Berlin Town (part 7 of 7)

Early in the afternoon my maid and Karl telephoned to say that shooting had commenced in the neighbourhood, and later on she told us that a regular pitched battle was being fought just in front of our house, that some one had placed two machine-guns on the roof which were firing down on the crowd, who were returning the fire from below. Karl Langer, our faithful butler and friend, had run up to the top of the house and torn down the old flag to try and stop the firing. Prince Henckel and his brother. Count Krafft, were, she said, taking an active part in the defence. We were all loud in praise of her courage at being able to stand and telephone at such a critical moment. Later on the wires were cut off for the time being.

At the moment when things seemed to be looking their worst. Princess Taxis telephoned that the Entente had sent a radio-message from Paris, saying that they would make no peace with Bolshevists. Thank God ! That was good news indeed, and sent our spirits up with a run. It came, too, just at the right moment, and meant the momentary reinstatement of Ebert as Kanzler, and renders Liebknecht's anarchical plans extremely distasteful to the majority of people. People are inclined to look upon the enemy for the moment as friends and rescuers in the hour of need.

Towards evening my brave maid Lisa and the Jager arrived with clothes for us for the night. They had forced their way through the dangers of the excited mob, and gave us a vivid description of the "Bliicher Palais'* battle. I was rather amused to hear that our stalwart defenders, the twenty policemen whom we had so much counted on to guard us, had been forced to seek shelter and protection in our house, where - pale and trembling - they remained hidden a whole day and night, being fed by us, until plain clothes had been brought for them and they could thus escape in disguise. They were

Berlin, November 1918 289

I must confess that I myself feel shocked and surprised at the universal rejoicing manifested at the abdication of the Kaiser. They could not be more jubilant if they had won the war. Vox populi, vox dei! He may deserve his fate, but it seems very hard and cruel to throw stones at him at such a moment, when he must be enduring untold anguish and sorrow.

Amongst the aristocracy the grief at the breakdown of their country, more than at the personal fall of the Kaiser, is quite heart-rending to see. I have seen some of our friends, strong men, sit down and sob at the news, whilst others seemed to shrink to half their size and were struck dumb with pain. There are men and women who have played an inconspicuous part enough at ordinary times, often pushed aside as people of no importance, who are now the most faithful to their monarch. But history takes no heed of the tears of the individual, and they only fall to join and swell the broad stream shed by mankind within the last four years, and which, as we hope, is carrying us forward to some brighter goal.

Berlin, Monday, November 11, 1918. - Things seem to have calmed down a bit, and one only hears a little desultory shooting now and again. We feel that it is growing safe once more, and this morning Gebhard went off to our apartment, to spend the day there putting things in order again. Frau Mainzer and I determined to go out together to see what the world looked like after the deluge of the last two days, and whether there were any signs of the waters abating or not. I paid several visits, and we all congratulated one another at still being alive, but we are none of us very certain as to what the hour may bring forth. Our general impression is that the people are much too weak and starved to be really bloodthirsty unless goaded on by fanatics like Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, and one cannot help admiring the disciplined and orderly way in which a revolution of such dimensions has been organized, with until now the least possible loss of life. Truly, a great storm is passing over the land, and princes are falling from their thrones like ripe fruit from a tree, but every one seems to be acting under the impulse of a divine law which is leading the German nation to a new phase of development.

I stayed to lunch with Countess Larisch, where I found Count Westphalen's little daughter, a child of 13 years, who is quite the heroine of the moment at present. She and her father, who came in later, gave us a description of the battle at the Schloss on Saturday. Count Westphalen is Master of the Horse, and as he told us, he was sitting quietly reading in one of the rooms at the Schloss, when suddenly there was a great knocking at the door. On opening it, he saw the mob standing outside, demanding two of the royal motors to take up some injured people. Of course, he guessed that this was only a fabrication, but agreed to give them two, which, he said, were always kept in readiness for all emergencies, and saying he would give the order for them to be brought out, he went away, closing the door behind him. He stayed away, however, longer than they approved of, and they began hammering and battering at the door, and on the servant saying he could not let them in without further orders, they smashed a side-window and climbed in, and proceeded to riot and shout through the whole castle. One man in particular was extremely insolent in his manner to Count Westphalen, airing his views in a hectoring violent tone, and he it was who, running up to a room at the top of the castle, began firing from one of the upper windows. This, of course, was meant to stir up the mob below, and in fact caused the whole battle that ensued. This method was employed systematically at all places where fighting took place, and the report was then spread that it was caused by loyal officers firing down into the people. As has been later discovered, there is not a word of truth in such statements. At the moment when the mob broke into the castle there were no officers there, and the fight was only caused by Liebknecht's agents trying to incite the mob to bloodshed.

Count Westphalen went on to tell us that the rabble had poured into the royal stables, ransacked everything there, seized on several motors and horses (some of which have been returned), and began exploring the castle, carrying off any provisions they could find, and keeping him a prisoner locked up in a room until four o'clock the next morning. In spite of his remonstrances and entreaties to be at least informed as to the fate of his little daughter, he was not allowed to communicate with any one, and spent the long hours of the night in the greatest state of suspense as to what had become of her. The poor child herself went on with the story, and told us that on hearing a noise in the passage she had gone out to see what it was, and suddenly saw a strange mob of people pouring in. Her governess, with whom she had been left in charge, immediately lost her head and rushed away into the crowd outside, leaving her charge at the mercy of the rabble, and was not heard of until the morning, when she was told some home-truths by her employer.

The poor little girl had remained trembling in the hall, whilst the mob rushed past her. With the help of a faithful old man-servant she then left the house on foot, and together they made their way through the crowd and walked in the dark for about an hour, until they came to the Larisches' house at about eight o'clock in the evening, the poor child quite alarmed and worn out with all the excitement.

Countess Larisch told me further that she herself had been an eye-witness when the soldiers had seized on the machine-guns in the Admiralty and had thrown them into the canal. There had been thousands of people looking on. It had been a sad and alarming sight, and the general feeling amongst those surrounding her had been one of pity that so much good material should be wasted in that way. Especially the loss of the leather touched people to the quick. ''How many pairs of boots they could have made for us/' was the general remark.

Evening. - This afternoon our nephew Ludwig Karl Strachwitz rang me up from the General Staff. He said he was still at his old occupation, but in plain clothes, and there were several sailors and soldiers about him, apparently entrusted with the task of managing everything; but as they themselves admitted they understood nothing at all of what was to be done, they begged him to continue in authority and go on with the work. It is the same everywhere; in all the rooms at the Foreign Office there is a sailor or soldier superintending the work, and they say even Ex. Solf has one at his side. It seems that they are all respectful enough in business hours, but out of them there is no saluting, and they attempt to treat their superiors as equals, needless to say not very successfully, as old customs and habits cannot be changed in one day.

Berlin, Tuesday, November 12, 191 8. - As we heard that everything was again quiet round Brandenburger Tor, we arranged to return home, and quitted our secluded haven of refuge, with heartfelt feelings of gratitude to the Mainzer family for all the Tcindness and hospitality they showed to us as refugees. How strange it seems to find everything so quiet and peaceful here, after all the noise and excitement of Sunday, when there was almost ceaseless fire over and around the house nearly the whole day.

The few people I have already spoken to were depressed and horrified at the terms of the armistice, especially that the blockade is not to be raised, which means for so many people a gradual death from exhaustion. As one Englishwoman said to me, the idea of continuing to exist and work on the minimum of food still possible under the circumstances was so dreadful, that she thought it would be the most sensible thing to go with her child and try to get shot in one of the numerous street-fights; whilst another lady whose husband is at the front, and from whom she has heard nothing for a long time, is contemplating turning on the gas on herself and her two small children, and putting an end to the horrors of living. A diet of heavy vegetables, cooked without fat of any kind, with dry bread and potatoes, is not in the longrun consistent with the nerve-power necessary under the

We hear Hindenburg has placed his services at the disposal of the new Government, so as to help organize the demonstration. What a grand old fellow he is, always doing his best for his country, and never thrusting himself into people's notice. He must be suffering agonies of humiliation and regret at the turn things are taking, and at the terrible blow to Germany's prestige; and yet he will never think of laying down his arms as long as his country needs him. He is indeed a genuine patriot.

