Berlin Town (part 3 of 7)

Germany with all her mental and physical progress has suffered this military autocracy for a hundred years. Maybe she will now wake up to realize that this is not the right government. How will the people's awakening manifest itself? Will they wreak vengeance on those who are really to blame, or will they make all of us aristocrats responsible for what we could not avert?

but constructive and creative ? Will they realize that might is not always right? That a clear vision, sound principles, and work side by side with one's brother man are what is lacking in this up-to-date civilization that has fallen so low, and is bleeding to death now where the Great Powers are demonstrating their methods on the battlefields of Europe?

Berlin, December 191 5. - In reference to what I have last written, a man looking in at the "Esplanade" the other night, his face pressed against the glass of the door, showed an expression of hatred and disgust at the elegant public within at their supper, in which there were few signs of the frugality expected in times such as these. How well I can understand this, though; or that a man returning from the front, where he has seen all the horrors of war, when meeting a lady in the Berlin streets going to some concert or theatre, should try to waylay her and impress her with a sense of her wickedness. It must strike them as frivolity in the extreme, and heartless wantonness; and yet - "life must go on as usual"! - -*---

Disappointment about the expected response to the Reichskanzler's speech from England is great here, and hatred of the English is surging up again. There is no doubt the speech was prepared with the intention of holding out the olive branch. And now? - England answers by ridiculing the offer. To them it seems as though England were like a gambler who has lost all, but hopes to regain his losses and win besides by a continuation of the gamble.

Is it that really? Or is there more going on behind the scenes? Does Germany ask too much for the other Powers to be able to accept without sacrifices that cannot be made?

Germany says she will not keep Belgium; England says she will make peace if Germany will give up Belgium. And yet no attempt at a truce and negotiations is made - ' at least so it appears to us who have only censored newspapers to satisfy our thirst for knowledge, and a word dropped discreetly or indiscreetly here and there.

If only the Emperor were able to enforce his will! He is so terribly misunderstood and misjudged. His position is too difficult, as he is always being suspected of pro-English feehng.

He has done two great things lately - I only wish people knew. He has forbidden the air raids over London, and has tried to oppose von Tirpitz's submarine warfare. I know for a fact that von Tirpitz has had to resign and is not in favour. He declared the German navy could only be effective by submarine warfare and had to resign practically by order of the Emperor. - - - - »^ -

A lady I know was telling me of her experiences in a **Stadtbahn" railway carriage the other day. There was a poor Galician peasant girl who couldn't speak a word of German, and who had been told to go to her home and to leave Hamburg. She had a piece of paper in her hand with her name and address, and was weeping bitterly all the time.

One man said out aloud : ^'We can't talk now, but wait till our turn comes; we're not going to sacrifice all our blood for the rich. They'll be surprised at what we shall have to say when our turn comes!"

Berlin, December 15, 191 5. - Christmas is approaching, and in every heart is a fervent prayer that the season of peace and good-will may in some way become the term appointed for a final step towards the end of all this bloodshed. 'The Christ-child will help us," as the German children say, and so we are making our scanty

Berlin, or what we call "Our Berlin,*' seems as full as usual. The members of the Reichstag are arriving for the opening of the session, and troops of officers are flocking in on their Christmas leave.

Prince Lowenstein is back from Lille, Prince Salm from Warsaw. Prince Lynar and many others are here. They do not speak much of their experiences, but one gathers a great weariness of all the horrors of war. There are so many uniforms here, in fact, that some one said the other day: "Could the enemy look in at the Esplanade Hotel and see all the officers sitting here, they might think it a good moment for attempting a fresh offensive." - -----

We are still suffering from disappointment over the Entente's reply to the German Chancellor's speech with its peace feelers, and the reactionary outburst of hatred against England. It is especially the women who hate so intensely, the women who cannot vent their feelings in action, as men can, but are forced to remain suffering passively, after having fostered the hope somewhere in their subconsciousness that things were about to change, and that their sons and brothers and husbands, who are with them now, might soon be spared to return to their normal duties.

It is ever the old refrain we hear - England is guilty of keeping on the war - England with her arrogance and inhumanity is responsible for all the oceans of blood being shed. Often enough I ask myself despairingly, "What can England do?" My soul is weary of the carnage, and I crave for peace at almost any price - and yet I see, or rather I feel, why England cannot stop now.

It is the old experience that the alien world has often wondered at, and has never understood, and never will understand. The English never know when they are beaten, and in the face of all odds go on. An American expressed it very aptly, if somewhat naively, in a few words which he had heard in the EngHsh War Office only a week ago : **How can we make peace now ? We are not yet victorious, and may win still if we continue fighting."

This is the whole situation in a nutshell, and rightly or wrongly it is characteristic of England, and demonstrates a quality too often neglected in the calculations of her enemies, and is just what is so infuriating Germany at present.

The energetic pushing Prussians so often scoff at the English and use bitter words about their so-called decadence. England has been asleep, they say, resting on the laurels gained by her forefathers. England, gorged with colonies and surfeited with riches, has grown old and impotent; too much play and too little work has ruined her vitality !

The shadow of a fear flits across my mind at these words. At any rate, she is awakened now, somewhat roughly as it seems. And it remains to be seen if the long decades of prosperity have really quenched that fire which glowed so hotly in the blood of the old seafarers, or if the British grit which so often won battles in the past will still hold fast where it has once bitten, and not lose hold until one of the opponents lies exhausted on the ground.

I, who am endeavouring to see both sides of the question, cannot refrain from asking myself why Germany is so keen on making peace at present. Is it solely from humanitarian reasons? or is it rather that her strength is waning, and although she may be able to hold out a good time yet, she cannot advance any further ?

If solely from a humanitarian point of view, why did she reject the feelers for peace offered some months ago by the other side, on the plea that they were an insult to her, at the height of victory and success? Did she then foster any feelings of humanity for the sufferings of her opponents and their countries? Is her present humanity born of the fact that she may sink no more LusitaniaS, and cause no more wholesale slaughters by means of her Zeppelins?

warfare of past times, it certainly forms no consideration in the wars of to-day. Germany needs peace, and is probably ready to sacrifice some of her former aims and ambitions, arguing that having so far been victorious from a military point of view, she hopes to reap the harvest of her conquests, whereas, should the war continue, she may from growing exhaustion lose her grip on the treasure-trove, and in the end be forced to sacrifice more than she would wish.

But to return to the question of hatred, which has to-day assumed such biblical dimensions that it can only find expression in the words of the Psalmist. *lf England be well hated here, America is hated still better," as the Bavarians would say.

Their hatred is in fact so intense that many Germans will not be seen speaking to an American. They assert that if it had not been for America continually supplying the Allies with munitions and money, they would have been financially ruined by now, and the war over long ago. One gentleman the other day likened America to a great greedy vulture, feeding on the carrion of the battlefields of Europe, and growing ever grosser and more complacent as the masses of its gory food increased.

Berlin, December 2y, 19 15. - Well, Christmas is over, without bringing any fresh development in the old state of things, but also without bringing any new catastrophe, as some of us half expected.

For weeks past, the town seems to have been enveloped in an impenetrable veil of sadness, grey in grey, which no golden ray of sunlight ever seems able to pierce, and which forms a fit setting for the white-faced, black-robed women who glide so sadly through the streets, some bearing their sorrow proudly as a crown to their lives, others bent and broken under a burden too heavy to be borne.

We made some joint efforts to celebrate Christmas for others by preparing small gifts for the soldiers and for the poor. The shops made some rather futile attempts at Christmas sales, which were peremptorily forbidden, and the crowds which had collected from all parts of Berlin were dispersed without having made any purchases. No textile goods might be sold in special sales !

On Christmas Day I went to assist at the celebration of the festival at the Hedwig Krankenhaus, now turned into a Lazarett for soldiers. The hospital was beautifully decorated with Christmas green, each soldier having a Christmas-tree of his own, under whose branches the small gifts of love lay spread which every German treasures like a child.

The solemn Christmas songs were sung, touching the hearts of all those present, and we ladies did what we could to bring some touch of gladness into the hearts of these* men who have sacrificed so much for their Fatherland, and many of whom will never be strong and active for any fight again.

But infinitely more heart-rending and pathetic was our visit next day to the blind soldiers' Home, those poor men whose lot is assuredly the hardest of all. The rooms had been decorated in exactly the same way as at the hospital, at the express wish of the poor fellows, who could only see it at all with the eyes of memory.

