.f).ljji>i.jV,,fJi'%'.V,. 
 
Glass j3 ^ L^ 
 BQok.l J 3 fe vS! 
 
AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
CuuiMnc ^uIucJmj^ 
 
AN ENGLISH WIFE 
 IN BERLIN 
 
 A PRIVATE MEMOIR OF EVENTS, POLITICS, AND 
 DAILY LIFE IN GERMANY THROUGHOUT THE 
 WAR AND THE SOCIAL REVOLUTION OF 1918 
 
 BY 
 
 EVELYN, PRINCESS BLtlCHER 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 
 
 68 1 FIFTH AVENUE 
 

 x'iltLQ 
 
2)eC>icatet> 
 
 TO 
 
 MY MOTHER 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Evelyn, Princess Bliicher, the writer of these memoirs, 
 is a daughter of the late Mr. Frederick A. Stapleton- 
 Bretherton, of Rainhill Hall, Lancashire. Her mother 
 was a daughter of the twelfth Lord Petre. She was 
 married in 1907 to Prince (then Count) Bliicher, great- 
 great-grandson of the famous Marshal " Vorwarts," who 
 turned the tide of Waterloo in favour of the sorely harassed 
 British army. The old Prince, his father, whom he suc- 
 ceeded in the title and estates in July 1916 {vide page 144), 
 had quarrelled for many years with the Prussian and 
 Austrian Governments, and hved in retirement on the 
 island of Herm, which he leased from Great Britain, and 
 where he was famous for rearing kangaroos. Shortly 
 after the outbreak of war the French Government raised 
 a complaint against his domicile so near their coast, 
 and after considerable pressure the British felt boimd to 
 summon him to leave the island and come to London. 
 Further unpleasantness here during the alien scare led to 
 his deportation and return to the ancestral estate of 
 Krieblowitz, in Silesia, which was presented to the old 
 Marshal by the nation in recognition of his services, just 
 as Strathfieldsaye and Apsley House were to the Duke of 
 Wellington. Here he died from the effects of a fall from 
 his horse on July 12, 1916, after many years' estrange- 
 ment from his two elder sons. 
 
vili AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Count and Countess Bliicher, apart from the latter's 
 large influential family circle, were well known in English 
 society, and lived in this country continuously up to the 
 outbreak of war, when the Count's nationaUty forced them 
 to go to Germany and join the not inconsiderable colony 
 of " internationals " who made their home at the Esplan- 
 ade Hotel in BerUn. Here, in spite of the supervision 
 which existed, they Uved in a state of freedom which 
 compared favourably with the treatment of aliens here. 
 They met everybody of note ; and were in a position to 
 see and hear everything that went on in the mihtary and 
 pohtical world. From the very day of their dramatic de- 
 parture with the German Embassy from London, down 
 to the end of the 19 18 revolution, Princess Bliicher made 
 a point of jotting down in the form of a private journal, 
 intended for her mother, all the varied events and ex- 
 periences which passed before her eyes during these 
 critical years, and very few things of any importance 
 seem to have escaped her acute and penetrating observa- 
 tion. As a detailed record of the war from the German 
 side, seen through Enghsh or neutral eyes, these jottings 
 constitute the most interesting document which we are 
 hkely ever to possess on the subject ; the personal 
 memoirs by generals or statesmen which have appeared 
 so far being more concerned with the defence of their 
 own conduct than with the accurate representation of 
 events. Facts new to Enghsh readers, or at any rate 
 not generally known, and unexpected side-hghts on 
 the characters of many pubhc men (to say nothing of 
 the much-abused German nation) come out in these 
 shrewd and absolutely honest records, written without 
 any ulterior view of publication, and yet with a hterary 
 grace and fluency which many historians might envy. 
 In parts, both the nature of the subject and the style 
 
INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 remind one irresistibly of Pepys, as he fluttered about 
 collecting news and opinions from every one of note, and 
 jotted them down with his own crisp comments. We see 
 here, for the first time nakedly revealed, the longing for 
 peace and readiness to make great sacrifices which per- 
 meated all classes in Germany from the highest civilian 
 circles of the Government downwards, months before the 
 world outside was aware of or behaved in it. We see 
 the bitterness of the struggle between the mihtary and 
 civil elements over the submarine question ; the ambigu- 
 ous position of the Kaiser between the two parties, and 
 his futile efforts to exert a restraining influence over the 
 Frankenstein monster he had created ; the true feehng 
 of the people towards the war and the Government ; the 
 growing causes of the social revolution ; and last but 
 not least, the extent of the organisation which existed 
 for reheving the hardships of the prisoners of war, and 
 the time and trouble given to this end by many even of 
 the most influential and powerful men in Germany. 
 
 The care of British prisoners and wounded was the 
 special task to which Princess Bliicher, in conjunction 
 with two other ladies in a similar position, Princess Pless 
 and Princess Miinster, devoted herself from the very first 
 days of her exile. It would require, as she says, a 
 separate volume to record all the efforts and correspond- 
 ence of these three EngUsh women, hampered as they 
 were by restrictions and prejudice, in their endeavour to 
 trace the whereabouts of wounded and missing soldiers, 
 to send comforts and necessaries to those who lacked 
 them, to uproot the barbarities existing in certain camps, 
 and in many other ways to bring hope and solace to 
 those other Enghsh women at home whose sorrows lay 
 heavy on their hearts. A little only, but enough, has 
 been pubhshed of these memoirs to show the method on 
 
X AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 which they worked and the wide range of their activities. 
 Tales of individual brutality which came to their notice 
 and were reported to Headquarters for inquiry, as well 
 as letters from escaped or exchanged prisoners, have 
 mostly been omitted in view of the abundant evidence 
 on the subject which already exists in this country. 
 
 Of the Kaiser's personal responsibility for the war and 
 its conduct the view taken in the memoir is probably a 
 reasonable one, especially when it is remembered that 
 the Kautsky revelations were unknown at the time and 
 were only dimly surmised. His direct influence on events 
 appears to have been much smaller than his bravado. 
 
 A very interesting detail to which attention may be 
 called is the full and curious information about Sir 
 Roger Casement's mission to Germany and its tragic 
 ending. Casement, in his better days, when he was a 
 popular member of the British consular service, and before 
 his mind had become unhinged by the Putumayo atroci- 
 ties, was an old friend of the Bliichers, and the account 
 of his terrified interview with the Princess in Berlin, just 
 before his fatal journey to Ireland, is of great if mournful 
 interest. It need hardly be said that the Bliichers, what- 
 ever pity they may have felt for the wretched man, lent 
 no assistance to his mission, but did their utmost to 
 discountenance and thwart it. 
 
 The moderate tone of these memoirs, neither violently 
 pro-English nor markedly anti-German, should do some- 
 thing towards a restoration of good feehng between the 
 two nations after peace has cleared the air. The writer's 
 difficult position, between natural love for her own people 
 and loyalty to her husband's country, in which she was 
 forced to live, had at least this advantage, that it enabled 
 her to see both sides of the question, and to view with more 
 impartiahty incidents which to partisan eyes appeared 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 all black or all white. On both fronts she had friends 
 and relations. Of her own family, four brothers were 
 fighting on our side. One of them fell at Ypres in 
 November 1914, another is lamed for life. Of her four 
 brothers-in-law, Admiral Sir Edward Charlton was Com- 
 mander-in-Chief at the Cape and Admiral of the mine- 
 sweepers ; Colonel Rowland Feilding had command of a 
 battalion of Connaught Rangers, and was through much 
 of the hardest fighting ; Commander Throckmorton was 
 a mine-sweeping patrolling assistant (K.H.M.) at Rosyth 
 and Scapa Flow ; and Commander Kenneth Dewer was 
 on active service in H.M.S. Prince of Wales, as well as at 
 the Admiralty. Her unmarried sister, Monica, nursed for 
 three years at a London hospital, and with another sister, 
 Mrs. Feilding, was mainly responsible for the vast amount 
 of correspondence on this side relating to missing and 
 wounded prisoners. Unlike most of the German nobihty, 
 her husband. Prince Bliicher, owing to his long residence 
 in England, held no military commission, but devoted 
 himself with great zeal to Red Cross work in his honorary 
 capacity of a Knight of Malta. His Foreign Office con- 
 nections in both countries enabled him on more than one 
 occasion to be of service in reducing or mitigating the 
 friction arising out of incidents connected with the war. 
 
 H. C. M. 
 
AN ENGLISH WIFE IN 
 BERLIN 
 
 August 1914. — Shall I ever forget those last three days 
 in England ? We were in the country staying with my 
 family, and had to hurry back to London at the first 
 rumours of war. My husband went straight to the 
 Embassies, and negotiations were at that moment going 
 on between the Ambassadors and Sir Edward Grey. All 
 had great hopes of an arrangement. 
 
 Then Sir Edward Grey appealed to the House, and 
 for twenty-four hours nothing definite came out, whilst 
 the crowds outside and the " man in the street " were 
 growing more and more impatient. The Press, issuing 
 " Specials " every hour, was helping to work up popular 
 feehng ; and then suddenly the dreadful news came. 
 
 We had been told that immediately war was declared 
 the Ambassador and party would leave at once, and that 
 we must be in readiness. The Banks were closed for four 
 days in succession to prevent a panic, which made every- 
 thing more difficult for us. Late on Tuesday afternoon, 
 the 4th of August, we got notice to be ready to leave 
 quite early on Thursday morning. I was so stunned by 
 the suddenness of it all, that I cannot recall clearly what 
 took place after that, but I remember how my family 
 came up at once to be with me to the last, Rowland and 
 Edith Feilding arranging everything for us, packing up 
 our house, dispersing the household, in fact doing every- 
 thing to save us trouble, they themselves being just as 
 worried by what it meant in the future to them ; and 
 
 B 
 
2 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 then my brother Vincent, my sister Freda and her husband 
 and my sister-in-law Bertha, all came to bid us farewell. 
 Luckily when I had parted from my parents three days 
 before, none of us realized the seriousness of the situation. 
 
 All the time friends kept coming in to say good-bye, 
 and tried to cheer us, one way or another. One friend, 
 wishing to warn us, frightened me terribly ; he said : 
 " Mind that your passports are absolutely in order, as 
 some people returning to England were held up, and the 
 men of the party were taken out and shot before the 
 women's eyes." The thought of the risks we might be 
 going to face made me ill with terror, as although we were 
 going with the Embassy, we were not members of it, 
 and they could not promise to take entire responsibility ; 
 and I knew that our passports were not in order. 
 
 I could not bear the thought that my husband should 
 be in such danger for a single moment. I went straight 
 to the Foreign Office and saw Sir William Tyrrell, whom 
 I knew very well, and told him my fears. He was not 
 very reassuring. He laughed it off, however, and said : 
 " The Dutch frontier is said to have been invaded by 
 the Germans, and one cannot answer for the safety of 
 any German travelhng through Holland in consequence." 
 He told me they were at that moment cabling through 
 to The Hague to ascertain whether it would be safe or not. 
 
 That evening a telephone message came to say : "Be 
 prepared to leave at 7,30 to-morrow morning," and so it 
 had to be done. Our passports were not put in order 
 properly until we were absolutely on the voyage en route 
 for the Hook. 
 
 The last evening passed quickly. My brothers and sisters 
 came in, and my brother Vincent had been to the Foreign 
 Office to inquire about the safety of our voyage. He 
 brought back the most consohng news I had had that day, 
 having heard it said that the English vessel conveying 
 the German Ambassador would be the safest spot in Europe 
 throughout the following day. This ship, however, was 
 not to prove so entirely safe as one was led to suppose. 
 
FLIGHT FROM LONDON, AUG. 1914 3 
 
 We rose at four o'clock in the morning, and at six 
 o'clock we left the house. Baron Kiihlmann, who lived 
 close by, sending for our luggage and servants to go with 
 his. I could not help being amused when I remembered 
 the disappointment of little Pat, the page-boy, at my 
 husband not departing in full-dress uniform, the only 
 proper way of making an exit according to him. " I 
 know he has a German uniform, for I unpacked it myself on 
 July ist," he insisted to the maid. I am afraid, however, 
 that his wishes were impracticable anyhow, as my husband, 
 not having served in the German army, possessed no 
 military uniform. 
 
 My sister-in-law accompanied us to the station. Whilst 
 driving to Liverpool Street, even at that early hour, we 
 saw placards and papers everywhere announcing German 
 disasters and 3500 Germans killed. The scene at the 
 station I shall never forget, with 250 Germans and their 
 luggage congregated on the platform, and the special 
 train in readiness. The Austrian Ambassador and many 
 of the Embassy members came to see us off, and we all 
 had our various friends with us. 
 
 The Ambassador and Ambassadress (Prince and 
 Princess Lichnowsky) arrived at the last minute and got 
 straight into the train, the Ambassadress quite heart- 
 broken, and making no attempt to hide her grief. The 
 train steamed out of the station amidst a hushed silence, 
 people on the platform weeping, and the men with hats 
 off standing solemnly silent. It was as if a dead monarch 
 was being borne away . 
 
 The journey from London to Harwich was uneventful, 
 but our arrival there was even more impressive than the 
 scene at the London station. Soldiers and sailors were 
 drawn up at attention, and the Admiral came to meet the 
 train and escorted us to the boat through the hues of men 
 all saluting as we passed. And we met with such civihty 
 from the Admiral and every one that it was difficult to 
 reahze we were going out of this country to become its 
 bitterest enemy. 
 
4 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 I could not face the departure of the ship, and went 
 down to hide myself in the cabin. I could not look 
 upon the shores of my beautiful England fading from 
 sight, not knowing when I should see it again, nor what 
 would happen, or who would be missing from there, 
 before I returned. The Ambassador and Ambassadress 
 stood on deck, receiving salutes, until there was no more 
 to be seen, and then all went down to luncheon. 
 
 It was a beautiful day, with the sea hke glass, and 
 under other circumstances we should have enjoyed the 
 voyage. We had one adventure which might have led 
 to disastrous results. About four or five miles away 
 from the mouth of the Thames we sighted a flotilla of 
 British torpedo boats. From the distance it was one 
 of the most impressive and threatening sights I have 
 ever seen. " How vicious it looks ! " said the Ambassador, 
 and that just describes it. 
 
 And now for our adventure. Three shots were fired 
 at us, one coming within thirty yards of our bow. Most 
 of us did not reahze what was going on until after- 
 wards, or we should have been terrified. But we heard 
 a whizzing in the air, and ran to the side to see what 
 had happened, and then the boat was stopped. The 
 Captain explained afterwards that the whole thing was 
 due to carelessness. The Foreign Office had wired that 
 morning to the Enghsh Fleet to say that a vessel 
 would be conve3dng the Ambassador to the Hook, and 
 that it would fly the German flag on the main-mast 
 and the Union Jack at the stern. The Union Jack, it 
 was said, was too small, and had not been seen by the 
 flotilla, and so they stopped us. Speaking to us about 
 it afterwards, the Captain said : "I soon hauled 
 down the German flag. Another little mistake like 
 that could send all on board to Kingdom Come." He 
 then proceeded to tell us of the sinking of a German 
 mine-layer on that very spot the night before, hence 
 the caution of the British flotilla. 
 
 We made great friends with the Captain, and when 
 
FLIGHT FROM LONDON, AUG. 1914 5 
 
 he found that I was EngUsh, and a sister-in-law to one 
 of the Admirals whom he knew well, he became most 
 friendly and sat in our cabin for a long time, giving us 
 his views on the war, etc. He also promised to take some 
 letters back to England for me, and to send a wireless 
 message to my family to say we had arrived safely as 
 far as the Hook. 
 
 We reached the Hook about 5 o'clock, and found a 
 special train waiting for us, which conveyed us eventually 
 straight to Berhn without a single change, which was one 
 of the greatest distinctions and luxuries that we could 
 possibly have had. For I heard from our friends after- 
 wards of the discomforts of their journeys. The very 
 highest in the land were subject to delays and irregularities 
 when not attached to the Embassy. Some of them, it 
 seemed, were turned out every hour to make place for 
 troops, and had to show their passports, sometimes ten 
 or twenty times a day, and were crowded into third-class 
 carriages without any regard for their first-class tickets 
 and their passports. All had to give way to the troops 
 which were hastening to the front. 
 
 An officer of our party was to have been married 
 that day to an English girl, who is going to wait for 
 him, he says. 
 
 We had many interesting conversations during the 
 journey. The sadness and bitterness of all these Germans 
 leaving England struck me intensely. Here we are, 
 they say, being dragged away from the country that has 
 been our home for years, to fight against our best friends. 
 They all blamed the ofiicials in Berlin, who had, they 
 said, grossly mismanaged the negotiations. It had been 
 an obsession in some of the German officials' minds for 
 years past, that Russia meant to attack them. " Well 
 then," said someone of the party, " why not wait until 
 they do it ? Why commit suicide to avoid being killed ? " 
 
 " What chance have we," said someone else, " attacked 
 practically on every side ? " 
 
 " Is no one friendly to Germany ? " asked another. 
 
6 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 " Siam is friendly, I am told," was the bitter reply. 
 
 As we crossed the frontier, the people began to 
 recognize our train, and we got quite a reception from 
 the village girls along the route. They came and 
 stood outside our windows and sang national war songs 
 and patriotic hymns, and at one or two stations they 
 presented a bouquet to the Ambassadress. 
 
 Passing us in an almost continuous stream on the 
 other way were the trains full of troops, shouting, laugh- 
 ing, singing, and waving their hands, intense joy and 
 excitement depicted on their faces. The Germans are 
 indeed a warhke race. I have, at last, seen them stirred 
 out of their morose dulness, and what I used to think 
 their everlasting heaviness. The thing that impressed 
 us most was the absolute order and expeditiousness of 
 everything and everybody en route, especially as soon as 
 we had crossed the border. 
 
 Our train journey was slow, but absolutely comfort- 
 able, and we reached Berlin safely on the evening of the 
 8th. It was impossible not to be impressed with the 
 immense enthusiasm prevailing all along the line. No 
 less than 66 troop trains had passed the day before, yet 
 there was no disorder, we were not kept waiting longer 
 than half an hour at one station, and refreshments were 
 handed out to soldiers and civilians everywhere gratis. 
 
 Berlin, August 9, 19 14. — Dazed and stimned as I am 
 by the awful events of the last week, I will try and keep 
 some diary of our experiences, jotting them down more 
 or less consecutively as they happen. The thunderstorm 
 which has broken so suddenly over England and Europe 
 has altered the whole tenour of our lives, and whirled 
 us away into an exile which I hope will be but a short 
 one. Everything has come so unexpectedly that I wake 
 up in the morning saying to myself that it was only a bad 
 dream ; but the hard reality soon forces itself on my 
 outer view again, and I have to grapple with the situation 
 as well as I can. 
 
BERLIN, AUGUST 1914 7 
 
 Sitting in my pretty shaded room in the Esplanade 
 Hotel, right in the middle of Berhn, I can see the Es- 
 planade terrace looking gay and festive with summer 
 guests in the hotel garden, flanked by beautiful old trees 
 in the background, and although I cannot hear the words 
 I know what every one down below is speaking of. 
 Across my brain floats a confused vision of swiftly 
 moving scenes, hke an imperfect cinema film ; white 
 cliffs and blue waters, anxious -eyed travellers, yellow 
 cornfields and groups of sunburnt peasants, women 
 pausing in their work and staring with hand-shaded 
 eyes, as again and again we were forced to stop to let 
 the never-ending procession of troop-filled trains hurry 
 by on their way to the West ; shouts of enthusiasm, 
 fluttering of handkerchiefs, bursts of song, flushed eager 
 faces of soldiers, field-grey uniforms, white-robed girls 
 and women with the Red Cross on their arms, offering 
 food and drink to the thirsty men. And all this, which 
 might seem to be some great national festival, means 
 but the entry of death and foul disaster. 
 
 There is a great coming and going in the hotel. 
 Already I have met several acquaintances all breathless 
 and feverish to hear the latest bit of intelligence from 
 the War Ofiice. 
 
 Amongst the faces I saw were those of Prince and 
 Princess Victor Wied, old acquaintances. He is lame, and 
 is therefore only doing night-watch at the Castle ; his 
 wife is a pretty woman of 23. They are full of anxiety 
 as to his brother's fate, the King of Albania, who has 
 been deserted by all foreign Powers, and must be absol- 
 utely stranded. People here don't seem to have much 
 pity for him ; they look upon him as an adventurer forced 
 into the role of a would-be king by his wife's ambition. 
 
 On my arrival last night I was so worn-out that I 
 went straight to bed ; but my husband, who went at 
 once to see his cousins. Count and Countess F. Larisch, 
 and dehver some documents, had long talks with them 
 as well as with Prince Miinster. He came back with 
 
8 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 papers and a whole bunch of news. The Germans have 
 aheady forced events, and advanced so quickly that one 
 can hardly grasp the facts as one hears them. I almost 
 felt a physical blow when I heard of the fall of Li^ge. 
 The German point of view is that if they don't get their 
 troops into Belgium, the English and French armies will 
 be there before them, so that it is a toss-up who is 
 first. People are contemplating the first encounters on 
 the French borders with horror. The modem untried 
 weapons of war, they say, exceed the conjectures of 
 the most sanguinary imagination. Two hundred aero- 
 planes have been dispatched from here yesterday. I 
 hear a whole Russian brigade has been already captured 
 by the Germans, and seventy deserters came over to 
 the German lines, complaining bitterly of the hardships 
 and ill-treatment they had to endure during the mobiliza- 
 tion. I wonder if it is true that Paris is in a wild state 
 of panic and demoralization ? I try to grasp what all 
 this means, my chief feehng being one of intense sorrow 
 and pain that England has entered the Usts and against 
 Germany. I dare not think of all the complications which 
 may arise in this case for me, my nearest and dearest 
 there fighting face to face with friends and relations here. 
 
 Horrible particulars keep coming in of the taking of 
 Li6ge. The Germans had reverses at first, it seems. 
 The losses on both sides are enormous. Four thousand 
 Belgians have been taken prisoner, and a quarter of the 
 Belgian army, they say, has been annihilated. The 
 Germans have lost 1500 dead or wounded, and already 
 officers known to us have fallen. General Biilow was 
 shot by mistake by his own sentry. Young Count 
 Arnim-Boitzenburg has been killed in a patrol. 
 
 Countess Larisch spent the whole morning with us. 
 Our conversation was very sad, but it was good to have 
 an old friend to talk to. The excitement and enthusiasm 
 all over the city are enormous. The Kaiser is the most 
 
BERLIN, AUGUST 1914 9 
 
 adored man of the moment, and during a great speech 
 he delivered the other day on the balcony of the castle, 
 in spite of the people standing densely thronged together, 
 the silence was so great that one might have heard a 
 pin fall. Certainly the whole nation are backing him 
 this time, and if he has been criticized for his actions 
 in the past, this war-cry is making him the most popular 
 man in Germany. His six sons have already left for the 
 front. Prince Eitel-Fritz is to command the first Life- 
 Guards, whose privilege it is always to be first at the 
 front and to lead the whole Army. It means certain 
 death, they say, and yet he went off smiling, and gave a 
 dinner the night before, when he and his guests were in 
 the most boisterous spirits. 
 
 Countess Larisch's two younger brothers are leaving 
 for the French front to-night. Countess Henckel's 
 husband has already gone, and a lady has just been in 
 to see me who came straight from parting from her 
 only son, a boy of 21. She described how heartrending 
 were his excitement and dehght at going off with the 
 rest, and how she could hardly hide her grief when 
 beaming with pride he showed her the little metal disc 
 with his name on it, which every soldier wears for 
 identification in case of being killed. ^ Seeing all this 
 anxiety around me, I felt my own fears to be selfish, and 
 ask myself, how could I bear the separation from hus- 
 band and sons in the same proud spirit of heroism ? In 
 fact this seemingly unfeehng heroism often puzzles me. 
 There is hardly any thought of life and love and relations 
 in the young men going away, but a sort of reckless joy 
 in the certainty of the near death awaiting them. 
 
 At dinner I sat between Prince Wied and Major Lang- 
 horne, the MiUtary Attache to the American Embassy. 
 The latter advised me to wear an American badge in the 
 street, and not talk Enghsh there. Notices forbidding 
 the language are being posted up. From him I learnt 
 
 ^ This boy was killed within a month. 
 
lo AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 of the extraordinary spy-fever prevailing here as every- 
 where. People are being arrested all over the country, 
 and the most harmless individuals are accused of being 
 spies if they look the least different from their neigh- 
 bours. Continual mistakes are being made, which often 
 lead to fatal results for the victims. 
 
 The English Embassy were treated very badly, and I 
 was told that an Enghshman had been lynched by the 
 crowd for having called out " Down with Germany." 
 The hotel proprietor, however, assured me that Berhn 
 is safer than it ever was before, as all the Russian spies 
 had been seized and taken away to the country to be 
 shot. What a carnage, if it were true ! He says numbers 
 of them disguised as German officers go about carrying 
 bombs. Personally I disbeheve such stories. 
 
 I have heard that poor young Count Arnim was one 
 of the first to fall at an outpost skirmish at Liege ; he 
 was only 21, an eldest son, who would have succeeded 
 to enormous wealth and estates. 
 
 One of the chief things that strike me so far is the 
 bitter resentment which the whole nation seems to feel 
 at England's entering the war. It is a feeling that 
 increases hourly. I cannot understand this absolute 
 revulsion, when I think of the almost exaggerated expres- 
 sions of admiration and affection which were so widely 
 spread formerly. It seems to have changed in a night, 
 and although a few individuals try to be moderate, they 
 cannot ; and to be " English " is synonymous with 
 " blackguard " in the eyes of most people. There stiU 
 seems to be a flickering spark of hope in some of the 
 papers here that England may be only pretending to 
 come in. They emphasize the wish of the Enghsh nation 
 to remain neutral, and maintain that it was a few minis- 
 ters who have done all the mischief, and that the English 
 Socialists could still prevent further intervention, if they 
 really wanted to, even at the stage things have already 
 reached. 
 
BERLIN, AUGUST 1914 11 
 
 Exactly what was the real cause of the war no one 
 seems to know, although it is discussed night and day. 
 One thing grows clearer to me every day : neither the 
 people here nor there wished for war, but here they are 
 now being carried off their legs with patriotism, at seeing 
 so many enemies on every side. It is said in England 
 that Germany provoked the war, and here they emphatic- 
 ally deny it. To me it seems that Europe was thirsting 
 for war, and that the armies and navies were no longer 
 to be restrained. Certainly here, the mihtarists grew 
 weary of the long lazy peace as they called it, and if the 
 Kaiser had not proclaimed war, he would have been in 
 a precarious position. There are two men at the head 
 of affairs : one is called stupid and the other dangerous. 
 The dangerous one has won the day, and brought the 
 war to a head. Lord Northcliffe seems to be responsible 
 on the other side. 
 
 I have just been reading the story of the German 
 mine-layer. It is not one to be proud of, it seems to me. 
 The mines were laid absolutely in the roadstead outside 
 the Thames. This is not considered fair play, and will 
 cause much bitterness on the other side. It has already 
 sunk the Enghsh destroyer Amphion, and God only knows 
 how many mines she was able to lay before she was sunk 
 herself. 
 
 Sunday, August 9, 1914. — To-day we went to Mass at 
 II o'clock in the Hedwig Kirche, which is a fashionable 
 meeting-place for smart Berhn, where it is accustomed 
 to congregate on the steps every Sunday to gossip over 
 the news. I could not help comparing it with my last 
 remembrances in February just six months ago. Then 
 every one had a laugh or joke on his lips. We were 
 all dressed in our best, discussing the last Court Ball, or 
 the latest scandal, criticizing and abusing our neighbours, 
 and bent on enjoying hfe to the full. Now the women 
 were sad and quiet, with none of the vivacious sparkle of 
 
12 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 other days ; they only welcomed us with a pressure of 
 the hand, tears often pouring down their faces. There 
 were the Hohenlohes, the Reischachs, the Ratibors, the 
 Sierstorpffs ; and poor little Princess Ratibor, who, the 
 last time we met her, was the leading spirit in a gay 
 romping set at a large shooting party, had all one side of 
 her face plastered up, having been shot by mistake by 
 their own Polish peasants when motoring to the station. 
 Their car had been suspected of being one of the many 
 hostile automobiles which are said to be driving all over 
 Germany filled with gold and spies. Another of the 
 dangerous myths current amongst the people. 
 
 This afternoon Count Oppersdorff came in to see 
 Gebhard and talk things over. He was pretty optimistic, 
 and thinks that things cannot last ten weeks. After- 
 wards Gebhard went to see Baron Jagow, whom he 
 found terribly harassed and anxious, and was able to 
 enlighten him, and through him many others, as to the 
 difficult position England had been in. Prince Miinster 
 then came, and together they went over the situation 
 thoroughly, and were both agreed that it is almost im- 
 possible to make the officials and military authorities 
 here regard the situation from an impartial point of 
 view, or realize that England could not " with honour " 
 leave France in the lurch. People here maintain the 
 contrary. " England could have remained neutral. Her 
 guarantees to France were of a strictly defensive char- 
 acter, and the French action was clearly offensive, as 
 they commenced bombing at the frontiers even while 
 negotiations were in progress, whilst Russia hurried on 
 mobiUzation before they had been finished." In any 
 case they maintain that England could have assumed an 
 armed neutrality, ready to intervene should there be any 
 danger of France being crushed. 
 
 I have to keep my opinions to myself, but I long to 
 say to them that perhaps England did not come in until 
 Belgium's neutrality had been violated. 
 
BERLIN, AUGUST 1914 13 
 
 If one hears what the Austrians and Bohemians have 
 to say, one might think that the German Government 
 was throwing dust in the world's eyes. They maintain 
 that Austria was inchned to word the ultimatum to 
 Serbia leniently, not for the sake of Serbia, but because 
 they were wide awake enough to see that the grievance 
 must be localized, if Europe was to be saved an appalhng 
 war ; but the German Government (if not the Emperor 
 himself) worded it in such a way that there was no loop- 
 hole for escape. On the inevitable becoming known, 
 people here got into a panic, and they felt they must 
 make terms with England at any price ; so the " feelers," 
 the bribes, were put into play, and Baron Kiihlmann's pro- 
 posal to England took place, that if England kept out of 
 the war Germany would promise to leave the French 
 coast alone. Could England choose any other course 
 than the one she pursued ? Good, they say ; but could 
 we do otherwise than stand by Austria, when Russia 
 insisted on mobilization ? 
 
 Several Enghsh people came in to tea, and one lady 
 gave an account of how she had just seen a spy caught 
 in the street. He had been dressed as a woman, and had 
 been hooted by the mob to the police-station, had made 
 one last desperate struggle to escape, and was shot. I 
 cannot help wondering myself if all these " spies " that 
 are being persecuted in the streets are not often the most 
 innocent people in the world. All the inherent qualities 
 of cruelty and ferocity seem to be aroused in mankind 
 simply by the word war. 
 
 Gebhard has had another long and interesting talk 
 with Prince Miinster and Prince Pless. The latter is 
 going to headquarters with the Kaiser, near the seat of 
 war, but no one at present seems to know where that is. 
 Prince P. has promised to try and influence the Kaiser 
 and make him comprehend the English side of the ques- 
 tion in keeping their word to the French. The Kaiser 
 
14 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 cannot recognize the necessity of it ; his shock and 
 surprise were genuine when he reahzed what England 
 was doing ; he had not thought it possible. To his friends 
 standing near him he said : " To think that Nicholas and 
 Georgie should have played me false ! If my grandmother 
 had been alive, she would never have allowed it." 
 
 Popular hatred here is centred on the shade of King 
 Edward VII. ; he is supposed to have been the moving 
 spirit in forming the encirclement of Germany. 
 
 The more I hear things discussed from the German 
 standpoint, the more astonished I am at the fighting 
 character of the Germans. They take to war as a duck 
 takes to water, to judge at least by the eager faces of 
 the people in the streets and their talk. One would 
 almost think that this terrible outbreak was a long-hoped- 
 for chance of showing their inherent quahties of bravery 
 and manliness, coupled with a military genius which is 
 unequalled among other nations. No one seems to be 
 enthusiastic about the war in England, to judge by the 
 papers. The English are a peaceful, unsoldierly merchant- 
 folk, and money is the standpoint of the average man ; 
 and the possibihty of the Bank Act being suspended 
 prevents any false glamour of war dazzling his sense of 
 law and order. He does not care about the German, but 
 neither does he hate him ; and as his country is not 
 in immediate danger, he will not catch fire so easily. 
 Germany, on the other hand, is persuaded that if she 
 refuses to fight, hordes of French and Russians will 
 be overrunning the land in a few weeks, if not days. 
 
 The marvellous mihtary organization is, I must confess, 
 overpowering ; everything goes off without a hitch. 
 Within a few days 70 Army Corps were in the field, 
 every train full of troops starting and arriving to the 
 minute. This means, with trebled corps of war-time, 
 some 5,600,000 men already at the frontier. One thing 
 that strikes me in the new German masculine being is 
 the improvement in his looks since the field-grey uniform 
 
BERLIN, AUGUST 1914 15 
 
 has been introduced. The German as a rule has no style ; 
 he usually looks as if he had a bad tailor ; but put him 
 in uniform and he looks smart at once. 
 
 We lunched with Count Ballestrem at the Kaiserhof. 
 He is one of the Knights of Malta, and is arranging for 
 Gebhard to get some work in connection with the Red 
 Cross League. He has promised to cash our cheques, 
 which is a great rehef, as no man of business here will 
 accept an English one. 
 
 Blue skies and a burning sun, and involuntarily one 
 thinks of the happy harvest-time of other years, and now 
 death is reaping its ghastly red harvest, and already the 
 newspapers seem printed in blood. The details of the 
 Russian reverse are too horrible to dwell on. A whole 
 battahon of 900 men killed in the space of a few moments. 
 It seems that really the best thing to be hoped for is one 
 huge decisive battle between the French and the Germans, 
 which might put an end for ever to the bloodshed. 
 
 As for England, I hardly dare imagine what may 
 happen. It is a constant dread to me to think of all 
 those I love being in danger and anxiety. One can do 
 nothing as a woman but remain passive and look on, 
 although on a perfect rack of torment. The German 
 navy won't be able to do much harm, as it is shut up 
 in the Baltic, so that we shaU have no huge naval 
 disasters. I suppose, however, one great sea battle will 
 have to take place, although the German navy own 
 they won't have a chance against the EngUsh on the 
 open sea. 
 
 Berlin, August 10, 1914. — I feel I must take up some 
 work, for this passive waiting is too much for my nerves. 
 So I have been to see Princess Pless about Red Cross 
 work. I met Countess Sierstorpff, Princess Jane Lynar, 
 and Count Hochberg there. We all went to a KHnik, to 
 hear Dr. Hiss lecture on first aid. Princess Pless is 
 
i6 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 already fully trained, and is bent on going to the front, 
 as soon as the wounded begin to arrive. Princess Lynar 
 and I have decided to get attached to some Lazarett in 
 Berlin, where the Ughter cases will be brought later on. 
 
 On parting with the Pless party, Count Hochberg said : 
 " Good-bye ; the war will be over in two months, and you 
 and I will be meeting again in England." I smiled at 
 this cheerful prophecy ; it is the thing I am praying for 
 night and day. 
 
 Berlin, August ii, 1914. — ^To-day I went to the pohce 
 station to get my passport, as until now it has been 
 impossible for me to be out in the streets alone without 
 an American badge. It is now forbidden to speak English 
 through the telephone or in any pubhc place. 
 
 Gebhard met Baron Kiihlmann downstairs (the late 
 Secretary of the German Embassy in England). He 
 travelled over with us. He was very much upset, for he 
 had just changed a lot of money for travelling to head- 
 quarters at the front, when a telegram arrived ordering 
 him to go to Stockholm this evening, as the German 
 minister has utterly broken down, owing to the great 
 strain on his health of the last few weeks. 
 
 News has just arrived of a German victory in Alsace ; 
 the losses are said to be heavy. 
 
 The fall of Liege is an accomphshed fact, and people 
 have ceased being astonished at it. They are hurrying 
 on with the victorious troops which are already in Namur. 
 This seems to have been an act of unprecedented strategy 
 and valour, only field-guns being used. In three days the 
 town capitulated. People say that the Belgians fight 
 badly, and that the army- is utterly demorahzed. Already 
 ghastly rumours are being spread of cruelty to Belgian 
 civilians, and their ill-treatment of the wounded German 
 soldiers. The Austrian and German Armies have united 
 on the Eastern frontier, and the Russian Army is being 
 driven into Bessarabia. 
 
BERLIN, AUGUST 1914 17 
 
 This afternoon we went to a big American meeting at 
 the Rathaus, where the American Ambassador and the 
 Mayor of Berhn addressed them, and tried to impress 
 them with the intense friendship existing between the 
 two countries. The Ambassador omitted mentioning the 
 subject of a ship which was to be chartered to take 
 Americans home, and for news of which most of them 
 had attended the meeting, being chiefly business people 
 over on the Continent for a hohday. There are, I hear, 
 75,000 Americans in Germany, and 25,000 alone in Berlin. 
 Amongst those at the meeting was Baroness Sternburg, 
 the pretty little American widow of the late German 
 Ambassador in Washington. She is a friend of mine of 
 former happier days. 
 
 Countess Sierstorpff brought me an introduction for 
 attending one of the first-aid courses which are to com- 
 mence to-morrow. I shall be glad to take up some 
 systematic work which will distract my attention from 
 the gruesome details of the newspapers. One piece of 
 news, however, did me a good deal of good to-day ; it 
 was from some German refugees who have just arrived in 
 Berlin, and who assured me that all England is against the 
 war, and a regular propaganda is being spread against it. 
 
 Berlin, August 12, 1914. — ^This morning I went off 
 to the Bethanien Krankenhaus, where my nursing course 
 is being held. It took a long time getting there, but it 
 is a magnificent place. It is so big, it is almost like a 
 town in itself, and perfectly modern and up-to-date in 
 every respect. We were about thirty ladies attending 
 the course, and Count Hochberg the only man. I did 
 not hear the names of all the ladies. I sat next to Prin- 
 cess Ernst Giinther, the Emperor's sister-in-law. The 
 doctor is one of the cleverest and best-known men in 
 Berlin. He lectured splendidly, demonstrating all his 
 remarks on a small boy. The nurses told us they are 
 
 c 
 
i8 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 expecting wounded every moment. The German casual- 
 ties are already 3000 dead and 4000 wounded on the 
 Belgian field alone. 
 
 In the evening there is usually a large gathering of 
 friends in the lounge of the Esplanade. We are an inter- 
 national collection of birds of passage, united by a common 
 feeling of suspense and anxiety. There were Prince and 
 Princess Wied, he expecting orders to go off any moment, 
 and Prince and Princess Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Prince 
 H. is leaving for the front to-morrow night. He is a 
 cousin to King George, and looks and is English in every 
 way. Prince Stolberg was also of our party, besides 
 Countess Seherr-Thoss and her parents. 
 
 We talked of the size of the different armies, and they 
 said that the German army has refused 1,300,000 volun- 
 teers, as not being required at present. The French 
 army up to now is 3,000,000, and the Russians are putting 
 6,000,000 into the field. The famous escape of the cruiser 
 Goeben was freely discussed ; her adventures have been 
 really marvellous, and Germany is greatly elated, as 
 anything like getting the best of England in a naval 
 tug-of-war sends their spirits up with a run. 
 
 Whilst dining with Count Ballestrem at the " Astoria," 
 to our great amazement Baron Roeder and his wife 
 suddenly walked in. We had heard that they were in 
 Switzerland, unable to get here. They are very old 
 friends of ours. He has been the Master of Ceremonies 
 in Berlin for many years, and is a confidant of the Kaiser. 
 She is EngUsh. She has two daughters married, one to 
 a German, and one to an Enghshman, and they are fight- 
 ing on opposite sides. 
 
 We were delighted to meet again, so often in the past 
 we had agreed with one another on the difficulties of 
 marr3dng a man of another nation ; how one's patriotism 
 gets trodden upon, and how the thorns prick us in both 
 countries at once. Their journey seems to have been 
 
BERLIN, AUGUST 1914 19 
 
 appalling, and lasted eight days instead of twenty-four 
 hours, as they were continually being turned out of the 
 trains they were in, and finally arrived in an empty 
 troop-train which was in the most filthy condition possible. 
 
 Berlin, August 14, 1914. — The Austrian Diplomatic 
 Corps from St. Petersburg have arrived at the Esplanade, 
 en route for Vienna. They are all very depressed at 
 leaving so many friends behind them. We are expecting 
 the Austrian Embassy also from London in a day or two. 
 They are all friends of mine. I wonder if they will bring 
 me any letters from home. 
 
 Three young counts have suddenly turned up here 
 too ; they were stopped at Southampton, on their way 
 from Washington, but were allowed to proceed on their 
 way after having satisfied Scotland Yard that they were 
 not spies. Of course I accosted them with eager ques- 
 tions about England, and what they told me has reassured 
 me in some measure. What relieved me most was to 
 hear that the English Expeditionary Force has not yet left, 
 and cannot arrive before to-day or to-morrow. Please 
 God, they will arrive too late for the great battle going 
 on. We have heard nothing certain for the last forty- 
 eight hours, but as no news means bad news nowadays, 
 we beheve some great fight is taking place. 
 
 Berlin, August 16, 1914. — We have left the Esplanade 
 and have settled down in a smaller hotel near the Klinik, 
 where I am going to nurse. 
 
 The Emperor left this morning for headquarters at the 
 seat of war. None knows where it is, not even the 
 Empress. He was attended by a few of&cials. Baron 
 Jagow amongst them. He was very solemn and pensive 
 and would express no opinion to any one, and refused 
 to see any one a few days before leaving. It is being 
 said that he has gone to Mainz, and that a big battle is 
 being fought at Namur. 
 
 News comes trickling in from England. No naval 
 engagement so far, thank God. 
 
20 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 August 17, 1914. — Attended my lectures with many 
 others. Am learning a great deal. We practise band- 
 aging and putting splints on one another, Wounded 
 have already arrived, but it must be fearful at the front. 
 Sixty more nurses have been telegraphed for. 
 
 Berlin, August 19, 1914. — Poor Baroness L got 
 
 news that her husband was mortally wounded, and went 
 off at once to see him. He had died meanwhile, and the 
 poor woman got shot herself passing through a village 
 on the frontier. They leave two small orphan children. 
 
 Every one is admiring the Empress as woman and 
 mother. She has six sons and one son-in-law going into 
 danger, and in the midst of preparations for departure 
 she was the calmest and most cheerful of every one, and 
 helped to pack things with her own hands. Every news- 
 paper sets her up as an ideal for German women, willing 
 to offer everything and without complaint for the weal 
 of the Fatherland. But I think a poor woman who offers 
 her only son is even more to be pitied and praised. 
 
 The first French prisoners have arrived, and are being 
 sent to work at the harvest. 
 
 Berlin, August 21, 1914. — Great news, the fall of 
 Brussels ! Fierce joy reigns everywhere. The bells ring 
 out in the moonlight air, there are shouts and cries of 
 pride and gladness in the streets, and people embrace 
 one another, frantic with delight. The Pope is dead, 
 the poor old man. It is certain that the shock of the 
 fearful outbreak of war hastened his end. 
 
 Berlin, August 23, 1914. — I am beginning nursing 
 in earnest, and have taken up work at the Franciscan 
 sanatorium, where the sisters are all nuns. To-day I 
 wore uniform for the first time, and I shall assist at 
 some difficult operations soon. 
 
 Berlin, August 24, 19 14. — This new work prevents 
 my mind from dwelhng too constantly on the sadness 
 of the times. I see so much suffering that I feel my own 
 
BERLIN, AUGUST 1914 21 
 
 home-sickness is almost, a sin in comparison to the pain 
 there is in the world ; and as I hope and beheve things 
 cannot go on hke this much longer, I must try and fight 
 against it. There are already many wounded in Berhn ; 
 in one hospital Germans and Belgians can be seen peace- 
 ably smoking and chatting together at the windows, 
 whilst the people bring them improvised offerings of 
 flowers, cigarettes, etc. Amongst the Russian wounded, 
 so many have been observed to have slashes over their 
 heads that they were asked the reason, and said their 
 officers had hit them with their swords to make them 
 advance. 
 
 Berlin, August 26, 1914. — On returning from my 
 hospital work to-day, I nearly fainted with joy at seeing 
 a letter from my mother lying on my dressing-table. It 
 is the first news I have received from home, and on the 
 fact becoming known, every one came to congratulate 
 me, as if I had performed some special feat. No one 
 else had heard from England yet, but I knew my mother 
 would manage to get news through in some way, for in 
 the most difficult situations she has never failed her 
 children yet. I remember how my brother, who died 
 in Africa, used to tell us that when he was once up 
 country for a year on the Gold Coast, whenever a native 
 runner was seen in the distance his brother officers used 
 to turn laughingly to him, saying : " There's your 
 runner bringing your weekly letter from your mother, 
 lucky fellow." 
 
 What a terrible thing the new Krupp 42-inch mortar 
 is. It was kept very secret until now. It is so powerful, 
 they say, that it can destroy any modem fort with a few 
 shells, and smashed three forts round Liege in half an hour. 
 
 There are gloomy reports from the East Front. The 
 Russians are well into East Prussia, and we hear dreadful 
 stories of their cruelty to the population there. General 
 v, Pritzelwitz has been recalled for his blunders, and a 
 
22 AiN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 General Hindenburg, quite an old man, has taken his 
 place. They say he knows every inch of the ground in 
 East Prussia, and the German troops are again getting 
 the upper hand. A great battle is raging in Poland. 
 The Austrians have the chief work there, and all my best 
 friends and many of my husband's relations are fighting 
 there. Last night. Princess Rosa Hohenlohe brought her 
 son to introduce to me. He is such a handsome youth, 
 only seventeen years old, and 6 feet 2 inches tall. He 
 looked so radiant in his new uniform, at the thought of 
 soon going out to the front, that it made me quite sad 
 to see him. I asked his mother why she did not try to 
 keep one so young back for some time. She answered 
 that the temptation was indeed great, but that no mother 
 would be forgiven if she showed weakness at a time hke 
 this ; so that although her heart was breaking, she must 
 keep up a smiUng face 
 
 Berlin, August 31, 1914. — This morning there were 
 details of the naval engagement near Heligoland. Both 
 sides fought gallantly, and the papers here add especial 
 thanks to the Enghsh for the way they saved so many of 
 the German crews from drowning. There seems to be 
 much more chivalry shown on sea than on land, where 
 the troops are mowing one another down like dried grass. 
 
 Berlin, September i, 1914. — ^To my horror, another 
 English defeat has been reported at St. Quentin. I hear 
 they have been driven back at Maubeuge and Mons, and 
 I can hardly think of it without tears. I have made out 
 a list of my relations and friends, and sent them to the 
 doctors in the frontier towns, asking them to let me know 
 if their names are on the hsts. I mean to find out some 
 way of getting news, in spite of all regulations to the 
 contrary. The German papers all say the English fought 
 splendidly, but are wanting in training and discipline, 
 and ... I hold my tongue at this criticism and only 
 say that England has often begun a campaign with 
 reverses, but in the end she is indomitable. 
 