So many of the other great men of the past are now wandering like hunted wild beasts, roofless and homeless in other countries, all power torn from their hands, unable to help themselves or other people. The Empress has placed herself and all the other women of the royal family under the protection of the Red Guards at Potsdam.

There is still a good deal of desultory shooting going on, and several soldiers have been wounded or shot in the suburbs whilst guarding the different stores. The same system is used everywhere to stir up the people to bloodshed. Machine-guns are placed on the roof of a house opposite to some assembly hall, and when the people gather for a political meeting, they are shot at by the hidden gunners on the roof, and the soldiers immediately return the shots.

castle at the beginning of the riots I heard a dramatic account of what took place. He told me how they had been hidden in the cellars some days before the demonstration began, and knew little of what was going on outside, so that the shock and surprise were great when suddenly the doors were burst open, and a revolutionist, a member of Parliament, entered and told them that the German Empire had ceased and a Republic had taken its place. With tears in his eyes, he said, he had taken off his badges and thrown them where the others lay in a heap on the flagstones, and then they were free to return to their barracks. With a thrill of indignation he saw how the mob rushed into the castle, and a few minutes later the Prussian flag was hauled down and the long red revolutionary standard waved over the place where the Hohenzollerns have housed for so many centuries. Out of the great gateway a rider dashed on horseback, waving likewise a red flag, and at the same moment one of the windows opened on to a balcony in front of the castle, and on the same spot where four and a half years ago the Kaiser made his great appeal to the enthusiastic people, Liebknecht appeared, shouting to the masses that they were now freed of the bondages of the past, and that a new era of liberty was opening out before them. History repeats, or rather mimics herself in a somewhat tasteless way at times. Still the episode is not without interest to the impartial looker-on.

The young soldiers themselves had a hard fight to get through the mob, who in some way seemed to make them responsible for the misdoings of the royal house they^ had been guarding, and ill-treated them accordingly, buffeting them and spitting on them, and even throwing some of them into the Spree.

Berlin, November 13, 1918. - It is late, but I cannot sleep; my nerves are still vibrating with the excitement of the last few days, and brain and heart are filled to overflowing at the thought of the momentous things which are happening in the world. We dined at the L.'s, where, although we were a very cosmopolitan party, we were all more or less affected at the terrible outlook for Germany. A late moon was still shining brightly as we made our way home on foot. The streets are very quiet now, and the few passers-by hurry along, almost afraid of one another, and avoid the shadows, for no one knows who or what may be lurking there. Before cwtry important public building sentries are posted, and in front of the Brandenburger Tor, with its grotesque blueblack shadow of the galloping horses and the car of victory, I can see them pacing up and down.

An atmosphere of exhaustion rather than of peace pervades the places where so much tumult and confusion raged but a short time ago. A rising wind is beginning to moan sadly through the Tiergarten, tossing the bare branches of the trees dejectedly, and bringing in its train great masses of dark clouds, which to my excited imagination look like armies in mournful retreat, moving as if in rhythm to the funeral dirge of the melancholy autumn

I never felt so deeply for the German people as I do now, when I see them bravely and persistently trying to redress the wrongs of the war, for which they were in truth never responsible. The greater part of them were men fighting blindly to guard an ideal, the *'Heimat," some patch of mother earth, a small cottage half hidden in its sheltering fruit trees, ploughed fields rising on the slope of a hill up to the dark forest of pines, maybe, or a wide stretch of flat country where the golden corn-fields sway and wave in the wind as far as the eye can reach.

This everything, that meant "home" to them, they were told was in danger, and this they went out to save. I feel that in the past I have sometimes misjudged this people, torn by the conflicting feelings of love and admiration for my own native land, and indignation at the brutal methods of warfare employed here, and the mental suffering and agony I endured myself in the first years especially. But now I feel that a spirit of justice and good feeling is the only power that can ever heal the hideous gaping wounds of the nations, and it was in this frame of mind that I began talking to an old friend of of the world and is a German of the best type. Of course, he is feeling very embittered now, but I will try and remember what he said and write it down as a "defence" of the German people.

There were three or four of us talking, and each had some criticism to make of the Germans as compared with other nationalities. I had made the remark that German women are as a rule more highly educated than English, but were wanting in a sense of humour and romance, and somewhat dull with all their learning, when Graf K intervened :

'Tve been listening to your discussion, and with due deference to all your opinions, I must confess that, like most foreigners, you are utterly superficial in your judgment of us. Well, you've thrown down the gauntlet, and ril pick it up.

''Does any one of you really know the German people? Berlin, for example, can hardly even be called a German town, so little does it represent Germany. And yet you come here, you English especially, consort with your own countrymen, read your own books, speak your own language, and maltreat ours just enough for every day's most common needs, and then think you know us. With the exception of music, what do you know of our art, our literature, which is the expression of our soul? Why, I know English women who have been living here for nearly twenty years, and never even read a German paper, much less a book, and can hardly phrase a single sentence of our language correctly. And yet they return to England to boast of their intimate and exhaustive knowledge of the German psyche. You condemn us for our want of humour; but it is you who don't know enough of our language to understand the rich stock of humour of our race. You know nothing of Jean Paul, of Renter, the platt-deutsch humorist, or of Raabe, who is in his way the German Dickens.

*'As for our wanting in romance, why, we are mostly born and bred in it, steeped in it from the cradle to the grave. It was our school of romantic poets who awoke an echo in all Europe, not least in England, and inspired some of the greatest musicians of the world. Certainly, our people have not the craving for the sensational that you English have, but I think that may be regarded as almost in our favour on the whole.

*Tor the rest, you understand us just as little as we do you. We are au fond a nation of peasants, tillers of the soil in the larger sense of the word, and therefore more intimately in touch with mother earth than you English, and we have the faults and virtues of the toilers of the fields. In the same way as your little country, the England proper of to-day, presents the appearance of a landscape tamed down to pleasure grounds or a well-kept park, so the centuries of undisturbed culture and the long era of prosperous industry and commerce have done their best to eliminate all traces of primitive man in you. You are the product of an artificial culture; we are much more the product of Nature. It is only in Scotland or the West of Ireland that you can find anything approaching the untouched virginity of our vast sandy plains, where the wind can rush at its own free will, whirling the snowstorms from the east, or of the grim twilight of our great pine woods, the birthplace of half the legends and fairy-lore of Europe, or the solemn beauty of our lofty snow-topped mountains, where man can be so utterly alone with God.

"You often call us brutal, but I take it we are strong and simple. It is from Nature that we have borrowed our rugged strength of character, and just as she is not always merciful but wild and callous and cruel, we at times too have grown hard in our struggle with her.

"The genius of our race is derived from the soil we have Hved on. We are philosophers and artists, talents born in intercourse with Nature, but we are bad diplomats and politicians, qualities born of intercourse with mankind. We possess the shrewdness of the peasant, and not the cunning of the man of the world; and just as our bodies are more expressive of strength and dogged will, and look better in our own national costumes than in the dainty creations of Parisian ateliers, so our souls have not been trained to express our thoughts and feelings with those finer reservations that you call tact, and we a lack of straightforwardness. But given we are brutal and aggressive under circumstances, we are at the same time big and heroic, and our ideal men and women are the Siegfrieds and Brunhilds of the NihelungenUed, figures that represent the primeval passions of mankind.

