" name="Page_118" id="Page_118" title="[Pg 118]"></a> +of Germans, Martin Luther. In his mind, as far as I +could see, there seemed to be two kinds of Lutheranism—the +German kind and the Norwegian kind. I am +speaking now of the people of average education—who +would dare to use the phrase 'lower classes' in speaking +of the Norwegians as we use it of the Swedes or the +English? An 'average education' means in Norway a +high degree of knowledge of what the Norwegian considers +essential.</p> + +<p>This shows that racial differences are much more +potent than religious beliefs; and yet, in considering the +problems of the world to-day, it would be vain to leave +religious affairs out of the question, worse than vain—foolish. +The Crown Prince of Germany, having studied +the Life of Napoleon Bonaparte, knew this; the Kaiser, +knowing Machiavelli, understood it too well. Lutheranism +in Norway is not a political factor owing to the +peculiar temperament of the people; therefore, Germany +could not make use of it. With the intellectual classes, +the independent thinkers, it has ceased to be a factor at +all. Ibsen, who was in soul a mystic, is accused of +leaning towards German philosophies even by some of +his own countrymen; but there was never a more individualistic +man than he.</p> + +<p>In my conversation with learned and intellectual +Norwegians, I discovered no leaning whatever to autocratic +ideals. They were only aristocrats in the intellectual +sense.</p> + +<p>'Even our upper classes,' said a Swede, an ardent +admirer of the ideas of the Liberal Swede, Count Hamilton, +'are changing. You ought to know our people as you +know the Danes. A nation as plastic as ours, capable +of breaking its traditions by making a king of Marshal +Bernadotte, a person not "born" has great capacities for<a class="pagenum" name="Page_119" id="Page_119" title="[Pg 119]"></a> +adaptation; and this is the reason why my country will +not be divided between Germanised aristocrats and a +Socialistic proletariat.'</p> + +<p>This, after all, represents the essential attitude of +the best in Sweden. That German ideals were propagated +and well received by the ruling classes is true, +but, to generalise about any country, simply because of +the attitude of the persons one meets in society, is a +mistake that would lead a diplomatic representative into +all manner of difficulties.</p> + +<p>To assume that Sweden could have been governed as +Germany was governed, because German is the fashionable +language among the aristocracy and the intellectuals, +or because Sweden is Lutheran, or because the university +and military education is founded on German methods, +is too misleading. The Swedish folk are not the kind +that would tamely submit to the drastic rule of the autocratic +Hohenzollern.</p> + +<p>The German attitude toward Norway was frankly +antagonistic. There was no power there to persuade +the <a class="corr" name="TC_25" id="TC_25" title="was: citzens">citizens</a> of that country that all kultur should come +from above. The Norwegian is a democrat at heart. He +believes, with reason, in the industrial future of his +country; he understands what may be done with his +inexhaustible supply of 'white coal'; he knows the +value of the process for seizing the nitrates from the air. +When he heard that supplies of potash had been discovered +in Spain, a distinguished Norwegian said: 'Poor +Spain! The Prussians will seize it now; but we should +be willing to meet all the Prussian fury if we could discover +potash in Norway!'</p> + +<p>It is an open secret that Norway, at the time of her +separation from Sweden, would have preferred a republican +form of government. The Powers, England<a class="pagenum" name="Page_120" id="Page_120" title="[Pg 120]"></a> +and Russia and Germany, would not hear of this, and the +Norwegians consented to a very limited monarchy. +German or Russian princes were out of the question, +and Prince Charles of Denmark, now King Haakon, +who had married the Princess Maud of Great Britain +and Ireland, was chosen. King Edward <span class="smcap lc">VII.</span> was pleased +with this arrangement; he had no special objection to +the cutting down of monarchical prerogatives, provided +the hereditary principle was maintained, and the marriage +strengthened the English influence in Norway. As King +Haakon and Queen Maud have a son—Prince Olav—the +Norwegians are content, especially as King Haakon +knows well how to hold his place with tact, sympathy, +and discretion.</p> + +<p>Norway is naturally friendly to the United States and +England, and, in spite of the Kaiser's regular summer +visits, it was never at all friendly to him. The treatment +of Norway, when the Germans found that the Norwegians +were openly against their methods, was ruthless. +The plot of the German military party against the +capital of Norway, which meant the blowing up of a +part of the city, has been hinted at, but not yet fully +revealed. The reports of the attempt to introduce bombs +in the shape of coals into the holds of Norwegian ships +bound to America were well founded, and the misery +and wretchedness inflicted on the families of Norwegian +sailors by the U-boat 'horribleness' has made the +German name detested in Norway. After the crime of +the <i>Lusitania</i>, the German Minister was publicly hissed +in Christiania.</p> + +<p>Remaining neutral, Norwegian business men kept up +such trade with the belligerents as the U-boat on one +side and the embargo on the other permitted. War +and business seem to have no scruples, and the Norwegian<a class="pagenum" name="Page_121" id="Page_121" title="[Pg 121]"></a> +merchant, like most of ours, before we joined +the Allies, felt it his duty to try to send what he could +into Germany. The British Minister at Christiania, the +British Admiralty, and a patriotic group of Norwegians +did their utmost in limiting this, and, when the United +States entered the war, they were ably seconded by the +American Minister, Mr. Schmedeman. The Norwegians, +in spite of all dangers, kept their boats running, and +they were shocked when the United States tightened the +embargo, with a strangle grip.</p> + +<p>The Norwegian press openly said that we, the friend +of the little nations, had proved faithless, and pointed +to their record as friends of democracy. The American +Minister, in the midst of the storm, did an unusual thing; +he published the text of the prepared agreement, which +Nansen had sent to Washington to negotiate. There +was a time, before this, when the name of our country, +formerly so beloved and revered, was execrated among +the Norwegians. Mr. Schmedeman's quick insight +calmed a storm which arose from disappointment at the +stringent demands of a nation they had hitherto considered +as their best friend. This constant friendship +for us was shown on all occasions in Copenhagen by Dr. +Francis Hagerup and Dr. John Irgens, two of the most +respected diplomatists in Europe. Dr. Hagerup's reputation +is widely spread in this country.</p> + +<p>No human being could be imagined as a greater +antithesis to the Prussians than the Norwegians; the +Norwegian is in love with liberty; he is an idealistic +individual; it is difficult, too, to believe that the Norwegian, +the Swede and the Dane are of the same race. +The Norwegian is as obstinate as a Lowland Scot and as +practical; he is a born politician; he calls a spade a +spade, and he is not noted for that great exterior polish<a class="pagenum" name="Page_122" id="Page_122" title="[Pg 122]"></a> +which distinguishes the Swede and the Dane of the educated +classes. A Norwegian gentleman will have good manners, +but he is never 'mannered.' For frankness, which +sometimes passes for honesty, the Norwegian of the +lower classes is unequalled. This has given the Norwegian +a reputation for rudeness which he really does +not deserve. He is no more rude than a child who +looks you in the eye and gives his opinion of your +personal appearance without fear or favour; it does +not imply that he is unkind. There is a story of a +Norwegian shipowner, who, asked to dine with King +Haakon, found that a business engagement was more +attractive, so he telephoned: 'Hello, Mr. King, I can't +come to dinner!'</p> + +<p>A Norwegian told me, with withering scorn, the +'stupid comment' of an 'ignorant Swede' on the Norwegian +character: 'You have no Niagara Falls in +Sweden, no great city like Chicago, no Red Indians!' +He had said, 'We have finer cataracts than your Niagara +Falls, a magnificent city, Stockholm, the Paris of Scandinavia, +and many Red Indians, but <em>we</em> call them +Norwegians!'</p> + +<p>One summer day, two well-mounted German officers, +probably attending the Kaiser or making arrangements +for his usual yachting trip to Norway, came along a +country road. They were splendid looking creatures, +voluminously cloaked—a wind was blowing—helmets +glittering. Our car had stopped on a side road; something +was wrong. A peasant, manipulating two great +pine stems on a low, two-wheeled cart, had barred the +main road, and, as the noontide had come, sat down to +eat his breakfast. One of the officers haughtily commanded +him to clear the way, expecting evidently a +frightened obedience. The peasant put his hands in his<a class="pagenum" name="Page_123" id="Page_123" title="[Pg 123]"></a> +pockets and said,—'Mr. Man, I will move my logs when +I can. First, I must eat my breakfast, you can jump +your horses over my logs; why not? Jump!'</p> + +<p>The officer made a movement to draw his revolver; +the Norwegian only laughed.</p> + +<p>'Besides,' he said, 'there is a wheel half off my cart; +I cannot move it quickly.'</p> + +<p>The language of the officers was terrifying. Finally, +they were compelled to jump. Neither the sun glittering +on the fierce eagles nor the curses of the officers moved +this amiable man; he drank peacefully from his bottle of +schnapps and munched his black bread and sausage as +if their great persons had never crossed his path, or, +rather, he theirs.</p> + +<p>Neither art, literature nor music has been Germanised +in Norway. Art, of later years, has been touched by +the French ultra-impressionists. There is no humble +home in the mountains that does not know Grieg. And +why? When you know Grieg and know Norway, you +know that Grieg is Norway.</p> + +<p>Norway is the land of the free and the home of the +brave. There was no fear that German ideas would +control it, and the Prussians knew this. What is good +in German methods of education the Norwegians adopt, +but they first make them Norwegian.</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<div><a class="pagenum" name="Page_124" id="Page_124" title="[Pg 124]"></a></div> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /> +<span class="chapintro">THE RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA</span></h2> + + +<p>Machiavelli, in <i>The Prince</i>, instructs rulers in the +use of religion as a means of obtaining absolute power; +and from the point of view of monarchs of the Renaissance +and after, he would have been a fool, if he had +neglected this important bond in uniting the nations he +governed. It was not a question as to the internal +faith of the ruler; that was a personal matter; but +outwardly he must conform to the creed which gave him +the greatest political advantages. There is a pretty +picture of Napoleon's teaching the rudiments of Christianity +to a little child at Saint Helena; but who imagines +that he would have hesitated to make the sacred pilgrimage +to Mecca or to prostrate himself before the idols +of any powerful Pagan nation, if he could have fulfilled +his plans in the East? '<span lang="fr">Paris vaut une Messe,</span>' said +Henry <span class="smcap lc">IV.</span> of Navarre and France with the cynicism of +his tribe. Queen Catherine di Medici and Queen Elizabeth +had their superstitions. They probably believed that +all clever people have the same religion, but never tell +what it is—the religion to which Lord Beaconsfield +thought he belonged. It is against the subversion of +religion, of spirituality, to the State that democracy protests. +Frankly, it is as much against the despotism of +Socialism as it is against the Machiavellianism of His +late Imperial Majesty, the German Emperor. He hoped +to become Emperor of Germany and the world, and to<a class="pagenum" name="Page_125" id="Page_125" title="[Pg 125]"></a> +speak from Berlin <i lang="la">urbi et ubi</i>. To be German Emperor +did not content him.</p> + +<p>The Kaiser's use of religion as an adjunct to the possession +of absolute power began very early in his reign. +Bismarck could teach him nothing, though Bismarck was +as decided a Hegelian as he was a Prussian in his idea of +the function of the ruler.</p> + +<p>Hegel, the learned author of the <i>Philosophy of Right</i>, +was Prussian to the core. He was on the side of the +rulers, and he hated reforms, or rather, feared reformers, +because they might disturb the divinely ordered authority. +There must be a dot to the 'i' or it meant nothing +in the alphabet. This dot was the King. He was +the darling of the Prussian Government and the spokesman +of Frederick William <span class="smcap lc">III.</span> He loathed the movement +in Germany towards democratic reforms, and watched +England with distrustful eyes. The teaching of most +Hegelians in the Universities of the United States—and +the Hegelian idea of the State had made much progress +here—was to minimise somewhat the arbitrary and +despotic ideas of their favourite Prussian philosopher. +No man living has yet understood the full meaning of +all parts of his philosophical teachings, but one thing was +clear to all men who, like myself, watched the application +of Hegelianism to Prussia and to Germany. The State +must be supreme.</p> + +<p>The Catholics in Germany saw the errors of Hegelianism +as applied to the State, but they were not sufficiently +enlightened or clever, and they neglected to oppose +its progress efficiently. There are various opinions +about the activities of the Fathers of the Congregation +of Jesus (founded by Saint Ignatius Loyola as a <i lang="fr">corps +d'élite</i> of the counter-reformation) in Germany and in +the world in general. Bismarck heartily disapproved<a class="pagenum" name="Page_126" id="Page_126" title="[Pg 126]"></a> +of them for the same reasons as Hegel disapproved of +them. They taught that Cæsar is not omnipotent, +that the human creature has rights which must be +respected, and are above the claims of the State. In +a word, in Germany, they stood for the one thing that +the Prussian monarchs detested—dissent on the part of +any subject to their growing assertion of the divine right +of kings.</p> + +<p>Windthorst formed the Centrum, and opposed Bismarck +valiantly, but political considerations Prussianised +the Centre, or Catholic party, as they moved 'the enemies +of Prussianism,' the Socialists, when the crucial moment +arrived, and burned incense to absolute Cæsar. It +was not a question of Lutheranism against Catholicism +in <a class="corr" name="TC_26" id="TC_26" title="was: Gernamy">Germany</a> in 1872, not a question of an enlightened +philosophy, founded on modern research against obscurantism, +as most of my compatriots have until lately +thought, but a clean-cut issue between the doctrine of +the entire supremacy of the State and the inherent rights +of the citizen to the pursuit of happiness, provided he +rendered what he owed to Cæsar legitimately. That +the victims of the oppression were Jesuits blinded many +of us to the motive of the attack. The educational +system of the Jesuits had enemies among the Catholics +of Germany, too, so that they lost sight of the principle +underneath the Falk laws, so dear to Bismarck. Frederick +the Great and Catherine of Russia protected the Jesuits, +it is true, but they were too absolute to fear them. +Besides, as Intellectuals, they were bound to approve +of a society, which in the eighteenth century had not +lost its reputation for being the most scientific of religious +bodies.</p> + +<p>The Falk laws were, in the opinion of Bismarck and +the disciples of the <i lang="de">Kulturkampf</i>, the beginning of the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_127" id="Page_127" title="[Pg 127]"></a> +moulding of the Catholic Church in Germany as a subordinate +part of the autocratic scheme of government. +They had nothing to fear from the Lutherans—they +were already under control—and nothing to fear from the +unbelieving Intellectuals, of the Universities, for they +had already accepted Hegel and his corollaries. The main +enemies of the ultra-Kaiserism <a class="corr" name="TC_27" id="TC_27" title="was: was">were</a> the Catholic Church +and Socialism—Socialism gradually drawing within its +circle those men who, under the name of Social Democrats, +believed that the Hohenzollern rule meant obscurantist +autocracy.</p> + +<p>The Socialists, pure and simple, are as great an enemy +to democracy as the Pan-Germans. The varying shades +of opinion among the Social Democrats,—there are liberals +among them of the school of Asquith, and even of the +school of Lloyd George, constitutional monarchists with +Jeffersonian leanings, Lutherans, Catholics, non-believers, +men of various shades of religious opinion are all bent +on one thing,—the destruction of the ideals of Government +advocated by Hegel and put into practice by the Emperor +and his coterie.</p> + +<p>Both the Socialist and the Social Democrat came to +Copenhagen. They talked; they argued. They were +on neutral soil. It was impossible to believe, on their +own evidence, that the Socialism of Marx, of Bebel, of +the real Socialists in Germany, could remedy any of the +evils which existed under imperialistic régime in that +country.</p> + +<p>The Socialist or the Social Democrat was feared in +Germany, until he applied the razor to his throat, or, +rather, attempted <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: hara-kiri">hari-kari</span> when he voted for war. The +Socialists can never explain this away. His prestige, as +the apostle of peace and good-will, is gone; he is no +longer international; he is out of count as an altruist.<a class="pagenum" name="Page_128" id="Page_128" title="[Pg 128]"></a> +The Social Democrat is in a better position; he never +claimed all the attributes of universal benignity; he +was still feared in Germany, but in that harmless debating +society, the Reichstag, with the flower of the German +manhood made dumb in the trenches, he could only +threaten in vain.</p> + +<p>In our country, pure Socialism is misunderstood. +It is either cursed with ignorant fury or looked on as +merely democracy, a little advanced, and perhaps too +individualistic. It ought to be better understood. +Socialism means the negation of the individual will; +the deprivations of the individual of all the rights our +countrymen are fighting for. It is a false Christianity +with Christian precepts of good-will, of love of the poor, +of equality, fraternity, liberty,—phrases which have, on +the lips of the pure Socialist, the value of the same phrases +uttered by Robespierre and Marat.</p> + +<p>'I find,' said a Berlin Socialist, whom I had invited +to meet Ben Tillett, the English Labour Agitator, 'that +Danish Socialism is merely Social Democracy. Given a +fair amount of good food and comfort, schools, and cheap +admittance to the theatres, the Copenhagen Socialists +seem to be contented. You may call it "constructive +Socialism," but I call it Social Degeneracy. We, following +the sacred principles of Marx and Bakounine, different +as they were, must destroy before we can construct. In +the future, every honest man will drive in his own car, +and the best hospitals will not be for those that pay, +but for those who cannot pay. Cagliostro said we must +crush the lily, meaning the Bourbons; we must crush +all that stands in the way of the perfect rule which will +make all men equal. We must destroy all governments +as they are conducted at present; we have suffered; +all restrictive laws must go!'</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_129" id="Page_129" title="[Pg 129]"></a> +Ben Tillett could not come to luncheon that day, so +we missed a tilt and much instruction. The European +Socialist's only excuse for existence is that he has suffered, +and he has suffered so much that his sufferings must +cry to God for justice. As to his methods, they are +not detestable. They are so reasonable, so Christian, +that some of us lose sight of his principles in admiring +them. The Kaiser has borrowed some of the best of +the Socialistic methods in the organisation of his superbly +organised Empire, and that makes Germany strong. +But sympathy with the Socialists anywhere is misplaced. +Their principles are as destructive as their methods are +admirable. Their essential article of faith is that the +State, named the Socialistic aggregation, shall be supreme +and absolute.</p> + +<p>As to the other enemies of despotism in Germany, +the Jesuits, they were downed simply because Bismarck +and the Hegelian Ideal would not tolerate them. They +exalted, as Hegel said, the virtue of resignation, of continency, +of obedience, above the great old Pagan virtues, +which ought to distinguish a Teuton. The Jesuits, +German citizens, few in number, apparently having no +powerful friends in Europe or the world, were cast out, +as the War Lord would have cast out the Socialist if +he had dared. But the Socialists were a growing power; +they had shown that they, like the unjust steward in +the parable, know how to make friends of the Mammon +of unrighteousness.</p> + +<p>The Jesuits went; the Catholic party, the Centre was +placated by the request of Germany to have the Pope +arbitrate the affair of the Caroline Islands and by the +colonial policy of Bismarck in 1888 in supporting the +work of Cardinal Lavigerie in Africa. The Catholic +population of Germany, more than one-third of the whole,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_130" id="Page_130" title="[Pg 130]"></a> +accepted the dictum that the State had the right to exile +German citizens because they disagreed with the Government +as to the freedom of the human conscience. However, +as the Catholic Germans were divided in sentiment as +to the value of the Jesuit system of education, which in +this country seems to be very plastic, they were at last +fooled by the Centrum, their party, into the acceptance +of a compromise.</p> + +<p>To Copenhagen, there came, after the opening of the +war, an old priest, who had been caught in the net in +Belgium; 'That Christians should forgive such horrors +as the Germans commit! Why do not the Christian +Germans protest? I confessed a German Colonel, a +Catholic, who had lain a day and a night in a field outside +a Belgian town. He was dying when some of your +Americans found him, and brought him to me. "I +suffered horrors during the night," he said, "horrors +almost unbearable. I groaned many times; I heard the +voices of men passing; these men heard me." "There is +a wounded man," one said, and they came to me. "He's +a German," the other said, "<span lang="fr">qu'il crève</span>" (let him die). +And they passed on. "This,<span class="corr" title='added: "'>"</span> I thought, in my agony, +<span class="corr" title='added: "'>"</span>this, in a Christian land where the story of the Good +Samaritan is read from the pulpits; yet they leave me +to die. But when I remembered, Father, the atrocities +for which I had been obliged to shoot ten of my own +soldiers, I understood why they had passed me by."' +The good priest, who had many friends in Germany, +repeated over and over again: 'Whom the gods wish to +destroy, they first make mad; the Catholics in Germany +must be mad!'</p> + +<p>Bismarck had used Falk and the Liberals to divide +and control. He later found it necessary to placate +Windthorst and the Centrum, then a 'confessional,'<a class="pagenum" name="Page_131" id="Page_131" title="[Pg 131]"></a> +or religious party. It has changed since that time; it +is now, like the Social Democratic block, made up of +persons of various shades of religious opinion, but having +similar political ideas. It represents a determination +not to allow the State to be absolute, and, no doubt, +if the United States had realised its position, it might +have been strengthened by intelligent propaganda to be +of use in breaking the Prussian autocracy. But hitherto +even travelled Americans have regarded it as a remnant +of the Middle Ages, and hopelessly reactionary. It +was part of the Kaiser's policy to make the rest of the +world think so, for he had adopted and adapted this +Bismarckian chart while throwing the pilot of many +stormy seas overboard. Bismarck lived to see the +heritage of despotism, which he had destined for his oldest +son, seized by a young monarch, whose capabilities he +had underrated. Then, the Danes say, he uttered the +sneer, 'I will freshen the Hohenzollern blood with that +of Struense!'</p> + +<p>The German propaganda for controlling the Church +in the United States had been well thought out in 1866. +The emigrants from Germany, just after 1848, were not +open to the influence of Prussian ideas; they had had +more than sufficient of them, but when the great crowd +of Germans came in later, it was time to inject the proper +spirit of Prussianism into their veins.</p> + +<p>It is well known that the Emperor William had his +eyes on the Vatican. He was wise enough to see that +if the Catholic Church lost in one place, she was certain +to gain in another; it was not necessary for him to +read Macaulay's eloquent passage on the Papacy, as +most statesmen who speak English do. But his indiscretions +in speech and writing, whether premeditated +or not, for the <i lang="de">Zeitgeist</i> and the orthodox Lutherans<a class="pagenum" name="Page_132" id="Page_132" title="[Pg 132]"></a> +must be propitiated—were constantly nullifying his +plans.</p> + +<p>As to the spiritual essence of the Catholic Church, +the emperor did not recognise it. Papal Rome was +dangerous to him as long as it remained independent; +he coquetted with Harnack and with the most advanced +of the higher critics who whittled the Bible into a pipestem. +How he squared himself with the orthodox +Lutherans, apparently nearly two-thirds of the population, +can only be shown by his constant allusions to the +Prussian God. As a State Church, yielding obedience +almost entirely to the governing power of the country, +he had little fear of Lutheranism in its varying shades +of opinion. The Jews he evidently always distrusted. +He regarded them as Internationalists and not to be +recognised until they became of the State Church; then +they might aspire, for certain considerations, to be <i lang="de">rath</i> +and even to wear the precious <i lang="de">von</i>.</p> + +<p>The emperor wanted control of the Vatican. He +knows history (at least we thought so in Copenhagen), +and he was sympathetic with his ancestors in all their +quarrels with the Holy See on the subject of the investitures; +the emperor had wisely foreseen that difficulties +of the same kind between the Vatican and +himself might easily break out, were not the Vatican +modernised or controlled. He knew that the claims of +the Popes to dethrone rulers could never be revived +since they were not inherent in the Papacy, but only +admitted by the consent of Christendom, which had +ceased to exist as a political entity; but the question +of the right of a lay emperor to control the policy of +the Holy Father in matters of the religious education, +marriage, church discipline of Catholics might at any +time arise. He knew the <i lang="la">non possumus</i> of Rome too<a class="pagenum" name="Page_133" id="Page_133" title="[Pg 133]"></a> +well to believe that in a spiritual crisis she could be +moved by the threats of any ruler. If His Imperial +Majesty could have forced the principle of some of his +ancestors that the religion of a sovereign must be that +of his subjects, the question might be settled. If he +could have arranged the religion of his subjects as easily +as he settled the question as to the authenticity of the +Flora of Lucas in Berlin in favour of Director Bode, +how clear the way would have been! As it was, he +knew too well what he might expect from Rome in a +crisis where he, following the Prussian <i lang="de">Zeitgeist</i>, might +wish to infringe on the spiritual prerogatives. To understand +the world every European diplomatist of experience +knows the Vatican must not be ignored, and, while the +War Lord, the future emperor of the world, hated to +acknowledge this, he was compelled to do it. The Vatican, +that had nullified the May laws and defeated Falk, +their sponsor, might give the emperor trouble at any +time. Catholics of the higher classes all over Europe +were ceasing to be Royalists. The Pope, Leo <span class="smcap lc">XIII.</span>, had +even accepted the French Republic, and for the part +of Cardinal Rampolla and of Archbishop Ireland in +this the Kaiser hid his rancour. He must be absolute +as far as the right of his family and those of the hereditary +succession went, and quite as absolute in his control +over such laws as were for the increase of the Kultur of +his people.</p> + +<p>At one time, since the present war opened, it was +rumoured at Copenhagen that plural marriages were to +be allowed, to increase the population of a nation so +rapidly being depleted. I was astonished to hear a +German Lutheran pastor—he was speaking personally, +and not for his church—say that there was nothing +against this in the teachings of Luther or Melanchthon.<a class="pagenum" name="Page_134" id="Page_134" title="[Pg 134]"></a> +He quoted the affair of a Landgraf of Hesse in the sixteenth +century.</p> + +<p>'But the Kaiser would not consent to this,' I said. +'Why not?' responded the pastor. 'He knows his Old +Testament; he has the right of private interpretation +especially when the good of the State is to be considered.'</p> + +<p>'Over a third of the Germans are Catholics; the Pope +would never consent to that.'</p> + +<p>'There would be an obstacle,' he admitted; 'but the +Kaiser, in the interests of the nation, would have his +way. Our nation must have soldiers. You Americans,' +he added, bitterly, 'are killing our prospective fathers +in the name of Bethlehem. We must make up the deficit +by turning to the Hebraic practice.'</p> + +<p>'You cannot bring the Catholics to that, and I doubt +whether any decent people would consent to it, in spite +of your quotation from Luther's precedent. No Pope +could allow it.'</p> + +<p>'A Pope can do anything—whom you shall forgive,' +he laughed, 'is forgiven.'</p> + +<p>'A Pope cannot do anything; the moment he approved +of plural marriages in the interest of any nation, he +would cease to be Pope. He cannot abrogate a law both +divine and natural, and I doubt——'</p> + +<p>'Do not doubt the power of the head of the German +people, the Shepherd of his Church. The German +people are the religious, the spiritual counterparts of +the true Israelites, were begotten by the spirit, mystical +Jehovah who made Israel the prophet-nation; +mystically He has designated the German tribes as their +successors. He lives in us. This war is His doing; +our Kultur, which is saturated with our religion, is inspired +by Him. He must destroy that the elect may live.'</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_135" id="Page_135" title="[Pg 135]"></a> +'Again, I repeat, Germany can no more accept such +debasing of the moral currency than she can encourage +the production of illegitimate children at the present +moment. I do not believe that there is a hospital in +Berlin, especially arranged for the caring for the offspring +of army nurses and soldiers. It is a calumny.'</p> + +<p>'We must have boy children,' said the pastor, 'but +that is going too far. Still, <i lang="de">Deutschland über alles</i>. +We may one day have a German Pope with modern +ideas.'</p> + +<p>My friend of St. Peter's Lutheran German Church +was out of town. I asked another friend to report +the conversation to him. Our mutual friend said that +Pastor Lampe smiled and said<span class="corr" title="added: ,">,</span> 'There are extremists +in every country. Tell the American Minister to read +Dr. Preuss in the <i lang="de">Allgemeine Evangelische</i>, <i lang="de">Lutherische +Kirchenzeitung</i>.'</p> + +<p>But I am out of due time; Dr. Preuss's famous <i>Passion +of Germany</i>, in full, appeared later, in 1915.</p> + +<p>It is true that Austria's vote at the Conclave had +defeated Cardinal Rampolla as a candidate for the +Papacy. The Emperor of Austria had permitted himself +to be used as a tool of the German Emperor, not +willingly, perhaps, for Rampolla stood for many things +political which the Absolutists hated. Nevertheless, he +had done it, to the disgust of the College of Cardinals, +who thus saw a forgotten weapon of the lay power used +against themselves. They abolished the right of veto, +which Austria as a Catholic Power had retained. But +the Conclave elected a Pope who did not please the +Kaiser. He was a kindly man of great religious fervour, +impossible to be moved by German cajoling or threats. +The knowledge of the crime of Germany killed him. +Nevertheless, the Emperor William had curbed the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_136" id="Page_136" title="[Pg 136]"></a> +power of Rampolla, as he hoped to destroy that of +Archbishop Ireland in the Great Republic of the West. +A powerful Church with a tendency to democracy was +what he feared, and Archbishop Ireland, a frankly democratic +prelate, the friend of France, the admirer of +Lafayette, had dared to raise his powerful hand against +the religious propaganda of the All Highest in the +United States of America, where one day German +Kultur was to have a home. The great Napoleon had +thought of his sister, the Princess Pauline, as Empress +of the Western hemisphere. Why not one of our imperial +sons for the crude Republic which had helped +Mexico in the old, blind days to eject Maximilian? +Napoleon had made his son, later the Duke of Reichstadt, +King of Rome. Why should not one of the sons +of our Napoleonic Crown Prince be even greater, a +German Pope—at least a German Prince of the Church +expounding Harnack with references to Strauss's <i>Life +of Jesus</i>? Why not? The vicegerent of the Teutonic +God?</p> + +<p>From many sources it leaked out that the Kaiser +looked on the Most Reverend John Ireland as an enemy +of his projects both in Europe and the United States. +The Archbishop of St. Paul was known to be the friend +of Cardinal Rampolla. All who knew the inside of +recent history were aware that he had been consulted by +Leo <span class="smcap lc">XIII.</span> on vital matters pertaining to France, in which +country the ultra-Royalists, who had managed to wrap +a large part of the mantle of the Church around them, +were making every possible mistake and opposing the +Pope's determination to recognise the Republic. Archbishop +Ireland had been educated in France; he had +served in the Civil War as chaplain; he knew his own +country as few ecclesiastics knew it. He, growing up<a class="pagenum" name="Page_137" id="Page_137" title="[Pg 137]"></a> +with the West, in the most American part of the West, +had brought all the resources of European culture, of +an unusual experience in world affairs, to a country +at that time not rich in men of his type. In the East, +the Catholic Church had had prelates like Cardinal Cheverus, +Archbishop of Boston, a number of them, but St. Paul +was little better than a trading station when John Ireland +finished the first part of his education in France. The +tide of emigration had not yet begun to raise questions +on the answers to which the future of the country depended. +It required far-sighted men to consider them sanely. +From the beginning Archbishop Ireland reflected on +them. He saw the danger of rooting in new soil the +bad, old weeds, the seeds of which were poisoning +Europe. He was familiar with the <i lang="fr">coulisses du Vatican</i>, +knew that Rome ecclesiastically would try to do the +right thing. But Rome ecclesiastically depends very +largely on the information it receives from the countries +under consideration.</p> + +<p>The attitude of the opponents of the Catholic Church +is due, as a rule, to their ignorance of anything worth +knowing about the Church and their utter disregard of +its real history. Their narrow attitude is illustrated +by the story that President Roosevelt, in a Cabinet +Meeting was once considering the form of a document +which official etiquette required, should be addressed to +the Pope. 'Your Holiness,' said the President. A +member of the Cabinet objected. This title from a +Protestant President! 'Do you want me to call the +Pope the Son of the Scarlet Lady?' asked the President. +The objection was as valid as that of the Puritan +who objected to sign a letter 'Yours faithfully' because +he was not <em>his</em> faithfully!</p> + +<p>In the celebrated <i>Century</i> article of 1908, the handling<a class="pagenum" name="Page_138" id="Page_138" title="[Pg 138]"></a> +of which showed that the editors of the <i>Century</i> +held their honour higher than any other possession, an +allusion to Archbishop Ireland appeared. I have been +informed that it showed the animus of the Kaiser +against the Archbishop, who with Cardinal Gibbons, the +Bishops Keane, Spalding, O'Gorman, and Archbishop +Riordan seconded by the present Bishop of Richmond, +Denis O'Connell, had defeated, after a frightful +struggle, the attempt of Kaiserism to govern the Catholic +Church in this country. Its beginnings seemed harmless +enough.</p> + +<p>A merchant named Peter Paul Cahensly of Limburg, +Prussia, suggested at the Catholic Congress of Trier, the +establishment of a society for protecting German emigrants +to the United States, both at the port of leaving and +the port of arriving. Another Catholic Congress met +in Bamburg, Bavaria, three years later. Connection was +made with the Central <span lang="de">Verein</span>, which at its convention +took up the matter zealously. But the zeal waned, and +in 1888, Herr Cahensly came to New York in the steerage +so that he could know how the German emigrant lived +at sea. He arranged that the German emigrants should +be looked after in New York and then left for home. +It was reasonable enough that Cahensly should interest +himself in the welfare of the Germans at the point of +departure, but entirely out of order that he should attempt +any control of the methods for taking care of the emigrants +on this side.</p> + +<p>It was suspected that Cahensly had talked over a plan +for retaining the Catholic Germans, especially in the +West, where they formed large groups, as still part of +their native country. This had already been tried among +the Lutherans, and had for a time succeeded. The +Swedish Lutherans, segregated under the direction of<a class="pagenum" name="Page_139" id="Page_139" title="[Pg 139]"></a> +<a class="corr" name="TC_28" id="TC_28" title="was: German educated">German-educated</a> pastors, were considered to have +been well taken care of. The war has shown that the +Americans of Swedish birth in the West showed independence.</p> + +<p>The suspicions entertained by the watchful were corroborated +when, in 1891, Cahensly presented a memorial +to the Papal Secretary of State, Cardinal Rampolla, +making the plea that the 'losses' to the Church were so +great, owing to the lack of teaching and preaching in +German, that a measure ought to be taken to remedy this +evil by appointing foreign Bishops and priests, imported +naturally, so that each nationality would use the language +of its own country.</p> + +<p>The object aimed at was to put the English language +in the background, to have the most tender relations, +those between God and little children, between the +growing youths and Christianity, dominated by a mode +of thought and expression which would alienate them +from their fellows. In business, a man might speak +such English as he could; but English was not good +enough for him in the higher relations of life. He +might earn money in 'this crude America,' but all the +finenesses of life must be German. I think I pointed +out in the New York <i>Freeman's Journal</i> at the time, +that, if there were a special German Holy Ghost, as +some of these Germanophiles seemed to believe, he had +failed to observe that there was little in the 'heretical' +English language so devoid of all morality as the +dogmas proposed to govern the conduct of life in some +of the Wisconsin papers, printed in German.</p> + +<p>Some clear-sighted Americans, Cardinal Gibbons and +Archbishop Ireland at their head, saw what this meant. +Kaiserism was concealed in the glow of piety. The proceedings +of the <span lang="de">Priester Verein</span> Convention, in Newark,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_140" id="Page_140" title="[Pg 140]"></a> +September 26, 1892, is on record. The Ordinary of the +Diocese, Bishop Wigger, had protested against the stand +the German Priests' Society proposed to take; he had +announced his disapproval in advance of 'Cahenslyism'; +he was stolidly against the appointment of 'national,' +that is, trans-Atlantic Bishops selected because they spoke +no language but their own.