BERLIN, SEPTEMBER 1914 23 
 
 Berlin, September 2, 1914. — To-day I went out to the 
 Griinewald to see the arrival of trains full of wounded, 
 in the hope that I might see some EngUsh and help them, 
 but it turned out to be a false report, and they were only 
 transport trains carrying troops from the Western Front 
 to Russia. There was a tremendous reception, but the 
 troops looked too weary to respond to it, very different 
 from those of a short time ago. The railway carriages 
 were all decorated with flowers, and to my intense 
 indignation stuffed-out figures of men dressed in the 
 uniforms of English Grenadier Guardsmen were fastened 
 on to some of the trucks. I am haunted with the thought 
 of who may have worn just one of these uniforms. 
 
 From Baroness Roeder's windows we watched some 
 of the victorious regiments with their captured guns 
 march past. There was music, with captured Russian, 
 French, and English flags, and poor weary Cossack horses 
 dragging the guns. I heard details of the defeat of the 
 French and Enghsh at St. Quentin. Baron Reischach, 
 who had been there, said that the English cavalry had 
 been caught in a French stampede and had been forced 
 to retire. The infantry had been overwhelmed in spite 
 of their efforts at resistance. I heard that at the roll-call 
 after the battle, only three men of one battalion answered 
 the call. 
 
 The Zeppelins are said to be creating a panic all over 
 Europe, but even here many people say they are not fair 
 warfare. A woman may not carry arms, and is shot if 
 she tries to defend herself ; yet a bomb from a Zeppelin 
 can kill her and her children any day. 
 
 Berlin, September 4, 1914. — Again news of German 
 successes everywhere. Everything seems to fall at their 
 approach. They are nearing Paris rapidly. Nothing is 
 talked of night and day but the expected entry there. 
 The Russian hordes are being driven like cattle into the 
 lakes and morasses of East Prussia. Hindenburg is 
 marvellous, they say. 
 
24 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 In the midst of all the tragedy of to-day, very funny 
 things too sometimes happen. I called on a Mrs. D., 
 an English lady who is detained here, and who is very 
 nervous and depressed in consequence. When I arrived 
 at the hotel she was in bed, and whispered to me, " Shut 
 and lock the door, and speak very low ; I have got some- 
 thing to show you," whereupon she pulled from under 
 her pillow a copy of the Daily Mail, already three weeks 
 old. I could not help bursting out laughing, to think we 
 had come to rejoicing over an old copy of the Daily Mail. 
 
 Berlin, September 6, 1914. — 
 
 Lieb Vaterland magst ruhig sein, 
 
 Fest steht und treu die Wacht am Rhein. 
 
 I think I shall hear these words ringing in my ears to 
 my d3dng day. The whole life in the Germany of to-day 
 seems to move to the rhythm of this tune. Every day 
 troops pass by my window on their way to the station, 
 and as they march along to this refrain, people rush to 
 the windows and doors of the houses and take up the 
 song so that it rings through the streets, almost like a 
 solemn vow sung by these men on their way to death. 
 There is no doubt the whole nation is worked up to a 
 frenzy of patriotism which is sometimes very moving, 
 and at other times very aggravating, as they are incapable 
 of comprehending the mentahty of any one to whom 
 " Das Vaterland " is not the one country worth living 
 and dying for in the world. They are fighting against 
 a world of devils, they say, and have risen hke one man to 
 do it. 
 
 We lunched with Herr and Frau Solf. He is the 
 Colonial Minister, and is intensely depressed at the loss 
 of the German colonies, Samoa, etc. I laughingly told 
 him to cheer up, as according to the newspapers here, he 
 would soon have the English ones too, as Germany 
 intended forcing Englaad on to her knees, if only to save 
 the colonies. He assured me he would be satisfied to 
 get back his own alone. 
 
BERLIN, SEPTEMBER 1914 25 
 
 Berlin, September 6, 1914. — Countess Lori Oppersdorff, 
 one of my best friends, has just arrived from Russia, 
 after a ten days' journey alone with her maid. She had 
 heard endless abuse of Germany, and of the atrocities of 
 the troops. In fact, every country is circulating the 
 most appalling stories of the brutality of the enemy ; 
 and here one hears horrible details of the cruelty of the 
 French and Belgian women towards the German troops. 
 Thank God I have not yet heard a single word breathed 
 of this kind about the English soldiers, although the 
 general view is that they are as innocent of military 
 science and strategical tactics as the babe unborn. The 
 only thing they do say about the English is that they are 
 using dum-dum bullets, which inflict most horrible wounds. 
 
 I asked a German officer whether the prevailing reports 
 of the cruelty of the German soldiers to the Belgian 
 population were true, and he told me they were much 
 exaggerated, but that in Aix there were thirty officers 
 Ipng at that moment in hospital, with their eyes put 
 out by women and children in Belgium. The troops 
 who hear these things go mad with rage, and revenge 
 their comrades by burning and killing as they pass through 
 the land. This sounds to me quite incredible. 
 
 Berlin, September 7, 1914. — ^The last few days I have 
 met so many people and heard so many different reports, 
 that I hardly know what to beheve or think. On Sunday 
 last we met the Henckels, Larisches, Hohenlohes, etc., 
 and in the afternoon Countess Doda Oppersdorff (the 
 beautiful Polish wife of Count Oppersdorff) came in and 
 brought Baron Goldsmith Rothschild from the German 
 Embassy in England, with Count Talleyrand, whose 
 relations are all in Paris. Count Talleyrand says that 
 Zeppelins are not really so alarming as people think, and 
 that a bomb from a Zeppelin could not hit a Dreadnought. 
 Zeppelins are only of use in bombarding towns, and no 
 single one could get across to London, and that it is 
 
26 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 quite impossible for the German fleet to do any damage 
 to the Enghsh Channel fleet. But on the other hand I 
 have authentic evidence that a Krupp gun is being 
 constructed which can shoot from Calais to Dover. 
 That is why the troops are being hurried up there. One 
 officer even asserted that in a fortnight German troops 
 will be in England. I don't believe that this is as easy 
 as they think. 
 
 Berlin, September 7, 1914. — On making further 
 inquiries, I have heard that the Germans cannot bombard 
 London, as it is an unfortified town. Many letters 
 arrive now unopened from home, some very old. 
 
 This morning quite early I received a telegram from 
 one of my sisters, asking for news of a young 
 cousin of ours, who is missing from the Enghsh Ex- 
 peditionary Force. I had been inquiring every day to 
 see if any relations' names were on the hsts of the wounded, 
 but now I wired to every hospital on the Rhine, entered 
 his name at every centre, and went to the War Office 
 personally. Every one is kind and sympathetic in helping 
 us to trace him, but we have heard nothing as yet. 
 Princess Pless is helping me. She has relations fighting 
 on the other side. I have just had a note from her saying 
 she has been to see some of the Enghsh prisoners, and 
 she will take me with her next time if possible. 
 
 Berlin, September 8, 1914. — I was sitting working 
 together with Princess Hohenlohe to-day. She was just 
 talking about her son, and sajdng how reheved she was 
 that he was not going out until October, as the fighting 
 on the Russian Fronts is too horrible for words, when 
 the door opened and he came in, looking so handsome 
 and young in his uniform. Every one asked him how he 
 had managed to get leave so suddenly from Potsdam, 
 and he answered laughing that he had managed to get 
 a half-holiday, and had come to spend it with her. I 
 at once guessed the reason, and retired to leave them 
 alone. My husband and I again met him in the evening 
 
BERLIN, SEPTEMBER 1914 27 
 
 and drawing us aside he said, " I am really going straight 
 to the front to-morrow, as the losses amongst the officers 
 in my regiment are fearful. We young ones have to 
 replace them. I have not told my mother ; I want to 
 spare her the parting." 
 
 Berlin, September 9, 1914. — Maubeuge has been taken, 
 one of the strongest French fortresses. It was a tre- 
 mendous fight, they say, and for the first time I hear 
 unqualified praise of the Enghsh. They are said to have 
 fought magnificently, and only surrendered when every- 
 thing was in flames. No news yet of my cousin. 
 He is never out of my thoughts, and we spend our days 
 inquiring for him. 
 
 To-day we heard a piece of news which interested us. 
 Old Prince Bliicher, my father-in-law, has been turned 
 out of his island of Herm. It has been seized and con- 
 fiscated by the Enghsh Government, and articles of all 
 sorts are being printed about the Prince in the Enghsh 
 papers. 
 
 The mothers and wives here seem only to exist in 
 trying to catch a ghmpse of their men-relatives who pass 
 to and fro between France and Russia, as troops are 
 secretly being withdrawn from the West Front, things are 
 so bad in Russia. The sidehghts I get of the war are 
 often terrible. Numbers of regiments are being sacri- 
 ficed wholesale ; and a General whom every one is 
 naming will, they say, be brought before a court-martial 
 for sending a whole battahon to certain death, only to 
 clear the way for the other troops. Another German 
 battahon has been decimated by its own side, being 
 mistaken for the enemy. Human life seems to be absol- 
 utely valueless nowadays, and as all speed-limit has 
 been taken off the mihtary motor cars, they fly along so 
 fast that people are being killed all over the country. 
 
28 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 From the many jokes being made at the expense of 
 the Highland kilt, I judge that some Scotch regiments 
 must have been captured, and this will be a help to 
 me in tracing out the whereabouts of my acquaintances. 
 I have heard nothing of my cousin up to now, as it is 
 forbidden to give the names of the woimded at the 
 mihtary hospitals. I can only glean news by making 
 friends with the doctors. 
 
 Berlin, September ii, 1914. — The chief themes of 
 conversation are the " German atrocities " and the 
 Enghsh dum-dum bullets, both of which each country 
 denies. The Germans declare they were never brutal 
 unless in self-defence, but the stories one hears of the 
 brutahty of certain German regiments to the Belgian 
 civihans I fear I know are partly true, and then on 
 the other hand Prince A. Salm, writing to a relation, 
 says he saw with his own eyes two Belgian girls of 16 
 and 12 years old mutilating a wounded German in an 
 absolutely indescribable manner. 
 
 The first wet day since our arrival ; every one de- 
 pressed in consequence. People are hinting at a serious 
 defeat somewhere, as the flags have been ordered to be 
 taken away from the streets. 
 
 At the Adlon Hotel this morning I talked to Count 
 Talleyrand and Baron G. Rothschild. They have rela- 
 tions in all countries, so that their sympathies are very 
 broad. They declare that the English have defeated the 
 Germans on the left flank outside Paris. 
 
 Berlin, September 12, 1914. — No news means bad 
 news, and nothing is heard of the operations round 
 Paris. Another panic is being caused by the doubts as 
 to America's neutrality. She is financing France, it 
 seems, and this is a great shock to Germany, although 
 President Wilson has published a letter expressing his 
 readiness to intervene in both countries for peace. The 
 new Pope too has expressed his views in the same way. 
 
BERLIN, SEPTEMBER 1914 29 
 
 I hope that this will all tend towards opening up 
 negotiations, but people here talk so much of the 
 Freemasons' war, and of the society being so strong 
 everywhere, that the Pope will be ignored. 
 
 Berlin, September 18, 1914. — Strange that we hear so 
 little of the fighting round Paris. We have all been 
 expecting to hear of their triumphant entry every day. 
 The fighting, they say, is very hard, and there are tremen- 
 dous losses on either side, but I am beginning to think 
 the tide has turned against the Germans, hence this 
 sudden silence. 
 
 Most of our friends are very international, so that our 
 conversation often grows doubtful, as our sympathies are 
 very divided. Indeed we feel torn in two sometimes 
 with anxiety and the conflict of our feelings. 
 
 Princess Miinster, who is English by birth (sister to 
 Lord KinnouU), writes in the same strain, as her son is 
 fighting here, and her cousin on the other side. She is 
 helping me to make inquiries for my relation. My 
 application to the Empress through Countess Brockdorff 
 to see the English prisoners has been refused, as the 
 regulations have become stricter. We all know why, 
 although it is supposed to be a great secret. Princess 
 Pless is said to have visited some prisoners without 
 permission. As she came away she was heard to say, 
 " Keep up your spirits," which has been interpreted 
 into a hope for the English gaining the war, and has 
 caused much bitterness amongst the Anglophobians 
 here. It seems to me to have been a very harmless 
 remark. 
 
 We have at last discovered means of buying the Times, 
 and have bought up as many old numbers as we can get. 
 And at last we can see what the EngUsh are really doing 
 or thinking. It is as if a thick curtain dividing us from 
 the outside world had suddenly been drawn aside, giving 
 us a glimpse of it. 
 
30 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 What curious reports are being circulated in England. 
 Great French and Russian victories are being mentioned ; 
 the French are said to be already in possession of the 
 frontier towns ; the Russians are said to be quite near 
 BerUn ; whilst Berlin is in flames, and in a state of 
 starvation, panic, and revolution. 
 
 How shall we ever know the truth in any country ? 
 Some people tell me that the German official telegrams 
 are incorrect, but I beheve their sins are more of omis- 
 sion than of commission. How I dread the sight of the 
 casualty list in the Times. I shudder each time I read 
 it, but it is a tremendous help to me, as in this way I 
 am able to learn the names of all the regiments that have 
 been sent out, and the whereabouts of their engagements, 
 so that I can give every information when inquiring at 
 the Central Office for missing or wounded. Good news 
 from home so far. 
 
 Berlin, September 20, 1914. — We lunched with a party 
 of big finance magnates to-day. The conversation turned 
 on the Emperor, and his visions of gaining the supremacy 
 of the world by destro3dng the British fleet by means of 
 submarines and Zeppehns. I don't believe for a moment 
 that he will ever gain this end, but Germany has more 
 and better submarines than England, and the magnificent 
 EngUsh Dreadnoughts could do httle against them. Lord 
 Charles Beresford (or Sir Percy Scott) was quite right 
 when some years ago he begged England not to continue 
 spending money on big battleships, but to build more 
 submarines, as therein lay the future safety or danger of 
 the sea. 
 
 One of the ladies of the party was the wife of one of 
 the commanders of the camps. She commented on the 
 extraordinary difference in the characters of the military 
 prisoners. According to her, the French and Russians 
 are dirty and never wash themselves, and loaf about 
 grumbling all day. The English are clean and smart, 
 and always cheerful, and, as she added, they can be kept 
 
BERLIN, SEPTEMBER 1914 31 
 
 amused and occupied for hours by giving them a ball to 
 knock about. A typical German description of the game 
 of football ! 
 
 I should hke some day to write the praises of the 
 English prisoners, just from what I have heard from 
 Germans who have visited the camps or been in command 
 of them. 
 
 " You cannot make an Enghsh ofificer grumble or 
 complain," said one German officer to me. " If he does 
 not like a thing, well, he bears it in a dignified way or 
 else he turns it off into a joke. Nothing makes some of 
 our German officers more mad with rage than when they 
 go and shout out their commands in the highly dicta- 
 torial manner some of them have, and find that the 
 command is only received with a chorus of laughter from 
 the Enghsh officers." 
 
 To-day I took some copies of our precious Times to 
 show to Princess Pless. Alone together, we threw off 
 our mask of passive waiting, and confessed to one another 
 our burning interest in England and the Enghsh. In 
 society we are always being watched in a so-called friendly 
 suspicious manner, but here we are free to express our 
 innermost thoughts. 
 
 Berlin, September 23, 1914. — Nothing definite is 
 known as to the fate of the Germans round Paris ; it 
 is a harder fight than people anticipated. I hear that it 
 is the English who have turned the luck of the German 
 army, and are keeping them at bay. Every one has 
 been expecting the entry of the Kaiser at the head of his 
 troops into Paris for ten days past, but it looks as if he 
 would not get there now. 
 
 We lunched with the new Austrian Ambassador and 
 his wife, Prince and Princess G. Hohenlohe. The great 
 topic of interest was the destruction of the three English 
 cruisers by the German submarine. What a terrible 
 
32 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 thought it is, the picture of those splendid ships with their 
 gallant crews slowly sinking without having been able to 
 defend themselves in any way. Only 700 of 2000 men 
 were saved. Here there is great rejoicing, but I feel sick 
 at heart. 
 
 Berlin, September 28, 1914. — Countess C , an 
 
 American, has to-day arrived in Berhn from England, 
 where she has been with her children since the outbreak 
 of the war. From her we hear graphic descriptions of 
 England, and gather how httle they know of the real 
 state of affairs here. She said that the English papers 
 reported Berlin to be in a state of famine and revolution, 
 so she had brought provisions with her for three weeks 
 and two huge sacks of flour. Of course she was very 
 much laughed at for this. Of the German victories 
 nothing was known. General Hindenburg's campaign in 
 East Prussia never having been mentioned in the Enghsh 
 press. She accounted for it by the fact that all the 
 telegrams come from Petrograd, and the Russians let 
 nothing through. On my asking her, " Does no one in 
 England know the truth ? " she rephed that a few days 
 
 before she had met a Colonel M. E of the Foreign 
 
 Office, who had just been ordered abroad to fill up the gap 
 left by some officer, and on her congratulating him and 
 asking him if he were not delighted to be going out, he 
 answered, " No, I belong to the Foreign Office, and 
 therefore unfortunately know the truth and that there 
 is no reason for congratulation." She also said that she 
 had spoken to a well-known newspaper correspondent, 
 who was writing optimistic articles for the Times. She 
 remarked that the day's news looked very well for 
 England, and he had replied, " I think it all looks 
 damned bad, but we must never let that be known." 
 
 Last week some 800 English women from here went 
 home, and one of them wrote to me shortly afterwards 
 and said (in cipher) that Kitchener had muzzled the 
 Press, and that it is fearfully strictly censored. 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1914 33 
 
 Berlin, September 30, 1914. — The Hohenlohes have 
 left Berhn. We shall miss them dreadfully, having been 
 always together for the last six weeks. Their boy has 
 not been in an engagement so far. 
 
 I am doing regular hospital work and spend all my 
 mornings in the operating-room, where civilians as well 
 as soldiers are treated. It is heart-rending to see so 
 many fine strong men maimed and crippled. Helping 
 thus, the terrors of war seem to be brought nearer to 
 our eyes. They are such nice men too, with nice 
 manners, and are so grateful for a word of kindness, 
 and so thoughtful for each other's sufferings. As I help 
 to bandage them, I always feel inchned to ask if they 
 have been kilhng or torturing women and cripples, for 
 they look as if they could hurt nobody. I refrain, how- 
 ever. I am perhaps happiest in my doubts. 
 
 Berlin, October i, 1914. — People are beginning to 
 reaUze gradually that some great mistakes have been 
 made in the West, and that if France had recognized the 
 position, things might have become very serious for this 
 country. As it was, Germany had time to hurry up 
 reinforcements from Belgium. General von Kluck went 
 forward too fast, with no reserves behind him, and part 
 of his army was cut off. 
 
 Berlin, October 2, 1914. — I had tea at the American 
 Embassy, and met the whole American clan there. 
 They refuse now to send letters or telegrams to England, 
 on the ground that it is not neutral. People who have 
 been staying in England gave me various news, as, for 
 instance, the great precautions that are being taken 
 against Zeppehns. One lady said she was sta3dng at The 
 Hague when Captain Nicholson from one of the three 
 sunk cruisers was brought in. He was unconscious, but 
 recovered afterwards. He described the sinking as a very 
 fine naval feat, the submarine having come two hundred 
 miles from its base, and being in imminent danger the 
 whole time. 
 
 D 
 
34 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Berlin, October 3, 1914. — Count Talleyrand has 
 brought me some illustrated London papers with pictures 
 of the airship patrols for defending the coasts against 
 Zeppelins. Only a few days ago the military officials 
 here asked for a hundred volunteers for an action that 
 would mean certain death. Every one guessed Zeppelins 
 for England. They got the hundred men within one day. 
 They intend trying to blow up the London docks and the 
 Woolwich Arsenal, I am told. 
 
 The military and naval authorities here are very 
 candid in their criticisms of the relative strengths of 
 the different countries. They say the moral effect the 
 British troops have had on the French since their arrival 
 is marvellous, as the French were demorahzed ; also that 
 the French and EngUsh aeroplanes are better than the 
 German. 
 
 Berlin, October 4, 1914. — We lunched at the Carlton 
 Hotel with the Roeders, Lori Oppersdorff, and Baron 
 Jagow, the Chief of the Police. Every one is expecting 
 the fall of Antwerp. Prince Miinster came in the after- 
 noon with fresh lists of wounded and missing English 
 officers, and told us that he was considered to have 
 pro-English sympathies because he had tried to do an 
 act of kindness to some English officers who are prisoners 
 of war. He had been given leave to visit the English 
 officers, but it had been postponed on account of Major 
 Yate having escaped. This poor officer was recaptured 
 and thereupon committed suicide, but he spoilt the 
 chances of more liberty for the other officers thereby. 
 
 Berlin, October 9, 1914. — Antwerp has fallen ! The 
 news came early this morning. Again great public 
 rejoicings. Bells ringing, houses flagged, cannon firing, 
 and the people drunk with exultation. How things will 
 end if the Germans go on piling up successes I don't 
 know. 
 
 It is no good noting particulars ; every one in the 
 world will know them in a few days ; but from what I 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1914 35 
 
 hear, all hopes of the Allies outflanking the German 
 right wing are dispersed. My own feelings are chiefly of 
 distress and dismay, when I see all the thanksgivings 
 celebrated here. 
 
 Berlin, October 12, 1914. — Sometimes one's feelings 
 are hurt beyond description. On the evening of the 
 fall of Antwerp, there was a large dinner party at the 
 Esplanade. We were present. It had become an under- 
 stood thing among us that during this time of anxiety 
 and suspense no one should wear smart decollete evening 
 dress. However, some of the outside guests did not 
 know our rule, or if they did they ignored it, and one 
 lady arrived in a very transparent low-necked dress, 
 suitable for a grand ball in the height of the season. 
 Some one remarked : " You are very smart to-night, 
 madame." " Yes," she said, with a beam of pleasure. 
 " I put this on to celebrate the fall of Antwerp ; but wait 
 until you see the dress I am keeping for the day when 
 England is beaten." 
 
 I could have stabbed her, and I think if looks can 
 hurt, my look must have penetrated into the marrow of 
 her bones. Some one afterwards apologized to me, but 
 I did not want any personal apology. The point was 
 that, whoever was the victor, hundreds and thousands 
 of men of all countries were at that moment lying in 
 their death agony in consequence. 
 
 General Moltke, they say, has resigned, owing to ill- 
 health according to public accounts, but in reahty it 
 seems that great differences have arisen between him 
 and the Kaiser. Moltke wanted to make straight for 
 Calais. If he had done this, people here affirm that 
 Germany would have won the war already, as if the 
 German army had reached the coast before the English 
 arrived there, the French would have been defeated. It 
 seems, however, that the Kaiser's personal vanity and his 
 weakness for theatrical pomp and show got the upper 
 
36 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 hand. He countermanded Moltke's orders, and insisted 
 on the troops making for Paris, which he hoped to enter 
 at the head of his victorious army. It is being whispered 
 here that this defeat on the Marne may prove the decisive 
 turning of the war, and the greatest misfortune for 
 Germany, in spite of her successes everywhere else. 
 
 Berlin, October 13, 1914. — We had a very animated 
 discussion at dinner last night. A German diplomat 
 was present, and we almost fell out on the everlasting 
 subject of which nation was the chief cause of the war. 
 I, being of EngHsh birth, can only see the facts from the 
 English point of view. My husband tried to explain 
 that the mistake had been made years ago, when Germany 
 refused the offer of an alHance with England, and con- 
 tinued enlarging her navy. I believe it was under 
 Prince Billow's regime. However, our German diplomat 
 still maintained that Russia is entirely responsible for 
 the outbreak, egged on by France and England. Of 
 course we ended up by some one saying, " Well, what 
 about Bethmann's ' scrap of paper ' ? " To which the 
 diplomat was in an ecstasy of delight at being able to 
 retort, " Lord Salisbury must have been of the same 
 opinion when he said in one of his speeches that 
 ' Agreements were made to be broken.' " 
 
 We gradually left this dangerous ground, for I suppose 
 the question will never be satisfactorily answered, and 
 discussed the different qualities of the soldiers of the 
 belligerent nations. I was glad to notice that the Germans 
 made a point of praising the behaviour of the English 
 officers and men. They admired their equipment and 
 splendid physique, and their dogged determination in 
 face of odds. Several stories were related of their kindness 
 to the wounded and captured. These remarks did a 
 great deal towards comforting my wounded pride and 
 the pain I have felt at the English reverses at St. Quentin 
 and Maubeuge. I have never yet heard of any tales 
 of cruelty on the part of my countrymen. 
 
DERNEBURG, OCTOBER 1914 Z1 
 
 Talking to some wounded soldiers the other day, I 
 asked them what had turned the tide of luck in the 
 Marne battle. They said it was the number of fresh 
 English troops that had told. They had arrived in all 
 sorts of vehicles, and he himself had seen London street 
 omnibuses arriving on all sides, still with their gay 
 advertisements painted on them. They looked as if 
 they had come over from Piccadilly without a stop. I 
 thought the man was imagining this, but an officer 
 has corroborated this story, and told me they were so 
 unprepared in all these matters that they took any 
 conveyance ready to hand. 
 
 Berlin, October 14, 1914. — The victory of Tannenberg 
 will go down to posterity as one of the most marvellous 
 of modem times. Some of the horrors of it are so ghastly 
 that an eye-witness, an officer, who has just returned 
 from there, says it will live in his dreams to his dying 
 day. The sight of thousands of Russians driven into 
 two huge lakes or swamps to drown was ghastly, and 
 the shrieks and cries of the dying men and horses he will 
 never forget. So fearful was the sight of these thousands 
 of men, with their guns, horses and ammunition, struggling 
 in the water, that, to shorten their agony, they turned 
 the machine-guns on them. But even in spite of that, 
 there was movement seen among them for a week after. 
 And the mowing down of the cavalry brigade at the same 
 time, 500 mounted men on white horses, all killed and 
 packed so closely that they remained standing. The 
 officer says that this sight was the ghasthest of the 
 whole war. 
 
 Derneburg, October 16, 1914. — Here I am, arrived 
 and settled at Derneburg, Prince Miinster's place near 
 Hildesheim, Hanover. I travelled with Princess Miinster 
 and her niece, Countess Marie Platen, who is staying 
 here. 
 
 We left Berlin at 8 o'clock in the morning, and got 
 here at 2, and the peace of it is indescribable. It is a 
 
38 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 most beautiful old castle, which was once a monastery. 
 It is surrounded by a park with lovely trees and woods, 
 and a lake in front, and hills in the distance. It is like 
 suddenly being transplanted back to one of the old 
 beautiful homes in England, and the life we lead here 
 is thoroughly English. We go for long walks in the woods, 
 and visit the stables, gardens and farm. The servants 
 are all the old-fashioned sort of deferential loyal country 
 people, and the village consists of the wives and children 
 of the men working on the estate ; and we just go round 
 daily, talking to them and asking them news of their 
 relations who are in the war. After the strenuous life 
 of gossiping and society in Berlin this is like reaching a 
 haven of rest, and it is difficult to realize that there is 
 such a fearful thing as war going on in the world. 
 
 We are not altogether idle, however. Princess Miinster 
 and I get numberless letters and telegrams daily from 
 quite unknown people in England and elsewhere, im- 
 ploring us to send news of their relations. Directly we 
 get such a wire or letter, we have to begin pulling the 
 strings, which means no end of writing. We have to 
 send the names in to the governors of each prison, and 
 to the head doctor of each hospital at which we think 
 he is likely to be. We are not allowed to be told who 
 is in these places, and are only told who is not there. 
 
 The authorities are most loth to give any information, 
 and so we try to extract it from them by various round- 
 about routes ; but it takes a long time, and we always 
 feel sorry for those anxious relations waiting for the 
 answer. But if we dare to show too much interest and 
 anxiety, we are told we are pro-English at once. 
 
 Derneburg, October i8, 1914.— There are ninety men 
 gone to the war from these two httle villages alone, 
 therefore the whole place is in a state of waiting suspense. 
 Yesterday the poor village doctor got a post-card to say 
 his son had been killed in action at the siege of Antwerp. 
 Only the day before he had had a letter from him. 
 
DERNEBURG, OCTOBER 1914 39 
 
 describing the horrors of the Ufe in the trenches, but 
 saying he was well, and that that part was nearly over. 
 
 The gardener has just returned wounded, and we 
 have been having a most interesting conversation with 
 him. He had been out since the beginning, and to 
 outward appearance looks a most effeminate, soft little 
 creature ; yet he has been through continual hardships 
 for the last two and a half months, mostly in Belgium. 
 He said he had never experienced any franc-tireur trouble, 
 and where he was, the German soldiers behaved in an 
 orderly way, and paid for everything they took in the 
 villages. And in the Belgian hospital where he was, 
 nothing could have been more peaceful or comfortable, 
 and the English, French, Belgians and Germans had all 
 their meals together, and sat and smoked together in a 
 most friendly fashion, and that there was no real hate 
 among them. 
 
 The villages through which they passed, where the 
 population was peaceful, they left unmolested ; but when 
 the villagers fired on the soldiers, then they were ordered 
 to burn down and to shoot into the middle of the escaping 
 inhabitants if they were still armed. Thus many innocent 
 perished with the guilty. 
 
 One hears of such fearful horrors from those return- 
 ing. One young German wounded officer, who had been 
 spending his convalescence here, said that his regiment 
 had been practically annihilated by their own side, 
 through a mistake of his Colonel's. It was in Belgium, 
 and they had arranged to scour a wood in silence, two 
 different regiments from different sides, during the night. 
 The Colonel, forgetting the arrangement that it was to 
 be done in silence, suddenly shouted a word of command, 
 and this was understood to be the signal to fire on the 
 enemy. And then one regiment simply mowed down the 
 other in the pitch dark, and the noise was so fearful 
 that no one could hear the shouting to " cease fire " 
 until it was too late. One regiment practically ceased 
 
40 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 to exist, except for this young officer and about forty 
 men. He was in such a state of collapse from the horrors 
 of the recollection that he was nearly out of his mind. 
 
 Count Freddie Miinster, Prince Miinster's son, also 
 had a horrible experience of the same sort, but escaped 
 unharmed. He and his regiment were patrolling, and 
 had to ride through a village which, when they entered 
 it, appeared to be deserted. All the blinds were down, 
 every window and door apparently shut, and not a soul 
 to be seen. Suddenly the clock struck three, and at 
 that moment a volley of bullets poured from every window, 
 and the patrol had to gallop away into a wood, where 
 they came under the fire of their own artillery, and 
 suffered much loss before the mistake was discovered. 
 
 Derneburg, October 29, 1914. — ^The Germans declare 
 that not only are black troops being sent against them, 
 but that the English convicts are being set loose on them, 
 that they recognize them by the " blue convict brand " 
 on their arms. If I tell them the English do not brand 
 their convicts, and these are only tattoo marks, they 
 won't believe me. Also they assert that many of the 
 British soldiers carry knives with a special twist in them, 
 meant to scoop out the eyes of the wounded Germans. 
 When I tell them that these are knives carried by the 
 sappers to cut their way through the forests, etc., they 
 only shrug their shoulders and tell me I am pro-English. 
 
 The ever-increasing number of reports of cruelty and 
 bullying towards English prisoners is making me quite 
 desperate. Thank God, Gebhard is joining me to-day, 
 and we will set to work in good earnest to try and get 
 to the roots of the matter. We are sending accounts 
 of brutahty to the Foreign Office here, and I intend 
 getting them reported at Headquarters, so that the 
 perpetrators may be run to ground and punished, if not 
 now, after the war. 
 
 We have now a complete list of the unwounded 
 English officers, and are able to write to them and send 
 
DERNEBURG, NOVEMBER 1914 41 
 
 them parcels, and altogether try to do something to 
 brighten their lives a little bit. It is, however, very 
 difficult to reach the wounded prisoners, as communi- 
 cation is almost impossible owing to the disorganization 
 of the trains. 
 
 The news becomes daily more and more desperate, 
 and things are not going well for Germany. They have 
 been driven back by the Russians in Poland, and on the 
 West the English have made such a magnificent stand 
 that the German advance along the coast and to Calais 
 has proved a most stupendous undertaking, and they 
 have made very httle progress. 
 
 The description of the fighting is too horrible to write 
 about, and I cannot think of it. Here the papers say 
 that the English losses are in four figures, and that whole 
 regiments have been mown down by the German big 
 guns, and that the trenches have been stormed and there 
 has been hand-to-hand fighting. 
 
 The English naval guns are covering the coast. They 
 are even firing into Ostend, which causes much comment 
 here, as they say Ostend is an unfortified town ; and 
 there are hundreds of English inhabitants there whom 
 the German commander had to ask to leave, to protect 
 them against their own guns. That is what is told 
 us here. 
 
 Derneburg, November 1914. — The chief topic at present 
 is the defeat of the Russians at Lodz ; it is said to be an 
 enormous victory for Germany. 
 
 They are all beginning to be anxious about Italy, 
 which apparently becomes more war-like and unneutral 
 every day. But Germany sounds as confident as ever, 
 though she has changed her tone a little. Now they say 
 that they never had any intention of going to Calais, or 
 that they have given up the idea, but personally I know 
 they find it a more difficult task than they expected. One 
 of my " candid friends " told me that the English have 
 
42 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 flooded the country, and that was what really turned them 
 back. To use his own expression : " We had provided 
 for twenty contingencies, but this was the twenty-first." 
 
 They may get there yet, but whether they deny want- 
 ing it or not, my personal opinion is, and it is shared by 
 many, that the possession of Calais is the one great 
 object of the war now from the Emperor's point of view. 
 I think he has set his heart on this more than on 
 anything else in the world. 
 
 They have given up the idea of landing in England, 
 and I don't think the highest authorities ever really 
 thought it would be possible. They kept up the idea, as 
 the population enthused more about this than about 
 anything else, and it was the ambition of most of the 
 soldiers fighting in the West. The authorities say 
 candidly that they only contemplated it seriously just 
 after the fall of Antwerp, when everything seemed to be 
 pla3dng into their hands, and they thought they could 
 make an unexpected dash along the coast. They had the 
 transports ready, so it is said. The Zeppelin raids also 
 have been a slight disappointment to Germany. They 
 had been waiting for the fogs, and then expected to make 
 a demonstration on the English coast, or near London. 
 But I personally think that the shutting up of civilians 
 in England in concentration camps has something to do 
 in preventing this. 
 
 Berlin, December 1914. — On our return to Berlin at 
 the end of November we were startled by the announce- 
 ment that Sir Roger Casement had arrived there. The 
 wonder was how an Irishman, and an ex-Consul of the 
 English Government, could have found his way here. 
 But we were more interested than most, as we knew 
 him well. He had been in Africa with my husband, and 
 we had also seen a good deal of him in London at various 
 times. We knew his anti-English feelings well, and his 
 rabid Home Rule mania, but we did not expect it to have 
 taken this intense form of becoming pro-German. 
 
BERLIN, DECEMBER 1914 43 
 
 However, he had not been here many days before he 
 came to see us. He told us the whole story, which can 
 be read in any newspaper, of how when war broke out he 
 went over to America, and there spent his time working 
 among the Irish- Americans, advising them to go home, 
 not to enhst for England, etc., telling them that England 
 was only sending their countrymen to their death, and that 
 in the future the only reward they would get was a promise 
 of Home Rule which they had no intention of fulfilling. 
 
 His efforts were, I suppose, crowned with some success, 
 as eventually he determined to make his way into Ger- 
 many to try and work up the Irish prisoners against 
 England. His adventures on the journey are well known, 
 and on his arrival in Norway, the British Minister, Mr. 
 Finlay, offered a reward to any one who would bring him 
 into their hands. Sir Roger, however, after a great deal 
 of correspondence with some of his acquaintances in the 
 Foreign Ofhce in Berlin, was eventually allowed to enter 
 Germany, and was then given free access to the prison 
 camps where the Irish prisoners were. 
 
 My husband went to him shortly after his arrival and 
 tried to show him what a false position he had put himself 
 in, and that he had better leave the country as quickly 
 as possible, but it was no use. So after that we refused 
 to see him or have anything more to do with him. When 
 we first saw him, he was most enthusiastic and certain of 
 success, his idea being to try and make the Irishmen 
 promise that if they were free they would not fight 
 for England, and would use their influence to prevent 
 recruiting in Ireland. He was not really successful 
 an3rwhere. In fact, he soon became offended, because he 
 said the Berlin Foreign Office did not trust him enough. 
 We hinted to him that no one ever really trusted a 
 traitor, at which he was greatly incensed, protesting that 
 he was not that ; and he was hardly less so when others, 
 trying to soften down the name, called him an Irish rebel. 
 He did not like that either. 
 
 His measure of success with the Irish prisoners may 
 
44 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 be summed up in the answer he got from one very raw 
 Irishman whom he asked whether he did not hate Eng- 
 land. The Irishman's reply was : " Well, we may hate 
 England, but that does not make us love Germany." 
 
 One bit of good news amidst the prevailing gloom. I 
 have just been able to send a telegram to Lord Edmund 
 Talbot through the Red Cross, to say that his son, who 
 has been missing for some weeks, is now in hospital near 
 Lille. How I came to obtain this information was as 
 follows. I was hurrying through the hall of the 
 Esplanade Hotel when an officer stopped me and said, 
 " Excuse me, but are you not related to Lord Edmund 
 Talbot ? " On my replying that I was, he said, " I am 
 Count Welsczek, and a few days ago I was fortunate 
 enough to be able to render first aid to his son, Captain 
 Talbot of the nth Hussars. I and some brother officers 
 were riding through a lane on the outskirts of Lille, when 
 we were attracted by something moving in the ditch, 
 which on nearer inspection we discovered to be a wounded 
 English officer lying covered in mud and quite uncon- 
 scious. We administered restoratives, and he soon re- 
 vived enough to be taken to a hospital. The first remark 
 he made, in his semi-conscious state, when being picked 
 out of the ditch, was, ' I should like to have a bath, 
 I'm so muddy ' " ; at which they all laughed very much, 
 saying how hke an Enghshman it was to prefer having 
 a bath to food or anything else in the world. 
 
 Speaking of this relation reminds me of a great adven- 
 ture, no less than a visit to my cousin Captain Trafford, 
 who is a prisoner at Crefeld. I have never written about 
 it, as I was told to keep it a secret so as to prevent others 
 asking for the same privilege. 
 
 It was indeed a very notable event my being allowed 
 to see him, as the barrack regulations are extremely 
 rigid on this point, and ladies are not supposed to be 
 admitted at all. That an exception was made in my case 
 was only due to the intervention of General v. Bissing, 
 
BERLIN, MARCH 1915 45 
 
 who smoothed away all the difficulties and gave me 
 leave to enter. And although I am perfectly conscious 
 of all the rumours of his harshness which are current in 
 the outside world, I shall not easily forget this spontaneous 
 act of kindness to me. 
 
 I found my cousin looking very well and in quite good 
 spirits, in spite of the hardships he had gone through 
 during his three weeks at the front, and also in spite of 
 the discomforts I knew he must be experiencing in the 
 camp. But as I was not allowed to speak to him alone, 
 I could not really learn much about the true state of 
 affairs at Crefeld, and it was a great trial to me and my 
 husband to have to get up and go away as the clock 
 struck the appointed hour, without being sure of being 
 allowed to come again and not being able to do more in 
 the way of adding comforts and luxuries for him and 
 other officers, who we knew had arrived there with nothing 
 but what they stood up in ; however, the commander 
 and other officers at the camp were most courteous to 
 us, and I have since realized what a great concession it 
 was my being allowed to go there at all. One lives to 
 learn to be thankful for small mercies in these days. 
 
 Berlin, March 1915. — My husband is now regularly 
 attached to the hospital train equipped by the Knights 
 of Malta. This Order is very ancient, and purely 
 religious in character, almost equivalent to the Knights 
 of St, John in England. Its present members are still 
 recognized in Austria as possessing sovereign rights in 
 that country. The German branches in Silesia and on 
 the Rhine are recognized as corporations for voluntary 
 " Ambulance Service in War Time." Its organization is 
 autonomous, and distinct from the Red Cross Society 
 under the regulations of the Hague Convention. It is 
 recognized by all the belligerent countries and is under 
 the protection of international law. 
 
 The Order possesses great wealth in Austria, and a 
 strict investigation into ancestral quarterings is required. 
 
46 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 both, for honorary knights and knights of justice, the 
 latter being required to take the vow of cehbacy. The 
 Austrian Order has equipped no less than seven ambu- 
 lance trains during the war, whilst the German branches 
 have two trains running, the Silesian and the Rhenish- 
 Westphalian. 
 
 I felt very proud as I saw him start off on his first 
 journey, wearing his smart new uniform with the Red Cross 
 band on his arm. It was a comfort too to know what a 
 good work he was undertaking, when he might have been 
 setting off on such a different errand. I feel rather 
 ashamed now of a somewhat bitter remark I made one 
 day to a friend whose husband was at the front, and who 
 came with me to see G. off. " Don't you feel proud of 
 him ? " she said, and I answered : " Yes, indeed I do, 
 and thank God he is going out to cure and not to kill." 
 I rather regretted it when I saw the tears come into her 
 eyes as she said : " But think of me, having to see my 
 husband off to the West, to be one of those who are 
 forming the human wall round our country to prevent so 
 many enemies entering, to wipe us off the earth." 
 
 Berlin, April 1915. — Glancing back over the last six 
 months — one of the few things that really impressed 
 themselves on my memory was the sinking of the 
 Bliicher by the English on January 24. 
 
 How well I remember the proud moment when, six 
 months after my marriage, the Emperor sent for me in 
 the middle of a Court ball in Berlin and asked me to 
 launch the new cruiser Bliicher. How well I remember 
 his words as he smilingly said to me : "I expect you 
 will get into trouble with your English relations if 
 you launch my battleships, now won't you ? " His well- 
 known charm of manner attracted me so much, as it 
 does all others. And then, four months after that date, 
 we went to Kiel, and in the presence of Prince Henry of 
 Prussia and the Princess, and General von der Goltz and 
 others, I made my first German speech and broke the 
 
BERLIN, APRIL 1915 47 
 
 champagne bottle, and the Blucher floated gracefully into 
 the water. 
 
 After the ceremony we went up to the castle for 
 luncheon with Prince and Princess Henry of Prussia (she 
 being sister to the Czarina of Russia and an English 
 princess). We talked England, England, England — she 
 telling us every little anecdote she could think of about 
 her happy days at Windsor with old Queen Victoria, 
 and how she and her sister had so intensely enjoyed 
 rummaging in the old curiosity shops in the town of 
 Windsor, saying laughingly : " We enjoyed mostly getting 
 bargains of old bits of furniture, etc., which we had our 
 suspicions had begun life in the castle itself, and had been 
 ' looted ' by servants at different periods, and found 
 their way into these shops." 
 
 Among this party for the launching was my sister 
 Freda, who had come out from England with us for it, 
 and since then she is married to Admiral Charlton, who 
 is now at the Admiralty ; and, who knows ? maybe he was 
 the very man who controlled this particular episode in 
 the naval warfare ! 
 
 The Blucher had, from the very beginning, ranked as 
 an antiquated man-of-war, and was the slowest unit in 
 the fleet. So it was arranged that she should be chosen 
 to bear the brunt of battle, and stay behind to be sacri- 
 ficed if necessary, to give the others time to retreat. 
 
 The captain of the Blucher, when rescued out of the 
 water, was taken to Edinburgh, and on his way there, 
 got into conversation with the English naval officer in 
 command of the guard over them. The German officer 
 had told him that an Englishwoman had launched the 
 Blucher, and that her photograph had gone down in the 
 ship. " Yes," answered the English naval officer, " I 
 happen to know all about it, as the lady is my sister-in- 
 law. My name is Throckmorton." It is curious how 
 small the world is. 
 
 Berlin, May 1915. — For many weeks past I seem to 
 
48 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 have been leading an existence apart, cut off from all 
 communion with my surroundings. My brother Wilfred's 
 death at Ypres, of which I received news in November, 
 seemed to render all the old familiar intercourse impos- 
 sible. Now I am beginning once more to see people a 
 little. 
 
 In Holy Week (the week before Easter) my husband 
 was away on one of his journeys with the Lazarett-Zug, 
 and Count and Countess Larisch (Fritzi and May) asked 
 me to go and stay with them here in Berlin, as I was 
 quite alone. 
 
 It was a homelike, peaceful time, and did me much 
 good. May and her three little girls and I used each 
 morning to go to Mass at the little Convent Chapel 
 attached to the hospital at which I used to nurse. There 
 we met Countess Henckel and her daughters. Princess 
 Lowenstein with her children, and Countess Tattenbach, 
 all cousins and connections. We used to meet outside 
 the church-door twice each day, discussing the same 
 news. It was like living in a little peaceful world of 
 our own, in the centre of this big city, and this life of 
 religion had a very soothing effect on my harassed nerves. 
 
 I shall always remember one evening service early in 
 the month. I had been kneeling there, trying to pray, 
 when the music broke out into a beautiful hymn to the 
 Mother of God, beseeching for comfort for all, in this 
 time of grief. I was awakened by it, as if from a long 
 dream, and I looked round, and the scene that I saw 
 struck me to the heart. The altar all ablaze with candles 
 and flowers, the Blessed Sacrament exposed there above, 
 the priest and acolytes, the incense, and the congrega- 
 tion, all wrapt in their devotional hymn ; Countess 
 Henckel and her daughters, in nurses' dress, having 
 come straight from their work in the hospital ; Princess 
 Lowenstein and all her small children kneeling around 
 her ; Countess Larisch with her little daughters ; the 
 nuns of all ages and sizes ; the wounded soldiers, some 
 with their arms in slings, some with faces bandaged up. 
 
BERLIN, MAY 1915 49 
 
 some on crutches, having Hmped straight in from the 
 wards ; and many unwounded soldiers in their tattered 
 uniforms, home for a few days' leave and spending it 
 thus. And at the back of the chapel knelt my husband 
 and Prince Lowenstein ; my husband in the uniform of 
 the Knights of Malta, with the Red Cross badge on his 
 arm. Prince Lowenstein in the field uniform of the 
 Bavarian army, leaning on their swords, with their eyes 
 fixed on the tabernacle. These two officers, and all 
 these soldiers and the congregation, were singing that 
 hymn from the very depths of their hearts. They were 
 absolutely oblivious of the outer world as they knelt 
 there and poured out their supplication to God in this 
 hymn to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
 
 I stopped and asked myself : " Can you hate these 
 people as you think you do, can you not see any good in 
 them, can you not understand how they suffer too, and 
 picture their homes being stricken and what they are 
 enduring as well as your own countrymen ? " and as I 
 listened my resentment gave way, and I prayed for these 
 people who were suffering as much as myself, if not more. 
 