''We are often called narrow-minded, pedantic, and petty. People forget we have always been forced to turn our gaze inwards and concentrate our attention on ourselves and our mental development. We could not expand like the English, who have gained their broadminded generosity, which we admire so much, chiefly from the fact that their inward gaze was set on far-off goals in other continents.

"Above all, we are fighters. Without any natural boundaries on the east or the west, there were always greedy neighbours anxious to invade us. But as we threw off the yoke of the Romans, the Huns, the French and ever again the French, we shall no doubt fight our way to a place in the sun again, despite the hordes collected to prevent us."

"I think," was his answer, "that the English of to-day are more the result of the civilization of towns than otherwise. For the rest, I have not attempted to analyse their mentality more closely. I chiefly wished to point out the chief source of those fundamental qualities which characterize the German people, and which are so seldom recognized by the casual observer who writes those volumes of superficial trash for the benefit of credulous readers. I believe if the nations understood one another better there really might be no more wars."

this evening. I suppose there is a good deal of truth in it, and that we English are too inclined to expect the same qualities in other nations which we are accustomed to in ourselves, forgetting that climate and geographical position are so important in the forming of a national character.

Berlin, November 14, 1918. - I shall perhaps write little more now in my diary. The war is practically over, and so to all intents is the social revolution. Every one seems to be astonished at the quiet, unenthusiastic way in which the latter has gone off. I even heard one man deplore its orderliness from a poetic point of view. He said there was nothing inspiring in it for the poet or painter, no great passions let loose. It was simply a matter-of-fact, well-organized strike based on purely materialistic grounds.

I was myself astonished at the calm phlegm of the crowd, which just stood out of range and watched the shooting as if they were at a race-meeting. At the same time, the state of things here is not encouraging, and acquaintances are telling us to get away from Berlin as soon as possible. Two camps have been formed amongst the Socialists, the Ebert moderate party and the Liebknecht faction, and fierce fighting is expected soon amongst the soldiers and sailors in the streets. Moreover, there is a universal dread of plunder in the private houses.

Many people who still cling to the old regime are fleeing across the frontiers to neutral countries; and to-day, on bidding farewell to an official who is flying for his life, I asked him if he thought the people were to blame for all the misery that has come upon Germany.

He answered in the negative, saying they were only suffering from the long series of political errors committed since the Bismarck era. From the time of his dismissal one fatal mistake after the other has been made, and it is a wonder that the nation has borne with the perpetrators so long. The Kaiser's longing for a fleet to vie with the English, backed up by Tirpitz, whom Kiihlmann calls the ^'father of lies," is responsible for the great split between England and Germany, and war was the inevitable result.

We have determined to leave Berlin in a few days, to go and look after our home at Krieblowitz, as things are said to be none too quiet in the neighbourhood of Breslau.

Krieblowitz, November i6, 1918. - After an interesting but crowded journey, we are glad to find ourselves in the peace and quiet of the country again. The whole episode of the revolution seems like a fantastic dream.

Our train was crammed full of soldiers and sailors returning home from the front, and even though we went to the starting-place, the Charlottenburg Station, we found it already overfilled. The men swarmed in through the windows, climbing over the roof of the carriage to do so, and got in in every possible way they could think of, entry through the doors being quite impossible. Gebhard and all the rest of the household had to sit on their luggage in the corridors all the way to Breslau, whilst I managed to get a seat in a third-class carriage together with fourteen soldiers and sailors. They were rough working-men, but were kindness and consideration itself to me. They looked after my comfort in every way, and insisted on keeping all the doors and windows closed for fear of my catching cold. The atmosphere was indescribable, but I did not want to hurt their feelings by suggesting that a fresh air treatment suited me best.

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One sailor, who had come straight from the riots at Kiel, told ghastly stories of the bloodshed there, and of the men's grievances against the officers, and against the Kaiser and the Crown Prince. They all jeered at the Crown Prince playing the hero by sticking to his army. **A bit late it was," they said, *'his becoming brave now." They also criticized the Kaiser's flight to Holland, saying that although he and his son both deserved to be shot, they would not have injured them if they had trusted the people and remained to face the crisis.

I could not help smiling when they began comparing notes as to who had learnt most English during the four years they had spent opposite to the British at the front, and from their conversation with the prisoners. Each of them produced a few words, and one man, after describing his friendship for an English soldier who had been a prisoner for three years, said that last Sunday, when the prisoner was set free, he went about the streets shouting, "Kamerad kaput," being the only words he had learnt all these years, and meaning to convey the fact "My friend, you are beaten."

They were all very cheerful, those soldier- and sailorcompanions of mine, and often emphasized that they had gained what they had been fighting for, "Freiheit und Gleichheit," and that the German army had not been driven out of France and Belgium, but had been withdrawn after the armistice had been declared.

It was a great comfort to hear these men accepting the situation in this spirit, and one of the chief things that have struck me since the revolution is the universal relief that the iron clutch of militarism has been loosened for ever, and that there is so little feeling of rancour or bitterness towards the enemy. Even Excellenz Solf owned to my husband that it would be a great relief to him if the Entente should send troops as soon as possible to help to keep peace.

Krieblowitz, December 191 8. - Slowly the year is drawing to its close, and gradually, very gradually, I am beginning to comprehend that the war with its orgy of death and slaughter has come to an end. It is especially hard to realize, because the difficulties of every-day life are almost greater now than they were before - or seem so. The whole economic organization of Germany has crumbled away before our eyes, and no new system has as yet been formed in its place. The revolution, in fact, came too suddenly, even for the Socialists themselves, and what ought to have evolved from a natural course of events was prematurely hurled at us by the unexpected insurrection of the sailors in Kiel and Hamburg. Therefore the Socialists have not had time to develop a really strong Government, or to test the practical working of theories in a country which is still at heart for the greater part monarchical in its sympathies.

I believe myself that the German people in reality need something for their imagination - a figure-head that represents in some way the phantastic, the unusual, the ideal. There is no poetry in the figure of a short stout President, with a bald head, a top-hat, and a black coat. All the old fairy tales begin in the same way : "Es war einmal ein Konig!" and the Olympic figure with the clanking sword, the golden crown, and the purple mantle will be sadly failing in the history of the future; and all romance will be banished from those beautiful stately old castles on their rocky summits, which we find all over the country, when they have been turned into some stateedifice to meet the painfully prosaic needs of to-day.

It was the long period of inactivity which led to the Kiel mutiny. The men had no outlet for their energies but to brood over grievances and grumble about their officers, and when, after the defection of Austria and

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This brooding spirit of revolt amongst the sailors has been classically expressed in a play called The Sea Fight, by Rich. Goering, one of the most talented of the school of young German poets now coming so much to the fore. But in the drama, a great battle comes at the critical moment, as the *'befreeing" deed which leads the men's virile energy into another direction than that of active mutiny.

Germany's chief danger at the moment is her lack of a central strong Government to negotiate with the Entente, and to take the lead in the land. Instead of one there is a whole series of governments, and no end to the bickerings and jealousies between the different states, which are all aiming at reducing the power of Berlin. At the moment the proletariat are in possession of power, which they are using to enrich themselves as speedily as possible at the cost of the nation. I hear, if things go on as they are, the State will be bankrupt in a fortnight.

In Berlin the soldiers and workmen are disturbing all the existing law and order, dismissing the local boards without creating any new ones to take their place. Armed deserters and rowdies force the authorities to resign office at the point of their bayonets. Public and private food supplies are plundered and confiscated by bands of individuals, who terrorize over the unarmed civilians. Strikes are weakening and endangering the little life that is left in the land, and the enormous and disproportionate wages being lavished on the working people bid fair to paralyse all industry and trade. There are millions of people out of work, and yet everything is at stagnation

The nation at large is economically demoralized and corrupted by the organizations of militarism. The high wages paid for the most elementary work connected with the war has so ruined the labouring classes morally, that no one will work for any but an abnormal price, whilst

Another problem is what is to become of all the active officers who are being dismissed, and who in civil life have learnt nothing at all? Germany, with no power to expand, and morally blockaded by the rest of the world for years to come, offers but a disconsolate future for young men, however enterprising they may be. The French ideal, "I'esclavage allemand,'' seems the only possible solution, if the Entente insist on the conditions they are proposing.