</p> + +<p>The choice of the 'Germanisers' was the Reverend +Dr. P. J. Schroeder—<a class="corr" name="TC_29" id="TC_29" title="was: Monsigneur">Monseigneur</a> Schroeder, rather; he +had been imported by Bishop Keane, afterwards Archbishop, +to lecture at the Catholic University. Bishop +Keane, like most Americans before the war, believed +that Germany held many persons of genius who honoured +us by coming over. When Dr. Schroeder's name was +mentioned, a caustic English prelate had remarked: 'I +thought the Americans had enough mediocrities in their +own country without going abroad for them.' But Mgr. +Schroeder had a very high opinion of himself. American +Catholics were heretical persons, of no metaphysical +knowledge; they could not count accurately the number +of angels who could dance on the point of a needle! He +arrogantly upheld the German idea. English-speaking +priests were neither willing nor capable. The emigrants +in the United States would be Germans or nothing—<i lang="la">aut +Kaiser aut nullus</i>.</p> + +<p>The German priests in the West claimed the right to +exclude from the Sacraments all children and their +parents who did not attend their schools, no matter how +inefficient they were. The controversy became international.</p> + +<p>In Germany, to deny the premises of Mgr. Schroeder +was to be heretical, worthy of excommunication; in +this country there was a camp of Kaiserites who held the +same opinion. It is true that Bismarck had opened the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_141" id="Page_141" title="[Pg 141]"></a> +<i lang="de">Kulturkampf</i> in the name of the unity of the Fatherland. +It is true that the Kaiser would gladly have +claimed the right his ancestors had struggled for—of +investing Bishops with the badges of authority—and +that he gave his hearty approbation to the exile of the +Jesuits. Nevertheless, he was the Kaiser! Compared +with him, the President of the United States was an +upstart, and Cardinal Gibbons was to the ultra-Germans +almost an anathema as Cardinal Mercier is! There +was a fierce struggle for several years. Bombs, more +or less ecclesiastical, were dropped on Archbishop Ireland's +diocese.</p> + +<p>To hear some of these bigots talk, we would have +thought that this brave American was Talleyrand, Bishop +of Autun. But the right won. Cahenslyism was +stamped out, and here was another reason why the +Kaiser did not love Archbishop Ireland, and another +reason why Bavaria and Austria, backed up by Prussia, +protested against every attempt on the part of Rome +to give him the Cardinal's hat. This would have meant +the highest approval of a prelate who stood for everything +the Kaiser and the Bavarian and Austrian courts +detested.</p> + +<p>The <i lang="la">curia</i> is made up of the councillors of the Pope; +a layman might be created Cardinal—it is not a sacerdotal +office in itself—and while the Pope would reject with +scorn the request that a temporal Government should +nominate a bishop, he might accept graciously a request +that a certain prelate be made a cardinal from the ruler +of any nation.</p> + +<p>If President Roosevelt had been willing to make such +a request to Leo <span class="smcap lc">XIII.</span>—he was urged to do it by many +influential Protestants who saw what Archbishop Ireland +had done in the interest of this country—there is no<a class="pagenum" name="Page_142" id="Page_142" title="[Pg 142]"></a> +doubt that his request would have been granted. The +Cardinals are 'created' for distinguished learning. One +might quote the comparatively modern example of +Cardinals Newman and Gasquet; for traditional reasons, +because of the importance of their countries in the life +of the Church; and they might be created, in older +days, for political reasons. But the wide-spread belief +that a Cardinal was necessarily a priest leads to misconceptions +of the quality of the office.</p> + +<p>If the French Republic were to follow the example +of England and China, send an envoy to the Holy See, +and make a 'diplomatic' <i lang="fr">rapprochement</i>, neither Rome +nor any nation in Europe would be shocked if His Holiness +should consent to a suggestion from the President of the +French Republic and 'create,' let us say, Abbé Klein a +Cardinal.</p> + +<p>Archbishop Ireland with his group of Americans saved +us from the insults of the propaganda of Kaiserism. +This name was synonymous with all things political and +much that is social, loathed by the absolutes in Austria, +Bavaria and, of course, Germany. The creation of +Archbishop Ireland as a Cardinal would have been looked +on by these powers as a deadly insult to them, on the part +of the Pope. They made this plain.</p> + +<p>The failure of the Cahensly plan caused much disappointment +in Germany. The Kaiser, in spite of his +flings at the Catholic Church—witness a part of the +suppressed <i>Century</i> article and the letter to an aunt 'who +went over to Rome'—was quite willing to appear as her +benefactor. Much has been made of his interest in the +restoration of the Cathedral of Cologne. This, after all, +was simply a national duty. A monarch with over one-third +of his subjects Catholics, taking his revenues from +the taxes levied on them, could scarcely do less than<a class="pagenum" name="Page_143" id="Page_143" title="[Pg 143]"></a> +assist in the preservation of this most precious historical +monument.</p> + +<p>He seemed to have become regardless of the opinion +of his subjects. He had heart-to-heart talks with the +world; one of these talks was with Mr. William Bayard +Hale; the <i>Century Magazine</i> bought it for $1,000.00. +It was to appear in December 1908. That its value as +a 'sensation' was not its main value may be inferred +from the character of the editors, Richard Watson +Gilder, Robert Underwood Johnson and Clarence +Clough Buel—a group of scrupulously honourable gentlemen. +This conversation with Mr. Hale took place on +the Kaiser's yacht. It was evidently intended for publication, +for the most indiscreet of sovereigns do not +talk to professional writers without one eye on the +public.</p> + +<p>Speaking of his <i>Impressions of the Kaiser</i>, the Hon. +David Jayne Hill says: 'It seemed like a real personal +contact, frank, sincere, earnest and honest. One could +not question that, and it was the beginning of other +contacts more intimate and prolonged; especially at Kiel, +where the sportsman put aside all forms of court etiquette, +lying flat on the deck of the <i>Meteor</i> as she scudded under +heavy sail with one rail under water; at <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Eckernförde">Eckernforde</span>, +where the old tars came into the ancient inn in the evening +to meet their Kaiser and drink to his Majesty's health a +glass of beer.<span class="corr" title="added: '">'</span></p> + +<p>'Did you ever see anything more democratic in +America?' the Kaiser asked, gleefully, one time. 'What +would Roosevelt think of this?' he inquired at another.</p> + +<p>'Hating him, as many millions no doubt do,' Mr. Hill +continues, 'it would soften their hearts to hear him +laugh like a child at a good story, or tell one himself. +Can it be? Yes, it can be. There is such a wide difference<a class="pagenum" name="Page_144" id="Page_144" title="[Pg 144]"></a> +between the gentler impulses of a man and the rude +part ambition causes him to play in life! A rôle partly +self-chosen, it is true, and not wholly thrust upon him. +A soul accursed by one, great, wrong idea, and the purposes, +passions, and resolutions generated by it. A mind +distorted, led into captivity, and condemned to crime by +the obsession that God has but one people, and they are +his people; that the people have but one will, and that +is his will; that God has but one purpose, and that is +his purpose; and being responsible only to the God of his +own imagination, a purely tribal divinity, the reflection +of his own power-loving nature, that he has no definite +responsibility to men.'</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, in Copenhagen, we understood from +those who knew him well that he was a capital actor, +that he never forgot the footlights except in the bosom +of his family, and even there, as the young princes grew +older, there were times when he had to hide his real +feelings and assume a part. In 1908, he was determined +that the United States should be with him; he never +lost an opportunity of praising President Roosevelt or +of expressing his pleasure in the conversation of Americans. +I think I have said that he boasted that he knew Russia +better than any other man in Germany, and it seemed +as if he wanted to know the United States to the minutest +particular.</p> + +<p>It is a maxim among diplomatists that kings have +no friends, and that the only safe rule in conducting +one's self towards them are the rules prescribed by +court etiquette. It is likewise a rule that politeness +and all social courtesies shall be the more regarded by +their representatives as relations are on the point of +becoming strained between two countries. How little +the Kaiser regarded this rule is obvious in the case of<a class="pagenum" name="Page_145" id="Page_145" title="[Pg 145]"></a> +Judge Gerard, who however frank he was at the Foreign +Office—and the outspoken methods he used in treating +with the German Bureaucrats were the despair of the +lovers of protocol—was always most discreet in meetings +with the Kaiser. I was asked quietly from Berlin to +interpret some of his American 'parables,' which were +supposed to have an occult meaning. There was a tale +of a one-armed man, with an inimitable Broadway flavour, +that 'intrigued' a high German official. I did my best +to interpret it diplomatically. But, though our Ambassador, +the most 'American' of Ambassadors, as my +German friends called him, gave out stories at the Foreign +Office that seemed irreverent to the Great, there was no +assertion that he was not most correct in his relations +with the German Emperor. Yet, one had only to hear +the rumours current in Copenhagen from the Berlin Court +just after the war began, to know that the emperor had +dared to show his claws in a manner that revealed his +real character. Judge Gerard's book has corroborated +these rumours.</p> + +<p>The fact that I had served under three administrations +gave me an unusual position in the diplomatic +corps, irrespective entirely of any personal qualities, +and—this is a digression—I was supposed to be able to +find in Ambassador Gerard's parables in slang their +real menace. A very severe Bavarian count, who deplored +the war principally because it prevented him +from writing to his relations in France, from paying his +tailor's bill in London, and from going for the winter +to Rome, where he had once been Chamberlain at the +Vatican, said that he had heard a story repeated +by an attaché of the Foreign Office and attributed to +Ambassador Gerard, a story which contained a disparaging +allusion to the Holy Father. As a Catholic, I<a class="pagenum" name="Page_146" id="Page_146" title="[Pg 146]"></a> +would perhaps protest to Ambassador Gerard against +this irreverence which he understood had given the +Foreign Minister great pain, as, I must know, the German +Government is most desirous of respecting the feelings of +Catholics.</p> + +<p>'Impossible,' I said. 'Our Ambassador is a special +friend of Cardinal Farley's and he has just sent several +thousand prayer-books to the English Catholic prisoners +in Germany.' Thus the story was told.<a name="FNanchor_8" id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> + +<p>It seemed that among the evil New Yorkers with +whom the Ambassador consorted, there was an American, +named Michael, whose wife went to the priest and complained +that Michael had acquired the habits of drinking +and paying attention to other ladies. 'Very well,' +said the priest, 'I will call on Thursday night, if he is +at home, and I'll take the first chance of remonstrating +with him.'</p> + +<p>The evening came; the priest presented himself, and +entered into a learned conversation on the topics of the +hour, while Michael hid himself behind his paper, giving +no opportunity for the pastor to address him. However, +he knew that his time would come if he did not make a +move into the enemy's country.</p> + +<p>'Father,' he said, lowering his paper, 'you seem to +know the reason for everything that's goin' on to-day; +maybe you'll tell me the meanin' of the word +"diabetes"?'</p> + +<p>'It is the name of a frightful disease that attacks men +who beat their wives and spend their money on other +women, Mike.'</p> + +<p>'I'm surprised, Father,' said Michael, 'because I'm +readin' here that the Pope has it.'</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_147" id="Page_147" title="[Pg 147]"></a> +It was necessary for me to explain that this was one +of our folklore stories, and could be traced back to <i lang="la">Gesta +Romanorum</i>—merely one of the merry jests of which the +German literature itself of the Middle Ages was so full, +of the character, perhaps, of Rheinhard the Fox! This +is an example of the way our Ambassador played on the +Germans' sense of humour, as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern +tried to play on Hamlet's pipe!</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>The German propaganda went on in the United States. +Look at France, look at Italy, in comparison with +Germany's respect for religion! The Falk laws were no +longer of importance; Catholics were to be encouraged +to go into the political service, having hitherto been +'rather discouraged' and even under suspicion, as von +Bülow admitted.</p> + +<p>The German was obsessed by the one idea—the preponderance +of the Fatherland.<a name="FNanchor_9" id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> He was conscientious, +he had for years cultivated a false conscience which +judged everything by one standard: Is this good for +the spread of German Kultur?</p> + +<p>'What do you think of all this?' I asked one of +the most distinguished diplomatists in Europe, now +resident in Berlin, the representative of a neutral country. +'There will be no peace in Europe until Germany +gets what she wants. She knows what she wants, and +since 1870 she has used every possible method to +attain it.'</p> + +<p>To return to the indiscretions of the Kaiser—indiscretions +that were not always uncalculated. Mr. +Clarence Clough Buel, one of the editors of <i>The Century</i>,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_148" id="Page_148" title="[Pg 148]"></a> +felt obliged, in justice, to give an authoritative explanation +of Dr. Hale's suppressed 'interview.' His account +was printed in <i>The New York World</i> for December 26, +1917: 'The proof of this interview had been passed +by the German Foreign Office, with not more than half +a dozen simple verbal changes. They were made in +a bold, ready hand, but as there was no letter, we could +not be sure that the proofs had been revised by the +Emperor. The usual hair-splitting of great men and +officialdom had been anticipated, so with considerable +glee, the trifling plate changes were rushed, and the +big "sixty-four" press was started to toss off 100,000 +copies.'</p> + +<p>The London <i>Daily Telegraph</i> 'interview' of October 28, +1908, was a thunderbolt, and the editors of <i>The Century</i>, +at the urgent request of the German Government, suppressed +the edition. I had been informed by Mr. Gilder +of the facts. I was very glad of it, as I was enabled +to explain this very interesting episode at the Danish +Foreign Office. Mr. Clarence Buel writes (it was his +duty to read the last galley proofs):—'But in the last +cold reading I had grave suspicion that the Kaiser's +reference to the Virgin Mary might be construed by +devout Catholics as a slur on an important tenet of their +faith. So the sacred name was deleted, and the Kaiser's +diction slightly assisted in the kindly spirit for which +editors are not so often thanked by the writing fraternity +as they should be. This incident is mentioned to show +the protective attitude of the magazine, and also to +indicate that the original "leak" as to the contents of +the interview came from an employee of the printing +office. Only some one familiar with the galley proofs +could have known that the Virgin Mary had figured in +the manuscript, for the name did not appear in the printed<a class="pagenum" name="Page_149" id="Page_149" title="[Pg 149]"></a> +pages and consequently could not have reached the +public except for the killing of the interview. Let it +be said, with emphasis, that there was nothing in the +Kaiser's references to the part taken by the Vatican in +looking out for the interests of the Church in world politics +which could have caused serious irritation in any part +of Europe. As a student at the Berlin University, I +had attended some of the debates in the Landtag during +the famous <i lang="de">Kulturkampf</i> over the clerical laws devised +by bold Bismarck to loosen the Catholic grip on the +cultural life of Prussian Poland. Knowing the nature +of that controversy, and the usual, familiar attitude of +(Protestant) Europeans toward religious topics, I could +believe that everything in the article bearing on Church +and State, from the over-lord of most Lutherans, was +offered in a respectful spirit, and would hardly make a +ripple across the sea.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Buel admits that the Kaiser criticised the action +of the Pope and spoke slurringly of the Virgin Mary. +Mr. Buel evidently means that the Foreign Offices of +the world would not have been stirred by the censure +of the Kaiser or by even some frivolous comments on +the Blessed Virgin. Mr. Buel, who is discretion itself, +having been one of those who practically gave his word +of honour that the 'interview' should be suppressed, was +evidently desirous that public curiosity should not be +too greatly excited as to its tenor. He does not excuse +the Kaiser, but as he is a very liberal Protestant +himself, speeches coming from a ruler, that would +excite indignation even among Catholics in Europe, +naturally do not strike him as insulting. It leaked out +long ago that in the 'interview' His Imperial Majesty +alluded to Archbishop Ireland in rather disrespectful +terms.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_150" id="Page_150" title="[Pg 150]"></a> +Only the staunch Americanism of the Catholics of this +country saved them from this insidious propaganda. If +this spirit did not exist among them, they would have +been led to believe that the Central Powers were the only +European countries in the world where a Catholic was +free to practise his religion.</p> + +<p>We know what the German propaganda working on +politicians did in Canada among the French-speaking +population. We saw, in the beginning of the war, +how the Protestants of Ulster were used. There is a +passage in Mr. Wells's <i>Mr. Britling Sees It Through</i> which +illuminates this.</p> + +<p>'England will grant Home Rule,' said a Prussian +closely connected with the Berlin Foreign Office, 'and +then Sir Edward Carson and his Ulsterites will, with his +mutineering British army, keep England too busy to +fight us.' They believed this in very high quarters in +Germany.</p> + +<p>But when the British Government did not put the +Home Rule Bill in force, the propagandists turned +to certain Irish Intellectuals. 'You had better be +governed by Germany than England,' said the +followers of Sir Roger Casement, and the sentiment, +whether uttered academically or not, found a hundred +echoes.</p> + +<p>But first had been heard the German-inspired cry of +the Ulsterites, 'We had rather be governed by Germany +than the Irish, by the Kaiser rather than the Irish Roman +Catholic Bishops.' Most of us knew that there was no +such danger, for Home Rule would have naturally cut +into the political power of the Irish Bishops by strengthening +the secular element forced into the background by the +unfortunate conditions in Ireland, which had prevented +the Catholic laymen from acquiring higher education,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_151" id="Page_151" title="[Pg 151]"></a> +and obliging the clergy to become political leaders. It +made no difference. The fermenters of religious dissension +in Ireland played into the hands of the Prussians; there +was laughter in Hell.</p> + +<p>We knew that the slogan, 'Better be governed by +Germany than by Ulster,' was not echoed in our own +country among men of Irish blood. But when Germany, +through her agents, began to suggest an Irish Republic, +protected by the Imperial Eagle, a small +party formed in the United States, not pro-German, but +anti-English. This was before we went into the war. +'Every defeat of the English is a gain for Ireland,' the +German propagandist repeated over and over again. +It sank in; the Ulsterites thundered, and Sinn Fein, +which had been non-political, became suddenly revolutionary.</p> + +<p>In our country the effect of all this was marked. +Every sentiment of religion and patriotism was played +upon. Only those who received the confidences of some +of those deceived Revolutionists of the unhappy Easter +Day know how bitter was the feeling against England +generated by the conspiracies in the interest of Prussian +domination. Then we gloriously took our stand and +went in. The practical answer came. The Swedish +Lutherans and the Sinn Fein Catholics took up their +arms without waiting to be drafted; Ireland must look +after herself until the invaders were driven out of France +and Belgium!</p> + +<p>If the Secret Service is ever permitted to take the +American public and the world into its confidence, the +strength, the cleverness, and the permeativeness of the +propaganda, especially religious, in the United States, +will be shown to be astounding. 'What, son of Luther, +strikes at the German breast of your forefathers!' To<a class="pagenum" name="Page_152" id="Page_152" title="[Pg 152]"></a> +use a phrase that would not be understood at the Berlin +Foreign Office, the Prussian propagandist had us 'coming +and going.'</p> + +<p>One could not help admiring the skill of these people. +We, in our honest shirt sleeves were left gaping. Shirt +sleeves and dollar diplomacy were beautiful things in +the opinion of people who believed that the little red +schoolhouse and the international Hague Conference were +all that were needed to keep us free and make the world +safe for democracy! There are no such beautiful things +now. If we are to fight the devil with fire, we ought to +know previously what kind of fire the devil uses. That +requires the use of chemical experts, and the German +experts, before this war, were not employed on the side of +the angels. We have won; but do not let us imagine +that we have killed the devil.</p> + +<p>The propaganda still went on, and honest people +were influenced by it. 'The Pope belongs to us,' the +German propagandists said. 'He has not reprimanded +Cardinal Mercier,' replies some logical person, 'and +Cardinal Mercier has done more harm to German claims +even in Germany than any other living man.' 'The +Pope sympathises with our claims; he is the friend of +law and order, consequently, he is with us.' Easily +impressed folk among the Allies accepted this. They +believed the tale that the Italian rout in the autumn +of 1917 was due to Catholic officers, who were paraded +through every city in Europe with 'traitor' placarded +on each back! A foolish story to direct attention from +the efforts of the paid conspirators who did the mischief. +They saw only the surface of things. They +seemed to think that the theorem of Euclid that a +straight line is the shortest distance from one point to +another holds in the political underworld. The Pope<a class="pagenum" name="Page_153" id="Page_153" title="[Pg 153]"></a> +was attacked, which pleased the propagandists. 'O +Holy Father, see how I, Head of the German Lutheran +Church, love you, and see! your wicked enemies are my +enemies.' And so the German propagandist divided and +discouraged!</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<div><a class="pagenum" name="Page_154" id="Page_154" title="[Pg 154]"></a></div> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /> +<span class="chapintro">THE PRUSSIAN HOLY GHOST</span></h2> + + +<p>The Prussic acid had permeated every vein and artery +of the Lutheran Church in Germany. Whatever religious +influence that could be brought to bear on the +Danes was used; but they look with suspicion on any +mixture of religion and politics. Besides, their kind +of Lutheranism is more liberal than the German. With +the proper apologies I must admit that they are not, at +present, easily accessible to any religious considerations +that will interfere with their individual comfort. The +union between the Lutherans in Denmark and the +Lutherans in Germany is not close. The Danes will not +accept the doctrine, preached in Germany, that Martin +Luther was the glorious author of the war, and that +victory for Germany must be in his name! I had +many friends in Germany. One, a Lutheran pastor, +wrote in 1914:</p> + +<p>'Your country, though pretending to be neutral, is +against us, and you, once dear friend, are against us. +You are no longer a child of light.'</p> + +<p class="sic uncorrected" title="[sic]">The effect of the religious propaganda has been too +greatly underrated for the simple and illogical reason +that religion, in the opinion of the people of the outside +world, moulded for long years by the German school of +philosophy, had concluded that religion had ceased to be +an influence in men's lives.</p> + +<p>The Pope, because he had lost his temporal power,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_155" id="Page_155" title="[Pg 155]"></a> +was effete, reduced to the position of John Bunyan's +impotent giant! Lutheranism, in fact, all Protestant +sects, were giving up the ghost, under the blows of +Hæckel, Virchow, Rudolf Harnack and the rest of the +school of higher critics! These men laid the foundation +stones for the acceptance of Nietzsche—Schopenhauer +being outworn—and the learned as well as the more +ignorant of the cultured seemed to think that, as German +scholars had settled the matter, faith in Christianity was +only the prejudice of the weak.</p> + +<p>The Kaiser knew human nature better than this. +While he believed in his Prussian Holy Ghost—Napoleon +had his star—he was not averse to seeing the spiritual +foundations of the world, especially the dogmatic part, +which supported Christianity, disintegrated. Discussing +the effect of this, I was forced, in March of 1918, to say +publicly, 'The Kaiser is the greatest enemy to Christianity +in Europe.' The reception of many protests from +apparently sincere persons confirmed me in my belief +that the propaganda had been more insidious than most +of us believed. Let us turn now to the effect of the +ruthless propaganda in Germany itself. Note this +letter:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'You, I can almost forgive, because, as I have told you +often, you dwell religiously in darkness; but your Protestant +country, which owes its best to us, I cannot forgive. In +the name of Bethlehem, you kill our sons, and corrupt our +cousins, Karl and Bernhard, whom you know in America. +Karl, when he was in my house last week, was insolent; he +dared to say that the Germans in America were Americans, +that, if Martin Luther sympathised with our glorious struggle, +he was in hell! This is wild American talk; but I fear that +too many of our good people in America have been "Yankeefied" +and lost their religion. However, our glorious Kaiser +has not been idle all these years; the good Germans in your<a class="pagenum" name="Page_156" id="Page_156" title="[Pg 156]"></a> +misled country, not bought by English gold, will arise shortly +and demand that no more ammunition shall be sent to be +used against their relatives. I saw your relation, Lagos, in +Fiume; he cares nothing for Luther or the Prussian cause, +but he is only a Hungarian, with Irish blood, and he will only +speak of his Emperor respectfully, and say nothing against +our enemies in America; his son has been killed in Russia; +it is a judgment upon a man who is so lukewarm. The Austrian +Emperor is forced to help us; he, too, is tainted with the +blood of anti-Christ. I have heard that, when the war broke +out, and they told him, he said: "I suppose we shall fight +those damned Prussians again!" Was this jocose? Lagos +laughed; it is no time to laugh; Karl and Bernhard will go +back to where they belong, in Pennsylvania, accursed for +their treachery,—vipers we have cherished, false to the principles +of Luther.'</p></div> + +<p>An honest man, sincere enough, with no sense of +humour, and a very good friend until one contradicted +his Pan-Germanism. One might differ from him, with +impunity, on any other question! 'Our pulpits are +thundering for the Lord, Luther, and a German +victory!'</p> + +<p>There had been a movement in England for a union +of the Anglican Church with the Lutheran branch of +Protestantism in Denmark. It may have been extended +to Norway and Sweden as well, but I do not know. +There was much opposition on the part of the Germanised +Lutherans: 'It would be giving up the central principle +of Lutheranism to submit to re-consecration and reordination +by the Anglican Bishops. It would be as bad +as going to Rome or Russia or Abyssinia for Holy Orders. +In Denmark, especially, Luther, through Bergenhagen, +had cut off the falsely-claimed Apostolical succession. +How could a national Church remain national and become +English?'</p> + +<p>If I remember rightly, Pastor Storm, a clergyman greatly<a class="pagenum" name="Page_157" id="Page_157" title="[Pg 157]"></a> +distinguished for his character, learning, and breadth +of view, was in favour of such a union; he did not +think it meant the Anglicanising of the Lutheran Church. +Men like Pastor Storm were placed in the minority. +The Germans were against it. Bishop Rördam, the +primate, Bishop of Zeeland, told me that German influence +could have had nothing to do with the decision; he said, +'It is true that, if we wanted the Apostolical succession +we could go either to Rome or Russia. We are well +enough as we are.'</p> + +<p>When the attempt at the union failed, those pastors +in Germany who had watched the progress of the undertaking, +rejoiced greatly. My former friend, the Lutheran +pastor, wrote:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'The Anglican Church is a great enemy to our German +Kultur, though German influence among its divines is becoming +greater and greater. I am obliged to you for the +American books on St. Paul. I read them slowly. I observe +with joy that all the authorities quoted are from German +sources; surely such good men as the authors of these books +must see that your country is recreant to the memories of the +great Liberator, Martin Luther, in not preaching against the +export of arms from your country to the Entente and the +starving of our children! I thank you for the books, and +also for the one by the French priest, which is, of course, +worthless, as he sneers at Harnack. Later, these French will +know our Kultur with a vengeance! I gather from the +volumes of Canon Sheehan, as you call him, that the influence +on clerical education in Ireland is German. We have driven +the French influence from your universities, too, and the +theological schools of Harvard and Yale, thanks to the great +Dr. <a class="corr" name="TC_30" id="TC_30" title="was: Münsterburg">Münsterberg</a>, who is opposed by a creature called Schofield, +are German. The power of our cultural Lutheranism is +spreading against the errors of Calvin in the College of Princeton, +and the Roman Catholic colleges in the States are becoming +more enlightened by the presence of men like the +late Magistrate Schroeder, who may be tolerated by us as the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_158" id="Page_158" title="[Pg 158]"></a> +entering wedge of our Kultur. You have been frank; I am +frank with you. I have received your translation of Goethe's +<i>Knowest Thou the Land</i> and <i>The Parish Priest's Work</i>. As +your ancient preceptor, I will say that both are bad.'</p></div> + +<p>He is, after all, an honest man. Of course, I do not +hear from him. His two sons are dead, in Russia; he +probably talks less of 'judgments' now, poor soul! He +was only part of the machine of which the Kaiser was +the god!</p> + +<p>The perverted state of mind of these honest men in +whom a false conscience has been carefully cultivated +was amazing. On December 23rd, 1915, a Danish Bishop +wrote a letter of good-will to a colleague of his in Germany, +saying, among other things, 'Even the victor must now +bear so many burdens that for a generation he must +lament and sigh under them.' The German pastor +answered on December 27th:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Do you remember, at the beginning of the war, you answered, +to my well-grounded words, "We must, we will, and +we shall win," "How can that ever be?" The question has +been answered; from Vilna to Salonica, from Antwerp to the +Euphrates, in Courland and Poland, our armies are triumphant; +we take our own wherever we find it, and we hold it! I pity +you,' the amiable pastor continued; 'I have the deepest +commiseration for you neutrals, that you should remain +outside of this wonderfully great experience of God's glory, +you, above all, who call yourselves Scandinavians and are of +the stock of the German Martin Luther. You hold nought +of the mighty things that God has now for a year and a half +been bestowing on the Fatherland. He who has little, from +him shall be taken away <a class="corr" name="TC_31" id="TC_31" title="was: that">what</a> he has. This war is not a <i lang="de"><span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: kaffeeklatsch">kaffeeklarch</span></i>, +and the work of a soldier is not embroidery. Our +Lord God, who let His son die on the Cross is not the Chairman +of a tea party, and He who came to bring, not peace, but a +sword, is not a town messenger. He lives, He reigns, He +triumphs! The chant of the Bethlehem angels, "peace on<a class="pagenum" name="Page_159" id="Page_159" title="[Pg 159]"></a> +earth" is as veritable as when it was for the first time heard. +There lay on the manger the Infant who as a Man was to +conquer, that He might give peace to earth. Our Germans, +who in 1870 bled, died and conquered, won for their own +country and Scandinavia and Central Europe forty-four +years of peace. For these nations and for a more permanent +peace in this world our country is battling to-day. Gloria! +Victoria! We will throw down our arms only when we have +conquered, that this peace may reign.'</p></div> + +<p>Bishop Koch, of Ribe—Jacob Riis's old town in +Denmark—was the writer of the first letter. It is not +necessary to name the writer of the second; his name +is legion! It is not for the right, for the defence of the +poor, the helpless, the forsaken, for the old woman, pitifully +weeping, in the hands of the bloody supermen, to +whom, according to this pious pastor, Christ sent the +sword, that Germany may rule, and force her dyes, and +her 'by-products,' and her ruthless, selfish brutality on +the world. If John the Baptist lived to-day, and had +asked these good pastors to follow him in the real spirit +of Christianity, one may be sure that they would have +found some excuses for the energetic Salome, who gloated +over the precursor's head.</p> + +<p>Frequently the German pastors made flying visits to +Copenhagen—after the war began—not in the old way, +when in the summer they came, with hundreds of their +countrymen, bearing frugal meals, and wearing long +cloaks and cocks' feathers in their hats. The day of +the very cheap excursion had passed. Now, they came +to 'talk over' things, to assure their Danish brethren +of the stock 'of Luther' that it was a crime to be +neutral.</p> + +<p>I had gone to the house of a very distinguished +Lutheran clergyman, Professor Valdemar Ammundsen, +to listen to a 'talk' by Pasteur Soulnier, of the Lutheran<a class="pagenum" name="Page_160" id="Page_160" title="[Pg 160]"></a> +Church in Paris: Mr. Cyril Brown, the keen observer +and clever writer, accompanied me. We were struck +with the evidences of <a class="corr" name="TC_32" id="TC_32" title="was: Christain">Christian</a> charity and breadth of +kindness shown by Pasteur Soulnier. He had only +words of praise for his Catholic brethren in France; +there was no word of bitterness or hatred in his discourse; +but his voice broke a little when he spoke of +Rheims, and he seemed like old Canon Luçon, the +guardian of that beloved cathedral, who cannot understand +that men can be such demons as the destroyers +have shown themselves to be. We were late for dinner, +and Mr. Brown and I stepped into a restaurant of a +position sufficiently proper for diplomatic patronage, to +dine.</p> + +<p>The day after, as I was taking my walk, accompanied +by my private secretary, a man took off his hat and +addressed me. He spoke English with an accent.</p> + +<p>'Pardon me; I do not know your name; but I know +your friend, Pastor Lampe, one of the most learned of +our young divines; I have seen you talking to him; I +likewise recognised your companion at dinner last night, +Mr. Cyril Brown; he is an American well known in Berlin. +My name is Pastor X. I was formerly of Bremen. May +I have a few words with you?'</p> + +<p>'Certainly,' I said, interested, 'if you will walk to +Friedericksberg.'</p> + +<p>'Part of the way, sir,' he said.</p> + +<p>My secretary whispered,—'Another spy? Shall I +pump him?'</p> + +<p>We had been frequently followed. Only a short time +before, when I had escorted my wife and Frau Frederika +Hagerup, lady-in-waiting to Queen Maud of Norway, +for a short walk, we had been closely followed, by eavesdroppers. +At the corner of the Amaliegade and Saint<a class="pagenum" name="Page_161" id="Page_161" title="[Pg 161]"></a> +Anna's place, just opposite the Hotel King of Denmark, +men had crawled up within earshot, and one had accompanied +us the whole distance. Was this a similar case?</p> + +<p>'Spy?' I said in French. 'Well let him talk!'</p> + +<p>My young secretary shook his head; his way of dealing +with suspected spies was to wring their necks, if +possible. From a long experience with spies, it is my +conclusion that much money is wasted on them. Some +are very agreeable, and give the party of the second +part much amusement. The German pastor, in his +rusty black, looked so respectable, too! He took the +right, which showed that he did not understand that I +was a Minister. A well brought up German, who knew +my rank, would have taken my left side even if he were +about to strangle me!</p> + +<p>'<span lang="de">Bitte,</span>' I said, 'but speak English!'</p> + +<p>'I must beg pardon,' he answered; 'I could not forbear +to tell you what I thought of your conversation at the +restaurant last night. I should have interrupted you, +but I was in the middle of my dinner.'</p> + +<p><em>His</em> sacred dinner; ours did not count.</p> + +<p>'I heard you say to Mr. Cyril Brown that the German +nation at present is the greatest enemy to Christianity +in the world.'</p> + +<p>'No, no, Herr Pastor,' I interrupted; 'I said that the +Emperor William is the worst enemy of Christianity in +the world.'</p> + +<p>'Ah, it is the same thing. You Americans call yourselves +Christians,' he broke out, 'and yet your bombs +from Bethlehem have shattered my son's leg and they +killed thousands of our children. Your nation is Protestant. +You ought to be with us against impious France +and idolatrous Italy—I spit on Italy—the <i lang="fr">cocotte</i> of the +nations, the handmaid of the Papish prostitute of Rome!<a class="pagenum" name="Page_162" id="Page_162" title="[Pg 162]"></a> +And yet you say that our most Christian nation is not +Christian! How can you say it? We are not at war, yet +you treat us as enemies!'</p> + +<p>'We shall soon be at war. The Ambassador of the +United States at Berlin is sending Americans out of that +city. He feels, evidently, that, in spite of his influence +with the Chancellor, you will begin your U-boat outrages, +and then we must be at war! That is plain. But I +think you have said enough. Herr Pastor, good-bye!'</p> + +<p>'No, no,' he said. 'Answer me one question: why do +you say that we Germans are un-Christian? Our Christianity +is the most beautiful, the most learned, the most +cultured!'</p> + +<p>The young are relentless critics; I knew that my +secretary was calling me names for 'picking up' this +strange German clergyman in the street. Moreover, +the secretary was beautifully attired; his morning coat +was perfect; his tall hat tilted back at the right degree, +and the triple white carnation in his buttonhole was a +sight to see. (Dear chap! he is in the greasy automobile +service in Flanders now!) And his cane! (If you walk +out without a cane in polite Copenhagen, you are looked +on as worse than nude.) Fancy! To be seen walking +with a threadbare German pastor with a bulbous umbrella! +He groaned; he knew that I would pause on the brink +of an abyss for a little refreshing theological conversation!