 It is in times of stress like this that the consolations 
 of religion appeal most strongly to us. How often in 
 the night, when we lie and think about all the bitter 
 suffering in the world, might we not seek in spirit to 
 grope our way through time and space, and by the power 
 of our will make our presence felt by some lonely d3dng 
 soldier, who might close his eyes in peace could he feel 
 our helpful hands or hear our grateful whisper in his 
 dying ears, " Thanks, dear brother, sleep well." We 
 too might gain some comfort in the knowledge that the 
 last moments of the dead are not spent in anguish and 
 pain, for death is mostly far kinder than life and infinitely 
 more merciful than man, and steeps the tired senses in a 
 dream wherein all else is forgotten but the happy peaceful 
 memories of childhood. 
 
 We Catholics too can find great consolation in the 
 
 E 
 
50 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 belief that those hours of pain which may have preceded 
 the end will shorten their passage through Purgatory in 
 the next life, and could they let us know, as they some- 
 times do in dreams and visions, they would most certainly 
 implore us not to grieve so much for them or doubt as 
 to their well-being now, for our tears and pain are prob- 
 ably for them the one alloy to their perfect peace in 
 heaven. 
 
 I had been in correspondence with Prince Lowenstein 
 about my brother, who was first reported missing after the 
 battle of Ypres. He was quartered at Comines, near the 
 fighting line of that district, and the trouble and real 
 sympathy he showed me in my anxiety impressed me 
 in a way that few other things have done for a long time. 
 He several times rode out specially to the surrounding 
 district to make inquiries about him, and rode up to the 
 dressing-stations and field-hospitals of the district, and 
 also to the abandoned trenches and graveyards, in the 
 hopes of getting a clue. And sometimes, when passing 
 a wayside cross, he would get down from his horse and 
 copy the name of the fallen officer, and send it to me in 
 the hope it might bring some little consolation to a 
 bereaved relation. 
 
 At the beginning of May he came back on leave for 
 a few days, and I went to see his wife and him at their 
 apartment. His real and intense kindness and sympathy 
 touched me very much — the way he tried to give me 
 every detail about the search, and at the same time 
 spare my feelings as to the hopelessness and sadness of 
 the aspect of warfare in that particular part of the 
 country. 
 
 Berlin, May 1915. — May 8, 1915, will live vividly 
 in my memory for the shock that we received by the 
 sinking of the Lusitania. How can I find words to 
 write about it ? And yet I cannot pass over the event 
 that caused more sensation throughout the world than 
 
BERLIN, MAY 1915 51 
 
 the greatest victory or the greatest defeat. " Sinking 
 of the Lusitania by a German submarine " was the head- 
 hne in our German paper that morning, without any 
 details of importance. A great loss of life had been 
 the just punishment for that liner that was carrying 
 munitions to the enemy of Germany. Neutral America 
 was providing these munitions (a breach of neutrality, 
 said Germany), and what sacrifice could be too great a 
 punishment for that ! 
 
 The Germans themselves were amazed — oh yes ; but 
 proud — proud of what one little submarine could do, of 
 what power a few men in a little nutshell under the 
 water could wield — ^what a wonderful method of warfare 
 it was, and how soon England must give in if confronted 
 with this power. At last the world would recognize the 
 awfulness of the German navy, and see that Germany 
 must become mistress of the seas, as she could prevent 
 others from crossing the water in safety whenever she 
 pleased. In one respect the Germans were right. The 
 world does recognize the awfulness of that kind of war- 
 fare, but not with admiration ! 
 
 The Americans here in the hotel, and those of the 
 Embassy staff, had always professed to be neutral. 
 They had been cordial and friendly towards the Germans 
 they met, had gone out together, had played tennis, and 
 so forth. But a sudden change now took place. The 
 Americans openly avoided the Germans, almost cutting 
 their friends of the day before. Friendly intercourse 
 was absolutely out of the question. Their rage and 
 horror at the idea that Americans had been killed knew 
 no bounds, and they gave vent to their views in un- 
 guarded terms. One German turned to me and said, 
 " You and other English ladies here have self-control, 
 but these American ladies, once they are roused, do not 
 care how or where they express their feelings." 
 
 Berlin, May 1915. — I was rung up on the telephone 
 by a Dr. Johansen, who said he would like to come and 
 
52 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 see me. We made an appointment for the next evening, 
 when he told me he had come to thank me on behalf 
 of some of the English prisoners for all I had been doing 
 for them, and that he was the doctor appointed for the 
 officers at Blankenburg, and so saw them nearly every day. 
 
 He had become devoted to Colonel G , although 
 
 he said, " I ought to hate him, as his regiment killed my 
 only son at Mons ; but I love the man, in fact I love all 
 the British officers." 
 
 I asked if there was anything I could do for any of 
 them, and he said no, he did not think so at present, 
 
 and added : " Don't send Colonel G any cigars or 
 
 cigarettes ; the poor man is overpowered by the number 
 that are sent him, as there is no place to keep them and 
 he can't smoke them all." I replied that I purposely 
 had not sent any, and the only thing I could send him 
 that I knew he would appreciate was the only thing he 
 would not be allowed, and that was the Enghsh Times. 
 " No," he said very decidedly, " that is absolutely against 
 the rules ; but," and he looked at a pile of the Times 
 lying on my table, " of course, if I happened to have 
 some newspapers in my pocket, I might drop them as I 
 went past his door, by accident," and he gave me a 
 knowing look. I at once rolled them up and he stuffed 
 them into his pocket, and as he went towards the door, 
 he said, " My mother was English, but we don't say 
 too much about that at present, do we ? " 
 
 A few days later he offered to take my husband to 
 
 see Colonel G and the other officers. We rang up 
 
 the following morning to fix a day, and the answer to 
 the telephone was, " The doctor died suddenly last 
 night." It was a great shock to us — one more friend gone. 
 
 To-day I went to tea with the Duchess of Croy. She 
 is one of the many young American wives of the German 
 nobility, and is the daughter of Mr. Leishman, who 
 was at one time Ambassador in Berlin. She told me 
 of an awful journey she had a short time ago when she 
 
BERLIN, MAY 1915 53 
 
 was in their place in the country. She got a telegram 
 from her husband to say he was being sent from the West 
 to the East, and would be passing Cologne, and could 
 she meet him there. Their place was some miles out of 
 Cologne, and she had not much time to spare. She had 
 to hire an old village taxi, their own motors having all 
 been taken, and had to implore the man to drive as hard 
 as ever he could. Just as they were nearing Cologne a 
 tyre burst. She was in despair, and had to get out and 
 kneel down in the middle of the road, and work her 
 hardest to help the chauffeur to put it right, every minute 
 thinking she was missing her husband. She was only 
 twenty, and her baby was only three weeks old, so 
 altogether she was not very fit for being left in such a 
 phght. However, they got it mended and dashed on. 
 Then, on reaching the station, there were more difficulties 
 in the form of German red tape. They flatly refused to 
 let her on to the station without a pass. As a brilliant 
 idea, she said she had an important telegram for her 
 husband from the War Office, and they then said they 
 must see the telegram. Her patience nearly gave way 
 at that, but she realized all would be lost if she did not 
 carry it through, so she said, " How dare you insult 
 me by asking me to show you a private communication 
 from the War Office ; I shall report you for this." It 
 acted like magic, and they fell back and let her through, 
 just in time to see her husband's train come in. 
 
 A young officer, just home on leave for a few days in 
 Berlin, said to me to-day that he was longing to get back 
 to the front so as to have a little peace and quiet, where, 
 as he said, there is not so much venomous hatred and 
 vindictiveness against the enemy, and no incessant talk 
 of cruelties, reprisals, etc. He added : " Out there we all 
 do our duty, the enemy as well as ourselves ; we obey 
 the orders, and do what we are told, and have no time 
 to think or feel all this horrible hatred and revenge." 
 
54 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Some one just returned from Neuve Chapelle says 
 that the battle there was one of the most ghastly of the 
 whole year. The Germans had hidden a machine-gun 
 in practically every window and every door of the 
 cottages, and when the English marched through they 
 were just mown down. Their losses (Germans) during 
 that fight were appalhng — 18,000, and the British were 
 12,000. The English attacked sixty times in three days, 
 throwing all their strength apparently on that one spot 
 for the moment. 
 
 Prince Miinster said he witnessed a sad sight the other 
 day. A man in the trenches had to watch his son dying 
 by inches a few hundred yards away from him (between 
 the trenches) and was powerless to help or reach him. 
 He was his only son, and he saw him fall wounded and 
 then die slowly, with many other wounded, lying there 
 in the open ground. 
 
 And I have just been told of another sad sight from 
 the East Front. The Germans went forward to clear a 
 captured Russian trench, and found in it a fine-looking 
 Russian officer sitting upright, motionless, gazing at a 
 photo of a most beautiful woman and two little children. 
 He was stone dead. 
 
 Berlin, June 15, 1915. — It is now a month since the 
 Lusitania was torpedoed. We have read all the comments 
 in the EngUsh and American papers, and I have studied 
 the attitude of the people here towards that horrible 
 deed. Even those who admire it from the scientific 
 point of view seem in their inmost hearts ashamed of it, 
 and do not care to defend it — but rather on the ground 
 that it was pohtically a mistake. I beheve the Kaiser 
 thoroughly disapproved of it, and I have seen a letter 
 written by one of the royal princesses (not of German 
 birth) in which it was condemned as piratical and 
 barbarous. 
 
 I suppose the question whether there really was 
 ammunition on board the Lusitania will never be satis- 
 
BERLIN, JUNE 1915 55 
 
 factorily settled, as the secret must remain in the hands 
 of a few men who for very good reasons will certainly 
 keep it to themselves. 
 
 Berlin, June 10, 1915. — Amongst the numerous 
 afflictions visited upon us by the war, the " spy-fever " 
 is one of the worst. It has indeed reached such a height 
 that it seems as if every second person at least is on the 
 verge of lunacy, and that this venomous attitude towards 
 your neighbour is a new form of war-pestilence. People 
 are proud of the way in which modem science has coped 
 with infectious ailments, but no science seems able to 
 suppress this newest form of mental disease, to which 
 womankind seems particularly addicted. The seemingly 
 most righteous member of our sex will, without a qualm 
 of conscience, inform on her most innocent neighbour, 
 apparently to satisfy some innate instinct for playing 
 the detective, or for making herself important. I could 
 relate dozens of instances of malicious and misleading 
 informers within my own knowledge. It is impossible 
 that all the people who have been persecuted as such 
 are in reality spies. From what I hear, the " spy " 
 epidemic seems to be international, and weak-minded 
 females in England and France have fallen a prey to the 
 same affliction. 
 
 Has the word " spy " lost its ancient disagreeable 
 meaning ? It almost seems to be an honourable calling 
 now, or it is at least if you are a member of the secret 
 service, for you not only receive a very high salary in 
 every country, but you are regarded as an upright and 
 honourable gentleman, and a very useful member of 
 society, whilst the private " spy " is looked upon as a 
 criminal only worth shooting. 
 
 A conversation with a neutral this afternoon has 
 turned my thoughts this way. We were really discussing 
 the different methods of the German and English secret 
 service, and whilst listening to the details he gave me 
 of the enormous sums which both countries had spent 
 
56 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 on it, I could not refrain from sajdng that they had 
 neither of them been very effective, considering the utter 
 ignorance and surprise expressed by both at the outbreak 
 of the war. 
 
 He admitted that it was not always easy to distinguish 
 between spies, traitors, and secret service agents. The 
 English of&cials, he said, were bombarded with anony- 
 mous letters from charitable persons who felt bound to 
 lay at least one victim at the feet of justice. This kind 
 of information, which is always offered gratis at the time 
 of any sensational crime, is of little or no value, and is 
 generally the outcome of hysterical imagination. He 
 told me that the much-abused English Intelligence 
 Department had not been quite so fast asleep as the good 
 lady-informers supposed, and that for three years before 
 the war the names of all the German residents in England 
 had been noted. Their correspondence had been system- 
 atically opened and censored during that period, and 
 within twenty-four hours of the declaration of war no 
 less than twenty-five out of twenty-six recognized paid 
 spies had been taken into custody. The twenty-sixth, 
 who escaped through the over-zeal of one of the aforesaid 
 females, was eventually captured, and before three 
 months were over they had unearthed a whole nest of 
 suspicious individuals, and interned them for the duration 
 of the war. On questioning him as to the relative merits 
 of the two countries, he judged the English secret service 
 to be better than the German, as more men who had been 
 touring in Germany, financed by the Government, got 
 back to their own country in time. As to the morality 
 of spying in general, I expressed my doubts about the 
 ethics of men who go round accepting the hospitality of 
 friends, all the time trying to elicit information which is 
 meant to harm their country. He, however, took another 
 view of the case, and expressed his admiration for men 
 who risk their lives and stop at nothing to help their 
 native land, without receiving any kudos. As an example 
 he mentioned Baden-Powell, who, in his book published 
 
BERLIN, JUNE 1915 57 
 
 after his visit to Germany in 1910-11, boasts how he 
 accepted hospitahty at the Emperor's table, whilst in 
 between he gained as much useful information as he could, 
 from less exalted personages, by means of bribes. 
 
 I remember myself a story which Count R told 
 
 me in June 19 14. He complained that his whole pleasure 
 in the Kiel regatta week had been spoilt for him by an 
 English friend, whom he was entertaining, trying by every 
 means in his power to gain knowledge of the depths 
 and sounding of the Canal, during casual conversation 
 with him and his friends. 
 
 • ••••• 
 
 A few days ago Gebhard and I and Gustav (G.'s 
 brother) went to see the English prisoners working on the 
 road near Lichterfelde. No one was supposed to know they 
 were there, and no one was allowed to go and see them. 
 However, Paul Miinster had given me a graphic descrip- 
 tion of how, when he was out the other day with the other 
 cadets, they suddenly came upon them, and their captain 
 called out to know whether any among them could speak 
 English. Paul Miinster at once came forward and was 
 then told he might say a few words to them. 
 
 He said the poor men were so pleased when he asked 
 them about their homes and where they had come 
 from, etc., and when he mentioned several places in 
 England he knew well himself, they at once became most 
 friendly. 
 
 This, of course, fired me with the idea to go there. 
 I knew it was impossible without an officer in uniform, 
 and I asked one or two I knew if they would go ; but 
 they all said it would not be allowed, and might be 
 misconstrued, and all the usual reasons which were 
 forthcoming when any interest in the Enghsh was shown. 
 However, I knew my good-natured brother-in-law would 
 do anything I asked, so we three salHed forth. 
 
 It was dinner-time when we arrived, and they were 
 all Ipng about in the heat of the blazing sun, in a sort of 
 fenced-off waste of sand. They were a most unkempt 
 
58 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 lot, I must say ; but, poor men, it was not their fault. 
 They were laughing and joking among themselves, and 
 one of them was reading out what evidently was a very 
 amusing story, judging by the peals of laughter that it 
 caused. A very nice official came and spoke to us, and 
 while he and my husband talked, I began very cautiously 
 to make my way up to the wire railing, and then I said 
 to them, " How are you ; is there anything I can do for 
 you ? " I shall never forget the look on those poor 
 men's faces when they heard these few words of genuine 
 English ; they all crowded up to the wire fence, each 
 wanting a word said to them. I had to be very careful, 
 as I knew I might be stopped at any minute. They had 
 nearly all been prisoners since last August or September, 
 and seemed so weary of it. 
 
 I asked which battles they had been in, and one man 
 said to me, " I was wounded at Less Skates." My 
 brother-in-law, who was standing near, said, " What 
 does he mean ? " I said, " He says he was wounded 
 at the battle of Le Cateau," and this really was the first 
 time it dawned on me how different the descriptions 
 and names of battles and everything must sound when 
 spoken of in England — when I think of Less Skates and 
 Wipers, for example. 
 
 I could not tell them I was Enghsh, although I longed 
 to, but I knew that would be quite fatal, so I went on 
 making desultory conversation to them, my brother-in- 
 law joining in at times, but they did not rise much to 
 his conversation. They saw he was a German officer, 
 and spoke broken English, so they were more cautious 
 and suspicious, and kept their eyes fixed on me, with a 
 smile on their faces, as much as to say, " We see you are 
 a friend and that you are English." 
 
 I asked if they got parcels from home. Some said 
 sadly, " No," but one told me that he got them regularly 
 every week. I asked what regiment he belonged to, 
 and he replied " Royal Fusihers," which rejoiced me, 
 because it was the regiment my mother had undertaken 
 
BERLIN, JUNE 1915 59 
 
 to provide for, and her own hands may have packed 
 them. 
 
 My husband then came up, and as his Enghsh is perfect, 
 and as he was only in the uniform of the Knights of 
 Malta, they opened out to him at once. He asked them 
 if they had any complaints, and whether they had all 
 they wanted. They replied that they had plenty of 
 food ; that they heard regularly from home ; and that 
 they liked working on the roads as it helped to pass the 
 time. 
 
 So my husband said, " Well, that's all right. I am 
 glad you are happy." But they replied, " We want to 
 be in England, that's all we want. It is the only wish 
 we have, to be once more back in good old England." 
 And underlying every word they said one could read 
 downright genuine home-sickness. The poor men said 
 it with such feeling that it made a great impression on me. 
 
 Then a sentinel called out in a very loud voice, " It 
 is not allowed to talk to the prisoners." So we drew 
 back instantly, but continued our conversation at each 
 other in a way, I talking to the interpreter so that they 
 could hear, and they talking to each other so that I could 
 hear. 
 
 One sentence I remember specially. A very rough- 
 looking young soldier, who was lying in his shirt-sleeves 
 on the sand eating his dinner, said to his neighbour in 
 an audible voice that I could hear : "I wish the dickens 
 she'd get them to send me a pair of boots ; how the deuce 
 I am expected to work in these blessed things I don't 
 know " (these blessed things being a sort of clog sandals). 
 
 I looked at him and laughed and did my best to send 
 him these boots, but never heard whether he got them 
 or not. 
 
 We then moved away, all the men smihng at me as I 
 went. One very young sailor boy struck us so much, 
 he looked so unutterably sad and ill, and he was the only 
 one who stood up to attention and saluted when we left. 
 I have tried since to find out his name, but have never 
 
6o AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 been able to. I longed to say some little words of comfort 
 to the poor youth. 
 
 We then went to a little wayside inn and had our 
 lunch in the garden outside. The prisoners' dinner- 
 time was now over and they were all back at work on 
 the tram-line on the road. It was an historic sight I 
 shall never forget, the surroundings so typically German, 
 and these ultra-Enghsh men working in their shirt-sleeves 
 all along the line, and whistling and talking to themselves 
 quite obhvious of the rest of the world. I am glad to say 
 they seemed on most jocose and famihar terms with all the 
 foremen who were working with them. I gazed out on 
 this scene and felt as if I were in some land of dreams. 
 
 After our luncheon we went home by tram and had to 
 pass along the hne where these men were working. Their 
 delight at recognizing me again in the tram was really 
 most touching ; they all looked up and waved their 
 hands and called out " Good-bye " to me, and I felt I 
 had left a few more unknown friends behind me, whom 
 I shall probably never see or hear of again. 
 
 Many months afterwards I heard from the English 
 chaplain who visited them that they still talked of my 
 visit, and they had managed to find out who I was and 
 all about me, and they told him what a happiness it had 
 been to have a little breath from the Old Country, as my 
 visit had seemed to them. 
 
 The Times has pubUshed some evidence extracted 
 from Bavarian deserters, who vouched to have witnessed 
 the shooting of Enghsh prisoners, whether wounded or 
 not, under supervision of a Bavarian officer. I was in 
 a great state about this and wrote to a friend of mine, 
 a Bavarian officer. His reply is as follows : "I think 
 the whole thing is perfect nonsense .... I expect the 
 deserters were short of money, and made it by telling 
 sensational stories, the Dutch reporters being most 
 anxious for information of that sort. I know many 
 instances of that kind ... a deserter is never a very 
 trustworthy person." 
 
BERLIN, JUNE 1915 61' 
 
 He also drew my attention to the fact that in a fight it 
 is very difficult to say when the " action " has come to 
 an end and when captivity begins. Very often a man, 
 I suppose, may be ready enough to surrender and yet 
 must be killed because the man attacking cannot stop 
 to take him prisoner. A man saving a prisoner may be 
 forfeiting his own life by being hit while doing it. So 
 the Frenchman, of whom a friend told me, was killed by 
 a man who would have liked to save him when he heard 
 the words, " Ayez pitie de moi, j'ai une femme et six 
 enfants." 
 
 I sent the article out of the Times to Prince Lowenstein, 
 who was at the Bavarian Headquarters at Comines. 
 He answered that the " Deserters' story " had been 
 thoroughly investigated, and that no such men existed 
 at all as the two names given as the eye-witnesses, and 
 that he and others with him considered it a Press fabrica- 
 tion from beginning to end. The Bavarian Crown Prince 
 expressed great astonishmeiit that any one should even 
 think they ever killed prisoners. He said, we want 
 prisoners who can talk and tell us something ; there 
 would be no point in killing them. 
 
 How easy it is to talk about atrocities, and how few 
 people pause to weigh the full meaning of their words 
 when adding their quota of horror to the tale. In Berlin, 
 for many months after the beginning of the war, we 
 heard nothing but tales of torture and barbarities inflicted 
 by Belgian women and franc-tireurs on German soldiers. 
 Then came stories of French franc-tireurs and the bad 
 treatment of prisoners in French camps. These were 
 outdone in horror by the wave of feehng against Russia, 
 whose atrocities were said to exceed in cruelty all those 
 perpetrated by the Belgians. Germany punished the 
 Belgians ruthlessly, but dared not adopt such drastic 
 measures with Russia, as too many Germans were in her 
 power on whom she could wreak vengeance. 
 
 Next came England — " Gott strafe England ! " The 
 
*62 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 hatred of England, English measures, EngUsh culture, 
 is beyond description. Germany has never been able 
 to record British atrocities that would stand the test of 
 proof, nor even cases of unjust treatment of prisoners ; 
 yet I am convinced that if a Belgian, a Frenchman, a 
 Russian, and an Englishman were placed at the mercy 
 of a German, he would kill the EngUshman first. Why 
 is it ? I think they truly believe that England entered 
 the war from greed of gain. 
 
 The hatred has intensified of late. There has been 
 a silly story going about of King George offering £i to 
 any one who would bring him a German. The Bavarian 
 Crown Prince, on reading this, is supposed to have rephed, 
 " I think I had better offer the same sum to any one who 
 does not bring me an Englishman." I don't suppose there 
 is a word of truth in this, but it has encouraged the idea 
 strongly that the Bavarians are urged to murder their 
 prisoners, and may be responsible for several stories. 
 
 It was reported some time ago in the papers that 
 Prince Max of Hesse had been wounded, and since then 
 I and many others have been trying every possible means 
 to get definite news of him for his mother, who is dis- 
 tracted with grief. He was the Emperor's nephew, aged 
 i8, and now appears to have died of his wounds received 
 in October 1914. He had been hving in England, and 
 left friends and relations there to come and fight for his 
 country, and to face these friends as enemies on the 
 field. 
 
 His mother, Princess Margaret of Hesse, was for three 
 months without any definite news. The Emperor him- 
 self wrote asking the Americans to find out about him, 
 but without avail. At last, through the searching in- 
 quiries of the Pope and the King of Spain, the tragic 
 news of his death was announced. He had been carried 
 into a monastery near Mont des Cats that was in the 
 hands of the English that night ; he was a prisoner then, 
 mortally wounded, and was attended to by two doctors, 
 
BERLIN, JUNE 1915 61, 
 
 Dr. O'Brien Butler and Dr. Johnson. Dr. Johnson is 
 now at Crefeld, a prisoner. 
 
 Dr. O'Brien Butler spent the night with the Prince, 
 who knew he was dying, and who gave Dr. O'Brien 
 Butler a locket for his mother and his last dying message. 
 Next day Dr. Johnson inquired of Dr. O'Brien Butler 
 about the Prince's last moments. Dr. O'Brien Butler 
 said he had received so sacred a message from the dying 
 Prince for his mother that he felt he could confide it to 
 no one else, but must tell the Princess himself. That day 
 he was killed — so the poor mother, who is broken-hearted, 
 will never know what her boy had meant for her to hear. 
 It is a most tragic story. 
 
 A friend has informed me that one of the nursing sisters 
 in Boulogne told him that Prince Max is buried near the 
 monastery, his body having been picked up by an old 
 priest or monk, who intends to keep the burial-place a 
 secret until he is paid for the damage done to his church ! 
 
 Royal relations are not supposed to correspond with 
 each other in belligerent countries in these sad times, 
 but of course (like all of us) they feel for those in sorrow. 
 Queen Mary sent a graceful message through the Crown 
 Princess of Sweden, expressing her great sympathy with 
 Princess Margaret, and returning the Prince's locket, 
 which had been sent to the King, and which she had 
 tied up with her own hands. 
 
 Berlin, June 18, 1915. — I have been fearfully busy 
 about the Reprisal Question, which is that, as it is said, 
 Winston Churchill has ordered all submarine prisoners 
 to be kept apart in England, and not to be allowed 
 to associate with the other prisoners of war. Germany, 
 on hearing this, needless to say, went in for reprisals, 
 and ordered 39 English officers to be put into solitary 
 confinement at once. They chose 39 out of the Guards 
 Regiments and from among the best-known names among 
 them. Princess Miinster, Princess Pless and I were told 
 that, as we all had relations among the number chosen. 
 
64 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 we could write to England and state the case, and tell 
 them that these 39 officers would be released when 
 Winston Churchill rescinded his decision. We therefore 
 drew up a statement together, and I being the only one 
 at the moment in Berhn, it was decided that I should 
 beard Mr. Gerard in his den, and get him to send it 
 through to England to our most influential relations. 
 
 I wrote it out in the form of a circular, as I knew 
 the answer I should have got if I had asked him to post 
 a letter. I went to the Embassy and asked to see the 
 Ambassador, and was requested to wait a minute. We 
 ladies were by now quite accustomed to being treated 
 like ladies' maids seeking situations when we went to the 
 Embassy to inquire for our missing relations ; however, 
 this time I was not kept waiting long, and as I walked 
 into the room I was greeted with the words, " I can't 
 post any letters for England, if that's what you have 
 come to ask me to do," I felt inclined to reply, " Wait 
 till you are asked " ; however, I reahzed that it would 
 not be a good beginning if I intended to get this document 
 posted, so I only replied, " That is not what I want in 
 the least " (being exactly the thing I had come for), but 
 calling it a circular I knew would change the nature of 
 the request ; so I showed him the list of names and the 
 circular, and said that if he could see his way to sending 
 them to my mother, she would do the rest. He was 
 tremendously interested as he read it, but of course 
 dared not say so in so many words, as it might have 
 been misconstrued into " an unneutral act on the part of 
 an ambassador." He simply said, " What is your mother's 
 address ? " I gave it and withdrew, without asking any 
 more questions. 
 
 Of course we have never had the satisfaction of know- 
 ing whether we did shorten the time of soUtary confine- 
 ment for these officers or not, but we certainly managed 
 to improve their treatment during their time there, as 
 very shortly after I had a letter from my cousin, saying 
 that they were now being allowed certain privileges, that 
 
KISSINGEN, JUNE 1915 65 
 
 they were allowed to be together all day, and that the 
 commander was quite a nice man, who tried to improve 
 their position as far as he was permitted to do. 
 
 Within ten days Princess Miinster had received an 
 answer through a third person from one of the Cabinet 
 Ministers, and I had received one from my mother sa5dng 
 she had sent the matter to the fountain-head ; and also 
 we heard that the American Consul in Cologne had been 
 dispatched to report on and improve the condition of 
 these officers. 
 
 KissiNGEN, June 22, 1915. — We spent a night in 
 Dresden on our way to Kissingen, and met there several 
 Austrian relations who were staying in the same hotel 
 (Continental) . 
 
 Prince and Princess Lobkowitz came from Bohemia 
 for one night on purpose to see us. They have their 
 three sons out and in daily danger. Their views on all 
 the usual subjects were varied. They considered the 
 sinking of the Lusitania a ruthless and somewhat in- 
 human event, but dare not air their views on this subject. 
 They (unlike most Austrians) criticized their own General 
 Staff, and were loud in praise of German organization 
 and generalship. 
 
 Staying with us also was Prince Lobkowitz's widowed 
 sister (Gebhard's cousin) Princess Ratibor and her son 
 Ernest, who is a young naval officer aged 23, and who is 
 now on three days' leave from his submarine. Princess 
 Ratibor has already lost her youngest son in the Car- 
 pathians, and at this moment is in very deep grief about 
 him ; she has also another son in an exposed position on 
 the East front, and her eldest son is lost in Canada ; at 
 least he was there when war broke out, and she had heard 
 nothing about him since. 
 
 Another interesting visitor at this hotel is von Miigge 
 — of Emden fame ; he is just on his way home after all 
 his adventures, and is treated like a hero wherever he 
 goes. There is a crowd outside the hotel always to watch 
 
 F 
 
66 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 him go in and out, and he is followed everywhere in the 
 streets, and has continual bouquets of flowers presented 
 to him. M. Hoyos and C. Lobkowitz and I have just 
 been watching his departure for the station. 
 
 He seems a smart, simple, good-looking youth, and is 
 most bashful at the excitement he creates. He was quite 
 overpowered by the admiring crowd that followed him 
 to the station just now, and which inundated him with 
 magnificent flowers and much cheering ; but certainly, 
 if he was embarrassed by it, his poor old mother who 
 was with him fully appreciated it all, as I have never 
 seen such an expression of perfect happiness and pride as 
 I did on that poor woman's face as she walked with him 
 and helped him to carry the numerous bouquets of flowers 
 with which he was laden. He is indeed a hero, and I 
 know he is looked upon as such by people of all countries. 
 
 His story is as follows : 
 
 He was conducting a landing party of about 60 men 
 on to one of the Pacific islands, when the Emden and its 
 captain and the rest of the crew were captured by the 
 English. So von Miigge and his 60 men were left stranded. 
 They eventually succeeded in capturing a sailing vessel, 
 put some of their quick-firing guns from the Emden on 
 it, and sailed across the Indian Ocean to Bombay, and 
 there, it is said, they held up a British steamer. They 
 later on landed in a Red Sea port south of Aden, worked 
 their way across the Arabian desert, and had to fight 
 several tribes, during which they lost some of their men, 
 and eventually reached Damascus, where they took train 
 for Constantinople, from whence they eventually reached 
 home after many thrilHng adventures. 
 
 But to return to the Ratibors, with whom we spent our 
 time whilst at Dresden. Ernest, the naval Ueutenant, told 
 me much interesting news about his life in a submarine. 
 Of course, I asked him whether he was the one who had 
 wrecked the Lusitania. He said he was not, though he 
 knew who had done it, but no one is allowed to say. 
 
KISSINGEN, JUNE 1915 67 
 
 He began to tell me all sorts of wonderful things he 
 had seen in the English illustrated papers, London News, 
 Graphic, etc., so I asked him, " How do you come to be 
 so well informed as to the pictures in EngUsh news- 
 papers ? " and he replied, " Oh, EngHsh fishermen give 
 them to us sometimes when we have to capture their 
 boats." 
 
 He told me of some quite amusing conversations he 
 had had with some old fishermen. On one occasion, when 
 they had ordered these men to clear off everything and 
 take away anything they liked off their fishing trawler 
 before they sank it, the men were all so frightened that 
 they said — no, they wanted nothing, they would come 
 away just as they were ; but when they were in their 
 boat and got into conversation with these young sub- 
 marine officers, and saw that they were not so alarming 
 as they had at first thought, one old sailor came up to 
 Ernest and said, " May I just go back for one thing ? " 
 and on being given permission they all waited for him, 
 and wondered what this one treasure was going to be 
 that the poor old man could not leave behind. In a few 
 minutes he reappeared carrying a bottle of whisky under 
 his arm, and as he passed Prince Ratibor he said, " It 
 did seem a pity to leave that behind ! " 
 
 I continued to draw this youth out on the subject of 
 his submarine experiences all the time we were together, 
 because it interested me more than anything else, as his 
 life all these last months had consisted in prowling round 
 Scotland under water. 
 
 He, to tease me, said on our morning of departure : 
 " Aren't you jealous of me ? I go to Scotland every 
 week. I will pick you a flower there, and if you hke to 
 give me a letter for your sister, I will pin it on a Scotch 
 cliff next time I touch it." I rephed, laughing, " Don't 
 you boast quite so much. You will touch Scotland once 
 too often, if you don't take care ! " 
 
 " Well," said he, " anyhow, there are only two things 
 that can happen to us submarine officers ; there are no 
 
68 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 half measures about our fate as about others. We either 
 go to the bottom like a stone and are drowned instantly, 
 or else we come back victorious." I saw such a sad look 
 come over his mother's face as the laughing boy said 
 this, and as he was leaving that day to rejoin his sub- 
 marine, I tried to answer in a more hopeful tone than I 
 really felt, and said, " No ; I feel you are just the sort 
 who would bob up hke a cork when every one else is 
 drowning." 
 
 How little I knew that within a month of my making 
 that remark the very thing would have happened. In 
 the beginning of August his mother received an official 
 notice from the Admiralty that the U27 had been sunk 
 off the coast of Scotland, and that Prince Ernest Ratibor 
 and three others were all that had been saved of the 
 crew of 45. We heard afterwards he was picked up out 
 of the water just as he was sinking and in an utter state 
 of exhaustion. He was taken to Edinburgh Castle, where 
 he was a prisoner for some days, and where he was very 
 miserable and ill ; he was then moved to Duffried Castle, ' 
 North Wales, where he is happy and very well cared for, 
 and where my family have now undertaken to look after 
 him and provide him with all the comforts that are 
 permitted. 
 
 KissiNGEN, June 26, 1915. — We arrived at Kissingen 
 on June 20. It is a beautifully peaceful spot, but as 
 there is no peace to be had anywhere, what difference 
 does it really make whether the surroundings are pretty 
 or not ? In a place like this one misses the foreigner 
 more than anywhere else, and the shopkeepers make no 
 secret of how they loved and miss the English. The 
 Russians, perhaps, were not so much loved, but were 
 equally indispensable to the finances of the place. Five 
 thousand Russians left last year when war was declared ; 
 one, when bidding adieu to his car-driver, who was 
 
KISSINGEN, JUNE 1915 69 
 
 bemoaning the parting, replied tactfully and consolingly : 
 " Ah yes, you will see us again. This time next year 
 we shall be back again in Kissingen playing football with 
 the Germans' heads in the streets ! " 
 
 There were not many people we knew doing the cure 
 there. A few days after I arrived Countess Henckel and 
 her sister Princess Lowenstein came, and I spent most 
 of my time with them ; but we did a very half-hearted 
 cure, and agreed that in times like these cures begin and 
 end in the post office. 
 
 Baroness S and I became friends, and used to drive 
 
 and walk together every day. She told me of a mirage 
 she had seen which interested me enormously. It was 
 in the beginning of July 19 14, when she and a number of 
 friends were on a private yacht on their way to Kiel for 
 the regatta week. One evening the captain called them 
 all to the side of the ship and pointed out a mirage, and 
 she said they all stood transfixed with the beauty of it. 
 In the distance, all along the water, they saw all sorts 
 of beautiful hazy scenes and coloured mists of every 
 describable hue and shape floating along the top of 
 the water and gradually up into the sky, where they 
 disappeared, " A mirage is always the sign there is a 
 great war coming," said the captain, " and those 
 coloured shapeless mists are said to be the souls of the 
 fallen going up to heaven." They were struck with 
 the beauty of the idea, but laughed at the suggestion 
 of war. They then went on to Kiel, where they began 
 to enter into all the gaiety of the Kiel week, when 
 the telegram arrived announcing the murder of the 
 Archduke and his wife. So perhaps the mirage had 
 its meaning after aU. 
 
 This is by no means the only portent which has come 
 to my ears. A lady who has been staying in Westphaha 
 told me that she had made acquaintance with one of the 
 villagers, a sickly delicate man, who had spent his hfe 
 in studying Nature, and had made a fine collection of all 
 the different kinds of birds to be found in that part of 
 
JO AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 the world. He had shown her proudly all these specimens 
 prepared by his own hands, the last of which was a small 
 bird which she had never seen before. 
 
 " You won't know this bird, lady, for I never saw it 
 before in my life, but the spring of last year, before the 
 war, suddenly whole flocks of strange birds appeared here 
 I managed to catch this one, and looking in my books I 
 found out what it was, and that these birds hardly ever 
 appear in Germany. They come from the north, and 
 only in great flocks, before a war." 
 
 I spoke to Dr. M , who is a great authority on 
 
 birds, and he too had noticed the Silk-tails or Chatterers 
 here for the first time. He said there had always been 
 an old tradition existing amongst the people that the 
 Silk-tails were a foreboding of war. 
 
 Berlin, July 12, 1915. — I left Kissingen on the 9th 
 without much regret, except for saying good-bye to the 
 Henckels, who had been true and good friends to me 
 there. The day before I left I went on a pilgrimage of 
 discovery, to see the Way of the Cross that I was told 
 was on one of the mountains. It began at the bottom 
 of one of the lower mountains, and the stone stations lay 
 about 100 yards apart all the way up the winding moun- 
 tain path. It was so picturesque. 
 
 As I wended my way upwards I now and again came 
 upon a httle cross hidden in the grass, and on reading 
 it found that they were graves of soldiers who had fallen 
 there in the year '66 during the battle of Kissingen. 
 " Here lie two brave Bavarians and three Prussian 
 soldiers," etc., etc. These were enemies then ; and now, 
 not long after, are fighting as friends. 
 
 On reaching the summit of the hill I sat down on a 
 little rustic seat below the Calvary, and hidden in the 
 grass by my side was another Uttle solitary grave and 
 wooden cross with the inscription " Here lies a brave 
 but unknown hero, who died fighting," and then vividly 
 before my eyes came the picture of that other battlefield 
 
BERLIN, JULY-AUGUST 1915 71 
 
 in Flanders, and what that will be like in years to come ; 
 how many such crosses of unknown heroes will he there 
 hidden in the grass, and what strangers will pass them 
 by, and what impression it will make on them ! 
 
 Berlin, August i, 1915. — Another month has passed 
 away, and we seem no nearer Peace than we were at the 
 beginning, except that in the papers to-day they say that 
 England now realizes that Russia is useless for offensive 
 purposes, and that the Pope has written an Address to 
 all the belligerent Powers appealing to their chivalry ; 
 and as up till now he has always said he would not make 
 a move until the right moment presented itself, this 
 gives some little hope that behind the scenes some one 
 has made a move. 
 
 The American Note crisis is still the great subject of 
 discussion, and in yesterday's paper the heading was 
 " Renewal of Submarine Warfare," which seems to mean 
 that Germany is snapping her fingers at America. 
 
 A new light was put to me on the subject yesterday 
 by a German officer, who told me that really it was Eng- 
 land's interest to keep America from going to war with 
 Germany, as directly she did so she would probably 
 have to fight Japan, and therefore would have to keep 
 all her ammunition, supplies, ships, etc., for herself, and 
 could no longer assist England to the extent she had 
 been doing. 
 
 We had a very interesting talk with a Lieut. Pauley, 
 a wounded German officer here, who came to dine with 
 us. He was one of the exchanged prisoners returned 
 from England, so I pumped him with questions, and he 
 spoke most enthusiastically of the kind treatment he had 
 received whilst in hospital in England. 
 
 WiLDBAD, Thursday, August 5, 1915. — It is said that 
 the outer forts near Warsaw have been taken and 
 that at one spot the Russian army is nearly surrounded. 
 
72 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 The Russians have been obliged to send reinforcements 
 from their Southern army, thus leaving a weak spot for 
 the Austrians to try to break through. 
 
 The Germans have taken Mitau, a town in East 
 Prussia. 
 
 On the West there is silence, except it is said the Eng- 
 lish took a few houses and a trench near Hooge, but 
 these are believed to have been retaken, and many dead 
 were found in the trench, and some prisoners taken. 
 
 G has gone for a long walk up into the mountains 
 
 with a friend, so I have been spending my day typing 
 letters about the missing. 
 
 At three o'clock suddenly all the bells in the town began 
 to ring, the band struck up the usual refrain of " Deutsch- 
 land," the hall porter appeared on the roof to put up the 
 Wiirtemburg flag, and all the people suddenly burst 
 forth singing the national anthem ; so I very soon 
 reahzed that something unexpected had happened, and 
 am told that Warsaw has fallen. It is great news, as it 
 was not expected to fall for another ten days. 
 
 I try to enter into the rejoicings, but inwardly my 
 heart is heavy, and my thoughts flew quickly and 
 selfishly, I suppose, to the question. How will it affect 
 England ? I reahze only too quickly that it means that 
 thousands of German troops will soon be released to go 
 to the Western Front, and will swell the forces trying to 
 break their way through to Calais. 
 
 Dresden, September i, 1915. — More German victories 
 in Russia. Can there be any more forts to fall, any more 
 Russians left to be captured, and more big guns and 
 ammunition to be taken ? Judging by the figures in 
 the papers there cannot be many. But a few millions 
 more or less in the Russian army does not seem to make 
 the slightest impression on it. I read to-day some of 
 the official statistics from a Russian source, in which it 
 says that the losses in the Russian army since the begin- 
 ning have been five and a half millions. In the same 
 
GLASERSDORF, SEPTEMBER 1915 n 
 
 paragraph they add that they have just raised a new army 
 of a million men, and although they admit their present 
 reverses they seem in no way discouraged by them. 
 
 A few days ago I went to the Opera with the Landgraf 
 of Hesse and Baron and Baroness Schenk and her sister. 
 The Landgraf, who is blind, is connected by marriage 
 with the Emperor, and with the Queen of Greece and 
 Princess Margaret of Hesse. He feels the war and the 
 estrangement with England and his Enghsh relations 
 terribly, as he had been accustomed to spend six months 
 every year in England, part of the time in London and 
 part at Eastbourne, where the Queen of Greece and her 
 sister also were. They were actually there when war 
 broke out, and had to hurry off home, like so many other 
 Royalties. 
 
 Glasersdorf, September 11, 1915. — From Dresden 
 we came on to Glasersdorf, Count Ballestrem's castle in 
 Silesia, a beautiful place, so quiet and peaceful, except 
 that one is reminded of the war at every turn by the 
 absence of men servants, of the master of the house, of 
 motor-cars, and by the family being in mourning for the 
 brother who was killed in June. 
 
 As I sit at my window I can watch the prisoners 
 working on the farm. They have twenty-four French- 
 men and one Russian as farm labourers. The Frenchmen 
 look so funny working away in their bright red trousers ; 
 it seems cruel to have sent them to the front in such a 
 conspicuous get-up. 
 
 News has come this evening that the German army 
 are now only 100 miles from Petersburg, It is wonderful 
 certainly, as they still maintain they do not intend to go 
 there. What then is their object in this speedy advance ? 
 
 Lord Kitchener in his opening speech in the House, 
 which is reprinted in the German papers to-day, sounds 
 confident and hopeful. As to the Russian retreat he 
 
74 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 takes the line that the German advance into Russia is 
 not really so fine or rapid as people think, that they are 
 now only advancing two miles a day instead of five 
 miles, as they did at first. Of course, those who read 
 this speech here say, " Sour grapes ! Doesn't he wish he 
 could advance two yards on German territory ! " 
 
 EcKERSDORF, September 19 15. — We are still on the 
 move, and are now staying for a few days with Count 
 and Countess Magnis, and a whole houseful of children. 
 There are 18 in all, including the visiting cousins. 
 
 The chief subject of discussion is the feeling between 
 Austria and Germany. Princess Starhemberg, who is 
 here, is Austrian, and is always ready with her bristles 
 out in defence of everything Austrian ; and on the other 
 hand the Germans of the party take credit for all the 
 victories without admitting that they had any assistance 
 whatever from Austria. One cannot help being sUghtly 
 amused to notice how the point of the whole war is 
 forgotten in the greater interest of internal jealousies. 
 I asked Princess Starhemberg one day whether there was 
 much hatred against England in Austria. " Well, when 
 we have time to, yes, we do hate them ; but we are so 
 busy hating Italy and criticizing Germany that we don't 
 think of much else at present." 
 
 EcKERSDORF, September 24, 1915. — ^We went to lunch 
 with Prince and Princess Radolin in Breslau, and there 
 indeed we found a different spirit and different views 
 from any we had met for a long time in Germany. No- 
 thing but downright hate and abuse of Germany and the 
 German authorities, and, being people with a grievance, 
 their bitterness was all the greater. It is, of course, 
 difficult to form an opinion, but one could not help feeling 
 pity for them in their treatment. 
 
 Prince Radolin had been Ambassador at Paris, had 
 been one of the favourites at the Court in Berlin, and was 
 also on intimate terms with the late Empress Frederick 
 and with Queen Victoria ; but since then, evidently 
 
ECKERSDORF, SEPTEMBER 1915 75 
 
 owing to Court jealousies and intrigues, his and his wife's 
 reputation had been gradually nibbled at and under- 
 mined. Besides the discourteous way in which he had 
 been turned out of his post as Ambassador, he and she 
 had both, at various times, received small insults from 
 various Royalties and officially from the German Court. 
 Therefore they were ready to air their grievances on the 
 smallest provocation. 
 
 A German regiment and staff were billeted on them, 
 the head of which was General Bernhardi, now a well- 
 known General. He was one day abusing the French to 
 a quite unnecessary degree. Princess Radolin burst out 
 into defence of them. He turned to her and said, 
 " Madame, you seem to have some French sympathies " ; 
 at which she, most indiscreetly, flew into a passion and 
 said, " Well, of course I have French sympathies. My 
 mother was French, and as I was ambassadress in Paris 
 for so many years I have many good friends there." 
 He did not say much in reply, but reported her to head- 
 quarters, and from that moment all sorts of petty 
 tyrannies and underhand watching began. One day 
 they found the telephone room in their own castle, where 
 they were then living, locked, and when she asked the 
 reason, a young of&cer answered her in a most insulting 
 manner, telling her that she had been suspected of 
 tampering with the telephone, and of having given 
 warning to some Poles. Imagine her indignation ! 
 
 Her letters were also being privately opened, and in 
 consequence of an indiscreet reference to miUtary matters 
 she was put under police supervision. She was not 
 allowed to receive or write a single letter, even to her 
 husband, without its being read, nor was she allowed to 
 leave Breslau without special permission ; and she was 
 even asked to return all her orders and decorations 
 received during the term of her husband's office. This 
 is such an unprecedented insult or disgrace that no 
 German would ever get over it. (The decorations have 
 since been returned to her.) 
 
76 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Prince Radolin up to then had tried to keep a dignified 
 silence, but at this last insult to his wife he turned, as 
 only a deeply wounded man can turn, and became even 
 more bitter than his wife. It seems so sad for an old 
 man of 70, who has spent his hfe working for his country, 
 to think that the last few years should be spent thus ! 
 