Little miseries which seemed but pin-pricks a short time ago are gradually gaining in intensity, until they feel almost like poisonous darts. For years people have been struggling along, supporting as best they could the absence of everything conducive to a decent existence, but now it is almost impossible to bear it any longer. The ancient boots and shoes defy any more mending, the stockings consist of a series of variegated patches, dresses and mantles have been turned and dyed year after year, and most people's underwear has no recognizable resemblance to the dainty garments of pre-war times. They are of a nameless hue, and look as if they had been fished out of some forgotten patch-bag. As there is no soap, our linen issues from the wash-tub greyer and more hopelessly torn than we ever dared imagine, and certainly the German woman of to-day is the worst clad in all Europe.

I have had a letter from Berlin describing the festive entry of the returning troops. *Tt was not the triumphant procession we dreamt of formerly, but it is unique and striking in its way. Every one had done their best to give a brave appearance to their houses; flags were flying, carpets hanging from every balcony, house-doors were wreathed with green garlands, with the homely

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*Herzlich willkommen* beaming a welcome in red letters on a white ground. The men wore green laurel wreaths over their steel helmets, each rifle bore its little spray of flowers, the machine-guns were garlanded with green branches, and children waving gaily-coloured flags sat by the side of them, and many of the soldiers had a child or a sweetheart riding pillion in front of him on his flowerwreathed horse.

"A feeling of confidence, of fresh hope in the future, seems to have returned with the troops, who responded to the ovations with the buoyant seriousness of men who, after seeing death so near, are not afraid of life. The streets are so crowded and overflowing with men that I am beginning to wonder how long it will be before these reserves of latent energy will break forth and find a channel for themselves if not speedily used to some good purpose.

**A new feature in Berlin is the number of beggars one now sees everywhere. All the blind, the halt, and the lame of Prussia seem to have collected here and are reaping a golden harvest. Daily the traflic is stopped by the demonstrations and counter-demonstrations which are the order of the day. Even the children are beginning them, and the opposing parties often meet and pass one another in the same streets, whilst the soldiers set out to keep order on their own responsibility. The results are street- frays like the one on the evening of December 6, when fourteen innocent men and women were killed. Today none of us can tell how soon we may be sleeping at the side of the little pale 17-year-old milliner's girl, who was shot on her way home, in the green shady groves of the burial ground where the victims of the March Revolution of 1848 are buried.

"Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg are the people of the hour - archangels or archdevils, as the case may be. They have caught the imagination of the people, and are powers we must certainly reckon with. Every day nearly some new 'Extrablatt' appears: 'A thousands marks on

Liebknecht's head!' 'Liebknecht outlawed!' *A hundred thousand marks for Liebknecht's corpse!' This is, of course, oil to the flames of his popularity, and is raising a fanatical dreamer to the Olympian heights of heroism. He is, at the same time, the bogy for frightening children to bed and the fearless hero with the halo of martyrdom already shining round his pale face. We are all very unclear as to what exactly he wants, and perhaps the commander of a regiment here is acting in the most sensible manner by inviting him to come and address his men publicly."

And now the great feast of Peace is at the door, and already the Christ-Child is beckoning from the lowly cradle in Bethlehem. Like the great star, the vision of universal love and charity hovers before our longing gaze, unattainable, unreachable as ever to those wanderers from the East.

Men's hearts are still filled with the lust of hate, ambition, and revenge. There are no eyes to see the angel hosts, no ears to hear their rapturous call in the silent star-filled Christ-night: "Peace on earth - good will among men!"

Krieblowitz, January 19 19. - I am delighted to hear that all Germans agree in their praise of the English manner of behaviour in the occupied towns on the Rhine, whilst there are many complaints of the regulations and restrictions, and the disagreeable conduct of the French and Belgians. Every one praises the kind and dignified manner of the English towards the inhabitants. Many, I believe, wish in their inmost hearts that these troops would come marching down Unter den Linden, and believe that it would put an end to all the present turmoil. Possibly they might have done it if the Germans in their retreat had not destroyed the bridges and the transport. It would have made all the difference in the world to the future peace of Europe.

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Indeed many people are inclined to look upon them as their saviours and protectors, and in their fear of the reign of terror which may be coming I believe would be glad if the Entente would send an army to Berlin.

By the way, the three English officers who have been sent on the Red Cross Commission to Berlin are making a great stir with their smart appearance; every one ia admiring them immensely.

It is, after all, the royalties who are perhaps most to be pitied now. Often without ready money, no roof to ttheir heads, and no food-cards, they are dispersed all over Germany, afraid of making themselves known for fear of tthe mob, and not accustomed to look after themselves in ;any way.

The fate of the Hohenzollerns can be read daily in the 'papers, but that of the Saxon royal family is the one -which fills us with the greatest sympathy. The Crown ; Prince is at present living in two small rooms in Breslau. '. He has no money, and as he is living under an assumed jname he cannot enter himself on the bread-commission, ;and has therefore no cards for provisions. A friend of - ours, a lady, takes him his dinner in a basket under her ;arm every day. We are now going to supply him from but no one may know it, or we should be blamed for feeding princes whilst the poor are starving. The King of Saxony possesses a beautiful castle in the midst of a forest in Silesia, called Sybillenort. He has taken refuge there now, but as it was always kept as a showplace, and only used for two or three weeks' hunting occasionally, it is not fitted up. with any ordinary comforts. There is no electric light, no heating, nothing for the winter, so that he is obliged to leave it now, and is looking out for a small place in the mountains. We have offered him Krieblowitz for the time being.

They will have no money until things are more settled, for the Saxon Government has sequestered their private property. On leaving Dresden, the royal family took

Officers returning from the front tell terrible tales of the mutinous condition of the soldiers. They seem to be filled with the one idea of revenging themselves for the misery of the last four years on their helpless superiors. Their behaviour is often grossly brutal. One can see the freed slave does not know how to use his freedom. Our nephews Strachwitz has just returned, after taking ten days to travel from Belgium here. Norbert, who- was badly wounded, was twice turned out of the train because he was an officer, and on his attempting to enter a train again was shot at by German soldiers. At last, one kind-hearted man picked him up and pitched him into a cattle-truck. He travelled in this manner for five days, without his wounds being dressed, and living on mere bread and water. Dominik had to defend himself against 30 soldiers, and just had time to get into a train before they bayoneted him.

These are but two of countless stories. Some nurses returning home with a train full of wounded men said it had taken them ten days to get back from St. Quentin, as the engine-driver stopped the train every few hours, and came and collected clothes, shoes, etc., from them before going on farther, and in the end charged so much a mile, and had to be begged and entreated before proceeding at all.

All the high officers have disappeared from the face of the earth, as bands of soldiers are going from one house to the other to arrest them. Thus in Berlin, a warning was sent to the family of General von Beseler, saying that he had better disappear as danger was brewing ; and hardly had he got away when a detachment of soldiers armed with rifles and a machine-gun suddenly appeared at his house and demanded him to be handed out to them. They only left the place on being assured that he was still in Warsaw.

