The actual truth regarding Germany's secret and elaborate preparations for a raid upon our shores has not yet been told. It will, however, I venture to think, cause considerable surprise. A few curious facts have, it is true, leaked out from time to time through the columns of the newspapers, but the authorities—and more especially the Home Office, under Mr. McKenna—have been most careful to hide the true state of affairs from the public, and even to lull them into a false sense of security, for obvious reasons. The serious truth is that German espionage and treasonable propaganda have, during past years, been allowed by a slothful military administration to take root so deeply, that the authorities to-day find themselves powerless to eradicate its pernicious growth.
Unfortunately for myself—for by facing the British public and daring to tell them[Pg 12] the truth, I suffered considerable pecuniary loss—I was in 1905 the first person to venture to suggest to the authorities, by writing my forecast "The Invasion of England," the most amazing truth, that Germany was secretly harbouring serious hostile intentions towards Great Britain.
The reader, I trust, will forgive me for referring to my own personal experiences, for I do so merely in order to show that to the grievous, apathetic attitude of the Government of the time the present scandalous state of affairs is entirely due.
I had lived in Germany for a considerable period. I had travelled up and down the country; I had lived their "home life"; I had lounged in their officers' clubs; and I had indulged in the night-life of Berlin; and, further, I had kept my eyes and ears open. By this, I had gained certain knowledge. Therefore I resolved to write the truth, which seemed to me so startling.
My daring, alas! cost me dearly. On the day prior to the publication of the book in question, Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman, then Premier, rose in the House of Commons and—though he had never had an opportunity of seeing my work—deliberately condemned it, declaring that it "should never have been written" because it was calculated to create alarm. Who, among the readers of this book, would condemn anything he had not even seen? Now the last thing the[Pg 13] Government desired was that public attention should be drawn to the necessity of preparing against German aggression.
Once the real fear of the German peril had taken root in our islands, there would instantly have been an irresistible demand that no money should be spared to equip and prepare our fighting forces for a very possible war—and then good-bye to the four-hundred-a-year payments to Members, and those vast sums which were required to bribe the electors with Social Reform.
In the columns of the Times I demanded by what right the Prime Minister had criticised a book which he had never even seen, and in justice to the late Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman I must here record that he apologised to me, privately, for committing what he termed a "political error."
Political error! If there had been no further "political errors" in this dear old country of ours, we should have no war to-day.
The Government was bent upon suppressing the truth of my earnest appeal; hence I was held up to derision, and, in addition, denounced on all hands as a "scaremonger."
Now, at the outset, I wish to say that I am no party politician. My worst enemy could never call me that. I have never voted for a candidate in my life, for my motto has ever been "Britain for the British." My appeal to the nation was made in all honesty[Pg 14] of purpose, and in the true sense of the patriotism of one who probably has the ear of a wide public. The late Lord Roberts realised this. Our national hero, who, like myself, was uttering words of solemn warning, knew what pressure the Government were endeavouring to place upon me, and how they meant to crush me; therefore on November 29th, 1905, he wrote the following:—
"Speaking in the House of Lords on the 10th July, 1905, I said:—'It is to the people of the country I appeal to take up the question of the Army in a sensible practical manner. For the sake of all they hold dear, let them bring home to themselves what would be the condition of Great Britain if it were to lose its wealth, its power, its position.' The catastrophe that may happen if we still remain in our present state of unpreparedness is vividly and forcibly illustrated in Mr. Le Queux's new book, which I recommend to the perusal of every one who has the welfare of the British Empire at heart."
But alas! if the public disregarded the earnest warnings of "Bobs," it was scarcely surprising that it should disregard mine—especially after the Prime Minister had condemned me. My earnest appeal to the nation met only with jeers and derision, I was caricatured at the music halls, and somebody wrote a popular song which asked, "Are we Downhearted?"
Neither the British public, nor the authorities, desired the truth, and, ostrich-like,[Pg 15] buried their heads in the sand. Germany would never dare to go to war, we were told, many wiseacres adding, "Not in our time."
The violent storm of indignation sweeping upon my unfortunate head, I confess, staggered me. The book, which had cost me eighteen months of hard work, and a journey of ten thousand miles in a motor-car, was declared to be the exaggerated writing of a Jingo, a sensationalist, and one who desired to stir up strife between nations. I was both puzzled and pained.
Shortly afterwards, I met Mr. (now Lord) Haldane—then War Minister—at dinner at a country house in Perthshire, when, in his breezy way, he assured me over the dinner-table that he knew Germany and German intentions better than myself, and that there would never be war. And he waxed humorous at my expense, and scorned Lord Roberts's warnings.
The Kaiser's cleverness in ingratiating himself with certain English Statesmen, officers, and writers is really amazing, yet it was—though at that time unsuspected—part of the great German plot formed against us.
As an instance how the Emperor was cleverly misleading the British Cabinet, Lord Haldane, speaking on June 29th, 1912, at a public dinner, at which Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, the German Ambassador, was present, said:—
[Pg 16]
"I speak of one whom we admire in this country and regard as one of ourselves.
"He (the Kaiser) knows our language and our institutions as we do, and he speaks as we do.
"The German Emperor is something more than an Emperor—he is a man, and a great man. He is gifted by the gods with the highest gift that they can give—I use a German word to express it—Geist (spirit). He has got Geist in the highest degree. He has been a true leader of his people—a leader in spirit as well as in deed. He has guided them through nearly a quarter of a century, and preserved unbroken peace. I know no record of which a monarch has better cause to be proud. In every direction his activities have been remarkable.