It was extremely touching to see how they tried to convince themselves that everything had been done exactly as if they could see, and how they felt their way round the room, lighting up small branches at the candles on the trees, so that the smell of the burning pine should more forcibly suggest all that they could not perceive, whilst their dead eyes reflected the tiny lights which they would never see again.

In the meantime the snow had been falling unceasingly, and as we all went off together to Midnight Mass at the Convent Hospital, the silent streets and houses lay shrouded with pure white snow. The church was crowded with wounded soldiers, nurses, nuns, and palefaced, heart-broken women, and as the solemn music slowly wound its way through the dim shadows of the pillared aisles, it seemed to me as if our fervent prayers must meet in union, and rise like a cloud up to the very feet of God - prayers for the dying and dead, for comfort for the bereaved, and for ourselves, that we might never again spend such a Christmas of anguish and suspense; prayers imploring ''the tender mercy of our God to shine upon them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace."

Berlin, January 19 16. - Berlin is not a city of romance. There are none of those dark winding by-ways, filled with the memories of past centuries, which are to be met with in Paris or London. The spirit of it is intensely modern. Its streets are broad and straight, unromantically clean. There is no room for imagination, which loves the shadows and crooked alleys of the past.

The architecture is new and painfully varied, almost every building bearing the stamp of some man who at the moment was seeking to make his impress on the sands of time. There is no one great master-mind, but many lesser minds struggling for expression.

And so we meet with a strange incongruity in the styles of the different streets and houses. Gothic stores and classical bank buildings, renaissance villas and baroque churches, Nuremberger houses and theatres conceived in the spirit of Greek tragedy : these all greet our eyes during an hour's walk.

Our Hotel Esplanade is none of all these. It represents exactly what it was intended to be, a centre or gathering-place for the great world of Berlin in time of peace: royalties, statesmen, diplomats, officers and high officials, and last but not least, the great financiers who are supposed to hold the wires of the affairs of the world in their two hands. At present it has become a sort of caravansary for all the homeless exiles of position and

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All people of any repute passing through Berlin take up their abode here, princes and nobles, and impecunious milHonaires, who somewhere or other possess the accumulated treasures of an Aladdin, but who for the time being exist here on the reputation of these treasures, which seem to have disappeared just as mysteriously as they did in the Arabian Nights.

All the heroes of the war meet their wives and friends here, very much astonished to find themselves suddenly grown famous overnight. American diplomats prepared for instant flight, should the scales of peace and war suddenly weigh down on the wrong side ; American princesses and duchesses, of the characteristic lightheartedness, some married morganatically but carrying off their position with a high hand, bring a fresh breezy and inappropriate tone with them, which gives a touch of comedy to the general tragedy of human life at present.

I sometimes sit downstairs in one of the beautiful reception-rooms, and wonder with a great wonder. Everything looks the same, nothing has changed outwardly. And yet it is all so different.

There is the same spacious lounge with the luxurious carpets and furniture, the huge arm-chairs inviting to meditation and repose; the vast reception-hall, with its groups of flowers and plants; the quiet corners, where in the screen of sheltering palms grave questions of state or those of a lighter nature may be discreetly discussed.

The wide flight of steps leading up so gracefully into the brilliance of the dining-room; the exquisite proportions of the oval-shaped apartment; the pillars of greyveined marble; the white festivity of the flowered ornaments on ceiling and walls; the soft luminance falling from the crystal chandeliers on the rosy redness of silken curtains and screens - style of Louis XVI. - what an enchanting setting for those gay festivities of but a few short years ago!

I close my eyes, and again the gay pageant arises before me. The stiff ceremony of the Court receptions over, it used to be the custom for us all to throng here. How well I remember it all ! The soft brilliance of the rooms seemed but to enhance the beauty of the women. The exquisite robes, creations of some great artist of European fame ; the radiant eyes outshining the radiance of gleaming jewels on white arms and necks; the ripple of glad laughter, and the rise and fall of many voices in gay conversation. Men with the clear-cut features and characteristic expressions of those bearing the burden of authority, silver-haired and showing many orders on their coats; and young men in the flower of their youth and strength, the perfection of manhood, who in the splendour of their court-uniforms conjured up visions of the knights of King Arthur's round table.

Where are they all now, those proud Lancelots, and brave Sir Galahads and Percivales of the white uniforms and gleaming cuirass? Done to death most of them - their bodies lying unburied perhaps, mouldering and decaying in the bloody foulness of some distant battlefield, or at the best condemned to spend the rest of their days as cripples, the beauty of their manhood marred for ever I

Style Louis XVI. ! In the light of past events, it seems to me now that there was a sort of similarity existing between our festivities and those of that ill-fated Court at Versailles. "Apres nous le deluge," we too might have said, had we been able to gaze but a short space into the future. But we, like the rest of the world, were visited with a great blindness, and there was no prophet amongst us to read the Mene Tekel perhaps even then written on the walls.

And now to return to our life of to-day. The greatest simplicity in dress is of course the universal order - ^black, relieved by dull-coloured shades of brown and grey. Most of us still wear the clinging robes of before the war, and only the Americans make futile attempts to exhibit the strange eccentricities of fashion on their own persons.

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Conversation is quiet and subdued generally, although there are of course those who still seem to regard life as a mere chance of having a good time. "Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die," seems to be the guiding principle of their doings.

But for most of us the pain and suffering of humanity have eaten into our souls, and as for love? Is there room for love in any one's soul nowadays? The dainty, delicate, rainbow-hued god of the past can have nothing to do with the agonizing hurried embrace in between two battles, which love means at present.

In spite of my varied interests and occupations in connection with the war, I sometimes feel terribly lonely. Not the loneliness of being alone, but the loneliness of being one in a crowd, in a country where every one's sympathies and opinions are so terribly in opposition to my own.

I sometimes feel fairly rent in two, between love of my family and native land and love and loyalty to my husband and his country for his sake.

I remember one day last spring, when the hatred began to turn against America, how an American friend came up to me, her eyes filled with tears. "I thought I knew what you had been suffering all the winter, but now that they are beginning to vent their hatred on us, I realize for the first time what you poor women have been enduring. It is not so much what they say, as the cold scorn of their faces, when they look at us.'*

There are a good many ladies amongst us, like myself, who are internationally married. Some people say we ought to be labelled and ticketed to say where we all come from, and to what country we belong, as otherwise it restricts conversation.

Well, without going so far as that, I will describe some of those who are here, as we are rather like people in a besieged town, and have been in daily intercourse with one another for more than a year. There are Princess Miinster, Princess Pless, Baroness Roeder, all

English like myself. Of Americans, there are Princess Braganza, the wife of Prince Miguel, who is son of the Portuguese Pretender (she was a Miss Stewart) ; Princess Isenburg, Countess Gotzen, the Duchess of Croy, who was well known as Nancy Leishman in Berlin when her father was American Ambassador; Baroness von Rath, a war-bride, who is considered quite the prettiest woman among our set; Baroness Barchfeld, the morganatic wife of Prince Max of Hesse; Countess Seherr- Thoss, who was Miss White, daughter of Mr. Henry White, formerly American Ambassador at Paris ; Baroness Sternburg, and several others besides. Princess de Biron is French, and there are a few ladies of Polish and Russian extraction.

bride of last year. He is an officer of the ist Garde Regiment and was all through the awful reverse on the Marne. She is always pointed out as the only wife in that regiment who is not a widow, as she was married after the appalling slaughter took place. Talking of this regiment, its losses have been so fearful that the whole regiment has been entirely renewed five times since the beginning of the war, and this particular officer has never been able to rejoin it owing to break-down of nerves from the experiences he witnessed.

Then there is the ex-Turkish Ambassador, Muchtar Pasha, whose wife, a great friend of all of ours, is sister to the Khedive of Egypt. So she, like the rest of us, is torn in two with divided sympathies.

Then there is Count Flotow, ex-Ambassador in Rome, who, when Italy came into the war, had to leave Rome, and at the same time obtained temporary divorce from his Russian wife, as, according to Russian law, she would have had to sacrifice all her great fortune if she had been the wife of a German during war-time.

Then the following come and go from the front, as the Herrenhaus sits or as they obtain leave : Prince Pless, Prince Salm, Prince Miinster, Prince Lowenstein, Prince

Besides the international clique, there were of course many other residential friends of ours in the hotel, l-or instance the clan of Hohenlohe; so nunierous are they that it would be impossible to name them personally. Prince Hohenlohe, the head of the family, better known as the Duke of Ujest, was always treated somewhat as the princely owner of the hotel, and sat at a large round table in the centre of the room around which were clustered smaller tables of different members of the fainily like satellites revolving round a central sun. /needless to say, the said solar system was not entirely devoid of financial attraction.