Krieblowitz, January 19 19 309

Brandenburg is said to be a hell on earth. An officer told me that he could only get a plate with a few mushrooms for dinner at the price of Mk. 25, whilst his servant was given a big dish of meat and potatoes and vegetables; and the soldiers often attack and beat an unpopular officer. I have heard of some old Generals who have

As regards the Empress, one hears much praise of the way she worked throughout the war to try and heal the wounds caused by it until the last moment almost, when she was struck down by the sight of the awful doom awaiting her country and her own house. But one wonders how she could have continued so blind to the real state of affairs. She had not an idea that the abdication of her husband could really come about, and as she forbade a single word of politics to be discussed at meals, she had no means of "feeling the pulse of the people," or getting to know their views or their grievances. For instance, three weeks before the revolution, she was visiting a hospital in Brandenburg, and stopped and spoke to a poor wounded soldier who was frightfully mutilated, having lost both legs and an arm, and she said to him how sorry she was to see him thus, and had he any wish she could gratify to help him. The soldier said : *'Do you want to know what my greatest wish in the world now is, and will you do your best to gratify it? It is that you will send one of your six sons out and that he shall get mutilated in the same way as I am. Then the soldiers would know you are genuine in your offers."

And at the Blindenheim, on another occasion, she went round distributing roses to the blind men. One man handed them back to her and said: "I don't want your roses ; give me back my eyes !"

Krieblowitz, January 191 9. - We are bidding farewell to Krieblowitz, for I wonder how long! I feel a pang at leaving the place and the people; one becomes so attached to those one has lived among during times of suffering and suspense, and these people have endeared* themselves to me by their patient, silent acceptance of the inevitable.

I feel a pang also at taking my husband away from them; they look upon him so much as their father to come to in all troubles and difficulties, and he has endeared himself to them lately by the way he has tried to find employment for the many youths returning from the front. He has had timber cut down and ponds filled up ; in fact he instantly put on a hundred or more men, provided them with food, and gave them high wages. This saved the situation, and there has been no real plundering or discontent in our district.

I have at last been able to receive a letter from my mother, hoping to see me again at some not too indefinite period; and we are putting every wheel in motion to try and fulfil her desire.

I almost feel as if we shall never again be allowed to find an abiding place where we can settle down and be at rest. Four and a half years ago, in that memorable August of 19 14, we had to hurry away, leave our London house, and pack up at a moment's notice and flee, because we were Germans. Now, once more, we have to flee from Krieblowitz, as there is danger of an invasion of the Poles, who are said to be on the march into Upper Silesia, and the miners are threatening to plunder the big houses in the neighbourhood should their rations

At the same time we must either let or lend our apartment in Berlin, as all empty ones are to be occupied either by soldiers or homeless people; and, worse still, should Liebknecht get the upper hand, they will certainly begin their regime by plundering the big private houses. It is a pleasant look-out in any case, and so we think it better to shoulder our baggage and wander once more.

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asking Sir R. Ewart to dine with us. I think that the moment we have an EngHsh General sitting at the same table, and see the English officers strolling down Unter den Linden, we shall really begin to feel that England is not so very far away after all !

I too, to see some of my best friends once more before leaving Berlin indefinitely, and shall be especially glad to see, among others, for the last time probably, Madame Polo, the Spanish Ambassadress, and then Count and Countess Larisch, Count and Countess Moltke, Madame Rizoff, and Baronin Essen, the wife of the Swedish Minister, who was the kindest hostess possible when we took refuge in her house after being driven out of our own for the second time by machine-guns on the third day of the revolution.

There are five ladies, all of them Austrian by birth, who, even at times when the fever of international hatred was at its highest point, never behaved otherwise than tactfully and kindly towards me. These are Countess M. Larisch, Countess M. Tattenbach, and the three ladies known as the Kinsky sisters, Countess Henckel, Countess Clary, and Princess Lowenstein. Never by word or sign did they say anything to hurt my English feelings, and when I was in sorrow and their world was rejoicing, they would leave their family circle and come and spend a few minutes with me, condoling and sympathizing with me in my grief, anxiety, or suspense. These are things one likes now to remember.

Krieblowitz, January 15, 1919. - We actually had a visit here from some of the English officers now in Berlin, an event worthy of special record. Among them was a Lieutenant M , who had been sent to help in repatriating the English prisoners. He told us of the indescribable state of things in Berlin. They had been obliged to transfer their quarters from the Adlon Hotel, which was anything but safe, to the Esplanade, which is not in quite such an exposed position. General Ewart and his staff had been obliged to do all their work in their rooms, as they could no longer go to the Embassy in the Wilhelm Strasse. Owing to the waiters' strike they had to take all their meals in their rooms. He gave me a graphic description of the scenes in the streets during the Spartacus *Tutsch." There were machine-guns at every corner, and more than once the people in the street threatened to shoot him, and one day smashed the window of the taxi he was in with a hand-grenade. He witnessed himself no less than three murders in the streets. One woman, a superior middle-class person, was deliberately torn limb from limb before his eyes, because when don't." The lack of food, the high prices, the universal demoralization amongst the German people is the best soil possible for the spread of Bolshevism, which is like a poisonous fungus born of diseased matter. Germany is now like a man sick unto death, mortification is setting in, and other nations coming in touch with her will be infected in the same way. The people have not only been disillusioned in their old ideals and seen the fall of all their own gods, but they see too that the ancient code of Might over Right is just as potent in the enemy now as it was before amongst their own leaders.

In the prevailing disorder, Spartacus reigns supreme, and as the Government have not as yet gained the upper hand over the "freed slaves," the streets are often stained with blood, and even corpses may be seen lying on the pavement where some struggle has taken place. Our house is in the most dangerous position of all, and is at present filled with Government troops, who use it as a stronghold from which to shoot at the rebels. The method in this madness is the wish of the Spartacus group to prevent the National Assembly being constituted and to introduce the Commune, or dictatorship of the proletariat. Rosa Luxemburg and Liebknecht are still at large, although a high price has been set on their heads and there are men enough willing to shoot them. People are growing so accustomed to the nightly shooting that I have heard friends saying they cannot sleep if it ceases for a night ! When there is no fighting going on in the streets, there are always crowds of agitated people swayed here and there by the excitement of the moment.

Political agents scream and shout to the listening crowds, and woe to him who dare oppose the popular opinion of the moment. He may be lynched on the spot, or at best be scuffled off into some neighbouring house and saved by the skin of his teeth.

Motor-cars dash through the streets, their inmates scattering thousands of white leaflets, 'Vote for this or that man," whilst clouds of them come flying down from the blue sky where, high above the noise and discord of the streets, a flyer is skimming like some great white bird. Berlin, the cleanest and most orderly of European towns, is now the most disorderly, and a perfect bedlam into the bargain. It is all very tragical, but as I have said before, food will mend everything. A few days ago the man-servant of the Saxon royal family came down to Krieblowitz to cater for food for some of its members, who are now settled in their house in Breslau. He told us that, owing to their having no connections with the tradespeople in Breslau, they would have absolutely starved if we had not been able to help them out with food. We were very glad to be able to send them some things - a goose, fifty eggs, vegetables, butter and milk, etc. The letter of gratitude which we received from the family itself was most pathetic. It is almost inconceivable that in a few short weeks such people should be reduced to such a condition as they are. The manservant, who is one of the good old-fashioned retainers of royal households, such as one reads of in story-books, told us of the royal family's flight from Dresden on the day of the revolution. The day before they had the intimation that an attempt on their lives was being planned. They, however, took no further notice of it, until on the following day a certain Herr von N came with a list of people who were to be murdered next; day, and their names were amongst them. Within a few moments the family had made up their minds to fly, and! preparations were commenced in all haste. They determined not all to flee together, but to depart separately and by different doors. Thus the King, Prince Joachim Georg and his wife, the Crown Prince, his brother and sisters all went different ways, and the account we heard was that of the flight of Prince Joachim Georg and his wife. For five days they wandered about on foot, taking refuge and hiding in different friends' houses. They had to cross ploughed fields, scramble over hedges and ditches, until at last, after spending a day with our cousins, Count and Countess Schall, they were smuggled into a train at a small village station, and thus reached Breslau quite incognito. The man-servant himself told us how, dressed in Red Cross uniform and accompanied by two Russian prisoners as guards, he had escaped with the royal jewels, worth two millions of money, hidden under his coat. All these facts sound so romantic that I sometimes feel as if I had been transferred into an exciting and thrilHng novel a la Walter Scott, where fugitive royalties, faithful followers, fair ladies in distress, hidden treasuries, and the bloody realities of the revolution form a varied and moving spectacle against the sombre background of the Silesian landscape, with the vast secretiveforests and their lovely hunting-lodges in which more: than one crownless prince is lying low for the time being..