</p> + +<p>'You cannot deny, Herr Pastor,' I said, 'that you +people in Germany swear by Harnack, that Strauss's +<i>Life of Jesus</i> is a book that you look on with great admiration, +that much of the foolish "higher criticism" like +the attacks on Saint Luke,<a name="FNanchor_10" id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> which Sir William Ramsay +has so carefully refuted, and all the sneering at the fundamentals<a class="pagenum" name="Page_163" id="Page_163" title="[Pg 163]"></a> +of Christianity have come from Germany, with +the approval of the Emperor.'</p> + +<p>'There are no English scientific theologians. I do not +know your Ramsay. We are learned; we study; we see +many of the Christian myths in an allegorical sense, but +yet we adore the German God, who is with us, and we +believe in Christ, though our learned ones may dissipate +much that the populace hold. There must be a broad +law for the Christian divine; a narrow one for the humble +believer. We may not accept miracles, we of the learned, +but we may not disturb the belief of the people in them. +Culture must come from the top. The Catholics among +us still accept the miracles, but they are most retrograde +of the Germans. We are gaining upon them. It is +the <i lang="de">Zeitgeist</i>; when we have conquered, with their help, +we shall teach them the real lesson of Christianity! The +German God will not brook idolatry. Our scientists +disprove myths, but we work in the line of Luther still. +He disproved myths!'</p> + +<p>'I do not hold a brief for Martin Luther,' I said, +'but I think that he would have cursed any man who +denied the divinity of Christ. You talk of a German +God. He is not a Christian God, and I repeat to +you what you heard me say to my friend in the +restaurant.'</p> + +<p>'It is well, sir,' he said, 'to hear this coming from an +American who defends the starving of our children and +the supplying of arms to slaughter us. We have God +on our side—the German God. We only!'</p> + +<p>'Good day, sir,' I said; 'you corroborate my impression +about your Christianity!'</p> + +<p>I took off my hat, and crossed the street. He stood still; +'These Americans are rude!' my secretary heard him say.</p> + +<p>This would seem impossible to me—if I had not been<a class="pagenum" name="Page_164" id="Page_164" title="[Pg 164]"></a> +a part of the episode; if it seems impossible to you—the +result probably of some misunderstanding on my +part—let me quote a few examples of the result of the +Prussian propaganda among a people whom we considered, +at least, honest and not un-Christian. But, +first: on the Long Line for my usual walk with Mr. +Myron Hofer, one of the first Americans to rush from his +post at the Legation and join the Aviation Corps, I saw +the pastor again. Mr. Hofer saw him coming towards +us, and said:</p> + +<p>'You ought not to stand in the wind, if that man +speaks to you; let us go on.'</p> + +<p>'Go on,' I said, 'but come back to rescue me in a minute +or two.'</p> + +<p>'Excellency,' the pastor said, 'I have heard from Pastor +Lampe who you are. Forgive me for addressing you!' +And he passed on, hat in hand.</p> + +<p>What can one make of this bigotry and Phariseeism? +Have these qualities developed only since the war? +Will they disappear after the war? 'And the devils +besought him, saying: If thou cast us out hence, +send us unto the herd of swine. And he said to them: +Go. But they going out went into the swine, and behold +the whole herd ran violently down a steep place into the +sea: and they perished in the waters.'</p> + +<p>We all know that London was an unfortified city. +Read this, from the <i lang="de">Evangelische-lutherische Kirchenzeitung</i>, +written in 1915. It is an answer to the truthful +charge that children, helpless women, old men, civilians +going quietly about their business, had been slaughtered +by the pitiless rain of death from the skies. The Danish +Lutherans, among whom this pious sheet had been +circulated with a view to exciting their sympathies, +did not accept this.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_165" id="Page_165" title="[Pg 165]"></a> +'London has ceased to be a city without the defence of +fortifications; it is filled with such numbers of aeroplanes +and anti-aircraft guns, that, as we are all aware, the Zeppelins +can attack it at night only. To attack London is to make +an offensive on a den of murderers.'</p></div> + +<p class="sic uncorrected" title="sic: quote marks retained as printed">'If you ask me,' says the <i lang="de">Protestenblatt</i>, Number 18, +'how shall I build up the kingdom of God,' my answer +is: 'Be a good German! Stand fast by the Fatherland. +Do your duty and fill your mission. <em>Seek to submerge +yourself in German spirit, in German mind.</em> Be German +in piety and will, which simply means, be true, faithful, +and valiant. Help as best you can towards our +victory; help to make our Fatherland grow and wax +mighty.'<a name="FNanchor_11" id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p> + +<p>It is true that there are Protestants in Germany who +will not accept the 'Fatherland' as God and eternal +life or as a life continued in the memories of later +generations, as a Hessian peasant put it in a letter +written from the Front. His attitude shows how barren +all this rhetoric seems to the unhappy soldier who must +obey. Those who knew the lives of truly religious Germans +before the war must believe that these arrogant, feverish, +diabolical utterances do not represent them. The +Lutheran households where the fear of God and the love +of one's neighbour reigned cannot have entirely disappeared; +the old Christian spirit must fill some hearts. +But here is a man, a Lutheran divine, whose pious books +have 'circulated in the Army in millions of copies.' He +is a very great clergyman; if you saw him in the streets<a class="pagenum" name="Page_166" id="Page_166" title="[Pg 166]"></a> +of Lübeck, or Hamburg, or Berlin, many hats would be +raised; even officers in the Army would greet him with +respect. He is <span lang="de">Geheimkonsistorialrath</span>! 'Likewise,' +he writes, in his book, <i>Strong in the Lord</i>—'the blessings +of the Reformation are at stake. Shall French ungodliness, +shall Russian superstition, shall English hypocrisy +rule the world? Never! For the blessing of our faith, +for the freedom of our conscience, for our Germanism +and for our Gospel, we shall fight and struggle and make +every sacrifice. <i lang="de">Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott.</i> And, +if the world were full of devils, we shall maintain our +Empire!'</p> + +<p>According to Dr. Conrad, Germany is a great surgeon. +She must cut; she must even kill, if necessary, the nation +that stands in the way of her beneficient Kultur!</p> + +<p>So strenuously has the name of Martin Luther been +made use of by these fanatics, that the fact is lost sight +of in Germany, that the question is not one of religion. +There is scarcely a war even in modern times with +which religion had so little to do as this; but to hear +these shriekers from the pulpit, one would think that +Martin Luther was the instigator of the war and that +the Kaiser is his prophet! What the Catholic population +in Germany—in Bavaria, in Silesia—what the +Jews in Berlin and Munich think of all this, we have +not yet discovered. A Cardinal holding the standard of +Luther, with two Rabbis gracefully toying with its +gilded tassels is a sight the preachers offer to us when +they appeal to Luther as the representative of Germany. +Luther was no democrat; he would scarcely have +approved of President Wilson's speeches; but yet he +would not have worshipped the trinity of the Kaiser, +the Crown Prince and the Prussian Holy Ghost as the +Godhead!</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_167" id="Page_167" title="[Pg 167]"></a> +Think of the tremendous force that must have perverted +these 'men of God!' Who can help believing +in the miracle of the swine driven into the sea after this, +or in the old Latin adage, 'Whom the Gods wish to +destroy, they first make mad,' or in Shakespeare's 'Lilies +that fester smell far worse than weeds?' Religion +is made a mark to cover avarice and arrogant ambition, +Christianity, to veil a god more material than the Golden +Calf.</p> + +<p>The learned Danes answered the shrieks of the +preachers, and the specious reasonings of such scientists +as Wilhelm von Bode, Wundt, Richard Dehmel, +Wilhelm Röntgen, Ernest Haeckel, Sudermann, etc., +with dead silence, erudition and art had been corrupted. +'In Italy,' Christopher Nyrop,<a name="FNanchor_12" id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> the Dane, +says, 'which, when the manifesto of the German learned +appeared, was not among the belligerent States, the +amazement and the disappointment were so great that +the ninety-three signers, "representatives of German +Kultur," were named <i lang="de">Verräter der deutschen Kultur</i>, +traitors to German Kultur.' It was only necessary to +change '<span lang="de">Vertreter</span>' to '<span lang="de">Verräter</span>.' And among them +were Max Reinhart, Harnack, Gerhard Hauptmann, +Siegfried Wagner!</p> + +<p>The wonder and amazement were even greater when +there was no protest from the Catholics or the Lutherans +of Germany against the inexcusable outrage on +Louvain or Rheims. The remonstrances of the Pope +were unheeded. It was the policy of the German Government +to suppress them as far as possible. It wanted +to give the impression that the Holy Father was theirs<span class="corr" title="was: .">,</span> +and too many thoughtless persons fell in with this<a class="pagenum" name="Page_168" id="Page_168" title="[Pg 168]"></a> +idea. That the German Catholics were misinformed by +<a class="corr" name="TC_33" id="TC_33" title="was: Bethmann-Holweg">Bethmann-Hollweg</a> and the War Office makes their +position worse.</p> + +<p>The proofs offered by the Dean of the Cathedral of +Rheims proved that this horror, the destruction of the +sacred symbol of the French nation, was not 'a military +necessity.'</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<div><a class="pagenum" name="Page_169" id="Page_169" title="[Pg 169]"></a></div> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /> +<span class="chapintro">1910-1911-1912</span></h2> + + +<p>The visits of Mr. John R. Mott to the Scandinavian +countries were events; his was a name to conjure with. +When an intimation of his coming appeared in the +papers, our Legation was bombarded with requests for +the opportunity of meeting him. 'We must,' my wife +often said, 'make it understood that every American +of good repute shall be welcome in our house; and it is +our mission to give our Danish friends an opportunity to +meet him.'</p> + +<p>The Danes came to know this and, whenever there +was an American in Copenhagen worth while—I do not +mean merely having what is called 'social position'—we +were always glad to arrange that the right persons +should meet. We were not socially indiscriminate, but +we were certainly eclectic. We wanted Mr. Mott for +three meals a day, but he was always, like Martha, so +busy about many things, that we could only secure him +for a short breakfast or something like that, with one +of his warmest admirers, Count Joachim Moltke, who is +devoted to the moral improvement of young men, and +Chamberlain and Madame Oscar O'Neill Oxholm. The +only rift in the lute of the affection of certain Danish +ladies for my wife was that she allowed Mr. Mott to +leave Copenhagen on various occasions without 'making +an occasion' for them to meet him. Among these +ladies were Mademoiselle Wedel-Hainan, one of the +ladies in-waiting to the Queen Dowager, and others<a class="pagenum" name="Page_170" id="Page_170" title="[Pg 170]"></a> +interested in the cultivation of reverence for Christianity +among their compatriots. The result of Mr. Mott's +masterly work was shown when the war broke out. The +'red-blooded' who formerly looked at the Young Men's +Christian Association as rather effeminate and effete +must, in view of what it has done in Europe, forever +close their lips.</p> + +<p>At this time, in 1909, we had expectations of another +visitor. Cardinal Gibbons almost promised to make the +Northern trip; he would come to Copenhagen, it was +intimated in a Baltimore newspaper. Great interest was +shown among these agreeable Athenians, the cosmopolitan +Danes. The question of etiquette bothered me; +Sweden had still remote relations with the Holy See, +though the Catholic religion is still practically proscribed +in that country. At least, the King of Sweden writes, +I think, a letter once a year to his 'cousin,' the Pope, +or is it to his 'cousins,' the Cardinals; but Denmark, +though very liberal since 1848 in its religious attitude, +has not such vaguely official relations. I was informed +that no Cardinal had visited Denmark since the Reformation. +I made inquiries in the proper quarters at +once. Of course, I might give Cardinal Gibbons his +rank as a Prince of the Church, and even the most exalted +who should go in after him at our dinner would +be pleased. He could not come. His one hasty trip to +Europe, after his friends had raised my hopes of his +visiting us, was to be present at the Conclave that +elected Benedict <span class="smcap lc">XV.</span> Pius <span class="smcap lc">X.</span> had died of a broken heart, +and the heart of the Cardinal was sore and troubled at +the horrors thrust upon the world. What he has done +to fill our army and navy with courageous men contemporaneous +history shows.</p> + +<p>But the great visit, the epoch, which dulled even the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_171" id="Page_171" title="[Pg 171]"></a> +glories of the coming of the Atlantic Squadron, was that +of ex-President Roosevelt. To the Danes it was almost +as if Holger Dansker, who, as everybody knows, is waiting +in the vaults of Hamlet's castle at Elsinore to protect +Denmark, had burst into the light.</p> + +<p>From the European point of view, which took no +account of our home politics, ex-President Roosevelt +was not only the most important figure in America, but +in the world, and the most picturesque. Even under +the New Democracy, men will probably count more +than nations in the minds of our brethren across the +sea. However large collectiveness may loom in the +future, there will be some man or other who will show +above it, who will be a part greater than the whole. +Mr. Roosevelt had made the Panama Canal possible; +he had succeeded when De Lesseps had failed; he had +forced, more than any other President before him, the +respect of Europe; the Radicals wanted to greet him +because he had curbed the power of the capitalists; +kings and prime ministers welcomed him because they—even +the Kaiser—feared his potentialities. That he +would be the next President of the United States nobody +in Europe doubted. These people were not welcoming, +as they thought, a man like General Grant, who had +merely done a great thing. The American who was +coming was not only a man of splendid past, but one +with a future that was rising up like thunder. You +can imagine the excitement in Copenhagen when it was +announced that he would pay that city a short visit. +From Copenhagen he was to go to Christiania to make +a Nobel Prize speech. The death of Björnson occurred +just at this time; it was mourned in both Norway and +Denmark as a national loss; but even this did not affect +the reception of the ex-President.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_172" id="Page_172" title="[Pg 172]"></a> +'We would have rejoiced in our sorrow for nobody +else,' the Norwegian Minister said.</p> + +<p>King Frederick <span class="smcap lc">VIII.</span> had made all his arrangements +to go to the Riviera; his health was not good. He sent +for me; he was doubtful whether the rumours of Mr. +Roosevelt's visit were well founded or not.</p> + +<p>'If he comes, this most distinguished citizen of yours, +I will see that he is received with the greatest courtesy; +I will do as much for him as if he were an Emperor. He +and his family shall be given the Palace of Christian <span class="smcap lc">VII.</span> +during their stay. My son, the Crown Prince, will go to +greet him; I regret, above all things, that I cannot +be here.'</p> + +<p>Mr. and Mrs. Roosevelt came; he saw; he conquered, +but Mrs. Roosevelt won all hearts. The young folks, +Kermit and Ethel, fled from all gaieties and ceremonies +and explored the town; if I remember they courted not +the smiles of kings and princes; but they searched intensively +for <a class="corr" name="TC_34" id="TC_34" title="was: speeimens">specimens</a> of old pewter.</p> + +<p>Mr. Roosevelt's trunks did not arrive in time; he and +Mrs. Roosevelt were obliged to wear their travelling +clothes. In the long history of court life in Denmark +this had occurred only once on a gala occasion, and the +guest had been Her Majesty the Queen of England, when +she was Princess of Wales. She had accepted the result +with the utmost simplicity. Mrs. Roosevelt, the ladies +of the court said, was 'royal' in the charming way in +which she accepted this unpleasant accident; she has +contradicted practically the stories that American ladies +have the plebeian habit of 'fussiness.' The Crown +Princess declared that Mrs. Roosevelt was 'adorable,' +and the Crown Prince referred to the pleasure of this +visit nearly every time, during the last eight years, I met +him. 'He is a Man,' he said.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_173" id="Page_173" title="[Pg 173]"></a> +The Marshal of the Court arranged the etiquette +admirably, and there was not the slightest hitch. Some +of my colleagues who knew that Mr. Roosevelt, as an +ex-President, had no official rank, wondered how the +technical details of the reception of a 'commoner' had +been arranged. The Court and the Foreign Office offered +all the courtesies usually bestowed on royal highnesses. +The Legation and the Consulate were particularly proud +of the decorations of the railway station, and grateful +to the Minister of Commerce who was responsible for +them.</p> + +<p>As usual, Admiral de Richelieu was both thoughtful +and generous. The best part of the programme, the +voyage and breakfast on the <i>Queen Maud</i>—we went to +Elsinore—and a hundred other agreeable details were +arranged perfectly by him and Commander Cold, director +of the Scandinavian-American Line.</p> + +<p>A great dinner, such as only Danes can manage to +perfect at short notice, was offered to him by the Mayor +and the Municipality of Copenhagen. His speech was +eagerly looked for. It charmed the Moderates; the +extreme Socialists, who had claimed him for their own, +were disappointed. 'Your Radicalism is our Conservatism,' +said Chamberlain Carl O'Neill Oxholm.</p> + +<p>Later, we heard that the Kaiser was disappointed in +Mr. Roosevelt. This was from one of the Berlin court +circles. Mr. Roosevelt (this was said <i lang="la">sub rosa</i>) had not +been too Radical, but too frank. After all, there was +no reason why a man who had represented the people +of one of the greatest nations on earth should be too +reverential to the All Highest!</p> + +<p>When Mr. Roosevelt left Denmark, he left an impression +of force, of virility, of dignity, of honesty that +became part of the history of the country.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_174" id="Page_174" title="[Pg 174]"></a> +In 1911 Loubet, the French ex-President, came with +his son Paul and a staff of delegates to the International +Congress of Public and Private Charities. He was very +genial and frank—qualities inherited by his son. His +conversation was directed to the rapid reconstruction +of France after 1870. 'A country that can do that has +little to fear,' he said, 'if we can avoid the pitfalls of +professional politicians. That may be our difficulty. +Our enemies are glad that there should be dissensions +among us, vital dissensions, not the healthy differences +of opinion you have in your country.'</p> + +<p>'<span lang="fr">Et "la revanche?"</span>'</p> + +<p>'Ah, <span lang="fr">Monsieur le Ministre</span>,' answered one of his staff, +'how can he speak of that, with the German Minister, +Mr. Waldhausen, so near us? He is beckoning to you +now. It is not "revanche" we want, but the return of +our territory. If that could be done without war! Paul, +his son, will talk international politics with you, if you +like. As to local politics, the Royalists do wrong in +mixing religion and politics; it forces the hand of the +Opposition, and makes the attitude of us Republicans +misunderstood. In spite of all dissensions, France is +one at heart; but the voice of the country is not for +war. Of course, we may have to fight in our colonies.'</p> + +<p>'Tripoli?' I asked.</p> + +<p>'No,' he answered smiling. 'That's the leading question. +We must fight as you fought the Red Indians. We have +no fear of war at present—our ways are the ways of peace.'</p> + +<p>'Naturally,' I answered, 'since the German Minister +tells me that Germany will never fight France unless +attacked, and he sees no signs of that.'</p> + +<p>'The Belgians are growing restless because Hamburg +is taking all the Brazilian coffee trade,' he said, absent-mindedly.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_175" id="Page_175" title="[Pg 175]"></a> +'Which means, interpreted,' I answered, 'that we +might well look after our interests in Brazil.'</p> + +<p>'Like all Frenchmen,' he said, 'I am ignorant of foreign +geography, but our Ambassador in Washington is different; +he knows the world, and the United States.'</p> + +<p>I thanked him; I was always glad to hear Frenchmen +speak well of Mr. Jusserand. He deserved all the praise +they could give him.</p> + +<p>'My friend,' said Paul Loubet, 'says the world and the +United States, which means, I suppose, that Europe is one +world and the United States another.' 'It almost seems so +in Europe; but your acquisition of the Philippines will probably +make you more and more a part of the European +world.' 'I am afraid that George Washington and Lafayette +would not have liked this,' said the ex-President.</p> + +<p>One of the French delegates asked me whether it was +true that the Germans would try to make terms with us for +a cession of some foreign territory for one of the Philippine +Islands. Waldhausen was at my elbow; I, smiling, +put the question to him.</p> + +<p>'It is Arcadian,' he said.</p> + +<p>'Germany never gives up what she holds,' said the +Frenchman, also smiling. 'Otherwise, you might induce +her to surrender Heligoland to England, for a consideration, +with the understanding that England should +give it back to Denmark.'</p> + +<p>Waldhausen laughed.</p> + +<p>'Such generosity is too far in advance of our time. I +am afraid Admiral von Tirpitz might object.'</p> + +<p>Von Tirpitz, for those behind the scenes in German +politics, was much in the public eye. It was well understood +that as far as the naval programme was concerned, +he was Germany. If the seizing of Slesvig and the completion +of the Kiel canal made the German Fleet possible,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_176" id="Page_176" title="[Pg 176]"></a> +with the acquiring of Heligoland, the efforts of Admiral +von Tirpitz had made it a Navy. Through all the +financial difficulties of the German Government, difficulties +that alone prevented it from attacking France, +von Tirpitz had held fast to the axiom that Germany's +future was on the ocean. He was not the kind of marine +minister who sticks fast to his desk and 'never goes to +sea.' He had become the 'captain of the King's navee' +by knowing his business, and, more than that, by studying +the caprices of his Imperial Master's mind, as well as +its fixed determination. Many times I had been told +by candid friends in the diplomatic corps that the +German Emperor had no respect for our navy, that +he knew every ship by heart, that nevertheless, he +examined as far as possible any new inventions adopted +by our naval experts who were most kind in permitting +German naval attachés and experts to examine them. +In 1911 the coming of the Atlantic Squadron had excited +interest in the naval position of our country. One +scarcely ever saw an American flag on the ocean. Whatever +Columbia did or wanted to do, she did not rule the +seas; so our flag on the ships of the Atlantic Squadron +was a delight to all Americans and somewhat of a surprise +to foreigners.</p> + +<p>At Kiel the general impression seemed to be that the +Atlantic Squadron represented our whole navy! The +Kaiser and von Tirpitz knew better, of course. Privately +the Kaiser expressed his amusement at our attempt +to build warships—he and von Tirpitz had secrets of +their own. However, America was important enough +to be given a sedative until his designs on France and +Russia were completed. One might suspect this, then; +but who could believe it!</p> + +<p>My correspondents in Germany—people who know are<a class="pagenum" name="Page_177" id="Page_177" title="[Pg 177]"></a> +wonderful helps to a man in the diplomatic service—concerned +themselves largely with von Tirpitz and General +von Freytag-Loringhoven. Von Tirpitz was the German +Navy and the very intelligent writings of General the +Baron von Freytag-Loringhoven made us almost think +that he was the Army.</p> + +<p>'Is he related to Freytag?' I had asked.</p> + +<p>'What, the novelist?'</p> + +<p>'The author of <i>Debit and Credit</i>?' I added.</p> + +<p>'Certainly not; he is one of the greatest of the Baltic +baronial families.'</p> + +<p>If I had asked a Bourbon, in the reign of Louis <span class="smcap lc">XIV.</span>, +whether he was related to Crébillon, he could not have +been more shocked. Von Freytag-Loringhoven cut +a great figure in Berlin. He had Russian affiliations, +being of a Baltic family; his father had been well +known in diplomacy. He knew Russia as well as he +knew Germany; he was technical and experienced, +and his writings were supposed to give indications of +the ideas of the General Staff. The Russians in Copenhagen +talked much of von Freytag-Loringhoven. I +must repeat that, in interesting myself in German personalities, +I was not considering them in relation to the +future of my own country. There were some among +my friends, like James Brown Scott—men of foresight—who +seemed to have a wider vision. I was interested +because I feared that the autonomy of a little +nation was at stake, and because the absorption of that +little nation would mean the assumption of the Danish +Antilles.</p> + +<p>That Germany had consulted Russia about a question +to make war with England a pretext for seizing Denmark, +we suspected. The end of the Japanese War had curbed +Russia's eastern ambition for a time. How were we to<a class="pagenum" name="Page_178" id="Page_178" title="[Pg 178]"></a> +be sure that the Baltic and the North Sea might not, +under German tutelage, attract her?</p> + +<p>If von Freytag-Loringhoven's utterances were to be +taken seriously, it was evident that war was in the air; +and why was von Tirpitz building up the German Navy? +The distributors of rumours in Denmark said that all +hopes of a Scandinavian confederacy were to be ended +by a quarrel with England, a move on France, and the +division of Scandinavia into two parts, one nominally +Russian, the other, Denmark, to be actually German, +while Norway should gradually be terrorised into submission. +This shows how excited public opinion was. +The German propaganda spread pleasant reports of the +peaceful intentions of the Kaiser, the Crown Prince, +and the personages in power in Germany. Above all, +we were told how charming the Crown Princess Cecilia +was, and how potent her influence would be in warding +off any attempts of the Pan-Germans on Denmark, even +if Germany and England should fly at each other's +throats.</p> + +<p>People in the court circle, who knew how little royal +family alliances count to-day in actual politics, admitted +that the Crown Princess was most charming and sympathetic; +she is the sister of the Queen of Denmark, +and she had become as German as it was possible for +the daughter of a Russian mother to be. Her sister, +Queen Alexandrina, had become thoroughly Danish, but +then her tendencies had always been towards democracy +and the simplicities of life.</p> + +<p>The German news vendors alternately praised the +Crown Prince and depreciated him. If he were violent, +it was against the wishes of his father—he was a second +Prince Hal trying on the imperial crown. As a rule, +however, he was brought out of the background to show<a class="pagenum" name="Page_179" id="Page_179" title="[Pg 179]"></a> +his virtues. On several occasions he had evinced more +knowledge of what was going on than his father. This +was notable in the Eulenberg scandal, when he fearlessly +laid bare a horrible ulcer which was beginning to eat into +the heart of the army. On this subject he and Max +Harden, of the <i lang="de">Zukunft</i>, were in amazing alliance. Whatever +may be said of the Crown Prince's political ambitions—and +we believed and do believe that they meant world +conquest—he is very much of a man. In 1911, it was +understood that he would not condescend to wear the +peace-mask that seemed to conceal his father's face. +Dr. von Bethmann-Hollweg, the Chancellor, was temporising +as usual. The Moroccan affair led to nothing +because Germany's financial backers were not ready for +war. The Chancellor was attacked by von Heydebrand; +the Danish press gave graphic accounts of the scene +when the Crown Prince, from the royal box, applauded +every insult that the powerful Junker heaped on the +Chancellor, who was merely the tool of the Kaiser. It +was the time of the Emperor to temporise; the time +had not come to strike; Germany was not rich enough. +Russia was still doubtful. France, in the imperial opinion, +was not sufficiently corrupted, and the dissensions between +Ulster and the rest of Ireland had not yet reached that +poisonous growth which, in that opinion, would force +mutiny and sedition to poison the English. The Crown +Prince probably, in his frankness, voiced more than his +own inner sentiments. At any rate, to us near the +frontier, it seemed so. However, the incident was used +to the credit of the Crown Prince. Fair and open dealing +for him! England might interfere in Morocco and other +places to prevent his country from taking a place 'in the +sun'; but let us have it out!</p> + +<p>In the secret councils of the Social Democrats was the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_180" id="Page_180" title="[Pg 180]"></a> +hope that, if a Hohenzollern must succeed the Kaiser, +it would not be the Crown Prince. In spite of his amiabilities +and his apparently youthful point of view of life—though +there were fewer indiscretions to his credit +than are generally attributed to Crown Princes—it was +known that he was military to the core, and that in his +time the soldier of the world would never lack employment. +While the Kaiser was constantly insisting that +more soldiers and more sailors and Krupp von Bohlen's +newest instruments of destruction were pawns in the +game of peace, his son made no pretence of agreeing with +him. Clever or not, he had held that a straight line was +the shortest way from one given point to another. And +the Zabern incident and several others showed that the +Crown Prince meant, when his chance came, to make war +after the Napoleonic method and to exalt the sword above +the pen and the ploughshare.</p> + +<p>The Social Democrats in Denmark were not flattered +when he said that 'one day the Social Democrats would +go to court!' But he was right; they went to court +as their old Emperor went to Carrossa, when they accepted +the war! The German writers said, too, that in +France his admiration for Napoleon endeared him to +the French. If he appeared in Paris, he would be as +popular as King Edward of England was when he was +Prince of Wales! 'Who knows,' one of their writers +said, 'he may make the hopes of the Duke de Reichstadt +his own, and live to see them fulfilled'? I called +the attention of an Austrian friend to this. This gentleman, +high in favour in 1909, but somewhat gloomed in +1914, owing to a <i lang="fr">bon mot</i>, said: 'But the French remember +that the heir of Napoleon, who might have +completed his father's conquests, was the son of an Austrian +mother.' He was <i lang="de">gemütlich</i>, like his grandfather, they<a class="pagenum" name="Page_181" id="Page_181" title="[Pg 181]"></a> +said, and how sweetly amiable to the American ladies +who had married into the superior race! More than +one titled American hoped to be saved from the position +of morganaticism in the future through the kindness +of His Imperial Highness. But the fixity of will has +been underrated. Napoleon tried to conquer Europe; +his eyes were on the kingdoms of Solomon and of the +jewelled monarchs of the East. Why he failed, the +Crown Prince believed he had discovered. There was +no reason, therefore, why a Prussian Napoleon might +not succeed, and no necessity to repeat the defeats of +Moscow and Waterloo. The Prince would begin by +fighting Waterloo first and then putting Russia out of +commission!</p> + +<p>In 1913 Mr. Frederick Wile, then correspondent of +the London <i>Daily Mail</i>, wrote: 'He is the idol of the +German Army almost to a greater degree than his father. +His <i>Hunting Diary</i> is amusing. He writes of his +sympathy with his 'sainted' ancestor Frederick the +Great, in the dictum that everybody should be allowed +to pursue happiness and salvation in his own sweet way.' +Holy Moses!</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>It was not difficult to get near to the characters of +the important men in power in Germany. A night's +run took one to Berlin, and at <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Flensburg">Flensberg</span>, a few hours +from our Legation, one could see the German war vessels. +There were constant visits of Germans of distinction; +Prince Eitel Friedrich often came in his yacht, and the +Waldhausens—Madame Waldhausen was a Belgian—were +constantly entertaining guests of all countries. +Princess Harald, the wife of Prince Harold, brother of +the King of Denmark, attracted many Germans, with +whom she was in sympathy.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_182" id="Page_182" title="[Pg 182]"></a> +At court very few Germans appeared, unless they +were of high official rank. Both King Christian <span class="smcap lc">X.</span> and +the Queen seemed to prefer to speak English, and nothing +irritated the King, who speaks English and French and +German well, more than any attempt on the part of a +diplomatist to speak to him in Danish. It is best, I +think, for diplomatists at court to use French. One is +always more guarded in speaking a foreign language, but +every member of the Danish Court spoke English and +seemed to like it. Prince Valdemar and the Princess +Marie always spoke English in their family. Prince +Valdemar's French was not so good as his English, and, +in the beginning, the Princess Marie found the learning +of Danish slow work, and she had, during the exile of +her family in England, become entirely at home in the +English language. Prince Axel, their son, who recently +visited America as the guest of the American Navy, +spoke English admirably. Like all his family, he is in +love with freedom.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, German was much spoken in Denmark, +and the intercourse between the two countries close. +The point of view of Germany, or, rather, the Germans, +was better understood in Denmark than perhaps in any +other country, the more so because the Danes, naturally +satirical and entirely disillusioned as to the altruism +of great European nations, looked with clear eyes at +the progress, or, rather, the evolution of Germany. +Whatever progress Germany had made, many of them, +like the learned Dr. Gudmund Schütte, who reluctantly +agreed that the reconquest of Slesvig would be 'to commit +suicide in order to escape death,' never seemed to utter +a word of German without remembering the loss of their +provinces.</p> + +<p>The most astonishing things were the intellectual<a class="pagenum" name="Page_183" id="Page_183" title="[Pg 183]"></a> +greatness and exact training of the German thinkers +and doers, and, at the same time, their lack of independence. +With the outside world, as far as one could gather +from the press and conversations with the English, French +and Americans—though my fellow countrymen, as a +rule, showed little interest in foreign affairs—it was plain +that the German political parties were supposed to be +static: the Conservatives Junkerish, the Centrists intensely +Catholic, following the slightest signal of the Pope, +the Socialists devoted to the ideas of Bebel, and the +Liberal-Nationalists fixed in their opinion that a moderate +constitutional monarchy was to be, in Germany, the +solution of all problems.</p> + +<p>We knew better than that in Denmark. Through the +whole Catholic world the German propagandists spread +the opinion that the Centre party was strictly 'denominational.' +Nothing could be more untrue. The traditions +of Windthorst, who had boldly defined to Bismarck +the difference between what was due to Christ and +what to <a class="corr" name="TC_35" id="TC_35" title="was: Caesar">Cæsar</a>, were rapidly disappearing. The fiction +remained that the Centre was constantly opposing the +policy of the emperor, when at every session of the Reichstag, +the Centre became more and more 'political' and +more subservient to the designs of the Government. One +could see the changing policy in the pages of the <i>Social +Democrat</i>, the Socialist organ in Denmark. The Danish +Socialists were always influenced by their German +brethren; but destructive Socialism finds, up to the +present time, no place in the Social Democratic scheme, +and this is due, not only to the Danish temperament, +but to the dislike on the part of Social Democrats to the +growing power of Syndicalism.</p> + +<p>The leaders of the Socialists and of the Centrists are +not great men. Of the Centre, which had rightfully<a class="pagenum" name="Page_184" id="Page_184" title="[Pg 184]"></a> +boasted of Windthorst and Mallinkrot as the opponents +of ultra-Imperialism, Hertling and Erzberger were the +most important. All Germany recognised the intellectual +ability of Hertling. Baron von Hertling, Professor +of the University of Munich, represented apparently +everything that the fashionable Prussian philosophical +system did not. 'Glory is the only religion of great +men' is a doctrine he abhors; philosophically, he is +the direct enemy of Kant and Hegel, above all, of Nietzsche +and Schopenhauer. Nobody denies those qualities of +mind that had made his name as well known philosophically +in learned circles as that of Cardinal Mercier. +He had been prime minister of Bavaria, and he, of all +men, might have been expected to see the abyss to which +Imperialism was tending. It was easy, in Denmark, +to perceive that, in the Reichstag, all parties—there +were some individual exceptions, like Liebknecht—had +begun to be slaves of the emperor as represented +by his subservient grand-viziers, the Chancellors. Both +the Centre, from which much was expected, and the +mixed party, called the Social Democrats, from which +stronger resistance to Imperialism had been hoped, +gradually became the upholders of the doctrine of +conquest.</p> + +<p>Erzberger, of the Centre, is a later development of +the change that took place in the attitude of Hertling. +With Lieber and Spahn, veteran politicians, the Centre +position became one of compromise.</p> + +<p>The Centre had managed to grow stronger and +stronger after the <i lang="de">Kulturkampf</i>, against which it had +started as a party of defence. Matthias Erzberger, who +had begun as a school teacher, wisely chose the Centre +Party as a road to power. He has gained step by step +by his unconquerable audacity. In 1911 even the Chancellor<a class="pagenum" name="Page_185" id="Page_185" title="[Pg 185]"></a> +seemed to fear him. He is a bold speculator, and +his rivals, even in his own party, predicted that he would +come to grief through his Napoleonic idea of finance. +From 1911 the parties in the Reichstag became more +and more Imperialistic, the Prussian tone more and +more insolent as regards foreign countries. The <i>cameraderie</i> +of the Kaiser at times, his fits of arrogant indiscretion—checked +suddenly after the 'interviews' of +1908—continued to give us 'lookers-on in Vienna' +grave concern. In spite of the encomiums made by +nearly all my best European friends—many of them +English—and all my compatriots who had been received +at court, we in Denmark distrusted the Kaiser. I +must say that my Danish friends, except the Chamberlain +and Madame de Hegermann-Lindencrone, seldom +praised him. To them he had been most courteous. +I remembered that the most chivalrous of men, Hegermann-Lindencrone, +never would speak ill of a sovereign +to whose court he had been accredited. Count +Carl Moltke, a good Dane, never, even in confidence, +allowed a word of censure to pass his lips when the +Kaiser was mentioned by his critics; I often wondered +what he thought!