Also among the groups were to be seen Princess Max Taxis who finds Berhn society somewhat narrow alter her gay international Ufe, and her mother, Princess Metternich, who was a famous beauty and is still attractive at the age of 70.

To descend to some less conspicuous but equally attractive members of Berlin war-society in the hotel, come Mr and Mrs. Jackson, he already well known interna- . tionally for his organization of the Prisoner of War Department, and she for the kind-hearted hospitality he showered on all of us. Also, lastly, Mr. Lay, the American Consul-General, and his wife. He has earned a word of gratitude for the sympathetic help he rendered to prisoners of war in an unofficial way, and she will always be remembered among us for her f nendly,_ openhanded entertaining, which we always enjoyed in her pretty suite of rooms above us in the hotel.

Most of us are pretty fully occupied. Our mornings are filled with self-imposed war duties. There is nursing at the hospitals; soup kitchens to be helped; women s guilds and workrooms to be visited where _ destitute women are provided with sewing, and given tickets for clothes or food; the Red Cross office, and correspondear-^

My special department, and that of my English friends, is the British prisoners and research of the missing. We sometimes type for three or four hours on end, or spend the day looking through the inquiry lists at the American Embassy or the Red Cross office.

Then again, many destitute governesses and maids, banished from England with £io in their pockets, and who have often been deprived of their letters of reference at the Customs, come to us for help, and we try to get them employment again, which grows harder every day, as the German employment officials object to finding them work, reproaching them with having gone to England in time of peace, and only returning when they had no choice.

During luncheon the latest news from the front is discussed, extracts from letters are read, the Berliner Zeitung, the midday paper, is brought in; and as it has had the whole morning to fabricate its lies, it is generally more thrilling than the morning paper.

My husband is always very popular at this hour, for he brings the English papers from the office, just two days earlier than any one else gets them, and as he has to return them in one and a half hours, there is something like a scrimmage to get a glimpse at them.

During luncheon American diplomats often look in on their way home from the Embassy, and they are generally laden with news, which, as it comes uncensored straight from England and America, is always of burning Interest for us. But they are not always in the mood, or are forbidden to impart it.

We regard these Americans as a kind of political barometer, whose demeanour generally informs us pretty well as to the state of the impending Notes between Germany and America. Some days they come in smiling and affable, mentioning little bits of news as if by accident; and we know that the political clouds are clearing up. But on other days they pass by without seeing us, a Sphinx-like expression on their faces, and only talk amongst themselves. Then we know there is a crisis pending. But when they become directly aggressive in appearance, and keep to themselves in a general atmosphere of glum gloominess, we know that the crisis has become critical, and the American ladies here who are married to Germans take turns in trying to pump out of them what the exact state of affairs is.

I suppose the position of these men is rather difficult, but I think they might be more sympathetic sometimes. One would imagine they had no family ties themselves, by the way they seem to freeze into silence at the mention of any affectionate interest in one's relations in England.

In my own mind I class the Americans at the Embassy under the headings "the kind-hearted and sympathetic," and ''those who simply regard the whole situation from a business point of view."

Every fortnight one or other of them travels to London, and they might realize how much good they could do our aching home-sick hearts if they would only bring one little word from home, even if it were only an anecdote about London, or what the weather was like, and how people were looking; instead of which the whisper goes round that some one is going to London, but the ladies are not to know, for fear of their having commissions for them.

After lunch we sit about until 3 o'clock, or some one of us gives a tea in her private rooms for a select few. Dinner is at 8.30, a repetition. of lunch, followed by the visits of ministers, military authorities, court officials, or, more interesting still, men going to or returning from the war.

And every one brings news of his or her comer of the world, or of the world- war; and I hear everything, and sometimes grow quite dazed at the manifold and contrary opinions and judgments I hear expressed, until at last

Berlin, January 191 6. - The day before yesterday we had dinner with Prince and Princess Braganza and met the Duke of Mecklenburg. He is the first man who entered Nisch. He has now gone to Bagdad to take command there for a year. That does not sound like an end of the war.

The American scare is worse than ever. We have been told to be nice to the Americans. They are hardly the sort to be taken in by sudden amiability on the German side.

Colonel House, the American pacifist, was here at the time when the Note arrived. Strange that is, for his Government surely must have known the lines on which he was working here at the time. Bethmann-Hollweg was to meet him; his mission was one of peace, and he was going round from one belligerent country tO' the other, preaching it, whilst the American Government behind him was threatening war.

On returning from a luncheon-party to-day, my husband told me that the feeling between the ministers and the military and naval party is growing from bad to worse. It all turns on the burning question of unrestricted submarine warfare, which its partisans say will be the turning-point in the war for Germany. The Admiralty are all in favour of it, prophesying that it will starve England out in six months, and so bring the war to a speedy end. Ludendorff and Hindenburg are against it, as they say they can win the war without it, and Ludendorf^ complains bitterly of the indecision of the responsible statesmen in this matter. The Kaiser and Bethmann-Hollweg are absolutely opposed to it from feelings of humanity.

Berlin, January 191 6 11 1

Baralong is tremendous. We had tea with Baron Jagow, and of course it was discussed. They think this coldblooded answer from England worse than anything.

My husband explained that the very fact of England's suggesting a court of arbitration and judgment by American naval officers showed that the English did not intend greater offence. He told them that at the Foreign Office too, and Solf and Jagow said, ^'Germany must send back as cold an answer. '* Whereupon G. said, "Why not have a court of arbitration? Any kind of negotiations between the two countries might lead on to peace in the end." On the strength of this argument Germany's answer was kept back for twenty- four hours, but as the Americans refused to arbitrate, the whole thing fell through.

Somebody told us that the Note had been worded thus by England so as to make the German answer an impossibility, the cases brought up against Germany being too dangerous. Grey, he said, had had nothing to do with it. Balfour had worded the Note.

There are two parties now - partly through the Barctrlong - the Foreign Office versus the Admiralty. As for von Tirpitz, he is so angry that they can hardly keep him in the Admiralty. He has handed in his resignation twice already, but it was not accepted, so he remains, but has lost all interest.

He says he was just in full swing with his submarine warfare when he was stopped by the Emperor suddenly. He says only drastic methods are of any avail; but the Emperor has a spark of humanity left and won't have this, although he is not credited with it.

Disagreeables are going on in the army too. Hindenburg wants more troops, and von Falkenhayn and the others are jealous of his popularity and success, and will not let him have all he wants. So he can only remain on the defensive. It all seems incredible.

here, as it was not allowed to leak out into the newspapers. One of the Princes rose and made a speech in which he said that Germany must go on with the war until she can make peace at her own terms. She must keep every inch of the conquered country and get every penny of the expended money back.

A regular tumult arose, and another Prince answered him, saying that in a speech of that kind he was not only jeopardizing Germany but the throne itself. The thing for Germany to do was to know when to stop.

'If America keeps on," the Germans say (some of them, of course), "weVe done for. America is actually keeping things going. If America will stop providing the Allies with munitions, we can still win."

Who knows? Anyway, all seem to agree that Bismarck would have managed things better. He would have known how to draw Germany out of the matter gracefully after a few months, and the other countries would have been able to imagine that they had played the game all right, as well!

There is an intrigue going on to get Bethmann-Hollweg out and Biilow in. So there are jealousies everywhere. If it would only bring the end a bit nearer, there would be some hope in it all.

Berlin, February 191 6. - ^We were dining at Countess Henckel's the other night. Count Henckel is just back for a few days' leave. She being Austrian, her parties are generally a mixture of R. C. Austrians and Germans - just the one little set of Larischs, Tattenbachs, Lowensteins, etc.

This evening the Austrian Ambassador, Prince Hohenlohe, and his wife (an Austrian Archduchess) were dining there, and as we were sitting down to dinner I was surprised to hear her call out across the table to me in English (which is always a shock nowadays) : "Guess whom I had a telegram from to-day?" It was not difficult to guess, judging by her beaming face and her animated remark, seeing that as a rule she is a quiet, retiring little lady who never utters a word. And so I knew from this that it was from her sister Princess Salm, who had been with her husband a prisoner in Gibraltar, to say they were on their v/ay home after a year and a half's absence.

Berlin, February 20, 1916. - Yesterday evening we met and had a long and most interesting talk with friends, among whom were Prince and Princess Salm-Salm, whom I have just mentioned.

I have been most interested in Prince Salm's fate, and had heard all about his internment in Gibraltar. It was quite a different matter meeting him personally, and I proceeded to put several questions to him about his treatment by the English.