Krieblowitz, January 23, 19 19. - In the midst of a; rush of legal and financial business which we have to complete before departing for Holland, we were forced to drive over to Breslau last Monday. On arriving there we found an invitation awaiting us from no less personages than Prince and Princess Georg of Saxony, just the people who have been so much in my mind lately. They wrote asking us to come to tea on the following day, which we did. Besides the Princess (who is a Bourbon)

Our hosts overwhelmed us with thanks for the little we had been able to do for them in the way of food, and then told us about their experiences on the day of the revolution. They must have been awful. Later on Baron von Busche and Baron Metzsch gave us some more details. Baron Metzsch is gentleman-in-waiting to Princess Mathilda of Saxony, who, as his advice on the first hint of danger, left for her not very distant country seat of Pilnitz; the other royalties, who did not take the situation very seriously, following her in the course of the evening. Next morning, however, they had a rude awakening to the brutal reality of the hour, when a motor-car bearing a red flag drove up to the castle, and a man got out who on being shown in to Baron Metzsch gave him a paper on which a warning was written that the King, his brother, and other members of the royal family were to be shot next morning; but if they consented to come away in the motor-car, they would be taken to a place of safety. Baron Metzsch was obliged to go and break the news to the royalties. and force upon them the necessity of deciding at once what they were going to do. The King resolved to leave the castle at once, but protested against leaving it under the protection the red flag, as there was no precedent of a Saxon Jking ever having done such a thing before. He spoke and acted with great dignity, and within a quarter of an liour they had left the place on foot. Princess Johann Georg, who is very delicate an-d a little lame, and used to nothing but the greatest comfort and luxury, had to climb up a steep hill and scramble over rough fields and hedges until she finally found shelter, havinf nothing with her but a small handbag containing a toothbrush and a pocket-handkerchief. Baron Metzsch himself spent the greater part of the night wheeling away the crown jewels and other valuables in a wheelbarrow to a hiding- place which is at present known only to himself and a trusted servant. I could write pages on all they told us of their different experiences, but must refrain for obvious reasons. On the day following the tea-party with the Saxon royalties we invited Count and Countess Henckel and their daughters. We were just sitting down to tea when who should walk in with my husband but the Crown Prince, followed in a few minutes by his aunt and uncle, Prince and Princess Johann Georg. We were all very much surprised, but after having presented the Henckel family, we were soon at our ease, chatting together in a most friendly manner, and enjoying the informality of the whole proceeding. Although we did manage to laugh at times, I cannot say that we were gay, and I think on the whole our conversation would have melted the heart of the most inveterate of the "Soldaten Rate/'

True, the scene was not without novelty, and if it had not been so tragic for some of us, it might have formed an excellent study for a comedy. There we were, three royalties in exile and some eight members of the best-known Silesian families sitting round a teatable to which every one contributed some little bit. One of us produced a packet of sugar from his pocket, another one proudly brought forth bread and butter, whilst we offered a bottle of fresh milk and some homemade cakes, each of us being as proud of our offering as if it had been some costly jewels. We all smiled when some one wondered if the "Soldaten Rat'* would grudge us our delicacies if they saw them. Then we started talking about our individual prospects and wondering how soon we should all be utterly ruined. The royalties were, I think, in the most doleful position, as they had absolutely nothing but what small allowances the *'Soldaten Rat" doled out to them.

Count Henckel prophesied that if the strikes in the mining districts continued much longer, or if the Poles entered Upper Silesia, in six weeks he would be a ruined man, whilst my husband finished by saying that if the Entente insisted on the requisition of all the agricultural implements, he too would be pretty close to ruin, and so on, and so on.

We have almost completed our preparations for a long departure from here, and in a few days shall be on our way to Holland, whence I hope at no too distant date to get over to England. The thought of it makes me feel quite solemn, when I think of all that has happened since I last saw the dim shores fading in the distance. At this eleventh hour I cannot refrain from writing down some of my doubts as to the policy of the Entente towards Germany. I have listened to the voices of every class of people here, and I sometimes fear that England has missed the right moment for restoring touch with the German people, and laying the foundation for a lasting peace in Europe. After the revolution, in the great wave of reaction against the war which set in here, the Entente could have done anything with the German people had they made the slightest overture towards a reconciliation. People were ready here to make reparation for the wrong done by their leaders. But now they say that Wilson has broken his word, and an undying hatred will be smouldering in the heart of every German. Over and over again I hear the same refrain, "We shall hate our conquerors with a hatred that will only cease when the day of our revenge comes again."

Berlin, February 19 19. - A friend came in to spend the evening with us yesterday, and had come straight from Amerongen, where he had spent two hours with the Emperor.

First he was taken up to see the Empress, who was suffering from a bad cold. She sat there working, and was ready to talk quietly about ordinary subjects. He said he could notice a sort of home-sickness for her children and grandchildren, and a craving for home life more than anything else. Neither she nor the Emperor, he was

After having remained talking with the Empress for about fifteen minutes he was taken down to the gallery in which the Emperor takes his exercise daily, and there he walke^ with him for two hours. He told us the first sight of him was a great shock. The Emperor has grown a long white beard ; he brushes his now quite white hair straight back, and his complexion is sallow and unhealthy ; but he bore himself with great dignity and spoke quickly and with reserve.

He said that he had felt from the beginning of his reign that the military powers were too strong for him. He had tried from the moment he came to the throne to assert his own authority, but he was too young and perhaps too impulsive. Later on he found that he was powerless in their hands, though he was always trying to break loose and work out his own ideas for his country.

He said that he had enough English blood ift his veins to know that the only thing was to go in with England, but he was always talked over by his military authorities and diplomats. Military authorities and diplomats of all countries are responsible for the war, not crowned heads. He wnll not own or realize that Germany did wrong in her invasion of Belgium. He says he has proofs that if Germany had not done it England meant to; and that England had made a secret treaty with the Belgian King at the time Lord Haldane was in office, to the effect that they would be permitted to attack Germany through Belgium if necessary.

He would not blame any of his Generals by name. He says he knows what marvels they have done for him throughout the war in defending Germany against the whole world. It is only where they began mixing themselves up with the political side that they made the blunders. The only man he blames personally by name is Prince Max of Baden, who, he says, deceived him from the moment he became Reichskanzler, by telling him all was going well, and all the time allowing the scheme for his abdication to be worked out behind his back. In fact his abdication was made public before he had actually signed it.

He complained most bitterly that he was deceived and lied to from the outset of his reign, and especially throughout the war. His ministers never told him the truth, his military authorities never let him know how things really were, and the naval authorities quoted and stated absolutely fabricated figures.

I did not give my opinion, but I cannot help thinking that if a man is an Emperor one of his chief aims should be to employ every person and every method by which he can arrive at the truth.

The Kaiser says he was treated as a nonentity by his General Staff; that they made a point of contradicting every order or command that he gave; that he was turned out of the room whenever the telephone rang at Headquarters, so as not to hear the commands and the real facts. He was never allowed to speak more than a few minutes alone with any one who was likely to give him the truth of what was going on. He was never told the true state of affairs at the front nor the strategy of his Generals.

