MINISTERS SELECTED BY INFLUENCE, NOT MERIT--GERMAN EMBASSIES HEADQUARTERS OF ESPIONAGE--HOW ENGLISH EMBASSIES HAMPERED SECRET SERVICE WORK--BERNHARDI ON THE BLOCKADE--ENGLAND'S OPEN DOORS--A MINISTER'S FAILINGS--BRITISH VICE-CONSUL'S SCANDALOUS REMUNERATION--ALIEN CONSULS--HOW ITALY WAS BROUGHT INTO THE WAR--HOW THE SYMPATHIES OF TURKEY AND GREECE WERE LOST--THE FAILURE OF SIR EDWARD GREY--ASQUITH'S PROCRASTINATION 239 CHAPTER XX THE SHAM BLOCKADE SECRET SERVICE PROTEST AGAINST THE OPEN DOOR TO GERMANY--ACTIVITY OF OUR NAVAL ARM NULLIFIED--LORD NORTHCLIFFE'S PATRIOTISM--BLOCKADE BUNKUM--POSITION OF DENMARK--HUGE CONSIGNMENTS FOR GERMANY--THE DECLARATION FIASCO--BRITISH MINISTER'S GULLIBILITY IN COPENHAGEN--GERMAN BANK GUARANTEEING THE BRITISH AGAINST GOODS GOING TO GERMANY--BRITISH NAVY PARALYSED BY DIPLOMATIC AND POLITICAL FOLLY--STATISTICS EXTRAORDINARY--FLOUTING THE DECLARATION OF LONDON--SIR EDWARD GREY'S DILATORINESS AND PUERILE APOLOGIA--LORD HALDANE PUSHED OUT--LORD FISHER'S EFFICIENCY UNRECOGNISED--LORD DEVONPORT'S AMAZING FIGURES ON GERMAN IMPORTS--FURTHER STARTLING STATISTICS--BRITISH THE GREATEST MUDDLERS ON EARTH--NOBLE SERVICE BY AUSTRALIAN PREMIER, W. H. HUGHES--HOLLOW SHAM OF THE DANISH AGREEMENT AND THE NETHERLANDS OVERSEAS TRUST--BLOCKADE MINISTER, LORD ROBERT CECIL, AND HIS FEEBLE, FUTILE EFFORTS--MORE STATISTICS--THE TRIUMVIRATE--ASQUITH THE UNREADY, SIR EDWARD GREY THE IRRESOLUTE, AND LORD HALDANE THE FRIEND OF THE KAISER--DAVID LLOYD GEORGE THE SAVIOUR OF THE SITUATION--HOW HE PROVED HIMSELF A MAN--A NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITY 264 L'ENVOI 317 FOREWORD There is something so mysterious and thrilling about Secret Service that the subject must inevitably appeal to the public, and especially to the more imaginative section of it. Secret Service is the theme of Mr. Nicholas Everitt's book, in which he describes the exciting adventures that he met with whilst in quest of information of use to his country during the Great War. In carrying out his task he proved himself to be a keen observer and a man of resource. His experience gives point to the old saying that a man's ability is shewn less in never getting into a scrape, for _humanum est errare_, than in knowing how to get out of one! There is perhaps no vocation in which it is easier to get into a tight corner and more difficult to get out again than in the Secret Service, where the sword of Damocles often hangs over one's head. Besides giving an account of his adventures, Mr. Everitt devotes no small part of his work to criticism of the Foreign Office and its overseas branches--the Diplomatic and Consular Services. He draws attention to what he conceives to be their defects and suggests how they might be remedied.