 EcKERSDORF, September 28, 1915. — There is a feeling 
 of depression about every one to-day, and of wonder at 
 the silence from the Western Front. Has there been an 
 offensive ? Could there have been a reverse ? A sudden 
 silence like this generally means that something is not 
 going as it was expected to. 
 
 Many things have made us begin to wonder. First, 
 in the official telegram of yesterday it was said that the 
 Germans had been obliged to evacuate two front trenches 
 after hard fighting against the Enghsh, and that there 
 were fearful losses on both sides. To admit this in an 
 official telegram means that there must have been a 
 decided reverse, as small defeats are unmentioned and 
 ignored. 
 
 To add to this, several men in the village, who had 
 returned on short leave, were hastily summoned back to 
 the West immediately. Then a letter from a doctor to a 
 friend in the village says that things are not going at all 
 well in the West, and finally a telegram has just been 
 received from Count Franz Magnis, brother to our host, 
 saying, " Safe and well." As he never telegraphs, and 
 as he and his regiment have not been near the fighting 
 fine for ten months, this causes much consternation, as 
 they know it means that his regiment has suddenly been 
 called into action. 
 
 EcKERSDORF, October 2, 1915. — Our presentiment was 
 right then ; there was a great battle going on on the 28th, 
 and the Allies were nearer breaking through in the West 
 than they have ever yet been, and are now occupying the 
 third row of German trenches. 
 
 They seem to have made one enormous offensive the 
 
ECKERSDORF, OCTOBER 1915 -j^ 
 
 whole way along the line. There was incessant drum 
 firing (120 a minute) for 60 hours continuously from 
 the French and English lines, and the noise alone sent 
 many out of their minds. Then they used poisonous 
 gases, which the Germans were not prepared for, and had 
 therefore not got their masks ready, and the losses in 
 consequence from this alone were enormous. 
 
 The Germans really were taken by surprise this time. 
 I think they had for so long looked upon the Enghsh and 
 French talk of a big offensive as nothing more than a 
 threat, that they had begun to think it would never really 
 come off. But it did, and on so gigantic a scale as to 
 surprise even the Germans. 
 
 It is said the French had 25 army corps, the English 
 23, and Germany 23 engaged at the front. It is also 
 said here that the Commander of the 8th German Army 
 Corps made some mistake which occasioned a terrible 
 loss of hfe, and he has been removed from his command 
 in consequence, and that there had been a fearful row 
 between him and Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, who had 
 sent hastily for reinforcements, but there were none ready 
 to send him. 
 
 One colonel, who has just returned here since, says his 
 regiment alone lost 70 per cent in a few hours, and the 
 few stragglers returning wounded, caked with blood and 
 mud, were a most pitiable sight to see. The losses on 
 the German side were 20,000 prisoners and 40,000 dead 
 and wounded. The names are only just beginning to 
 come out, and the suspense in consequence is terrible to 
 witness. Germany is still confident of success, but their 
 anxiety everywhere is beginning to be felt, although they 
 will not put it into words. 
 
 In a quiet way the shortness of supplies is beginning 
 to show. The price of milk was increased on October i, 
 and it is said that soon very httle butter will be allowed 
 to be used. It seems a funny thing to have run short, 
 before bread, for instance, but it is said that milk will be 
 
yd> AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 scarce ; firstly, because too many calves were killed in 
 the spring, and also because the cows could not be fed 
 properly. 
 
 Another thing that they are getting anxious about, 
 although they would not own it if you asked them, is 
 material for making ammunition. A circular has been 
 sent round to every house in Silesia and in Austria, and 
 I think here, ordering an inventory to be made of all 
 copper, brass, etc., that they have in chandehers and on 
 roofs and everywhere. It is pathetic to see the house- 
 holders making lists of their household gods, wondering 
 sadly when the moment will come when they receive the 
 order to tear them down and have them melted into 
 ammunition. 
 
 Berlin, October 1915. — At dinner last night we met a 
 Mexican minister who had been to Paris, Brussels, and 
 other places, and who told us that he did not at all think 
 the Balkan question at an end ; that England would 
 leave no stone unturned to get Greece and Roumania, 
 and that he did not consider the neutrality of Greece by 
 any means so safely settled as the Germans do. 
 
 He did not agree with the German view either, that 
 the war will be decided with the Balkan campaign. He 
 said that England and France were so strong in the West, 
 and had made such tremendous preparations, that they 
 meant to sit there till doomsday rather than give in, 
 whatever Germany might do elsewhere. 
 
 He then talked of the terrible verdict that had been 
 passed on the three spies in Brussels. He told me that 
 Brussels was like a smouldering furnace, and that this 
 act of cruelty has excited people almost as much as the 
 Lusitania. 
 
 A few days ago I went to tea with the wife of Prince 
 Christian of Hesse, whose mother had just got back from 
 America. She, Mrs. Rogers, had remained some hours 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1915 79 
 
 at Kirkwall on the way, where the ship was held up by 
 the British. So she had much to tell us of all the examina- 
 tion of papers and questions they had to undergo before 
 they were allowed to continue their passage. 
 
 Her daughter also showed us a very interesting snap- 
 shot photo her husband (a naval lieutenant) had taken 
 at Zeebrugge, of a Zeppelin being fired at by three EngUsh 
 Dreadnoughts, and the photo showed it just falUng into 
 the sea, broken and ruined. He himself had an appoint- 
 ment on the coast there, and he said that particular spot 
 was bombarded by English ships almost daily, and they 
 do much harm. 
 
 As to the actual war news, it is difficult to say any- 
 thing the last few days. All the talk is now whether 
 Greece is going to be drawn in, and also Roumania, 
 
 Bulgaria has evidently quite decided to throw in her 
 lot with Germany and Austria, and this seems to cut the 
 Allies off from using Roumania, even if she did decide 
 to go with them, unless Greece is persuaded to change 
 her intention of keeping firmly neutral. For the last few 
 days she seems quite bent on keeping out of it. Wise 
 country ! 
 
 Berlin, October 11, 1915. — ^There is once more one of 
 the usual rumours of peace by Christmas ; but this time, 
 they say, with more reason. I wonder whether one can 
 allow oneself to begin to have a gleam of hope. It is 
 based on the fact that the English are withdrawing their 
 troops from the Dardanelles, and had attempted a land- 
 ing at Salonika. But as, so far, the Greeks have shown 
 most decidedly that they do not intend allowing that, it 
 looks as if there is nothing left for the EngUsh to do. If 
 they cannot get to Nisch, as the railway has been destroyed 
 there, they are cut off. 
 
 Perhaps they wiU bring aU their troops to the West 
 Front, and what appalUng loss of life ti.ere will once 
 more be there if they do. I beheve, if they and the French 
 
8o AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 went on long enough, they could break through, but the 
 loss of life would be terrific. 
 
 One knows that when the Peace negotiations begin, 
 one scratch of the pen will settle those few yards of 
 territory more decidedly, and with much less suffering, 
 than all this fighting can do. So why not do it that way 
 now ? The heart for victory is taken out of every one 
 on all sides. 
 
 The losses the last ten days at Loos must have been 
 stupendous on both sides, and bits of information about 
 it begin to come in. An officer told us last night that 
 one regiment had had every single officer in it killed 
 during the one day's fight, and that the regiment in 
 front of them had been absolutely wiped out, and their 
 dead bodies had filled a trench, so that the incoming 
 regiment had to fight standing on these dead bodies the 
 whole of one day. 
 
 Dr. Ohnesorg, the American Embassy doctor, said he 
 had yesterday visited some wounded at Bayreuth. Among 
 them were three wounded Englishmen, one belonging to 
 the Black Watch, one to the East Surrey, and one to the 
 Royal Engineers, and the description they gave of these 
 days' fighting at Loos was appalhng. One of them said 
 his regiment had had to follow a Kent regiment, which 
 had been completely mown down, not one single man of 
 it left standing. Another of them said he had lain for 
 three nights and days outside a trench, where he fell 
 when wounded. Shortly after he had received his wound, 
 a German doctor had crawled out to him and bandaged 
 him up, and from that moment he had lain under in- 
 cessant artillery fire, and the English troops and Germans 
 had swayed backwards and forwards over near where he 
 lay, the ground changing hands four times during those 
 three days as the waves of victory varied. He had a 
 haunted, anxious look in his eyes, they said, which made 
 one sad to see ; but otherwise he was comfortable and 
 well cared for, and was in a large ward with French and 
 coloured wounded prisoners, all from those recent fights. 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1915 81 
 
 Berlin, October 14, 1915. — I must note down two 
 interesting stories I have been told to-day, of two German 
 officer prisoners of war just returned. The one officer 
 arrived a day or two ago with the latest batch of wounded, 
 who have been passed by the doctors as no longer any 
 use for military service, having proved to be deaf, dumb, 
 and blind from shock. On arriving here he very soon 
 began to talk, and said that he had faked being deaf, 
 dumb, and blind for seven months continuously, and that 
 no one had detected he was shamming. 
 
 The other story was of a naval officer, also just arrived 
 back, who had been one of those who jumped overboard 
 from the Dresden when she was sunk by the British. 
 He had been picked up by a Swedish vessel, where he 
 passed himself off as an English sailor, and was taken by 
 them to Sweden and then on to England, where he passed 
 himself off as a Swede, and was employed as a common 
 dockyard hand in the London docks for four months. 
 He then returned to Sweden, and from there got back to 
 Germany, and is now once more estabhshed in his position 
 as a German naval lieutenant. 
 
 Berlin, October 23, 1915. — At the beginning of the 
 week we dined at Excellency Solf's (the Colonial Minister), 
 where we, as usual, met a great many interesting people. 
 Baron Jagow, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, took me 
 in to dinner, and as he is personally acquainted with many 
 well-known Englishmen, we soon found that we had 
 mutual acquaintances. 
 
 He said that he had heard a rumour of the resignation 
 of Sir Edward Grey, and then went on to tell me that in 
 his opinion Sir Edward is innocent of much that he is 
 accused of. He considers that the " villain of the piece " 
 is Sir Arthur Nicholson, but that he is cute enough to 
 keep behind the scenes. Suddenly, in the middle of the 
 dinner, he turned to me, remarking : " But is there 
 nobody who will shoot Lord Northcliffe ? He is his own 
 country's worst enemy, as well as ours. And he is more 
 
 G 
 
82 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 answerable for all this bloodshed and carnage than any 
 other single individual throughout the world." 
 
 After dinner my husband had an interesting conversa- 
 tion with Helfferich, the Finance Minister, who was the 
 hero of the evening, as all were comphmenting him on 
 the success of the second war-loan. He told my husband 
 that he could not help being amused at seeing himself 
 caricatured in the Enghsh papers as " Helfferich the pick- 
 pocket," and of having been accused of docking the 
 salaries of the poor. 
 
 At first sight this may seem to have been the case, 
 and probably refers to the different Sparkassen that con- 
 tributed their deposits to the war-loan. It is Germany's 
 system to use money that she must pay back to herself, 
 so to say. Of course the poor people get 5 per cent for 
 the war-loan money, whereas " Sparkasse " deposits only 
 pay 3 per cent, and the Government is naturally security 
 enough from their point of view. 
 
 But the chief topic of conversation throughout the 
 evening was the diplomatic success over the Balkan 
 question, and every one was congratulating Herr v. Jagow 
 on the clever way he and his colleagues had " pulled it off." 
 And even I personally could not help feeling pleased that 
 they were coming in for a Uttle praise at last, as the poor 
 Foreign Office has really had nothing but " kicks " for 
 such a long time past. 
 
 But even whilst hstening to all the laudatory remarks, 
 I could not help thinking of a conversation I had heard 
 only that afternoon in a military circle : " Yes, we 
 can let the Foreign Office enjoy this triumph for once, 
 but we know nothing succeeds like success, and that 
 it is in reality our great military achievements that 
 have influenced Bulgaria's choice, and (maybe) will 
 influence still more important countries before we have 
 done ! " 
 
 After dinner, conversation was about the copper collec- 
 tion. One lady said she had sent all the copper she had, 
 and was sorry to have to part with her lovely copper 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1915 83 
 
 kettle. Another said hers had been sent back as not 
 wanted at present. 
 
 I ventured to suggest that the scarcity of copper 
 might bring about an earher end to the war. Cries of 
 indignation arose. Germany's organization required this 
 collection of copper, just as the so-called " Brotkarten " 
 (bread tickets) were issued to control the amount of bread 
 consumed. They only wanted to see how much copper 
 they could lay hands on, and had so much already from 
 kettles, pots, pans, etc., that the supply would last them 
 three years. Even the telephone wires have been 
 reckoned on if it should be necessary ! 
 
 My heart whispered that this must be " bluff." It is 
 an interesting sight, though, to see cartloads of old pots 
 and kettles and candlesticks, door-handles, chandeliers, 
 etc., being driven along the street, and a poor woman 
 or schoolboy carrying a copper kettle or brass lamp to 
 the collecting offices to be weighed and paid for. For 
 the Government pay well, and many people are tempted 
 to be quick about getting rid of old copper for a good 
 price. I heard a man the other day say that if he 
 could get 100 tons of copper to sell, he would be a rich 
 man for life ! 
 
 Then we talked of the terrors of submarine warfare. 
 One officer present described how his submarine had been 
 caught in one of the English net traps. There he and 
 the crew had to remain for hours under water, like rats 
 in a trap ; no possibility of escape, and a death of starva- 
 tion. They eventually managed to break through, but 
 many don't. He said they could live for seven hours 
 below the sea before djdng of suffocation, and 
 shuddered, poor man, even then as he spoke, at his 
 recollections. 
 
 The same evening, my brother-in-law, Gustav, dined 
 with us, on his way back from Warsaw. And we made 
 him tell us about his life there. 
 
 He said that it was very little different from here, 
 
84 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 there being hotels as luxurious as the " Esplanade," 
 with music every evening, and that it is only outside the 
 town that one realizes what the Russians have done. 
 They have killed all the animals and removed everything 
 out of the houses, even down to the brass handles on the 
 doors ; everything that might be of any possible use to 
 the Germans. On my asking him, " How about the 
 inhabitants — can you go about in the streets without 
 being met with a look of loathing and hatred, every time 
 they pass you ? " " No," he answered quaintly in his 
 broken English, "it is not as bad as that ; they are as 
 one might say, ' civil, but not enthusiastic' " 
 
 A few days after that I went to the American Em- 
 bassy. Princess Braganza (American, with an Austrian 
 husband) and another American lady with a German 
 husband were there. So, with my English self, we were 
 rather a mixed party, and war conversation on these 
 occasions is supposed to be avoided. Nevertheless the 
 question of the American Note cropped up as usual, and 
 the Ambassadress said that if ever she heard the words 
 " American Note " or " Ammunition " mentioned after 
 the war, she would probably " shriek " ! 
 
 Then the other American lady joined in with, " Yes, 
 what a dreadful time we have had all this summer, and 
 just as we were beginning to feel a little ' cosy ' on the 
 subject of the Lusitania, those old Germans must go and 
 sink another whole boat-load of Americans." 
 
 I could not help smiling at her husband at this very 
 pointed remark, which was such a proof of the saying 
 that " Americans step in where angels fear to tread." 
 
 Berlin, October 1915. — I have not so far ventured to 
 utter my views about Miss Cavell, for the simple reason 
 that if I once began I should say too much, and should 
 probably be too candid on the subject. I think it one 
 of the most dastardly deeds of the whole war, and I am 
 not by any means alone in this opinion even in this city 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1915 85 
 
 itself. It is extraordinary that the German Government 
 {i.e. the miUtary authorities) should continue to ruin 
 their cause by making repeated diplomatic mistakes like 
 this. They argue that she was guilty, that she was a 
 spy, that she had been smuggling dynamite to blow up 
 bridges, that she had been signalling to the English 
 troops where to land, that she had a regular code of 
 signals with flyers ; but, I ask you, can one woman do 
 all those marvellous things, especially in a town like 
 Brussels ? I know what it is like even here ; if one 
 sneezes out of tune one is accused of signalling to the 
 enemy ; how, therefore, could it be done in an occupied 
 town hke Brussels, where every second man is a 
 detective ? 
 
 Maybe she was guilty, but of what exactly ? Of 
 helping wounded soldiers of any nationality to hide, 
 to get into a place of safety, perhaps to get across 
 the frontier back to their own country. What woman 
 with a woman's heart would not do this ? Would we 
 have any woman of our acquaintance act otherwise ? 
 Even if it were the act of a spy, will the Germans never 
 learn the lesson of " Mercy to season Justice " ? 
 
 And then, why was it done in such a hurry ? And 
 why were all the others forgiven, and only she executed ? 
 Was it, as it is hinted here, due to private and personal 
 malice because she was English ? All those who were 
 forgiven were of another nationahty. Well, it is a blot ; 
 in fact, another blot, to be quite exact ; and as a German 
 of&cer said sadly to me to-day, when the war is over, 
 and in the years to come, however distant, these blots 
 are the things that will be remembered and go down to 
 history, and all the brave deeds and wonderful feats that 
 our troops and armies in the field have done, and all the 
 many individual acts of heroism will be forgotten, and 
 only such episodes as these will stand out. 
 
 The Emperor is as usual getting the entire blame for 
 the crime in all the neutral and other papers, but it is 
 probably true, as they say, that he was really in ignorance 
 
86 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 of it until it was too late. It is declared emphatically, 
 that on hearing of the sentence he wired ordering a 
 postponement for further inquiry. It is also said that 
 the Empress received a telegram the evening before 
 from the King of Spain, begging her to use her influence, 
 and only rephed that if women behave as men they must 
 be punished as men. I can hardly believe it, but it is 
 a fact that it is the Empress who disUkes England and 
 the Enghsh, rather than the Emperor, whose Enghsh 
 " interest," as they call it, has aroused jealousy here ever 
 since the beginning of the war. 
 
 There are so many rumours current as to who really 
 is to blame for the sentence of death being carried out 
 on Miss Cavell, that I hardly know whom to believe. 
 Until now, I always thought it was Bissing who had in- 
 sisted on it ; but I have heard from officers who were 
 there at the time, that it was not so, that both Bissing 
 and the Kaiser were against it, and that the latter even 
 made use of his prerogative for mercy, and sent a pardon 
 at the last hour, but the messenger arrived half an hour 
 too late. 
 
 It seems she had boasted too much at her trial of 
 having helped Enghsh and Belgian soldiers over the 
 frontier. Baron Lancken, who wished to acquit her, 
 tried to make her speak in her own defence, which she 
 refused to do, and thus she sealed her own fate. Major 
 Sauberzweig, who confirmed the judgment as head of 
 the. court-martial, is accused of having hurried on the 
 execution, in spite of the fact of Baron Bissing pleading 
 for her acquittal in Berhn at the same time, so the onus 
 of her death must fall on him. 
 
 Berlin, October 29, 1915. — The most interesting 
 conversation I have had to-day was with Prince Miinster, 
 who told us that the hopes of peace were all shattered 
 once more. He related that an Enghshman had arrived 
 in Hamburg, having got through with an American pass, 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1915 87 
 
 and went to see Ballin (the Hamburg-American Line 
 manager), who has so many Enghsh friends. In an 
 miofficial way he volunteered the remark that Grey and 
 Asquith sent their greetings to Balhn and wished to 
 know his views as to the prospects of peace. If, for 
 instance, Germany would enter into negotiations on the 
 basis of giving up Belgium, England, he suggested, would 
 be ready to do the same. 
 
 The answer was, " Das glaube ich ! " which is about 
 the same as, " I've no doubt she would." And there 
 the matter dropped. 
 
 Berlin, October 1915. — I have got some more news 
 about Roger Casement. He came here to-day from 
 Munich for a week, and I saw him for a moment. People 
 here have very mixed opinions about him. Some think 
 he is an Enghsh spy and only pretending to be a rebel, 
 whereas others laugh at him as at a man who has failed. 
 
 He tried, as usual, to talk me round about Ireland. 
 I told him Ireland to me was like a little terrier biting 
 at the heels of two great mastiffs. " Why," I said, " if 
 he loved Ireland so, had he come to Germany ? " He 
 wanted to stop the recruiting, was his reply. But that, 
 I told him, could have been done more effectively by 
 having remained in Ireland or having gone to America. 
 " Why stop it ? " I asked him. " The Irish had proved 
 such splendid soldiers and had even won an entire battle 
 by themselves." 
 
 Then his pride in the Irish soldier showed itself, 
 proving that in reahty he does not know what he wants. 
 But when he begins airing his opinions in too self-satisfied 
 a manner, it makes me want to repeat to him the words 
 I had heard lately from the lips of a German lady about 
 him. " If you ask me," she said, " what I think of 
 Roger Casement, I think him a blot on the earth ! " 
 
 I happened too to meet a lady who knows the man 
 who invented poison gas. His wife, it appears, was a 
 
88 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 doctor of chemistry too, and they used to work together. 
 When the war came, and she saw what use was being 
 made of her inventions, she committed suicide. Her 
 husband, though, is proud of the valuable service he is 
 doing for the Fatherland, and says he is even proud that 
 he was called upon to sacrifice his wife to the cause. 
 How different human beings are ! 
 
 Berlin, October 29, 1915. — Prince Alfred Salm dined at 
 the "Esplanade" the other evening. He was interesting 
 to talk to about Poland, whence he is just back. He is the 
 head of the Warsaw Nurses' Association, and organizes 
 everything there. I asked him whether he associated 
 with the Poles at all. He said the Polish ladies were 
 most amiable, and invite the Germans to smart dinners, 
 and are very charming to them. Then after dinner they 
 begin to touch on politics and think the Germans won't 
 see through it. They have only one wish, and that is 
 to know who is going to be king of Poland ! 
 
 Old Count Mettemich was there too, much flattered 
 at the rumour that he was going to be made Ambassador 
 at Constantinople. He had retired from public service 
 after leaving London, and every one looked upon him 
 rather as having been put on the shelf, and too old, 
 and so on, so that he was pleased at having suddenly 
 been unearthed. 
 
 He has since really been appointed. He was telhng 
 me about his journey with Solf to The Hague. He met 
 ever so many old acquaintances from England there, 
 and was deeply hurt at being cut by them all. 
 
 Berlin, October 1915. — So English submarines are 
 busy in the Baltic, and ships are bombarding the Bul- 
 garian coast. Is the navy coming out at last ? I can't 
 deny that I have been rather disappointed in the Enghsh 
 navy, and the Germans are as much astonished at the 
 little the navy has done as they are at the unexpected 
 size, ability, and bravery of the English army. 
 
 I hear the scarcity of cotton may influence the fabrica- 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1915 89 
 
 tion of ammunition. It makes my hopes for peace rise 
 to think of it. As Prince Munster says : "If you want 
 to see Countess Bliicher smile, tell her the Germans are 
 running short of ammunition ! " 
 
 Personally I wish the world would run out of ammuni- 
 tion for ever. 
 
 A scare has broken out again among the Americans. 
 The feehng to-day and yesterday has been almost as 
 bad as after the Lusitania. The German attaches are 
 not to be given a safe escort home, which is a thing 
 unprecedented in history, it appears, and the Germans 
 are furious about it. These attaches are supposed to 
 have instigated others to blow up ammunition factories, 
 but the Americans cannot lay their fingers on an actual 
 proof. 
 
 Anyway, the attaches are to return, and no guarantee 
 for safety ! There were 150 dining here yesterday, and 
 each single person took a different view. 
 
 Ten days later. — It is amusing to read all these discus- 
 sions and at the same time be sitting with the heroes of 
 it at the same table. Herr von Papen, from Washing- 
 ton, is here now at the "Esplanade" and was introduced 
 to us last night. He says all the stories were much 
 exaggerated. It is true that his cheque-book was taken 
 away from him ; but most of the letters were pure 
 invention. 
 
 I was interested too at meeting Mr. and Mme. Dumba 
 on their return from America. (Dumba, it will be remem- 
 bered, had given his letters about the German ammunition 
 factory workers to Archibald to take to Austria, and as it 
 came out, America asked for him to be removed.) 
 
 They dined here at the " Esplanade." Dumba seemed 
 to feel things rather ; but it was quite evident that 
 Mme. Dumba was delighted at finding herself so notorious 
 on her return. 
 
90 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 I overheard an interesting remark to-day. They were 
 speaking of the taking of Warsaw. " What is there to 
 celebrate ? " said a young officer. " We had to ride 
 over the bodies of our comrades to enter the town." 
 
 I beheve this young officer was one of the first to 
 enter ; but I remember at the time of the fall, each young 
 man we met from that part had been THE FIRST, and 
 it amused us to keep account of these firsts. We got to 
 very near loo ! 
 
 A German friend, Baron H , who had been living 
 
 in England for many years, told me that though he knew 
 nothing of soldiering, when war was declared he had had 
 to leave his office-desk in London, and come straight out 
 to join his regiment. He and his regiment (cavalry) 
 were sent straight to Belgium, and for the first three 
 weeks of the war they just rode about scouting. One 
 night, after a 36 hours' continuous ride, just as they were 
 lying down to a most welcome sleep, they were roused 
 and ordered out to take a village. They set out wearily 
 and very reluctantly, and rode into this village, clearing 
 it and driving all before them. Months after, they were 
 told that they had taken part in the now famous battle of 
 Mons. 
 
 How different is a battle, how different is war, from 
 what we " stay-at-homes " picture it ! 
 
 Berlin, November 15, 1915. — This morning the 
 Enghsh papers are full of the butter riots in Berhn. 
 The accounts are, of course, exaggerated. There is 
 absolutely no question of " 200 people dead " ; one or 
 two shghtly hurt is all that can be faithfully reported. 
 Absolute silence on the subject is imposed here, and 
 not a word is allowed to sHp into the daily papers. I 
 suppose they think this is the best way to suppress 
 further disturbance. 
 
 What really happened was the following. About 200 
 women trooped down the Linden, calling out " Frieden, 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1915 91 
 
 Frieden " (peace), and at once 150 mounted police 
 appeared on the scene with drawn swords to disperse 
 the crowd. This they soon succeeded in doing, though 
 they are supposed to have said themselves that they 
 hated such drastic measures towards women, and a 
 common soldier on leave said that if the infantry at the 
 front were to hear that their wives were being treated 
 thus in their absence, whether they demanded butter 
 or anything else, they would refuse to continue fighting. 
 
 Anyway, on the day of the Reichskanzler's speech the 
 town was prepared for a regular riot. They had closed 
 the gates of the Linden, and taken all precautions, but, 
 strangely enough, hardly anything occurred. I have 
 since heard that the crowds were immediately met by 
 mounted and other pohce at the gates, and so many of 
 the foremost women were taken prisoners that the others 
 dispersed. The women have been sentenced to a fort- 
 night to three weeks' imprisonment. 
 
 The disappointment at the Reichskanzler's speech is 
 very great — every one expected something tremendous 
 from him, something that would alter the aspect of things. 
 And he has said nothing. So people shrug their shoulders, 
 and general depression is in the air. I, personally, do 
 not see what he could have said, unless he had openly 
 declared that Germany will give up Belgium. Every 
 German now says, " Of course, we are ready to give 
 up Belgium " ; and the Enghsh say, " We'll make peace 
 if Germany will give up Belgium." So there they are 
 facing one another, but no one will take an actual step 
 towards opening negotiations. 
 
 Berlin, November 1915. — A friend just returned from 
 England tells me that the Zeppehn raids have aroused 
 England's anger tremendously. The Enghsh will never 
 show fear of any kind, but their faith in the impossibihty 
 of any enemy reaching London has been shaken, and a 
 certain tradition has been broken and every Englishman 
 is roused. 
 
92 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 At the same time there is a hghter side to the raids. 
 In the fashionable shops you can see nightdresses and 
 dressing-gowns advertised as " Zepp nighties," " Robes 
 for Raids," etc. 
 
 This to the German mind appears the zenith of super- 
 ficiahty, frivohty, and English arrogance (arrogance in 
 their behef that nothing can touch them). They are 
 much too ignorant of the Enghsh character to realize that 
 an Englishman (or woman) might feel a pang of fear, 
 but with his last breath he would say, " I don't care." 
 
 The English could not have chosen a more effective 
 way of showing the enemy the uselessness of these raids 
 than by jeering at them. 
 
 The pathetic tales one hears wherever one goes make 
 the heart bleed. A poor woman in the train the other 
 day was holding up her hand and counting the fingers 
 on it slowly — one, two, three, four, five — over and over 
 again. The passengers gradually began to smile at her, 
 until at last the man sitting next to her looked up and 
 said simply, " Don't laugh at my wife, ladies and gentle- 
 men. I am taking her to the asylum. Her wits are gone. 
 She has lost her five sons — all killed in action." 
 
 Another tragic story is that of a boy who felt Hke a 
 wild beast caught in a trap when forced into active service. 
 He went to the front, almost lost his wits, and wrote 
 distracted letters home. His parents, beyond themselves 
 with despair, left no stone unturned to get him sent home. 
 At last their petition was granted ; they knew their 
 boy could come, and on that very day came a wire from 
 the front : " Your son has committed suicide," 
 
 Stories of this kind are not few and far between, and 
 my heart cries out that it is natural, for those who are 
 truly civilized cannot lightly set out to kill their fellow- 
 creatures. 
 
 What happens when they do, shows how war brings 
 out the brute in man. Men in Flanders are sent into 
 the houses to get firewood ; furniture is taken, boards 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1915 93 
 
 from the flooring. " Why, then, of course, let ns smash 
 up the whole show," they say. They pass their bayonets 
 through the pictures, and destroy whatever is useless. 
 Crockery is taken along to be used first ; after meals, 
 when the cups and plates are dirty, it is easier to throw 
 them out of the window than to go in search of water 
 to wash them. There are plenty more cups and plates 
 for to-morrow in another house ! 
 
 No German soldiers may force the inhabitants to give 
 them food without a receipt that is to be as good as cash 
 after the war. So out they come, the poor Flemish 
 women and Pohsh men. They offer milk, poultry, 
 cheese, and the soldiers wilUngly give them bits of paper 
 with a few words which they treasure up as carefully as 
 if they were worth their weight in gold. The words on 
 the paper are usually the following : "A thrashing to 
 this old woman for her excellent cheese " ; " Three blows 
 to the bringer of this paper for his fine eggs," and so on. 
 
 They do not mean to be brutal, these German common 
 soldiers : it is their idea of a good practical joke. " Who," 
 they say, "is to pay all this after the war ? We shall 
 not. Their own Government will not. It is all a farce ; 
 let us do it in style ! " 
 
 Berlin, November 1915. — Germany will be a very 
 diflicult country to live in after the war, as, whether she 
 wins or loses, the Socialists are going to revolt — I feel 
 quite sure of that. It is the German custom to nip every- 
 thing in the bud, and to use such drastic measures that 
 whatever goes on in the soul of a man or party never 
 rises to the surface, but is left fermenting in suppressed 
 silence. 
 
 It seems now, though, that the war is going to alter 
 this state of affairs. The tremendous enthusiasm at 
 the beginning for a struggle that each German felt was 
 not of his desiring, but imposed on him, and which called 
 forth all the loyalty as well as all the mihtary instincts 
 of the race, left no room for discontent or contradiction. 
 
94 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 As the German army passed from victory to victory the 
 people were Ufted off their feet with surprise at their 
 own strength, and all party discussion seemed drowned 
 in one great unity. What was said by the EngHsh Press 
 about the revolt of the Sociahsts was absolutely wrong 
 — Germany was united as perhaps never before. 
 
 But now the war has been going on for a year and a 
 half, and it has not been possible to suppress the losses, 
 the suffering, the horrors. The long hsts of casualties 
 have developed into great thick volumes ; more and more 
 men are being called up ; women are realizing the enor- 
 mous burden imposed upon them. They have to do the 
 men's work as well as their own, and when they have 
 earned their pay it all goes into the pockets of others who 
 sell them food at enormous prices. Naturally they begin 
 more than ever to say : " Why should we work, starve, 
 send our men out to fight ? What is it all going to bring 
 us ? More work, more poverty, our men cripples, our 
 homes ruined. What is it all for ? What do we care 
 whether we have a bit more land added on to our big 
 Germany ? We had enough land. We'd rather fight 
 for a more just division of the goods of this earth. For 
 whether we obtain land or money for the ' Fatherland ' 
 after this war, we shall not see any change in our Uves ; 
 the wealth will not come our way. The State which 
 called upon us to fight cannot even give us decent food, 
 does not treat our men as human beings, but as so many 
 screws in the great machine of the German army. If 
 one screw drops out or gets bent, there are plenty more ; 
 we cannot stop to pick up the lost ones, or straighten 
 the crooked." 
 
 A young officer returning from a fight in which he had 
 had to watch his men being literally mown down by 
 machine-guns, went up to Headquarters to report. There 
 he found the highest staff authorities sitting at a banquet 
 and discussing the war in a flippant way. " I could have 
 killed them all," was his remark. And men going out 
 to the front after recovering from their wounds have 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1915 95 
 
 been heard to say : " We've been hurt once and are 
 half cripples ; they think it better to send us back as 
 ' cannon fodder ' ; we can get killed off and no loss to 
 the State." 
 
 Everywhere you can hear it murmured : " We are 
 forced to keep silence now ; but wait till the war is over, 
 then our turn will come." 
 
 How must a mother feel whose only son is in daily 
 danger, when, going into some hotel like the " Esplanade," 
 she sees people feasting in splendour, smartly dressed, 
 talking and laughing, and in every way living in the lap 
 of luxury ? Will she feel anything but hatred for these 
 thoughtless, indifferent creatures ? Will she not say : "Is 
 this what we are sacrificing everything for ? Is this 
 the great country, the culture that is to redeem the 
 world ?" 
 
 What about the way the officers live, when not in 
 action ? Pheasant served on slices of pine-apple, with 
 champagne, is a mere item in a long menu, whilst others 
 are starving. The bread they get is so hard that they 
 cannot bite it, and often there is not even that. The 
 injustice of all this is bound to make them cry out for 
 equality and fairness, not that they should be sent out 
 to fight other men, called enemies, who are just in the 
 same pHght as themselves. 
 
 The authorities act the whole time. They keep up 
 appearances, revel in victories, praise their organization, 
 and never a word is breathed amongst them about the 
 sadness of the losses, the sufferings of friend and foe alike. 
 
 Germany with all her mental and physical progress 
 has suffered this miHtary autocracy for a hundred years. 
 Maybe she will now wake up to reahze 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 ? 
 
 Will a new RadicaUsm arise — not destructive this time. 
 
96 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 1915. — In reference to what 1 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 us]aal " ! 
 
 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 hold- 
 ing 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 — 
 
BERLIN, DECEMBER 1915 97 
 
 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. 
 
 This naturally started the people in the compartment 
 talking, and as it was a third-class carriage, comments 
 were pretty free. 
 
 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 ! " 
 
 When is that turn of theirs to come, I wonder ? 
 
 Berlin, December 15, 1915. — 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 
 
 H 
 
98 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 preparations for the festival, with an undercurrent of 
 hopefulness in our souls. 
 
 Berlin, or what we call " Our Berlin," seems as fuU 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 feehngs 
 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 Enghsh 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 
 
BERLIN, DECEMBER 1915 99 
 
 he had heard in the English War Office only a week ago : 
 " How can we make peace now ? We are not yet vic- 
 torious, 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 de- 
 cadence. 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 vitahty ! 
 
 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 bom of the fact that she may sink no more 
 Lusitanias, and cause no more wholesale slaughters by 
 means of her Zeppelins ? 
 
 No, I am afraid if ever humanity played a part in the 
 
loo AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 con- 
 tinue, 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. " If 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 battle- 
 fields of Europe, and growing ever grosser and more 
 complacent as the masses of its gory food increased. 
 
 Berlin, December 27, 1915. — 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 bear- 
 ing their sorrow proudly as a crown to their lives, others 
 bent and broken under a burden too heavy to be borne. 
 
 But everywhere it will be the same ; in Paris and 
 London too every one will be gazing at their Christmas- 
 trees with eyes dim with tears. 
 
BERLIN, DECEMBER 1915 loi 
 
 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 pur- 
 chases. 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 Hke 
 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 ex- 
 actly 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 
 
I02 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 with wounded soldiers, nurses, nuns, and pale-faced, 
 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 dpng 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 1916. — Berhn 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 modem. 
 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 repre- 
 sents exactly what it was intended to be, a centre or 
 gathering-place for the great world of Berhn 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 
 
BERLIN, JANUARY 1916 103 
 
 influence, who have been driven away from house to 
 house by the great tidal wave of the war. 
 
 All people of any repute passing through Berlin take 
 up their abode here, princes and nobles, and impecunious 
 millionaires, who somewhere or other possess the accumu- 
 lated 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 prin- 
 cesses and duchesses, of a characteristic lighthearted- 
 ness, 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. Every- 
 thing 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 comers, 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 brilhance of the dining-room ; the exquisite pro- 
 portions of the oval-shaped apartment ; the pillars of 
 grey- veined marble ; the white festivity of the flowered 
 ornaments on ceihng and walls ; the soft luminance 
 falUng from the crystal chandehers 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 ! 
 
104 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 brilhance 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 de- 
 caying 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 ! 
 
 Style Louis XVI. ! In the Ught 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 hfe 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. 
 
BERLIN, JANUARY 1916 105 
 
 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, deUcate, 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 lonehness 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 
 
io6 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 BerUn 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 mor- 
 ganatic wife of Prince Max of Hesse ; Countess Seherr- 
 Thoss, who was Miss White, daughter of Mr. Henry 
 White, formerly American Ambassador at Paris ; 
 Baroness Stemburg, and several others besides. Princess 
 de Biron is French, and there are a few ladies of PoHsh 
 and Russian extraction. 
 
 Amongst the men there is a Major S with his 
 
 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 appalHng 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, 
 
BERLIN, JANUARY 1916 107 
 
 Prince Lynar, Prince Braganza, Prince Fiirstenberg, 
 Prince Lippe, Prince Taxis. 
 
 Besides the international clique, there were of course 
 many other residential friends of ours in the hotel. For 
 instance the clan of Hohenlohe ; so numerous 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 clus- 
 tered smaller tables of different members of the family 
 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 Berlin society somewhat narrow after 
 her gay international life, 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 
 internationally for his organization of the Prisoner of 
 War Department, and she for the kind-hearted hospi- 
 tahty she 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 
 friendly, open-handed entertaining, which we always en- 
 joyed 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 correspondence. 
 
io8 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 Ues, 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 earUer 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 ghmpse 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 poUtical 
 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 
 smihng 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 
 
BERLIN. JANUARY 1916 109 
 
 only talk amongst themselves. Then we know there is 
 a crisis pending. But when they become directly agress- 
 ive 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 trjdng 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. 
 
 But all our hves, we shall remember those few with 
 gratitude who sacrificed themselves a httle in our 
 interests. 
 
 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 
 
no AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 I believe nothing at all, but can only sit still with folded 
 hands, in a state of abject despair. 
 
 Berlin, January 1916. — ^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 Unes on which 
 he was working here at the time. Bethmann-HoUweg 
 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 hus- 
 band told me that the feeUng between the ministers and 
 the military and naval party is growing from bad to 
 worse. It all turns on the burning question of un- 
 restricted 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 Ludendorff complains bitterly of the indecision of 
 the responsible statesmen in this matter. The Kaiser 
 and Bethmann-HoUweg are absolutely opposed to it 
 from feehngs of humanity. 
 
 Berlin, January 22, 1916. — The excitement about the 
 
BERLIN, JANUARY 1916 in 
 
 Baralong is tremendous. We had tea with Baron Jagow, 
 and of course it was discussed. They think this cold- 
 blooded 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 Enghsh 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 
 impossibihty, 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 Bara- 
 long — 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. Hinden- 
 burg 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. 
 
 Much discussion has been going on about the Reichstag 
 and Herrenhaus debates. One Httle bit I must mention 
 
112 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 here, as it was not allowed to leak out into the news- 
 papers. 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), " we're 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 
 gracefuUy 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-HoUweg 
 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 1916. — 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, Lowen- 
 steins, 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 
 
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 1916 113 
 
 face and her animated remark, seeing that as a rule 
 she is a quiet, retiring httle 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 way 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 EngUsh. 
 
 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 feehng 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 Unes were destroyed, and 
 they were cut off from every kind of communication. 
 He could not even hear from his Avife. 
 
 I 
 
114 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 feeUng 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 EngUsh 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 ! 
 
 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. 
 
 I heard an amusing story to-day. A Cathohc soldier 
 
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 1916 115 
 
 here refused to go to confession. " Why," he said, 
 " what is there to confess ? Stealing is permitted, and 
 kilUng a duty." 
 
 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 hfe asks of us, you 
 would say, ' He's a fool ; don't take him seriously.' 
 Why then life ? " 
 
 Berlin, February 27, 1916. — 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 pohtically 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 off 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 
 
ii6 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 England and Austria for a separate peace," and I produced 
 the Morning Post of February 8. 
 
 This remark caught hke wildfire, and all immediately 
 set off on that topic in the most animated and heated 
 manner. 
 
 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 the 
 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 appalhng error as to break with America. Peace 
 must be maintained with America, they say, at any price I 
 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 ! 
 
 Berlin, February 1916. — One daily hears stories which 
 show the weariness of killing on both sides. A youth. 
 
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 1916 117 
 
 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-tireur' 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 burn 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, 1916. — 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. 
 
ii8 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 pretend 
 indifference. 
 
 Verdun is the chief subject of interest at present, and 
 in Germany it is now looked upon as hkely 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 Enghsh 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 
 heutenant 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 
 
BERLIN, MARCH 1916 119 
 
 race. 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 Enghshman'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-HoUweg 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 modem 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 in- 
 describable. They gave out as the reason for his retire- 
 ment that he had broken down and needed rest ; so he 
 walked with his wife up and down the WiUiehn 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 
 
BERLIN, MARCH 1916 121 
 
 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 Biilow 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 rehsh bombs dropped instead 
 of flowers. " Oh," said ZeppeUn, " I am sure I wish I 
 could always drop flowers." 
 
 Berlin, March 12, 1916. — ^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 recieived 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 hft 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 
 HoUand. No wonder Prince Sahn 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-caUed " 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 
 
122 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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, 1916, — I have been in bed with 
 what people say is influenza, but I feel inclined to call it 
 " Ersatz " illness. Every one is feehng ill from too many 
 chemicals in the hotel food. I don't beheve 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 over- 
 organization. The "Magistrat" forbids the seUing 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 
 BoUe 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-hke 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 Itahan Front. The hatred of 
 Russia is not great enough to call forth any enthusiasm 
 on that side. 
 
BERLIN, MARCH 1916 123 
 
 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 hked 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 aU 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 
 
124 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 still thinking that kings are all-powerful, but surely no 
 one else does." 
 
 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 Kterally 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 19 16. — Here are some extracts from a 
 private document, supposed to be a true account of the 
 state of England and Enghsh feeUng at the time (January 
 1916), compiled by a so-called neutral, but in reahty 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 Govern- 
 ment being fully ripe for peace overtures. The latter 
 have lost control of the nation, and are simply tools in 
 their hands. 
 
 Goethe's well-known verse : 
 
 Die Geister die du riefest, die wirst du nicht mehr los, 
 
 may be aptly applied here. 
 
 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 stem and immeasurable actuaUties 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 possibiUty of an eventual understanding 
 with Germany, although here he is almost the most 
 unpopular Englishman ahve. 
 
 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-HoUweg 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 disUke 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 hke 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. 
 
 John Bull, reborn as St. George, radiant and beautiful 
 
126 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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, Glad- 
 stone, Beecham {sic), and Charles 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, harangiing the masses, and 
 assiduously providing food for the iion 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 ParHament, 
 who, in their reverential awe of themselves as divine 
 instruments for working out England's salvation, are 
 still glad enough to cUng 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 Govern- 
 ment 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 
 un wounded 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 dis- 
 illusioned. 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 after- 
 effects of this gas — their lungs had shrivelled up and pre- 
 vented breathing, so suffocation had set in and killed them ! 
 
 The people continue to be very restless ; I hear that 
 in other towns they have resorted to energetic measures 
 
BERLIN, APRIL 1916 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 on top ! 
 
 My sister-in-law in Bonn gives a description of dis- 
 turbances 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 Ijmched them. The mob broke the 
 windows of the police station." 
 
 Berlin, April 1916. — Last night we dined at Baron 
 von Jagow's and met the Dutch Minister and his wife, 
 M. and Mme. Gevers. 
 
 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, and is adopting a somewhat 
 threatening attitude towards the neutrahty of Holland ; 
 which is all very weU in its way, but a Dutch neutrahty 
 in favour of England would be so very much better, seen 
 through insular spectacles. 
 
 We were again struck by the difference between Eng- 
 land's and Germany's diplomacy. If Germany happens 
 
128 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 Ust of shipping casualties, 
 and the regrettable accident is lost to sight. 
 
 English diplomacy is certainly marvellous. The Ger- 
 mans 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 hghts and shades of what is generally 
 known as tactfulness, 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 pohcy 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 fore- 
 thought of the critical colonial question for Germany in 
 the future. 
 
 Dr. Solf is one of those clear-seeing men who under- 
 stand 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 
 under supervision by men like Falkenhayn, who never 
 allows any one to speak to him alone, he always being 
 
BERLIN, APRIL 1916 129 
 
 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 : 
 
 " Miinster, I have had a letter from Lady , asking 
 
 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 re- 
 mained 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 " Enghsche Krankheit,'* and warn- 
 ing 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 Enghsh. 
 
 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 inter- 
 course with the Staff at all. 
 
 K 
 
I30 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Berlin, April 4, 1916. — 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 Uke 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 reaUty I was 
 a prisoner here. I could not get away. They wiU 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 German 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. 
 
 But he said, " If I told you more, it would endanger 
 the lives of many, and as it is, it is only my life that has 
 
BERLIN, APRIL 1916 131 
 
 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 1916, — 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 hke an EngUsh 
 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 pubhc in the 
 way it had done. And he told me his unmarried sister 
 was still more surprised. She went one evening to a 
 
132 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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, hke 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 
 wiU hardly suffice to wipe out the memory of her piratical 
 deeds at sea. 
 
 At this limcheon 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 aU 
 that they and the Enghsh 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, Hke 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 httle 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. 
 
BERLIN, APRIL 1916 133 
 
 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 EngHsh 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 English- 
 man (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 Hke 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 roimd the 
 comer) 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. 
 
 I have not yet said anything about Asquith's answer 
 to Bethmann-HoUweg's long tirade. How the people 
 
134 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 here waited for that speech of Bethmann-Hollweg. There 
 was a gasp of expectation running through the popula- 
 tion. 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 miUtarism ? Could he not have answered 
 Bethmann-Hollweg's words in a different way ? " 
 
 A defence of the latter immediately commenced, and 
 England of course is blamed once more as the arch- 
 enemy. 
 