</p> + +<p>As to the Emperor Francis Joseph, I had reason to +have a great respect and affection for him—even of +gratitude. It is the fashion to tear his reputation to +pieces now, a fashion that will pass.</p> + +<p>At any rate, even his detractors will be glad to hear +the story that, when the war broke out and he was ill +and very drowsy, one of his Chamberlains said, 'Our +army is in the field, sire!' 'Fighting those damned +Prussians again!' he said, contentedly; and went to +sleep again! He liked France, but he disliked the +French Government. 'Your President,' he said to a<a class="pagenum" name="Page_186" id="Page_186" title="[Pg 186]"></a> +distinguished French sailor, with a touch of contempt, +'is a bourgeois!' He did not mean a 'commoner'—with +him 'bourgeois' implied a man who was not a soldier; +and the emperor could not understand that a European +country should be well ruled by a man who could not +himself take the field; at any time, the Emperor would +have gladly taken it against these 'Prussian parvenus,' +I am sure.</p> + +<p>More and more, the representatives of the stolen +provinces, like Slesvig and Alsace-Lorraine, became disheartened +by their weakness in the Reichstag. The +representatives of Poland received no political support +from the Centre; yet these Poles were ardent Catholics, +and their representative, Prince Radziwell, made eloquent +speeches. The delegates from Alsace-Lorraine, the +Abbé Wetterlé being the most audacious, were as little +regarded as 'Hans Peter,' H. P. Hanssen, the one Danish +representative in the Reichstag. If the Centre had not +posed as Catholic, which implied, if not an unusual regard +for the liberties of the oppressed, at least a certain Christian +charity for the persecuted, censure might have been +silent. If the Socialists had not been the open and +apparently unrelenting opponents of political oppression, +the good Samaritan might have tried to succour their +victims, while reflecting that the robbers who had inflicted +the wound were at least not hypocrites; but here +were von Hertling and Martin Spahn and Groeber and +the rest of the Centre, who knew what the tyranny of +Bismarck had meant; here were the followers of the +later Bebel—willing to join the Centrists on many political +questions, the friends of the Imperial autocracy! Here +were two groups, antagonistic and irreconcilable in principle, +but both united when it was expedient to support +plans of world conquest!</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_187" id="Page_187" title="[Pg 187]"></a> +The Centre still used religion as a tool to uphold the +Government. The Pope and the Kaiser were as antagonistic +on many questions as Popes and Kaisers have ever +been since Christianity was imperfectly accepted by the +Teutons. Windthorst, a great man of the type of +O'Connell, but greater, had forced Bismarck to revoke +some of the infamous May laws in 1888. Still, certain +German citizens, the members of the congregation of +the Redemptionists, were exiled. The Centre protested—for +effect. The Jesuits were at last admitted on +condition that they were not allowed to speak in the +churches, and that under no circumstances should +they be permitted to speak in public on religious subjects. +Prince von Bülow publicly admitted that there +was a lack of toleration shown to Catholics, and there +were certain parts of Germany in which professors of +the Catholic faith were still under disabilities. The +question of the admission of the Jesuits and the other +religious congregations ought to have been considered +as justly as it would have been in the United States. +The Centrists' representatives gave the impression of +being violently interested in the preservation of the +rights of German citizens to preach and teach any doctrines +that were not immoral or seditious, and then, at +a breath from the Government, allowed these priests to +be treated as the Danish Lutheran pastors were treated +in Slesvig.<a name="FNanchor_13" id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> + +<p>I am not writing from the point of view of any creed +at this moment, but only from that of a democracy<a class="pagenum" name="Page_188" id="Page_188" title="[Pg 188]"></a> +which encourages reasonable freedom of speech, the use +of equal opportunities, and preserves to everybody alike +the free exercise of his religion. The Centre has shown +as little sympathy with democracy of this kind as the +Socialists. The latter party deserve no sympathy from +any class of Americans. Their methods are, as worked +out in Denmark and Germany, admirable. Religious +bodies, interested in actively loving their neighbours as +themselves, have much to learn from them, but the +German Socialists played a worse part during the war +than Benedict Arnold in our Revolution. They did not +act the part of Judas only because they never acknowledged +Christ.</p> + +<p>The bane of every civilised country seems to be party +politics. After theological hatreds, the ordinary variety +of political hatreds and compromises is the worst. The +Centre has become corrupt and time-serving, the Socialists +expedient and slavish, all because the Imperial Head, +the Chancellor, could scatter the spoils!</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<div><a class="pagenum" name="Page_189" id="Page_189" title="[Pg 189]"></a></div> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /> +<span class="chapintro">A PORTENT IN THE AIR</span></h2> + + +<p>'This is the first page of my diary and the last,' wrote +William H. Seward. 'One day's record satisfies me that, +if I should every day set down my hasty impressions, based +on half information, I should do injustice to everybody +around me and to none more than my intimate friends.'</p> + +<p>This is true; and, when suspicion seemed to reign +everywhere, after August 1914, and one's private papers +were never safe, in spite of the fidelity of our servants—and +no strangers were ever blessed with better servants +than my wife and I—it became all the more necessary +not to put down explicitly the day's talk. And the +colleagues were very frank—except when their Foreign +Officers instructed them to say something for export. +If we were at the end of the world, I might give daily +conversations that would have a certain interest, but +probably some persons whom I have the honour to call +friends, and even intimate friends, might be misunderstood. +A diplomatic corps in a city like Copenhagen is +one large family, and in Copenhagen the court treats its +members, who are sympathetic, with unusual courtesy, +and, at every fitting opportunity, makes them of the +royal circle, which is a very cosy and cheerful one.</p> + +<p>The years 1910, 1911, and 1912 were eventful ones, not +because things happened, but because things were about +to happen. It was a period of unrest. The diplomatic +conversations at this time occupied themselves with the +position of Germany.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_190" id="Page_190" title="[Pg 190]"></a> +Henckel-Donnersmarck had gone to Weimar, much to +my regret. He was supposed to have retired to private +life because the Kaiser did not find his reports minute +enough, but, knowing him, it seemed to me that he was +glad to be out of a position which bored him thoroughly, +and which exacted of him duties that he did not care to +fulfil. Denmark was becoming more and more Socialistic, +and even the Conservatives were so extremely 'advanced,' +that Count Henckel found himself rather out of place. +He made no country-house visits in the summer, and +gave dinners in the winter only when he could not help +it. Beyond certain conversations with me on political +subjects already mentioned, he did not go. Literature +and the simpler aspects of life interested him—children +especially. We amused ourselves by mapping out the +career of his son, Leo, a very young person of marked +individualistic qualities.</p> + +<p>For impressions of Germany and Austria, one had to +go to other sources. The upheaval in Germany caused +by the Kaiser's disregard of public opinion in 1908 had +caused most of my colleagues some concern. Nobody +wanted war. The Austrians and the Russians alike +were horrified at the thought of it.</p> + +<p>In 1909 there had been rumours of grave events; Count +Ehrenthal had announced privately to some bankers +that 'war was evitable.' Count Szechenyi, the Austrian-Hungarian, +a lover of peace, if there ever was one, met me +one day on the steps of the Foreign Office, in a state of +trepidation. Mr. Michel Bibikoff, of the Russian Legation, +had seen me several times on the subject of the possible +conflict, academically and personally, of course, as our +Government was supposed to have no great interest in +war in Europe. A speech made by Mr. Alexander Konta, +whose son, Geoffrey, was one of the best private secretaries<a class="pagenum" name="Page_191" id="Page_191" title="[Pg 191]"></a> +I ever had, put me on the track (Mr. Konta, an American +of Hungarian birth, had been conducting some financial +affairs in his native country). I suspected there would +be no war since Count Ehrenthal had announced to the +financiers that there would be war. In my opinion, it was +a question of the fall or rise of stocks. Count de Beaucaire, +the French Minister, was intensely interested; a flame lit +in the Balkans might involve France. The English +Minister, Sir Alan Johnstone, seemed to take matters more +calmly; we all expected his Foreign Office to send him +to Vienna, and his calmness was a sedative. He, a +prospective ambassador, was supposed to know something +of conditions, but Count Szechenyi discovered that he was +nervous, too. It struck me that it was rather absurd for +me not to know something definite.</p> + +<p>There was an old friend, deep in the diplomatic secrets +of the Vatican, who knew the Balkans well, who disliked +Russia as much as he suspected Germany. It was easy +to get an opinion from him because he knew I would use +it with discretion. There was a clever old Hanoverian +noble, much in the secrets of the court at Berlin, and +there was Frederick Wile in Berlin, who knew many +things. When Count Szechenyi, rather pale, came up +the stairs of the Foreign Office, and said, 'My God! +There will be war!'</p> + +<p>'No,' I answered, 'it is settled—there will be no war. +I give you my word of honour.'</p> + +<p>'You are sure?'</p> + +<p>'I have just told Bibikoff, and he is delighted.'</p> + +<p>I have been grateful many times to Frederick Wile, +who was once a student of mine, but that day I was more +grateful than ever, for war <em>is</em> hell and I was glad to relieve +my friends' minds.</p> + +<p>That night there was a <i lang="fr">cercle</i> at court. King Frederick<a class="pagenum" name="Page_192" id="Page_192" title="[Pg 192]"></a> +<span class="smcap lc">VIII.</span>, the most affable of kings, greatly interested +in the Danes in America, had been praising Count Carl +Moltke, who had shown a great interest in the Americans +of Danish blood; it was an interesting subject. To speak +well of Count Moltke, who had the good taste to marry +an American, is always a genuine pleasure, though, I +believe, he would have left Washington if the sale of +the Danish West Indies had been mooted in his time. +Then the king said, 'Your country is fortunate not to +be entangled in European affairs. There is talk of war. +As the American Minister, you have no interest, except +a humanitarian one, in a European war; you do not +trouble yourself about the question seriously.' I bowed, +being discreet, I hope. Suddenly a deep voice, audible +everywhere, called out: 'But Egan told Szechenyi that +the propositions had been accepted, and there will be no +war.' The king turned to me; I was not especially +desirous of admitting that I had been making investigations, +and still less desirous of revealing my sources of +information.</p> + +<p>Before the king could ask a question, Sir Alan +Johnstone cut in, just behind me, 'From whom did you +hear it?'</p> + +<p>'From a journalist,' I answered, remembering Frederick +Wile.</p> + +<p>'It will be in the papers to-morrow, then,' said the +king.</p> + +<p>I was relieved. I should have hesitated to appear to +have shown such interest to the king as my mention +of the other authorities might have revealed.</p> + +<p>It was announced later, but not in the next day's +papers. However, the apprehension still remained. The +Kaiser was for peace—yes!—but on his own terms.</p> + +<p>The one objection to Mr. Seward's dictum on the exact<a class="pagenum" name="Page_193" id="Page_193" title="[Pg 193]"></a> +keeping of journals is that the writer, after the facts—unrelated +and distorted as they are each day—are seen in +the light of experience, the diarist finds it only too easy +to prophesy for the public, because now he <em>knows</em>. This +is a temptation; but, as I look back, I must confess that +in 1910, in spite of the anxiety of my colleagues, Germany +seemed mainly important as regards her attitude to the +sale of the Danish East Indies to us. Lord Salisbury's +trade of Zanzibar for Heligoland was always in my mind. +The correspondence of Mr. John Hay and other investigations +had led me to believe that the failure of the proposed +sale in 1901-1902 had been caused by German +opposition. I was, I must confess, glad to see the +friendliness between Germany and the United States. +I knew rather well that it could never grow very deep; +the German point of view of the Monroe Doctrine was +too fixed for that. I knew, too, that if the very Radical +and Socialistic parties in Denmark continued to grow, +the island must be sold, and likewise that, if the United +States and Germany were unfriendly, the Social Democrats, +who were too near their German brethren not +to be in sympathy with their brethren, might turn the +scale in favour of retaining the Islands. The eyes of +my colleagues were on Germany; mine were also, but +for different reasons. While they feared that Germany +might want some of their territory—we knew that, +in spite of the Triple Alliance Germany and Austria +were one, Italy always being an 'outsider'—I was +anxious to save from Germany islands that might be +hers if she should absorb Denmark. I confess, with +repentant tears, if you will, I had not the slightest belief +in the disinterestedness, when it came to a question +of territory, of any nation, except our own—and that +might have its limitations!</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_194" id="Page_194" title="[Pg 194]"></a> +In August 1910, I was very glad to go to visit the +Raben-Levitzaus. One reason was that the Count and +Countess Raben-Levitzau are among the most cosmopolitan +and interesting people in Europe; another was, +that Chamberlain and Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone +were to be at the castle of Aalholm. Raben-Levitzau +had been Minister of Foreign Affairs. He had married +Miss Moulton, one of the most beautiful ladies in Europe +and the daughter of Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone +by her first marriage. Hegermann-Lindencrone had been +minister to Washington when I was at Georgetown +College doing some philosophical work under Father +Guida and Father Carroll; but I had been permitted +to go into society occasionally and the fame of Hegermann-Lindencrone +was just beginning. Mutual acquaintances +and memories established a friendship, and I came to +know him as one of the cleverest, most farseeing and kind +of diplomatists. If he has an enemy in the world, that +enemy must be one of the few human beings worthy of +eternal damnation!</p> + +<p>The conversation is always good at Aalholm. Raben-Levitzau +was rather depressed; he was out of public +life, which he loved. He had gone out in 1908 with the +J. C. Christensen ministry, owing to the fact that Alberti, +the Minister of Justice, had been found guilty of some +inexcusable manipulation of the public money. Alberti, +with the rest of the reigning ministry had been invited +to the wedding of my daughter Patricia, in September +1908. He very courteously declined, giving as a reason +that he was 'engaged'; he went to jail on that day. +He was a polite man. Raben-Levitzau resigned through +the most delicate sentiment of honour, in spite of the +remonstrances of his friends.</p> + +<p>I found him not against the sale, though he seemed to<a class="pagenum" name="Page_195" id="Page_195" title="[Pg 195]"></a> +regards it as very improbable. He felt that the Danes +had ceased to practise the art—if they ever had it—of +ruling colonies, and, I think, that the tremendous expenses +of the Socialistic régime in Denmark, where the +poor are practically supported in all difficulties by State +funds, would render improvements in distant possessions +almost impossible. Sentimentally he would hate to see +the red and the white of the <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Dannebrog">Donnebrog</span> cease to fly amid +the flags of Holland, of England, of France, on the other +side of the Atlantic. Hegermann-Lindencrone was +frankly for the sale, though it was not then in question. +I asked about Germany's design on Denmark, rumours +of which were in everybody's mouth. He—he was still +Danish Minister in Berlin—said that, since the completion +of the Kiel Canal, Germany had no reason for assuming +Denmark. This was reassuring.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, when one caught the reflections of +German opinion in Denmark, one became surer than +ever that the new Empire was not inclined to accept the +isolation which European politicians were apparently +forcing on her. Hegermann-Lindencrone and his wife +were favourites at the German Court; the Kaiser made a +point of signalising his regard for them. Madame Hegermann +was by birth an American, a Greenough of Cambridge, +Massachusetts, and never for a moment does she forget +it, though she has borrowed from the best European +society all the cultivation it could give her, in addition +to her natural talent and charm. The Kaiser showed +his best side to the Hegermann-Lindencrones, and they +believed that personally he had no evil designs on the +peace of the world.</p> + +<p>As a Dane, Hegermann-Lindencrone's task at Berlin +had not been easy, with discontent in Slesvig always +threatening to break out, although for a time he had,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_196" id="Page_196" title="[Pg 196]"></a> +as secretary of Legation, Eric de Scavenius, who knew +Germany as well as Denmark, who was as patriotically +firm as he was humanly genial. He seemed to think that +the sale of the Islands in 1902 had failed because the sum +offered was comparatively small, others because of the +governmental scandals, and of the opposition of the +Princess Marie and the East Asiatic Company.</p> + +<p>This was interesting; he did not believe that either +the German Government of that time or the industrials, +like Herr Ballin, were against it—in fact, German interests +on the Islands, especially those of the Hamburg-American +Line, were deemed as safe in the hands of the +Americans as those of the Danes. The time was, however, +not ripe for taking up the question; national opinion +was against it, and the great Danish industrials, like +Etatsraad Andersen, Admiral de Richelieu, Commander +Cold, Holger Petersen and others had not yet had their +opportunity of testing the national feeling. As far as I +could see in 1910, England and France gave the matter +no consideration, though, to his horror, I occasionally +informed the Count de Beaucaire that an attempt on our +part might be made to buy Martinique and Jamaica and +<span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Curaçao">Curaçoa</span>, unless the Danish Islands could be linked into +our belt. 'If I thought you were serious, I should oppose +you with all my might!' he said.</p> + +<p>The South American representatives showed indifference +when I mentioned the <a class="corr" name="TC_36" id="TC_36" title="was: Gallipagos">Gallapagos</a> Islands. The +buying of islands was a fixed idea with me, and I liked +to talk about it. Diplomatic opinion was inclined to +treat the prospect as chimerical, but it was evident that +neither Sweden nor Norway liked it. However, as I have +said, the time had not come.</p> + +<p>I discovered that, when it came to the matter of patent +laws, etc., Denmark could not act without the example<a class="pagenum" name="Page_197" id="Page_197" title="[Pg 197]"></a> +of Germany, and I gathered from this, that, when the +time should come, Germany might expect to have something +to say. In the <a class="corr" name="TC_37" id="TC_37" title="was: meantine">meantime</a>, there were other questions +to study, but somehow or other all of them seemed to +hinge on Germany's attitude. She was the sphinx of +Europe.</p> + +<p>It was in June, 1911, that the Atlantic Squadron +stopped at Denmark on its way to Germany. Admiral +Badger, suave and sympathetic, was in command. The +four war vessels made a great effect, but the officers and +sailors a greater. Before they left for Kiel—it was a +visit of courtesy to the German Navy—the officers gave +various dances on board, and the decorum, the elegance, +and, above all, the good manners and good dancing +of these gentlemen were praised even by those who had +been led to believe that most 'Yankees' were crude and +unpolished.</p> + +<p>King Frederick expressed to me most cordially the +honour done his nation by the visit, and was very much +amused by the flattering attentions paid by the American +sailors at Tivoli to the Danish girls. 'I saw them myself!' +he said. He was delighted by the 'tenue' of the officers, +and complimented by the enthusiasm of the sailors, who +had apparently taken a great fancy to him.</p> + +<p>After one of the receptions given by the American +officers, the equerry who had been appointed to look +after the Admiral and his immediate suite, came to me +in great perplexity. He held in his hand a little box. +'I am in difficulty,' he said, 'and I have come to ask +you to help me out of it. His Majesty has received +several letters from the American sailors, and there is +one which especially amused him. It seems that he +pleased the men by asking for the Scandinavians in +your navy. A sailor thanks him for this, addressing<a class="pagenum" name="Page_198" id="Page_198" title="[Pg 198]"></a> +him as 'dear King,' declaring that the men like Copenhagen +so much that they beg His Majesty to induce the +Admiral to stay a few days longer. Of course, His +Majesty cannot do that, but he has asked me to give the +little medal in this box to the sailor. I am told that is +against the rules, which seem to be very strict. I really +cannot tell the King that I have not given the medal to +the worthy sailor; you know the King's kindness of +heart. I am at my wit's end, so I appeal to you. It +seems so difficult to arrange without infringing upon +the discipline.'</p> + +<p>'It is easy enough,' I said. 'When in a quandary of +this kind, call in the Church.'</p> + +<p>We found the chaplain, and the amiable Frederick +<span class="smcap lc">VIII.</span> received a note of gratitude, addressed 'Dear +King.'</p> + +<p>The French and the Russians were especially interested +in the coming of the squadron, but it was made +rather evident that the Germans would have preferred +that the warships might have gone directly to Kiel. To +stop at Copenhagen and Stockholm was looked on as +rather tarnishing the compliment to the Imperial Master. +There were several private intimations that I had arranged +it with a view to making the Danes feel that the United +States admired their qualities and desired to stimulate +their national ambition. 'It was as if the Magi had +concluded to visit a lesser monarch on their way to Bethlehem,' +said a sarcastic Dane I met at Oxholm's château +of Rosenfeldt; 'the ultra-Imperialists hold you responsible +for it.' I replied that it was a great honour to be mistaken +for Providence!</p> + +<p>The few pro-German writers on the Danish press rejoiced +at the compliment the United States was showing +Germany; the press itself was delighted. There were<a class="pagenum" name="Page_199" id="Page_199" title="[Pg 199]"></a> +always some sarcastic paragraphs in the Danish papers, +the result of a German propaganda which allowed nothing +good in any other nation. These took the form of +slight sneers at the gaiety of our sailors and their open-handedness. +The response was indignantly made that +American sailors were the only sailors in the world who +had too much to spend—and they spent this largely in +racing about in taxi-cabs, the cheapness of which amazed +them. There were rumours of depredation made by our +men among the beautiful flower beds in the <span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Kongens Nytorv">Kongens +Nytor</span>. I investigated them. There was not one valid +case.</p> + +<p>What did the visit of the squadron to Kiel mean? +Germany again! Were we afraid of the Kaiser? Was +an alliance to be made between the two great nations? +Where did England come in? It was an arrangement, +offensive and defensive, against Japan? The United +States would cede the Philippines to Germany, to save +those islands from the Yellow Peril? 'Germany and +the United States would drive the English from the +Atlantic, control the Pacific, and rule the world'—this +was part of a toast drunk by some enthusiastic German-Americans +at a dinner in the Hotel Bristol, which, fortunately, +I had refused to attend. From a diplomatic +point of view, when in doubt, one always ought to refuse +a public dinner. Dinners are more dangerous to diplomatists +than bombs!</p> + +<p>My son, Gerald, now in France, arranged a glorious +game of baseball between two of the crews of the squadron. +Some of the American Colony said it was 'educational.' +The Danes, although Mr. Cavling, editor of +<i lang="da">Politiken</i>, gave a valuable silver vase to the winner, +seemed to look on it that way rather than as an amusement. +The visit of the <i>North Carolina</i>, the <i>Louisiana</i>,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_200" id="Page_200" title="[Pg 200]"></a> +the <i>Kansas</i> and the <i>New Hampshire</i> made an epoch, to +which Americans could always allude with justifiable +pride.</p> + +<p>Prince Hans, the 'uncle of Europe,' the elder brother +of Frederick <span class="smcap lc">VIII.</span>, our neighbour, was very ill at the +time of the visit. The dances put on the programme of +a <a class="corr" name="TC_38" id="TC_38" title="was: cotillon">cotillion</a>, to be directed by Mr. William Kay Wallace, +then Secretary of Legation, were, of course, cancelled. +Prince Hans, dying as he was, sent an attendant to the +Legation, to thank my wife for her courtesy. There was +great fear that His Highness would die, and thus force +us to cancel our own gala dinner, and naturally put an +end to all festivities on the part of the court and the +navy. 'My uncle will not die until everything is over,' +said Prince Gustav; 'he is too polite!' He was. He +died just before the dinner given by King Frederick +and Queen Louise, but the news of his death was kept +back by his own request, until the dinner was over and +the 'cercle' had begun; then the sad news began to be +whispered.</p> + +<p>In 1912 the English and Russian squadrons appeared +in the Sound. This occasioned uneasiness. Some of +the Danes asked 'did it mean a protest against <a class="corr" name="TC_39" id="TC_39" title="was: he">the</a> +presumed alliance between the United States and +Germany? Or was it an intimation to Germany that +England and Russia had their eyes on Germany? As +to the second question, I had no answer; as to the first, +I laughed, and translated into my best Danish that such +an alliance would come when 'the sea gives up its dead.' +It was a curious allusion to make, in the light of horrible +events that had not yet occurred; I think I got it out of +one of Jean Ingelow's poems. By comparison with the +glitter and gaiety of the Americans, both the English +and Russians seemed sad, and their officers rather bored,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_201" id="Page_201" title="[Pg 201]"></a> +too. Tea and cakes and conversation were no compensation +in the eyes of the Danes, who love to dance, for the +American naval bands and the claret punch of Admiral +Badger's men—the navy was 'wet' then! I have no +doubt, however, that the English chargé d'affaires and +the Russian Minister, were not obliged to see so many +lovelorn damsels, asking for the addresses or for news +of various sailor men, to whom they were engaged or +expected to be. <i lang="fr">Calypso ne pouvait pas consoler</i>—for a +time; but one or two marriages did actually occur! The +dancing of the American officers, and the weather had +been so 'marvellous'! How these enterprising sailor +men managed to engage themselves to young persons who +spoke no English and understood no language but Danish +it was difficult to understand. They had lost no time, +however, but I left the problem to the Consulate. The +officers had been more discreet.</p> + +<p>Many times before the English and Russian ships +left the Sound, the question, What will the Germans +do now? was asked. The Copenhageners, as I have said, +like the old Athenians, are much given to the repeating +of new things. 'Now all the Athenians and strangers +that were there' (the Danes call diplomatists 'strangers') +'employed themselves in nothing else but either in telling +or in hearing some new things,' says St. Luke. This +makes Copenhagen a most amusing place, though, unlike +the Athenians, the Danes only talk of new things in their +moments of leisure.</p> + +<p>One day just before the English and Russian vessels +left, the question as to what Germany would do was +answered. A Zeppelin from Berlin sailed over the masts +of the English and Russian ships. Copenhagen was indignant, +but amused. We were invited to take the trip +back to Berlin in the Zeppelin—the fare was one hundred<a class="pagenum" name="Page_202" id="Page_202" title="[Pg 202]"></a> +kroner, or rather marks. What could be more pacific? +But the Zeppelin continued to float majestically, by +preference over that space in the Sound occupied by +the English and Russians. Was it a threat? Was it a +notice served to these possible enemies that Germany had +more powerful instruments, more insidious, more deadly, +than even the great gun of the <i>Lion</i> which we had admired +so much?</p> + +<p>It was a portent in the sky! I reported it to my +Government. It seemed significant enough.</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<div><a class="pagenum" name="Page_203" id="Page_203" title="[Pg 203]"></a></div> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /> +<span class="chapintro">THE PRELIMINARIES TO THE PURCHASE OF +THE DANISH ANTILLES</span></h2> + + +<p>The more I studied the relations of Germany to Denmark, +the more important it seemed to me that a great +nation like ours, bound by the most solemn oaths to +the vindication of the cause of liberty and even to the +protection of the little nations, should have a special +interest in a country which deserved our respect and +sympathy.</p> + +<p>As I have said, the Danes never for a moment forgot +the loss of Slesvig, and never ceased to fear the mightily +growing power of which that loss had been the foundation. +If Germany, whose future was on the sea, had not acquired +Slesvig, would Kiel and the good Danish sailors +she acquired with Slesvig, have been possible as a means +of her aggrandisement?</p> + +<p>Danish diplomatists seemed to think that Germany, +now that she had created the Kiel Canal, had no further +designs on Denmark, whom the Pan-Germans continued, +however, to call, 'our Northern province.' This was +the opinion of Hegermann-Lindencrone, of Raben-Levitzau, +and I have heard a similar opinion credited +to the present Danish Minister at Berlin, Count Carl +Moltke, though he did not express it to me. My old +friend, Count Holstein-Ledreborg, was not altogether of +that opinion. 'In case of war with England, Denmark +would be seized by our neighbour, naturally,' he said;<a class="pagenum" name="Page_204" id="Page_204" title="[Pg 204]"></a> +'unless we go carefully we are doomed to absorption.' +Count Holstein-Ledreborg knew Germany well. He had +lived in that country for many years, having shaken the +dust of his native land from his soles because many of +his friends and relatives—in fact, nearly all the aristocratic +class in Denmark—had practically turned their +backs on him on account of his political Liberalism. This +he told me. He had returned, with his family, to his +beautiful estate at Ledreborg, and, for a short time, +became prime minister, in order to do what seemed impossible—to +unite the factions in Parliament in favour of +a bill for the defence of the kingdom. Against England? +England had no designs. Against Russia? Russia was +allied to France, and she could hardly join hands with +Germany. The intentions of the Kaiser? But the +Kaiser seemed to be a peaceful opportunist. Even the +acute Lord Morley had more than once, in conversation, +put him down as a lover of peace; but—There was +always a 'but' and the General Staff of the German +Army!</p> + +<p>Study the personality of the important personages as +one might, there were always these things to be considered +as obstacles to clear vision:—the growing corruption +of principle in the Reichstag and among the German +people, if Hamburg represented them, and the point +of view of the military caste. In 1911 the increasing +riches—the thirst for money had become a veritable +passion—of the German people seemed to indicate that +one of the principal obstacles to aggression which would +involve war was being rapidly removed. The difference +between the American desire for money and the German +was, as I was often compelled to point out, that, while +the German desired great possessions to have and to +hold, the American wanted them in order to use them;<a class="pagenum" name="Page_205" id="Page_205" title="[Pg 205]"></a> +and, in spite of the industrious 'muck rakers,' it was +evident that our enormously rich men were not hoarding +their wealth for the sake of greed and selfish power as +the German rich were doing. Possibly, as our Government +does nothing for art or for music or for the people +in need, there is a greater necessity for private benevolence +than in countries where the Government subsidises even +the opera. Nevertheless, the fact remains; the European +rich man hoarded more than the American. And +Germany, in spite of the extravagance of Berlin and the +great cities, was hoarding. It was a bad sign for the +world.</p> + +<p>Of Slesvig, Prince Bismarck said in 1864, '<span lang="nds">Dat möt +wi hebben</span><span class="corr" title="was: ,">.</span>' He was terribly in earnest, and he spoke +in his own Low German. At any moment, the Kaiser +might say of Denmark, 'Her must we have.' But how +foolish this statement must seem to the Pacifists and all +the more foolish in the mind of a Minister who ought not +to be carried away by rumour or guesses or to be determined +by anything but the exact truth!</p> + +<p>It would have been foolish if, in 1911, a serious man +behind the scenes could have trusted any country in the +European concert to act in any way that was not for its +own national ends. A damaging confession this, but the +truth is the truth. We all know how amazed some +statesmen were when President Roosevelt refused the +Chinese spoil, when Cuba was restored, and promises to +the Filipinos began to be kept. If Denmark should be +'assumed,' the Danish Antilles would be the property +of the nation that 'assumed' it. As it was apparently +to the interest of the Pan-Germans to keep the Danes +in suspense, and, as most of the Danes distrusted the +intentions of their neighbours, it was not well to assume +that there was smoke and no fire.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_206" id="Page_206" title="[Pg 206]"></a> +Besides, were there not other powers who might find +it to their advantage to prevent the Danish West Indies +from falling into our hands? We were not, from 1907 +to 1914, in such a state of security as we imagined, in +spite of our system of peace treaties. <i lang="fr">Dans les coulisses</i> +of all countries, there was a certain amount of cynicism +as to the effect of these peace treaties, and very little +belief, except among the international lawyers, that anything +binding or serious had been accomplished by them. +After all, my business was to hoe my own row, but I +listened with great respect to such men as my colleague, +now the Norwegian Minister at Stockholm, Mr. Francis +Hagerup, and other legal-minded men. However, I +determined to make the task of saving the Islands from +'assimilation' as easy as possible for my successor or his +successor. I hoped, of course, for the chance of doing +something worth while for the country seemed to be mine, +and President Wilson—I shall always be most grateful to +him—gave me the happiness of doing humbly what I +could.</p> + +<p>In 1907 I found that the irritation caused by the attitude +of our Government in the matter of the Islands had not +worn away. The majority of the Danes had really never +wanted to sell the <a class="corr" name="TC_40" id="TC_40" title="was: Isalnds">Islands</a>. 'Why should a great country +like yours want to force us to sell the Danish Antilles? +You pretend to be democratic, but you are really imperialists. +It is not a question of money with us; it +is a question of honour. Your country has approached +us only on the side of money—and when you knew that +our poverty consented.'</p> + +<p>This was the substance of conservative opinion. There +was a widespread distrust, especially among the upper +classes in Denmark, as to our intentions. The title of +a brochure written by James Parton in 1869 was often<a class="pagenum" name="Page_207" id="Page_207" title="[Pg 207]"></a> +quoted against us, for the Danes have long memories. +It was entitled <i>The Danish West Indies: Are we Bound +in Honour to pay for Them?</i> 'An arrogant nation, +no longer democratic' because we had seized the Philippines! +It must be said that a minister desiring to make +a good impression on the people had little help from the +press at home. Foreign affairs were treated as of no +real importance in the organs of what is called our popular +opinion. The American point of view, as so well understood +over all the world now, was not explained; but +sensational stories describing the exaggerated splendours +of our millionaires, frightful tales of lynching in the +South, the creation of an American Versailles on Staten +Island, which would make the Sun King in the Shades +grow pale with envy, the luxuries of American ladies, +were invariably reproduced in the Danish papers. President +Roosevelt was looked upon as the one idealist in a +nation mad for money, and even he had a tremendous +fall in the estimation of the Radicals when he spoke of a +Conservative democracy in Copenhagen. It was necessary +to overcome a number of prejudices which were constantly +being fostered, partly by our own estimate of ourselves +as presented by the Scandinavian papers in extracts from +our own.</p> + +<p>Then, again, the real wealth of our people, our art and +literature—which count greatly in Denmark—were practically +unknown. Everything seemed to be against us. +The press was either contemptuous or condescending; we +were not understood.</p> + +<p>It is true that nearly every family in Denmark had +some representative in the United States, but their +representatives were, as a rule, hard-working people, +who had no time to give to the study of the things of +the mind among us. In spite of all their misconceptions,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_208" id="Page_208" title="[Pg 208]"></a> +which I proposed to dissipate to the best of my +ability, I found the Danes the most interesting people I +had ever come in contact with, except the French, and, +I think the most civilised. There was one thing certain:—if +the Danish West India Islands were so dear to +Denmark that it would be a wound to her national pride +to suggest the sale of them to us, no such suggestion +ought to be made by an American Minister. First, +national pride is a precious thing to a nation, and the +more precious when that nation has been great in power, +and remains great in heart in spite of its apparently +dwindling importance. It was necessary, then, to discover +whether the Danes could, in deference to their +natural desire to see their flag still floating in the +Atlantic Ocean, retain the Islands, and rule them in +accordance with their ideals. Their ideals were very +high. They hoped that they could so govern them that +the inhabitants of the Islands might be fairly prosperous +and happy under their rule. They were not averse to +expending large sums annually to make up the deficit +occasioned by the possession of them. The Colonial +Lottery was depended upon to assist in making up this +budget. The Danes have no moral objections to +lotteries, and the most important have governmental +sanction.