He was hustled backwards or forwards from the Eastern to the Western Headquarters, so as to keep him *'out of the way,'* when his Generals were especially occupied.

I suppose the late Kaiser must be one of the most wretched men in the world at present. One hears so many adverse criticisms of his conduct, and hardly ever a word of pity or compassion for his lot. Every one is full of wise sayings as to what he ought to have done at the critical moment, but he is universally condemned for running away from his country. Some people abuse him for not having abdicated a month before, making his grandson heir to the throne and Prince Frederick Karl of Hesse or Prince Max of Baden regent. Others condemn him for not placing himself at the head of his troops and taking his chance like the rest, as rumour said he had intended doing; or again, he ought to have returned to Berlin and addressed the nation from the same balcony as he had done at the declaration of war. People do not realize that it would require a man of almost superhuman mental strength to decide what was the right thing to do at such a moment and carry it out, for when the worst came the military leaders realized that there was not even a single battalion left whose loyalty could be depended on. Even had he wished to return to Potsdam or Berlin, he could not have got through, as disaffection was spreading like fire and all the bridges were in the hands of the retreating troops.

Who knows what mental agony he may have gone through before making his final decision - perhaps the only one he ever did make during the war; for from the moment the war broke out he had nothing more to say and knew only half the truth. During all his reign he had suffered from the hallucination of grandeur, and had never had the moral pluck to insist on hearing the truth, but at last every artificial screen was torn aside, and in one awful moment he was forced to face it in all its implacable nakedness, and come to a decision alone.

Whatever the truth may be of the Emperor's personal responsibility for the war (and I am told that there are documentary proofs which he lives in dread of coming to light), every one in Germany is opposed to the idea of his being brought to trial before a public tribunal; but if the Entente insist on it, many people think that the most dignified attitude for him would be one of absolute silence, beyond the words, ''Murder me if you will, but I shall not attempt to defend myself, as that would be putting the blame on other people, which I don't intend to do."

There are whispers that the blame should be laid at the door of thirty-eight men of all nationalities, whose names are known to a few. These men are recorded as having worked systematically together for years, until they brought the war to a head. The rest of the actors in the preparations were but puppets in their hands. Some day their names will become known.

Of all the other royalties, the Crown Princess is certainly the most popular in Germany at present, and not only there, but I hear also amongst the countries of the Entente. Many people say that if she plays the part cleverly she may yet live to see her boy the Emperor of Germany. She has nerve as well as tact, and it is said that she faced the situation at the time of danger and saved it more than once.

I have heard that a week or two ago a band of Bolshevist plunderers went to her palace in Potsdam and demanded admittance, saying they had come to search the place for hidden stores of food. She ordered them to be shown to her sitting-room, where she kept them waiting for a few minutes. After calmly entering and shaking hands with them, she asked if there was anything she could do for them, whereupon in a much humbler voice they said they had been sent to see if she was hoarding food. "Yes," she replied, *T have stored up some food ; I won't pretend to deny it. I am the mother of many small children, and I could not sit down helplessly and see them starve without storing something for a rainy day, any more than you would care to see yours starve if you could help it. I am ready to share what I have with your wives and children, but I am not going to give up all I possess." Upon which the Bolshevists turned and left the room without another word. I do

In the Train on the Way to Holland, February 4, igig. - After a few agitated days in Berlin, where every, one is convulsed with rage, despair, hunger, and cold, we finally found ourselves seated in a train bound for the west, after having passed through all the formalities of revolutionary officialdom, which is rather more roundabout in its methods than it ever was under the monarchy. We had a cold but otherwise comfortable journey, and with every mile that carried us away from poor tormented Germany I breathed more freely, whilst a vague dreamlike feeling of gladness crept over me, that after the nightmare of the last four years I was on my way to my native land. I gradually became conscious of what it meant to me, and that there behind me lay the land in which I had passed so many dreary years, and at the same time also a feeling of pity and of gratitude for the kindness and affection of many friends whom I had met with in the country I was leaving, in which I had witnessed so much suffering heroically borne. There was a heightened feeling of fate and destiny with me, as I once more turned to take a farewell look at it, and I felt as if I had passed from some huge tragedy, sombre and sad, as I cast off the shadows of the last years and gave myself up to the joy of picturing my return in, I hope, not too distant a future, to my country.

On the evening before our departure, General Sir Richard Ewart and his A.D.C Lieut. Breen came to dine with us, and it was very interesting to hear the Generars views and opinions of life in Berlin, and his experiences in East Africa, where, as he told us, he had been spending two years with my brother-in-law. Admiral Sir Edward Charlton, fighting against the German General, LettowiVorbeck, for whom he expressed much admiration, and who» he said, was down in the annals of the war as having

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"fought clean" and made a gallant defence against great odds. It was a strange coincidence that whilst waiting for our train one of the first people we saw at the station should have been Lettow-Vorbeck on his way back to Germany from Africa.

Sir Richard, who was busy repatriating prisoners of war, said that the men who had given him most trouble were those of the Casement Brigade, who were very unwilling to return to England, not knowing what fate might be awaiting them there, or whether they might not be tried for their part in the Casement episode. One of them, we heard to our great amusement, had been spending all his time last week shooting at the Bolshevists on the top of the Brandenburg Tor, which he seemed very much to prefer to returning home to the bosom of his family.

We were fortunate in our exodus compared with the experiences which befell many of our friends. Perhaps one of the most thrilling was the flight of the Duke and Duchess of Croy, who had already arrived in Holland two months before we started, having literally, at the outbreak of the revolution, to fly for their lives, as their estate lay in the midst of an industrial district where the inhabitants were far from friendly ; and when murmured threats reached their ears, they stole out one evening with knapsacks on their backs and reached the frontier on foot, their country seat, fortunately, being only two hours from the Dutch frontier. Then they had to elude the German and Dutch sentries, and were at one moment nearly given away by the Dutchess's bulldog, which objected to being dragged under a barbed-wire fence. However, "all's well that ends v^ll," and I hear that they and their children are now comfortably settled at The Hague, where we hope soon to join them.

Of two other friends who had thrilling experiences, I think it simpler to quote from letters. The first is one that I received this morning from my friend, Mrs. Albert, an American :

"On Sunday, January 5, the Spartacus had their first big procession, 50,000 strong. It took three hours to pass the Esplanade Hotel, where we were staying. We decided, if that was what we had up against us, that we had better get away as quickly as possible.

*'l had my passport, but my mother had to get her American passport visedj and we were obliged to go to the Polizei-Prasidium for the purpose. We started early the next day, driving past your palace to the Brandenburger Tor. The Tiergarten was full of Spartacus people, and masses of Government troops were coming up Unter den Linden to Wilhelmstrasse. Finally forcing our way through the dense crowds we managed to reach the Alexander Platz, only to find the Prasidium deserted and the great doors inside chained. The sentry told us there was no one there, and that no one could go in. Our hopes of getting the pass vanished, and we were on the point of turning away in despair, when a big motor flying red flags drove up. I turned at once and asked the man next to the driver, 'Have you any influence here? I only want an American lady's passport to be vised/ He looked at me, and said in perfect English, 'Must it be to-day?' 'Yes, to-day.' 'Well, I can't guarantee it, but jump into the car and I will see what I can do.' At lightning speed we were whisked round the comer to the main entrance. The crowd fell back on all sides amid the waving of red flags and cheers, the doors were flung open, and we found ourselves in the deserted court.