 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 confis- 
 cated 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 poUce, who thenceforth control 
 her expenses and receipts, etc., allowing her but a certain 
 percentage of profit and a certain number of hours for 
 
BERLIN, MAY 1916 135 
 
 work, so that she cannot use up too much of this precious 
 cotton and woollen material. 
 
 Was Bismarck right in saying that officialdom in 
 Germany would end by stifling Germany with its own 
 weight ? 
 
 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 BerUn after a 
 peaceful Easter spent with Princess Miinster in Demeburg, 
 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 poHce and a rather threatening-looking mob, 
 who, it seemed, had already stolen the bread suppUes 
 for the hotel, evidently supposing that we were Hving 
 in a superabundance of luxuries, whilst they were wanting 
 in everything. As a matter of fact, our supply of bread 
 is hmited 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 ist, and a few turbulent 
 Sociahsts had tried to get up a passing agitation to 
 celebrate their day in the usual manner, on which occasion 
 Liebknecht, the notorious quarreller in Parhament, was 
 arrested for attempting to disturb the pubhc 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 fife were wanting, and many people kept 
 Easter in the face of an empty larder. 
 
136 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 The unexpected duration of the war has led to unfore- 
 seen 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 food- 
 suppUes by speculators for the purpose of demanding 
 exorbitant prices reached such a chmax, that it almost 
 seemed as if a revolution on a small scale were threatening 
 in Berhn, 
 
 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 regu- 
 lations 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 
 ever5rwhere, and gave rise to the name of the " butter- 
 polonaise." These women often got up in the middle 
 of the night, to be first on the scene, and took camp- 
 stools 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 seventy- 
 five Privy Councillors managed (or mismanaged, as his 
 opponents say) the organization of the food-supphes in 
 Prussia, grew sick with the weight of his responsibilities 
 and resigned his onerous post, and in his place a dictator- 
 ship of three tried men has been placed, who are cour- 
 ageously commencing the struggle with the existing lack 
 of everything. 
 
 Our daily rations are at present : ^ lb. of sugar, 
 ^ 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 aU up in the province 
 
BERLIN, MAY 1916 137 
 
 of Brandenburg, and they cost 32 to 30 Pf. apiece, if 
 available at all. 
 
 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 
 forces in all classes. 
 
 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 long ? 
 
 In Silesia we heard of an old Latin sajdng mentioned 
 by a CathoUc priest, which is especially applicable for 
 this year : 
 
 Si Marcus pascham dabit 
 
 Et Joannes Christum adorabit 
 
 Totus mundus vae 1 clamabit ; 
 
 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 hght-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. 
 
 I was not very much astonished when at Derneburg 
 
138 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 I 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 EngUsh spy, and it was only when 
 he happened to fall foul of a certain naval of&cer 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 humilia- 
 tion 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 1916. — ^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 prob- 
 ably never pass the English censor, they replied that 
 it would not go by post at all, but by special messenger. 
 
BERLIN. JUNE 1916 139 
 
 and that I could see the very man who would person- 
 ally 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 wiU 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 over- 
 whelming 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 Enghsh 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 Uke 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 cofiins, dead 
 bodies, and wounded being carried through the streets 
 
I40 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 was enough to suppress any feeling of rejoicing which 
 may have been felt elsewhere. 
 
 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 air- 
 service, i.e. the scouting done by the ZeppeHns, 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 S5nnpathy 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 kiUed 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 pohtical adversaries and revenged himself for 
 aU 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 
 
BERLIN, JUNE 1916 141 
 
 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 EngUsh 
 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 mis- 
 takes, 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 fifty- 
 seven hours on the bridge. One of his destroyers saved 
 140 Englishmen (?). This is an interesting statement, as 
 by Enghsh accounts the Germans ran away, and could 
 not have saved an English crew during the battle. 
 
 Count CoUoredo has just returned from Wilhelmshaven. 
 He described having seen the whole fleet returning, and 
 added that it was the most historic sight he had ever 
 seen. He had aU sorts of interesting details to relate. 
 One cruiser had rammed an EngHsh 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 dis- 
 tance of twenty miles away, and as they fired incessantly 
 
142 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 one after the other, it seemed to form a continual streak 
 of hght — a most imposing sight to watch. 
 
 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 gloom here, as 
 German troops have to be sent out. 
 
 I have just received messages from Captain R and 
 
 Captain A , thanking me for having had one of them 
 
 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 grate- 
 ful 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 against 
 her countrymen. 
 
 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 Czer- 
 nowitz. 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 
 
BERLIN, JUNE 1916 143 
 
 Italians, and withdraw their best troops to send to the 
 Bukowina. 
 
 I think the bad feehng between the two alhes 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 civiUan, 
 in which the former complained bitterly of the negUgence 
 and indifference of his superior officers. 
 
 The German and especially the Prussian soldier is per- 
 haps 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 Switzer- 
 land. Each prisoner receives his package and loaf, and I 
 must give the German authorities their due as to the 
 proper dehvery of these parcels. 
 
 The English Government sent an official inquiry as to 
 some complaints they had received, and the answer proved 
 that only one cigarette had been missing out of one box 
 in one week ; and considering the number of parcels that 
 come from England for the prisoners each week, it does 
 not seem so bad. Mx. and Mrs. Lay have just returned 
 
144 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 from Switzerland, where they were able to see the bakeries, 
 and also the loaves which are sent every week from there 
 to the Enghsh prisoners. The flour is sent to them from 
 England. Mr. Lay played golf with eleven different 
 nationalities, and he said that the war-talk between them 
 was pretty hvely at times, and that the war-talk here 
 was child's play to their conversation, 
 
 Krieblowitz, September 1916. — For some three months 
 I have written nothing, for it has been my lot to be the 
 centre-piece in such an unusual series of events, following 
 so fast on one another, that I found neither leisure nor 
 inclination to sit down and write any account of them, 
 or of my own feelings. 
 
 I had made up my mind to a quiet uneventful sojoufn 
 for some weeks alone in Berhn, when suddenly, on July 8, 
 an event occurred which changed the whole course of 
 our destiny. My father-in-law was killed by a fall from 
 his horse, during a sudden attack of giddiness, whilst out 
 riding in the park at Krieblowitz. 
 
 It is not easy to describe the difference which suddenly 
 took place in our lives. After having existed for more 
 than two years in a bed-sitting-room in a hotel, we all at 
 once found ourselves in possession of several beautiful 
 castles and estates, a palace in BerUn, and many rich 
 acres of land in the country. In fact it aU seems rather 
 like some new phase of the Arabian Nights, as by reason 
 of the unusual relations existing between the members of 
 the Bliicher family, we had not until now in any way 
 shared in aU these desirable things, and it seemed almost 
 magical to wake up one morning and find oneself the 
 owner of them. 
 
 The funeral of my father-in-law, which my husband 
 attended, brought about a sort of reconciUation (or was 
 intended to do so) between my stepmother-in-law and the 
 other members of the family, then all meeting together 
 at Krieblowitz for the first time for twenty-five years. 
 On July 23 we ofiiciaUy left Berhn for Breslau, where 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, SEPTEMBER 1916 145 
 
 we stayed in the -Ballestrem Palace, which had been lent 
 to us by Graf Ballestrem, until we could take up our 
 residence in Krieblowitz, which was not made possible 
 for us until September. 
 
 Every one else seemed to be leaving the " Esplanade " 
 at the same time, either going off to Switzerland or retir- 
 ing to their country places, tired of the ever-increasing 
 scarcity of food in Berlin ; and we shall probably never 
 again reunite in the same manner as during the last two 
 winters in Berhn, if only on account of this difficulty. 
 
 On our at last taking formal possession on September 9 
 of Krieblowitz (the estate presented by the nation to 
 the old Marshal " Vorwarts "), we met with quite a 
 solemn reception at the entrance to the castle, where all 
 the household were assembled to greet us, each one 
 presenting me with a bouquet of flowers ; while the 
 officials, in frock coats and white gloves, each delivered 
 a separate speech of welcome to me. The widow and 
 her family met with a similar ovation in farewell, and 
 departed, leaving us to settle down in earnest. 
 
 It is impossible to describe all the beauties of my 
 future home ; it is such a lovely old place, with its marble 
 staircase and magnificent banquet-hall, its cloisters and 
 vaulted arcades running round the castle, and the glorious 
 views from the windows, over beautiful lakes and woods. 
 And the people are so simple and natural in their kind 
 way, with no display of bitterness or hatred towards the 
 Enghsh nation ; only full of gratitude for every kind 
 word offered them, and resigned submission to their own 
 personal losses in the war, eighty men having gone from 
 the village of Krieblowitz alone, of whom no small number 
 have already fallen. 
 
 The whole place was in deplorable need of repair ; 
 painters and decorators took jjossession, and began laying 
 on electric light, putting up bath-rooms, etc., with the 
 greatest speed possible, although, on account of the want 
 of worlonen and the shortness of all materials caused by 
 the war, all sorts of delay were inevitable. 
 
 L 
 
146 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 One of my husband's first acts was to create a chapel, 
 as an offering of thanksgiving, and in memory of all our 
 relations and friends who have died or fallen during the 
 war. It is intended to form a place where perpetual 
 prayer may be offered up for them all, and it will indeed 
 be an exquisite little place of worship when finished and 
 decorated, being formed out of a room already existing 
 near the entrance to the castle, and which probably was 
 originally intended as a chapel, having a vaulted Gothic 
 roof and Pointed doorway. 
 
 It is as if some invisible curtain had fallen, separating 
 us for ever from our nomadic life of unrest in Berlin, with 
 all its political perplexities and vexations as to " fats and 
 greases " (or rather the want of them), and the constant 
 irritating absence of everyday needs. Here we are living 
 on the fat of the land, as the monks of old themselves 
 most probably did in this very same monastery. We are 
 in fact self-supporting, which means that my husband 
 and the keepers supply us with all manner of venison 
 and game, such as wild duck, hares, partridges, and 
 pheasants. We buy no butcher's meat ; the farm supplies 
 us with milk and butter, flour and bread, and the garden 
 keeps us in vegetables and fruit. As elsewhere, these 
 things are more or less " beschlagnahmt," but after having 
 experienced what it is to be starved, we can appreciate 
 all these luxuries well enough. 
 
 Krieblowitz, September 1916. — I have put off until 
 now writing an account of a thrilling experience which 
 I went through, and which sounds more Uke the plot 
 of a shilUng-shocker than an actual occurrence of every- 
 day life, although there is very Uttle love in the story and 
 a great deal of ill-feeling and hatred. WeU, every one 
 has to have some little affair in connection with the war, 
 and so I have just had " ma petite guerre a moi," and 
 feel rather elated than otherwise, as I have decidedly 
 come out of it with flying colours and routed the enemy 
 hip and thigh. 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, SEPTEMBER 1916 147 
 
 Some ten days before the old Prince's death, I was 
 suddenly and peremptorily summoned to appear at the 
 Kommandantur, the centre of military legislation in 
 BerUn. On my arrival there I was informed that my 
 husband was not allowed to enter the room with me, so 
 that during the two hours' investigation of my crimes 
 which followed he was left to wait in an ante-room, not 
 knowing what was going on, or if I was not going to 
 be sentenced to the same fate as Miss Cavell for some 
 unknown treason on my part. 
 
 On entering the room I asked for an interpreter, and 
 was then put through a minute cross-examination, 
 which amazed me more than anything else ; most of it 
 seemed to have so httle to do with any possible reason 
 for my being there. 
 
 I was informed that I was accused of having criticized 
 the German treatment of prisoners of war in an un- 
 justifiable manner. This had been overheard by a female 
 informer, and I was asked to repeat what I had said. 
 I was for the moment taken aback, for I could not recall 
 having ever spoken of the matter to any one but my 
 husband and my most trusted intimates. Wishing, how- 
 ever, to be perfectly truthful, I agreed that I might perhaps 
 have discussed the matter at some time or other, upon 
 which they proceeded to assist my memory by telling 
 me I had been heard" to use the words " unglaubliche 
 Unmenschlichkeiten " (incredible inhumanities) to Mr. 
 Gerard, the Ambassador, 
 
 I pointed out that this was palpably false, as not 
 only did I not know what the words meant, but I could 
 not even pronounce them had I done so. Having 
 convinced them of this through the medium of the 
 interpreter, a very nice German officer, who took my 
 part the whole time and thought the whole matter a 
 storm in a tea-cup, they proceeded to question me on 
 all sorts of vague things which had nothing to do with 
 the affair at all. 
 
 They were greatly interested not only in my own 
 
148 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 age, but that of my parents as well, and were very 
 curious about my mother's maiden name and the date 
 of my father's birthday ; after which they suddenly sprang 
 back to real business, and we did a little light fencing as 
 to the exact position of the tables and chairs and the coffee- 
 cups on a certain memorable night in the "Esplanade" 
 garden, when my treasonable incrimination of the 
 Prussian methods of treating their prisoners was sup- 
 posed to have taken place. When we had agreed on 
 these various points the matter was settled as follows : 
 Scene laid in the illuminated gardens of the Esplanade ; 
 my husband and myself sitting on the terrace drinking 
 our coffee, as we always did in the evening ; later enter 
 Prince and Princess Braganza, and Baron and Baronin 
 von Rath, who joined our party, as was their habit after 
 dinner ; conversation general and vague until the arrival 
 of Mr. Gerard on the scene. One of us asks him to tell 
 us something of his doings that day, to amuse us. Mr. 
 Gerard, in his customary abrupt way, replies : " If I 
 told you what I had been doing to-day, there would be 
 a long article in all the German papers to-morrow, accus- 
 ing me of being anti-German and pro-English. But I 
 can tell you one thing," he added, " there will be food- 
 riots in some of the prison camps very soon." 
 
 I : " Food-riots ? How can that be ? I thought they 
 got such splendid parcels from home ! " 
 
 Mr. G. : " Parcels from home consist of groceries. I 
 should like to see you Hving on groceries." 
 
 And I really could not remember anything more 
 having been said after this, although I was alleged to 
 have poured forth volumes of wrathful criticism on the 
 subject. I was then not only questioned on the family 
 history of my husband and myself, but also on that of 
 Prince and Princess Braganza, of Baron von Rath and 
 his wife, as well as of Mr. Gerard. 
 
 I was thereupon informed that the matter was 
 finished, and returning to the hotel at once ran to my 
 friends' rooms to laugh over my experiences, and was at 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, SEPTEMBER 1916 149 
 
 the same time rather amused to hear that one of them 
 had just been summoned to the Kommandantur too. 
 
 For the next ten days I had not much time to think 
 of the matter, as in the meantime old Prince Bliicher had 
 died, and I was laid up in bed with influenza. Then, 
 on the very day when my husband was away at the 
 funeral, I received a second order to appear at the 
 Kommandantur. I at once rang up my doctor, who 
 wrote out a certificate saying that I was too unwell to 
 appear. My judges gave me two days to recover, and 
 on my then presenting myself I was curtly informed that 
 I was to quit Berlin within three days. For the moment 
 there was nothing to be done but obey, as no one knows 
 what procedure this mihtary dictatorship may employ 
 next. But once established in Breslau, my husband 
 immediately proceeded to set all strings in motion to get 
 behind the matter and have the sentence rescinded. He 
 drew up an appeal to High Quarters, and travelling back 
 to Berlin demanded imperatively to see General von 
 Kessel personally. He was put off with all manner of 
 excuses for several days, when losing further patience 
 he sent in an " ultimatum " to the Commandant, saying 
 that if he did not see him within twenty-four hours he 
 would go personally to the Kaiser. He then took the 
 next train for Breslau, but before even arriving there 
 telegrams and telephone messages came raining in from 
 terrified officials begging my husband to return at once 
 and see the General. 
 
 Some one who interviewed him at that time on the 
 subject told us that the General had realized his mistake 
 when it was too late, but was unable to draw back. 
 On being directly asked what my real offence was, he 
 was obliged to admit that I had not said the things I 
 was accused of, but that I had shown anti-German 
 inchnations ; and on its being put to him that this was 
 not a grave military offence, he agreed, but said, " I 
 mean to teach German princes not to marry English 
 wives." Wonderfully diplomatic, is it not ? On the 
 
I50 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 other hand, in High Quarters they say : " We want the 
 foreign wives of our nobiUty to be encouraged to hve in 
 our country, and not to be driven out of it one by one." 
 
 By this time all the figures who had been dancing to 
 General Kessel's tune began to see their mistake also, 
 and proceeded to try and mend broken pitchers. One 
 of the principal marionettes, the woman who had stooped 
 to play the part of an informer, wrote and apologized, 
 saying that she had " overheard incorrectly " ; but she 
 met a weU-deserved fate, and having served their ends, 
 she and her husband were flung aside by the military 
 authorities hke tools of no further service. They were, 
 of course, cut dead by every one, and had to leave the 
 hotel, and the husband had to resign his post on the 
 Staff into the bargain. The General, who was by this 
 time in a state of abject fear, implored my husband not 
 to let the affair get to High Quarters, and he would 
 rescind the sentence at once. But it was already known 
 there, causing intense indignation. I received all sorts 
 of nice messages and letters from High Quarters, and from 
 various high officials, apologising for the idiotic affair 
 and regretting the inconvenience it may have caused me. 
 I am therefore glad to be able to express my appreciation 
 of the kindly, chivalrous feehng existing amongst many 
 men of the highest position in this country. 
 
 The conclusion of the affair was rather amusing than 
 otherwise, for General von Kessel, feehng he had put his 
 foot in it rather badly, became quite friendly with my 
 husband, and in a moment of confidence told him some 
 interesting details as to their methods of watching the 
 doings of women of foreign birth. He said that we were 
 all under strict supervision, and that descriptions of our 
 lives and doings were all entered in books for this purpose. 
 
 Gebhard asked him what proofs he had of my so-called 
 " anti-German inclinations." He thereupon produced a 
 letter which I had written to my cousin. Captain Trafford, 
 four months ago. Two incriminating sentences were 
 marked in it, and the letter had been sent by the Com- 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, SEPTEMBER 1916 151 
 
 mandant of Crefeld to the Commandant at Miinster, who 
 was so shocked that he sent it on to Kessel, who, still 
 more shocked, showed it to Bethmann-Hollweg, who, 
 however, was obHged to admit that he could not see 
 anything so very terrible in them. 
 
 The inoffensive letter had, however^ grown into a 
 State affair, and they had all been pondering deeply on 
 its meaning for the last four months. The two extracts 
 run as follows : 
 
 1. " The Tennis Club is now open again, and we 
 sometimes go there in the afternoons ; but it is not 
 amusing as it was last year, as every one seems in low 
 spirits and has no energy or keenness for anything." 
 German note at the end : " The writer evidently means 
 to convey to her cousin that the German nation is 
 depressed about the ultimate result of the war." 
 
 2, " When the happy day of peace arrives, what a 
 lot of new nephews and nieces you and I will have to 
 be introduced to when we meet again in England." 
 German note : " The writer seems to be discontented 
 with hving in Germany, and intends to go back and live 
 in England as soon as she possibly can, and seems to 
 infer that she would hke peace at any price, so that 
 that moment should arrive for her," 
 
 It seems hardly possible that so much fuss should be 
 made about such harmless httle sentences, and many 
 Germans laugh at it themselves. I myself can hardly 
 help being amused, although I am so angry. But if 
 this is all that they can bring against me after two years, 
 I feel rather comphmented than otherwise, particularly 
 when I think of the things I might have been accused of 
 saying, which perhaps it would not have been so easy 
 to explain. 
 
 Krieblowitz, September 1916. — ^The great topic of 
 interest which is hypnotizing the mental powers of all 
 Germany, and putting great strain on the national 
 sagacity, is the best way of preserving human life on a 
 
152 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 minimum of albumen and farinaceous foods. Letters 
 received from friends reveal the desperate plight they 
 are in to cope with the necessities of the day. We 
 hear too of food-riots in Berhn and other big towns, 
 but in order to prevent a panic they have all been 
 hushed up. 
 
 Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, a nephew of the Emperor, 
 and the Landrat not very far from here, was shot at last 
 week, the people blaming him for the shortness of food, 
 etc. ; and an official in the Board of Provisions here told 
 my husband, a month ago, that if the war lasted another 
 six months it would be impossible to keep the people in 
 hand at all, the disquietude is increasing so alarmingly. 
 
 There has been food enough during the last year, 
 but it seems that so much has been stored up that whole 
 cart-loads have had to be thrown into the Rhine, as it 
 has all gone bad. This is what enrages the people so 
 fearfully. 
 
 • ••••• 
 
 Although the battle on the Somme has proved to be 
 of much longer duration than any one expected, no 
 decisive action has taken place up to now. Bloodier and 
 more costly as it has proved to be than any other phase 
 of this murderous war, Germany remains determined not 
 to be crushed by the Alhes, as these in their turn are 
 shrill with assertions of its being the final move towards 
 her destruction. 
 
 An officer back from the front told us to-day that the 
 flyers in the West are causing the most appalling havoc 
 there. The French flyers come down to within 300 
 metres of the hues, and throw bombs on to transport 
 and hospital trains. Only the day before he had himself 
 seen an engine blown up, and the engine-driver killed 
 together with all the other occupants of the train. How 
 thankful I feel that my husband no longer accompanies 
 the wounded on the transport-train, as the very one he 
 was on has to go into the thick of the fighting in the 
 West. In fact, no one is safe anywhere, it seems, and 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, SEPTEMBER 1916 153 
 
 only to-day we heard of English and French flyers being 
 over Brussels, and German flyers over Portsmouth. 
 
 The death of Prince Emanuel Salm affected us deeply. 
 It was only a few short weeks ago that he was relating 
 to us his experiences in an Enghsh concentration camp, 
 and how land every one had been to him there. He had 
 been a prisoner for some eighteen months, his friends 
 working hard the whole time to set him free ; and on 
 this finally being accomplished, he was at once sent to 
 the Russian Front, where he was killed within a very 
 short space of time after his arrival. 
 
 The relations between Austria and Germany are 
 becoming very strained, the Germans complaining that 
 the Austrians lose all the ground gained by the Prussian 
 troops, and the Austrians grumbUng that they are never 
 given credit for any victories, but are always accused of 
 muddling and making mistakes. The Austrian Arch- 
 dukes, who invariably arrive too late on the scene, are 
 the most popular butt for the criticisms of the German 
 comic papers. 
 
 The Austrians, on the other hand, affirm that Germany 
 would have been in a sad pUght now had they not stopped 
 the Russians from pouring into Silesia in the commence- 
 ment of the war. The agitation in Bohemia and Lower 
 Austria is said to be increasing alarmingly, the people 
 clamouring for bread and peace, even at the cost of 
 handing over Galicia or any other territory to Russia, 
 if they only be left unmolested. 
 
 The feehngs amongst the people here in Germany, in 
 the interior, are a mixture of stoical submission to their 
 present desperate pUght, and a certain conviction that 
 Germany can never be reaUy humiliated. 
 
 Hindenburg's promotion as Commander-in-Chief in 
 the place of Falkenhayn was a very popular step, the 
 latter being regarded as a man of personal ambition. 
 
154 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 whose own ends were at least as important as those 
 of his country. It is said that Hindenburg made it a 
 condition of his accepting the post that no further actions 
 against Verdun should be attempted. 
 
 A great movement is being organized to ensure the 
 co-operation of the Reichstag in the field of work especially 
 monopoUzed by the Foreign Office until now. In fact, 
 a more democratic form of government on EngUsh and 
 French lines is being dreamed of and worked for already 
 by the more hberal party in the Reichstag. 
 
 To-day is one of the critical days in the Reichstag, 
 as the SociaUsts are going to speak, which generally 
 means more street riots. Men coming home from the 
 front are beginning to murmur, and the authorities are 
 in fear of their causing disturbances. We also hear that 
 Herr von Jagow, the head of the police, has been suddenly 
 promoted (?) to the same post in Breslau, on accoimt 
 of the Emperor's displeasure at the drastic measures 
 taken by the pohce during the last bread and peace riots 
 in Berhn when women are said to have been wounded. 
 The Emperor said he would have no more of it, and that 
 some other method than that of shooting women must 
 be found for queUing street-riots. 
 
 The unprecedented English artiUery fire on the Somme 
 is fiUing the hospitals more than ever, aU those on 
 the Rhine being over-filled, so that wounded are being 
 transported straight from the front to the Tempelhofer 
 Hospital in Berhn, which has never occurred during the 
 war before. Cases of overstrained nerves and temporary 
 insanity are the order of the day. Only yesterday I 
 spoke to an official who told me that within the last week 
 both of his sons had been sent home insane, having gone 
 out of their minds at the awful things they had witnessed. 
 
 An incident which caused much rejoicing here was 
 the successful crossing of the merchant-submarine boats. 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, SEPT.-OCT. 1916 155 
 
 the people looking upon it as the commencement of a 
 new era of commercial enterprise and success. 
 
 The reduction in pay of all officers in the German 
 army, from the Minister of War down to the youngest 
 lieutenant, though regarded with satisfaction by the 
 civil population and the rank and file of the army, has 
 been received with very mixed feelings by the officers 
 themselves. They look upon the moment as too critical 
 for such trenchant measures, and those who have had to 
 bear the whole of the hardships of two years' fighting 
 feel themselves very much injured. To the simple looker- 
 on the system seems to be one of burning injustice. 
 
 Krieblowitz, September-October 1916. — The air raid 
 on Karlsruhe was hushed up, but a witness told me it 
 was terrible. The aeroplanes were so high that nothing 
 was to be seen ; one only heard the uncanny buzz in the 
 air and watched the fire drop. The man who described 
 it was a watchmaker, and very indignant at this attack 
 on an open town. " Well," he said, " I wonder what 
 we shall do in return — a few more attacks on England !" 
 
 On September i, all people having meat in any form 
 were required to send in an exact return of the kind, 
 amount, etc. Several society ladies of a certain kind 
 immediately gave big dinner-parties, saying, " We would 
 rather let our friends eat it than give it up to the 
 authorities as we did our stores of sugar." There is 
 a peculiarly unpatriotic undertone there, whereas the 
 following is a case of misplaced patriotism. A man 
 back from the front on leave was asked in the train 
 when he thought the war would end. " Why," he replied, 
 " when the Emperor has to eat bread and jam Uke us." 
 A lady who heard this had the man arrested. The poor 
 devil meant no harm, though of course he should have 
 been more guarded, but he was tired and fresh from 
 horrors that I should have liked to send the patriotic 
 lady to share. 
 
156 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 A friend of mine wanted to buy some woollen under- 
 wear, and her experiences are t5^ical of war-shopping 
 now in Germany. She saw what she wanted in a shop 
 and went in. The girl who attended her was very 
 obhging and got ever3rthing ready, but when the bill 
 was made out she turned to my friend and said, " Where 
 is your ' Bezugschein ' (permit of purchase) ? " " Oh," 
 said my friend, " I have none." The girl told her it 
 was a trifle, and that she would reserve the goods for her 
 until she had obtained one ; she need only go to the 
 pohce station. Off went my friend, and when she arrived 
 at the pohce station they told her to go to a stationer's, 
 and get a form which is filled in as a kind of control 
 when one moves about. So she departed and returned 
 with this form. " What shall I write on it ? " she asked. 
 The answer was, your name, your age, where you were 
 born, what subject you are, and last, but not least — 
 not how much material do you want, but what faith 
 do you profess ? My friend filled in all this, whereupon 
 the official stamped her paper, which meant that he 
 guaranteed for the truth thereof, and then sent her off 
 to the place where she might receive the permit. This 
 was a good walk from where she was, and she decided to 
 go next day. When she got there at 4 o'clock in the 
 afternoon she was told the office was only open from 8 
 to I o'clock. Patiently she trudged home, to start again 
 next day. When she arrived this time she was asked 
 what the permit was to be for. " For three pairs of 
 combinations," she told the official (there are no discreet 
 secrets from officials here in war-time). " What ! " he 
 exclaimed, " you want three pairs ? You cannot have 
 more than two, one to wear while the other is in the 
 wash ! " Shopping becomes a strange thing when con- 
 trolled by Prussian officialdom. 
 
 Cheese has run out — why ? There has been a quarrel 
 with Switzerland, whilst Holland exports to England, 
 for Germany will not pay enough. Germany says : If 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, SEPT.-OCT. 1916 157 
 
 we pay so much for cheese, the public must pay so much 
 too ; the poor will then not be able to buy cheese. The 
 rich, however, will. Then, as the poor consider cheese 
 their right, they will revolt if they see that only the rich 
 can buy it ; whereas if there is no cheese at all, there can 
 be no cheese riots ! 
 
 Roumania has declared war on Austria, and the 
 Austrians are in despair. Their freedom is gone anyway, 
 for they cannot defend themselves against all these 
 enemies alone ; and, after all, is it so much worse to be 
 under England's sway than under that of Germany, 
 which seems their only prospect ? Austria wants peace 
 at any cost. 
 
 War Commandment : Thou shalt not slaughter cattle 
 without a special permit. 
 
 One dark night the village policeman passes a butcher's 
 house and hears queer sounds ; he also sees a light 
 streaming through the chinks of the door. He determines 
 to knock and ask what the butcher is doing so late at 
 night. The butcher's wife says she is getting her meat 
 ready for the next morning. The next day he appears 
 at the same butcher's, and lo 1 there he finds a freshly 
 slaughtered calf. " WTiat 1 " says the policeman. " This 
 is forbidden. You will have to pay a fine." The butcher's 
 wife protests perfect innocence ; her neighbour had called 
 her in to kill the calf, for the poor beast had been climbing 
 a ladder, got its head between the rungs, and hung in 
 awful agony. It was a good excuse, but the policeman 
 decided that a fine must be paid, and that calves which 
 climb ladders must be left to hang until the permit for 
 slaughter is procured ! 
 
 This is not an exceptional case, and no wonder evasion 
 goes on. The greater the number of prohibitions, the 
 greater the amount of swindhng. 
 
 Prussians were much disappointed on their journeys 
 
158 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 to the Bavarian Alps this year. The Bavarian's never 
 had any food when Prussians were hungry I 
 
 A soldier home on leave tells me about the life the 
 officers lead. Why, he said, the officers were having the 
 time of their lives even now. Every day for dinner the 
 tables are decorated with flowers ; the officers have 
 butter in quantities, eggs, meat, all most beautifully 
 prepared, and the table laid as if they were in a first-rate 
 hotel. Following each regiment there is always sufficient 
 baggage among which are crockery and glass, forks and 
 knives of the best kind. One officer had even his dishes in 
 silver. His view was, I suppose, that it was less break- 
 able ! The men get nothing of all this, neither butter, 
 eggs, nor forks and knives ; but that was just it — war ! 
 
 They had bad losses near Verdun. The Major had 
 got the Iron Cross ist Class — why ? Because he had 
 remained in a protected position and received the 
 ammunition from a Heutenant in a protected position 
 on the other side. Between these two was about 300 
 yards of ground over which the waggons had to go back- 
 wards and forwards with the ammunition, and each 
 journey cost so many fives which were rewarded by the 
 Iron Cross the said Major received for his bravery. This 
 seemed to me very hke a suppressed grumble, but actually 
 there are no more faithful and loyal soldiers than these 
 stolid Prussians, whose sense of duty and obedience is 
 indomitable. 
 
 Krieblowitz, January 1917. — We are aU growing 
 thinner every day, and the rounded contours of the 
 German nation have become a legend of the past. We 
 are aU gaunt and bony now, and have dark shadows round 
 our eyes, and our thoughts are chiefly taken up with 
 wondering what our next meal wiU be, and dreaming 
 of the good things that once existed. 
 
 AU labour resources are being organized for military 
 purposes, which means that every man will be called 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, JANUARY 1917 159 
 
 upon to serve his country in some way, and even those 
 who were passed as physically unfit a few months ago 
 are now being trained for military service. 
 
 One curious feature in the mental condition of the 
 people is the way in which feeling towards England and 
 everything Enghsh has veered round. Men who were 
 scoffing and raiUng at England twelve months ago are 
 beginning to express their admiration, and even dare to 
 display a certain affection and attachment publicly. A 
 popular speaker, addressing a large assembly the other 
 day, declared that the talk about Germany's splendid 
 organization was all nonsense ; she was nowhere in it 
 with England, and that England was the only country 
 which could organize at all. Another acquaintance, 
 Count B., offered help for Enghsh people to the emergency 
 society here, declaring that he had only learnt to love 
 England since the war, and that he would never allow a 
 word to be said against her by any one in his house. 
 
 The truth is, the soul of the people is sick unto death 
 of the useless carnage and hateful sinfulness of it all. 
 In the Reichstag the same old bombastic phrases still 
 bring down a volley of applause, so that the quiet observer 
 is astonished at the childishness of these representatives 
 of the nation ; but the man who would bring peace and 
 not war would be hailed as a real leader and king. One 
 intrepid Sociahst, goaded to despair at the artificiality 
 of the speeches, shouted out the truth in the face of the 
 whole assembly : " The people don't want war ; what 
 they want is peace and bread and work " — but he was 
 only snubbed by contemptuous derision in reply. 
 
 Herr von Jagow's resignation of his post as Foreign 
 Secretary was a great sorrow to us. He was a personal 
 friend of ours, and a clever, cultivated man, a pacifist, 
 which, of course, rendered him abhorrent and suspect to 
 the mihtary party. In his own quiet way he contravened 
 many ruthless orders of the militarists, and regretted 
 many more which he was helpless to prevent. He is 
 
i6o AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 probably a victim of inimical forces over which he had 
 no control. He was not relentless and uncompromising 
 enough for the military party, and he did not trouble 
 himself enough to play to the democratic party which 
 is daily acquiring power. He was too much a diploma- 
 tist of the old school, and lacked the power of forcing 
 his own personality on his hearers when speaking. 
 
 Perhaps one of the most pathetic central figures playing 
 on the stage of the European War is the German Emperor, 
 brilliant as his role may seem to superficial lookers-on. 
 In reality he is but a lay figure, crowned and clad in 
 shining armour, and moved here and there at the will of 
 the military power which he has created. 
 
 I think people in England hardly realize the covert 
 scorn with which people speak of him here. The remarks 
 made often astonish me. " Let him talk as if he had 
 won these victories, and let him believe he is running the 
 whole army." " Send him to the East when there are 
 some prisoners to march past, and he will be pleased ; 
 and again to the West when there is a httle success to 
 show him, and he will be as pleased as ever." Whilst 
 the Emperor himself complains sadly in the same words : 
 " I never know what I am going to do from one day to 
 another," he says. " To-day I am packed up and sent 
 off to the East, and to-morrow to the West." 
 
 Summing up his character it may be said of him that 
 he is to a certain degree a t5n-ant, and is not always to 
 be depended upon to keep his promises. As regards his 
 friendships, he takes people up easily and drops them 
 again just as easily, and further possesses certain qualities 
 which go to make up the bully. Yet in spite of these 
 drawbacks he has a great charm of manner which endears 
 him to all those who really know him ; and his real 
 friendships are genuine and lasting, and if he only 
 possessed the courage of his friendships he would be a 
 happier man. 
 
 As for the Emperor's six sons, there are many malicious 
 remarks and criticisms rife amongst the people ; and all 
 
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 1917 161 
 
 the touching anecdotes of the sacrifice of the Empress in 
 sending six sons to the front, where other mothers had 
 only one to offer, have long disappeared from the papers. 
 The monster of war has always had a way of passing 
 over the six princes, and preferred the only son of a widow. 
 People are beginning to murmur that they are being too 
 carefully guarded ; and granted that they did run into 
 danger at the beginning of the war, they always seem to 
 be now more or less on the Staff — and, funny as it may 
 seem, a great many people seem to take it specially amiss 
 that one or other of them is always getting married. 
 " The fact of the matter is," said one of the ministers in 
 a very high position here not long ago, " one of the 
 Kaiser's sons ought to be sacrificed — to appease the 
 people.'* 
 
 Berlin, February 1917. — After an interval of peace 
 and quiet in the country for six months, Berhn again 
 with all its unrest and harrowing problems. Krieblowitz, 
 with its docile Silesian peasants and their somewhat 
 cringing manners, characteristic of the mixed breed of 
 Slav and the East German race, was a soothing experience. 
 
 There is intense cold here as there, such as has not 
 been known for more than half a century. But there 
 one had the wide expanse of ploughed acres walled in by 
 great game-haunted forests, whilst here there are shivering 
 throngs of hungry care-worn people picking their way 
 through the snowy streets, and anxiously watching for 
 some isolated waggon of briquettes, which may offer a 
 chance of buying ten or twenty, and thus having a warm 
 room for at least one day. 
 
 Coal, or at least the want of it, is the one subject of 
 the moment. It seems suddenly to have disappeared 
 from the face of the German empire ; or is at least not 
 available, and is lying shunted off in innumerable waggon- 
 loads on obscure side-lines somewhere or other in the 
 coal districts. 
 
 Imagine the result ! Everywhere people staying in 
 
 M 
 
i62 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 bed and refusing to be comforted, or hurrying off from 
 their own flats to meet with a very frigid reception in 
 the hotels and pensions where they seek refuge. 
 
 Of course, there is a perfect epidemic of burst water- 
 pipes all over BerUn, and as there are no plumbers to 
 repair the damage, people are beginning to think that the 
 torments of Dante's Inferno are capped by the hardships 
 of this deadly winter of 1916-17. 
 
 Berhn the cleanest town in Emrope is of course a 
 thing of the past. The snow Hes unmolested until the 
 boys* schools are turned out to shovel it away, or some 
 few enterprising females do their best to aid in making 
 the roads clear. 
 
 There are practically no motors to be had, and the 
 few antediluvian droshkies are being dragged wearily 
 along by half-starved beasts, who, if they happen to 
 stumble and fall, don't even attempt to rise, but lie 
 still, humbly thankful for the respite from work, on the 
 cold frozen ground. 
 
 As for the mood of the people, the heroic attitude has 
 entirely disappeared. Now one sees faces hke masks, 
 blue with cold and drawn by hunger, with the harassed 
 expression common to all those who are continually 
 speculating as to the possibihty of another meal. 
 
 If by chance one does happen to dine well it is always 
 with more or less of a bad conscience, as ever5rthing is 
 in reahty forbidden and belongs to the nation at large. 
 
 At Krieblowitz we tried now and again to kill one 
 of our pigs, but it won't do as a rule. There is none 
 of the feasting and revelry which generally accompany 
 this solemn ceremony. The whole province of Silesia 
 watches the act with hungry faces, counting how many 
 mouthfuls we each appropriate for our own share, and 
 Hindenburg stands sternly in the background, demanding 
 a portion of it for his munitioners, whilst we are deprived 
 of our meat-tickets for weeks to come as a punishment 
 for the few succulent morsels we may manage to get. 
 
 The fowls are exasperating and will not lay any eggs, 
 
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 1917 163 
 
 so that if we are lucky we are doled out one egg every 
 three weeks. Our bread is being " stretched " in every 
 way possible, and is now mixed with some of those 
 numerous subterranean vegetables coming under the 
 rubric of the turnip, of whose existence we never dreamed 
 before. 
 
 On our return to the " Esplanade " we m^t with a very 
 cold reception, for some of the men who attend to the 
 heating apparatus had refused to leave their beds, saying 
 that their food-tickets had been appropriated for the 
 guests and they intended sleeping until they were restored 
 to them. The whole hotel was in a great state of excite- 
 ment, moreover, several of the managers having been 
 arrested for appropriating food and butter entrusted to 
 them for the wounded soldiers, and selUng them at an 
 enormous profit to guests in the hotel. 
 
 On the whole, all the conscientious scruples which 
 really did hinder many people from storing up underhand 
 supplies of food some six months ago have disappeared 
 before the pangs of hunger, and the feeling prevalent in 
 all classes is : every man for himself and the devil for 
 us all ! 
 
 The princes have come up for the opening of the 
 Herrenhaus which is about to meet, and my husband's 
 first appearance there is looked upon as quite an event, 
 the seat having been in abeyance for twenty years. 
 
 Prince and Princess Miinster were here for a few days, 
 she rather depressed, as her eldest son, Freddie, is being 
 ordered off to the East Front after being at home on sick 
 leave for one and a half years. But now practically 
 every one who can manage to creep on all fours is being 
 called back. And as her second son, Paul, is also leaving 
 Lichterfelde and going out later on, the Princess will 
 be in the painful position of seeing her husband and 
 sons joined in fighting against her own relations and 
 countrymen. 
 
 Nancy (Duchess of Croy) is alone here as well, as her 
 husband has had to go back. And Princess Braganza 
 
i64 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 (Anita), whose husband is now in Warsaw, has only just 
 returned to say good-bye to Mrs. Gerard, one of her 
 oldest American friends. 
 
 One small spark of pleasure amongst us has been the 
 engagement of Countess Pourtal^s (the widowed daughter 
 of Count Bemstorff) to Prince Johannes Lowenstein. 
 Such small faint rays of happiness light up the Hves of 
 us exiles who have been sharing one another's lot for two 
 years and a half. 
 
 The Great Headquarters have, we hear, been changed 
 from Pless to Creuznach (?), as it is expected that the 
 decision will come shortly in the West. It is a somewhat 
 exposed position for flyers, and fears are expressed for 
 the person of the Emperor. 
 
 Every one is excited about the submarine question. 
 We all know and feel that Germany is playing her last 
 card ; with what results, no one can possibly foretell. 
 The resolution for sharpening up the submarine war was 
 received silently by the commission in the Reichstag. 
 The middle-class Chauvinists and the Pan-Germans hail 
 it as an infallible step to a final victory ; whilst the 
 pessimists and wise men who are discontented with the 
 war assert that God has struck the German nation with 
 bhndness before utterly ruining it, and predict that all 
 the neutrals will follow the lead of America, who has just 
 handed over her Note threatening war. 
 
 One astute man declares the whole move to have 
 been purposely provoked by England, who intentionally 
 phrased her refusal of the peace proposals in such insolent 
 terms as to provoke Germany into doing something rash 
 in retaliation. 
 
 We, however, think the situation looks pretty serious 
 for England, as the U-boats can starve her out partially. 
 On the other hand, rumours are rampant as to the mys- 
 terious inventions presumably planned by England for 
 frustrating the devilish workings of the submarines. 
 
 The excitement amongst the Americans here is intense, 
 
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 1917 165 
 
 and yesterday, when news of the rupture of diplomatic 
 relations was announced at the Embassy, during a 
 luncheon-party there, several of the women lost all con- 
 trol over themselves, and faints and hysterical weeping 
 seem to have been the order of the day. The American 
 ladies married to Germans, who have undertaken to pay 
 their princely husbands' bills, are in a sad plight, as all 
 financial connections will be broken off between the two 
 countries. 
 
 Mr. Gerard, the Ambassador, will be regretted by few. 
 He was a man of disagreeable, tactless manners, and 
 managed to offend every one. In fact, he was not the 
 person to have been chosen to act as negotiator between 
 two hostile powers at such a critical period of the world's 
 history. Mrs. Gerard, his wife, on the contrary, will be 
 regretted by all of us. With her quiet tact and patience 
 she endeavoured to gloss over the many breaches of good 
 manners committed by her incorrigible husband. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Grew were very popular here. She, poor 
 woman, was torn between regret at leaving her best 
 friends here and joy at seeing her children again, who 
 have been Uving in America since the beginning of the 
 war. Mr. Grew, in spite of his pronounced sympathy 
 for England, never betrayed his pohtical feehngs by word 
 or deed, and with his really gentlemanly instincts bore 
 the brunt of all the diplomatic affairs. Without him the 
 Embassy would have smashed up long ago. 
 
 Mr. Dresel and Mr. Osborne will also be missed. So 
 will Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, as they have hved in Europe 
 for twenty-seven years and have all their personal friends 
 here, so that the present rupture means a decided crisis 
 in their Hfe. As they are not in with the present Govern- 
 ment they are quietly returning to Switzerland, the work 
 of their hfe being over. 
 
 The Prisoners' Department was entirely organized by 
 Mr. Jackson, and the welfare of the prisoners was much 
 improved by his efforts. Now, with one stroke, his work 
 has come to a close, and his business has been transferred 
 
i66 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 to the Dutch Legation. But no one can manage the 
 intricate workings of the organization as well as Mr. 
 Jackson did, and although we sometimes criticized hisi 
 apparent want of feeling for the sufferings of the prisoners, 
 he has since assured us that this hardness of heart was 
 only assumed so as to appear absolutely just and un- 
 biassed, 
 
 Berlin, April 1917. — It is April again, and, looking 
 through my window on to the Tiergarten, I can see the 
 snow falling incessantly, whirled past by those awful 
 east winds which torment us this year and bring all 
 sorts of disagreeable reminders of the long Russian 
 winter and the revolution which is running its bloody 
 course there. 
 
 We have just passed through some chaotic weeks, 
 getting settled down in our apartment in the Bliicher 
 Palace, no light task nowadays. 
 
 The chief subject of interest is, of course, the great 
 spring offensive on the West Front, and I hear exciting 
 details from acquaintances now and then passing through 
 Berhn. The Enghsh are said to have broken through 
 the third German Hne, but the general impression here 
 is one of confidence in Hindenburg's leadership and the 
 strength of their own iron wall, which they say no human 
 power can ever overcome. 
 
 Count Radolin gave us a graphic account of the 
 storming of Arras. He said it was the ist Garde regiment 
 which saved the situation, but not a single officer sur- 
 vived it. The Bavarians gave way, it seems, before the 
 furious attack. 
 
 Ammunition seems to be running short, and trains 
 filled with wounded arrive at the towns in the south 
 and west of Germany every ten minutes. None, how- 
 ever, are sent to Berlin. Bissing, the Belgian Governor, 
 has just been buried, and we have heard that by some 
 strange hazard the same chaplain who officiated at Miss 
 
BERLIN, APRIL 1917 167 
 
 Ca veil's execution attended the last moments of the 
 inexorable old Prussian general. 
 
 Young Count Schaffgotsch told us that he ran forward 
 to pick up an Enghsh wounded officer, and doing so 
 recognized an Oxford friend of his. He accompanied 
 him to hospital and did everjrthing he could to alleviate 
 his lot. 
 
 To-day I got a letter from Captain E. Trafford in 
 which he mentioned how pleased the imprisoned officers 
 at Crefeld are, as the camp is henceforth to become an 
 all-British one, and the prisoners of other nationalities 
 are being sent away, and Enghsh officers from all parts 
 of Germany are arriving every day. There are about 
 400 of them there now. It means a tremendous change 
 to them all, and many old friends meet again who knew 
 nothing of one another's imprisonment until now. 
 
 Another piece of news is that Princess Braganza, 
 
 who has just returned from Vienna, met Mr. D 
 
 there a few days before the declaration of war with 
 America. He was on his way home to America when 
 he left here, but on his arrival in England was asked to 
 go to Vienna to negotiate about English prisoners there. 
 
 He gave some interesting details as to the general 
 feeUng in England now. The former intense hatred has 
 taken on a more subdued character, and one even 
 hears occasional praise of the enemy. The hatred 
 still existing seems to be more or less concentrated on 
 one person, and they are emphatic in declaring that 
 peace must never be made with a Hohenzollern. 
 