</p> + +<p>Under the administrations of Presidents Roosevelt +and Taft it was useless to attempt to reopen the question. +All negotiations, since the first in 1865, had +failed. That of 1902, and the accompanying scandals, +the Danes preferred to forget. President Roosevelt's +opinion as to the necessity of our possessing the Islands +was well known. In 1902 the project for the sale had +been defeated in the Danish Upper House by one vote. +Mr. John Hay attributed this to German influence,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_209" id="Page_209" title="[Pg 209]"></a> +though the Princess Marie, wife of Prince Valdemar, +a remarkably clever woman, had much to do with it, +and she could not be reasonably accused of being under +German domination. The East-Asiatic Company was +against the sale and likewise a great number of Danes +whose association with the Islands had been traditional. +Herr Ballin denied that the German opposition existed; +he seemed to think that both France and England looked +on the proposition coldly. At any rate, he said that +Denmark gave no concessions to German maritime trade +that the United States would not give, and that the +property of the Hamburg-American Line would be quite +as safe in the hands of the United States as in those +of Denmark. In 1867 Denmark had declined to sell the +Islands for $5,000,000, but offered to accept $10,000,000 +for St. John and St. Thomas, or $15,000,000 for the +three. Secretary Seward raised the price to $7,500,000 +in gold for St. Thomas, St. John and Santa Cruz. Denmark +was willing to accept $7,500,000 for St. Thomas +and St. John; Santa Cruz, in which the French had +some rights, might be had for $3,750,000 additional. +Secretary Seward, after some delay, agreed to give +$7,500,000 for the two islands, St. Thomas and St. John. +The people of St. John and St. Thomas voted in favour +of the cession. In 1902 $5,000,000 was offered by the +United States. Diligent inquiries into the failure of the +sale, although the Hon. Henry White, well and favourably +known in Denmark, was sent over in its interest, received +the answer from those who had been behind the scenes, +'$5,000,000 was not enough, unaccompanied by a concession +that might have deprived the transaction of a +merely mercenary character.'</p> + +<p>At that time Germany might have preferred to see +the Islands in the hands of the United States rather<a class="pagenum" name="Page_210" id="Page_210" title="[Pg 210]"></a> +than in those of any other European power. It was +apparently to the interest of the United States to encourage +the activities of that great artery of emigration, the +Hamburg-American Line. She did not believe that the +United States would fail to raise the spectre of the Monroe +Doctrine against either of the nations who owned Bermuda +or Mauritius, if one of them proposed to place her flag +over St. Thomas.</p> + +<p>In 1892 the question of Spain's buying St. Thomas, in +order to defend Puerto Rico, thrown out by an obscure +journalist, was a theory to laugh at. Germany was +practically indifferent to our acquisition of islands on +the Atlantic coast that might possibly bring us one day +in collision with either England or France. As to the +Pacific, her point of view was different.</p> + +<p>Her politicians even then cherished the sweet hope +that the Irish in the United States and Canada might +force the hand of our Government against 'perfidious +Albion' if the slightest provocation was given. Besides, +in 1868, Germany had done her worst to the Danes. She +had taken Slesvig, and had ruined Denmark financially; +she had made Kiel the centre of her naval hopes; she +could neither assume Denmark nor borrow the $7,500,000—then +a much greater sum than now—for her own purposes. +I have never had reason to believe that Germany +prevented the sale of the Danish Antilles in 1902.</p> + +<p>The Congressional Examination of the scandalous rumours +that might have reflected on the honour of certain +Danish gentlemen and of some of our own Congressmen +are a matter of record, and show no traces of any +such domination. Curiously enough, there was a persistent +rumour of a secret treaty with Denmark which gave the +United States an option on the Islands. No such treaty +existed, and no Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs of my<a class="pagenum" name="Page_211" id="Page_211" title="[Pg 211]"></a> +acquaintance would have dreamed of proposing such an +arrangement.</p> + +<p>It is hardly necessary to dwell here on the value of +these Islands to the United States. President Roosevelt, +President Wilson, Senator Lodge, most persistently, +made the necessity of possessing these islands, through +legitimate purchase, very plain.</p> + +<p>The completion of the Panama Canal increased their +already great importance. If such men as Seward, +Foster, Olney, Root, Hay, and our foremost naval experts +considered them worth buying before the issues raised +by the creation of the Panama Canal were practical, +how much more valuable had they become when that +marvellous work was completed! Many interests contributed +to the desirability of our acquiring islands in +the West Indies—every additional island being of value +to us—but the great public seemed to see this as through +a glass—darkly.</p> + +<p>Puerto Rico was of little value in a strategic way +without the Danish Antilles. A cursory examination of +the map will show that Puerto Rico, with no harbours +for large vessels and its long coast line, would offer no +defences against alien forces. Naval experts had clearly +seen the hopelessness of defending San Juan. Major +Glassford, of the Signal Corps, in a report often quoted +and carefully studied by people intelligently interested +in the active enforcement of the Monroe Doctrine rather +than its mere statement as a method of defence on paper, +said that 'St. Thomas might be converted into a second +Gibraltar.' He was right. The frightful menace of the +cession of Heligoland to Germany was an example of +what might happen if we failed to look carefully to the +future. Besides, even those advocates of peace, right or +wrong, who infested our country before the war, who were<a class="pagenum" name="Page_212" id="Page_212" title="[Pg 212]"></a> +not sympathetic with the acquisition of territory, ought +to have remembered that one of the best guarantees of +peace was to leave nothing to fight about as far as these +islands of value in our relations 'to the region of the Orinoco +and the Amazon' and the Windward Passages were concerned. +The German occupation of Brazil—increasing +so greatly that the Brazilians were alarmed, the European +prejudices, made evident during the Spanish-American +War as existing in South and Central America—were +all occasions for thought.</p> + +<p>'The harbour of Charlotte Amalie,' wrote Major Glassford, +writing of St. Thomas, 'and the numerous sheltered +places about the island offer six and seven fathoms of +water. Besides, this harbour and the roadsteads are on +the southern side of the island, completely protected from +the prevailing strong winds. If this place were strongly +fortified and provisioned'—the number of inhabitants +are small compared with Puerto Rico—'it would be +necessary for an enemy contemplating a descent upon +Puerto Rico to take it into account first. The location +on the north-east side of the Antilles is in close proximity +to many of the passages into the Caribbean Sea, and +affords an excellent point of observation near the European +possessions in the archipelago. It is also a centre of the +West Indian submarine cable systems, being about midway +between the Windward Passage and the Trinidad entrance +into the Caribbean Sea.'</p> + +<p>Other interests distracted attention from the essential +value of these islands for local reasons, party reasons, +which are the curse of all modern systems of government. +The failure to purchase the Islands in 1892 +did not discourage Senator Lodge. On March 31st, +1898, the Committee on Foreign Affairs reported a bill +authorising the President to buy the Danish West India<a class="pagenum" name="Page_213" id="Page_213" title="[Pg 213]"></a> +Islands for a naval and coal station. On this bill, +Senator Lodge made a most interesting and valuable +report, in which he said, after stating that the fine harbour +of St. Thomas possessed all the required naval and +military conditions—'It has been pointed out by Captain +Mahan, as one of the great strategic points in the West +Indies.' 'The Danish Islands,' he concluded, 'could +easily be governed as a territory, could be readily defended +from attack, occupy a commanding strategic +position, and are of incalculable value to the United +States, not only as part of the national defences, but as +removing by their possession a very probable cause of +foreign complications.'</p> + +<p>My predecessors in Denmark, Messrs. Risley, Carr, +Svendsen, were of this opinion. The arguments of Mr. +Carr, expressed in his despatches, are invincible. Mr. +O'Brien, who was minister plenipotentiary to Denmark +until he was sent as ambassador to Japan, saw, as I did, +in 1907, that the Danes and their Government were in +no mood to accept any suggestions on the subject. However, +I discussed the matter academically with each +minister of Foreign Affairs, saying that the United +States would make no proposition at any time which +might offend the national self-respect of the Danes, that +in fact, as valuable as the Islands would be to us and as +expedient as it might be for the Danes to sell them to +us, their Government must give some unequivocal sign +that it was willing to part with them before we should +seriously take up the question again. Neither Count +Raben-Levitzau nor Count William Ahlefeldt-Laurvig +gave me any official encouragement, though I hardly +expected it as I had taken means to sound public opinion +on my own account. Both Count Raben-Levitzau and +Count Ahlefeldt were Liberal Ministers of Foreign Affairs,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_214" id="Page_214" title="[Pg 214]"></a> +and I knew that, if there was any hope that a sale might +be made, they would give me reasonable encouragement. +Besides, I was doubtful whether the price—which might +probably be asked—reasonable enough in my eyes and +in the eyes of those European diplomatists who knew +what Heligoland and Gibraltar meant to Germany and +to England—would not have raised such an outcry among +voters at home, who had not yet learned to weigh any +transaction with a foreign Government—except commercially, +in terms of dollars and cents, that another +failure might have followed. It was out of the question +to risk that.</p> + +<p>Many of my friends among the more conservative of +the Danes scorned the idea of the sale on any terms. +Among these was Admiral de Richelieu, whose father +is buried in St. Thomas, and who is the most intense of +Danish patriots. If objections to the sale on the part +of my best friends in Denmark had governed me, I +should have despaired of it. However, my friends, +like de Richelieu, felt that our Government would be +glad to see the Danish West India Islands improved as +far as the Danes could improve them. De Richelieu, +Etatsraad Andersen—Etatsraad meaning Councillor of +State—Holger Petersen, Director Cold, formerly Governor +of the Islands, Hegemann, who bore the high title of +<i lang="da">Geheimekonferensraad</i>, were among those most interested +in the Islands.</p> + +<p>Hegemann, since dead, was the only one of the group +who thought that the Danish Government could never +either improve the Islands socially or make them pay +commercially. 'The Danes are bad colonisers,' he said. +He was a man of great common-sense, of wide experience, +and a philanthropist who never let his head run +away with his heart. He did a great deal for technical<a class="pagenum" name="Page_215" id="Page_215" title="[Pg 215]"></a> +education in Denmark. In fact, there was scarcely any +movement for the betterment of the country economically +in which he was not interested. He had great properties +in the island of Santa Cruz; but he looked on the +Danish possession of the Islands as bad for the reputation +of his native country and worse for the progress of the +Islands and the Islanders. 'The present Government is +too mild in its treatment of the blacks,' he said; +'equality, liberty and fraternity, the motto of the ruling +party, is excellent, but it will not work in the Islands.' +Besides, the construction of the Panama Canal was +drawing the best labourers from them. He was interested +in sugar and even in sea cotton; he thought that, the +tariff restrictions being removed and a market for labour +made, something might be done by us towards making +the Islands a profitable investment. I was entirely indifferent +as to that—our great need of the Islands was not +for commercial uses.</p> + +<p>The prevailing opinion in Court circles was against +the sale, based on no antagonism to the United States, +but on the desire that Denmark should not lose more of +its territory. The Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland +were still appendages; but Iceland was always restive, +and Greenland seemed, in the eyes of the Danes, to have +only the value of remotely useful territory. They had +been shorn of territory by England, by Sweden, and, +last of all, by Germany.</p> + +<p>Our Government, knowing well how strong the +national pride was, and how reasonable, permitted me to +show it the greatest consideration. When the East-Asiatic +Company, which had important holdings in St. +Thomas, proposed that the national sentiment should +be tested, and each Danish citizen asked to make a +pecuniary sacrifice for the retention of the Islands, I<a class="pagenum" name="Page_216" id="Page_216" title="[Pg 216]"></a> +was permitted to express sympathy with the movement, +and to assist it in every way compatible with my position.</p> + +<p>The attempt failed. It was evident that the majority +of the people, whatever were their sentiments, knew +that it was impracticable to attempt to govern the +Islands from such a distance. If it had been possible +to retain them with honour, with justice to the inhabitants, +who for a long time had been desirous of union +with the United States, no amount of money would have +induced Denmark to part with the last of her colonial +possessions. As it was, the prospect was not at all +clear.</p> + +<p>In modern times, a man who aspires to do his duty +in diplomacy must be honest and reasonably frank. To +pretend to admire the institutions of a nation, to affect +a sympathy one does not feel, with a view to obtaining +something of advantage to one's own country, was no +doubt possible when foxes were preternaturally cunning +and crows unbelievingly vain, but not now. The whole +question of the Islands was a matter which must be +settled by the commonsense of the Danes at the expense +of their sentiment; no pressure on our part could be +used, short of such arguments as might point to the +forcible possession of the Islands temporarily in case +of war; but the fact that the United States preferred to +give what seemed to be an enormous sum—(though +$25,000,000 have to-day scarcely the purchasing power +of the $15,000,000 demanded for the three Islands from +Secretary Seward in 1867)—rather than run the risk of +future unpleasant complications with a small and friendly +State, showed that the intentions of our Government were +on a par with its professions.</p> + +<p>When the proposed sale of the Islands stopped, largely<a class="pagenum" name="Page_217" id="Page_217" title="[Pg 217]"></a> +because Senator Sumner disliked President Johnson, +and the treaty lapsed in 1870 in spite of the support of +Secretary Fish, King Christian <span class="smcap lc">IX.</span> wrote, in a proclamation +to the people of the Danish Islands—a majority of +whom had consented to the proposed sale,—'The American +Senate has not shown itself willing to maintain the treaty +made, although the initiative came from the United +States themselves.' The king had only consented to +the sale to lighten the terrible financial burdens imposed +on his country by the unjust war which Germany and +Austria had forced upon Denmark with a view to the +theft of Slesvig; and his consent would never have been +given had not Secretary Seward, the predecessor of +Secretary Fish, reluctantly agreed that the vote of the +inhabitants should be taken. He was more democratic +than Mr. Seward.</p> + +<p>King Christian would not sign the treaty, which gave +$7,500,000 to Denmark for the two Islands of St. +Thomas and St. John, until Mr. Seward consented to +'concede the vote.' The Danes were frank in admitting +that their 'poverty, but not their will,' consented. +'Ready as We were to subdue the feelings of Our heart, +when We thought that duty bade Us so to do,' continued +the king in his proclamation, 'yet We cannot +otherwise than feel a satisfaction that circumstances +have relieved Us from making a sacrifice which, notwithstanding +the advantages held out, would always +have been painful to Us. We are convinced that You +share these sentiments, and that it is with a lightened +heart You are relieved from the consent which only at +Our request You gave for a separation from the Danish +crown.'</p> + +<p>The king added that he entertained the firm belief +that his Government, supported by the Islanders, would<a class="pagenum" name="Page_218" id="Page_218" title="[Pg 218]"></a> +succeed in making real progress, and end by effacing all +remembrances of the disasters that had come upon them, +his overseas dominions. Affairs in the mother country +did look up; the Danes developed their country, in spite +of the worst climatic conditions, into a land famous +for its scientific farming. A wit has said that Denmark, +after the loss of Slesvig, was divided like old +Gaul, itself, into three parts,—butter, eggs and bacon. +The Danes, cast into a condition of moral despondency +and temporal poverty, with their national pride +stricken, and their soil outworn, seized the things of +the spirit and made material things subservient. Religion +and patriotism, developed by Bishop Grundtvig, +saved the mother country; but the Islands continued +to go through various stages of hope and fear. The +United States was too near and Denmark too far off. +Home politics were generally paramount, and each new +governor was always obliged to consider the sensitiveness +of his Government to the amount of expenditure allowed. +There were persons in power at home who +seemed to see the Islands from the point of view of +Bernardin de Saint Pierre—sentimentally. The happy +black men were to dance under spreading palms, gently +guided by Danish Pauls and Virginias! The black men +were only too willing to dance under palms, whether +spreading or not, and to be guided by any idyllic persons +who, leaving them the pleasures of existence, would +take the trials. All the governors suffered more or less +from the Rousseau-like point of view taken by the Government. +Mr. Helvig Larsen was the last who was expected +to be 'idyllic.' One of the fears often expressed +to me was that 'the Americans would treat the blacks +badly—we have all read <i>Uncle Tom's Cabin</i>, you +know.'</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_219" id="Page_219" title="[Pg 219]"></a> +Even Her Majesty, the Dowager Queen Louise, one +of the best-informed women in Europe, had her doubts +about our attitude to the negroes. 'You have black +nurses,' Her Majesty said to me; 'why are your people, +especially in the South, not more kind to their race?' +Queen Louise, who was sincerely interested in the +welfare of her coloured subjects, would listen to reason. +I sent her the <i>Soul of the Black</i>, which shows unconsciously +why social equality in this case would be undesirable, +but not until Booker Washington's visit did Her +Majesty understand the attitude that sensible Americans, +who know the South, take on the subject of the +social equality of our coloured fellow-citizens. During +my stay in Europe this matter was frequently discussed.</p> + +<p>Some of my German colleagues politely insinuated +that 'democracy' was little practised in a country +where a President could be severely censured for inviting +a coloured man of distinction to lunch. And +nearly all the Danes of the modern school took this +point of view. The naval officers, who are always better +informed as to foreign conditions than most other men, +readily understood that social equality assumes a meaning +in the United States which would imply the probability +of what is known as 'amalgamation.' While the German +critic of our conditions might very well understand the +impossible barrier of caste in his own country and object +to 'permanent marriages' with women of the inferior +'yellow' races, he seemed to think that the laws in some +of the United States against the marriages of blacks and +whites were un-Christian and illogical.</p> + +<p>'But you would not encourage such marriages?' I +asked of one of the most distinguished Danes at the +Copenhagen University.</p> + +<p>'Why not?' he asked.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_220" id="Page_220" title="[Pg 220]"></a> +From my point of view, the case was hopeless. And +every now and then an extract from an American paper, +containing the account of a lynching with all the +gruesome details described, would be translated into +Danish. I never believed in censoring the press until I +came to occupy a responsible position in Denmark. I +confess, <i lang="la">mea culpa</i>!—that I wanted many times to have +the right to say what should or should not be reprinted +for foreign consumption! The newspapers seemed to +have no regard for the plans of the diplomatists, believing +news is news! There will always be the irrepressible +conflict!</p> + +<p>One of my wife's friends in Denmark, the late Countess +Rantzau, born of the famous theatrical family of +the Poulsens, who was well-read, and who knew her +Europe well, produced one day an old embroidered +screen for my benefit. There were the palms; there +was an ancient African with a turban on his very woolly +head; there was a complacent young person in stiff skirts +seated at his feet, looking up to him with adoring eyes. +'Antique?' I asked, preparing to admire the work +of art; the tropical foliage of acanthus leaves was so +flourishing in the tapestry, and the luncheon had been +so good!</p> + +<p>'It is not as a work of art that I show it to the American +Minister, but to let him know that we Danes love +the virtues of the blacks. This is Uncle Tom and Little +Eva!'</p> + +<p>It was intended to soften a hard heart!</p> + +<p>In October 1910 Mr. Andrew Carnegie telegraphed +that Mr. Booker Washington would pay a visit to Denmark. +I had met Mr. Booker Washington with Mr. +Richard Watson Gilder in New York, and I admired him +very greatly. However, I felt that I should be embarrassed<a class="pagenum" name="Page_221" id="Page_221" title="[Pg 221]"></a> +by his visit, as I knew both King Frederick and +Queen Louise were interested in him and would not only +expect me to present him, but likewise—they were the +fine flowers of courtesy—wish my wife and myself to +dine at Amalieborg Palace with him. When Admiral +Bardenfleth, the queen's chamberlain, came to inquire +as to when Mr. Booker Washington should arrive, I +suggested that Her Majesty, who had often shown her +high appreciation of Mr. Washington's work, might like +to talk with him informally, as I knew that she had many +questions to ask, and that he himself would be more at +his ease if I were not present. The Admiral thanked me. +I said the same thing to the Master of Ceremonies of the +Court when he came on behalf of the king.</p> + +<p>For charm of manner, ease, the simplicity that conceals +the perfection of social art, and at least apparent +sympathy with one's difficulties, let the high officials +of the Court of Denmark be commended! The Master +of Ceremonies was delighted. Their Majesties would miss +me from the introduction and regret that Mrs. Egan and +I would not be present at the dinner, which, however, +would be earlier than usual, as I had said that Mr. Booker +Washington must catch a train; it would also be very +unceremonious. His Majesty would ask only his immediate +<i lang="fr">entourage</i>.</p> + +<p>I was pleased with myself (a fatal sign by the way!); +Mr. Washington would have all the honour due him. I +arranged to attend his lecture, with all the Americans +I could collect. I sent the landau with two men on the +box, including the magnificent Arthur and the largest +cockades, to meet Mr. Washington. In 1910, King Frederick +used only carriages and the diplomatists followed +his example, though some of a more advanced temperament +had taken to motor cars. Mr. Washington was<a class="pagenum" name="Page_222" id="Page_222" title="[Pg 222]"></a> +pleased. He loved the landau and the cockades, and +Arthur, our first man, who had been 'in diplomacy +twenty-five years,' treated him with distinction.</p> + +<p>'You have honoured my people and my work most +delicately,' he said to me. 'I thank you for sending me +the king's invitation to dinner to the Hôtel d'Angleterre. +Too much public talk of this honour in the United States +would do my people and myself much harm. I will +make, in print, an acknowledgment of your courtesy, so +effective and so agreeable. To have my work recognised +in this manner by the most advanced Court in Europe +is indeed worth while, and to have this honour without +too much publicity is indeed agreeable.'</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington's lecture had been a great success. +It had helped, too, to do away with the impression that +lynching is to the Americans of North America what +bull fights are to those of South America. The most +awkward question constantly put to me at Court and +in society was, 'But why do you lynch the black men?'</p> + +<p>Filled with satisfaction at the result of my machinations +(a bad state of mind, as I have said), I was bending +over my desk one morning when two correspondents of +American newspapers were announced. They came from +London; I had met them both before.</p> + +<p>'Cigars?'</p> + +<p>'Yes. We do not want to give you trouble, Mr. +Minister; you were very decent to us all in the Cook affair, +but we shall make a good story out of this Booker Washington +visit, and we think it is only fair to say that we +are going to 'feature' you. There is nothing much +doing now, and we've been asked to work this thing +up. We know on the best authority that the king will +give a dinner to Booker Washington; you will respond +with a reception; Mrs. Egan will be taken in to dinner<a class="pagenum" name="Page_223" id="Page_223" title="[Pg 223]"></a> +by Mr. Washington; there will be lots of ladies there—in +a word, we'll get as big a sensation out of it as the +newspapers did out of the Roosevelt-Booker Washington +incident. It will do you good in the North, and, as +you're a Philadelphian, you need not care what the South +thinks.'</p> + +<p>These gentlemen meant to be kind; they were dropping +me into a hole kindly, but they <em>were</em> letting me into a +hole!</p> + +<p>'It is not a question as to <em>how</em> I feel,' I said; 'it is +a question of raising unpleasant discussions, of injuring +the coloured people by holding out false hopes, which, +hurried into action, excite new prejudices against them. +President Roosevelt, when he invited Booker Washington +to lunch, acted as I should like to act now, but I would +regret the ill-feeling raised by discussions of such an incident +as greatly as he regretted it; but,' I added, 'you have +your duty to your papers, which must have news, although +the heavens fall. If my wife is taken in to dinner by Mr. +Booker Washington at Court, if I give the reception +you speak of——'</p> + +<p>'You will,' said the elder newspaper man, joyously; +'it is a matter of rigid etiquette. We have a private +tip!'</p> + +<p>'Very well, when I do these things, I shall not complain +if you headline them.'</p> + +<p>'Sensation in Denmark,' he read, from a slip. 'Wife +of American Minister is taken in to Dinner by Representative +Coloured Man. Perfect Social Equality +Exemplified by Reception to Mr. Booker Washington +at American Legation! London will like you all the +better for that,' he said, laughing.</p> + +<p>'As "tout Paris" liked President Roosevelt,' I +answered.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_224" id="Page_224" title="[Pg 224]"></a> +I shivered a little. 'Come to lunch to-morrow, but do +not let us talk on this subject. If I am compelled by +etiquette, as you insist I shall, I'll swallow the headlines. +I shall ask Mr. Hartvig of some London papers and +the <i>New York World</i> to meet you.' And off they went!</p> + +<p>If I were a Spartan person and really loved to perform +my duties in the most idealistic way, I should have +treated the situation greatly, nobly, and unselfishly; I +should not have been pleased at the prospect of cheating +my journalistic friends out of a good story; but, not +being Spartan and really not loving difficult duties, I felt +that I had done enough in giving them a luncheon worthy +of the reputation of our Legation, with <i lang="fr">sole à la Bernaise</i> +and the best Sauterne.</p> + +<p>Mr. Washington called before he went to the king's +dinner; he was all smiles, and his evening suit was perfect. +He said 'good-bye,' and I was thankful that the event of +his visit was over; he was not only satisfied, but radiant +and grateful.</p> + +<p>Consul-General Bond and his wife, Dr. Brochardt, of +the Library of Congress, and several other interesting +people were to come in, to dine and to play bridge this +evening. I fancied the disappointment of the newspaper +men when they should arrive, to find no reception +in progress and no Booker Washington. I think I told +my guests of the remarkably clever way—I hope I did not +use that phrase—by which they had been outwitted.</p> + +<p>We were about to go into the drawing-room for coffee +when a card was brought in. 'Mr. Booker Washington.' +Some of the guests, those from the South especially, +wanted to see him; but I trembled when I imagined +the scene that would meet the reporters, who were, I +knew, sure to come about nine o'clock. The drawing-room +would be brilliantly lighted, half a dozen charming<a class="pagenum" name="Page_225" id="Page_225" title="[Pg 225]"></a> +ladies in evening gowns would be there, surrounding the +eminent apostle! Enter the writers, and then would +follow an elaborate sketch of the social function to be +described as a New Step in Social Evolution, the Dawn +of a New Day, a Symbol of Entire Social Equality. I +knew that the elder newspaper man, a friend of Stead's, +was quite capable of all this!</p> + +<p>'Coffee will be served in my study,' I said, not waiting +to consult my wife. 'I will see Mr. Washington, at least +for a moment, <em>alone</em>.'</p> + +<p>The group of guests moved off reluctantly. Mr. +Washington waited in the back drawing-room, where +both the Kaiser and Colonel Roosevelt had once stood, +though at different times. His train would be late; he +came in the fulness of his heart, to tell me that King +Frederick and Queen Louise had been most sympathetic. +He was enthusiastic about the discernment and commonsense +of Queen Louise, who had read his book and followed +every step of his work with great interest. 'I was glad +to have Her Majesty know that the best men of my race +are with me, that the opposition to me comes, not from +the whites, but from that element in my own race which +wants to enjoy the luxuries of life and its leisure without +working! I thank you again, Mr. Minister, for arranging +this affair in such a way as to preserve my dignity and +to prevent me from appearing as if I were vain; yet I +am legitimately proud of the great honour I have received. +I shall now go to my hotel, and arrange for my departure.'</p> + +<p>'I have ordered the carriage,' I said.</p> + +<p>Just then, the footman threw the doors open, and in +came the two newspaper men, resplendent as a starry +night, one wearing a Russian decoration.</p> + +<p>'Alone?' he said.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_226" id="Page_226" title="[Pg 226]"></a> +'With Dr. Booker Washington.'</p> + +<p>'The reception?'</p> + +<p>'Dr. Booker Washington has just come to describe +his dinner at the Court. Let me present you two gentlemen. +Dr. Washington has little time; if you will +accompany him to the hotel, he will, I am sure, give you +an interview. Mr. Hartvig of the <i>New York World</i> will +be present, too.<span class="corr" title="added: '">'</span></p> + +<p>'Stung!' said the younger newspaper man.</p> + +<p>'Lunch with me to-morrow,' I said; 'I have some +white Bordeaux.'</p> + +<p>Dr. Washington gave a prudent interview and the +incident was closed. May he rest in peace. He was a +great man, a modest, intelligent and humble man, and +no calumny can lessen his greatness.</p> + +<p>This is a digression to show that the social question in +the United States, much as it might have seemed to +people who looked on Denmark as entirely out of our +orbit, had its importance in the affair of the purchase of +the Islands, which then interested me more than anything +else in the world.</p> + +<p>Pastor Bast was the only Methodist clergyman in +Copenhagen. His good works are proverbial and not +confined to his own denomination. The Methodists were +few; indeed, I think that even Pastor Bast's children +were Lutherans. Having recommended one of his charities, +I was asked by a very benevolent Dane:</p> + +<p>'Are the Methodists really Christians in America?'</p> + +<p>'Why do you ask that question?'</p> + +<p>'I have read that there is a division in their ranks +because most of them refuse to admit black people on +equal terms. If that is so, I cannot help Pastor Bast's +project, although I can see that it has value.'</p> + +<p>It was in vain to explain the difference of opinion on<a class="pagenum" name="Page_227" id="Page_227" title="[Pg 227]"></a> +the 'Afro-American question' which separated the +Northern and Southern Methodists; he could not understand +it. I hope, however, that Pastor Bast received his +donation.</p> + +<hr class="tb" /> + +<p>In August 1910, the unrest in Europe, reflected in +Denmark, was becoming more and more evident. The +diplomatic correspondents during the succeeding years—some +of it has been made public—showed this.</p> + +<p>Japan, it was understood, would, with the Mexican +difficulty, keep the United States out of any entanglements +in Europe. So sure were some of the distinguished +Danes of our neutrality in case of war—a contingency +in which nobody in the United States seemed to believe—that +I was asked to submit to my Government, not +officially, a proposal to Denmark for the surrender of +Greenland to us, we to give, in return, the most important +island in the Philippines—Mindanao. Denmark was to +have the right to transfer to Germany this island for +Northern Slesvig. The Danish Government had no +knowledge of this plan, which was, however, presented +in detail to me.</p> + +<p>Against it was urged the necessity of Denmark's remaining +on good terms with Germany. 'We could +never be on good terms with our Southern Neighbour, +if we possessed Slesvig; besides, the younger Danes in +Slesvig are so tied up with Germany economically that +their position would be more complicated. 'In fact,' +this Slesviger said, 'though I hate the Prussian tyranny, +I fear that our last state would be worse than our +first. Germany might accept the Philippine Island, +and retake Slesvig afterwards. Unless we could be protected +by the Powers, we should regard the bargain as +a bad one. Besides, England would never allow you to<a class="pagenum" name="Page_228" id="Page_228" title="[Pg 228]"></a> +take Greenland.' It was an interesting discussion <i lang="la">in +camera</i>.</p> + +<p>These discussions were always informal—generally +after luncheon—and very enlightening. Admiral de +Richelieu, who will never die content until Slesvig is +returned to Denmark, looked on the arrangement as +possible.</p> + +<p>'Germany wants peace with you; she could help you +to police the Philippines; Greenland would be more +valuable to you than to us,—and Slesvig would be again +Danish.'</p> + +<p>'But suppose we should propose to take the Danish +Antilles for Mindanao?' I asked.</p> + +<p>'Out of the question,' he said, firmly. 'You will +never induce us to part with the West Indies. We can +make them an honourable appendage to our nation; but +Greenland, with your resources, might become another +Alaska.'</p> + +<p>De Richelieu is one of the best friends I have in the +world; but, when it came to the sale of the Islands, he +saw, not only red, but scarlet, vermilion, crimson and all +the tints and shades of red!</p> + +<p>In 1915, it seemed to me that my time had come to +make an attempt to do what nearly every American +statesman of discernment had, since Seward's time, +wanted done. It must be remembered that, if I seem +egoistical, I am telling the story from the point of view +of a minister who had no arbitrary instructions from +his Government, and very little information as to what +was going on in the minds of his countrymen as to the +expediency of the purchase. It is seldom possible to +explain exactly the daily varying aspect of foreign politics +in a European country to the State Department; +if one keeps one's ear to the ground, one often discovers<a class="pagenum" name="Page_229" id="Page_229" title="[Pg 229]"></a> +the beginning of social and political vibrations +in the evening which have quite vanished when one +makes a report to one's Government in the morning. +Again, mails are slow; we had no pouch; any document, +even when closed by the august seal of the United States +might be opened 'by mistake.' Long cables, filled with +minutiæ, were too expensive to be encouraged. Besides, +they might be deciphered and filed by under-clerks, who +probably thought that 'Dr. Cook had put Denmark on +the Map,'—only that, and nothing more! I knew one +thing—that my colleague, Constantin Brun, was for +the sale; another, that Erik de Scavenius, the youngest +Minister of Foreign Affairs in Europe, was as clever as +he was patriotic and honourable, and as resourceful as +audacious. He had an Irish grandfather. That explained +much. Another thing I assumed—that my +Government trusted me, and had given me, without +explicitly stating the fact, <i lang="fr">carte blanche</i>. However, I +prepared myself to be disavowed by the State Department +if I went too far. I knew that, provided I was strictly +honourable, such a disavowal would mean a promotion +on the part of the President. I had done my best to +accentuate the good reasons given by my predecessors, +especially Carr and Risley, for they were beyond denial, +for our buying the Islands. One despatch I had sent off +in May or June 1915, almost in despair, a despatch in +which I repeated the fear of German aggression and +quoted Heligoland, which had become as much a part of +my thoughts and talk in private as the appearance of the +head of Charles <span class="smcap lc">I.</span> in that of Dickens's eccentric character.</p> + +<p>In June 1915, no nation had the time or the leisure +or the means of interfering with the project, for war +means concentration, and I had found means of knowing +that Germany would not coerce Denmark in the matter.<a class="pagenum" name="Page_230" id="Page_230" title="[Pg 230]"></a> +I hoped and prayed that our Government would take +action. I knew, not directly, but through trusted +friends like Robert Underwood Johnson, lately Editor +of <i>The Century Magazine</i>, what point of view nearly +every important journal in the United States would +take. Senator Lodge's views were well known; in +fact, he had first inflamed my zeal. President Wilson +had put himself on record in this momentous matter. +Unless public opinion should balk at the price—$50,000,000 +would not have been too much—the purchase +would be approved of by the Senate and the House. This +seemed sure.</p> + +<p>Against these arguments was the insinuation made +and widely but insidiously spread, that Germany approved +the sale because she expected to borrow the amount +of money paid! In June 1915, it was plain to all who +read the signs of the times, that we could not long keep +out of the war. 