I was touched at the Archduchess' (Princess Salm's) gratitude to me. She told me that my message about her children being well was the only news she had received of any sort for the first six months of the war.

I felt particularly proud, as I know that the King of Spain and many others had been trying to get messages through to her and her husband, and had not succeeded. I wrote to my family, who communicated with Sir Lewis Michell (a great South African magnate), and he got this message through. She says she will never forget her feeling of joy when, as if from the air, the words came : ^'Countess Bliicher told me to tell you your children are well and send their love."

Prince Salm's treatment in Africa was the worst part. He was put into a camp with eighty other men, mostly farmers, in the pavilion of a cricket ground; and no distinction whatever was made. Then, he said, there were constant risings against the Government, and the prisoners were sent up to Johannesburg. Hardly had their train started than the lines were destroyed, and they were cut off from every kind of communication. He could not even hear from his wife.

After that they both left South Africa and were transported to Gibraltar, where Prince Salm was again interned, but this time in a better fashion.

He was fairly comfortable and could see his wife frequently, but had only a yard to walk in, so got very little exercise; and he is certainly quite unlike the old Prince Salm who rather longed for war and adventure. In fact, it was in search of the latter that he went off to Africa, so missing the former! He is to go'out to the Russian front to-morrow and is feeling doubtful as to how he will stand it, as his long internment has made him quite soft and unused to bodily exertions of any kind.

The Princess had quite a good time in Gibraltar. She is gay and fond of company, and made many friends there. She had plenty of change, and heard news and opinions from every side. She made friends too with the English ladies there, and read her copy of the Times every day. In fact, they had nothing to complain of. Prince Salm even raved of the English cooking!

Princess Salm went twice to see the King of Spain. The Duke of Alba, it appears, is somewhat pro-German (in fact, half the country is) ; and they get so excited about politics that she told me two Dukes actually fought a duel in her presence, one being pro-German and the other anti. Very Spanish that scene must have been I

On their return voyage they stopped at Tilbury. It was strange, he said, to see the change. All the sailors go about with life-belts slung over their shoulders, ready to be torpedoed any moment. Three wrecks were floating about near the docks, and as they passed along, they heard the distant roar of the guns.

I can revel in my husband's fame once more. Prince Salm said that wherever he went in South Africa he was always asked if he did not know Count Bliicher, and that he heard his praises warmly sung on every side.

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It seems to put the situation pretty clearly. A letter too from a "Kriegsfreiwilliger" this morning contained the following observation: "Why take life seriously? If a man were to ask you to do what life asks of us, you would say, 'He's a fool; don't take him seriously.' Why then life?"

Berlin, February 27, 191 6. - I sometimes smile at the mixture of friends I have here. It is all like a great play at the theatre. Outside there is apparent comedy, and below the surface a strong current of feeling, a passion of contradiction!

For instance, yesterday I had a tea-party, and the conversation changed in "tone" according to which nationality happened to enter. The first was Countess Moltke, the American wife of the Danish Consul. Her duty orders her to be "neutral," or guardedly pro-German, out of deference to her husband's official position. She is a very clever woman, and politically there is nothing she does not know.

Then came Countess Platen; she is. half Dutch, half English by birth, and now married to a German. At the beginning of the war her views were fairly cosmopolitan. Now she too has to be most guarded, not only for her husband's sake, but for her daughter, who has become engaged to Baron Stumm, a rising member of the Foreign Office.

Countess Tattenbach then joined us. She is a Bavarian and, like all who are not Prussians, somewhat critical of the ultra-Prussian! I always try to tease her, and so get her oflf her guard and hear her say unpatriotic things. A sure method is to say or even imply that Germany forced Austria to declare war against her better judgment. This time I tried quite a new tack. I said : "I hear that negotiations are going on between

Princess Metternich, Prince Bismarck, Countess Dohna, Baroness Sternburg, Mrs. J. Lay, and Mrs. Grew then came in by degrees, and we had to keep clear of war until the party was over.

That same evening when my husband and I were dawdling over the evening papers before dressing for dinner, Prince Alfred Salm, Prince Miinster, and Count Magnis all looked in at separate intervals on "their way up to dress.'* They had all three just returned from the Herrenhaus and had news to tell us that was a great deal more interesting than all the women's gossip of thq afternoon, the most important being that Germany is growing weary of being humbugged by America, who is making her terms more and more difficult for Germany to accept, and that the Herrenhaus, the Military, but above all the People, are beginning to tire of it, and want Germany to declare war on America, instead of waiting for them to go on "haggling about terms."

The Foreign Office, they said, had - figuratively - gone down on their knees to implore them not to make such an appalling error as to break with America. Peace must be maintained with America, they say, at any price! The military authorities do not see this; they are still of opinion that "Right is Might."

We have a sure sign of impending trouble with America, for the "Stormy Petrel" has reappeared. This is the nickname given by us all to Mr. Morgan, the American Consul at Hamburg; for at the most crucial moments of the American crisis he always turns up suddenly, and to-day - well, I came up in the lift with him!

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youth, just home on leave for the first time, was telling his sister the other day his experience. He had been out since the beginning and had been on every front in turns, but he says his time in Belgium at the very beginning was the most fearful of all, and the franc-tireu/s warfare the most ghastly part of it.

One night, when they were just settling down to sleep after a hard day's march, they were ordered out to take a village where the inhabitants were supposed to have been shooting on the troops. No very definite inquiries were made as to the truth of these statements, but for safety's sake it was thought best to bum the village. And so these young officers were given the order to march into it in the middle of the night, and to kill every one they met in a house with a light in the window. In the first house which he entered with his men they met a woman coming down the stairs. They had to carry out their orders, and killed this woman, and so on throughout. Next morning a hundred men were brought out, and the order was to stand them against the village walls and shoot every tenth man.

The wives, the mothers, all the women of the village were there imploring mercy, but no mercy was allowed to be shown. These men, who were not even permitted to be blindfolded, were shot before the eyes of their womenfolk.

And this boy returns to his family to **enjoy" his few days' leave, and his family are disappointed that he does not seem to enjoy it, that he seems preoccupied, that the things that used to amuse him now no longer seem to interest him.

Berlin, March 5, 19 16. - Here we are in March, and in ordinary times we should be rejoicing that winter is nearly over and spring coming, but now one feels nothing but dread, for it means that the armies will come out of their winter quarters and slaughter will begin once more.

March 2 has become a real nightmare with me, it being the date of the opening of the new submarine campaign. The description I have heard of the large German submarines makes me tremble. So confident are the Germans of their success that they say they can even bear the brunt of battle with America, for they are strong enough to cross the ocean and return in safety. Many are even hoping for war with America, so that they need exercise no consideration, but torpedo every single thing on the sea without discrimination or warning. Shocks are in store for us all, I fear. One cannot

Verdun is the chief subject of interest at present, and in Germany it is now looked upon as likely to be one of the decisive victories of the war. They say it is only a matter of a few days before the whole fortress is taken, and that the terrific losses among the French fill even them with horror. Whereas on the other hand one reads in the English papers *'that the Verdun attack has been a failure."

Ossip Schubin the novelist (she is a Bohemian, with all the Bohemian hatred of the Germans and Hungarians) told me a terrible story. Some Bohemian soldiers were ordered to enter a Serbian village and shoot all the inhabitants, including the women and children. They tried to refuse, but a second detachment was called up to urge them on at the point of the bayonet. The lieutenant who had to carry out this order went out of his mind at the horror of it. The soldiers then turned on the captain and shot him, saying, ''Do your dirty work yourself."

That reminds me of another episode, equally horrible. There are a number of Austrian Serbians, that is to say, Serbs who have become Austrians by migrating into Croatian territory. Now, as Austrian subjects, they have been called upon to fight against their own race.

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One day, in a house where they were quartered, they assembled in a room - sixteen of them - to discuss the matter. An Austrian heard them say that it was a hard job for them, and the sixteen were shot to a man! . . , Is this not the reign of terror?

Mr. Dresel, an American friend of mine, has been to visit the Bavarian prison camps, and tells me that the prisoners are much better off now than at first. One commandant told him that he knew how well the German prisoners were being treated in England, and so they were trying to do the same here.

I feel very proud, because he told me that all the officers asked after me and sent me messages. There is quite an amount of freedom allowed them. They go into the town and to a gymnasium there, and the German and English officers have grown quite friendly towards one another and say it is about time both countries made concessions. I asked him if he had been allowed to see them alone, and he told me there were now new rules permitting them to go for a walk with any of them singly, if they wish.