"He has given his country that splendid fleet that we who know about fleets admire; he has preserved the tradition of the greatest army the world has ever seen; but it is in the arts of peace that he has been equally great. He has been the leader of his people in education, and in the solution of great social questions.
"That is a great record, and it makes one feel a sense of rejoicing that the man who is associated with these things should be half an Englishman. I have the feeling very strongly that in the last few years Germany and England have become much more like each other than they used to be. It is because we have got so much like each other that a certain element of rivalry comes in.
"We two nations have a great common task in the world—to make the world better. It is because the German Emperor, I know, shares that conviction profoundly that it gives me the greatest pleasure to give you the toast of his name."
The Government, having sought to point the finger of ridicule at my first warning, must have been somewhat surprised at the[Pg 17] phenomenal success which the book in question attained, for not only were over a million copies sold in different editions in English, but it was translated into no fewer than twenty-six languages—including Japanese—and, further, was adopted as a text-book in the German Army—though I may add that the details I gave of various vulnerable points around our coasts were so disguised as to be of little use to the enemy.
I had had a disheartening experience. Yet worse was to come.
A couple of years later, while making certain inquiries in Germany with a view to continuing my campaign, and my endeavour to disclose the real truth to the British public, I discovered, to my surprise, the existence of a wide-spread system of German espionage in England.
Just about that time Colonel Mark Lockwood, the Member for Epping, asked a question in the House of Commons regarding the reported presence of spies in Essex. For his pains he was, of course, like myself, promptly snubbed.
A week later, I ventured to declare, at a meeting in Perth, that in our midst we were harbouring a new, most dangerous, and well-organised enemy—a horde of German spies.
German spies in England! Who ever heard such wild rubbish! This completed the bitterness of public opinion against me. The[Pg 18] Press unanimously declared that I had spoken wilful untruths; my statements were refuted in leading articles, and in consequence of my endeavour to indicate a grave national peril, a certain section of the Press even went so far as to boycott my writings altogether! Indeed, more than one first-class London newspaper which had regularly published my novels—I could name them, but I will not—refused to print any more of my work!
I was, at the same time, inundated with letters from persons who openly abused me and called me a liar, and more than one anonymous communication, which I have still kept, written in red ink and probably from spies themselves, for the caligraphy is distinctly foreign, threatened me with death.
Such was my reward for daring to awaken the country to a sense of danger. It caused me some amusement, I must confess, yet it also taught me a severe lesson—the same bitter lesson which the British public, alas! taught Lord Roberts, who was so strenuously endeavouring to indicate the danger of our unpreparedness. It told me one plain truth, a truth spoken in the words of the noble General himself, who, with a sigh, one day said to me, "Nothing, I fear, will arouse the public to a sense of danger until they one day awaken and find war declared."
On the day following my speech, the German Press, which published reports of it,[Pg 19] called me "the German-hater," by which epithet I am still known in the Fatherland. The editor of a certain London daily newspaper told me to my face: "There are no spies in England"; adding, "You are a fool to alarm the public by such a statement. Nobody believes you."
I, however, held my own views, and felt that it was my duty to act in one of two ways. Either I should place the confidential information and documents which I had gathered, mostly from German sources, in the hands of the Press, and thus vindicate myself; or give them over to the Government, and allow them to deal with them in a befitting and confidential manner. The latter attitude I deemed to be the correct one, as an Englishman—even though I have a foreign name. At the War Office the officials at first sniffed, and then, having carefully examined the documents, saw at once that I had discovered a great and serious truth.
For this reason I have never sought, until now, to vindicate myself in the public eye; yet I have the satisfaction of knowing that from that moment, until this hour of writing, a certain nameless department, known only by a code-number,—I will refer to it as the Confidential Department,—has been unremitting in its efforts to track down German secret agents and their deadly work.
Through six years I have been intimate with its workings. I know its splendid staff,[Pg 20] its untiring and painstaking efforts, its thoroughness, its patriotism, and the astuteness of its head director, who is one of the finest Englishmen of my acquaintance.
There are men who, like myself, have since done work for it both at home and abroad, and at a considerable expenditure—patriotic men who have never asked for a single penny to cover even their expenses—men who have presented reports which have cost them long journeys abroad, many a watchful night, much personal danger, and considerable outlay. Yet all the time the Home Office ridiculed the idea of spies, and thus misled the public.
The archives of the secret department in question, which commenced its activity after the presentation of my array of facts, would be an amazing revelation to the public, but, alas! would, if published, bring ignominy, disaster, and undying shame to certain persons among us towards whom the Kaiser, the Master-Spy, has, in the past decade, been unduly gracious.
I could name British spies. I could write things here, shameful facts, which would, like my first allegations, be scouted with disbelief, although I could prove them in these pages. But, as a Briton, I will not reveal facts which repose in those secret files, records of traitorous shame, of high-placed men in England who have lived for years in the enjoyment of generous allowances from a[Pg 21] mysterious source. To write here the truth I feel sorely tempted, in spite of the law of libel.
But enough! We are Englishmen. Let us wipe off the past, in the hope that such traitorous acts will never be repeated, and that at last our eyes are open to the grave dangers that beset us.
To-day we have awakened, and the plain truth of all for which I have contended is surely obvious to the world.