 The submarine war, he says, is accepted with calm 
 fatahsm, and in spite of its causing some inconveniences 
 and lessening imported wares, they maintain that 20 
 per cent of the ships still get through, and the U-boats 
 can do no really grave damage to the mercantile shipping. 
 
 I heard likewise, from some one else who is in touch 
 with England, that there is now a great peace party 
 existing there, led by such men as Haldane, Lord Robert 
 Cecil (hi fact all the Cecils), as well as Lord Ampthill 
 
i68 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 and the Russell family, and other unexpected and well- 
 known personalities. 
 
 I heard further that Sir Edward Grey has been work- 
 ing for peace for the last year, and that Wilson's peace 
 proposal was in reaUty due to Sir Edward's influence. 
 This, they say, is probably the reason why Lloyd George 
 got him turned out ; but Lloyd George, they say, will 
 not last much longer himself. 
 
 People blame the German Chancellor for not meeting 
 Sir Edward Grey half-way when he put out very decided 
 feelers for peace, some six months before the German 
 peace proposals were ever dreamt of. Here the popular 
 idea is that unless the Russian episode (which many 
 people think will unhinge the earth from its axis) be 
 imitated in a country that shall be nameless, there will 
 be no more question of peace propositions at aU. 
 
 The other day Dr. Solf, the Colonial Minister, dined 
 here. He was interesting and clever as usual, and wanted 
 to know my opinion of the submarine war. A lady who 
 was dining here too asked him point-blank what he 
 thought on the subject, and he admitted frankly that 
 Prussia had played her trump card and it was doomed 
 to be a failure. 
 
 The war, he said, was a minor evil compared to the 
 internal evil. Fresh disturbances are expected, and 
 troops of mounted pohcemen patrol daily through the 
 streets of Moabit. On the eve of an expected riot the 
 Kaiserin hurried personally to one of the chief factories 
 here, and hastily presented one of the leaders of the 
 workmen's party with decorations, which, as evil tongues 
 affirm, he promptly hung round his dog's neck which 
 accompanied one of the processions next day. The whole 
 revolt, however, ended in a few harmless demonstrations. 
 
 My husband yesterday had a private audience with 
 the Emperor at the Bellevue Palace. On his return he 
 told me that for the first time in his Ufe, after such an 
 interview, he came away with a sort of feeling of pity 
 
BERLIN, MAY 1917 169 
 
 in his heart for the lonehness of a monarch. The Kaiser 
 struck him as being so helpless and alone, though at the 
 same time surrounded by cringing, obsequious courtiers. 
 He told me that the Kaiser and he had discussed for some 
 time the present outlook of affairs, and although the 
 Emperor's words sounded hopeful his general bearing 
 was not so, and gave the impression that he was repeating 
 a lesson. 
 
 Berlin, May 1917. — Here we are right in the heart of 
 May, and the long arctic winter has given place to blue 
 skies and a more hopeful view in the aspect of affairs. 
 Every one goes about with a brighter face, and a more 
 patriotic optimism prophesies the end of the war in July 
 or August. 
 
 The interest awakened by hopes of the Chancellor's 
 speech was somewhat disappointed. He was so ex- 
 cessively cautious. No new disclosures were made, no 
 declarations offered as to the German war aims, and no 
 new loopholes opened out for peace feelers, excepting 
 the reserved hint of a possible separate understanding 
 with Russia, which however cheers some people up 
 wonderfully. 
 
 Scheidemann's challenge, dashed into the midst of the 
 assembled Reichstag in the shape of a threatened revolu- 
 tion, drew blood, as he hoped, and the Pan-Germans 
 instantly filled their papers with columns of righteous 
 indignation at this open menace to the nation, whereupon 
 the Sociahsts immediately rephed with a corresponding 
 threat, which had been made personally to no less a 
 personage than Bethmann-Hollweg himself by General 
 von Groning some two years ago. 
 
 Amongst the many wandering rumours which reach 
 our ears we heard that the Wittelsbachs and Hohen- 
 zollems are planning the cutting of the Gordian knot 
 of Alsace - Lorraine by dividing it up between them. 
 Scheidemann himself publicly accuses the Pan-Germans 
 of being the cause of the Kaiser's unpopularity with the 
 
I70 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Entente nations by always dragging his name into their 
 private plans of annexation. 
 
 The sad news of Prince Friedrich Kari's death is deeply 
 commiserated here. He was trained as a flyer in Breslau, 
 and we often saw his aeroplane flying over Krieblowitz, 
 He had only been in the West ten days when he was 
 killed. It is said his death was prophesied through the 
 medium of " Planchette," that it would take place 
 so many days after his arrival at the front, and that it 
 actually took place to the very day. 
 
 He was the Emperor's nephew and was one of those 
 attractive youths beloved in both countries, having 
 spent much of his time in England (where he once played 
 in the tennis championship at Wimbledon under the name 
 of Mr. Karl Frederick). There was much criticism 
 here when his death was announced, a few days after 
 he was reported wounded ; and it was, needless to say, 
 put down to neglect on the part of the Enghsh doctors 
 and nurses. But I have learnt to bide my time and keep 
 silent when I hear such things discussed, knowing that 
 truth will out sooner or later. And a few days after a 
 letter came from the boy himself, written the day he 
 died, saying how kind the Enghsh had been to him, what 
 intense care the doctors and nurses had expended on 
 him, and his rehef to find himself in a bright cheerful 
 Enghsh hospital after his experiences at the front. He 
 said they had moved him from the dressing-station, as 
 it was being shelled incessantly, and went on to say 
 that his uncle, the Duke of Connaught, had instantly 
 sent out the best surgeon from London to attend him, 
 and had telegraphed repeatedly to inquire for him. 
 Much more was in the letter which at present is not 
 allowed to be repeated, in case it might disillusion those 
 who wish to criticize the Enghsh treatment of wounded 
 prisoners. 
 
 Count Bemstorff, the late German Ambassador in 
 Washington, with his staff have arrived from America, 
 
BERLIN, MAY 1917 171 
 
 and bitter complaints are being poured forth as to the 
 behaviour of the Canadian officers who examined the 
 Embassy luggage. 
 
 Count Bernstorff and his wife are now staying at this 
 hotel. Every one is commenting on the fact that he 
 was not received at Headquarters on his arrival, and it 
 is rumoured that it may be owing to the fact that he 
 was known to be very much opposed to the unrestricted 
 U - boat war, and could have prevented American 
 intervention if he had been given a free hand, and if 
 the unremitting antagonism between the Reichsmarine 
 Amt and the Foreign Office had not precipitated matters. 
 The Mexican blunder cannot be laid at Count Bernstorff 's 
 door. 
 
 We hear that a climax has come for Greece, and the 
 monarchy is played out. German influence has come to 
 an end and Venizelos has won the day. King Constan- 
 tine has abdicated, and the German Minister (our friend 
 Count Mirbach) is returning with his staff. My husband 
 came across a pubUcation regarding some of the members 
 of the so-called German propaganda staff, including one 
 who is styled as Count Bliicher, and who is mentioned 
 as being imphcated in secret service operations against 
 the Entente. Believing there must be some mistake in 
 the name, he has made inquiries, and has found out that 
 the gentleman in question is a member of the distant 
 branch of the Mecklenburg " von Bluchers." 
 
 Great discussion over the torpedoing of hospital ships, 
 the German view being that they were bogus ones, carry- 
 ing ammunition and troops hidden on board. Even if 
 this were true it would be no excuse, for they ought to 
 give warning to enable the sick and wounded, nurses 
 and doctors, to get off. The naval authorities, indeed, 
 declare that orders have never been issued for such 
 wholesale destruction. But I have heard from some one, 
 who is in a position to know, that the orders were so 
 
172 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 worded as to leave too much to the discretion of the 
 commanders, who, in cases where it was impossible to 
 identify the real character of the ship in question, took 
 the benefit of the doubt and acted as their feehngs or 
 ambition prompted them. So far as the German nation 
 as a whole is concerned, half of it does not beheve or 
 reahze that any hospital ships have been sunk ; a 
 quarter regret it intensely ; and the rest try to prove 
 beyond doubt that the ships were camouflaged and 
 really contained troops. Some women, especially, are 
 horrified at the stories told. My sister, Freda Charlton, 
 on her long dangerous journey to the Cape, took seven 
 small children with her, and made them wear life- 
 belts the whole time. When I showed some German 
 ladies of my acquaintance the photograph of twins of 
 two years old standing on deck, each girt with a huge 
 hfe-belt, tears came into their eyes, and they said : 
 " Do people really think that the Germans are so cruel as 
 to want to sink ships with women and children on them ! " 
 
 I met a lady the other day who was actually on board 
 one of the torpedoed hospital ships, and was saved by 
 chnging to a plank. She described something of the 
 ghastly experience, and says she will be haunted to her 
 djing day by the expression of agony on the faces of the 
 helpless wounded men, unable to make the shghtest 
 effort to save themselves in their tight bandages, as the 
 waves closed over them. Whilst shuddering with pity 
 at the picture she drew, I could not at the same time 
 help recalling the face of a poor German mother bidding 
 farewell to her second son, who was starting for the 
 front only a few days after receiving details of the 
 death of her other son, who had been fearfully mutilated 
 by black troops. 
 
 Berlin, June-July 1917. — How quickly the English 
 are advancing ! I wonder if this last victory will 
 prove a turning-point in the war, as it seems to be 
 
BERLIN, JUNE-JULY 1917 173 
 
 a well-known fact that the Enghsh did break through 
 the German hnes, although they themselves were not 
 aware of the fact until they had retired again. But the 
 capture of the Ypres salient is no unimportant factor 
 and may possibly mean the final road to peace. 
 
 Here the miUtary authorities, as they are bound 
 to do, characterize every advance of the enemy as an 
 elastic bend in the German line ; or if it is reluctantly 
 admitted that the first German line has been broken 
 through, the Enghsh attack must always waver and fail 
 on the ever-renewed defence of the German reserves. 
 
 Harden's weekly periodical Zukunft has been sup- 
 pressed until the end of the war, as he is one of the few 
 men who dared to say what he thought, and perfectly 
 openly argued the necessity of handing over Alsace- 
 Lorraine whilst there was still time to do it with the grand 
 air. Later on, he argues, it will simply mean a matter of 
 compulsion. This view is shared by many others. My 
 husband is emphatic in his advice to agree to it in 
 time. Why continue jeopardizing the whole empire for 
 a province which, as Bismarck said, will always be a 
 heritage of woe to whoever possesses it. 
 
 We get all our news through the carefully prepared 
 communiques let loose on the credulous pubhc every 
 Saturday and Sunday by the Wolff Bureau, and this 
 time they mentioned the retreat as a single insignificant 
 episode in the great general offensive of the Entente. 
 The retreat is described as a systematic and voluntary 
 retirement in order to hinder any unnecessary loss of Hfe. 
 
 I heard gruesome stories about the German infantry 
 complaining that they were dehberately sacrificed to 
 save the German guns, and that out of some 3000 men 
 in the northern battle of Messines, over 2000 were taken 
 prisoners by reason of the artillery failing to support 
 them. 
 
 Hindenburg's retreat tactics seem to be formed on 
 those used alone by the Russians until now, namely. 
 
174 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 that of devastating every inch of land left between them- 
 selves and the enemy. 
 
 And so another king has been shaken from his throne 
 by the great earthquake, and poor King Constantine 
 has had to abdicate and give way to forces stronger than 
 his own. He was a good man and worthy of a better 
 fate than an inglorious exile in a strange land. He used 
 all the powers God had given him to keep his country 
 from bloodshed, and his political crime was that he refused 
 to sanction the Entente policy of his minister who had a 
 majority to back him. 
 
 The Greek minister and his wife, the Theotokys, are 
 hurrying away from Berhn to join the exiled monarch 
 in Switzerland, and we have to look on and see how one 
 more friend leaves the sinking ship Germania. 
 
 One of the strangest signs of the time is, to my thinking, 
 the rapid and insidious way in which the tide of democracy 
 is creeping on and overflooding all Europe. People are 
 beginning to ask whether this is the divine meaning of 
 the great catastrophe. In Russia we have seen the bloody 
 horrors of an Asiatic revolt driving the Czar ignominiously 
 from his high place. In Austria the newly fledged 
 Emperor has seized the bull by the horns, and openly 
 pleaded for democracy in his speech from the throne. 
 Graf Tisza, the most unscrupulous and ruthless autocrat 
 in all Europe, was forced to give up office because he 
 dared to oppose democracy as represented in the Hun- 
 garian franchise bill. In Greece King Constantine had 
 to abdicate ostensibly because of his refusing to support 
 the democratic party. In Germany, where democracy 
 was not as yet on the official political programme, it 
 is gaining new adherents every day, and in time the 
 new movement is bound to carry everything before it. 
 It is pretty certain that in the future it wiU be impossible 
 for any one. Kaiser or minister, to conclude treaties which 
 are capable of leading the nation into war without the 
 consent of the representatives of the people, and the 
 
BERLIN, JUNE-JULY 1917 175 
 
 democrats are determined that all important negotiations 
 with other nations must be supported by a vote of con- 
 fidence, and all internal questions must be settled by the 
 Reichstag. 
 
 The Chancellor's position has been growing more and 
 more critical, and his day has come. No one was satisfied 
 with him, and Erzberger's vigorous attack in order to 
 extract some definite proposals of peace have at last 
 tripped him up. 
 
 There can be no doubt that Bethmann's hands were 
 tied aU along, and that he was not a free man. He is, 
 in fact, the scapegoat for covering the faults of his lord 
 and master. I have heard on pretty certain authority 
 that the Kaiser gave his royal assent to Austria's ulti- 
 matum to Serbia in 1914, without even mentioning this 
 small matter to his Chancellor until it was an accomplished 
 fact. 
 
 Here the impulsiveness of his nature became a crime, 
 and Bethmann, conscious of the fact that it was this 
 consent which set the machinery of war in motion, has 
 never been able to make the error good again, and has 
 now made a final atonement, as he could not betray his 
 royal master to the world. His is a tragic fate, and the 
 role of compromise forced upon him lends him a tragic 
 importance worthy of a central figure in the literature 
 of the war in the days to come. 
 
 Helfferich and Zimmermann, they say, must go too, 
 as well as a number of other ministers who are opposed 
 to overtures of peace in any form. There is great excite- 
 ment ever5rwhere, and the world seems turned topsy- 
 turvy. Hindenburg and Ludendorff in Berlin to offer 
 their opinion on the new terms of peace ; men without 
 titles stepping into titled men's shoes ; the Crown Prince 
 sucking wisdom from the leaders of the different factions ; 
 Sociahsts visiting the Kaiser to offer him their opinion 
 on a republican form of government, and being indig- 
 nantly called to order for pla5dng the courtier by their 
 partisans. 
 
176 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 The Kaiser is daily growing more and more the shadow 
 of a king, and people talk openly of his abdication as a 
 possibility very much desired. He gives in to all the 
 demands of the Socialists, but at the same time makes 
 so many palpable blunders and mistakes that a man in 
 high office said only the other day, it looked almost as if 
 the Emperor's advisers were in the pay of England, so 
 insane is their advice, and that they seem to be dehberately 
 plajdng into the hands of the enemy. 
 
 One consequence of all the blundering is that there is 
 murmuring everywhere, in the army as well as amongst 
 the civilians. For example, when on the advice of 
 Michaehs the bread allowance was cut down, there was 
 great grumbling amongst the people and a revolt seemed 
 threatening. The food controllers in a panic promised 
 them extra meat at a cheap price, to make up for the 
 curtailed bread rations, and ordered all the milk cows 
 in certain districts to be slaughtered. 
 
 This promptly took place, to the great rage of the 
 agriculturists, who indignantly opposed the " madness 
 of the order." But it was too late, the order had been 
 carried out, and for a week or two there was such a surplus 
 of meat that it actually had to be given or thrown away, 
 to prevent its spoihng in the hot weather. 
 
 The result is now that milk is running short, and there 
 is renewed grumbUng, although the extra supply of cheap 
 meat proved a great boon to the populations in the towns 
 and helped them to tide over hard times. 
 
 As an accompaniment to the incessant murmuring 
 and increasing incredulity of the people, there is a decided 
 inclination to a milder form of revolt, and riots and 
 disturbances do now and then take place, though they 
 are hushed up. The Germans are such a patient and 
 long-suffering race that they do not as yet reahze their 
 own power, and the Prussian precept, " Es ist verboten," 
 has been so drummed into them that they accept all 
 regulations and orders without any further demur. I 
 do believe that if they were bidden to go out and eat 
 
BERLIN, JUNE-JULY 1917 177 
 
 grass, they would obey in herds, without any further 
 question. 
 
 A common soldier, now working in our harvest, just 
 returned from the front, spoke so nicely of all the hard- 
 ships they had to endure. He had no bitterness for the 
 enemy. The English, he said, were fine men to fight 
 against, and he personally had never witnessed any of 
 the desperate cruelty and intense hatred he is always 
 told of behind the lines. 
 
 " We all do our best for our own country, and if we 
 meet as prisoners or otherwise, we are perfectly friendly ; 
 but," he added sadly, " there must be something wrong 
 somewhere to make us so hated by all other nations, as 
 well as by our own alhes. Who is to blame for it ? 
 That is what my comrades and I are always trying to 
 find out." 
 
 He went on to say that the English army is in splendid 
 condition, and always being reinforced by fresh and 
 perfectly equipped troops, whilst the Germans have only 
 a tired and worn-out army to meet them. Many of the 
 men in the trenches, having been wounded three or four 
 times, are now so exhausted that they can hardly Uft a 
 rifle. 
 
 Here is another criticism, this time from an officer. 
 He says : " England is more practical in her organization, 
 and is not so hemmed in by red tape as we are. She 
 selects the best men to command, irrespective of rank 
 and age, and only according to their efficiency." 
 
 In Germany a strict order of routine and promotion 
 is followed, hence the continual spectacle of the wrong 
 man in the wrong place. 
 
 Another cause of discontent in the army is that no 
 officer can be promoted before having served a certain 
 number of years, however many vacancies may occur. 
 Many hundreds of heutenants are doing the work of 
 captains and majors, but they must retain the rank of a 
 lieutenant in order to avoid the extra pay. This causes 
 
 N 
 
178 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 much murmuring, which is obviously dangerous, as the 
 Emperor should do everything to keep the army on his 
 side. 
 
 Berlin, August 1917. — I have been passing an un- 
 speakably mournful morning at the " Nachlass Bureau," 
 where any small articles picked up upon the battlefield 
 are kept for identification, A feehng of hopeless sadness 
 crept over me as I saw these trays of things, the only 
 mementoes left of men who had such a short time ago 
 been aUve in the full flush of manhood. There was a 
 whole stack of battered and blood-stained cigarette-cases, 
 some with inscriptions or monograms engraved on them, 
 many containing small photos or a few written words 
 by the giver. Then there were all the other various 
 small articles generally to be found in a man's pocket 
 — ^fountain-pens, handkerchiefs, torn letters, purses, coins, 
 etc. ; and I felt the tears come into my eyes when I 
 thought of what value they would be to some in England 
 now, and how almost impossible it is to identify even a 
 small number of them. I had a long list of missing 
 articles with me, sent by sorrowful or (worse still) hopeful 
 women in England ; and with the sjnnpathetic help of 
 the two Red Cross officers in charge, and by dint of 
 arduous and painful work, at the end of the morning I 
 had managed to identify one or two cigarette cases and 
 a few other small articles, which we had forwarded through 
 the Red Cross to the expectant owners in England. 
 But how few they were, and alas ! how few ever wiU be 
 claimed. Time will gradually thrust them aside to the 
 other inevitable lumber of the war, and they will never 
 come into the hands of those to whom they would be 
 relics of great worth. 
 
 Krieblowitz, October 1917. — Yesterday I got a letter 
 from my husband, who has gone up to town for the 
 opening of the Herrenhaus, with an interesting piece 
 of news in it. He writes : " I learnt from L. that my 
 former chief (Erzberger) was actually abroad, tr5dng to 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, OCTOBER 1917 i79 
 
 establish peace negotiations on a financial basis, namely 
 an International Financial and Economic Trust ; which, 
 however, is said to have failed on account of the joint 
 capital of the other side (meaning the two biggest 
 financial Powers) always being able to overrule us." 
 
 This failure, were it generally known, would meet with 
 a triumphant howl of applause from the "Vaterlands- 
 partei," who are doing all they can to oppose any move- 
 ments made by the Catholic and pacific elements. 
 
 Strange to say, the clergy of the Protestant Church 
 are also in favour of the continuation of the war ; and 
 only lately have a small party of Protestant pastors in 
 Berhn had the courage to make a move towards peace 
 by collecting signatures for a Peace Protest. They are 
 as a matter of fact State officials, and more or less bound 
 to think as they are told in State affairs, which may 
 explain the phenomenon of men of God urging their 
 flocks on to kill one another. Perhaps, too, a feeling of 
 hostihty prevents their following any lead headed by 
 the Pope. " We hope for a good German peace from 
 God, and not a bad international one from the Pope," 
 is their war-cry at present. 
 
 I hear that the Enghsh are daily gaining ground, and 
 are slowly but surely approaching the object of their 
 aim, the U-boat base of operations. A letter I received 
 a short time ago confirms me in my opinion that the 
 EngUsh are not merely fighting to pass away the time. 
 G. wrote to me to-day that they are now quite near to 
 the commanding heights near the coast. " If this is 
 the case, then the Marine Corps and the coast in Flanders, 
 which is aU-important to us, might get endangered." 
 
 I see that the EngUsh view of operations on the West 
 is that the Germans have been retiring for a whole year, 
 and that Verdun, Champagne, Vimy, Arras, Messines, 
 Langemarck, Westhoek, and Zonnebeke are but stages 
 in an uninterrupted retreat. For us civilians looking 
 on, the whole campaign seems to be more or less a useless 
 
i8o AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 slaughter, and one is only able to bear the horror of it 
 by hearing and reading stories of the heroism and self- 
 sacrifice of individual man towards man. 
 
 The story of the German soldier who the other day 
 was buried in a shell-hole together with an English officer, 
 badly wounded in the thigh, and whose life he managed 
 to save by stopping the bleeding artery with his two 
 thumbs, himself weak and ill, and in a crouched position, 
 is a deed not quite in character with that of a " Hun." 
 
 The regulations as to smuggling provisions are very 
 strict, and a funny scene took place at the station in 
 Breslau the other day. A well-dressed, dignified-looking 
 lady appeared at the luggage-room with the object of 
 checking her trunk. Her flurried mien, and the obvious 
 nervousness with which she hurried on the porter to weigh 
 her trunk, aroused the suspicions of the station-master. 
 The trunk was promptly opened, and to the surprise 
 of the amused onlookers a whole pig was discovered in 
 it. It was confiscated and sold in the town at the official 
 price, to the great discomfiture of the stately lady. 
 
 Things of this sort are of daily occurrence, and yet 
 people go on trying them over and over again. The strict 
 regulations seem very superfluous, and are causing much 
 bad blood amongst the people in the towns. We in the 
 country could, in fact, help them very often in many 
 ways if we were allowed to do so. 
 
 As it is, people try to obtain by force or stealth what 
 they cannot get in a legal way. The following incident 
 gives an idea of what is being attempted in some way or 
 other daily. 
 
 The other day a very fine field-grey military motor- 
 car appeared on our place, and its four occupants began 
 shooting to their hearts' content. Nobody disturbed 
 them, or asked them on what authority they were there, 
 for people took it for granted that they had been sent by 
 the Government. After having satisfied their needs they 
 departed, and it was only discovered a day afterwards 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, OCTOBER 1917 181 
 
 that they were poachers pure and simple, who certainly 
 had a glorious time. How they managed to get hold of 
 a military auto no one can imagine. 
 
 Last week we spent a day at Fiirstenstein with Prince 
 and Princess Pless. Prince and Princess Biron, Countess 
 Saurma and her daughters were there too. Princess 
 Pless and I being EngUsh, Princess Biron French, and 
 Countess Saurma Pohsh, our conversation was at times 
 what our husbands describe as " dangerous," which, being 
 translated, means, we criticize the German Government 
 and methods too loudly. In one thing, however, we all 
 agree, and that is that our husbands are very lenient 
 with us ; and that it is owing to their consideration and 
 thoughtfulness towards us, and the loyal way in which 
 they have stood by us, that Ufe in a hostile country has 
 been endurable. And without being over-duly proud, I 
 may confess that my husband is the one who has the 
 best reputation of being clever enough to fight my battles 
 without being disloyal to his Emperor and country. At 
 Fiirstenstein we talked " England " until the walls of the 
 old castle must have wearied of the word. 
 
 Prince Pless, who is always with the Emperor at Head- 
 quarters, described to us his Hfe there, and the Emperor's 
 triumphant entry into Riga, at which he assisted. 
 
 And now for a description of the state of poHtics here. 
 Everything is very unsettled. Michaehs has proved quite 
 unsatisfactory and has given place to a better man. 
 They say some sixteen candidates are on the hst, Biilow 
 being first in the running in the minds of many. Solf 
 has been proposed, and Erzberger, as the strong man, 
 would not be unpopular to the democrats, although I see 
 the Times calls his policy " murky and deceitful at the 
 best." 
 
 Kiihlmann, they say, was offered the Chancellorship 
 too, but very wisely refused, knowing his own limitations. 
 " I know I am suitable for my present position as Foreign 
 Secretary, but I am unsuitable to be Reichskanzler, as I 
 
i82 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 am utterly ignorant of inner politics." People have a 
 good deal of confidence in him here, and feel that he is 
 the right man in the right place. He, as well as the new 
 Kanzler, certainly have their work cut out for them when 
 one thinks that Germany is at present ostracized and 
 ahenated from three-quarters of the human race. 
 
 We hear that aeroplanes (either English or French) 
 have done enormous damage to Frankfort and other 
 towns in the south, 50 to 60 people being killed during 
 a raid on Frankfort in one afternoon. And Princess 
 Mettemich, who has a large castle outside Wiesbaden, 
 had to leave her bed three times in one night and take 
 refuge in the cellar, Enghsh shrapnel being found in the 
 courtyard next morning. 
 
 All internal disputes and disagreements are disappear- 
 ing for the moment, being swallowed up in the vital 
 conflict of the two great parties, the democrats and 
 the " Vaterlandspartei," which is daily increasing in 
 vehemence. 
 
 People are devoured with anxiety as to the food 
 resources for the coming winter, whilst the Government 
 has to cope with much more serious questions, were it 
 only known — namely, the increasing shortage of raw stuff 
 and material for ammunition. 
 
 Has the " enemy " already noticed, I wonder, that 
 the German ammunition is not as good as it was ? Thank 
 God, it only inflicts shght wounds now, and if they search 
 the " Casualty List " in the Times with the same throbbing 
 heart as I do, they will notice that the list of wounded 
 is now much longer than that terrible heart-breaking hst 
 of dead and missing that used to appear during the first 
 eighteen months of the war. 
 
 There are other signs, too, pathetic in their way, of 
 the increasing scarcity of metal, for everywhere the old 
 church bells and even the organ-pipes are being dragged 
 from the churches and turned into ammunition ; whilst 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, OCTOBER 1917 183 
 
 owing to the scarcity of oil the Sanctuary lamp, such a 
 dear famihar sight in CathoUc churches, may no longer 
 shed its tender light before the Tabernacle. 
 
 In L., a small town near here, a sad little ceremony 
 took place the other day. The ancient church bell, which 
 had rung the people from the cradle to the grave for 
 300 years and more, was requisitioned by the military 
 authorities. The grief felt by the inhabitants was so 
 great that they determined to do their ancient friend 
 all the honour that they could ; and after having per- 
 formed the regular funeral service for the dead over it, 
 a procession was formed, headed by the priest in his 
 vestments, with his acolytes swinging their incense, and 
 the inhabitants following the bell, which was covered 
 with wreaths and flowers and handed over to the military 
 authorities under tears and protestations. 
 
 As coffee and tea have entirely run out, all sorts of 
 berries and leaves are being used as a surrogate. Chest- 
 nuts are used for feeding the deer, and it is interesting to 
 see the children, who are not old enough to work other- 
 wise, busy plucking and collecting the different things. 
 
 Nothing seems to be left unused — salad-oil being ex- 
 tracted from every kind of fruit-stone, and an excellent 
 oil for greasing machinery is being pressed from the seeds 
 of sunflowers. It is marvellous how much has been 
 produced in this way, and it is only a pity we cannot 
 use the latter for cooking and eating purposes too. 
 
 The difficulty of getting butter is increasing daily, and 
 one has to use aU one's power of persuasion to be able to 
 entice a miserable quarter of a pound of it, after having 
 begged in vain at quite a number of small peasants' houses. 
 
 The fact is, the peasants have to hand over a certain 
 amount of butter to the miUtary authorities, who, if they 
 do not get the proper quantity, keep back the peasant's 
 monthly supply of sugar. And as every one is longing 
 for their sugar, and jam cannot be made without it, no 
 one wiU sell their butter even for very high prices. For 
 the fortunate people who grow sugar-beet there can, of 
 
i84 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 course, never be any dearth of sweet-stuffs, for the beet 
 pressed produces a most delicious syrup which can easily 
 be eaten for honey. But if it is difficult to sweeten one's 
 lot at present, it is just as difficult to season one's cook- 
 ing, for the prices of pepper, cinnamon, and nutmeg are 
 enormous. These spices are almost worth their weight 
 in gold. 
 
 Lighting will prove a great problem this winter, as 
 there is almost no petroleum or methylated spirits to be 
 had ; gas-hght is next to impossible, on account of the 
 small quantity allowed, and electric-hght is also limited. 
 I am surprised that people in the country do not attempt 
 the old way of Ughting by means of pine torches. True, 
 they give more smoke than light, but it would be prefer- 
 able to the gloom of the unlighted houses in the country. 
 
 This darkness is especially unpleasant for the people 
 in the town who have to wait for the vegetables and 
 fruit coming in from the country. Our gardener, who 
 goes in daily, tells me that they stand for hours and 
 hours patiently waiting to get but a pound of cabbage, 
 onions, etc., which are all very scarce indeed. Luckily 
 for the purchasers, maximum prices have been settled on 
 all eatables, or it would be impossible for the poorer 
 classes to get anything at all. And still the small peasants, 
 landowners, and gardeners are all growing very prosperous, 
 and our gardener, who only has about two acres of land 
 at his disposal, made 10,000 marks last year. 
 
 In addition to the " card " plague, which is bringing 
 every one to the verge of the lunatic asylum, we have 
 the " Bezugschein " (official voucher), which is now 
 necessary for almost every scrap of clothing needed by 
 poor shivering humanity to cover themselves. Every- 
 thing is on the hst, dresses, mantles, coats, stockings, 
 shoes, gloves, washing ; and you have to give a list 
 of everything you possess before getting the precious 
 " Schein " handed out to you. 
 
 Berlin, January 1918. — The days come and go, and 
 
BERLIN, JANUARY 1918 185 
 
 we have already crossed the borderland and have left the 
 gloom of the old year, only to enter the darkness of a 
 new one. Every hour brings its fears, disappointments, 
 and vague hopes, so that there is but little time for collect- 
 ing one's scattered ideas. 
 
 Christmas was, of course, but a sorry season, although 
 the unexpected and seemingly successful peace movement 
 in Russia undoubtedly created a brighter atmosphere for 
 people here than they have known since the war began, 
 Brest-Litovsk, mingled with the divine proclamation of 
 " Peace upon earth and goodwill amongst men," moved 
 our hearts to a new throb of hope. It remains to be seen 
 how far people are justified in beheving this to be the 
 first weak wavelet of the great peace-tide which is gradu- 
 ally but surely going to inundate Europe. 
 
 The mihtary party, the " raving Rolands," are doing 
 all they can to obstruct the peace movement, and Luden- 
 dorff and Kiihlmann have almost come to blows. There 
 were some exciting scenes between the two last week, and 
 people have told me that the cold-blooded, strong-nerved, 
 impassive Kiihlmann was almost on the verge of a break- 
 down. More and more he and his adherents are per- 
 ceiving the fatal mistakes of the U-boat war, and the 
 madness of ever allowing things to go so far that America 
 should enter the war. But, of course, Kiihlmann has a 
 great many enemies, as he has already turned out all the 
 old Excellencies who were having such an easy time in 
 the Foreign Office here, and publicly makes it known 
 that his diplomatic creed discredits the arts and tricks of 
 the old school. At any rate there is a breathless tussle 
 going on, and things are being hurried along, I suppose, 
 to avoid the American reinforcements in the spring, 
 although the Germans are still inclined to scoff and jeer 
 at the American soldiers. 
 
 I myself wait and watch, firm in the behef that England 
 knows what she is about, even though it looks as if she 
 were losing touch with her old allies at present. In fact. 
 
i86 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 I feel like the English prisoner whom a friend met in 
 some obscure country place a short time ago. He was 
 sitting by the roadside breaking stones, and when she 
 asked how long he had been a prisoner, and if he ever 
 saw any newspapers, and who he thought would win the 
 war, he answered that he had been there for three years, 
 that he had never seen any paper of any kind, but that 
 he never doubted for a moment that England would be 
 victorious in the end. He could not explain why, but 
 something told him " there," and he touched his fore- 
 head. 
 
 Lloyd George's Paris speech made a great impression 
 on us, and M., as well as myself, thought it was quite 
 right of him to try and wake people up to the fact that 
 strategic blunders have been caused by the military 
 authorities of the Entente not all acting together. What- 
 ever one may think of the grave errors he committed in 
 his abusive speeches against Germany, he certainly has 
 the courage of his opinion, and is not afraid of making 
 himself unpopular. 
 
 The other evening at a reception at the Solfs' we met 
 a rather interesting man, a certain Herr Hahn, whom 
 they have just got over from England to inform them as 
 to the state of political feeling there. From him we 
 learnt that Sir W. TyrreU, whose health had broken down 
 after the loss of his son at the beginning of the war, was 
 no longer in office, but is working behind the scenes for 
 Sir Edward Grey, whose party, including Lord Lansdowne, 
 Balfour, Lord Loreburn, Lord Courtney, and Noel Buxton, 
 are working openly for peace, and doing all they can to 
 oppose Lord Northcliffe's war pohcy, especially Sir W. 
 Tyrrell. 
 
 He asserts, too, that if the nation does not support 
 Lansdowne's pohcy there will be a Labour Government in 
 England, and that in any case Lloyd George's days are 
 nimibered. He seems to think that the Labour Party 
 will gradually gain the ascendancy in aU countries through- 
 
BERLIN, JANUARY 1918 187 
 
 out Europe, which may lead to civil war here as well as in 
 England. This, I think myself, is not improbable. If the 
 war continues much longer the people will follow Russia's 
 example and take the matter into their own hands. 
 
 The Hohenzollems, they say, are perfectly aware of 
 their own uncertain position, and a remark said to have 
 been made by the Crown Prince is being repeated every- 
 where : " I'm young enough to find another job, but 
 what will happen to the old man if we have to go ? " 
 
 As concerns matters here there is a never-ending crisis 
 in Government affairs going on. Hindenburg and Luden- 
 dorff, as well as the Crown Prince, are in Berlin, and 
 important conferences are always taking place, the 
 Lithuanian and PoUsh question being the most difficult 
 to decide. Kiihlmann's position is more shaky than 
 ever, and Hertling is reported to have been " ill " for 
 some days past. 
 
 They say the scene between Ludendorff and Kiihlmann 
 the other day was indescribable. They shouted at one 
 another so loudly that their voices were heard some three 
 or four stories above. Ludendorff appears bent on be- 
 coming mihtary dictator, and his opponents will be done 
 for if that comes about. 
 
 " Talk of an angel and you will hear his wings." 
 Ludendorff is so often in my thoughts that I was not 
 surprised this morning at breakfast when, happening to 
 look out of the window, I saw both him and Hindenburg 
 pass by on their early morning stroll into the Tiergarten, 
 as they are in the habit of doing when they are in Berlin 
 for a few days. They were greeted with great enthusiasm 
 by the passers-by, and a respectful crowd followed them 
 at a short distance. 
 
 It has become almost impossible to get out of Germany 
 now, however urgent the need may be, if one is of aUen 
 birth. Only a short time ago my friend Baroness 
 
i88 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Stemburg, the American wife of the former Ambassador 
 in Constantinople, who had a passport to visit her sister- 
 in-law in Stockholm, was at the last moment forbidden 
 to go without being told the reason why. Imagine her 
 position : an empty flat, no servants, and nothing to eat. 
 The same thing happened to Frau von M., an ItaUan 
 by birth, and the widow of one of the most influential 
 bankers in Berhn. She had been advised by her doctors 
 to visit a sanatorium in Switzerland ; a passport had 
 been granted and the day fixed for her departure, when 
 she was suddenly informed that the permit had been 
 cancelled. Of course there is always some woman in 
 the background who, from petty spite, has denounced the 
 victims as " deutschfeindUch " to the pohce authorities. 
 
 My eldest brother has been lying very ill in a hospital, 
 which to me seems providential, or he would have been 
 in the fierce fight. 
 
 My other two brothers and my brother-in-law are still 
 in the thick of the fighting, and my nephew, whom I 
 left a boy at school, is now a cavalry officer in one of 
 the most dangerous and exposed positions. How odd 
 it is to see the next generation cropping up and already 
 responsible for the life and death of so many of their 
 fellow-creatures, whilst we passively look on, superfluous 
 units in the great struggle of the world. 
 
 I have received a letter from my sister, Lady Charlton, 
 from Cape Town, dated November 28, in which she 
 mentions a curious coincidence. The officers under her 
 husband's command were ordered to bring in all the 
 foreign rifles found in South Africa, and amongst others 
 one was brought in with my husband's monogram en- 
 graved on it. It was the one which he had used out 
 there fourteen years ago. I am glad to hear that she 
 says he has still many friends out there. 
 
 Outside the snow is falling thicker and thicker, and 
 
BERLIN. JANUARY 1918 189 
 
 the trees are covered with soft glittering layers of frozen 
 snow. It is almost impossible to clear the tracks of 
 the tramways, and the traffic is being obstructed all 
 over the town. Crowds of people are waiting at every 
 stopping-place to force an entrance into the over-filled 
 cars ; most of them, of course, have to reach their 
 destination on foot. Berlin will soon be cut off from the 
 rest of the world if the snow continues much longer, 
 and the white-carpeted streets will be given over to an 
 unknown silence and loneUness. 
 
 Yesterday was quite a great day, as the Herrenhaus met 
 after a long pause, and Graf Hertling made his appearance 
 for the first time as Kanzler. As he is a Bavarian and a 
 Catholic, his debut was looked upon with very mixed 
 feelings, as it is a long time since a Roman Cathohc was 
 Chancellor of Germany. The House was packed with 
 members ready to tear his speech to rags. He has a 
 great party against him, and there are all sorts of under- 
 hand intrigues going on. His speech was rather dis- 
 appointing, as people had been expecting a detailed 
 discussion of the " peace " question and a criticism of 
 Lloyd George's pohcy, but it seems at the last moment 
 that he was obliged to change his tactics owing to new 
 developments in the pohcy of the Entente. 
 
 His short simple speech met with a good deal of 
 mahcious criticism, and we heard afterwards from Prince 
 Miinster, who joined us with Graf Magnis in the gallery, 
 that Prince Biilow had been loud in his disdainful com- 
 ments on what Graf Hertling said. 
 
 It was very interesting to see all these ex-Ministers, 
 ex-Kanzlers, and ambitious nobles who, hke the robber- 
 barons of mediaeval times, are quite ready to rebel and 
 turn the Kaiser off the throne if he does not fall in with 
 their wishes. Biilow and Tirpitz especially wore an 
 expression on their faces which boded no good for Graf 
 Herthng. But Graf Hertling is an old statesman, weU 
 versed in the devious struggles of modem pohtics, and 
 will be able to hold his own, in spite of its being said that 
 
I90 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 he is too much of a diplomat and not enough of a 
 statesman. 
 
 Besides Graf Hertling, the Vice-Chancellor von Payer 
 is also a Bavarian, and one can judge from this fact 
 what strong motives there must be for allowing the 
 Bavarians to take such a prominent part in the govern- 
 ment of the Empire. It seems to be necessary, for the 
 war has so intensified the antagonism already existing 
 between the Bavarians and the Prussians that they say 
 the hatred of the former for the " Sau-Preussen " (Pigs 
 of Prussians) knows no bounds, and they allow no food 
 to be sent to Prussia, although there is a superabundance 
 in some parts of Bavaria. 
 
 The feeling towards the Kaiser is steadily diminishing 
 in loyalty and respect, and the same people who greeted 
 him so warmly a short time ago with " Ave, Caesar ! " 
 are now distributing leaflets in the back streets of Berlin 
 proclaiming, " Down with the Kaiser, down with the 
 Government," and the pohce, when called upon to 
 suppress the evil-doers, refuse to act, and are more than 
 suspected of being behind the movement themselves. 
 
 From Herr Hahn, whom my husband met at the 
 Solfs' last week, he heard that he had just been to The 
 Hague and had spoken with an English delegate who 
 informed him that England would only agree to nego- 
 tiate with Germany if she consented to withdraw from 
 Belgium, but not otherwise. And as the military party 
 here will in no wise consent to this, I suppose things will 
 go on indefinitely as they are. 
 
 The Brest-Litovsk negotiations seem Ukely to come 
 to nothing, as Trotsky seems to be plajdng a double part, 
 and people say he is only toying with the Central Powers 
 to be better able to sow the seeds of sedition and rebelUon 
 amongst the West-European peoples. They say that 
 already the German prisoners have been set free in 
 Russia, and that common soldiers are being placed in 
 command over their former officers. 
 
BERLIN, JANUARY 1918 191 
 
 There are many different opinions about Trotsky here, 
 some calling him a dreamer and idealist, others abusing 
 him as a bloodthirsty tyrant ; whilst there is a whole 
 class of admirers who declare him to be the greatest 
 man since Christ lived upon earth, and the prophet of 
 a new reUgion which is to regenerate mankind and create 
 a new paradise after the deluge of the war. 
 
 Who knows what part this man may be going to play 
 in the future fates of Europe ? Some 120 years ago 
 people were saying almost the same things of a certain 
 unknown httle officer who out of the reign of terror 
 and bloodshed developed into the vampire-emperor, who 
 almost succeeded in draining the blood of all Europe. 
 
 Berlin, January 1918. — ^A more cheerful note in the 
 gloom of universal antagonism is the news of the accom- 
 plished exchange of wounded officers and soldiers, and the 
 repatriation of the interned British in Ruhleben over 45 
 years of age. I see that one party of men who were cap- 
 tured at Mons on August 24, 1914, arrived at The Hague 
 December 30, whilst another party of 412 men have been 
 distributed in various camps in Switzerland. One can 
 imagine their feelings at again being free to come and go 
 as they hke. The hideous nightmare of barbed wire 
 fences which has so often called forth a passing form of 
 neurasthenia amongst the prisoners is a thing of the 
 past. 
 
 It has been a rehef to us, and at the same time a 
 cause of sadness, as our work is done. We had watched 
 and worked for these countrymen of ours against so 
 many odds, and as if in the dark, never having the 
 satisfaction of knowing the result of our efforts ; and now 
 they are leaving, and our self-formed band of helpers 
 will automatically be dissolved. A " left behind " feehng 
 comes over us, the same as we used to experience when 
 one by one the Embassies left as their various countries 
 declared war. 
 
 We had divided ourselves methodically into branches. 
 
192 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Princess Miinster, Princess Pless, and I, all being English, 
 had undertaken the correspondence as regards wounded 
 and missing English, and the supply, as far as we were 
 allowed, to officers and men of extras in the way of 
 " unobtainable necessaries." Princess Biron being French 
 had done the same for the French, and Princess Isenburg 
 and the Duchess of Croy, both being American by birth, 
 had undertaken the French and Belgians as well, the 
 latter principally helping the Belgians, as, her husband 
 being partly Belgian, their S5niipathies were much with 
 that country. She had even obtained permission to 
 visit their cousin Princess Marie of Croy when she was 
 imprisoned after her trial at the same time as Miss 
 Cavell. 
 
 I wish I could add here a few of the letters we have 
 received from and about the wounded and missing and 
 prisoners of war. In this work all my family have 
 helped incessantly, especially my sisters Edith and 
 Monica, whose weekly letters have enabled us to 
 glean an enormous amount of information for anxious 
 relatives at home. Cecil Tempest, too, my great 
 friend, has been an invaluable assistant. Their cor- 
 respondence would almost form a book of its own. I 
 must have received over a thousand letters from all 
 parts of the world, and in this way one has learned 
 so much of the sorrow and anxiety that war has 
 brought about. One got to know the position of 
 regiments, the districts where peasants could be de- 
 pended on for information, or where doctors of the 
 Lazaretts were humane and ready to help, or vice 
 versa ; and, last but not least, we were sometimes the 
 sole possessors of information as to the whereabouts 
 of some lonely English grave, which, if it had not been 
 for the kindUness of some German officer acquaintance 
 of ours, who went out of his way to obtain the name 
 and particulars for us, would, maybe, have remained for 
 ever unclaimed and unidentified. 
 
 All this will one day be published by some one, or 
 
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 1918 193 
 
 some society whose object will be to improve the treat- 
 ment and conditions of prisoners of war in all countries 
 before the next war. I sincerely hope that one great 
 and important change in this branch of warfare will be 
 that all prisoners may be held on parole. 
 
 Berlin, February 1918. — Strikes are breaking out in 
 different parts, leading to disturbances which have already 
 caused the deaths of a few unfortunate policemen. They 
 are at present only sporadic, and are hushed up as much 
 as possible, every one, even the Socialists, dreading the 
 responsibiUty of civil war. But I have the feeling myself 
 that they are growing and uniting Uke an elastic belt 
 which may tighten any day and make itself very dis- 
 agreeably felt. 
 
 Next to us, in Tattersall's, there are fifty poUcemen 
 stationed night and day, which I can't say makes one 
 feel safer, for it rather looks as if some special demonstra- 
 tion were being planned for the front-door of Berlin, the 
 Brandenburger Tor, which means our front-door too. 
 
 My old friend the Commandant of Berlin, General 
 Kessel, is doing his best to stir up the troubled waters 
 by stamping with his heavy foot and rattling with his 
 iron fist. 
 
 We are now entirely at the mercy of the military 
 courts of justice, and after sentence has been pronounced 
 there is no further court of appeal possible for the 
 delinquent ; and any one who strikes is being sent off to 
 the front at once. In the darkest days of serfdom men 
 could not have been more in a state of slavery than we 
 are in these days of militarism. 
 