He had gone out with one or two, *'but," he said, "you know what the English are ; it is a long time before you can get an Englishman's confidence. If you do get it, you get it for ever, but they are reticent and dignified. You can't get an Englishman to complain !"

It is good to hear that, isn't it? It isn't that I don't know it, but I love people to tell it me. Mr. Dresel told me he noticed a new class of men getting into the English army now - rankers that have risen.

We lunched at Count Moltke's yesterday. He is the Danish Minister. The Jacksons were there and several other Americans ; we were about thirty in all. The tension between Germany and America is so great now that no one dared venture on the subject at all, even at a so-called neutral party like this.

I20 An English Wife In Berlin

Berlin, March lo, 1916. - There is great political news this week. Admiral Tirpitz is going - he has sent in his resignation and it has been accepted. Out of all the obscurity one thing appears to be certain, viz. that there are two parties, one headed by Tirpitz and his friends, the other apparently by Bethmann-Hollweg and the Emperor. I want the Emperor to get his due in this matter at least. He has long been against these very drastic measures, and does all he can, it seems to me, to prevent any avoidable cruelty. Now too it is distinctly difficult for him, and many say he is actually jeopardizing his throne; for Tirpitz has Biilow with him, and they are both strong men with many friends. Of course Tirpitz is being regretted by every one officially, as he is looked on as the maker of the German fleet and the creator of the modern submarine, which he has always regarded as the only effective weapon for modern naval warfare.

The military and naval authorities are furious with the Foreign Office, and call them half-hearted; but their reply is that one must take into account the position of Germany after the war. The Foreign Office also says that submarine warfare has not been a success from the beginning, and that England was not in the least on the way to being "starved out" after the first submarine blockade. To accomplish this they would have needed at least 200 submarines, sufficient to form a chain round England; and then if England had invented something to break the chain, as she has actually done, the enormous expense and sacrifice would all have been in vain.

I think a good deal of the Foreign Office. They seem to me to be smoothing things down, and will do much towards a better understanding between Germany and other peoples. As for Tirpitz, they say his fury is indescribable. They gave out as the reason for his retirement that he had broken down and needed rest; so he walked with his wife up and down the Wilhelm Strasse for two hours to prove to the crowd that it was not true, but that he was in the best of health. The next day he appeared in tall hat and frock coat, to show that he had been ''deprived of his uniform" (or rather to let the people think he had), and talked to his wife in a loud voice so that the crowd should be able to hear, and even addressed them. If this is true it points to trouble. It is a little as though Tirpitz and Billow were trying to threaten the Emperor.

I hear that the Emperor went to Verdun to see how things were going, and saw a whole company of men blown up by a French mine. The sight was so terrible that he had a nervous shock and has been ill since. - -----

We met old Zeppelin at a party the other night. He looks a dear old man. They say he flies over Munich and drops flowers on to the heads of the people below! A lady said she would not relish bombs dropped instead of flowers. ''Oh," said Zeppelin, "I am sure I wish I could always drop flowers.'*

Berlin, March 12, 191 6. - There is great excitement here to-day about the Move, and the Commander, Count Dohna, whom we know well, has just arrived back and is staying at this hotel.

He is much feted, he has received the "pour le merite,'* and looks splendid, just like an English officer. It is interesting to watch how proud they all are of him, from the lift boy upwards!

Both the steamers that conveyed Prince Salm home - the Malojah and the Mecklenburg - have been sunk by him. One took the Prince to Tilbury and the other to Holland. No wonder Prince Salm noticed that all the men had life-belts slung over their shoulders!

Some one came in to-day and told me that there is a so-called "cripple brigade" near Verdun. Men that have lost a finger, or who are disfigured but able-bodied, are used at the front again for odd jobs of one kind or another. This "cripple brigade" had the sad task of burying

4000 corpses outside Verdun! Some of them go out with the feehng that as they are not much more use, they may as well be shot dead out there. Poor fellows, it is so tragic !

Berlin, March 14, 191 6. - I have been in bed with what people say is influenza, but I feel inclined to call it **Ersatz" illness. Every one is feeling ill from too many chemicals in the hotel food. I don't believe that Germany will ever be starved out, but she will be poisoned out first with these substitutes !

Just as I write this, some one comes in from household shopping, a thing I never have to do, being in a hotel. She looks quite unhappy, and says that really England is succeeding, as food is getting so dreadfully scarce. Her butcher told her that he is seriously thinking of closing down. She could get no potatoes, no sugar even. The shopkeepers told her that the soldiers don't get meat more than three times a week now, and even vegetables are scarce !

Then again one hears that so much is due to overorganization. The ''Magistrat" forbids the selling of butter, sugar, etc., until all has been bought up and distributed equally and justly. In the meantime masses of butter and other stuffs get spoilt. So, they say, the Bolle dairy gave their butter to a big soap factory for the making of soap, as the butter had got bad through lying by so long, and in this way it was not entirely wasted. And potatoes and such-like lie by waiting to be bought up, and the poor clamour for food. It is all terrible, and what it is going to lead to no one knows.

My husband has just returned from a journey to Vienna. He stayed there a week and saw the "whole of Austria," so to say, in that short time. The chief topic there, he told me, is the hatred of Italy - the smart thing is to go to the Italian Front. The hatred of Russia is not great enough to call forth any enthusiasm on that side.

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The other topic is criticism of their ally - Germany. There does not seem to be any love lost between those two allies, and they say that Turkey too is getting restive and tired of the whole thing. Erzerum was a very hard blow to the Turks, and they do not appreciate being left to their own resources. This I heard from the former Turkish Ambassadress, who lives here.

Prince Ernst Giinther (Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and brother to the Empress) sat next to me at dinner the other night - we were dining with Count and Countess Colloredo. He told me of his experiences at the Western Front. It was he who picked up Captain Ivan Hay and drove him in his car to his destination, a prison camp. They could not help laughing at the fact that, had there been no war, they would have met that very month shooting in Silesia, as guests of Prince Pless.

He just missed seeing the Duchess of Sutherland when she was nursing in Brussels. He said they were very old friends, and he would have liked to see her in her capacity of nurse. He gave directions for her to receive special treatment and every possible attention, but did not know if these orders had been carried out.

Once, too, he nearly came face to face with his cousin and great friend. Count Gleichen, a relation through the Hohenlohes. They were in command on opposite sides and quite a few miles within sight of each other.

Poor Prince Ernst Giinther spoke so sadly of all the friendships with his relations in England being cut off. He said : ''One feels it, when those whom one has looked upon as intimate friends speak openly of their hatred of one's relations. How could Lord Charles Beresford say of my brother-in-law : The head of the assassin, William the Kaiser, should be hung from the highest tree in Potsdam as just retribution for all his cold-blooded murders'? Do you think in your heart that a man like Lord Charles really and truly believes that the Emperor is personally responsible? I can understand the people

I murmured some inane reply, for what could I say? But I should have loved to quote the words my husband used some days ago: "All governments nowadays are pacifists naturally, but frightened of their own peoples. Monarchs and governments are literally shaking in their shoes for fear of what the people will do, who have been called upon to make such superhuman sacrifices. The Emperor is the only monarch who did assert his authority, even until half-way through the war, though even he cannot do so any longer ; but as he was the only one who ever could do so he is now blamed for all."

By the way, it was amusing to see Prince Ernst Giinther take his "bread card" from his pocket and put it on the table beside him. It showed how deeply what the French call the "discipline de I'appetit" has sunk into the heart of the nation !

Berlin, March 191 6. - Here are some extracts from a private document, supposed to be a true account of the state of England and English feeling at the time (January 1 9 16), compiled by a so-called neutral, but in reality a German, who obtained a passport and went over to England for the purpose.

His foremost impression was that it is the people who are now keeping on the war, in spite of the Government being fully ripe for peace overtures. The latter have lost control of the nation, and are simply tools in their hands.

Lord Derby is the hero of the hour, his working of the conscription question having made a great impression for the time being. They say he was very sceptical himself at first as to the results.

Berlin, March 1916 125

Sir Edward Grey, like so many of the responsible men in the history of the war, is not strong enough to face the stern and immeasurable actualities which now confront him. Some say he is only a puppet moved by stronger and more unscrupulous wills. He is said to believe in the possibility of an eventual understanding with Germany, although here he is almost the most unpopular Englishman alive.

His position is growing more and more untenable, as the people are in such a state of inimical excitement that anything smacking of leniency towards Germany is looked upon as un-English and treacherous.

A parallel might be drawn between his case and that of Bethmann-Hollweg here in Germany, who is being almost as impatiently and thoughtlessly criticized as Grey in England.