"A sailor came up, and our unknown friend asked who was in. We heard the answer, 'Only Herr Eichom.' This was the very man they were after, the Polizei- President Eichorn, a Spartacus of the deepest dye. 'Take us straight to him,' said our friend, and we followed up to the top floor through long deserted corridors, till we were admitted into a room full of armed sailors. The

The Hague, February 19 19 325

"It did not take long for us to realize that we were in the most dangerous spot in Berlin. After an anxious delay, we were ushered into a vast room with a great desk in the centre. The room was in perfect calm and order, with no occupant save a huge sailor standing by the desk. He was a magnificent-looking fellow with fair hair and clear blue eyes, dressed in black leather from head to foot and wearing a belt full of pistols. He first looked at us sharply and then opened the next door, and Herr Eichom came in. He was a thin, pale, insignificant-looking man, but he had a keen, intelligent look, was perfectly cool and composed, and asked very cordially what he could do for us. On hearing our request, he said, after a moment's reflection, 'My signature alone may not suffice; we must also have a Government seal.' While we were waiting for the seal, the roar of the mob outside seemed to grow louder every moment, and I heard our friend whisper to Herr Eichom, *I have a 50-h.p. car outside; you'd better come, as there is no time to lose.' But Herr Eichorn quietly answered, *No, I stay.' They went into the next room, leaving us alone with the sailor, who told us he was the chief of the guard of thirty sailors, and that they had held the Prasidium for three nights ! The men were pretty well exhausted, but they would have to hold out still as there was more trouble to come. He had a smart military cap on his head, and drawing himself up to his full height, said, 'The Kaiser gave me this as a souvenir. He used to wear it, and now I wear it. I was his bodyguard on the Hohenzollern for years, and now I guard Herr Eichorn, and I will guard him with my life and soul to the last.' Thrilled and moved almost to tears, I felt like joining the guard myself and fighting against anything.

While he was doing so, a sailor rushed in shouting, 'They are coming !' Our friend again tried to persuade Eichorn to flee, but in vain. With a hurried 'Good-bye' we left him with his faithful bodyguard. We had only got as far as the Kaiser's palace when we saw the masses of armed soldiers and civilians coming down the Linden. Their faces were stern and determined; we knew they were making for the Alexander Platz.

''Before leaving Berlin we received a telephone message from our unknown friend saying that there had been a terrible fight at the Prasidium that night; Eichorn had been rescued, but the sailor I had spoken to had lost his life."

"The civil war which has been raging in Berlin and Leipzig drove us to seek quiet in Munich, where we took a villa in the outskirts of the town. We hoped that the Nemesis which is pursuing so many of our kind would lose sight of us in our obscure retreat, but we soon found that we had only escaped from the frying-pan into the fire, and a few weeks after our arrival the revolution broke out worse than ever. Again we could not sleep for the noise of guns and hand-grenades, and the prospect of a regular pitched battle should the Government troops attack the town. Worse than all, we had been warned that my husband's name was on the 'black list' of aristocrats who were to be arrested and probably shot. I never knew a quiet moment after 1 heard this, and you may imagine what my feelings were like when one day a band of revolutionary soldiers actually appeared, demanding my husband and saying they were to search the house for hidden weapons. How fervently I thanked God that Egon was not at home, and I don't think I ever wished anything in my life before so intensely as that he might not appear until I had managed to assuage their wild curiosity and get them out of the house. It seems that some one had denounced us as storing hidden weapons, and also that there was a secret passage under our house leading to one of the royal palaces. Well, I had a bad hour of it, until they had pried into every nook and corner, searching every crack in the wall, and lighting up every stone in the cellar before they were assured that I was not fooling them, and that the report was a cock-and-bull story. I managed, however, to get on the right side of them in the end, and they went away in a much less bloodthirsty mood than they came, and even assured me on bidding farewell that if all the 'g'spusi* (aristocrats) were like the countess (myself), the people would not have so much to say against them. I smiled to myself - I am not an Italian for nothing. However, I did not wish to have my amiability put too often to the test, and so again we packed our tents and fled to Berlin as soon as we could get away, and here we are once more homeless vagrants, staying with friends in the Griinewald and enjoying the pleasures of a country retreat."

Now that the actual bloody part of the great European tragedy has reached its conclusion and the day of settlement has come, I shall discontinue keeping note of the events as they appeared to me during the last four and a half years and more of my sojourn in Germany. It was at best a sad work, this jotting down of disasters great and small, for there was hardly ever a ray of light to vary the long gloomy chapter of history, unless it was a sidelight cast now and then on some individual deed of self-sacrifice and heroism, otherwise passed over unnoticed in the greater events of the war.

I wonder if I have learnt anything since I wrote the hurried lines in my diary in those days of flight in 19 14? Certainly I have tried to be just In my judgment on all men, and if my love for my native country may have rendered me partial in some ways, and made it easier for me to see things from its point of view, far be it from me to cast a stone at the misguided but battered people whose heroism and self-sacrifice have often verged on the superhuman, and always called forth my admiration.

Not only has the great conflict swept away kingdoms and empires, undone a whole code of civilization, and destroyed innumerable forces of ethical and aesthetic value in every country, but it has also loosened or torn asunder all those finer ties which bound the members of different countries in friendship and kindly intercourse with one another.

Instead of a courteous friendliness we were accustomed to meet from acquaintances and friends in former times, we English or Americans who happen to have alien husbands are subject to mistrust and suspicion everywhere. Instead of our position being alleviated by the end of actual hostilities, we shall be treated as pariahs and outsiders in every country.

From the very outbreak of the war our position was difficult, and the more conscientiously we tried to act up to our feeling of duty to both countries, the more keenly did we feel the slights and insults we often had to bear. Destiny devolved upon us the task of trying to be impartial (as far as this was possible) to both countries, and of endeavoring to keep up some shred of courteous feeling between them.

It was not an easy moment for many of us, when, loving our country and our families with every fibre of our being, we followed our husbands abroad into their own land, urged by loyalty to them to try and be just in our opinions, at a moment when our relatives were falling at their hands, and all the evil spirits of hatred and resentment were let loose on the world.

True, our relations in England and America remained faithful, but very often their partisanship for us made them liable to petty persecutions themselves. Here, where we were subject to suspicion and mistrust at every step, and our simplest sayings were wilfully misconstrued, our husbands fought our battles loyally, and although they were patriotic in the best sense of the word, were regarded with doubt in both countries. Now, at this time of spurious peace, we are worse off than ever. We may not return to the home of our youth, even for the most fleeting visit to our parents who are dying to see us, because our husbands, no matter what their way of thinking may be, happen to be aliens; for the same reason our money and belongings are kept back from us.. In Germany again we are looked upon doubtfully because our sympathies may be too international ; in neutral countries we may not visit or associate with society for fear of compromising our friends; whilst in order not to compromise our husbands we may not be seen talking to English or American friends or relatives anywhere in public. Thus, everywhere we feel banished and in exile, and long for a time when a more charitable feeling shall prevail in the world. These complaints are of course not to be limited to the English wives of Germans, but may be applied to all women married to aliens. There is indeed no place under the sun for us, and absolutely no laws to protect us and our property. One lesson which I hope and believe all women in the same position as myself will have learnt is, that it is our imperative duty to try and restore friendship and confidence as far as possible between the inimical nations, and that we ought all to unite in this common task.

Index

183, 231, 239 Frankfort, 182, 245 Frederick, the Empress, 74 French, Field-Marshal Lord, 203 Friederich, General, 202 Friedrich Karl, Prince, 170 Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince, 15a Fiirstenberg, Prince, 107 Fiirstensteim, 181

Naples, Queen of, 249 Neuve Chapelle, 54 Nicholson, Captain, Z3 Nicholson, Sir Arthur, 81 Nicolai, Professor, 265 Nikita, King, 205 Norfolk, Duke of, 138 Northcliffe, Lord, 11, 8r, 186, 201

258 _ Schubin, Ossip, 118 Schwabach, Frau v., 270 Scott, Sir Percy, 30 Seherr-Thoss, Count and Countess, 18, 106 Serbians, 118 Sierstorpff, Count and Countess,