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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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