 The Kaiser himself lives in a constant state of fear, 
 anonymous letters being often sent to the gentlemen- 
 in- waiting, threatening that he will be shot. The other 
 day there was some special service in the Dom, and we 
 saw the motors of the Emperor and Empress flpng by 
 like lightning as they went there. A pubUc ovation was 
 given him when he quitted the church, but they say he 
 
 o 
 
194 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 only answered with a curt grim greeting and drove away 
 with the same speed he had come. 
 
 Things are not cheerful, it must be owned, and yet 
 there is an almost insatiable craving for pleasure of any 
 kind amongst every class of society. It is as if the long- 
 repressed desire for amusement innate in human nature 
 is now breaking forth stronger than ever, and as there 
 is money enough in circulation, the theatres, cinemas, 
 and concert halls are crowded to overflowing, utterly 
 unlike the preceding years when tickets had to be given 
 away to get any audience at all. Every one is anxious 
 to forget the depression of the times and get rid of the 
 heavy burden of sorrow and care which has so long been 
 clogging and depressing public and private life, and 
 " Merry Evenings " and dancing matinees are being 
 organized everywhere, assisted by the greatest artistes of 
 the day, to try and raise the flagging spirits of the nation. 
 
 Private dances and balls, which were so long forbidden, 
 are again coming into fashion, and the concert-teas at the 
 great hotels are increasing in price as the food offered 
 decreases in quaUty. 
 
 Our social gatherings are somewhat monotonous, the 
 circle of our personal acquaintances being so limited in 
 comparison with two years ago. The American and 
 Greek Embassies were then here ; but in consequence of 
 Germany's " splendid isolation " of to-day we now have 
 to depend chiefly on the representatives of the few 
 countries which still keep up diplomatic relations. Here 
 is a programme of our festivities last week. We had a 
 dinner-party at the Dutch Minister's, Baron Gevers, who 
 is looking after the interests of the British prisoners of 
 war. Then there was luncheon at the Spanish Embassy, 
 where the Spanish Ambassador, Ex, Polo, confided to 
 me that they are practically living on their trunks, as 
 any day may bring notice to leave Berlin, as America 
 and England are doing all they can to force Spain to 
 side with the Entente and take part in the war. 
 
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 1918 195 
 
 Then there was a dinner at the Rizoffs', the Bulgarian 
 Minister and his wife, which was rather interesting, she 
 being rather a lovely woman, the acknowledged beauty 
 of the diplomatic corps, and he a clever man, with an 
 unlimited faith in Bulgaria and the Bulgarians, not to 
 forget himself. He has just written a book in the one 
 language he knows. It concerns the future of Europe, 
 and he has had it translated into four languages for the 
 benefit of " the other world " which does not speak his 
 own. He is to a certain degree modest in his views, and 
 is just in his partition of Europe, for he leaves BerUn 
 to the Austrians, and only appropriates the rest for 
 Bulgaria. 
 
 Besides the aforementioned there are of course the 
 Austrian Embassy, with Prince Hohenlohe as Ambassador, 
 and his wife, the Archduchess ; Count and Countess 
 Moltke of the Danish Embassy ; and Baron Essen, the 
 Swedish Ambassador, with his newly married wife. 
 Then there are Princess Taxis, Count and Countess 
 Larisch, Baroness Stemburg, Count and Countess 
 Henckel, Prince and Princess Lowenstein, and the young 
 diplomats and secretaries of the diplomatic corps. 
 
 The great problem is how to provide for our guests, 
 and each course is duly commented on and discussed, 
 the origin and adventures connected with it forming the 
 chief topic of conversation. 
 
 I may add that England is unconsciously bearing the 
 burden of our dinners, for the food which we manage to 
 get generally comes from Belgium, and has been sent 
 over for the Belgians. 
 
 Herr von Jagow was here for a week, and as he was 
 ill, he held a sort of levee in his room every evening, 
 where my husband, Kiihlmann, and others met to discuss 
 affairs. They all agree that Germany is in a terrible 
 plight and, as the Empress' brother. Prince Ernst Giinther, 
 said at a dinner the other evening, " Germany is going 
 to the devil." 
 
 And yet the militarists continue babbling about the 
 
196 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 great victory that is to mean the final triumph of the 
 Central Powers and the speedy entry into Paris and the 
 taking of Calais by means of the new big guns. Why 
 this must mean the end of the war I cannot comprehend, 
 for it has proved the tragical destiny of Germany rmtil 
 now, that the greater her success on the field of battle 
 the more complicated does her political and economical 
 position become. 
 
 The chief theme of conversation with American friends 
 is their ever-increasing scarcity of money, as they cannot 
 get any from America. They tell me that if Germany 
 cannot or will not pay the indemnity demanded of her 
 at the end of the war, the private fortunes of German- 
 Americans will be seized upon to pay it, and are accord- 
 ingly in a great fright. In their letters from America 
 they say they are being constantly advised to leave 
 Germany as soon as possible, to take all their money 
 from the banks, and on no account to deposit it in Swiss 
 banks, but to hoard it up in the good old-fashioned 
 stocking. 
 
 The unfortunate part of the matter for them is that 
 no one may now leave Germany or go to Switzerland, 
 with the exception of theatrical troupes, etc., so that if 
 one wants to get out of the mouse-trap the only way left 
 is to become a ballet-girl or wandering musician. 
 
 This severity about granting passports is carried to 
 such lengths as to become ridiculous very often, and 
 Princess Lowenstein told me that so many difficulties 
 were being made about her getting her six - weeks' - old 
 twins to Austria that they might be the most dangerous 
 political suspects. 
 
 The atmosphere here is growing more and more demo- 
 cratic, and one is forcibly reminded sometimes of Paris 
 in the early days of the Revolution, when the people 
 became more and more conscious of their terrible power. 
 All outward distinctions of class and rank have to be 
 
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 1918 197 
 
 avoided as much as possible, and even the few sorry 
 carriage horses still permitted may not show any silver 
 on their harness. 
 
 The proletariat are daily growing more touchy and 
 jealous of their rights, and the numerous parvenus who 
 have grown rich through the war are especially detested. 
 Finer distinctions are not always made, of course, and 
 any one wearing a fur mantle or a specially well-made 
 pair of boots is suspected of being a " Kriegs-Gewinner." 
 It is no uncommon occurrence in these days of gloom and 
 fog that the happy possessors of such things are spied 
 out and followed, robbed of boots and furs, and forced 
 to walk home in their stockings. 
 
 TravelUng is one of the most difficult problems of the 
 day, the trains being all over-filled, and such delays take 
 place that one can imagine oneself back in the good old 
 days of mail-coaches. Princess Isenburg told me that the 
 other day she had places reserved for her in Munich for the 
 train to Berlin, and on arriving at the station a whole 
 hour beforehand, she found not only her own places 
 already taken, but the whole train so overcrowded that 
 the guard told her there was no room for her at all. and 
 no fuss might be made as the people would make a 
 disturbance. After a great many useless remonstrances 
 she was able at last to persuade the station-niaster to 
 help her, and he actually had to lead her through the 
 whole station, cross the goods-yard, pass through five 
 intervening trains, and thus ignominiously enter the 
 train from the other side, so as not to be seen by the people. 
 
 Another example of the spirit of the times : — Countess 
 
 H told me she was travelling the other day with her 
 
 three daughters from Leipzig to Berlin. They had taken 
 first-class tickets, but found their compartment over- 
 crowded, as usual. One of their neighbours, a stout 
 gentleman looking like a " Kriegs-Gewinner " of the 
 worst kind, seems to have been especially objection- 
 able to her eighteen-years-old daughter, who whispered 
 incautiously in her mother's ear, " If we had known we 
 
198 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 had to travel with the Plebs we might just as well have 
 gone third class." Unfortunately the stout man heard 
 this remark, and made the most dreadful scene imaginable. 
 He stopped the train, called in the guard, and complained. 
 
 Countess H insisted on her daughter apologizing, 
 
 which, however, did not appease the good man's wrath, for 
 the whole way he continued fuming at the bad manners 
 of the aristocracy, and not content with this he has actu- 
 ally brought a suit against the girl for abuse in pubhc. 
 
 Another incident which occurred but a short time ago 
 was that of one of the Empress' ladies-in-waiting, who 
 was forced to take a tram, the roads being too bad for 
 the horses. The tram was full of working-men, who 
 began abusing the Kaiser so violently that she felt herself 
 called upon to defend him. She assured them that he 
 was a very kind man, filled with the feehng of his great 
 responsibihty. This, however, only increased their anger, 
 which was now turned on her, so that she had to get out 
 of the tram to escape further abuse. 
 
 Berlin, March 1918. — I have lately been boiling with 
 resentment against the whole German nation, owing to 
 their official red tape which refused to allow me to go 
 and see my cousin Captain Trafford, en route for Holland, 
 where he has now gone with the rest of the repatriated 
 officers from Germany. 
 
 For the last three years I have been periodically 
 sending in an official apphcation to be allowed to go and 
 visit him, as, after all, he is my first cousin and is like a 
 brother to me. The authorities never refused me out- 
 right, always putting me off with answers either that I 
 may see him in a few months' time, or when he goes to 
 another camp, or when he passes through BerUn ; and 
 getting a bit tired of these evasive answers, I began 
 asking for a more decided date to be fixed, and the 
 answer was that they promised me he should not leave 
 the country without my seeing him. One day in February 
 I got a telegram saying that in three days' time he would 
 
BERLIN, MARCH 1918 199 
 
 be passing through Aachen station en route for Holland, 
 and that I might go and see him at the station. I 
 obtained a travelUng permit, secured reserved seats for 
 myself and maid, and filled in all sorts of forms, when 
 an hour or so before starting I received another notice 
 to say that the commander of the camp had exceeded 
 his rights in giving me permission and that the military 
 station-master would not allow me to go on the platform, 
 as owing to the coming offensive the place was reserved 
 for troops alone. 
 
 I was dumb with disappointment and rage, and my 
 
 friend Baroness S came in that evening, also laden 
 
 with a grievance, as she had just had a passport given 
 her to go and visit her sister in Copenhagen, and within 
 twenty-four hours of starting it was taken away. So 
 we were suitable companions in our mutual grievances, 
 and consoled ourselves by giving free vent to our feelings 
 on the subject. It was one more example of over- 
 organization ; give with one hand and take away with 
 the other. The disappointment brought on such an 
 attack of home-sickness that I took a long time getting 
 over it ; and as my husband was absent in Vienna for 
 a month it made it still harder. I consoled myself by 
 picturing the rehef and joy it must have been to my 
 cousin to be " on his own " once more, able to shake off 
 the dust of the German prison camps from his feet 
 for ever. 
 
 My cousin in his first letter from Holland told me that 
 the of&cials at Aachen station had told him I had tele- 
 graphed to say "that I was too busy to come and see him." 
 
 From all the letters I get from home I can read between 
 the lines that a great offensive is pending in the West, 
 but that the Entente are perfectly prepared for any 
 emergency. So minute is their knowledge of the pre- 
 parations on the German front, that the French papers 
 are full of surprise that the enemy let week after week 
 of the splendid March weather go by without making a 
 
200 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 move. The fact is probably that Ludendorff has to be 
 perfectly certain of how many fresh divisions he can 
 count on from Russia before beginning the most danger- 
 ous and uncertain adventure of the whole war. As 
 most people say here, it is a case of " to be or not to be," 
 and the miUtarists are throwing the gauntlet to fate in 
 their own way. 
 
 The Russian Peace, although greeted with a great 
 show of flags and ringing of bells and universal holidays 
 for the school-children, has on the whole been received 
 with shakes of the head and disbeUef in the duration 
 of such a treaty. Fighting still continues between the 
 German troops and the Red Guards, and one hears horrible 
 stories of bloodshed and anarchy. Not only are German 
 officers and soldiers being murdered in their beds and 
 their houses set on fire over their heads, but many great 
 Russian magnates are being treated in the same way. 
 The Germans here are all boasting of the future happy 
 state of the country when it has come to know the blessings 
 of Prussian law and order, whilst the Annexationists 
 and ImperiaHsts are pluming their feathers in great style, 
 under the pretext of re-establishing pubUc order. A 
 German armed force now occupies territories whose 
 populations are pre-eminently Russian, and the Commer- 
 cial Treaty of 1904 has been renewed in favour of the 
 German agrarians. 
 
 At a luncheon party the other day I sat next to Dr. 
 Solf, who gave me much interesting information. He 
 said that half an hour before the Kanzler's speech he 
 had gone to see him and had clearly and concisely begged 
 him to declare the disannexation of Belgium without any 
 conditions whatever. Hertling promised to do so, but 
 when the moment came he hmited his statement to "we 
 will withdraw from Belgium under the condition that we 
 receive compensation," etc., etc. He confided to me 
 that at the last moment the military authorities had 
 insisted on his adding this limitation. 
 
BERLIN, MARCH 1918 201 
 
 Solf further told me that Bethmann-Hollweg's political 
 outlook was broader than Hertling's, but that he had 
 not the courage of his convictions. For instance, last 
 year, during the American crisis, the Emperor, Bethmann- 
 Hollweg, Helfferich, and himself had been dead against 
 the wholesale submarine warfare. They foresaw that 
 it would eventually mean Germany's ruin. Solf's own 
 words to Bethmann-HoUweg had been, " You disapprove 
 of the increased submarines ; Helfferich and I do so too ; 
 let us all go to the Kaiser and beg him to stand by us 
 in this or we will all three resign." Bethmann had agreed 
 that he was right, but had not dared to take such a step 
 himself. 
 
 The " Lichnowsky Revelations " are in every one's 
 mouth. He is being condemned by most people, and 
 even such partisans as recognize the truth of his state- 
 ments agree in condemning him for disclosing State 
 secrets in his own personal interest. It is believed that 
 he will probably be tried for high treason, and that he 
 will be impeached by the Herrenhaus and probably 
 turned out of his regiment. 
 
 Of course, every one's question is how the document 
 got out. Lichnowsky himself will be more surprised 
 than any one at the publicity of a manuscript which he 
 had only written for his family archives. It is said that 
 he sent it to several private friends, amongst others to 
 a certain Herr Wittenberg, a director of the National 
 Bank, and brother-in-law to Harden, to quote from in a 
 lecture he was going to give. Wittenberg seems to have 
 indiscreetly shown it to an officer working on the General 
 Staff, who was at the same time an extreme religious 
 pacifist, and who was so horrified by the information 
 revealed, showing the deception of Bethmann-Hollweg's 
 Government, that he thought it an act of duty to hand 
 it over to the Press. As this man has been stajdng in 
 Switzerland people are suggesting that he has been caught 
 in Northcliffe's nets, and that this is one of that minister's 
 
202 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 first steps for promoting the truth in the enemy's country. 
 If it is, he has certainly been very successful. 
 
 As a matter of fact, these so-caUed " revelations " 
 are exactly the facts that Lichnowsky told us on our 
 journey out from England at the outbreak of the war. 
 He also showed the pamphlet to my husband and Prince 
 Miinster in 1916, and although it has been corrected 
 and added to, it is by no means all news to us, and for 
 me certainly is not the meaningless raving of a madman, 
 as many people here would have us think. 
 
 Lately Princess M. and I have received letters from 
 our cousins who have just been freed from their long 
 imprisonment in Germany and sent back to England. 
 These letters confirm my belief that there is still a great 
 deal of unnecessary bullying and ill-treatment of im- 
 prisoned British ofiicers going on, and that too much 
 personal authority is accorded to the officer in command 
 of the camp. Whilst one commander is tyrannical and 
 incompetent in his methods, and buUies his unhappy 
 prisoners by issuing all manner of petty irritating regu- 
 lations and limitations to their manner of living, others 
 can show tact and sympathy with the unenviable lot of 
 the men placed under his command for the time being. 
 One man only sees a chance for humiliating and humbling 
 men whom he hates simply for being the enemy, whilst 
 the others use the occasion for doing unto others as they 
 would be done by in the same case. But one realizes 
 how unconscious some of these bullies are at the contempt 
 they have aroused, as we are told that during the few 
 weeks previous to the order for exchange being issued 
 they tried all the means in their power to be friendly 
 and considerate towards those whom they had so grossly 
 misused. 
 
 On receipt of the above-mentioned letters we both set 
 our usual wheels in motion. Princess Miinster has written 
 on the subject to Prince Max of Baden, whilst I went 
 straight to General Friederich and asked him to investi- 
 
BERLIN, MARCH 1918 203 
 
 gate the matter. Prince Max was very sympathetic ; but 
 with regard to others, if the matter was not so serious one 
 would feel inclined to smile at their naive surprise on 
 reading the letters, and their remarks that such things 
 cannot be going on in a German camp. Last, but not 
 least, I then made my way to the Dutch Legation and 
 saw one of the staff who represents the interests of the 
 British prisoners of war. In society we are great friends 
 with them all, but on occasions of this sort they are apt 
 to assume the defensive, and imply that I am criticizing 
 their management. But by now I am hardened against 
 snubs of this kind, and peg away at my complaints until 
 I manage to extract a reluctant promise to send some 
 one down to inspect and report on the particular camp in 
 question. Of course, I rarely hear the result of the inspec- 
 tion ; that would be too considerate an act to expect at 
 such times ; and I am only greeted the next time we meet 
 by a look that means, " Do leave off interfering." 
 
 This treatment of the English in certain camps makes 
 my blood bum, and I feel especially galled when I talk 
 to men like Captain Ranch, who has just returned from 
 a three years' imprisonment in England, where, as he 
 tells me, he met with much kindness. He related how 
 he was allowed to see friends for an hour whenever he 
 liked, in the presence of an English officer, and that 
 when they were first captured General French came and 
 addressed him and his men personally, telling them 
 they were a gallant foe and had defended themselves 
 bravely to the last. 
 
 Berlin, March 1918. — Do you remember the words of 
 Byron's stanza describing the ball on the eve of the 
 battle of Waterloo ? 
 
 There was a sound of revelry by night, 
 
 The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men ; 
 
 And all went merry as a marriage-bell ; 
 
 But hush ! hark ! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell ! 
 
204 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 They well describe the atmosphere of our first great 
 reception in Berlin last night. 
 
 The scene was as brilHant as one could wish for, and 
 gained in historical depth and meaning by the tragedies 
 underlying the surface. Although there were 150 people 
 present (of various nationahties), our large rooms were 
 by no means overcrowded and looked charming. There 
 was a wonderful display of jewels, and the ropes of pearls 
 and brilliant diadems seemed to gleam with double lustre 
 over the forced simplicity of the dresses, which certainly 
 bear the sign of the times, thin flimsy muslins and silks 
 being almost the only stuffs to be had. Of course, there 
 were some magnificent robes, but they were evidently 
 reminiscences of other times. 
 
 We began the evening with a dinner-party of twelve, 
 our guests being the Duke and Duchess of Schleswig- 
 Holstein, the Rizofis, Count and Countess Oppersdorff 
 and Count and Countess Larisch, Countess Gotzen and 
 Count George Wedel. 
 
 As it is not etiquette to talk politics on such occasions, 
 we mutually avoided touching on the subjects most occu- 
 pying our minds, and the Duke, who took me in to dinner 
 as his hostess, talked English the whole evening, discussing 
 English friends, shooting in Scotland, the Kiel-week, in 
 fact everything but the war. My husband in the meantime 
 talked Austria to the Duchess, and Bulgaria and Montenegro 
 to Madame Rizoff, until the other guests began to arrive. 
 
 By the Duke's permission we were allowed to have 
 English and French songs sung, which were a great suc- 
 cess, but the chief musical attraction of the evening was 
 a Dutch singer from the Royal Opera, Herr van de 
 Sanden. He is a new comet in the world of music here, 
 only having been discovered in Holland a short time ago, 
 and so he was a revelation to us all. His rich full baritone, 
 of immense volume and strength, enchanted every one. 
 Baroness Sternburg was also persuaded to sing for us, 
 and won enthusiastic applause. It is the first time she 
 has sung before such a large gathering. 
 
BERLIN, MARCH 1918 205 
 
 As for the food question, which is generally a vexed 
 one, the supper-table certainly looked very opulent with 
 its dainty dishes and masses of blood-red tulips ; but 
 everything was raised on our own estate, and the geese, 
 ducks, pheasants, ham, fowls, salads, etc., could all be 
 offered with a good conscience, and there was nothing 
 " forbidden " on the menu. The Spanish Ambassador 
 whispered in my ear that he only regretted one particular 
 guest not being present at the scene. On my asking 
 whom he meant, he rephed : " Lloyd George ; for if he 
 could see that supper-table he would know how non- 
 sensical it is to talk of Germany being starved out." 
 
 The great man of the evening, as far as rank goes, was 
 the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. He is brother to the 
 Empress, and I suppose still holds a secret grudge against 
 the Prussians for having annexed his land ; but cela va 
 sans dire, he is very loyal now. 
 
 Of the women. Countess Oppersdorff looked hand- 
 somely striking in her tall fair decorative style. There 
 is " race " written in every hne of her, and she looks 
 what she is in reality, the descendant of an ancient 
 line of kings. Her forefathers had the somewhat dubious 
 pleasure of reigning over the Poles in the good old days, 
 when they were continually quarreUing as to who was 
 the reigning monarch, and she holds the Prussian Court a 
 little cheaply, maintaining that the Hohenzollems are 
 parvenus, and their ancestors nothing better than knights- 
 errant when hers were reigning over a nation of great 
 culture and learning. 
 
 Madame Rizoff, who is one of the undisputed beauties 
 of this winter, hovered Hke a butterfly over a flower- 
 garden, graceful, vivacious, and amiable. Her husband, 
 the minister, looks what he probably is in his own countryi 
 a good-natured bourgeois with a sUght French polish. 
 But his young wife is surrounded by quite a nimbus of 
 romance. She is said to be closely related by blood to 
 King Nikita, and has all the charm of a nymph who has 
 lost her way in this prosaic old world of ours. She is 
 
2o6 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 certainly good to look at, this dainty daughter of the 
 gods, with the wonderful sweep of neck and shoulders ; 
 and the play of her delicate muscles when she moves her 
 head is a thing for a sculptor to dream of, whilst her big 
 dark, astonished-looking ej^es, and black hair bound by a 
 simple blue ribbon, suggest to you a pretty Bo-peep who 
 is looking for her sheep in the wrong place. 
 
 The Dutch Ambassador and his wife were the centre 
 of all eyes, for every one was trying to make out from 
 their manner what the answer to the Dutch ultimatum 
 was going to be. Of course, we did not touch on pohtics 
 last night, but they had laughed at my anxiety the day 
 before when, making out the programme for our Dutch 
 singer, I had jokingly remarked that I hoped the answer 
 to the ultimatum would at least be postponed until the 
 following evening, as it would be so inconvenient if my 
 Dutch friends all left before the soiree. 
 
 The Spanish Ambassador and his wife were there too, 
 both of them vaguely wondering how many more Spanish 
 ships Germany was going to sink by mistake, before they, 
 too, " must fold up their tents Hke the Arabs and noise- 
 lessly steal away," 
 
 Looking hke a vizir from the court of Haroun al 
 Raschid masquerading in European clothes, the Turkish 
 Ambassador wandered about from room to room, care- 
 fully steering his formidable double chin and the rest of 
 his embonpoint through the gay throng. He is said to be 
 very mse, and as somebody said of him, he looks as if he 
 kept all his wisdom packed up in his inside. 
 
 The Bavarian Mnister and diplomats were all present, 
 in fact the rooms were thronged with ministers, high 
 officials, and mihtar^^ potentates, with their wives. Some 
 members of the " haute finance " were present also, the 
 ladies rather overdoing it in the way of jewels ; one of 
 them almost looked as if she were wearing a diamond 
 cuirass. 
 
 At the last moment several people had been forced to 
 telephone their apologies o^ving to the military situation. 
 
BERLIN, MARCH 1918 207 
 
 and I think there cannot have been any one who was 
 not conscious of the importance of the hour. At any 
 moment the long-expected offensive may take place, and 
 it almost seems as if some great decision were imminent, 
 to judge by the number of officers who have suddenly 
 had to hurry off to their regiments at a moment's notice. 
 And yet there we were, all apparently gay and careless, 
 chattering away to one another as if we had not a single 
 fear beyond how our guests were to get home again. 
 
 The evening passed very quickly, and although the 
 music went on till after midnight, most of our guests 
 began to disperse at about 11.30, for the electric trams 
 and underground wait for no man, and droshkies and 
 motors are very few and far between, and the dangers of 
 a solitary midnight walk in Berlin are not to be under- 
 rated in these days of universal theft and robbery. 
 
 As for myself, I still feel in the B5Tonic mood, and 
 wonder how many of the men who were my guests last 
 evening I shall ever see again. There are reports circu- 
 lating of the great offensive beginning already. Here is 
 the last verse of Byron's canto, which might have been 
 a prophecy of to-day : 
 
 Last noon beheld them full of lusty hfe. 
 
 Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay, 
 
 The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife. 
 
 The mom the marshalling in arms, — the day 
 
 Battle's magnificently fierce array ! 
 
 The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which when rent 
 
 The earth is cover'd thick with other clay. 
 
 Which her own clay shall cover, heap'd and pent. 
 
 Rider and horse, — friend, foe, — in one red burial blent ! 
 
 Berlin, March 1918. — The great offensive has begun, 
 and the newspaper headings all speak of a great German 
 victory. The whole town is being flagged and the bells 
 are ringing. Standing at my owti window, gazing sorrow- 
 fully out at the Tiergarten, which is already showing a 
 thin veil of green in the brilliant March sunshine, I 
 can hear some of the remarks made by passers-by, and. 
 
2o8 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 shall I confess it, for the first time since the outbreak 
 of the war I am beginning to doubt, and wonder if 
 it is in any degree possible that the Germans can reach 
 Calais ! 
 
 My soul grows sick when I read or hear the particulars 
 of these first victorious days ; of the new long guns that 
 are being used for the first time, and that are now bom- 
 barding Paris from the incredible distance of 150 kilo- 
 metres ; of the awful effect of the devilish new gases, 
 of whole batteries of Englishmen found dead over their 
 guns, of the 25,000 prisoners captured and 400 guns 
 taken, together with great stores of food and ammunition. 
 
 We hear that the English say they were taken by 
 surprise, and that the prisoners blame their generals and 
 complain of Haig being in England just at the critical 
 moment. 
 
 It is a beautiful morning, one of those spring days 
 when the world seems to have grown young and strong 
 and full of hope in the night. Ever3d;hing is brisk 
 and vigorous and full of movement as if hurrying on to 
 some new era of history. The flags are flying from the 
 house-tops, the branches of the trees are waving in the 
 wind, and the high white clouds hurrying by, as if carry- 
 ing the news of the great battles to other lands. The 
 day looks as if it were rejoicing, but Nature is always 
 callous to human suffering, and who can think of rejoic- 
 ing, whether friend or foe, when such horrible suffering 
 is being inflicted on mankind ? 
 
 Our house stands in a very central position, being in 
 the main thoroughfare connecting the two big stations, 
 the Friedrich Strasse and the Potsdamer Bahnhof ; and 
 there is always a great deal of traffic passing our windows. 
 This morning I feel fascinated by the seemingly cheery 
 life going on out there, and stand rooted to the window, 
 trying to escape my own sad thoughts. There are the 
 freshly equipped troops marching away staidly and 
 soberly enough, with the small pathetic following of 
 white-faced women trjdng to keep pace with their swift 
 
BERLIN, MARCH 1918 209 
 
 march. How many of them will ever see the Branden- 
 burger Tor and the victorious figures on it again ? 
 
 There is the newspaper-man shouting out the news in 
 a voice that almost makes one beUeve that the Germans 
 have crossed the Channel. There is the flower-girl 
 offering her small first bunches of violets and snowdrops 
 to women who have no thoughts of flowers, but hurry 
 by with anxious pale faces all in one direction, and I 
 know where, to the Kriegsministerium in the Dorotheen 
 Strasse, where the fresh fists of casualties appear daily. 
 
 Carts fiUed with enormous bottles, each six in its big 
 basket-packing, rattle by. I hate the sight of them, I 
 know them too well ; they are filled with those abomin- 
 able gas-stuffs which are made in Moabit, and are now 
 being dispatched to destroy more victims. There, too, 
 a whole waggon-load of empty stretchers passes by, 
 new and unstained as yet. How long before they will 
 each be filled with some poor bleeding remnant of 
 humanity ? 
 
 There comes a troop of men in various uniforms, and 
 bearing no weapons. They are English and French 
 prisoners, and I feel glad inwardly, for I know that at 
 least these mothers' sons have escaped from the further 
 horrors of the war. 
 
 I feel a great wave of bitterness and hatred over- 
 flowing my heart, hatred for all those in this and in other 
 countries who were the cause of this hell-being-let-loose 
 on the earth, and I turn away from the window with an 
 indignant sob in my throat as I hear the sound of church 
 bells imperatively summoning the nation to rejoice, but 
 the sound of approaching music forces me back to the 
 window, just in time to see the returned crew of the 
 cruiser Wolf passing by in gala procession, accompanied 
 by a scanty but admiring escort of men and boys. At 
 the sight of these my thoughts veer round to the naval 
 side of the situation, and I wonder vaguely if the report 
 that I heard yesterday is true, that England is going to 
 make a naval attack on the sea-coast. 
 
 p 
 
2IO AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 My husband enters the room full of the latest news 
 just received straight from the General Staff. They 
 have informed him that a success is certain, but that it 
 seems to be of a local nature, and not so great as the 
 papers make it out to be, and by no means important 
 enough to make those in authority confident of a great 
 ultimate victory. It seems to be true that the guns 
 are really bombarding Paris from a distance of 120 
 kilometres, and that the Opera-house is partially de- 
 stroyed, but this does not mean anything of a decisive 
 natm-e. 
 
 A member of the General Staff here has also told him 
 that his office in BerUn is in direct telephone connection 
 with the General Staff at the front, and that he can hear 
 the sound of the shooting going on through his telephone, 
 and can also telephone personally to an aeronaut who is 
 at that moment suspended high up in the air over the 
 enemy's lines. 
 
 Names of the fallen keep coming in at every moment, 
 and Princess Reuss has just had a telegram to say that 
 her second and much beloved son has fallen in the 
 victory. 
 
 Berlin, April 9, 1918. — ^The terrible offensive is still 
 raging, and although the quick onpush of the Germans 
 in those first harrowing days has been checked, we still 
 hear of the steady if slow advance of the German troops. 
 
 All these two weeks I went nowhere and would see 
 no one. I could only sit at home wondering which 
 member of my family would fall first, and when I should 
 receive news of it. The anguish and suspense of waiting, 
 knowing nothing of what is happening to one's nearest 
 and dearest, is terrible. 
 
 I have newspapers containing the casualty lists up to 
 March 30, and until now I have seen no names I know ; 
 so I must take hope and pick up the threads of every- 
 day life again and quietly visit my friends once more. 
 Through news gleaned from them and from my husband, 
 
BERLIN, APRIL 1918 211 
 
 who is continually meeting military men, I learn that the 
 offensive has not been successful enough to justify the 
 confidence proclaimed in all the newspapers. Every- 
 thing had been staked on their breaking through the 
 enemy's lines, and they have not done so, although they 
 have driven the enemy back. Indeed, I hear the German 
 troops are even being scattered and separated, owing to 
 the French offensive at Verdun and the renewed trouble 
 in Italy, where the Czechs have gone over wholesale to 
 the enemy, forcing Germany to send eight army corps 
 from the West Front to the ItaKan to replace them. 
 
 The so-called victories have been painted in glowing 
 colours, for " dressing up " the war loan. Morally, too, 
 the offensive has not made the wished-for impression 
 on the enemy, but if anything has put new courage into 
 them. The pacifists in England and France are fewer 
 and have retired into the background. 
 
 We hear universally that the pluck shown by the 
 English was almost superhuman when they were taken 
 by surprise, and when through the failure of the Portu- 
 guese they were left to face such great odds alone. Even 
 Ludendorff, hard stern man that he is, confessed that 
 he would take off his hat to the EngUsh for their 
 absolutely undaunted bravery. He said they never lose 
 their heads, and never appear desperate ; they are always 
 cool and courageous until the very moment of death and 
 capture. I will put it exactly as I heard it straight from 
 the Grosse Hauptquartier : " The English Generals are 
 wanting in strategy. We should have no chance if they 
 possessed as much science as their officers and men had 
 of courage and bravery. They are lions led by donkeys." 
 
 I wonder how much of this criticism is true. It is, 
 of course, difficult for me to judge, but it is nevertheless 
 interesting to hear, coming from such a quarter. 
 
 Yesterday I went to the first really smart wedding 
 which I have seen since the beginning of the war ; all 
 the others being " Kriegstrauung." It was the Henckel- 
 
212 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Schaffgotsch wedding and was very beautitul. The union 
 was such a happy one that the parents had determined 
 to make it a scene of rejoicing for once ; and the young 
 couple certainly deserved it, for the bndegroom has been 
 continually in action for three and a half years, and the 
 bride's father has seived in the ammunition columns 
 since the beginning. 
 
 The ten bridesmaids at the wedding were all decked 
 out in dresses of pink chiffon and carried bouquets of 
 spring flowers, and each was attended (as is the custom 
 here) by a young officer m uniform ; and only that 
 morning each of these youths had received notice that 
 he was to hurry back to the front to-morrow, 
 
 I felt a httle relieved the other day when a lady in 
 an important official position came up to me and gave 
 me some secret information. " I may be committing a 
 patriotic crime," she said, " but I feel so much with you 
 in your anxiety about your relations ' over there,' that 
 I mean to risk it. The reverses and losses last week 
 were not so much amongst the English as amongst the 
 French and Americans. The Germans wish the people 
 to believe the contrary, but the real fact is that although 
 some English regiments were obliged to retreat, they are 
 not the ones who made the mistakes or who have suffered 
 most." 
 
 Last night Prince Max Taxis dined with us ; he had 
 arrived only a few hours before from St, Quentin. He 
 was greatly affected by the remembrance of it. Last 
 year, he said> it had been a flourishing town, and now it 
 was a deserted ruin, most of the houses being absolutely 
 razed to the ground and nothing to be seen in it but 
 streams of prisoners passing through. 
 
 I heard to-day from Princess Miinster, who sent an 
 extract from a letter from her husband. She writes : 
 " He says he is back in Alsace now with the Xth army 
 corps. He has had a most interesting time for the last 
 
BERLIN, APRIL 1918 213 
 
 ten days. He dined with the Crown Prince at his head- 
 quarters, and spent half a day with him, besides being 
 shown round everywhere. He says : ' Your heart would 
 have warmed with pride at the way he speaks of the 
 Enghsh prisoners (officers and soldiers), and he never 
 misses an opportunity of visiting the English wounded, 
 giving them cigarettes and cheering them up.' " 
 
 The Lichnowsky affair continues to excite the greatest 
 interest. 
 
 Herr von Jagow has been dining and lunching with 
 us often lately, and has explained his (Lichnowsky's) 
 position very clearly to my husband, who has in fact 
 been helping him to write his " Explanation " which 
 appeared in the German papers last week and is being 
 reproduced in the Enghsh papers this week. 
 
 Yesterday the case was brought before the Herren- 
 haus. It will be tried by his peers, and they will decide 
 his fate. As G. tells me, the scene was most impressive. 
 The House had been packed the whole morning for the 
 Pohsh debates, but when this great " case " came on, 
 the House was cleared and the whole affair thrashed out 
 in camera. As most of the nobihty present were either 
 his friends or relations, it was a painful moment for them 
 all. It seems the question to be decided is whether he 
 will lose his seat in the Herrenhaus and be expelled from 
 his regiment, etc., etc. He will be allowed to appeal, 
 so the case may last another six months. 
 
 Although Lichnowsky has been trying to show the 
 world a bold face up to now, and might have been seen 
 walking in the Tiergarten in front of our windows every 
 morning lately, he left Berhn the day before the opening 
 of the Herrenhaus, and is now at his Silesian seat. I 
 hear that he is very depressed and surprised at the turn 
 affairs have taken. 
 
 The other great topic of conversation in the salons 
 of Berlin is the " peace movement " going on under 
 
214 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 the surface between France and Austria, for all the 
 " dementis " in the world cannot alter the fact that the 
 royal pair in Austria have been trying to negotiate 
 quietly with France. It has, of course, been absolutely 
 denied officially, as such a move would be considered 
 " disloyalty to their ally." 
 
 The story runs here that it was not the Austrian 
 Emperor but his young wife who wrote to Clemenceau, 
 suggesting an opening of peace negotiations, and that it 
 was quite unofficial and, so to say, without the Emperor's 
 cognizance ; but it is really just the sort of impulsive 
 thing that a young impatient couple would do, so that I 
 admire the effort even if it has failed to succeed. 
 
 I have been told another little interesting episode 
 to-day, coming in fact from some of the Austrian relations 
 themselves. The Austrian Empress has two younger 
 brothers (Dukes of Parma) on the other side, as so many 
 of us have. They are attached to the Belgian Red 
 Cross, and, filled with an intense longing to see them, 
 besides being probably moved by pohtical reasons as 
 well, she planned a Httle scheme for this purpose which 
 came off most successfully and is still absolutely unknown 
 to any one outside her own family. The two Princes 
 actually visited her in Austria. They entered a train 
 in Belgium in the uniform of Belgian officers, and left it 
 in Vienna in the costume of Austrian sportsmen, and 
 were quite unrecognized. They spent some three days 
 in one of the royal shooting residences, and were again 
 smuggled back to Belgium in the same manner, where 
 they have rejoined the Belgian army. 
 
 Running through the more important subjects of the 
 day there is always a red thread of gossip and criticism 
 on the poor old Reichskanzler and Herr von Kiihlmann. 
 The " Vaterlandspartei " are always at work, and do 
 not shrink from any methods to unhorse the latter. 
 Now they are trying an attack on his private life. It 
 is very despicable, and one cannot help agreeing with 
 
BERLIN, APRIL 1918 215 
 
 Kiihlmann who, a few days ago on his return from 
 Bukarest, where he had been working at the peace 
 negotiations, complained bitterly of the treatment he 
 was exposed to. As he said, although he had trained 
 himself to have the hide of a rhinoceros and to be absol- 
 utely indifferent to criticism, yet it is cutting even to 
 the most hardened to return from such a difficult mission, 
 where he had been doing his utmost for his country, to 
 find that in the meantime he had become the victim 
 of a low intrigue got up by his political antagonists to 
 ruin him. He was alluding to reports which have been 
 circulating here to the effect that while in Bukarest he 
 had inaugurated " wild orgies " with smart Roumanian 
 ladies who were trying to influence him to make a weak 
 peace for Germany. 
 
 Ridiculous as these reports may seem, they were so 
 skilfully set in motion that they grew in interest from 
 month to month and were beheved by nearly every one 
 before the source of the calumny was exposed. The 
 alleged weakness of the peace with Roumania is that she 
 is to be allowed to keep her guns and weapons. Ger- 
 many's ally, Bulgaria, particularly resents these terms, 
 as she says the guns will inevitably one day be directed 
 against her. 
 
 Berlin, April 1918. — I suppose that I was feeling 
 more than usually anxious about my family just now, 
 and as I am a great behever in telepathy, the following 
 is a curious instance of it. I have been undergoing a 
 course of massage lately, and the lady who gives me the 
 treatment, although not professing to be a clairvoyante, 
 has at times an extraordinary gift of second sight. In 
 the course of conversation during my treatment she 
 said, " You are terribly worried about something, aren't 
 you ? " " Yes," I said, " I am anxious about my 
 brothers and brother-in-law, owing to this last offen- 
 sive." Looking round the room and seeing their photo- 
 graphs all about, she begged me not to worry, and 
 
2i6 AN EiNGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 taking up each photograph in turn she told me the 
 following, which I noted down as she said it. Holding 
 up the photo of my eldest brother, she said he was in a 
 distant land and had been in a hospital there, ill but not 
 wounded. " This one," and she took up the photo of 
 my brother Edmund, " has a scar or sore all along one 
 side of his face." 
 
 I knew nothing about them at the time, but about ten 
 days after I received a letter from my mother, saying that 
 my eldest brother was in Palestine, and had been very 
 ill in hospital ; and that Edmund, my second brother, 
 was home on sick leave owing to an abscess on his chin 
 and jaw caused by the unhealthy food and water in the 
 place he had been at ! 
 
 " These two," taking up the photos of my brother- 
 in-law, Colonel Rowland Feilding, and of my brother 
 Vincent, " have been for the last few days in terrible 
 danger, but it is over for them at present." Then, 
 singUng out the one of my brother, " He is lying at this 
 moment in hospital with a broken leg. I see him fall," 
 she continued, " with a wound or accident to his leg ; 
 I see two soldiers coming on either side of him and pick- 
 ing him up and supporting him under the shoulders ; 
 they half drag and half carry him across a temporary 
 bridge, made of rafters, across a canal. ^ He is now in a 
 hospital, where he will remain for about six weeks and 
 then will be sent home, where he will remain in hospital for 
 many months. He will recover, but he will Hmp for Ufe." 
 
 I must confess I felt partly reheved at the thought 
 that he and Rowland were for the moment out of danger, 
 and just waited patiently for definite news to come. 
 On the evening of this same day I took up a paper and 
 read the description of the fighting that had taken place 
 near Givenchy from the gth to 14th April, how on the 
 nth and 12th the West Lancashire Territorials had 
 saved the situation, but that their losses had been so 
 fearful that they had had to fall back on the " engineers 
 
 ^ These details were proved later to have been correct. 
 
BERLIN, APRIL 1918 217 
 
 of this regiment " as infantry reserves (Vincent's regi- 
 ment ; and he was, in fact, an engineer). 
 
 As I am now, thank God, in constant uncensored 
 communication with my cousin at The Hague, who is 
 my one link with the outer world, I hoped to gain more 
 news through him, and telegraphed to ask if anything 
 had happened to Vincent. On April 28 I received a 
 wire from him saying : " Vincent has a broken leg, and 
 is expected to be well enough to be moved to London 
 from France in six weeks' time." The prophetic words 
 being thus so exactly verified almost terrified me in the 
 contemplation of how ignorant we are of the hidden 
 forces of Nature. Yet how grateful I was for this good 
 news, and I think no one ever before rejoiced more at a 
 broken leg than I did over my brother Vincent's. 
 
 At the same time it seems as if our family is not to 
 be spared suffering in any generation, for on April 22 I 
 received a Times of the nth, and in the list of casualties 
 saw the name of my nephew Osmund, the only son of 
 my eldest brother. 
 
 Berlin, April 1918. — Friends to luncheon and 
 friends to tea ; with somehow or other a feehng that 
 perhaps these will be the last meetings of our little 
 " auslanderische " coterie. At luncheon we were only a 
 small party of four — our two selves, Herr von Jagow, 
 who was pessimistic, and Princess Isenburg, who is always 
 cheerful and in good spirits. She, as I omitted to mention 
 before, is the American wife of Prince Karl von Isenburg- 
 Birstein. She and her husband having generally spent 
 a part of the year in Paris before the war, their position 
 was a difficult one. 
 
 Princess Isenburg worked in the American Hospital 
 at Munich until it was closed on America coming in. She 
 then Uved quietly at her country place, where she had a 
 convalescent home for soldiers, and worked very hard 
 for the French and English prisoners of war. Her work 
 was much criticized, and she was twice denounced and 
 
2i8 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 had to pay a fine of 50 Mk. for her too zealous interest 
 in the enemy. Princess I. always answers laughingly 
 when asked her opinion of the warring countries : "I 
 have to love them all, because I was born in America, 
 educated and lived most of my hfe in France, am married 
 to a German, and have two charming English brothers- 
 in-law ! " Her husband was less diplomatic in speaking 
 his opinions ; and was consequently considered too inter- 
 national and cosmopohtan in his ideas to suit the taste 
 of the German Staff. He went out as a voluntary 
 automobilist, not having been in the army. 
 
 The Prince is often taken for one or other of his two 
 political brothers. The younger one. Prince Victor von 
 Isenburg, worked for a couple of war years in the Foreign 
 Office under Herr von Jagow. His elder, and politically 
 better-known brother, is Prince Joseph von Isenburg, 
 who was Military Governor of Lithuania. He has been 
 much criticized, and succeeded in making many enemies 
 in that country and in Poland. During luncheon this 
 subject was discussed, and Bertha I. defended her 
 brother-in-law, saying that as an officer he had had to 
 fulfil the orders given him by his superiors. General von 
 Ludendorff and General von Eichom. He had 800 
 officers under him, and could not be held responsible for 
 the foolish way some of those under him carried these 
 orders out. There was continual strife among the 
 Lithuanians and Poles, hardly a Sunday passing without 
 fights and even bloodshed in the churches. This was 
 because the sermon was either in Polish or Lithuanian, and 
 the people whose language was not used protested violently. 
 
 In the afternoon I had as large a tea-party as I could 
 collect from the remnants of our now disbanded set, 
 most of them, in fact all but myself, the American wives 
 of German husbands, and all, needless to say, somewhat 
 anxious and worried as to the fate of their fortunes in 
 America. Countess Matuschka, being one of the weU- 
 known heiresses, had no very hopeful news to give, and 
 Princess Miguel of Braganza was much in the same position ; 
 
BERLIN, APRIL 1918 219 
 
 but as her husband is in the succession for the Portuguese 
 throne, we laughingly told her that when everything 
 else fails, she can persuade him to start a royalist revolu- 
 tion on their own in that country. 
 
 Baroness Stumm (the beautiful Constance) also came 
 in for a moment, on her way to The Hague, where her 
 husband has been a member of the Legation for some 
 years. " Why live in misery here when there is so much 
 peace and luxury to be had elsewhere " is the impression 
 she gave us of life in a neutral country. Countess 
 Gotzen was the last of our guests to come. She is the 
 widow of the late Governor of East Africa and late 
 Ambassador in Washington, and a f eehng of mixed anxiety 
 and sadness came over me as I bade her farewell ; sadness, 
 as she was leaving Berhn for good and all shortly, and 
 anxiety, because our present apartment here is partly 
 furnished with some of her beautiful furniture, and in 
 these times of threatened plunder and Bolshevism one 
 does not like the responsibiUty of other people's valuables. 
 However, she was more optimistic as regards the harmless- 
 ness of plunderers than I was. Another American present 
 
 was Baroness N , who was depressed by the recent 
 
 discovery that she was under police supervision. We 
 soon reassured her by telling her that there was nothing 
 exceptional in that, and that we had each had our turn ; 
 we then proceeded to compare notes on our different 
 experiences, and on the elephantine finesse which German 
 detectives display in what they consider the acme of 
 secret intelHgence work. 
 
 I remember one day, at luncheon at the " Esplanade," 
 noticing two middle-class men very badly dressed in 
 obviously reach-me-down clothes, who sat at the next 
 table and kept their eyes fixed on me without cessation, 
 with the offensive stare of the Berlin official which is so 
 well known to those who have suffered from it. And 
 on inquiring afterwards I learnt that they were two 
 policemen in plain clothes, sent there to watch whether 
 I displayed excessive anti-German views during the said 
 
220 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 meal. Their habit is on such occasions to send their 
 card in beforehand to the restaurant manager, with 
 the words " Kriminal Detectiv So-and-so " printed on it 
 in large letters, stating the time of arrival, and what 
 particular form their Sherlock Holmes-hke work would 
 probably take. By this means every one is thoroughly 
 well forewarned and forearmed, which, from our point 
 of view, certainly has its advantages. 
 