'I did not raise my boy to be a soldier' +was neither really popular in the United States nor convincing, +for, sad as it may seem, disheartening as it is +to those who believe in that universal peace which Christ +never promised, the American of the United States is +a born fighter!</p> + +<p>If the Islands were to be ours, now was the acceptable +time. In Denmark, the prospect looked like a landscape +set for a forlorn hope. Erik de Scavenius, democrat, +even radical, though of one of the most aristocratic families +in Denmark, would consider only the good of his own +country. He was neither pro-German, pro-English nor +pro-American. Young as he was, his diplomatic experience +had led him to look with a certain cynicism on the +altruistic professions of any great European nation. He +relied, I think, as little as I did on the academic results +of the Hague conferences.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_231" id="Page_231" title="[Pg 231]"></a> +Denmark needed money; the Government, pledged to +the betterment of the poor, to the advancement of funds +to small farmers, to the support of a co-operative banking +system in the interest of the agriculturists, to old-age +pensions, to the insurance of the working man and his +support when involuntarily idle, to all those Socialistic +plans that aim at the material benefit of the proletariat,<a name="FNanchor_14" id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> +and in addition to this, to the keeping up of a standing +army as large as our regular army before the war, now +'quasi-mobilised,'—could ill afford to sink the State's +income in making up the deficit caused by the expenses +of the Islands.</p> + +<p>The Radicals, like Edward Brandès, despaired of +righteously ruling their Islands on the broad, humanitarian +principles they had established in Denmark. The +position of the Government was so precarious that to +raise the question might have serious consequences. +This we all knew, and none better than Erik de +Scavenius. It will be seen that the difficulties on the +Danish side were greater than on ours. The price, which, +reasonably enough, would be greater than that offered +in previous times, would hardly be a very grave objection +from the American point of view, since the war had +made us more clear-minded, for our people are most +generous in spending money when they see good reasons +for it.</p> + +<p>It would take much time to unravel the intricacies +of Danish politics. 'Happy,' said my friend, Mr. +Thomas P. Gill,<a name="FNanchor_15" id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> visiting Denmark in 1908, 'is that +land which is ruled by farmers!' I have sometimes +doubted this. The Conservatives naturally hated the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_232" id="Page_232" title="[Pg 232]"></a> +Social Democrats, and the Government was kept in +power by the help of the Social Democrats. The Conservatives +would have gladly pitched the Government to +Hades, if they had not had a great fear that Erik de +Scavenius and perhaps Edward Brandès, the Minister +of Justice, were too useful to lose during the war when +the position of Denmark was so delicate. The recent +elections have shown how weak the present Government +is.</p> + +<p>The Danes, as I have said, are probably the most +civilised people in Europe, but an average American +high school boy thinks more logically on political questions. +A union of such intellectual clearness with such +a paralysis of the logical, political qualities of the mind +as one finds in Denmark, is almost incredible. They +seem to feel in matters of politics but not to think. After +a large acquaintance among the best of the young minds +in Denmark, I could only conclude that this was the +result of unhappy circumstances: the pessimism engendered +by the nearness to Germany, the fact that the +Dane was not allowed to vote until he became almost +middle-aged, and the absence, in the higher schools, of +any education that would cultivate self-analysis, and +which would force the production of mental initiative. +Sentiment was against the sale of the Islands,—therefore, +the cause already seemed lost!</p> + +<p>The press, as a rule, would be against it, but the press +in Denmark, though everybody reads, has not a very +potent influence. I was sure of <i lang="da">Politiken</i>, a journal which +most persons said was 'yellow,' but which appealed to +people who liked cleverness. The press, I was sure, would +be against the sale largely for reasons of internal politics. +The farmers would not oppose the sale as a sale—in +itself—the possession of a great sum of money, even<a class="pagenum" name="Page_233" id="Page_233" title="[Pg 233]"></a> +while it remained in the United States, meant increased +facilities for the import of fodder, etc., but J. C. Christensen, +their leader, must be reckoned with. There were +local questions. Politics is everywhere a slippery +game, but in Denmark it is more slippery than anywhere +else in the world, not even excepting in, let us say, +Kansas.</p> + +<p>J. C. Christensen had stubbed his toe over Alberti, +who had, until 1908, been a power in Denmark, and +who, in 1915, was still in the Copenhagen jail. He had +been prime minister from 1905 until Alberti's manipulation +of funds had been discovered in 1908. Under +the short administration of Holstein-Ledreborg, he had +been Minister of Worship, but he smarted over the +accident which had driven him undeservedly out of office. +Socialism, curious as it may seem to Americans, is not +confined to the cities in Denmark. It thrives in the +farmlands. In the country, the Socialists are more +moderate than in the cities. In the country, Socialism +is a method of securing to the peasant population the +privileges which it thinks it ought to have. It is a +pale pink compared with the intense red of the extreme +urban Internationalists. J. C. Christensen represented +the Moderates as against the various shades of Left, +Radical and Socialistic opinions. Besides J. C. Christensen, +though his reputation was beyond reproach, needed, +perhaps, a certain rehabilitation, and he had a great +following. A further complication was the sudden rise +of violent opposition to the Government because of the +decision made by the secular authorities in favour of +retaining in his pulpit Arboe Rasmussen, a clergyman +who had gone even further towards Modernism in his +preaching than Harnack. However, as the Bishops of +the Danish Lutheran Church had accepted this decision,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_234" id="Page_234" title="[Pg 234]"></a> +it seemed remarkable that an opposition of this kind +should have developed so unexpectedly.</p> + +<p>In June 1915, my wife and I were at Aalholm, the +principal castle of Count Raben-Levitzau. I was hoping +for a favourable answer to my latest despatch as to the +purchase of the Islands. A visit to Aalholm was an +event. The Count and Countess Raben-Levitzau know +how to make their house thoroughly agreeable. Talleyrand +said that 'no one knew the real delights of social +intercourse who had not lived before the French Revolution.' +One might easily imitate this, and say, that if +one has never paid a visit to Aalholm, one knows little +of the delights of good conversation. Count Raben's +guests were always chosen for their special qualities. +With Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hagerup, Señor and Señora +de Riaño, Count and Countess Szchenyi,<a name="FNanchor_16" id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Chamberlain +and Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone, Mrs. Ripka, and +the necessary additional element of young folk, one +must forget the cares of life. During this visit, there +was one care that rode behind me in all the pleasant +exclusions about the estate. It constantly asked me: +What is your Government thinking about? Will the +President's preoccupations prevent him from considering +the question of the purchase? Does Mr. Brun, the Danish +Minister, fear a political crisis in his own country? It +is difficult to an American at home to realise how much +in the dark a man feels away from the centre of diplomacy, +Washington, especially when he has once lived there for +years and been in touch with all the tremulous movements +of the wires.</p> + +<p>One day at Aalholm, the telephone rang; it was a<a class="pagenum" name="Page_235" id="Page_235" title="[Pg 235]"></a> +message from the Clerk of the Legation, Mr. Joseph G. +Groeninger of Baltimore. I put Clerk with a capital +letter because Mr. Groeninger deserved diplomatically a +much higher title. During all my anxieties on the question +of the purchase, he had been my confidant and +encourager; the secretaries had other things to do. The +message, discreetly voiced in symbols we had agreed upon, +told me that the way was clear. Our Government was +willing,—secrecy and discretion were paramount necessities +in the transaction.</p> + +<p>Returning to Copenhagen, I saw the Foreign Minister. +The most direct way was the best. I said, 'Excellency, +will you sell your West Indian Islands?'</p> + +<p>'You know I am for the sale, Mr. Minister,' he said, +'but—' he paused, 'it will require some courage.'</p> + +<p>'Nobody doubts your courage.'</p> + +<p>'The susceptibilities of our neighbour to the +South——'</p> + +<p>'Let us risk offending any susceptibilities. France +had rights.'</p> + +<p>'France gave up her rights in Santa Cruz long ago; +but I was not thinking of France. Besides the price +would have to be dazzling. Otherwise the project could +never be carried.'</p> + +<p>'Not only dazzling,' I said, 'but you should have +more than money—our rights in Greenland; His Majesty +might hesitate if it were made a mere question of money. +He is like his grandfather, Christian <span class="smcap lc">IX.</span> You know +how he hated, crippled as Denmark was in 1864, to sell +the Islands.'</p> + +<p>'You would never pay the price.'</p> + +<p>'Excellency,' I said, 'this is not a commercial transaction. +If it were a commercial transaction, a matter +of material profit, my Government would not have entrusted<a class="pagenum" name="Page_236" id="Page_236" title="[Pg 236]"></a> +the matter to me, nor would I have accepted the +task, without the counsel of men of business. Besides, +commercially, at present, the Islands are of comparatively +small value. I know that my country is as rich as it is +generous. It is dealing with a small nation of similar +principles to its own, and with an equal pride. Unless +the price is preposterous, as there is no ordinary way of +gauging the military value of these Islands to us, I shall +not object. My Government does not wish me to haggle. +And I am sure that you will not force me to do so by +demanding an absurd price. You would not wish to +shock a people prepared to be generous.'</p> + +<p>He will ask $50,000,000, I thought; he knows better +than anybody that we shall be at war with Germany in +less than a year. I felt dizzy at the thought of losing +the Gibraltar of the Caribbean! However, I consoled +myself, while Mr. de Scavenius looked thoughtfully, pencil +in hand, at a slip of paper. After all, <em>I</em> thought, the +President, knowing what the Islands mean to us, will +not balk at even $50,000,000. While Mr. <a class="corr" name="TC_41" id="TC_41" title="was: De">de</a> Scavenius +wrote, I tried to feel like a man to whom a billion was of +no importance.</p> + +<p>He pushed the slip towards me, and I read:</p> + +<p>'$30,000,000 dollars, expressed in Danish crowns.'</p> + +<p>The crown was then equal to about twenty-six cents.</p> + +<p>I said, 'There will be little difficulty about that; I +consider it not unreasonable; but naturally, it may +frighten some of my compatriots, who have not felt the +necessity of considering international questions. You +will give me a day or two?'</p> + +<p>'The price is dazzling, I know,' he said.</p> + +<p>'My country is more generous even than she is rich. +The transaction must be completed before——'</p> + +<p>Mr. de Scavenius understood. My country was neutral<a class="pagenum" name="Page_237" id="Page_237" title="[Pg 237]"></a> +<em>then</em>; it was never necessary to over-explain to him; he +knew that I understood the difficulties in the way.</p> + +<p>It was agreed that there should be no intermediaries; +Denmark had learned the necessity of dealing without +them by the experience in 1902. I was doubtful as to +the possibility of complete secrecy. What the newspapers +cannot find out does not exist. 'There are very +many persons connected with the Foreign Office,' he said +thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>'I may say a similar thing of our State Department. +I wish the necessity for complete secrecy did not exist,' +I said. 'The press <em>will</em> have news.'</p> + +<p>A short time after this I was empowered to offer +$25,000,000 with our rights in Greenland. As far as the +Foreign Office and our Legation were concerned, the utmost +secrecy was preserved. There were no formal calls; after +dinners, a word or two, an apparently chance meeting on +the promenade (the Long Line) by the Sound. Rumours, +however, leaked out on the Bourse. The newspapers +became alert. <i lang="da">Politiken</i>, the Government organ, was +bound to be discreet, even if its editor had his suspicions. +There were no evidences from the United States that the +secret was out. In fact, the growing war excitement +left what in ordinary times would have been an event +for the 'spot' light in a secondary place.</p> + +<p>In Denmark, as the whispers of a possible 'deal' +increased in number, the opponents of the Government +were principally occupied in thinking out a way by +which it could be used for the extinction of the Council—President +(Prime Minister) Zahle, the utter crushing +of the Minister of War, Peter Munch, who hated war +and looked on the army as an unnecessary excrescence, +and the driving out of the whole ministry, with the exception +of Erik de Scavenius and, perhaps, Edward<a class="pagenum" name="Page_238" id="Page_238" title="[Pg 238]"></a> +Brandès, the Minister of Finance, into a sea worthy +to engulf the devil-possessed swine of the New Testament. +There are, by the way, two Zahles—one the +Minister, Theodore, a bluff and robust man of +the people, and Herluf Zahle, of the Foreign Office, +chamberlain, and a diplomatist of great tact, polish and +experience.</p> + +<p>Mr. Edward Brandès and Mr. Erik de Scavenius, interviewed, +denied that there was any question of the +sale. 'Had I ever spoken to Edward Brandès on the +subject of the sale?' I was asked point-blank. As I +had while in Copenhagen, only formal relations with +the members of the Government, except those connected +with the Foreign Office, I was enabled to say No quite +honestly. It was unnecessary for me to deny the possession +of a secret not my own, too, because, when asked +if I had spoken to the Foreign Minister on the subject +of the sale, I always said that I was always hoping +for such an event, I had spoken on the subject to Count +<a class="corr" name="TC_42" id="TC_42" title="was: Raben-Levetzau">Raben-Levitzau</a>, Count Ahlefeldt-Laurvig and Erik de +Scavenius whenever I had a chance. I felt like the boy +who avoided Sunday School because his father was a +Presbyterian and his mother a Jewess; this left me out. +I trembled for the fate of Mr. de Scavenius and Mr. +Edward Brandès when their political opponents (some +of them the most imaginative folk in Denmark) should +learn the facts. A lie, in my opinion, is the denying +of the truth to those who have a moral right to know +it. The press had no right whatever to know the +truth, but even the direct diplomatic denial of a fact +to persons who have no right to know it is bound to be—uncomfortable! +I was astonished that both Mr. +Brandès and Mr. Scavenius had been so direct; political +opponents are so easily shocked and so loud in their<a class="pagenum" name="Page_239" id="Page_239" title="[Pg 239]"></a> +pious appeals to Providence! For myself, I was sorry that +I could not give Mr. Albert Thorup, of the Associated +Press, a 'tip.' He is such a decent man, and I shall +always be grateful to him, but I was forced to connive +at his losing a great 'scoop.'</p> + +<p>The breakers began to roar; anybody but the Foreign +Minister would have lost his nerve. Two visiting American +journalists, who had an inkling of possibilities of +the truth, behaved like gentlemen and patriots, as they +are, and agreed to keep silent until the State Department +should give them permission to release it. These +were Mr. William C. Bullitt, of the Philadelphia <i>Ledger</i>, +and Mr. Montgomery Schuyler, of the New York <i>Times</i>. +The newspaper, <i>Copenhagen</i>, was the first to hint at the +secret, which, by this time, had become a <i lang="fr">secret de +Polichinelle</i>. Various persons were blamed; the Parliament +afterwards appointed a committee of examination. +On August 1st, 1916, I find in my diary,—'Thank +heaven! the secret is out in the United States, but not +through us.' 'Secret diplomacy' is difficult in this era +of newspapers. If we are to have a Secretary of Education +in the cabinet of the future, why not a Secretary of +the Press?</p> + +<p>A happy interlude in the summer of 1916 was the +visit of Henry Van Dyke and his wife and daughter. +It was a red letter night when he came to dinner. We +forgot politics, and talked of Stedman, Gilder and the +elder days.</p> + +<p>The first inkling that the <i lang="fr">secret de Polichinelle</i> was +out came from a cable in <i lang="fr">Le Temps</i> of Paris. Mr. Bapst, +the French Minister, who had very unjustly been accused +of being against the sale, came to tell me he knew that +the Treaty had been signed by Secretary Lansing and +Mr. Brun in Washington. I was not at liberty to commit<a class="pagenum" name="Page_240" id="Page_240" title="[Pg 240]"></a> +myself yet, so I denied that the Treaty had been signed +in Washington. Mr. Bapst sighed; I knew what he +thought of me; but I had told the truth; the Treaty +had been signed in New York.</p> + +<p>Sir Henry Lowther, the British Minister, was frankly +delighted that the question of the Islands was about to +be opened. Irgens, formerly Minister of Foreign Affairs +in Norway, and a good friend to the United States, shook +his head. 'If Norway owned islands, we would never +give them up,' he said; but he was glad that they were +going to us. The other colleagues, including Count +Brockdorff-Rantzau, the German Minister, were occupied +with other things. Count Rantzau was desirous +of keeping peace with the United States. I think that +he regarded war with us as so dangerous as to be almost +unthinkable. I found Count Rantzau a very clever +man; he played his game fairly. It was a game, and he +was a colleague worth any man's respect. He is one +of the most cynical, brilliant, forcible diplomatists in +Europe, with liberal tendencies in politics. If he lives, +he ought to go far, as he is plastic and sees the signs of +the times. I found him delightful; but he infuriated +other people. One day, when he is utterly tired of life, +he will consciously exasperate somebody to fury, in order +to escape the trouble of committing suicide himself.</p> + +<p>The plot thickened. The ideas of the Foreign Office +were, as a rule, mine—but here there was sometimes an +honest difference. I was willing to work with the Foreign +Office, but not under it. De Scavenius never expected +this, but I think it was sometimes hard for him to see +that I could not, in all details, follow his plans. Nothing +is so agreeable as to have men of talent to deal with; +and I never came from an interview with de Scavenius +or Chamberlain Clan, even when, perhaps, de Scavenius<a class="pagenum" name="Page_241" id="Page_241" title="[Pg 241]"></a> +did not see my difficulties clearly, without an added +respect for these gentlemen.</p> + +<p>The air was full of a rumour that the United States, +suspected in Europe, in spite of the fair treatment of +Cuba and the Philippines, of imperialism, had made +threats against Denmark, involving what was called +'pressure.' Whether it was due to enemy propaganda +or not, the insinuation that the Danish West Indies +would be taken by force, because Denmark was helpless, +underlay many polite conversations.</p> + +<p>'The United States would not dare to oblige France +or England or a South American Republic to give up +an island. She does not attempt to coerce Holland; but +in spite of the pretensions to altruism, she threatens +Denmark.'</p> + +<p>This was an assertion constantly heard. The charges +of imperialism made in our newspapers against some of +the 'stalwart' politicians who were supposed to have +influenced President McKinley in older days, were not +forgotten. Letters poured in, asking if it were possible +that I had used threats to the Danish Government.</p> + +<p>The Danish politicians were turning their ploughshares +into swords. On August 4th the Rigstag went into +'executive session.' Chamberlain Hegermann-Lindencrone +still heartily approved of the sale. He had, he +said, tried to arrange it, under President McKinley's +administration, through a hint from Major Cortelyon when +he was in Paris. The attitude of the press became more +and more evident. Mr. Holger Angelo, one of the best +'interviewers' in the Danish press, and very loyal to +his paper, the <i>National News</i> (<i lang="da">National Tidende</i>), came +to see me. Personally, he was desirous not to wound +me or to criticise the conduct of my Government; but +he was strongly against the sale, yet he could find no<a class="pagenum" name="Page_242" id="Page_242" title="[Pg 242]"></a> +valid arguments against it. He was obliged to admit +reluctantly that the only ground on which his paper +could make an attack was the denial of the Cabinet +Ministers that any negotiations had existed. This was +the line all the opposition papers would follow.</p> + +<p>Nobody would say that the purchase had been negotiated +on any grounds unfavourable to the national +sensibilities of the Danes. Even Admiral de Richelieu +admitted that neither my Government nor myself +had failed to give what help could be given to his +plans for improving the economic conditions of the +Islands.</p> + +<p>On August 10th the debate in the Rigstag showed, as +had been expected, that Mr. J. C. Christensen, who held +the balance of power, would demand a new election +under the New Constitution. A furious attack was made +on Messrs. Brandès and de Scavenius for having denied +the existence of negotiations. All this was expected. +Nobody really wanted a new election. It was too risky +under war conditions.</p> + +<p>Suddenly the rumour was revived that the British +Fleet would break the neutrality of Denmark by moving +through the Great Belt, and that the United States was +secretly preparing to send its fleet through the Belt +to help the British. The reason of this was apparent: +every rumour that corroborated the impression that the +United States would become a belligerent injured the +chances of the sale. Such delay, to my knowledge, was +an evil, since the continued U-boat horror made a war +imminent. In spite of all optimism, advice from the +American Embassy at Berlin, direct and indirect, +pointed that way. The crisis would no doubt be delayed—this +was our impression—but it must come. +Count Brockdorff-Rantzau hoped to the last that it<a class="pagenum" name="Page_243" id="Page_243" title="[Pg 243]"></a> +might be avoided, and Prince Wittgenstein of his Legation, +who knew all sides, seemed to believe that a conflict +with the United States might yet be avoided. And +there was still a dim hope, but it became dimmer every +day, so that my desire to expedite matters became an +obsession.</p> + +<p>On August 12th, J. C. Christensen seemed to hold the +<span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Folketing">Folkerting</span> (the Lower House) in the hollow of his hand. +He moved to appeal to the country, and to leave the +question of a sale to a new Rigstag. This meant more +complications, more delay, and perhaps defeat through +the threatening of the war clouds. J. C. Christensen's +motion was defeated by eleven votes.</p> + +<p>On August 14th it was concluded that the quickest +and least dangerous way of securing assent to the sale +was by an appeal to the people, not through a general +election, but through a plebiscite, in which every man +and woman of twenty-nine would vote, under the provisions +of the New Constitution.</p> + +<p>The Landsting (the Upper House) held a secret meeting. +If a coalition ministry should not be arranged and the +motion for a plebiscite should fail, there would certainly +be a general election. This would, I thought, be fatal, +as it would probably mean a postponement of the sale +until after the close of the war. In the meantime, we +heard the German representatives of the Hamburg-American +Line at St. Thomas were carrying on 'some +unusual improvements.' These activities, begun without +the knowledge of the Governor, who was then in +Denmark, were stopped by the Minister of Justice, Mr. +Edward Brandès, when the knowledge of them was +brought to the Danish Government. On August 15th +I was convinced that one of the most important men +in Denmark, indeed in Europe, Etatsraad H. N. Andersen,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_244" id="Page_244" title="[Pg 244]"></a> +of the East Asiatic Company, approved of the sale. +This I had believed, but I was delighted to hear it from +his own lips.</p> + +<p>Political confusion became worse. In some circumstances +the Danes are as excitable as the French used +to be. It looked, towards the end of August, as if the +project of the sale was to be a means of making of Denmark, +then placid and smiling under a summer sun, a +veritable seething cauldron. The gentlemen of the press +enjoyed themselves. I, who had the reputation of having +on all occasions a <i lang="fr">bonne presse</i>, fell from grace. I +had not, it is true, concealed the truth by diplomatic +means, as had Mr. Edward Brandès and Mr. Erik de +Scavenius, but I had talked 'so much and so ingenuously' +to the newspaper men, as one of them angrily +remarked, that they were sure a man, hitherto so frank, +had nothing to conceal; and yet there had been much +concealed.</p> + +<p>The Opposition, which would have been pleasantly +horrified to discover any evidence of bribery, or, indeed, +any evidence of the methods by which our Legation had +managed its side of the affair (they hoped for the worst), +could discover very little; when they called on de Scavenius +to show all the incriminating documents in the case, they +found there was nothing incriminating, and the documents +were the slightest scraps of paper.</p> + +<p>Knowing how far away our Department of State was, +how busy and how undermanned, owing to the attitude +which Congress has hitherto assumed towards it, I acted +as I thought best as each delicate situation arose, always +arranging as well as I could not to compromise my +Government, and to give it a chance to disavow any action +of mine should it be necessary. I had found this a wise +course in the Cook affair. I had resolved to take no<a class="pagenum" name="Page_245" id="Page_245" title="[Pg 245]"></a> +notice of Dr. Cook, until the Royal Danish Geographical +Society determined to recognise him as a scientist of +reputation.</p> + +<p>When Commander Hovgaard, who had been captain +of the king's yacht, asked me to go with the Crown +Prince, President of the Geographical Society, to meet +the American explorer, I went; but my Government +was in no way committed. In fact, President Taft +understood the situation well; receiving no approval of +Dr. Cook from me, he merely answered Dr. Cook's +telegram, congratulating him on 'his statement.' I +must say that, when the Royal Geographical Society +received Cook, no word of disapproval from any American +expert had reached our Legation or the Geographical +Society itself. The Society, with no knowledge of the +Mount McKinley incident, behaved most courteously +to an American citizen who appeared to have accomplished +a great thing. The only indication that made +me suspect that Dr. Cook was not scientific was that he +spoke most kindly of all his—may I say it?—step-brother +scientists! But, as I had accompanied the +Crown Prince, in gratitude for his kind attention to a +compatriot, I felt sure that a wise Department would +only, at the most, reprimand me for exceeding the bounds +of courtesy.</p> + +<p>Suddenly a crashing blow struck us; Edward +Brandès, in the midst of a hot debate, in which he and +de Scavenius were fiercely attacked, announced that +the United States was prepared to exert 'friendly pressure.' +Brandès is too clever a man to be driven into +such a statement through inadvertence; he must have +had some object in making it. What the object was +I did not know—nobody seemed to know. Even de +Scavenius seemed to think he had gone too far, for whatever<a class="pagenum" name="Page_246" id="Page_246" title="[Pg 246]"></a> +were the contents of Minister Brun's despatches, it +was quite certain that neither he nor our Government +would have allowed a threat made to Denmark involving +the possession of her legitimately held territory to become +public.</p> + +<p>Something had to be done to avoid the assumption +that we were no more democratic than Germany. 'We +wanted the territory from a weaker nation; we were +prepared to seize it, if we could not buy it! We Americans +were all talking of the rights of the little nations. +Germany wanted to bleed France, and she took Belgium +after having insolently demanded that she should give +up her freedom. We, the most democratic of nations, +prepared to pay for certain Islands; but if it was not +convenient for a friendly power to sell her territory, +we would take it.' This was the inference drawn from +Mr. Edward Brandès' words in Parliament. I could +not contradict a member of the Government, and yet +I was called on, especially by Danes who had lived in +the United States, to explain what this 'pressure' +meant.</p> + +<p>Many Danish women who approved of the social freedom +of American women, but mistrusted our Government's +refusing them the suffrage, took the question up with +me. 'Pressure <i lang="la">et tu Brute</i>!' The women were to vote +in the plebiscite. Some of their leaders balked at the +word 'pressure,' but a country which had hitherto refused +the suffrage to American women was capable of anything. +Mr. Edward Brandès had performed a great +service to his country in letting out some of the horrors +of our secret diplomacy. Mr. Constantin Brun, whose +loyalty to his own country I invoked in these interviews, +was, they said, 'corrupted' in the United States; he +was more American than the Americans! I should have<a class="pagenum" name="Page_247" id="Page_247" title="[Pg 247]"></a> +much preferred to be put in the 'Ananias Society' so +suddenly formed of Mr. Brandès and Mr. de Scavenius +than to have myself set down as an imperialist of a country +as arrogant as it was grasping, which not only threatened +to seize Danish territory, but which, while pretending +to hold the banner of democracy in the war of nations, +deprived the best educated women in the world (Mrs. +Chapman Catt had said so) of their inalienable right to +vote!</p> + +<p>Fortunately, I had once lectured at the request of +some of the leading suffragists. Bread cast upon the +waters is often returned, toasted and buttered, by grateful +hands. Madame de Münter—wife of the Chamberlain—and +Madame Gad, wife of the Admiral, were great +lights in the Feminist movement.</p> + +<p>Madame Gad is a most active, distinguished and benevolent +woman of letters. There were others, too, who +felt that there must be some redeeming features in +a condition of society which produced a Minister who +was so devoted to woman suffrage as I was (as my wife +gave some of the best dinners in Denmark, nobody expected +<em>her</em> to go beyond that!). To Madame de Münter +I owed much good counsel and a circle of defenders; to +Madame Gad (if we had an Order of Valiant Women, +I should ask that she be decorated), I am told I owe +the chance that helped to turn the women's vote in our +favour, and induced many ladies, who were patriotic +traditionalists, to abstain from voting. The general +opinion, as far as I could gauge it—and I tried to get +expert testimony—was that the women's vote would be +against us.</p> + +<p>The <i>National News</i> (<i lang="da">National Tidende</i>) had never +been favourable to the United States, though personally +I had no reason to complain of it. It was moderate in<a class="pagenum" name="Page_248" id="Page_248" title="[Pg 248]"></a> +politics, not brilliant, but very well written. The virtue +of its editor was outraged by the denial of the two +Ministers that negotiations for the sale of the Islands +had been in process. This position in defence of the +truth edified the community. 'Truth, though the +heavens fall!' was his motto; he kept up a fusillade +against the sale. Except that one of my interviews had +been unintentionally misquoted, I had hitherto been +out of the newspapers—though I was no longer, in the +opinion of the whole press, the sweet and promising +young poet of sixty-five who had written sonnets—now +I was forced in.</p> + +<p>An interview appeared triumphantly in the <i>National +News</i>. It was attributed to one of the most discreet +officials of the State Department. It denied 'pressure,' +which would have pleased me, if it had not also contradicted +my repeated statement that the Senate of the +United States would not adjourn without ratifying the +treaty. It was a blow. I questioned at once the authenticity +of the interview. The Senate, I had said, would +ratify the treaty before the end of the session. The +Danish Foreign Office and the public took my word for +it. Unless I could get a disavowal of the interview +by cable, it would seem that the Department of State +was not supporting me. The Foreign Office itself, with +the problem of our entering the war before it, was beginning +to be disheartened. The authenticity of the +interview meant failure, the triumph of the enemies +of the sale! After a brief interval, a denial of the interview, +which had been fabricated in London, came to our +Legation. There was joy in Nazareth, but it did not +last long.</p> + +<p>With the permission of the Foreign Office, I prepared +to give this very definite denial from our State<a class="pagenum" name="Page_249" id="Page_249" title="[Pg 249]"></a> +Department to the press. It was a busy evening. The +staff of the Legation was small, and the necessity of +sending men to the Rigstag to watch the debate in the +Landsting, where the treaty was being considered, of +gathering information, and of translating and copying +important documents relating to the Islands for transmission +to the United States, strained our energies. +Moreover, the Secretary of Legation, Mr. Alexander +Richardson Magruder, had just been transferred to +Stockholm. Mr. Joseph G. Groeninger, the Clerk, who +knew all the details relating to the affair of the Islands, +was up to his eyes in work. Mr. Cleveland Perkins, +the honorary attaché, was struggling heroically with +Danish reports, and I was at the telephone receiving +information, seeing people, and endeavouring to discover +just where we stood. A most trustworthy—but +inexperienced—young man was in charge of the downstairs +office, where Mr. Groeninger, the omniscient, +usually reigned. I telephoned to him a memorandum +on the subject of 'pressure' which the bogus interview +had denied. It was a quotation from the 'interview,' +to be made the subject of comment, and then the denial. +Both of these were sent up on the same piece of typewritten +paper, and O.K.ed by me, as a matter of routine. +It was not until late in the night that the young man +discovered that a mistake had been made. He was most +contrite, though the mistake was my fault and due to +thoughtlessly following the usual routine. He telephoned +at once to the <i>National News</i> and to the other +newspapers explaining that he had made a mistake. +The <i>National News</i> preferred to ignore his explanation. +The opportunity of accusing the Ministry of further +duplicity was too tempting. De Scavenius had lied +again, and I had connived at it. The denial of the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_250" id="Page_250" title="[Pg 250]"></a> +Washington telegram was 'faked' by the American +Minister in collusion with the Minister of Foreign +Affairs! It must be admitted that <i lang="da">Politiken</i>, edited by +the terribly clever Cavling, had driven the slower-witted +<i lang="da">National Tidende</i> to desperation. I had a bad morning; +then I resolved to draw the full fire of the <i>National +News</i> on myself. I owed it to de Scavenius, who had +become rather tired of being called a liar in all the +varieties of rhetoric of which Copenhagen slang is +capable. From the American point of view, after I had +made my plan, it was amusing—all the more amusing, +since, after the first regret that I had unwittingly added +to the <i lang="fr"><span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: opéra">opera</span> bouffe</i> colour of the occasion, I saw that the +<i lang="da">National Tidende</i> would become so abusive against +me, that I should soon be an interesting victim of +vituperative persecution. I repeated calmly the truth +that the 'interview' was a fabrication, adding that I +had no intention to attack the honour of the <i lang="da">National +Tidende</i>; it had been deceived; I merely wanted it +understood that my Government was not in the habit +of contradicting its responsible representatives (<i lang="da">Politiken</i> +kindly added that the <i lang="da">National Tidende</i> had received +its information from the 'coloured door-keeper at the +White House'). More fire and fury signifying nothing! +The most elaborate frightfulness in print missed its +mark, as nobody at the Legation had time to translate +the rhetoric of the Furies, and besides, the <i lang="da">National +Tidende</i> had no case. As I hoped, the diplomatic sins +of the Foreign Office in keeping the secret were forgotten +in the flood of invective directed against me. +The result was expressed in my diary:—'The row has +proved a help to the treaty; I did not know I had so +many friends in Denmark. My hour of desolation was +when I feared that somebody in the State Department<a class="pagenum" name="Page_251" id="Page_251" title="[Pg 251]"></a> +had permitted himself to be interviewed. It was a dark +hour!' After this tempest in a tea-pot, all talk about +'pressure' ceased; the air was, at least, clear of that—and +I thanked heaven.</p> + +<p>September came in; the debates in the Rigstag continued. +Various papers were accused of having prematurely +divulged the secret—especially <i>Copenhagen</i>. It +was amusing—the secret among business men had long +before the revelation of <i>Copenhagen</i> become an open +secret. In fact, one of these gentlemen had come to me +and informed me of the various attitudes of people on +the Bourse; at the Legation, we never lacked secret +information. The debate, as everybody knew, and the +threat of an investigation of the responsibility for letting +out the secret was a bit of comedy, probably invented +for the provinces, for a Copenhagener is about as easily +fooled as a Parisian.</p> + +<p>On September 9th, I had one of the greatest pleasures +I have ever experienced. I announced to the Foreign +Office that the treaty had been ratified, without change, +by the Senate. Still the Opposition made delays. The +Foreign Minister did all in his power to expedite matters. +It was hoped that charges of 'graft' could be developed +against the Ministers. 'If you had had a <i lang="fr">bonne presse</i>, +as usual,' a candid friend said to me, 'you might have +been accused of bribing. As it is, the <i lang="da">National Tidende</i> +attitude showed that you never offered that paper any +money!'</p> + +<p>'As much as I regret the attitude of the <i lang="da">National +Tidende</i>,' I said, 'I could as soon imagine myself taking +a bribe as of the editor's accepting one. The attack +was a great advantage to me.'</p> + +<p>'You Yankees turn everything to your advantage,' +the candid friend said.