"Day by day here the hatred grows of England and things English:
judging from the press and the temper of the people, one would think
that England is the only foe. As a nation and as individuals they bear
no particular malice toward France. They even feel sorry for
'misguided' Belgium--betrayed by the British, they say. But England
they look upon as the root of all their trouble, the despicable,
retreating enemy they cannot touch, the enemy, they maintain,
whose clever, but selfish, diplomacy has forced the brunt of the
fighting on the others, while she sits back to wait for the spoils."
On my arrival in Berlin I delivered the mail packet to Ambassador
Gerard. Two days later I presented my credentials at the Auswartige
Amt, or Foreign Office, hoping to get permission to go to the western
front with the Crown Prince's army. I was told to see Baron von
Mumm Schwartzenstein, who was officially designated by Von Jagow
to handle neutral correspondents, and who, unofficially, I have reason
to believe, is connected with the Secret Service. He is a pudgy sort of
man, with a watery skin, and decidedly not of military build or bearing.
When, after much red tape, I was finally admitted to an outer office,
he stepped out to see me, merely taking my name and the names of
the papers I represented. I was told to come back in the evening.
When I did so and was admitted to His Holy of Holies, he said to me
at once:--
"I was expecting you to come yesterday. Why did you not?"
This was rather startling, but his next remark altogether took away my
breath.
"Were you satisfied with your treatment by the War Office in Brussels,
Herr Green? And why, if you have already been wiss ze army in
scenes of war, do you now come to me for permission?"
Mind you, I had at this time spoken scarcely a word, and had certainly
told nothing of my age or previous condition of servitude in Brussels.
But the Government that never forgets knew all about my
movements. He smiled at my discomfiture, and, within the next few
minutes, proved to be such a genial German (for war-time) that I
soon told him all about my adventures, including the fact that I had
gone back into Antwerp and entered Belgian lines, after escaping
from German surveillance at Aix. I happened to speak of the
marvelous efficiency and preparedness of the German army in
Belgium.
"Yes, that iss quite so," remarked His Excellency, with a smile. "You
see, we were prepared for everysing--except," he added after a
pause,--"except ze invasion of ze American newspaperman. When
he iss out of our sight, zen we do not feel secure."
Several weeks later, after I had come out of the Kaiser's realm, a
representative of the "Boston Journal," who had been looking for me
all over the Continent, ran me down just as I was leaving The Hague
for England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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