The Cabinet of twenty-two seems to be the object of an increasing dislike and aversion on the part of the people, who are expressing their opinions more forcibly and less refinedly every day. *'You have led us into the mess, now pull us out again!" I can imagine how gladly the ''22'' would pull them out if they only knew how. It certainly is easier to get stuck in the mire than to get out of it again.

Lord Kitchener, the "butcher of Omdurman," as he is usually called here, has lost prestige on both sides of the North Sea. Those small affairs which he was formerly engaged in must have been like playing at war compared to this world conflict.

The pacifists, it is said, meet with small regard on the part of the people, and tend more to excite the belligerent instincts of the "great unwashed" than to pacify them. I could imagine that open-air meetings of the pacifists, systematically arranged all over England, would be the best means possible for winning over the people, including "conscientious objectors," to accept compulsory service.

in shining armour, goes out to destroy the venomous dragon of "German militarism" by force of arms, and one of the hugest jokes of history is exhibited to the astonished world!

The names of Sir Aldyn (sic), Morley, Bryce, as well as Mclver, Middleton, Lorebourne (sic), Aberdeen, Gladstone, Beecham (sic), and Qiarles Mosterman (sic), are mentioned as leaders in the pacifist movement !

The most popular figure, says the report, is Lloyd George, the munition-man, who has donned the mask of a ferocious man of war, haranguing the masses, and assiduously providing food for the iron beasts of war, all for the sake of his own private ambitions.

Bonar Law is described as being a connecting link between the fanatical Unionists, who are clamouring for a general election, and the much harried Parliament, who, in their reverential awe of themselves as divine instruments for working out England's salvation, are still glad enough to cling to his strong personality, as a middleman in the dizzy whirl of events.

Will there be a general election or not? is said to be the burning question of the day. Should a new Government come in, we may expect the war to last another twenty years, which may the gods forbid.

I have heard the reason why such a huge number^of unwounded prisoners were taken at Verdun. It was because they were rendered senseless by a new gas bomb invention. I was pleased at what seemed to me quite a humane use of this terrible gas, but I was soon disillusioned. I was told that the same thing had been done a little while before with 700 men, but a day later only 100 were still alive; the 600 had died from the aftereffects of this gas - their lungs had shrivelled up and prevented breathing, so suffocation had set in and killed them !

Berlin, April 191 6 127

for getting more food. In Cologne the mayor had to unlock the market twice in the middle of the night; once they hung a dead cat before his door, with the eyes gouged out, and an intimation that that would be his fate if he did not look after the people better. They also tried to mob the Town Council when sitting. The peasants now jeer at the town-breds, who have to spread their bread with Kunsthonig (artificial honey), while they, the peasants, have a thick layer of their own butter and a slab of ham

My sister-in-law in Bonn gives a description of disturbances much in the style of those in Cologne. She says : ''Yesterday there was a fearful mob and a fight in the Rathausstrasse for lard. It was the day for waiting outside the stores for this article; the town provides it for. the people on certain days, and who arrives first is first served. A carriage with rich people in it drove up, and the inmates were served before the others, which caused a riot. The policemen had to use their swords, for the crowd nearly lynched them. The mob broke the windows of the police station."

As a change from the everlasting American crisis, which is becoming monotonous, a Dutch crisis had just sprung up; so it behoved us to avoid politics, and we crept delicately round the thin ice of the dangerous topics which were on the tip of our tongues.

It seems that England has just been proved to have sunk a Dutch merchantman, ^nd is adopting a somewhat threatening attitude towards the neutrality of Holland; which is all very well in its way, but a Dutch neutrality in favour of England would be so very much better, seen through insular spectacles.

to sink a ship, protected by American guardian-angels, the whole world knows of it at once, and the inevitable crisis springs up. If England, on the contrary, sinks a ship belonging to one of the long-suffering neutrals, by mistake, the matter is hushed up at once, and only some obscure notice of it appears in a list of shipping casualties, and the regrettable accident is lost to sight.

English diplomacy is certainly marvellous. The Germans call it by other names sometimes, not very nice ones, but would give a good deal if they themselves could catch the knack of it.

The practical, hard, matter-of-fact "uprightness'* and "downrightness" of the Prussian character in general misses those finer lights and shades of what is generally known as tact fulness, and in its exaggerated form often leads to the virtue (or vice, as you take it) of a somewhat blundering form of diplomacy since the giant Bismarck resigned his post of steering the ship of Germany through the stormy seas of history.

A few days later we lunched with Dr. Solf, the Colonial Minister. Herr von Zimmermann, the Under Secretary of State, was there too. The policy of these two men is to refrain from taking any part in the war of abuse carried on by the Press against England, in wise forethought of the critical colonial question for Germany in the future.

Dr. Solf is one of those clear-seeing men who understand how complicated every phase of the struggle becomes through the vindictive vituperation of the Press. For this reason he is himself very much abused by certain members of the military party. For men like Kessler and Falkenhayn the sword is the only solution possible, and all methods of a milder nature are regarded as signs of effeminate weakness.

A friend told me that the Kaiser is practically kept imder supervision by men like Falkenhayn, who never allows any one to speak to him alone, he always being present at every audience. Prince Miinster tried to do so in vain. They are afraid of the Kaiser's kind heart. At dinner one night the Kaiser said to Prince Miinster : me to find out where her missing nephews are." A peal of scornful laughter arose from the other guests at table. A German Kaiser, they said, had other work to do than to search for missing English officers. The Kaiser remained silent, but on rising from the table asked Prince Miinster to try and get some news for Lady O .

The other day an article appeared in one of the daily Berlin papers, entitled "Englische Krankheit," and warning men in high positions not to allow themselves to be influenced by English women who are married to Germans, ''as English women seem to have a dangerous knack of getting the men to look at things from their point of view"

Of course, every one here is wondering which of us is meant, and we are ourselves very much amused at this candid homage to the fascinating powers of English women, in spite of their being so often condemned as utterly under-educated from the German schoolmaster point of view. It is in any case not very complimentary to German women.

The fall of Tirpitz has been ascribed in some quarters to Princess Pless's influence over the Kaiser, on the ground that she had talked him over into using less drastic measures towards the English.

This is, of course, nonsense, as Princess Pless has never seen the Kaiser alone since the beginning of the war. And as for her being admitted to Headquarters because she is English, that is another ridiculous exaggeration. She was once at Headquarters, it is true, but as they happened to have settled them at her own house, they could not really turn her away. She had, however, to keep entirely to her own apartments, and had no intercourse with the Staff at all.

Berlin, April 4, 191 6. - I was suddenly rung up on the telephone by Sir Roger Casement, saying he must see me at once. I was somewhat surprised, as I thought he was ill in bed at Munich. He was, a few days ago, when we heard of him last.

However, although I was not keen on seeing him, I telephoned back to say that I would do so for a few minutes. Little did I think what a scene was before me.

The poor man came into the room like one demented, talked in a husky whisper, rushed round examining all the doors, and then said : "I have something to say to you, are you sure no one is listening?''

For one moment I was frightened. I felt I was in the presence of a madman, and worked my way round to sit near the telephone so as to be able to call for help. And then he began : *'You were right a year ago when you told me that I had put my head into a noose in coming here. I have tried not to own you were right, and I did not like to tell you when you kept on urging me to get out of the country, that I realised from the moment I landed here what a terrific mistake I had made. And also I did not want to tell you that in reality I was a prisoner here. I could not get away. They will not let me out of the country.

"The German Foreign Office have had me shadowed, believing I was a spy in the pay of England, and England has had men spying on me all the time as well.

"Now the Gernian Admiralty have asked me to go on an errand which all my being revolts against, and I am going mad at the thought of it, for it will make me appear a traitor to the Irish cause.''

And at these words he sat down and sobbed like a child. I saw the man was beside himself with terror and grief, and so I tried to get a few more definite facts out of him, and told him there is a way out of every difficulty if he would only tell me more.

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to be sacrificed." I made all sorts of suggestions, but all he would say was : 'They are holding a pistol to my head here if I refuse, and they have a hangman's rope ready for me in England ; and so the only thing for me to do is to go out and kill myself."

I argued him out of this, and at last he went away after giving me a bundle of farewell letters to be opened after his death. As he went out of the door, he said: "Tell them I was loyal to Ireland, although it will not appear so."

He asked to see me again, but as I am watched like every one else here, and as there was evidently some political intrigue on, I had to refuse.

Berlin, April 191 6. - Last Sunday we lunched with Prince and Princess Christian of Hesse (Barchfeld), and there we met the great Count Dohna, of Move fame, and I had an opportunity of speaking to him for the first time.