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_252" id="Page_252" title="[Pg 252]"></a> +On September 27th, Ambassador and Mrs. Gerard +arrived. It was a red letter day. Mr. Gerard showed the +strain of his work, but, like all good New Yorkers, was +disposed 'to take the goods the gods provided' him—one +of them was a dinner at the Legation of which he +approved. Praise from Brillat-Savarin would not have +delighted us more than this. The Legation, to use +the diplomatic phrase, threw themselves at the feet of +Mrs. Gerard. Gerard deserved the title, given him by +the Germans, of 'the most American of American Ambassadors.' +Mrs. Gerard was cosmopolitan, with an American +charm, but also with a touch of the older world +that always adds to the social value of an ambassadress. +I had arranged, in advance of Judge Gerard's coming, +a luncheon with my colleague across the street, Count +Brockdorff-Rantzau. It was interesting. Mr. and Mrs. +Swope were present, Their Serene Highnesses the Prince +and Princess Sayn Wittgenstein-Sayn, Count Wedel, +and, I think, Dr. Toepffer. Judge Gerard told me that +he spoke little French, but he got on immensely well +with Count Rantzau, who spoke no English. Count +Wedel, with his love for Old Germany, of the Weimar +of Goethe, of the best in literature, will, I trust, live to +see a happier new order of things in his native country. +The Wittgensteins were charming young people. The +Prince was connected with almost every great Russian, +French and Italian family. If ambassadors are not put +out of fashion by the new order of things, the Princess, +closely connected with important families of England, +would be a fortunate ambassadress to an English-speaking +country. Peace ought to come to men of good-will, and +I am persuaded that there are men of good-will in +Germany.</p> + +<p>September, October, even December came in, and the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_253" id="Page_253" title="[Pg 253]"></a> +political factions still fought, ostensibly about the sale, +but really for control, Copenhageners said, of the +$25,000,000! Every chance was taken to delay the +matter until after the war. German propaganda and +bribing was talked of, but there was no evidence of it. +In my opinion, it was largely a question as to who should +spend the $25,000,000. In a Monarchy such a horror +was to be expected naturally! In a Republic like ours, +the patriotic Republicans would cheerfully see the equally<span class="corr" title="removed: ,"></span> +patriotic Democrats control the funds, but, then, Republics +are all Utopias, the lands of the Hope fulfilled! All +this was amusing to many observers—embarrassing and +humiliating to Danes who respected reasonable public +opinion and the dignity of their country. It was terrible +to me who saw the war coming, for Mr. Gerard and my +private informants in Germany left me in no doubt about +that. Even Count Szchenyi, always for peace, and with us +in sympathy, declared that 'the U-boat war would go +on, not to crush England, but as part of the Germanic +League to enforce Peace.' And the use of the U-boat +meant war for us!</p> + +<p>On all sides, I was told that the women's votes would +be against the sale. It was not unreasonable to believe +that ladies, just emancipated, would vote against their +late lords and masters, at least for the first time. Besides, +as Mrs. Chapman Catt had made very clear during her fateful +visit to Denmark, the liveliest, the most reasonable, +the most intellectual women in the world were deprived +by the unjust laws of the country that wanted the Islands +of the right to vote. Even the fact that Mr. Edward +Brandès, a noted ladies' man, was on the side of the +angels, might have no effect. He began to be tired of +the whole thing. He hoped, I really believe, that the +Islands would settle the question and sink into the sea!<a class="pagenum" name="Page_254" id="Page_254" title="[Pg 254]"></a> +We <em>must</em> have the women's vote. Madame Gad helped +to save the day.</p> + +<p>'You will, in your annual <i lang="fr">conférence</i>,' she said to me, +'explain the position of the American women, and your +words will be reprinted, not only all over Denmark, but +throughout Sweden and Norway. The editor of <i lang="da">Politiken</i> +will give you his famous "<i lang="da"><span class="uncorrected" title="should have been: Politikens Hus">Politiken Hus</span></i>," and your words +will make good feeling.'</p> + +<p>'I can honestly say,' I answered, 'that I want the +women to vote. In fact, in my country, they have only +to want the suffrage badly enough to have it! It is the +fault of their own sex, not of ours, if they do not +get it!'</p> + +<p>It was agreed that I should speak on 'The American +Woman and her Aspirations,' at <i lang="da">Politiken Hus</i>, on the +evening of December 5th. The proceeds were to go to +charity. And I never knew, until I began to prepare +my lecture, how firmly I believed that Woman Suffrage +was to be the salvation of the world. Without exaggeration, +I believe it will be, since men have made such an +almost irremediable mess of worldly affairs. My friend, +the late Archbishop Spalding, once said that women had, +since the deluge, been engaged in spoiling the stomach +of man, and now they prepared to spoil his politics! I +have some reason to believe that a report of my lecture +might have converted him to higher ideals. I was told +by some ladies that it had a great effect on their husbands.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, the tardy delegates, summoned from +St. Thomas and Santa Cruz, arrived. They were called +simply to delay action. The Foreign Minister was +heartily ashamed of the transaction on the part of his +opponents; it was palpably childish. The plebiscite +must be delayed as long as possible. The United States<a class="pagenum" name="Page_255" id="Page_255" title="[Pg 255]"></a> +had done its part in a most prompt and generous manner. +The press could give only sentimental reasons against the +sale; Denmark found the Islands a burden; she wanted +our rights in Greenland; she needed the $25,000,000, +but her politicians were willing to risk anything rather +than give the control of the money to a Ministry they +were afraid to turn out. A coalition Ministry, that is, +the addition of new members without portfolios to the +present Ministry, was agreed to, J. C. Christensen representing +the Moderate Left, Theodore Stauning, a Socialist, +and two others. Nobody really wanted a general election +until after the war.</p> + +<p>On the evening of December 5th, I drove to <i lang="da">Politiken +Hus</i>. There was a red light over the door. This meant +<i lang="da">alt udsolgt</i>, 'standing room only.' What balm for long +anxieties this! Mr. William Jennings Bryan looking at +the crowded seats of a Chautauqua Meeting could not +have felt prouder.</p> + +<p>I recalled the night on which King Christian <span class="smcap lc">X.</span> had +asked me if I always delivered the same lecture during +a season's tour in the provinces. I said, 'Yes, sir.' +'But if people come a second time?' 'Oh, they +never come a second time, sir.' At least, for the first +time, the red light was lit,—who cared for a second +time?</p> + +<p>The hall was crowded. Sir Ralph Paget, who seldom +went out, had come, and, at some distance—Sir Ralph +was of all men the most anti-Prussian—were the Prince +and Princess Wittgenstein. 'All Copenhagen,' Madame +Gad said, which was equivalent to 'Tout Paris.' I did +my best.</p> + +<p>At the reception afterwards at Admiral Urban Gad's, +the ladies—some of them of great influence in politics—told +me I had said the right things. I had the next<a class="pagenum" name="Page_256" id="Page_256" title="[Pg 256]"></a> +day a <i lang="fr">bonne presse</i>. The provincial papers all over +Scandinavia reprinted the most important parts of the +discourse with approval, and letters of commendation +from all parts of Denmark—from ladies—came pouring +in. One from a constant correspondent in Falster, a +'demoiselle,' which is a much better word <a class="corr" name="TC_43" id="TC_43" title="was: that">than</a> 'old +maid,' who was sometimes in very bad humour with +'America,' wrote that, after what I said of the American +women's position, she would like to marry an American, +and that, though opposed to the sale, she and her club +would refrain from voting. Her offer to marry an +American has not been withdrawn. A few days after +this, an American paper containing an account of a +lynching in the South, with the most terrible details +graphically described, reached Copenhagen. The newspaper +man who brought it to me consented, after some +argument, for old friendship's sake, not to release it at +this inauspicious moment.</p> + +<p>Time dragged; but the news from the provinces was +consoling. The Foreign Office seemed still to be discouraged, +and I am sure that Edward Brandès again +wished that the Danish Antilles had suffered extinction. +Even the enamelled surface of de Scavenius began to +crack a little. Dilatory motions of all kinds were in +order. The examination by the Parliamentary committees +at which the delegates from the West Indies +were present, had ceased to be even amusing. It was a +farce without fun. The plebiscite could be put off no +longer; on December 15th, the vote was taken. For the +sale, 283,694; against the sale, 157,596. A comparatively +small vote was cast. Many voters abstained. +These were mostly Conservatives and Moderates. At +last, it had come, but after what anxiety, doubts, fears, +efforts,—but always hopes!</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_257" id="Page_257" title="[Pg 257]"></a> +The Opposition proposed to continue objections to +the sale of all the Islands. This would mean more +appalling delays, and, with the U-boat menace increasing, +failure. On December 16th, I entered the Foreign Office +just as Djeved Bey, the Turkish Minister, was taking +his leave; he had not been very sympathetic with the +Turkish-German alliance; he was very French. After +a few minutes' talk, I saw the Minister of Foreign Affairs. +He looked unhappy and harassed, which was unusual. +In the midst of alarms, he had always retained a certain +calm, which gave everybody confidence. When the +petrels flew about his head and the storms dashed, he +was astonishingly courageous. To-day, he sighed. In +spite of the plebiscite, he seemed to think that we were +beaten. I was astonished. I had always thought that +we had one quality, at least, in common—we liked +embarrassing situations. I soon discovered the reason +for this apparent loss of nerve.</p> + +<p>'Would our Government agree to take less than the +three Islands?'</p> + +<p>It was plain that the Opposition, not always fair, was +tiring him and Brandès out; I could understand their +position, and sympathise with their discouragement, but +not feel it.</p> + +<p>'To admit a new proposition on our part would be to +interfere in the interior politics of Denmark,' I said. +'The plebiscite was arranged on the question of the +treaty; it meant the cession of all the Danish Islands or +nothing.' The Rigstag should not prepare such a change +without making a new appeal to the country. I knew +it was in the power of the Rigstag to refuse to ratify +the vote of the people. It would simply mean a delay +of the decision if it did so. I would make no proposition +to my Government for a change in the treaty; if such<a class="pagenum" name="Page_258" id="Page_258" title="[Pg 258]"></a> +a proposition was seriously made, I must step down and +out at once.</p> + +<p>De Scavenius approved of what I said. I believed +that we would win, in spite of dire prophecies. On +Wednesday, December 20th, 1916, the vote in the Folkstag +was taken; it stood,—90 for the sale; 19 against it. +On December 21st, it stood, in the Landstag, 40 votes +for the sale, and 19 against it.</p> + +<p>Ambassador Gerard who had come to Copenhagen +again, was among the first to offer his congratulations. +He was most cordial. The sale was a fact. 'Just in +time,' de Scavenius said. Just in time! The War +Cloud was about to burst, and the Legation must prepare +for it. The Islands had hitherto cut off my view; I +now saw a New World.</p> + + +<hr class="chapbreak" /> +<div><a class="pagenum" name="Page_259" id="Page_259" title="[Pg 259]"></a></div> + +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /> +<span class="chapintro">THE BEGINNING OF 1917 AND THE END</span></h2> + + +<p>At the end of 1916, the affair of the Islands was practically +settled. Every now and then a newspaper put +forth a rumour that brought up the question again. +<i>Copenhagen</i>, a journal which was very well written, +announced as a secret just discovered, that the United +States, even after Congress had appropriated the +$25,000,000 for the sale of the Islands, would not agree +to accept them at once. This excited much discussion +which, however, was soon stopped. It was remarkable +how the fury and fire of the controversy disappeared. +People seemed to forget all the hard names they had +called one another. I forgave the <i>National News</i>, and +later even attempted to get printing material for the +paper from the United States. The need of printing +material had become so great, that an attempt was made +to print one edition in coal tar! The embargo was +drastic. If the <i>National News</i> had had a good case +against me and interfered with the sale, perhaps I might +not have been so forgiving; one's motives are always +mixed.</p> + +<p>New difficulties were coming upon us, and I think +that most of our diplomatic representatives knew that +we were unprepared for them. Since the opening of the +war, we had been adjured to be neutral. That was +sometimes hard enough. But, as it seemed inevitable +that our country must be drawn into the war (though<a class="pagenum" name="Page_260" id="Page_260" title="[Pg 260]"></a> +we were told that the popular air at home was 'I Did +not Raise My Boy to be a Soldier') it seemed necessary +to be prepared. Captain Totten—now Colonel—our +military attaché, urged 'preparedness' in season and +out of season. The position of a Minister who wants +to be prepared for a coming conflict, but is obliged +to act as if no contest were possible, is not an easy +one. Besides, through the departure of Mr. Francis +Hagerup, the Norwegian Minister, to Stockholm, I had +become Dean of the Diplomatic Corps. I represented, +when I went to Court officially, the Central Powers as +well as their enemies. 'You are Atlas,' the king said, +when I presented myself as Dean for the first time; +'you bear all the Powers of the world on your +shoulders!'</p> + +<p>He regretted that the Foreign Ministers could not +meet at a neutral Court on occasions of ceremony. I +think His Majesty believed that the members of the +diplomatic corps were in the position of the heralds of +the elder time—exempt, at least outwardly, from all +the hatreds developed by the war, and ready to look on +the enemy of to-day as their friend of to-morrow. This +is good diplomacy; I agreed with His Majesty, but +wondered whether, if His Majesty's country was in the +position of Belgium, he would have instructed his Minister +to be polite to the representative of the invader. I had +my doubts, for if there were ever a king passionately +devoted to his country, it is King Christian <span class="smcap lc">X.</span> After +the sinking of the <i>Lusitania</i>, my position would have +been terribly difficult, if my German and Austrian colleagues +had not acted in a way that made it possible for +me to forget that I had said, on hearing of Bernstorff's +warning, 'The day after an American is killed without +warning at sea, we will declare war!' It was undiplomatic;<a class="pagenum" name="Page_261" id="Page_261" title="[Pg 261]"></a> +but I had said it to Count Rantzau, to Prince +Wittgenstein, to Count Raben-Levitzau, to Prince +Waldemar, to the Princes, to other persons, and, I +think, at the Foreign Office. A very distinguished +German had replied, in the true Junker spirit, 'But your +great Government would not bring a war on itself for the +sake of the lives of a few hundred <i lang="fr">bourgeoisie</i>.' And, +when I stood, foolish and confounded, recognising that +the time had not come for our Government to act, he +said: 'You see you were wrong. Your Government is +not so altruistic as you thought, nor so ready to bring +new disasters on the world.'</p> + +<p>Count Rantzau always took a moderate tone. When +in difficulty he could switch the conversation to a passage +in the <i>Memoirs</i> of St. Simon, or some other chronicle—a +little frivolous—of the past. Count Szchenyi was +hard hit—his brother-in-law, Mr. Vanderbilt, had perished +among the <i lang="fr">bourgeoisie</i> on the <i>Lusitania</i>; it was a subject +to be avoided. Prince von Wittgenstein simply said that +it was a pity that the <i>Lusitania</i> carried munitions of war, +though they were not high explosives, but he made no +excuses. It was evident that these gentlemen regretted +the horrible crime.</p> + +<p>The few Germans one met in society were inclined to +blame what they called the stupidity of the captain of +the steamship; they had the testimony of the hearing +taken from the London <i>Times</i>, at their finger ends, and +they knew 'the name of the firm in Lowell, Massachusetts, +whose ammunition had been exported on the <i>Lusitania</i>.' +Their opinions I always heard at second-hand. A great +Danish lady, whose family the King of Prussia and the +present Emperor had honoured, sent me from the country +all the signed portraits of the Kaiser, torn to pieces. +'I could not write,' she said afterwards at dinner, 'I<a class="pagenum" name="Page_262" id="Page_262" title="[Pg 262]"></a> +could not say what I thought,—I had promised my +husband to be silent,—but you know what I meant,' +and she added in Danish, 'damn little Willie!'</p> + +<p>The only place in which representatives of the warring +nations saw one another was in church, that is, in the +church of St. Ansgar; but Count Szchenyi and Prince +von Wittgenstein were always so deeply engaged in +prayer that they could not see the French Minister +or the Belgian. The English church—one of the most +beautiful in Copenhagen—was frequented only by the +English and a few Americans, so the Rector, the Rev. +Dr. Kennedy, was never troubled about the position of +his pews, nor was the Russian pope across the street +from St. Ansgar's.</p> + +<p>Mr. Francis Hagerup had been a model Dean. Everybody +trusted and respected him; it seemed a pity that +he should go away from Copenhagen, after such good +service, without the usual testimonial from the diplomatic +corps; but there were difficulties in the way. +Would Sir Henry Lowther, the English, and Baron +de Buxhoevenden, the Russian Minister, permit their +names to go on a piece of plate with those of Count +Brockdorff-Rantzau and Count Szchenyi? Count +Szchenyi, always kindness itself, had his eye on two +silver vegetable dishes of the true Danish-Rosenborg +type. He consulted me as the Dean. I wanted Mr. +Hagerup to have these beautiful things, and Szchenyi +seemed to think that the matter could be arranged. I +agreed to get the signatures to the proposition, expressed +in French, that the dishes should be bought +from the court jeweller, the famous Carl Michelsen, +who had designed them. I doubt whether any of the +Tiffanys have more foreign decorations than Michelsen; it +is worth while being a jeweller and an artist in Denmark.</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_263" id="Page_263" title="[Pg 263]"></a> +The gift was to show the unusual honour to an unusual +Dean, offered by all the diplomatic corps in +time of war. I had the opinion of the ladies sounded; +they were all against it, especially one of the most intellectual +ladies of the diplomatic corps, Madame de +Buxhoevenden. She warned me that my attempt would +be a failure. However, I sent the paper out, done in the +most diplomatic French. Hans, our messenger, asked +for the ladies first. If they were at home, he waited +for another day. After I had all the signatures and +they were engraved on the dishes, the Baroness de Buxhoevenden +bore down on me, warlike.</p> + +<p>'<span lang="fr">Quelle horreur</span>,' she said. 'How did you get my +husband's name?'</p> + +<p>'When you were out!' I said.</p> + +<p>'I think it disgraceful all the same, that my husband's +name should appear on the same plate with those of the +enemies of my country.'</p> + +<p>'On the second plate, Madame, the enemies' appear,' +I answered,—'there are two!'</p> + +<p>Hagerup was so touched when I took the plates to +him that I saw tears in his eyes. The Baroness de +Buxhoevenden remained very friendly to me, 'because,' +she said, 'she loved my wife so much.' Not long after, +she died in Russia, heartbroken. She had faced the inclemencies +of the weather and the first outbreak of the +Revolution (she was a sane woman, an imperialist, but +one who would have had imperialism reform itself, +well-read and deeply religious) to see her daughter, the +young Baroness Sophie, who was one of the maids of +honour to the late Czarina. This young lady was ill and +imprisoned with the imperial family. She was the only +child of the Buxhoevendens—their son, a brave soldier, +having died some years before. You can imagine the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_264" id="Page_264" title="[Pg 264]"></a> +anxiety of the Buxhoevendens when the unrestrained +ferocity of the mob in Petrograd broke out. Madame +de Buxhoevenden could not see her daughter, though, +thanks to the American Ambassador, who never failed +to do a kind thing for us in Copenhagen, she managed +to have a message from her. A lover of Russia, like +her husband, of order, of reason in Government, she +died.</p> + +<p>With all the Russians I knew, love of country was a +passion. They might differ among themselves. Meyendorff +might look on Bibikoff as a 'clever boy' and smile +amicably at his vagaries; Bibikoff might declare that +'Baron Meyendorff had, as St. Simon said of the Regent +d'Orleans, all the talents, but the talent of using them'; +but they were fervently devoted to Russia. They were in +a labyrinth, and, as at the time of the French Revolution, +everybody differed in opinion as to the best way out. +It was from the Russians I first heard of Prince Karl +Lichnowsky. I think it was Meyendorff, who once said: +'The Austrian Ambassador to London and Prince Lichnowsky +are such honest men that the Prussians find it +easy to deceive them into deceiving the English as to the +designs of Germany!'</p> + +<p>One great difficulty would have stood in the way, +had I, as Dean, been willing to accept the kindly hint +of the king and attempt to arrange that all the corps +should go as usual together at New Years and on birthdays +to Court. There was the conduct of the German Government +to the French Ambassador at the opening of the +war. It was frightfully rude, even savage, and unprecedented. +It shocked everybody. It will be difficult to +explain it when relations between the belligerents are +resumed again. It seems to be a minor matter, but it +corroborated the variation of the old proverb,—'Scratch<a class="pagenum" name="Page_265" id="Page_265" title="[Pg 265]"></a> +a Prussian and you find a Hun.' The tale of the insults +heaped on the French Ambassador is a matter of record +for all time.</p> + +<p>Judge Gerard has told his own story.</p> + +<p>The Russian ladies coming out of Berlin were treated +no better than a group of cocottes driven from a city +might have been. The condition of the Russian ladies +when they reached Copenhagen was deplorable. They +all possessed the inevitable string of pearls, which every +Russian young girl of the higher class receives before +her marriage. These and the clothes they wore were all +they were allowed to bring out of the super-civilised +city of Berlin. It did not prevent them from smiling +a little at the plight of the old Princess de ——, one +of the haughtiest and richest of the noble ladies, who +loved the baths of Germany more than her compatriots +approved of. Her carefully dressed wig—never touched +before except by the tender fingers of her two maids—was +lifted off her head, while the German soldiers looked +underneath it for secret documents!</p> + +<p>From all this it will be seen that, notwithstanding +the politeness of the representatives of the Central Powers +in Copenhagen, it would have been impossible for the +diplomatic corps to unite itself in the same room, even for +a moment.</p> + +<p>Everybody went to see Mr. Francis Hagerup off; but +this was at the railway station, where people were not +obliged to seem conscious of one another's presence. +This would have been impossible at Court.</p> + +<p>Social life in Copenhagen has fixed traditions (very +fixed, in spite of the democracy of the people); they +make it delightful. Society is all the better for fixed, +artificial rules. They enable everybody to know his +place and produce that ease that cannot exist where<a class="pagenum" name="Page_266" id="Page_266" title="[Pg 266]"></a> +there is a constant expectancy of the unexpected; but +they were not proof against the savagery which Germany's +action had indicated.</p> + +<p>When Count Szchenyi's mother died, his colleagues, +disliking the action of his country as they did, sent +messages of condolence privately, through me, then a +'neutral.' When Madame de Buxhoevenden died, deep +sympathy was expressed by the diplomatists on the other +side, but the utter disregard, on the part of the Germans +in Berlin for the ordinary decencies of social life caused +society in Copenhagen to become resentful and cold and +suspicious whenever a German appeared in a 'neutral' +house. It seemed incredible that hatred should have +so carried away those around the German Emperor, who +had formerly seemed only too anxious to observe the +smallest social decencies, that the civilised world was +willing to retort in kind.</p> + +<p>Even in the convents, the German Sisters were 'suspect,' +and it took all the tact of the Superiors to emphasise +the fact that these ladies by their vows were bound to +look on all with the eyes of Christ. 'Yes,' a Belgian +Sister had answered, 'with the eyes He turned to the +impenitent thief!'</p> + +<p>However, religious discipline is strong, and it is the +business of those set apart from the world to overcome +even their righteous anger. Still, when I saw the expression +on the face of the Abbé de Noë, who had been +a Papal Zouave and was still at heart a French soldier, +on a great festival, as he gave the kiss of peace to two +German priests on the altar steps, I felt that the grace +of God is compelled sometimes to run uphill!</p> + +<p>Commercial transactions formed a great part of the +work of the Legation when Great Britain began seriously +to restrain alien foreign trade and to put a firm hand<a class="pagenum" name="Page_267" id="Page_267" title="[Pg 267]"></a> +on such neutrals as adopted the motto of some of the +English merchants, before they were awakened, 'Business +as usual.' I am afraid that I gave little satisfaction; +our instructions were not precise. That some of our +great business people should have fallen into a panic +after August 1914,—men of the highest ability, of the +most scientific imagination, who foresaw contingencies +to the verge of the impossible—seemed amazing. In +conversation with some of these gentlemen as late as +the spring of 1914, when I had come home to deliver +some lectures at Harvard University, I was convinced +that they knew what Germany's aims were in the East. +They were aware of the negotiations regarding the +Bagdad Railway and the opposition which existed between +German and Russian claims. How long would +Germany be satisfied with the English and Russian +predominance?</p> + +<p>They discussed this. Some of them had travelled much +in Germany; they were willing to admit that the Balkan +question could be settled only by war. In 1914, Secretary +Bryan seemed to be sure that no war cloud threatened. +When I saw him early in that year, he was entirely +absorbed in the Mexican question and in extending the +knowledge of the minutiæ of the Sacred Scriptures among +American travellers in Palestine. I had just opened +my lips (having silently listened to the most delectable +eloquence I have ever heard) to say that Russia had +begun to mobilise and that Germany would be ready +to pounce by September, when Mr. John Lind came in, +and the Secretary had attention for no other man. The +affairs of Europe faded.</p> + +<p>The Germans, as far as I could see, had great hopes of +a breakdown of the Allies through treachery in the French +Government itself. From such private information<a class="pagenum" name="Page_268" id="Page_268" title="[Pg 268]"></a> +as we could get, it seemed that they relied on treachery +among the Italians—especially among the 'Reds.' There +is a French lady who wore the pearls of the <span lang="de">Deutsche +Bank</span>, whose husband they had bought, and there were +others it was said.</p> + +<p>Our means of getting private information was not +great. We had no money for secret service or for organisation. +When we went into the war, our Legation +had neither the offices nor the staff to meet the event. +This was not the fault of the State Department, but of +the system on which it rests. It was necessary to have +a decent official place in which to receive people, a +place which was elegant and simple at the same time. +This we had, but barely room enough for ordinary work.</p> + +<p>If a distinguished visitor came, he was ushered into +the salon or the dining-room. If Sir Ralph Paget, the +British Minister, came hurriedly on business a moment +after Count Szchenyi arrived, he was shown into the +dining-room, as the three offices were always full of +people. After the war opened, the Legation—a very +elegant apartment, which I secured through the foresight +<a class="corr" name="TC_44" id="TC_44" title="was: if">of</a> my predecessor, Mr. T. I. O'Brien—was often +like a bit of scenery in a modern French farce, where +people disappear behind all kinds of screens and curtains +in order to avoid embarrassments. Mr. Allard, +the Belgian, to whom we were devoted, came one day +by appointment, and almost met Prince Wittgenstein +in the salon, while the Turkish Minister held the dining-room, +confronted by Lady Paget, who was led off to +Mrs. Egan's rooms on pretence of hearing a Victrola +which happened to have been lent to somebody a few +days before.</p> + +<p>The State Department would have permitted me to +rent, on urgent request, a satisfactory place, but the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_269" id="Page_269" title="[Pg 269]"></a> +coal bill would have amounted to three thousand dollars +a year. As I had not recovered from the expenses +of the entertainment of the Atlantic Squadron (they +were small enough considering the pleasure the gentlemen +of that squadron gave us) and other outlays, I felt +that the coal bill would be too great, and even with the +war cloud on the horizon, the State Department was +not in a position to give us a reasonable amount of +money or the necessary rooms for a staff such as the +British had been obliged to collect. The British Government +owned its own house, which answered the demands +made on it. The fiery Captain Totten gave the Legation +no peace. We were not prepared; we knew it. It +would have absorbed twenty thousand dollars to put us +on an efficient basis. And our staff for the very delicate +work must be specialists; one cannot pick up specialists +for the salary paid to a secretary of Legation or even to +a Minister.</p> + +<p>It is different to-day; the old system has broken down +now. Money is supplied, even to that most starved of +all the branches of the service, the State Department, +where men, like ten I could name, work for salaries which +a third rate bank clerk in New York would refuse—and +poor men too! As things were, the Legation did the +best it could.</p> + +<p>The greatest difficulty was to get trustworthy information. +What were the German military plans? What +were the social conditions in Germany? As to financial +conditions, it was comparatively easy to secure information. +The German financiers would never have +consented to the war had they not scientifically analysed +the situation. Industrials, like Herr Ballin, counted +on a short war; they had provided. We knew, too, that +the military authorities, which overrode the civil, believed<a class="pagenum" name="Page_270" id="Page_270" title="[Pg 270]"></a> +that the Foreign Office could manage to ameliorate the +consequences of their insolence and arrogance. It was +strange that these very military authorities thought +that the United States would not fight under any circumstances, +for they had voluminous reports in their +archives on the details of our military position. Our +Government had always been generous in giving information +to foreign military attachés. In fact, a German +officer once boasted to me that his war office had filed +the secrets of every military establishment in the world, +except the Japanese.</p> + +<p>That we were despised for our inaction was plain; +Americans were treated with contempt by certain Austrian +officials, until some enterprising newspaper announced +that a great army of American students had made a +hostile demonstration in New York against Germany! +A change took place at once; even in France, it was +believed that the United States would make only a commercial +war. I remember that the Vicomte de Faramond, +who deserves the credit of having unveiled Prussian +schemes before many of his brother diplomatists even +guessed at them, asked me anxiously, 'You <em>must</em> fight, +but is it true that it will be only a commercial war? I +think, if I know America, that you will fight with bayonets.' +He has an American wife.</p> + +<p>Ambassador Gerard was quietly warning Americans +to leave Berlin; and yet we were 'neutral,' and the +German Government believed that we would remain +neutral at least in appearance. No German seemed to +believe that we were neutral at heart, though there were +those among the expatriated who held that we ought to +be, in spite of the <i>Lusitania</i> and our traditions. One of the +puzzles of this was (every American in Copenhagen +tried to solve it) the effect that a long residence in Germany<a class="pagenum" name="Page_271" id="Page_271" title="[Pg 271]"></a> +had on Americans. 'I sometimes read the English papers,' +said one of these; 'I try to be fair, but I am shocked by +their calumnies. The Kaiser loves the United States; he +has said it over and over again to Americans, and yet +you will not believe it.'</p> + +<p>'Belgium!'</p> + +<p>'Oh, the Germans have made a fruitful and orderly +country out of Belgium.'</p> + +<p>This kind of American helped to deceive the Germans +into the belief that our patience would endure all the +insults of Cataline. There was very little opportunity +to compare notes with my colleagues in Sweden and +Norway. They were busy men. I fancy Mr. Morris's real +martyrdom did not begin in Sweden until after Easter +Sunday, 1917. Mr. Schmedeman doubtless had his when +the rigours of the embargo struck Norway; but for me, +the worst time was when we were 'neutral'!</p> + +<p>As to the German Foreign Office, why should it listen +to the warnings of our Ambassador, in November, who +might be recalled by a change of administration in +March?</p> + +<p>Six months before election, no American envoy has +any real influence at the Foreign Office with which he +deals. The chances are that the policy of the last four +years will be reversed by the election in November. Up +to the last moment, as far as I could see, the Foreign +Office in Berlin believed that the growing warlike democratic +attitude would be softened by the new Administration, +which, it was informed, would not dare to make +Colonel Roosevelt Secretary of State.</p> + +<p>'Secretary of State,' an Austrian said, 'how could +an ex-President condescend to become Secretary of State. +One might as well expect a deposed Pope to become +<span lang="fr">Grand Electeur</span>!'</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_272" id="Page_272" title="[Pg 272]"></a> +Previous to November 7th, 1916, the day of the Presidential +election, our situation was looked on by all the +diplomatists and all the Foreign Offices as fluid. It +might run one way or the other. There was a widely +diffused opinion in Denmark that, as President Wilson +had been elected on a peace platform for his first term, +Germany might go as far as she liked without drawing +the United States into the conflict.</p> + +<p>In Berlin, in high circles, the election of Mr. Hughes +was considered certain. He was supposed to represent +capital, and capital would think twice before burning +up values. The Kaiser had given Colonel Roosevelt up; +'<span lang="fr">Sa conduite est une grande illusion pour notre Empereur</span>,' +Count Brockdorff-Rantzau had said. I learned from +Berlin that the ex-President had been approached by a +representative of the Kaiser of sufficient rank, who had +reminded Colonel Roosevelt of the honours the Kaiser +had showered upon him during his European tour. 'I +was also well received by the King of the Belgians,' +Colonel Roosevelt answered. '<span lang="fr">C'est une grande illusion</span>,' +Count Brockdorff-Rantzau repeated, more in sorrow than +in anger. 'The Emperor did not think that the ex-President +would turn against him!'</p> + +<p>Until election day, every American diplomatist in +Europe merely marked time. He represented a Government +which was without power for the time being.</p> + +<p>An expatriated Irish-American came in to sound us as +to the prospects. 'President Wilson will have a second +term,' I said; 'the West is with him, and Mr. Hughes's +speeches are not striking at the heart of the people.'</p> + +<p>'He is pro-English, God forbid!' he said. 'Wilson +means war!'</p> + +<p>'We may have, on the other hand, Colonel Roosevelt +as Secretary of State for War.'</p> + +<p><a class="pagenum" name="Page_273" id="Page_273" title="[Pg 273]"></a> +'God forbid!' he said. He had stepped between two +stools; he <a class="corr" name="TC_45" id="TC_45" title="was: stills live">still lives</a> in Germany—a man without a country.</p> + +<p>We were still 'neutral,' and the election was some +months off. Count Rantzau saw the danger which the +military party was courting. He was too discreet to +make confidential remarks which I would at once repeat +to my Government; he knew, of course, that I would not +repeat them to my colleagues, who never, however, +asked me what he said to me. He was equally tactful, +but we saw that he was exceedingly nervous about the +outcome of the U-boat aggression. It was worth while +to know his attitude, for he represented much that was +really important in Germany. He began to be more +nervous, and many things he said, which I cannot +repeat, indicated that the military party was running +amuck. He was always decent to Americans, and he +was shocked when he found that his <i lang="fr">laissez passer</i>, +which I obtained from him for the Hon. D. I. Murphy +and his wife to pursue their journey to Holland, was +treated as 'a scrap of paper.' Mr. Murphy had not +received the corroborative military pass, which one of my +secretaries had obtained at the proper office, consequently +Mrs. Murphy was treated shamefully at the German +frontier. I remonstrated, of course, but it was evident +that the military authorities had orders to treat all civil +officials as inferiors.</p> + +<p>Miss Boyle O'Reilly had a much worse experience at +the frontier. Her papers had been taken from her boxes +at a hotel in Copenhagen, carefully examined, and put +back. Miss O'Reilly had had many thrilling experiences +(people imitated Desdemona—and loved her for the +dangers she had passed through) but like most of her +compatriots she could not be induced to disguise her +opinions or to really believe that there were spies everywhere.<a class="pagenum" name="Page_274" id="Page_274" title="[Pg 274]"></a> +Being a Bostonian, she could not say 'damn,' +but she never used the name of the Kaiser without +attaching to it, with an air of perfect neutrality, the +Back Bay equivalent for that dreadful adjective. She +made a great success in Copenhagen. Her magnificent +lace, presented to her by an uncle who had been a +chamberlain to Cardinal Rampolla, was extravagantly +admired at the dinner Mrs. Egan gave for her. Miss +O'Reilly, according to some of the experts present, had +reason to be proud of it. After the adventure of the +note books at the hotel, it was almost hopeless to imagine +that Miss Boyle O'Reilly would be allowed to cross +the frontier, in spite of her passport and the courtesy +of the German Legation. She was undaunted as any +other daughter of the gods. She tried it, and came +back, not very gently propelled, but with the calm +contentment of one who had said what she thought to +various official persons on the frontier. We were glad +to get her back on any terms. People asked for invitations +to meet her; we were compelled to adopt her +as a daughter of the house to retain her. The experts +in lace were horrified to find that the vulgar creatures +at the frontier—smelling of sausage and beer—had +injured the precious texture. They seemed to have +thought that its threads were barbed wire. We protested; +Miss Boyle O'Reilly demanded damages. Ambassador +Gerard seemed to be <a class="corr" name="TC_46" id="TC_46" title="was: impressd">impressed</a> by the fact that the lace +had been part of a surplice of the late Cardinal Rampolla's. +We made this very plain, but the German authorities +took it very lightly; they were so frivolous, so lacking +in tact and justice, that Miss Boyle O'Reilly became +more 'neutral' than ever.