He is a very nice man, and quite like an English naval officer. He told me many interesting things about his trip, but of course not as much as I wanted to know.

The one thing we are always trying to find out is where he coaled during the voyage. It is a great mystery and no one knows, not even his own sailors on board. They stopped to take in coal at some port, and it must have been Ireland or Scotland or somewhere where they were taken for English sailors.

I asked him if he had seen English Dreadnoughts, and he said he had seen the smoke of some, but that he was not going to tell me a word more, and that he had seen Scotland ; but how much of .Scotland he had seen he also said he must leave to my imagination.

He so simply described his surprise at finding himself a public hero on his return. He had no idea, he said, that his adventure would have taken the public in the way it had done. And he told me his unmarried sister was still more surprised. She went one evening to a theatre in Frankfort, unknown and a nonentity, and came out a heroine, as in the middle of the play it was suddenly stopped and the manager came out and announced the news of the wonderful feat of the Move, and the ovation was so intense that the play could not be finished. No one was more surprised than this sister of his, as she did not even know that her brother was Commander of the Move. I was glad to think that this young officer, like Captain Miiller of the Emden, had behaved as a true sailor and a gentleman in all his actions with us. If the submarine commanders had done the same, what a difference it would have made to Germany's reputation throughout the world. As it is, generations will hardly suffice to wipe out the memory of her piratical deeds at sea.

At this luncheon party also was Prince Lippe, one of the reigning Princes. Such a nice, simple man. He told me much about his time spent on the West Front with the English opposite them for months, and said that such a friendly feeling had grown up among them all that they and the English used to exchange hot coffee and cigarettes and books to read in the trenches. For weeks the trenches were only seventeen yards apart, and they could hear the conversations in each other's trench quite plainly.

He, like Prince Lowenstein, was one of those who had been so good about trying to get news of missing English officers, and identifying the graves, and getting news of the wounded in the hospitals at the front. And he said that his only disappointment was the very little consoling news he had managed to obtain for the relations.

While on this subject I feel I owe a special word of gratitude to Prince Lowenstein, who was on Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria's Staff, as he was the means of procuring many comforts and concessions for some of the English officers during that trying period between the time they were captured and the time they reached their prison camp. As this has, through all inquiries, proved to be the time when most of the ill-treatment is said to have occurred, one realizes that any one who would be the intermediary at such a time deserves thanks. Prince Lowenstein, who can speak English perfectly, and perhaps has spent more time in England than some of the captured officers themselves, who may only have landed there once on the route from Canada or Australia, was able to give the captives a hint or two which helped to soften things. For instance, on one occasion when he offered a newly captured officer some food, the young Englishman (straight from Canada) stood with his hands in his pockets and a huge pipe in his mouth, and simply grunted a reply. Prince Lowenstein quietly said to him : "As you are on your way to Germany, and may have to be there for some time, I should like to give you some advice which may help to ease your time of captivity, and that is, when addressed by a superior officer, if you took your pipe out of your mouth and your hands out of your pockets, you would be more likely to be well treated than if you do as you are doing now, because our customs differ in that respect perhaps from those of your country."

Berlin, April 28, 1916. - I wonder if my friends in England can see the sky as blue as it is here, the sun as bright, and the green (of the Tiergarten just round the corner) so intense. The green this year seems so bright that, in spite of the wonderful spring-like beauty, it strikes me as out of tune and out of place.

Sometimes I seem suddenly to notice the greenness and the sun, and I wonder that it can be spring once more^ - that the winter is really over, and yet the warmth has not begun to melt the hearts of those makers of history - those monarchs and ministers that still think it necessary to send hundreds of men each day to their deaths.

here waited for that speech of Bethmann-Hollweg. There was a gasp of expectation running through the population. When it came people shrugged their shoulders and said : "We hoped he would say more."

Then came Asquith's answer, and the nation rose in indignation. "What did he mean by the crushing of Prussian militarism ? Could he not have answered Bethmann-Hollweg's words in a different way?"

But how can the Allies destroy militarism? They cannot beat Germany to such an extent. It is from within alone that this militarism can be shaken. The Allies may say that without their efforts the people of Germany could never be brought to an understanding of their military government. But however that may be, it is only the German people who can destroy it and who will destroy it slowly, for they get wearier and wearier, from day to day.

A good example of the mismanagement of affairs which causes so much discontent, is the following. When paraffin oil became scarce people who had to work by lamp-light were encouraged to use methylated spirit. Most of the poorer classes went to the expense of getting their lamps arranged for this purpose. Now they do not even see the word "Ausverkauft" for methylated spirit, but are simply told that all of it has been confiscated by the Government for military purposes.

Materials - woollen and cotton - are supposed to be getting scarce. Ladies will wear skirts of five to six yards in width. Officialdom does not go so far as to forbid this, but lays a hand of iron on the working-class by ordering every dressmaker who employs more than one hired worker to report to the police, who thenceforth control her expenses and receipts, etc., allowing her but a certain percentage of profit and a certain number of hours for

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And yet there is a humorous side to the whole thing. If we want soap we can get 100 grams a month; but only if we present our bread ticket. I read an amusing tale of a child who was sent to buy 50 grams with her bread ticket. She came home with it ; it was a bit dark. Her mother put some precious butter and even meat sausage on it ! When her husband proceeded to partake of it, lo and behold it was 50 grams of soap the child had brought instead of bread!

Berlin, May 1916. - On returning to Berlin after a peaceful Easter spent with Princess Miinster in Derneburg, we were horrified to find the streets surrounding our hotel in a great state of excitement. The hotel even seemed to be in a state of siege, being surrounded by a cordon of police and a rather threatening-looking mob, who, it seemed, had already stolen the bread supplies for the hotel, evidently supposing that we were living in a superabundance of luxuries, whilst they were wanting in everything. As a matter of fact, our supply of bread is limited to the same allowance as every one else's in Germany, 1900 grms. a week, including 400 grms. of flour.

It was in fact the "red" May 1st, and a few turbulent Socialists had tried to get up a passing agitation to celebrate their day in the usual manner, on which occasion Liebknecht, the notorious quarreller in Parliament, was arrested for attempting to disturb the public peace, and is now safely under lock and key.

May was decidedly in the sign of general discontent and complaints at every one and everything. The barest necessaries of life were wanting, and many people kept Easter in the face of an empty larder.

The unexpected duration of the war has led to unforeseen compHcations in the economic administration, so that all sorts of changes are taking place in the Board of Provisions; added to which the keeping back of foodsupplies by speculators for the purpose of demanding exorbitant prices reached such a climax, that it almost seemed as if a revolution on a small scale were threatening in Berlin.

The butchers' shops were closed for two to three weeks on set prices being denominated by Government for meat; vegetables were not to be had; butter almost unknown; whilst soap had become so scarce that regulations were enforced forbidding white dresses to be worn in some parts of Germany. Every one is now allowed I lb. of soap for washing purposes a month, and lOO grms. of toilet soap extra.

Long processions of women waiting for hours before the butchers*, grocers', and bakers' shops were to be seen everywhere, and gave rise to the name of the ''butterpolonaise." These women often got up in the middle of the night, to be first on the scene, and took campstools with them, working or knitting, and seemed rather to enjoy this opportunity of unlimited gossiping, evil tongues said. One industrious woman was even said to have taken her sewing machine with her!

Things have since grown better. Delbriick, the much worried Secretary of State, who with seventyfive Privy Councillors managed (or mismanaged, as his opponents say) the organization of the food-supplies in Prussia, grew sick with the weight of his responsibilities and resigned his onerous post, and in his place a dictatorship of three tried men has been placed, who are courageously commencing the struggle with the existing lack of everything.

Our daily rations are at present: % lb. of sugar, Yi lb. of meat or lard, i lb. of potatoes, with loo grms. of butter per head weekly. Eggs are hardly to be had, two companies having bought them all up in the province

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We can hardly complain of starvation, but the whole population is being under-fed, which of course, in the long run, means a deterioration of physical and mental

The German answer to the American Note was just pending, and we found Mr. Gerard, the Ambassador, and all our friends practically sitting on their boxes waiting to leave at a moment's notice, should a rupture take place between the two countries.

The answer of the German Government was a relief to the greater part of the population, who are intensely anxious to avoid any further complications. For the time being the dispute has been laid, who knows for how which, being translated, means: "When St. Mark's day falls in the Easter week, and St. John's in the Octave of Whitsuntide, the whole world will wail and lament" - which is most certainly the case at present, when in addition to the losses of the past, the last precious goblet of the wine of life is being poured out at Verdun. Every one seems to be losing their last relations there.