</p> + +<p>In spite of Count Rantzau's courtesy, we were having +constant trouble at the frontier. Every Dane who had<a class="pagenum" name="Page_275" id="Page_275" title="[Pg 275]"></a> +relatives in the United States expected us to protest +against the rigidity of the search. 'I did not mind when +they took all my letters; but when they rubbed me with +lemon juice to bring out secret writing, I said it was too +much'; said one of these ladies, who had to be escorted +to her own Foreign Office.</p> + +<p>Mrs. William C. Bullitt, just married, had to be coached +into 'neutrality.' 'Good gracious! I always say +what I think,' she remarked, declaring that, of course, +the German, His Serene Highness she was to go into +dinner with, must see how wrong the Belgian business +was! Mr. and Mrs. Bullitt had some trouble at the +frontier, but her diary, uncensored, came over safe for +our delight.</p> + +<p>The Spanish Minister, Aguera, who had lately been +superseded by his brother, had his own troubles, which, +however, he wore very lightly. He was as neutral as his +temperament, which was rather positive, allowed him to +be. When he left to be promoted, the pro-Germans +enthusiastically announced that the German Government +had complained of him to Madrid.</p> + +<p>The cause of the war, it was generally conceded, was +the question of the way to the Near East and the control +of the East. Now that Germany had practically all of +the Bagdad Railway and more than that, a clear way to +the Persian Gulf, would she cut short the war, if she +could? Count Rantzau, without explicitly admitting +that his country's chief aim had been accomplished, said +Yes. The great desire of his nation was for peace. The +U-boat war was only a means of forcing peace. 'We do +not want to crush England! Heaven forbid!' said +Count Szchenyi, 'but we tolerate the U-boat war only +as an instrument for obliging England to make peace. +Peace,' he said, 'we must have peace or all the world<a class="pagenum" name="Page_276" id="Page_276" title="[Pg 276]"></a> +will be in anarchy,' I do not think he 'accepted' the +U-boat war, except diplomatically. Another distinguished +representative of one of the Central Powers, making a +flying visit, said, first assuming that the 'North American' +and English interests were identical—'Peace may bring +Germany and England close together. We are too powerful +to be kept apart. With Germany ruler of the land of +the world, and England of the sea,—what glory might +we not expect!'</p> + +<p>'If the Allies do not accept the Chancellor's peace +note, I give them up!' cried Szchenyi. 'People talk +democracy and the need of it among us! Why, Hungary +is verging on a democracy of which you Americans, with +your growing social distinctions, have no conception of. +What we want is peace, to save the world!'</p> + +<p>When the new Emperor Karl ascended the Austro-Hungarian +throne, Szchenyi, whose ideas were more +liberal than some of the old régime liked, became a +prime favourite at court, and was removed to the Foreign +Office.</p> + +<p>Before the fall of Russia, it was generally conceded +that Germany, in holding Turkey and Bulgaria, had +gained her main purpose. Both of these countries hated +her in their hearts. We had proof of this. What more +did she want? Only peace on her own terms, perhaps +slightly modified, owing to the hardness of the hearts +of the English; if she could gain England, she could +deal with France and easily with Russia. Before the +Czar abdicated, it was understood in diplomatic circles +that Germany believed it was time to stop. While there +was no immediate danger of starvation in Germany, +there was great inconvenience. Moreover, the great +commercial position of Germany was each day that prolonged +the war melting like ice on summer seas; and a<a class="pagenum" name="Page_277" id="Page_277" title="[Pg 277]"></a> +short war had been promised to the German nation. +Parties in Germany were divided as to indemnities and +the retention of Belgium. Antwerp was as a cannon +levelled at the breast of England (Hamburg had good +reason for not wanting Antwerp retained as a rival city +in German territory); but the way to the Persian Gulf, +the submission of Bulgaria and Turkey, the possession +of the key to the Balkans, the Near East, meant the +confusion of the English in India. The Germans were +ready to oust the English from their place in the sun! +It was plain that the diplomatists, at least, looked on +the Alsace-Lorraine question as of small importance in +comparison. Alsace-Lorraine, as Bismarck admitted, had +nothing to do with national glory. It was a proposition +of iron and potash. As to Italy, 'We must always live +on good terms with such a dangerous neighbour,' said +the Austrians. 'Prussia would throw us over to-morrow +for any advantage in the East. If she could hamstring +the Slavs, we might appeal in vain against her destroying +our scraps of paper!'</p> + +<p>We knew that the Austrian distrust of Prussia never +slept. But Austria and Germany were absolute monarchies—against +the world.</p> + +<p>It was the general belief that Rumania would not be +drawn into the war. The Swedish Legation at Rome +seemed to be of a different opinion. It was noted +for the accuracy of its information, but this time we +doubted. As observers, it seemed incredible to us in +Copenhagen, that she should be allowed to sacrifice herself; +but the rumours from Rome persisted. One well-known +British diplomatist, Sir Henry Lowther, formerly +the British Minister at Copenhagen, had never wavered +in his doubts as to the solidarity of Russia. At the +beginning of the war, he had said, to my astonishment,<a class="pagenum" name="Page_278" id="Page_278" title="[Pg 278]"></a> +'Our great weakness is Russia; if you do not come in +and offset it, I fear greatly.' Events proved that he was +right.</p> + +<p>For those of the diplomatic corps who came in contact +with people from the Near East, or with the Turkish +diplomatists, the great question was—the designs of +Germany in the East. One of the advantages of diplomatic +life is that one comes in contact with the most +interesting people. In spite of a determination to follow +all the rules of the protocol as closely as possible Terence's +announcement, through the lips of Chremes, was good +enough for me,—'<span lang="la">Homo sum; humani nil a me alienum +puto</span>,' and consequently, I made profit out of good talk +wherever I found it. I saw too little of Dr. Morris +Jastrow, of the University of Pennsylvania, in 1908, +when he came to Copenhagen with a group of distinguished +orientalists; but one of his sentences remained in my +mind (I quote from memory), 'The crucial question, and +a terrible answer it may be when Germany gives it to the +world, is, Who shall control Bulgaria and Serbia and +Constantinople. Settle the matter of the road to the +East, so that Germany and Austria may not join in +monopolising it, and then, we can begin to talk of a +tranquil Europe.'</p> + +<p>Much later, I had a long talk with Rudolph Slatin, +who had been a close friend of King Edward's, and who +knew the East. He had had too many favours from +England to be willing to take arms against her; he was +Austrian, but not pro-Prussian. His views were not +exactly those of Dr. Jastrow's, as Dr. Jastrow afterwards +expressed them,<a name="FNanchor_17" id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> but one could read between the +lines. The Eastern route was the real core of the war. +Russia knew this when she began to make preparations<a class="pagenum" name="Page_279" id="Page_279" title="[Pg 279]"></a> +for mobilisation in the early spring of 1914. All the +Turks I met, including the two ministers, confirmed +this.</p> + +<p>Lady Paget, the wife of the British Minister, who +came to Copenhagen in 1916, knew more of the inside +history of the war in the Balkans than the <i lang="fr">soi-disant</i> +experts who talked. She seldom talked; but the Serbians, +who adored her, did not hesitate to sing the praises of +her knowledge and of her efforts to save them. To her +very few intimates it was plain that she, as well as her +husband, looked on the Balkans as the key to the +cause of the war. The Serbians that I knew, men of all +classes, said that, if Lady Paget had been listened to, +Serbia would have been saved to herself and the Allies. +Whether this was true or not, the Serbians believed it.</p> + +<p>The missionaries driven out of Turkey who came to +the Legation were full of the Eastern situation, and the +wrongs of the Armenians. The stories of the missionaries, +driven out, made one feel that Germany was paying—even +from the point of view of her longed-for conquest—too +high a price for the possession of Turkey. The +Turkish Ministers were more French than German in +their sympathies, but to them the Armenians were deadly +parasites. They looked on them as the <a class="corr" name="TC_47" id="TC_47" title="was: Rusian">Russian</a> Yunker +looked on the lower class of Jews.</p> + +<p>Miss Patrick of Roberts College, passed our way. +She was ardent, sincere, naturally diplomatic,—discreet +is a better word. But one could see that the Turks +and the Balkan peoples, whatever might be their difference +of opinion, or their own desire for territory, felt +that the German control meant the closing of the steel +fist upon them. The young Turks believed that they +could hold the Dardanelles, when they once turned the +Germans out, and that Turkey might be the land of the<a class="pagenum" name="Page_280" id="Page_280" title="[Pg 280]"></a> +Turks. To attain this, they did not fail to appeal to all +the bigotry of the Moslem. One could see that Serbia +despaired of the Allies, that the Bulgarians believed +that their untenable position was due to the intrigues of +Czar Ferdinand and to the blundering of these same +Allies. America was a land of promise, the hope of freedom; +but America seemed too far off. The Balkans +peoples felt that even America, had, while conserving +her democracy at home, cared little for the rights of the +people abroad. This feeling existed in all the neutral +nations. A graduate of Roberts College with whom I +had talked of our interest in the small nations, smiled. +'The attitude of your country to the smaller nations +reminds me of a famous speech of the author of <i>Utopia</i> +when one of his household congratulated him on Henry +<span class="smcap lc">VIII.</span>'s putting his arms about the Chancellor's neck. +'If the King's Grace could gain a castle in France by +giving up my head, off it would go.' I did not dream, +in January 1916, how soon we should begin to 'make +the world safe for democracy.' Mr. Vopika, our Minister +to Rumania, came on the way home from Bucharest +about this time. He was full of interesting information, +and very cheerful, though practically imprisoned +in Copenhagen, as no boats were running. More and +more it became plain that Russia was breaking, and +that Germany would soon be lifted from that doubt +which had begun to worry her statesmen. There +was talk of the Grand Rabbi going to Washington as +Ambassador, which seemed to infuriate the young Turkish +Party.</p> + +<p>Aaronshon, the expert for the Jewish Agricultural +Society in Palestine, came; a wonderful man, capable of +great things, and shrewd beyond the power of words +to express. He did not deny that the Turkish Crown<a class="pagenum" name="Page_281" id="Page_281" title="[Pg 281]"></a> +Prince had been shot, having first fired at Enver Pasha. +Harold al Raschid is a novice to him in his knowledge +of Eastern things that Western diplomatists ought to +know. From all sources came the corroboration of the +fact that, once sure of Russia, with the Slavs in her +grasp, Germany held, in her own opinion, the keys to +the world.</p> + +<p>Opinions differed as to whether she was starving or +not. Rumania had helped her with oil and perhaps +coal. The Chinese Minister at Berlin said that she +could hold out longer than China could in similar circumstances, +as his citizens would be compelled to reduce +themselves to less than two meals, and the Germans +were coming down from four! We know on the authority +of the actor in the episode that he had paid twenty marks +in a restaurant in Berlin for a portion of roast fowl; +it was tough, and he laid down his knife and fork in +despair, when two ladies, at a table near him, politely +asked if they might take it!</p> + +<p>Rumours, very disturbing, as to the conditions of Russia, +came to us from all sides. Our neighbour, Prince +Valdemar, looked disturbed when one asked as to the +health of the Empress Dowager, who had been most +kind to my daughter, Carmel. He seemed to think that +she would be safe, though I heard him say that a revolution +seemed inevitable. The forcible and insolent 'conversations' +on the part of Germany with Norway—shortly +before October 16th, 1916, she had actually +threatened war—had ceased for the moment.</p> + +<p>Mr. Angel Carot, the French journalist, who was +correspondent of the Petrograd press, had reported on +good authority that the Germans were preparing a descent +on Jutland. Vicomte de Faramond seemed to think that +the rumour was well founded. 'We know the point of<a class="pagenum" name="Page_282" id="Page_282" title="[Pg 282]"></a> +view that the Berlin Foreign Office has; Count Rantzau +represents it,' said Mr. de Scavenius, 'but who can <span class="sic" title="[sic]">not</span> +tell from day to day what the General Staff will do?' +The General Staff kept its secrets.</p> + +<p>Poland was in a frightful condition. The Germans +were not only impoverishing the landed proprietors, but +seizing their cattle and forcing their farm people into +the army. A Pole fighting for German autocracy was +in as pitiable position as a Slesviger fighting for the +enslaving of his own land. The Poles were not inclined +toward a republic, but there was not one of their noble +families from whom they would draw a constitutional +king. A son of the Austrian Grand Duke Stefan, who +was popular in Poland, was much spoken of. I felt that +I ought to be flattered when a Polish prince and princess +came, well introduced, to lay the plan before me, as a +diplomatist who might assist in making a royal marriage! +I concealed my surprise; but it was delightful to hear +of my '<span lang="fr">relations avec des grandes personnes dans toutes +les chancelleries du monde</span>.' And what a pleasure to hear, +'we know that even the Quirinal and the Vatican, etc. +You who are three times minister of the United States.' +The 'three times minister of the United States' puzzled +me at first; then I remembered that one of the German +papers, I think it was <i lang="de">Die Woche</i>, had said the same thing, +meaning that I had served under three Presidents.</p> + +<p>Our Polish guests were willing, under the circumstances, +to approve of the marriage with Archduke Stefan's son, +provided a Catholic princess, of liberal political views, +could be found. To have a German princess forced +on them would mean new disturbances,—revolts, dissatisfaction. +There was perhaps the Princess Margaret +of Denmark, who had every quality, they understood, +to make an ideal Queen of Poland. 'Every quality,' I<a class="pagenum" name="Page_283" id="Page_283" title="[Pg 283]"></a> +agreed, 'to make a man happy—but it must be the right +man.' I knew that Prince Valdemar, who had refused +Balkan thrones, was not desirous of marrying his daughter +to a prince 'simply because he was a prince.' Would +I sound His Royal Highness? 'I know,' I answered, +'that Prince Valdemar believes in happy marriages, not +in brilliant ones. In fact, I had heard him say that he +did not want Denmark to be looked on only as an arsenal +for the making of crowns.'</p> + +<p>The prince and princess went on their way, to consult +more influential persons. They would not have welcomed +a republic; in February 1916 the German grip was +strong in Poland, and a Danish princess, the daughter +of a French mother, seemed to offer them hope in the +gloom.</p> + +<p>The fears of the Austrians, of the Russians, of the +Poles, of the Bulgarians that, if the war continued, +anarchy must ensue, were not concealed. The Polish +prince and princess believed that Russia would have +a change of Government, but this change, they thought, +would be brought about by a 'palace revolution,' for +Petrograd was the centre of intrigues. The British +Minister was accused of working in the interests of the +Grand Duke Nicholas; the German propaganda, as far +as we could discover, was for the practical application +of 'divide and conquer.' Baron de Meyendorff, whose +cheerfulness was as proverbial as his discretion, was +uneasy; but as, unlike his chief, Baron de Buxhoevenden, +he belonged to the more liberal party, this was taken as +a sign that he was uncertain whether the new elements +in Russian political life would develop in an orderly way +or not.</p> + +<p>Baron de Buxhoevenden, the most calm, the most +self-controlled of all my colleagues, was unusually silent;<a class="pagenum" name="Page_284" id="Page_284" title="[Pg 284]"></a> +his wife, than whom Russia had no more intelligent and +patriotic woman in her borders, had said that the war +would either break or make Russia. 'The Russian +people,' she said, 'since the beginning of the war, are +better fed than they ever were. The suppression of <em>vodka</em> +has enabled them to pay their taxes and to begin to get +rid of the parasites who prey on thoughtless drunkards. +Their prosperity will either induce them to rebel against +their rulers, or to accept the government because of their +improved conditions.'</p> + +<p>'But why are they better fed?' I had asked.</p> + +<p>'We are exporting nothing. The Russian peasant eats +the food he raises. Butter is no longer a luxury. I have +hopes for Russia—and fears.'</p> + +<p>Her fears were justified. The murder of Rasputin +called attention to the dissensions in the Russian court. +Admiring the Empress Dowager, as everybody in the +court circle did, it seemed amazing that her son, of whom +we knew little, should have permitted this peasant to +acquire such influence over his wife. There were fashionable +ladies who knelt to this strange apostle of the occult, +who kissed his hands with fervour. But murder was +murder, and coming not so long after the killing of the +Crown Prince of Turkey, it gave the impression that the +oriental point of view as to the value of human life existed +in both countries. As time went on, Russia occupied +our vision more and more.</p> + +<p>In spite of the revelations that have been made, +revelations which show that the only secrets are those +buried with men who have found it to their honour or +interest to keep them—the details of the reasons which +caused Russia to mobilise in July are not fully known. +How the Russians gained their information of the intentions +of Germany in their regard is very well known.<a class="pagenum" name="Page_285" id="Page_285" title="[Pg 285]"></a> +The most clever of Russian spies was always in the confidence +of the Kaiser; he paid for his knowledge with +his life.</p> + +<p>As days passed, it became evident that the Royal +Couple in Russia were being gradually isolated. Calumnies +almost as evil and quite as baseless against the +Tsarina as those published about Marie Antoinette were +freely circulated. To review here this campaign of +malice is not necessary. There were no chivalrous +swords ready to leap from the scabbards for her. The +age of chivalry seemed indeed dead. The poor lady +was not even picturesque, whereas her brilliant mother-in-law, +Dagmar of Denmark, was still beautiful and +picturesque; she was imperial, but then she understood +what democracy meant. It is said that she believed +that, if her son had appeared in his uniform on horseback, +surrounded by a staff of men who represented +traditions, the revolution would not have begun. +Neither the Tsar not the Tsarina understood what +tradition meant to the Russian mind. The empress was +a German at heart,—an overfond and superstitious +mother. Good women have never made successful +rulers, as a rather cynical Russian said to me, <i lang="fr">à propos</i> +of the Empress Catherine. The nobility disliked her +because she kept aloof from them. The glitter and the +pomp of court life which the Russian aristocracy loved, +the consideration which monarchs are expected to show +for the social predilections of their subjects were disregarded +by her. Living in perpetual fear, her nerves +were shattered. All her interests centred in her family +and in the unbending conviction of a German princess +that the divine right of kings is a dogma. She was +as incapable of understanding that there were powers +in the nation which could destroy as was Marie Antoinette<a class="pagenum" name="Page_286" id="Page_286" title="[Pg 286]"></a> +before she met destruction. We understood at +Copenhagen that she looked on all the acts of the emperor +that were not autocratic as weak; members of the Duma +must be subservient and grateful; otherwise, it was +the duty of the Tsar to treat them with the severity +they deserved. The concessions, which, if granted +earlier would have saved the emperor, were very moderate—merely +a responsible ministry and a constitution. +The Tsar, under the influence of the empress, the reactionary +Protopopoff and the little clique of exclusives, +who had forgotten everything valuable and learned +nothing new, refused to grasp these ropes of salvation. +The strength of the Grand Duke Nicholas-Michailovitch +amazed and disconcerted this clique. 'If,' said one +of the elderly Russian gentlemen we knew, 'he is not +exiled, he will try to be President of all the Russias one +day!' The emperess dowager was distrusted by the +party around the empress. The empress dowager +believed in prosecuting the war, for she knew that Russia +could only follow her destiny happily freed from German +control.</p> + +<p>From February until March, 1917, Russia continued +to be the one subject of discussion in diplomatic circles. +It was the general opinion that the empress was the +great obstacle to the emperor's giving a liberal constitution +to his people. The Danish court, though the +Emperor William had accused it of indiscretion, was +silent. Prince Valdemar, who was, like all the sons +and daughters of King Christian <span class="smcap lc">IX.</span>, devoted to the +dowager empress, was plainly uneasy. We all knew +that his sympathies were with the Liberal Party and +against the pro-German and absolutist clique. 'The +Russian people have endured much,' he said on March +10th, the day on which the news of the Tsar's abdication<a class="pagenum" name="Page_287" id="Page_287" title="[Pg 287]"></a> +arrived; and, afterwards,—'Thank God—so far it has +been almost a bloodless Revolution.'</p> + +<p>'Why,' asked the devout Danish Conservative, who +believed that kings were still all-powerful, 'why does +not King George of England help his cousin?'</p> + +<p>It was only too plain that in spite of all warnings, +'his cousin' had put himself beyond all human help.</p> + +<p>The Russian soldiers calmly doffed their caps and +said 'I will go home for my part of the land!' The +condition of Petrograd was such that chaos had come +again. To save the lives of the Tsar and Tsarina, +Kerensky insisted that capital punishment should be +abolished. Count Christian Holstein-Ledreborg, fresh +from Russia, reported that at the soldiers' meeting in +the banquet room of the Winter Palace, speakers imposed +silence by shooting at the ceiling! There was an +attempt on the part of the new democrats to have prostitution, +hitherto the luxury of the rich, put within the +reach of all.</p> + +<p>Russia had gone out of the war; it was surely time for +us to go in. On April 7, 1917, I informed the Foreign +Office that the President at Congress had declared us +in a state of war with Germany. Further patience +would have been a crime.</p> + +<p>From that day the Legation took on a new aspect. +Our decks were cleared for observation and action. +Mr. Cleveland Perkins, who had courageously assumed +the duties of the Secretary of Legation although +relieved by a secretary, had new and difficult duties +thrust upon him, to which he was fully equal. Mr. +Seymour Beach Conger and Mr. John Covington Knapp +were invaluable. No words of mine can express +my sense of their self-sacrificing patriotism. Mr. +Groeninger did three men's work and Captain Totten<a class="pagenum" name="Page_288" id="Page_288" title="[Pg 288]"></a> +kept us all up to the mark by his fiery and persistent +enthusiasm. No great dinners now! Even if we had +been in the mood, fire and food had become too scarce. +Mr. Conger did a most important service; he looked +after the crowds of late comers from Germany, and +discovered what light they could throw on German +conditions. The State Department came to the rescue +of our staff, which was few but fit; Mr. Grant-Smith +was sent from Washington, with instructions to spend +all the money that was necessary. He made a complete +organisation, and I, struck heavily in health, laid +down my task regretfully, leaving it in hands more +competent under the changed circumstances.</p> + +<p>There is no use in hiding the fact that, even before +Russia broke, we who feared the triumph of Germany +had many dark days; but there was never a time when +my colleagues of the Allies despaired. How Mr. Allart, +our Belgian colleague, lived through it, I do not know! +The Danes stood by him manfully, and he never lacked +the sympathy of his colleagues; but he suffered.</p> + +<p>'The moment that England is seriously inconvenienced,' +a German Professor of Psychology had +said, 'she will give in.' We know how false this was. +The race, pronounced degenerate, whose fibre was supposed +to be eaten up with an inordinate love of sport, +showed bravery to the backbone when it awakened to +the real issues of the war. The upper classes of the +English were splendid beyond words. Their sacrifices +were terrible in the beginning, but their example told; +and long before the crash of Russia came, there was no +question of 'business as usual.' The British nation +had realised that it was fighting, not only for its life, +but for the principle on which its life is based. Yet +the victory was by no means sure. 'The Empire may go<a class="pagenum" name="Page_289" id="Page_289" title="[Pg 289]"></a> +down under the assaults of the Huns—let it go rather +than that we should make a single compromise,' said +Sir Ralph Paget. Mr. Gurney, Colonel Wade, and all +the staunch men connected with his Legation, echoed +his words.</p> + +<p>Mr. Wells, the novelist preacher, may say what he +will of the failure of English education, but it has produced +men of a quality which all the men can understand +and admire.<a name="FNanchor_18" id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> As to the French, they, too, had +their sober hours, and the saddest was caused, perhaps, +by the dread that we had forgotten what the war was +for; such soldiers as they were!—Captain de Courcel +and Baron Taylor, suffering from wounds, and yet +counting every hour with pain that kept them from +their duty. But we came in none too soon; from my +point of view, it is unreasonable to believe that the +apparent disintegration of Germany and Austria was +the cause of our victory. The cause of it was the increase +of man power on the Western Front. In Copenhagen, +our best military experts said, 'If the United +States can be ready in time to supply the losses of the +French and English; if your aviators can get to work, +victory is assured.' These experts feared that we would +be too slow, and there were dark, very dark, days in +1916 and 1917.</p> + +<p>President Wilson's ideals were, in the beginning, +looked on as doctrinaire—breezes from the groves of +the Academies. Some of the elders and scribes of Europe, +adept in the methods that nullified the good intentions +of the Hague conferences, looked on his explanation<a class="pagenum" name="Page_290" id="Page_290" title="[Pg 290]"></a> +of the aims of the conflict as the courtiers of Louis <span class="smcap lc">XIV.</span> +might have contemplated the pages of Chateaubriand's +<i>Genius of Christianity</i>, if Chateaubriand had lived +at Port Royal in the time of those cynics; but the +people in all the Scandinavian countries took to them +as the expression of their aspirations. The chancelleries +of Europe heard a new voice with a new note, but the +people did not find it new. President Wilson found +himself, when he gave the reasons of our country for +entering the war, interpreting the meaning of the people. +Until he spoke the war seemed to mean the saving +of the territory of one nation, or the regaining it +for another, or the existence of a nation's life. Standing +out of the European miasma, with nothing to gain +except the fulfilment of our ideals, and all to lose if +there were to be losses of life and material, we gave a +meaning to the war,—a new meaning which had been +obscured.</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, let us not forget that Germany has not +changed her ideals; all the forces of the civilised world +have not succeeded in changing them. Of democracy, +in the American sense of the word, she has no more understanding +than Russia—nor at present does she really +want to have.</p> + +<p>To a certain extent she conquered us. She obliged +us to adopt her methods of warfare; to imitate her +system of espionage; to co-ordinate, for the moment at +least, all the functions of national life under a system +as centralised as her own. If she gave temperance to +Russia, an army to England, religion to France, she +almost succeeded in depriving our Western hemisphere +of its faith in God.</p> + +<p>Her efficiency was so expensive that it was making +her bankrupt; she was paying too much for her perfection<a class="pagenum" name="Page_291" id="Page_291" title="[Pg 291]"></a> +of method. To justify it in the eyes of her own +people she went to war. France was to pay her debts +and Russia to be the way of an inexpensive road to the +East. Her methods in peace cost her too much; a +short war would save her credit. To our regret, perhaps +remorse, we have been forced by her to fight her Devil +with his own fire; and now we hope for a process of +reconstruction in this great and populous country based +on our own ideals; but we cannot change the aspirations +or the hearts of the Germans. We can only take care +that they keep the laws made by nations who have well-directed +consciences,—this lesson I have learned near to +their border.</p> + +<p class="topmarg center">THE END</p> + + +<hr class="w25" /> + +<p class="center smaller">Printed by <span class="smcap">T.</span> and <span class="smcap">A. Constable</span>, Printers to His Majesty +at the Edinburgh University Press</p> + + +<hr class="w65" /> +<div class="footnotes"> + +<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1" id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> H. Rosendal, <i>The Problem of Danish Slesvig</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2" id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Madame Hegermann-Lindencrone is the author of <i>In the Court of +Memory</i> and <i>The Sunny Side of Diplomacy</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3" id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> On the outbreak of the war, the Grand Duchess threw off her +allegiance to Germany, and resumed her Russian citizenship.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4" id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Baron Speck von Sternberg died on May 23rd, 1908.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5" id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> 'We can say without hesitation that during the last century the +United States have nowhere found better understanding or juster +recognition than in this country. More than any one else the +Emperor William <span class="smcap lc">II.</span> manifested this understanding and appreciation +of the United States of America.'—Von Bülow's <i>Imperial Germany</i>, +p. 51.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6" id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Malmö is a town on the Swedish side of the Sound, an hour and a +half by steamboat from Copenhagen. Lord Bothwell was imprisoned +there.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7" id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Scribner's Magazine.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8" id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> I regret that I cannot give the story in the rhyme, which was +Bavarian French.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9" id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The Army Bill of 1913 <span class="corr" title="added: '">'</span>met with such a willing reception from all +parties as has never before been accorded to any requisition for +armaments on land or at sea.'—Von Bülow's <i>Imperial Germany</i>, p. 201.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10" id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> <i>The Bearing of Recent Discovery on the Trustworthiness of the New +Testament</i>, by Sir William M. Ramsay. Hodder and Stoughton.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11" id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Dr. J. P. Bang's translation. Doctor Bang deserves well of all +lovers of freedom for his translation into Danish of typical sermons +from German pastors possessed of the spirit of hatred. Dr. Bang is +a professor of theology in the University of Copenhagen. It ought +to be remembered that the University of Copenhagen, in a neutral +country geographically part of Germany, made no protest against the +audacious volume.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12" id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Devoted to France, the friend of M. Jusserand; a great romance +philologer.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13" id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> 'My old commander, the late General Field-Marshal Freiheer von +Loë, a good Prussian and a good Catholic, once said to me that, in this +respect, matters would not improve until the well-known principle of +French law "<i lang="fr">que la recherche de la paternité était interdite</i>" is changed to +"<i lang="fr">la recherche du confessional était interdite</i>."'—Von Bülow: <i>Imperial +Germany</i>, p. 185.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14" id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> In Rome, 'the proletariat' meant the people who had children.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15" id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Mr. Thomas P. Gill is the permanent Secretary of the Irish +Agricultural and Technical Board.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16" id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Dr. Francis Hagerup, Norwegian Minister to Copenhagen, now at +Stockholm. Count Szchenyi, Austro-Hungarian Minister, Señor de +Riaño, now Spanish Minister at Washington.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17" id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> In <i>The War and the Bagdad Railway</i>. J. B. Lippincott & Co.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18" id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Of all the many young men I knew in England and Ireland, most +of them the sons or grandsons of old friends, there are only three alive; +two of them, the sons of Mr. Thomas P. Gill, of the Irish Technical and +Agricultural Board, have been made invalids in the war.</p></div> + +</div> + + +<div class="trnote"> +<h2><a name="trcorrections" id="trcorrections"></a>Transcriber's corrections</h2> +<ul> +<li><a href="#TC_1">p. 3</a>: In 1907-8 King Frederick <span class="smcap lc">VIII.</span> gave occasionally[ocasionally] a</li> +<li><a href="#TC_2">p. 11</a>: Uve Lornsen, a Frisian lawyer, proposed to make[made] the</li> +<li><a href="#TC_3">p. 13</a>: His Majesty had 'neither the will nor[not] the power to allow</li> +<li><a href="#TC_4">p. 17</a>: And, in 1864, the old powers of Europe were so satisfied[satified]</li> +<li><a href="#TC_5">p. 30</a>: were for defence; the Radicals and[not] Socialists against it.</li> +<li><a href="#TC_6">p. 38</a>: intrigues as to the Bagdad Railway, [and] the threats as to</li> +<li><a href="#TC_7">p. 39</a>: Germany might at any moment[monemt] seize that little</li> +<li><a href="#TC_8">p. 39</a>: those new social and political movements that are affecting[effecting]</li> +<li><a href="#TC_9">p. 41</a>: Speck von Sternberg[Sternburg] and efficient Count Bernstorff, a</li> +<li><a href="#TC_10">p. 44</a>: hygienic[hygenic], ugly, and more offensively immoral than Paris</li> +<li><a href="#TC_11">p. 54</a>: the children of King Christian <span class="smcap lc">IX.[IV.]</span> were. It was not the</li> +<li><a href="#TC_12">p. 64</a>: We know that Henckel-Donnersmarck[Henckel-Donnnersmarck] and you are on</li> +<li><a href="#TC_13">p. 82</a>: or to compliment Senators'[Senator's] wives? First, his appointment</li> +<li><a href="#TC_14">p. 87</a>: satisfied with <i lang="fr">l'éloquence de l'escalier[l'eloquence de l'éscalier]</i>. If he writes memoirs</li> +<li><a href="#TC_15">p. 89</a>: the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin[Mecklenberg-Schwerin]. He rules his little</li> +<li><a href="#TC_16">p. 90</a>: were too independent, counsel[council] the Kaiser to prorogue</li> +<li><a href="#TC_17">p. 94</a>: In the meantime[meantine], we were told constantly of the Kaiser's</li> +<li><a href="#TC_18">p. 100</a>: the agricultural element in the nation by emigration[emigratiom] to</li> +<li><a href="#TC_19">p. 104</a>: the common[commom] people too much or because the writers on</li> +<li><a href="#TC_20">p. 109</a>: perhaps the other Scandinavian countries, as Great[Gerat]</li> +<li><a href="#TC_21">p. 110</a>: The Social[social] Democrat in Sweden wants an equal</li> +<li><a href="#TC_22">p. 114</a>: as a result of Branting's action in the Rigstag[Rigsdag],</li> +<li><a href="#TC_23">p. 115</a>: either privately or publicly, that we had made[make] a 'mistake';</li> +<li><a href="#TC_24">p. 117</a>: as he sometimes[sometines] calls it, came to him through that German</li> +<li><a href="#TC_25">p. 119</a>: the citizens[citzens] of that country that all kultur should come</li> +<li><a href="#TC_26">p. 126</a>: in Germany[Gernamy] in 1872, not a question of an enlightened</li> +<li><a href="#TC_27">p. 127</a>: enemies of the ultra-Kaiserism were[was] the Catholic Church</li> +<li><a href="#TC_28">p. 139</a>: German-educated[German educated] pastors, were considered to have</li> +<li><a href="#TC_29">p. 140</a>: Dr. P. J. Schroeder—Monseigneur[Monsigneur] Schroeder, rather; he</li> +<li><a href="#TC_30">p. 157</a>: Dr. Münsterberg[Münsterburg], who is opposed by a creature called Schofield,</li> +<li><a href="#TC_31">p. 158</a>: him shall be taken away what[that] he has. This war is not a <i lang="de">kaffeeklarch</i>,</li> +<li><a href="#TC_32">p. 160</a>: with the evidences of Christian[Christain] charity and breadth of</li> +<li><a href="#TC_33">p. 168</a>: Bethmann-Hollweg[Bethmann-Holweg] and the War Office makes their</li> +<li><a href="#TC_34">p. 172</a>: for specimens[speeimens] of old pewter.</li> +<li><a href="#TC_35">p. 183</a>: what to Cæsar[Caesar], were rapidly disappearing. The fiction</li> +<li><a href="#TC_36">p. 196</a>: when I mentioned the Gallapagos[Gallipagos] Islands. The</li> +<li><a href="#TC_37">p. 197</a>: to say. In the meantime[meantine], there were other questions</li> +<li><a href="#TC_38">p. 200</a>: a cotillion[cotillon], to be directed by Mr. William Kay Wallace,</li> +<li><a href="#TC_39">p. 200</a>: the Danes asked 'did it mean a protest against the[he]</li> +<li><a href="#TC_40">p. 206</a>: wanted to sell the Islands[Isalnds]. 'Why should a great country</li> +<li><a href="#TC_41">p. 236</a>: not balk at even de0,000,000. While Mr. de[De] Scavenius</li> +<li><a href="#TC_42">p. 238</a>: Raben-Levitzau[Raben-Levetzau], Count Ahlefeldt-Laurvig and Erik de</li> +<li><a href="#TC_43">p. 256</a>: 'demoiselle,' which is a much better word than[that] 'old</li> +<li><a href="#TC_44">p. 268</a>: of[if] my predecessor, Mr. T. I. O'Brien—was often</li> +<li><a href="#TC_45">p. 273</a>: stools; he still lives[stills live] in Germany—a man without a country.</li> +<li><a href="#TC_46">p. 274</a>: Gerard seemed to be impressed[impressd] by the fact that the lace</li> +<li><a href="#TC_47">p. 279</a>: parasites. They looked on them as the Russian[Rusian] Yunker</li> +</ul> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ten Years Near the German Frontier, by +Maurice Francis Egan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TEN YEARS NEAR THE GERMAN FRONTIER *** + +***** This file should be named 36412-h.htm or 36412-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/4/1/36412/ + +Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from scanned +images of public domain material from the Google Print +project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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