How right Kitchener was in his prophecy that the war would last three years, and how strangely short-sighted now seems the light-hearted saying of the Kaiser to the troops in 1914 that they would be home again with their families before the leaves had fallen from the trees.

to hear the news of Sir Roger Casement's arrest on the west coast of Ireland, and of his being taken to the Tower by two armed constables, just at the time when Easter sight-seers were ''doing" the place ! But I hardly realized to what a disastrous end fate was leading him.

Very little of the affair leaks through the censorship here. On the whole no one will say a good word for him. The Germans, who are not partial to traitors, even if they use them as tools, scoff at him as the impotent leader of a lost cause, and the Americans and other neutrals despise him, whilst the few English hate him.

It is certain that the Germans in their own minds looked upon him as an English spy, and it was only when he happened to fall foul of a certain naval officer that they concocted their scheme of handing him back to England for England to do her dirty work herself. But between the time he was ''handed back" and the time of his arrival in Germany, that is the time when I had the opportunity of seeing the man drink the cup of humiliation to the dregs, penniless and starving, friendless and hunted, should I have been a woman if I had not given him a meal at times, or on the last day, when he was going to a certain death, and came to me abject with terror and evidently out of his mind, could I have done less than promise to use what influence I had to ask for mercy for him? With this object I have written to a friend in England, but have little real expectation that it will save him from his fate.

Berlin, May 191 6. - To our great astonishment we have been asked to undertake a little peace movement on our own account. They want me to write to the Duke of Norfolk, as the head of the Catholics in England, and find out if they are in any way associated with the Pope's well-known efforts for peace.

In answer to my objection that my letter would probably never pass the English censor, they replied that it would not go by post at all, but by special messenger.

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and that I could see the very man who would personally place my letter on any writing-table in London - a curious proof of how the censor may be evaded.

They actually seem to have succeeded moreover, for after I had with considerable qualms of conscience committed myself to the letter, a reply reached me in due course which I will not quote. It was of a very guarded nature, and threw grave doubts not only upon the prospects, but upon the expediency of peace at present.

Berlin, June 1916. - This month began with such unusual excitement that I was quite stunned by the overwhelming nature of the catastrophe. A great naval battle - a great German victory! People celebrating it with champagne, the streets gay with flags, church bells ringing, schools closed in honour of the event, and every one flushed with pride that at last the great day had come, when the German David should smite the English Goliath a deadly blow.

The suspense was awful, as I could not at first get any English news which might contradict or supplement the triumphant German reports. I knew perfectly well in the depths of my heart that these were exaggerated, and that even if they had managed to do the British fleet a great deal of harm, they must have suffered enormous losses themselves.

I think for those few days my soul must have visited England sometimes, for I experienced so keenly everything that must be going on there. I saw the thousands of anxious women besieging the Admiralty for news of husbands and sons, and the wave of disappointment which must have swept over the whole country at the news which the papers have since called "A great victory which the Admiralty announced like a defeat."

All the naval men here were at once called back to Wilhelmshaven, and the Emperor hurried there too. They say that the sight of the procession of coffins, dead bodies, and wounded being carried through the streets

And then came the news from England, and I read that England regards the battle of Skager Rack as the most notable victory achieved since the battle of Trafalgar, which may have results only less momentous than Nelson's, and that the German fleet was chased back in disorderly retreat into its ports.

England's losses seem irretrievable, including no less than 300 officers, and are said to be seventy per cent greater than those of Germany. Everywhere people are saying that the English Navy was in every way excelled by the German Navy, which is said to be the only one able to fire at full speed. The superior airservice, i.e. the scouting done by the Zeppelins, helped them to play havoc with the enemy's ships.

Kind friends who knew that I should be sorrowing in the midst of the universal rejoicing came to see me, such as Countess Henckel and Countess Tattenbach - women whose silent sympathy does one much good in the midst of the derision and jeers of the mob.

And then came the fresh shock of Kitchener's sudden death; which is appalling and startling, coming as it does on the top of the naval victory. Here there are rumours of his having been killed in the great battle, but I suppose the Hampshire was really sunk by an English or Danish mine.

This month brought a great scene in the Reichstag, when the Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg, at last stood up to his political adversaries and revenged himself for all the petty attacks of which he is so often the victim, by turning and rending them in a very fine speech.

Since I wrote last, I have heard much more about the terrific naval battle of the Skager Rack. A German naval officer, who was in the midst of it, described it to a friend as "Hell in the sea and air." Dr. Ohnesorg and Mr. Dresel from the American Embassy have been down to Mainz to see the saved English naval prisoners. Unfortunately they could not get much out of them. At some of the camps the Commanders refused to allow them to be spoken to, and at other places the English officers refused to speak. There certainly seems to be a mystery about the whole thing. Baron von Rath told us that his brother-in-law was chosen to conduct the English naval prisoners to their camps. He said they were very haughty, refusing to speak, or to give any information whatever. At last a happy thought struck him, and he told them that he was born in Scotland and lived there for some years ; then they began to thaw a bit. They entirely refused to believe that Lord Kitchener was dead, even when shown the German newspapers.

A German friend remarked yesterday: "What I admire about the English is that they own to their mistakes, and that is their strength." I should like to see Germany own up to their mistakes in the way Sir Ian Hamilton did in his Dardanelles dispatches, or Lord Beresford, when he criticized the naval battle.

The account of Baron von Rath^s brother-in-law of the battle at the Skager Rack is most interesting. He led the whole of the Destroyer Flotilla, and stood for fiftyseven hours on the bridge. One of his destroyers saved 140 Englishmen (?). This is an interesting statement, as by English accounts the Germans ran away, and could not have saved an English crew during the battle.

Count Colloredo has just returned from Wilhelm shaven. He described having seen the whole fleet returning, and added that it was the most historic sight he had ever seen. He had all sorts of interesting details to relate. One cruiser had rammed an English destroyer and the result was simply terrific, as the ship turned a somersault over them. He also remarked that the most impressive sight was the 32 English Dreadnoughts, which formed a kind of wall across the North Sea. They shot at a distance of twenty miles away, and as they fired incessantly

Berlin, June 15, 1916. - At present nearly all the talk is about the Austrian reverse, which was quite unexpected. The Archduke and his staff had been thinking more of sport, whilst the Russians surrounded the Austrian army, and made 62,000 prisoners, which really means 120,000 with dead and wounded. The Archduke has been sent away. As a consequence there is great sent to Switzerland and the other to another camp. It is such a satisfaction to know that one has been able to do some little good in this way, and that it is appreciated. Soldiers on the whole are very grateful, and as I am on the subject I should like to relate a little story of a German wounded prisoner in England, who was so grateful to the nurse he had that when he returned home he could not praise her nursing and devotion sufficiently. He regretted after his recovery having had to fight

The dispute as to who gained and who lost the Jutland battle is keener than ever. The chief argument put forth by the Germans at present is, that they were the last to leave the zone of the battle, having remained to pick up the sinking and drowning sailors, as is proved by the number of English naval officers and men in their hands.

Berlin, June 20, 1916. - There is a great depression over the Russian offensive and the evacuation of Czernowitz. The Germans have had to form two new army corps, to send to the aid of the Austrians, and the rather bad feeling between the two countries is not improving in consequence. What makes matters worse is, that the Austrians had to stop their offensive against the

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I think the bad feeHng between the two allies is in part owing to the great diversity of character. The Austrian soldiers are easy-going, especially the officers, and consequently there is a great want of discipline. A lady heard the other day at one of the stations here a conversation between an Austrian soldier and a civilian, in which the former complained bitterly of the negligence and indifference of his superior officers.

The German and especially the Prussian soldier is perhaps not as sociable or agreeable as the Austrian, and might at times be somewhat of a martinet; but on the other hand he has a great sense of duty, and practises the severe discipline not only on others but also on himself.

But the present depression reigning here is in part owing to the worry over the food question, which is increasing daily. We were told the other day that the authorities intend closing the schools for three months, as they want to keep as many women and children as possible out of the towns on account of the food-supply. A great difficulty is the scarcity of fodder for the cattle, which means less milk and butter. One would expect that all this shortage would prove a very serious question in regard to the prisoners, but as a matter of fact they are really better off than we are, as 'The Prisoners' Aid Society" sends 58,000 packages from England weekly to the prisoners, and 10,000 loaves of bread from Switzerland. Each prisoner receives his package and loaf, and I must give the German authorities their due as to the proper delivery of these parcels.