 Berlin, May 3, 1918. — This afternoon, among my 
 many farewell calls before leaving for the country, I 
 went to say good-bye to Countess Brockdorff, the dear 
 old Hofdame of the Empress. She is in fact a typical 
 one, and, as they say, manages the Empress in quite the 
 historic manner of the Hofdamen of former times, not 
 fearing to tell Her Majesty home-truths, and not per- 
 mitting her to be too ultra-Prussian, or anti-Cathohc 
 and narrow-minded in her ideas, as she is incUned to be 
 more and more each day. 
 
 The Countess is very broad-minded, and was most 
 sympathetic about my anxiety concerning my brothers, 
 etc. She had just returned from the memorial service 
 for Herr von Richthofen, the gallant flyer, and mentioned 
 how sad it was to see the grief of the poor parents. All 
 Berlin had assembled to do honour to the dead hero, 
 but this seemed little compensation to his mother for 
 the loss of her son. 
 
 On my way home with Madame Polo, we passed the 
 Russian Embassy, and for the first time I saw the red 
 flag of revolution waving over it. It must be a very 
 unpleasant sight for the Emperor when he passes down 
 Unter den Linden, and altogether people are inclined to 
 mistrust these freshly made Russian diplomats, who do 
 not manage to inspire us with that feehng of security 
 which one hopes for when a " peace " has been proclaimed 
 and signed after a great war like this. 
 
 There are said to be some forty members of the Em- 
 bassy all told, most of them being common soldiers or 
 
BERLIN, MAY 1918 221 
 
 sailors, the only educated gentleman among them being 
 a Socialist doctor. They refuse to associate with any 
 one in Berlin but the most blatant SociaUsts, and one 
 hears strange stories of their manners at meals and their 
 habits in private life, which are more or less those that 
 one would expect from the lowest class of Russian peasants. 
 Privately I am incUned to believe that they are a great 
 danger to Germany, and that they have come for any other 
 reason than peaceful ones. 
 
 The whole of the Russian prisoner affairs have been 
 handed over to them by the Spaniards, and time will 
 show, but I beheve that they are arranging a general 
 rising among the prisoners, instead of organizing peaceful 
 work on peaceful terms. I may, of course, be mistaken, 
 but I should be by no means surprised to wake up one 
 morning and find that the signal has been given for a 
 Russian revolution in Germany, and that we are in the 
 midst of a great mutiny. It is an interesting question 
 how many Germans of the lower classes would join them, 
 for even I have noticed a growing intimacy and friendship 
 amongst those who have come under my observation 
 lately, not to mention the rumours one hears of German 
 soldiers rebelling in Russia and compelling their captive 
 officers to assume the same rank as themselves. All 
 this tends to make one believe that there is a systematic 
 undercurrent of action going on. I fervently wish, 
 however, that we poor " Auslander " could get away to 
 some neutral country before this interesting development 
 takes place. I hear so many strange things said that I 
 often wonder how much more is being kept back from us, 
 and how soon it will be too late to do anything but resign 
 oneself to an irresistible course of events. 
 
 On passing out of the dining-room at a dinner- 
 party the other day, I heard one member of the Foreign 
 Office whisper to another, " Well, England seems to 
 have ' caught on.' " " Yes," said the other, " things 
 look pretty bad." Again, at a luncheon-party a few 
 
222 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 days later I heard some one saiy : " It is shocking how 
 pro-Entente the young Austrian Empress is, and what 
 an influence she has over her husband." " Yes," was 
 the reply, " all those who have brothers fighting on the 
 other side are ' pro ' that side ; it is in their blood, it 
 has always been so in all history, and one will never be 
 able to eradicate it. The Empress's idea, of course, is 
 to get one of her brothers made King of France." We 
 can see through such remarks how the feeling is veering 
 round, and how the tension between Austria and Germany 
 is increasing every day. 
 
 I was amused at a Uttle story I was told about the 
 Austrian Emperor the other day. He and the Empress 
 are longing for peace almost at any price, not only for 
 reasons of humanity, but because they are both perfectly 
 aware that Austria cannot hold out much longer, and being 
 young and sanguine, they employ every means privately 
 and pubhcly to bring about an end to the bloody strife ; 
 besides which, just because of their youth and inexperi- 
 ence, they are both secretly rather afraid of their ministers, 
 and one day when the young Emperor was having a 
 private interview with a well-known pacifist leader from 
 Switzerland, Czernin was suddenly announced. The 
 Emperor hereupon, feeling hke a naughty boy, had to 
 hide the great pacifist in his dressing-room, whilst he 
 interviewed the warhke Czernin. 
 
 They are, of course, rather hke grown-up children, 
 trying to save the world ; but one must admit their 
 good intentions, and admire and love them all the better 
 for their so-called " faults," which spring from such a 
 different source from all the cold-blooded, ruthless, and 
 cruel methods which are lauded up to the skies over here. 
 
 When trying to impress on one the perfidiousness and 
 treachery of the young Empress, people always say she 
 is just as pro-Itahan as she is pro-French in her feehngs ; 
 and a turning up of the eyes and a tightening of the hps 
 are meant to emphasize the wickedness of the young 
 Queen's heart at thus following the call of flesh and blood. 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, MAY 1918 223 
 
 I was told by some Germans the other day that the 
 Austrian Generals had at last persuaded the Emperor 
 one day to agree to the use of all the most drastic methods 
 of warfare in order to attain their end on the ItaUan front, 
 but when the young Empress came to him with tears 
 in her eyes, and begged him not to allow beautiful Venice 
 to be bombarded, he at once gave in and countermanded 
 his orders, much to the rage of some of the most virulent 
 of the Generals. 
 
 Krieblowitz, May 1918. — Gebhard's two nephews 
 have just written home. They say that no words can 
 describe the horrors of what they have been through. 
 They write that they are almost d5dng of starvation. 
 They say they advanced so rapidly that no provisions 
 could reach them, and their division was five days 
 and nights fighting incessantly without food or even 
 sleep at all, and those of their companies who were not 
 killed or wounded died of exhaustion, and it is only by 
 a miracle that they themselves are left to tell the tale. 
 Their letter ends with the significant words : " Send us 
 some food somehow, as quickly as you can, or we also 
 shall die." 
 
 Here in Krieblowitz, the peasants and village people 
 receive the news that sometimes one sometimes even 
 two of their sons have been killed on the same day. It 
 has been a wholesale slaughter of late. 
 
 My maid's husband writes : " It is indescribably 
 awful here in Laon. We five in the midst of an incessant 
 hail of buUets. The men on each side of me were both 
 killed yesterday, and I expect my turn to come any day. 
 The French are shelling the town from airplanes night 
 and day, as they know that the big gun which is bom- 
 barding Paris is near here, and they are trying to destroy 
 that. We had been boarding and sleeping since we have 
 been here in a large almshouse, where eighty old French 
 women, all over seventy years of age, Hved, and we 
 soldiers had all grown fond of these old ladies. When 
 
224 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 we came back as usual last evening, we found the place 
 in ruins, and all the old women buried beneath the 
 debris — French flyers had done it ! " 
 
 From Trier the nuns write that so much damage has 
 been done to their convent that now they live entirely in 
 the cellar, and they have their chapel and have daily 
 mass there. 
 
 Yesterday a man lunched with us who had been dining 
 the previous week with Captain Miiller of the Emden, 
 who had recently returned from his imprisonment in 
 England. Miiller confided to him how much annoyed he 
 was at the accounts of his bad treatment in England, 
 printed in the German newspapers. He said they were 
 absolutely untrue, and that he had been treated as a 
 gentleman and sportsman throughout, and had made 
 many friends there. 
 
 Instancing the single case of impoliteness he had met 
 with, he had (in joke) related a remark made to him by 
 a common sailor when coming over, and this had been 
 doctored up into " ill-treatment of prisoners in England " 
 by Boy-Ed, who used it as a means for working up the 
 dying feeling of antagonism here. Miiller said he was so 
 angry that he was going to insist on a contradiction being 
 published. " What will they think of us in England if 
 he twists the truth, even in a matter like this ? " were 
 his words. 
 
 I notice a great change in the people here from what 
 they were last year. They are all " tired of suffering," 
 as they express it. " We want our sons and husbands 
 back, and we want food," is all they say. And the priests 
 and clergymen too say how difficult it is to hold them in 
 now. Any moment they fear them breaking all control. 
 A man whose business it is, as he puts it, to go round 
 begging for the new war loan, told us that it is very 
 difficult now to persuade people to subscribe, not that 
 they have not got the monej^ for they have more than 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, MAY 1918 225 
 
 they know what to do with ; but " patriotism " is dead, 
 it does not " catch on " any longer, and he can only get 
 them to subscribe by exerting real pressure, and telling 
 them that if they do not do so they will lose everything 
 they have already invested. 
 
 " What will they say," I asked, " when they reahze 
 that all these big ' Kriegsanleihe ' figures are in reality 
 bogus, and are only the same numbers re-entered ? " 
 " Please God they never may realize it ! " was his answer. 
 
 Food is growing scarcer from day to day, and we have 
 been reduced to killing and eating our kangaroos. They 
 have been kept here as a great curiosity and rarity for 
 years past. Yesterday my husband received a letter 
 from one of the provision-dealers in Breslau, saying he 
 would give any price my husband Uked to mention if he 
 would sell him a kangaroo. 
 
 It is very difficult to turn my thoughts away from my 
 own personal anxieties to things of more universal in- 
 terest. We are expecting a bloody Whitsuntide, when 
 the German troops will have recovered from the exhaus- 
 tion following on the forced marches of the past offensive. 
 The silence at present is ominous. 
 
 The Austrian Emperor, Kaiser Karl, is visiting the 
 German Emperor at Great Headquarters. It is meant 
 to patch up the inner conflicts which are growing more 
 serious every day between the two countries. The 
 Austrians complain that other nationalities are only 
 entitled to exist in the manner Germany sees fit to allow 
 them. 
 
 Clothes are growing so scarce that the men are being 
 called upon to hand over their superfluous clothes {th6y 
 are officially allowed two suits). If they do not respond 
 willingly, compulsion will be brought into force, and we 
 shaU soon have policemen overhauling our wardrobes to 
 see what is in them. Robbery and plunder are the order 
 of the day, and one is practically surrounded by thieves. 
 
 Q 
 
226 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Berlin, May 1918. — Here are some impressions related 
 to me by a soldier who took part in the great offensive near 
 Armentieres in April igi8. — ^After describing the perfect 
 organization and timing of the attack as the infantry 
 worked forward, cutting through barbed wire, overcoming 
 all obstacles, and with breathless haste tumbling into the 
 first line of English trenches, he said, they found not a 
 soul ! They had been evacuated, evidently in a hurry, 
 for only the men were gone, everything else had been 
 left. Stacks and stacks of food, cases of biscuits, jam, 
 tobacco, corned beef, milk — all that a poor starved 
 German's imagination could desire in his wildest dreams. 
 Then clothes, mackintoshes, leather waistcoats, silk socks, 
 books — wonderful waterproof trench boots, depots of 
 leather goods, saddles, reins, bags ; real English compact 
 army outfit of every land. One thing that particularly 
 fascinated this soldier was a perfect little leather case 
 containing twelve aluminium plates. He had not seen 
 a plate since he had left the last to^vn of rest ! The case 
 too looked as though a lady of fashion might go to pay 
 calls with it ; a German soldier is not used to dainties. 
 
 The second line of trenches proved as interesting as 
 the first, but the third line was so well defended that the 
 retreat was sounded and we hear no more, for soon after 
 this soldier was wounded and helped back along the Une by 
 an English ambulance-man who had been taken prisoner. 
 Other English prisoners were on the road, mostly swear- 
 ing at the war, at their bad luck, often enough too at 
 Lloyd George and the state of affairs at home. The 
 Germans thought tout comme chez nous, because " state 
 of affairs at home " conjured up the state of affairs in 
 Germany. But when they remembered those two lines 
 of trenches and the treasures therein, they began to think 
 there were different Idnds of " states of affairs at home," 
 and different degrees of suffering. 
 
 On arriving with a Lazarett-train at Essen the relief 
 was great, for the journey had been long and wearisome. 
 Hardly any food had there been and hard stretchers 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, MAY 1918 227 
 
 without mattresses. At one station the wounded had 
 even had to change trains, and while standing in a limp 
 line along the platform, an " Unterofi&zier " had come 
 along and called to the men to stand at attention. For- 
 tunately there was a " Vizewachtmeister " among them, 
 who is a grade higher, and who gave the tactful " Unter- 
 offizier " a piece of his mind. At Essen they were carted 
 on stretchers to an electric train, and so taken to the 
 hospital. The hospital was full to bursting, and men with 
 bandaged arms and legs had to lie on straw. The men 
 were all very sore about the officers, and there was no 
 pretence at respect or love for them. 
 
 One man told a story of a wounded officer who had 
 said to him, " If you don't lift me gently, I'll hit you 
 across the mouth." " I plunged him down then," said 
 the man, " wound or no wound." 
 
 The men who are convalescent have to wait on the 
 officers, who send them running for every trifle. One 
 had limped to town to do shopping. On his return dead- 
 tired, he was told to go again for one toothbrush ! Still, 
 the officer might have been in need of a toothbrush, 
 which I can understand better than the story a common 
 soldier told of having had to scrub out a cupboard with 
 a toothbrush, as a punishment for a small spot of dirt 
 on it ! 
 
 Imagine what a Russian pupil told me. " Not only 
 do we still have to report ourselves twice a week at the 
 police station, but the people of the Russian Embassy 
 have to go once a week. Think of that, and the red flag 
 outside the Embassy too ! This peace is a pure farce." 
 
 The Roumanians also have stiU to report themselves, 
 though the schools have offered to take back the 
 Roumanians they turned out when war with Roumania 
 was declared. 
 
 Here is another little tale of a friend of mine, a German. 
 A policeman went up to her studio to make inspection 
 concerning fire-escape, etc. He asked her to show her 
 
228 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 papers. " No," she said, " you've no right to ask for 
 them. Duplicates are deposited at the police station, as 
 is the case with every Prussian subject." " You've been 
 abroad for a long time, missie," he said. " How do you 
 know ? " she asked. " You would never have dared 
 answer up to me like that if you hadn't," he said. That 
 seems to me a characteristic touch. 
 
 We have now great queues of people in the street 
 waiting for their one allotment of sewing cotton — ^forty 
 yards of cotton, to last four months, I have no doubt. 
 Yet they say that things in the Ukraine are much worse. 
 A man's suit of a normal kind costs looo roubles there, 
 and stockings are not to be had. For the matter of 
 that, though, all the poorer women walk about the streets 
 stockingless now ; I've even seen better-class people 
 adopting the healthy mode of sandals without stockings 
 — " health " being a mere excuse for lack of stocking 
 vouchers ! 
 
 Berlin, May 1918. — We are gradually beginning to 
 hear details of the naval raid on Ostend and Zeebrugge. 
 Here the newspapers make as little fuss as possible about 
 it, treating it as an episode of minor importance, so that 
 the attention of the nation may not be attracted to the 
 real significance of the attack, which means the restriction 
 of the Flanders flotilla to Ostend, from whence they can 
 be much more easily handled. I must confess the news 
 of this naval success has done my heart good. So many 
 of my people are in the navy, and on the whole I have 
 felt secretly a little disappointed at the slight successes 
 obtained until now. One expected such startling results, 
 grand sweeping victories in the style of the old Nelsonian 
 days ; instead of which they seem to have grown so 
 exceedingly careful and cautious in their operations. 
 
 The offensive is taking on more and more the character 
 of a race between Hindenburg and America, and people 
 are -beginning generally to perceive the terrific conse- 
 quences of their fatal mistake in allowing America to 
 
BERLIN, JUNE 1918 229 
 
 come in. Every one is forced to admit that it is America 
 now that is keeping on the war. How foolishly they 
 laughed at the idea two years ago ! The American 
 methods sound strange to us, and, if one may believe 
 the accounts one reads, they are a little blatant in 
 their appeals to the sentimental side of the nation, and 
 in the means employed to work up their belligerent 
 qualities. What can one say to such a legend as " Come 
 and hiss at the beast of Berhn," stuck over a photograph 
 of the Kaiser in the of&ce of one of the leading New York 
 papers ! 
 
 Berlin, June 1918. — We have just returned from a 
 visit to Munich — my first ; and after having heard so 
 much of its beauty and the charm it possesses for all 
 who have Uved there, I was, as is often the case, rather 
 afraid of being disappointed. But it is not so, and 
 I am just as much under its spell as if I had Uved 
 there for years, instead of only having been there for 
 some days. 
 
 I am afraid, like most people, I am somewhat imfair 
 in my comparison between it and Berhn. The latter 
 seems so ostentatiously clean and parvenu, and its absolute 
 lack of style verges on vulgarity. One is inchned to forget 
 that it has been built up in the midst of a dull sandy 
 plain by a patient hard-working people who have no 
 traditions of culture and style to carry on, but are more 
 or less at the beginning of their history. 
 
 In Munich one perceives the centuries of culture of a 
 beauty-loving people who have left their mark on the 
 town for ever. There is dignity and a happy feehng for 
 space and proportion in its wide streets and broad squares, 
 combined with a romantic " Gemiitlichkeit " in the alleys 
 and by-streets of the inner part of the town. And there 
 one always feels in touch with Nature, untrammelled 
 and unspoilt. 
 
 The green waters of the Isar are so superbly insolent 
 that no boat can breast its rushing waves ; only in the 
 
230 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 early spring-time flocks of white-winged sea-gulls float 
 on its foam-flecked surface. Wild storms tear over 
 suddenly from the mountains, and the grand shining 
 hne of the Alps rises fantastically on the horizon, a 
 never-ending source of inspiration for poet and painter. 
 
 The people impressed me as being particularly kind 
 and warm-hearted, and even their slow broad dialect 
 struck my ears pleasantly (although I could not under- 
 stand it), in comparison with the abrupt and slangy 
 speech of the people in Berlin. Those who know the 
 Bavarians well tell me that they are not quite so simple 
 and kind as one might beUeve at first sight. They 
 are in reality more comphcated and more endowed for 
 good and bad than the Prussians, who at present seem 
 to be intensely nervous and irritable compared with the 
 people of Munich. The Bavarians, they say, Uke all 
 mountainous people, are passionate and violent of tem- 
 perament, and in spite of a generous breadth of feeling 
 in their character, they are wary and suspicious with 
 strangers under the surface. They have a deep feeUng 
 for humour and sarcastic wit, but they are not a talkative 
 race and despise the loud-voiced vulgar garrulity of the 
 Berhner. They are very gifted, most of the German 
 artists of note being Bavarians by birth, and the many 
 schools of art in Munich are all more or less inspired by 
 the grandeur of this most beautiful of all German lands. 
 
 My nephew Norbert, who is nineteen years of age, has 
 just been staying with us. He is on leave, after having 
 been through the whole of the Western offensive. His 
 descriptions of it are terrible. For six days and nights, 
 he says, they lay in the front trenches, with nothing to 
 eat but what they found in the English trenches on the 
 first day. From these they obtained a perfect banquet, 
 such food as none in Germany is accustomed to any 
 longer, with cigarettes and other luxuries. 
 
 He described to me the friendly manner with which 
 they discussed the war with EngHsh of&cers who were 
 taken prisoners. One Englishman, on being asked when 
 
BERLIN, JUNE 1918 231 
 
 peace would be, answered : " Well, I suppose it will take 
 two years more before you are really beaten." 
 
 He told me that the English gas is much more deadly 
 than the German ; that French strategy recently has 
 been better than their own ; and that the Americans 
 are daily becoming a more serious asset to the enemy, 
 as each day more troops are pouring in, all fresh and 
 well equipped, a contrast to the tired-out troops opposing 
 them. 
 
 The food question is always the most important topic 
 of the day. The less there is of it, the more do we talk 
 of it. The Austrians have already eaten up their stores, 
 and are grumbling and turning to Germany for fresh 
 supphes. It is rather hke tmrning from a sandy desert 
 to a rocky mountain for nourishment. And there is 
 unfortunately no Moses to show us the way to a promising 
 future. 
 
 We ourselves have httle to eat but smoked meat and 
 dried peas and beans, but in the towns they are consider- 
 ably worse off. The potatoes have come to a premature 
 end, and in Berlin the population have now a portion 
 of I lb. per head a week, and these even are bad. The 
 cold winds of this wintry June have retarded the growth 
 of vegetables, and there is almost nothing to be had. 
 We are all waiting hungrily for the harvest and the 
 prospect of at least more bread and flour. 
 
 Here is an extract from a letter from Berlin : 
 " What do you say to Kiihlmann's speech ? The 
 article criticizing it in the Vossische Zeitung this morning 
 is about the acme of foolishness. It tries to prove that 
 Napoleon only waged war to break the ambitions of 
 England, just as Germany is doing now. Napoleon's 
 way was rather a round-about one, to say the least of 
 it, with his uncomfortable expedition to Moscow. But 
 then, of course, Russia was polluted by Enghsh influence, 
 and Napoleon had to try to crush that too ! 
 
232 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 " How weak-minded people must be growing through 
 the war to make that article possible ; whilst to count 
 on its being beHeved is almost a sign of something more 
 than weak-mindedness. 
 
 " You will probably have heard about the fearful 
 state Cologne was in, on account of the flyers, though it 
 was not allowed to be in the papers. A hundred persons 
 were killed, and the wounded in the hospitals are dying 
 because the exploding powder was poisoned. In the 
 hospital of St. Vincent the people could be heard shriek- 
 ing with the great pain, and the syren goes continually 
 warning one of the danger." 
 
 Kiihhnann's speech has fallen hke a bomb, and every 
 one is discussing it. As a pohtical act it invokes criti- 
 cism, and would have been admirable, in my view, if 
 he had not yielded to pressure and recanted the next day. 
 His action is incomprehensible : he ought to have said 
 his say and abided by it. Now he has lost ground on 
 aU sides, and the house in the Budapester Strasse will 
 soon see a new tenant. Every one seems to agree that 
 what he said was the truth, and nothing but the truth, 
 but it was a heinous offence to say it. 
 
 The unfortunate " peace " reports, those ghostly birds 
 of despair, are again flitting about amongst us. We hear 
 that a Dutch committee is circulating notices to the effect 
 that the conference in The Hague should be turned into 
 a Peace Congress. This too belongs to the region of 
 Utopia, I am afraid. I have seen one of these notices 
 myself. It pretends that Lloyd George, Wilson, and 
 Asquith are aU quite willing to Usten to the proposal ! 
 Too good to be true, I fear. 
 
 I have been much interested in following the negotia- 
 tions at The Hague regarding the exchange of prisoners 
 of war. My husband and I were pleased to see that men 
 like Prince Hatzfeldt and Baron von der Heydt have 
 been chosen among the envoys on the German side. 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, JULY 1918 233 
 
 They are old acquaintances of ours, and as they have both 
 hved in England and America, they will know how to 
 negotiate with the other side better than many others. 
 
 Baron Kiihhnann was dining the other evening at the 
 Larisches', and sat next to me. Being a Bavarian, he has 
 much of the genius of that nation, and a great deal of 
 their renowned disregard for convention and fearlessness 
 of public opinion. He made many enemies in the first 
 days of his office in Berlin by turning out all the useless 
 decorative " Hofrate " of the Foreign Office, and nomin- 
 ating men he thought more capable in their place. 
 These were chiefly Bavarians too, so that he caused a 
 good deal of bad blood amongst the Prussians, who are 
 all, of course, now trying to trip him up. Argus eyes 
 watch his every movement, and though he is at present 
 too popular with the majority in the Reichstag for them 
 to attack him publicly, they are waiting for a chance to 
 catch him in his private hfe. 
 
 Krieblowitz, July 1918. — ^The lack of clothes and 
 boots and shoes is growing more and more disastrous. 
 In summer people can manage to scrape along, as every 
 one is more or less shabbily dressed, and people in the 
 country and smaller towns wear wooden sandals in place 
 of shoes, the children either going bare-footed or stocking- 
 less, as a rule. They run about merrily enough with 
 their httle bare brown legs. In the big towns, of course, 
 more boots and shoes are worn ; but here too a virtue is 
 often made of necessity, and wooden sandals are the 
 unwiUing fashion of the hour. 
 
 It is next to impossible to get new boots and shoes. 
 By bribing a shoemaker who is the lucky possessor of 
 leather with a pound of butter or some bottles of wine, 
 he may promise to make you a pair at the end of six 
 months, for the price of 100 to 150 marks, in the country 
 80 to 100 marks. The ready-made boots available in 
 Berlin are mostly of an extremely inferior quality, made 
 
234 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 of common grey cloth and bad leather ; they cost about 
 50 to 60 marks, and are only to be had by the customer 
 going and standing outside the shop some five or six 
 hours before it is opened. In Berlin the shoe shops are 
 not opened before 10 o'clock in the morning. A friend 
 of mine, after running from one shop to the other for 
 days, at last managed to buy a pair of boots for her 
 httle girl eight years old. The first time the child put 
 them on, they cracked and split in a dozen places, and 
 they discovered that the material was not leather but 
 wretched cotton stuff covered over with a thin veneer of 
 varnish. They had cost 27 marks. 
 
 A costume, jacket and skirt, of good cloth costs from 
 400 to 800 marks ; formerly it would have cost 80 marks. 
 Very thin cotton stockings of a cobweb fabrication cost 
 from 10 to 20 marks a pair. Calico for underclothes is 
 not to be had. 
 
 In the country aU the old forgotten arts of hand- 
 spinning and weaving are being cultivated again, and 
 careful housewives are busy preparing flax for spinning 
 in the long winter evenings. Every peasant has now 
 his patch of ground covered with flax, and the women 
 in some places bring to light splendid roUs of strong 
 home-spun linen which have been stored up for years. 
 They have it dyed and made up into practical and 
 tasteful dresses for themselves and their children. 
 
 Many people keep two or three sheep for the sake 
 of their wool. Nearly every village possesses some old 
 dame who stiU understands the art of spinning wool into 
 coarse worsted which is then used for stockings. 
 
 Except as regards hght, people are better off in the 
 country in every way than in the towns. From other 
 parts of Germany I hear that the peasants have enough 
 to eat, and look in splendid condition. They are gaining 
 more money for their produce than has ever been known 
 before ; they have all the necessaries of existence near at 
 hand, and are able to lay by an ever-increasing balance 
 in the bank. On the other hand aU farm-buildings are 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, JULY 1918 235 
 
 growing dilapidated, and they are not able to mend or 
 replace the necessary implements of work. Moreover, 
 the farm-stocks are being so reduced by lack of fodder 
 and the slaughter of milk-cows for food, that farmers 
 tell me the capital necessary for repairing and buying 
 up new stock when the war is over will swallow up all 
 their savings. 
 
 At Krieblowitz we ourselves are self-supporters, and 
 live in a patriarchal way, the whole house being depend- 
 ent on the results of my husband's shooting — at present 
 wild duck and roe-buck. As in the good old days (how 
 good we never knew until now) of the dark ages, he goes 
 out daily with his gun and brings back something for 
 dinner. If he is lucky and has more than we want for 
 our own needs, we exchange the surplus with the trades- 
 people for butter, eggs, sugar, articles of clothing or 
 anjrthing else that is only to be obtained by bribery of 
 this kind 
 
 It has become a yearly institution to invite a number 
 of town-children from the poorer classes for the summer 
 months. Every country house, castle, and peasant's 
 house is called upon to keep and feed so many. They 
 are very interesting httle people, and talking to them 
 one can get a deep insight into the privations and suffer- 
 ings of the people in the big towns. Many of them, too, 
 have already experienced strange adventures and vicissi- 
 tudes, and three of those here can hardly speak any 
 German at all. Their father had been a civil prisoner 
 in England until last year, and their English mother 
 had had to support the family in a London suburb 
 during the last two years of the war. In England they 
 had been looked at askance for being German, and here 
 they have the greatest difficulties at school, as they are 
 only able to speak EngUsh. 
 
 I am glad to say we are at last able to communicate 
 with our own Russian prisoners, from whom we have 
 always been cut off until now by a similar difficulty of 
 
236 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 language. Madame Rizoff and her two children have 
 been staying here. She is the beautiful young widow 
 of the Bulgarian Minister, who died three months ago in 
 Berlin. She is here for a change of air and scene, and as 
 she speaks Russian perfectly, I got her to talk to the 
 Russians. We are not really allowed to address them, 
 but their fervent gratitude at hearing their mother-tongue 
 was worth the risk of disobeying orders for once. 
 
 They told us how happy they were to be here, and 
 that before they came they had been in a prison camp 
 with 13,000 other Russian prisoners who were literally 
 treated like animals, being herded together in a yard, 
 sleeping on straw and fed like swine. Five thousand 
 of them had absolutely died of neglect. It had been like 
 coming to heaven, they said, when they arrived here, 
 where every one had a smile for them and was so friendly. 
 
 They knew all about my being EngUsh and having 
 brothers fighting on the other side, and of my husband 
 having been to the Caucasus. 
 
 They ended by saying they hoped to stay on here 
 until the end of the war, and that they certainly did not 
 wish to return to Russia in its present disturbed state, 
 and that in any case any fate was better than the misery 
 and filth and horrors of the Russian trenches in the first 
 years of the war. 
 
 The news of Graf Mirbach's death to-day in the paper, 
 and the cold-blooded way in which he was murdered, 
 has given me a great shock. My husband is especially 
 affected by it, as they were very intimate friends, and 
 Mirbach was such an attractive, quiet personage. 
 
 One feels the tragedy of an individual case like this 
 so much more keenly when one has known a man well. 
 Count Mirbach dined with us several times in the week 
 before his departure for Moscow in March, and he was 
 then very sad and depressed, assuring us that he did 
 not in the least appreciate the honour done to him by 
 being chosen as Ambassador. He realized the danger of 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, JULY 1918 237 
 
 his position even then, and packed his things with a 
 heavy heart, filled with forebodings, and dreading the 
 effect of the parting on his old mother, who perfectly 
 comprehended what such a journey meant. 
 
 Amongst the many visitors here this summer one 
 hears a great deal of tittle-tattle about people in high 
 places, and a good many guesses are made as to the way 
 His Majesty would accept a reverse of a very decisive 
 order. Peoj^le say that, although his attitude has not 
 shown conspicuous moral strength, he is not physically 
 a coward, and would rather die with his troops than 
 return with a vanquished army ; whilst others say openly 
 that if he only had the courage to abdicate now, he 
 might save his whole country from the terrible fate 
 impending. 
 
 Another discussion touched on the extraordinary way 
 in which Germany has always imderrated the importance 
 of the danger coming from America, almost the whole 
 country making fun of and laughing at the idea of an 
 American army. Some one who happened to be present 
 with His Majesty at the time when Roumania declared 
 war, and also when the news of the American declaration 
 became known, assured us that on the first occasion 
 the Kaiser came into the room trembling and white as 
 a sheet, his knees shaking as he said, " All is over ; I 
 may as well abdicate at once " ; whereas on the second 
 occasion he and those round him were jaunty, laughing, 
 and sa5dng that it made no matter at all, as America 
 could never get an army together, and if it did, they 
 were much too far away and could never possibly get 
 their troops over because of the submarines. 
 
 I wonder why they did not hsten to the few wise 
 people who perceived the danger of the American inter- 
 vention in all its sinister meaning, as it is now proving 
 to be the final undoing of Germany. 
 
 In the meantime, Kiihlmann has succumbed to the 
 attacks of the Pan-German party, and gone the way of 
 
238 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 all Ministers for Foreign Affairs in Berlin. No enlight- 
 ened man can stand up against the dark powers of the 
 military intrigues, but we feel very little interest in 
 anything at present but the news coming from the West 
 Front. 
 
 The great French " counter-offensive," as the new 
 term goes, has begun, and the French are again on the 
 Mame, and the south bank is again in EngUsh hands. 
 Chateau-Thierry has been taken, 20,000 prisoners and 
 400 guns. People here may well look grave ; the mean- 
 ing of America is coming home to them at last. They 
 comprehend now that it means an increase of the French 
 reserves at the rate of 300,000 fresh, weU-equipped men 
 per month, whilst Germany can bring up no fresh 
 reserves. General Foch, with his talent for waiting, 
 seems to be the great French General at last. 
 
 This success has been mainly won by the French and 
 American troops. In four days General Foch has com- 
 pletely transformed the situation in the West, and the 
 German blow at Paris has failed. Here people ascribe 
 the bitter reverse to deserters having betrayed the 
 German plans, and to the " unshattered nerves of the 
 fresh Americans," whilst others speak lugubriously of a 
 newly invented artificial fog arising from the enemy's 
 lines, which completely hid the fatal attack of the tanks. 
 
 I was very glad to see that the Enghsh Press com- 
 ments on the decent state in which the Germans left 
 Chateau-Thierry, comparing it advantageously with their 
 behaviour when they occupied Belgium. 
 
 We are expecting further severe attacks, and Germany 
 will be confronted by new tasks, but the bulk of the 
 people still have unUmited faith in Ludendorff and 
 Hindenburg, although they know that they are burning 
 their stores and blowing up their ammunition in their 
 retreat. 
 
 It is sadly tragical to look on and see the slow fate 
 of Germany overtaking her. I, who have watched the 
 people struggling, and seen their unheard-of sacrifices 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, AUGUST 1918 239 
 
 and stolid resignation, cannot but pity them from my 
 heart. In spite of their odious officialdom, which makes 
 the Prussians so disliked everywhere, the whole world 
 must admire them for the plucky way they have held 
 out, and even the enemy says how pathetic it is to see 
 the poor, half-starved, half-clothed German soldiers 
 going bravely forward to meet all those fresh well-fed 
 Americans. 
 
 In the estimation of many, it is but the first move 
 of those very Americans towards the conquest of Europe. 
 She seems to have all the AUies in her hand akeady. 
 
 As was to be foreseen, the Czar has been murdered : a 
 wretched end, and yet almost the only possible one for 
 such a pitiful monarch, burdened from the cradle with 
 the sinister heritage of merciless barbarous forefathers. 
 " The sins of the fathers shall be visited on the children " 
 is what forces itself on one's brain, thinking of his miser- 
 able death. What will become of his children ? Russia 
 is at present like an enormous arena chosen by fate for 
 the scene of a million bloody tragedies, and we are the 
 cold-blooded spectators looking on. 
 
 Krieblowitz, August 1918. — ^The cold dry weeks of 
 June and the despondent outlook for the harvest gave 
 place to rainy weeks in July, which came in time to 
 repair the damage done, so that the promise of a good 
 harvest cheered the hearts of the hungry watching 
 people ; and August has fulfilled these expectations, and 
 the crops have proved to be abundant everywhere. Only 
 the late com and oats are suffering under the cold rainy 
 weather of the last two weeks, and the precious cut 
 com is beginning to sprout, too damp to be brought in. 
 In these lean years the eyes of all Germany follow 
 anxiously the news of the harvest in the newspapers. 
 The late potatoes are a success ; one can hear the 
 universal sigh of rehef at these tidings. 
 
 Meatless weeks have been ordered, as too many 
 
240 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 milk-cows are being slaughtered. If the war continues 
 much longer there will be no Uve stock left at all. 
 
 Our house has been full of guests for the last six 
 weeks, which has consequently brought us a lot of news. 
 
 I have already mentioned Madame Rizoff and her 
 two children. She is now a penniless widow. We heard 
 that her husband died of a heart-shock brought on by 
 excitement at the German peace with Russia. He was 
 a very clever man and foresaw what a fatal peace it was 
 for Bulgaria, and how unwise (in her own interests) it 
 had been of Germany to make such a peace. Rizoff had 
 a high reputation as a politician, and too late, after the 
 peace had been ratified, the Emperor consulted him and 
 said, " If only you had given me your views and opinions 
 before ! " This is quite characteristic of Germany ; she 
 always recognizes her diplomatic and pohtical mistakes a 
 few days too late. 
 
 Baroness Sternburg was here too, and was daily 
 receiving news from American friends to the effect that 
 the American laws are being made so severe against 
 German ahens that any one communicating with their 
 relations in Germany wiU lose their money, and it is 
 very uncertain if it will be refunded to them afterwards. 
 What a panic there will be among the German and 
 Austrian princes and dukes who have married American 
 heiresses ! 
 
 Herr von Jagow and his wife were also among our 
 guests for some time, and my husband's old friend Count 
 Richard Coudenhove, who had been a prisoner in Siberia 
 for two years and had much that was interesting to 
 relate about Russia and the Russians. 
 
 I will not name aU our guests, but will give a few details 
 of the more interesting things they told us. 
 
 The universal opinion is that the new State Secretary 
 von Hintze, though personally a nice man, is not a clever 
 one, and his appointment was a great surprise. His 
 Majesty put him into office without consulting Hertling 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, AUGUST 1918 241 
 
 at all. Kiihlmann, they said, was so swollen with his 
 own importance that, when summoned to headquarters 
 after his famous speech, he imagined he was going to be 
 congratulated on it, instead of which he was greeted by 
 His Majesty in his impulsive way with the words, " I 
 have appointed Hintze in your place." 
 
 People say that Kiihlmann made his fatal speech on 
 the spur of the moment, without consulting Herthng at 
 all. This is quite in accordance with his character, as 
 he is always more inclined to act on the inspiration of 
 the moment than to subject his actions to carefully- 
 thought-out plans. 
 
 The whole pohtical situation is so perilous at the 
 moment, that every one feels something momentous 
 must be going to take place. The constant changes in 
 official circles denote weakness and uncertainty, and 
 there is in reahty no strong man at the wheel of the ship 
 of Germany. 
 
 " A victorious army never rebels," people say, but an 
 army in retreat is very hable to be seized by the spirit 
 of mutiny, and certainly the mass of the population here 
 would be ready to back any definite movement. 
 
 Capitalists and large landowners are beginning to talk 
 in earnest of the possibihty of their land being confis- 
 cated and their property divided up in the Bolshevik 
 manner. The whole pubhc spirit is so depressed and the 
 universal suffering so great, that the people are threatening 
 to take matters into their own hands. You can hear 
 this intention expressed at every street corner. A shop- 
 girl said it openly to my husband the other day : " We 
 are going to stop the war now ; those in command have 
 failed entirely and have never kept their promises which 
 they so often made." Another friend heard in the tram : 
 "It is high time for the Emperor to abdicate to bring 
 about peace, and the sooner this is made clear to him the 
 better." 
 
 The soldiers are embittered at the way they are 
 treated in comparison with the officers, and the country 
 
 R 
 
242 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 is overrun with invalids with grievances. Wounded 
 men refuse to consent to operations which might heal 
 an injured limb, on the ground that they would then be 
 sent back to the front, and they have no intention of 
 going there. 
 
 Every one is now able to see through the official 
 telegrams which for so long hoodwinked the masses. 
 They know that the constant shortening of the front 
 spells " Retreat." They know, too, that troops are 
 again being transported back to Russia, where the great 
 combat between English and German influence is in full 
 force. The whole economic future of Germany depends 
 on her getting a firm footing in Russia, and having com- 
 mand of the vast unexploited treasures waiting for 
 Western capital to develop. This, they say, accounts 
 for the murders of Mirbach and General von Eichendorff . 
 The murders are systematic, 
 
 LudendorfE has publicly acknowledged the failure of 
 the great offensive ; it seems the growing lack of ammuni- 
 tion is the ominous cause of the defeat. So many guns 
 have been left in the hands of the enemy, and there is 
 not enough iron left to make new ones. 
 
 There have been pubUc protests against the misleading 
 statements made by Prince Heinrich as to the results 
 of the Marne battle, on the same day that Ludendorff 
 had admitted that their strategic plans had failed. He 
 naively seems to have thought that the opinion of some 
 unknown Turkish attache, that the Marne battle was a 
 German victory, was of more importance than the con- 
 fession of the great generals. It is so incredibly fooUsh 
 to try and hoodwink the people like this, when the truth 
 must ultimately leak out. 
 
 The Bavarians have a special complaint that the war 
 reports are always partial to the Prussians. They say 
 that as long as the losses of life and material are sustained 
 by the Crown Prince's army, no mention is ever made 
 of them ; but as soon as Prince Rupprecht's army is 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, AUGUST 1918 243 
 
 being beaten, every detail of the defeat is made public, 
 and an open confession is made of tlie enemy having 
 penetrated the German Unes. 
 
 It seems impossible now for Ludendorff to force any 
 decisive successful battle this year. Officers here say 
 that his plan of separating the British army from the 
 French was not impossible and would have been successful, 
 if the heavy losses of the AUies had not been so speedily 
 made up again. In a single month 355,000 men were 
 thrown across, and every gun had been replaced. 
 
 It is apparently the unity of command which restored 
 the AlUed fortunes, and if the American troops go on 
 coming over at the rate of 300,000 a month, the American 
 army alone will soon be as big as the German. 
 
 Men home on leave have been giving me vivid descrip- 
 tions of the last great fights, and one's brain grows weary 
 of it all. No wonder that half the army have ruined 
 nerves ! 
 
 One young officer, just returned from the front, 
 stated that 30,000 German prisoners were taken on one 
 day, and that eight of his brother officers were killed at 
 his side in one minute, he alone surviving. 
 
 They say that air-battles have been the most character- 
 istic feature of the offensive, there being sometimes as 
 many as forty planes engaged in the air, and that the 
 swift advance of the Allied armies was mainly due to the 
 systematic co-operation of aeroplanes and tanks. The 
 Germans withdrew without destroying any land, so that 
 no " no man's land " was created this time, that great 
 numbers of artillery officers were taken prisoners, and 
 every one speaks of the pluck of the British tank-crews 
 with great admiration. 
 
 In their retreat the Germans destroyed their petroleum 
 dumps to prevent them falHng into the hands of the 
 enemy, and my narrators described the effect of the 
 burning stuff rising like great forests of flames in the 
 darkness of the night ; but in spite of their retreat 
 
244 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Ludendorff succeeded in getting his guns away from the 
 Enghsh pursuers. 
 
 There are reports current here to the effect that 
 King Ferdinand is going mad, and is subject to fits of 
 melancholy and weeping. This, I presume, we may 
 class with the rest of the reports of this nature, according 
 to which all the remaining monarchs in Europe should 
 have been long since dead or in a mad-house ; although 
 the responsibility of this war is enough to send any one 
 into an asylum. 
 
 Ferdinand is probably frightened at the dimensions 
 which the Czecho-Slovak uprising is taking on. It has 
 come in most opportunely for England, and may mean 
 the freeing of Russia from the Bolshevists and prove a 
 serious check to Germany's plans. 
 
 I was intensely glad to see that twenty-nine British 
 officers succeeded in escaping from that wretched camp 
 at Holzminden ; one is only surprised at their being able 
 to dig out a tunnel of sixty yards long without being 
 discovered. I wish more could escape in the same way. 
 
 Berlin, September 1918. — We are again in Berlin, 
 but only for a few days on our way to Munich, while 
 Gebhard is attending the extra sitting of the Herrenhaus. 
 The members have been called up to try and settle the 
 Prussian Suffrage Reform Bill, which is always being 
 shelved, thereby causing a great deal of bad blood. 
 
 This Bill is a typically characteristic instance of His 
 Majesty's rash impulsive way of acting. He promised 
 universal franchise to the people, and now the Herrenhaus 
 has to try and help him out of the quandary by amending 
 the Bill in such manner that what it gives with one hand 
 will be snatched away by the other. At the same time 
 it is almost certain that if the people do not gain their 
 votes, this, combined with the retreat, will lead to a 
 very desperate state of affairs sooner or later. 
 
BERLIN, SEPTEMBER 1918 245 
 
 Berlin is indeed a gloomy place at present. The 
 news from the front is more and more depressing, there 
 is nothing to eat, and the methods employed to prevent 
 the depression from gaining ground goad the people to 
 fury. Hindenburg has forbidden any one, whatever his 
 personal feeUngs may be, to speak of the present position 
 as being an5d;hing else than hopeful ! The grotesque 
 irony of such a command, when the AUied troops are 
 advancing hourly, would be amusing if it were not so 
 tragically foolish. 
 
 Prince and Princess Taxis dined with us one night. 
 They had returned quite unexpectedly to town. They 
 had been staying with her mother. Princess Metternich, 
 near Wiesbaden, but the danger of the aeroplane attacks 
 had been so great that, after spending several nights in 
 the cellar, they preferred a hurried retreat to such a 
 perilous sojourn. The castle is on the direct route to 
 Frankfort, and the flyers all passed over it. They 
 described the terrifying but marvellous spectacle of such 
 an attack ; the planes skimming along Hke big birds, 
 surrounded by smoke and exploding shells ; the black 
 night suddenly rendered lurid by the fire from the defence 
 guns ; the awful noise of shooting all over the town, 
 and the crashing of faUing bombs on the houses. On one 
 day ten flyers were brought down and forty people were 
 killed in Frankfort, besides many dangerously wounded. 
 
 I was glad to see a face the other evening which re- 
 minded me keenly of other times. We were dining at 
 the Adlon with Prince Pless, Prince Hatzfeldt, Graf 
 Magnis, and Herr von Jagow. We were waited upon by 
 a very smart gentleman whom I thought I had seen before. 
 He informed us that he had been head-waiter at the 
 Carlton Hotel in London for seventeen years, and had 
 at once recognized Gebhard and Prince Pless. 
 
 The tables were filled with different members of the 
 Herrenhaus, and as all the numerous pohtical grievances 
 
246 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 of the day were being eagerly discussed, it was interesting 
 enough to Usten to them. The articles by Dr. Davis, 
 the Kaiser's American dentist, were the chief topic in the 
 Enghsh papers. We all feel that it is not quite square 
 to publish these little private sayings, uttered in con- 
 fidence in an idle moment, and which take on such a 
 different colouring when seen in the glare of the hostile 
 searchUghts of peoples at war. They are significant, 
 however, of the mental cahbre of Davis, whose Memoirs 
 would have no interest but for this Royal gossip. The 
 courtiers here are quite right for once — " If he will make 
 a confidant of a dentist, what else can you expect ? " 
 
 On my remarking to my neighbour at dinner that I 
 imagined the Memoirs were very much exaggerated he 
 laughed and said, " Oh, not in the least ; the Emperor 
 has often boasted of the home-truths he had been telUng 
 his dentist." I asked him what the Emperor must think 
 of it now. " Oh," was the reply, " we take good care 
 that he does not see the EngUsh papers while there are 
 such things in them." 
 
 To-day Gebhard lunched with Graf Oppersdorff to 
 meet the Russian revolutionary representative Joffe. 
 It was very interesting, of course, although they had to 
 avoid politics. Gebhard describes him as a clever, 
 ordinary international Jew, who has been all over the 
 world and speaks every language. He praised England 
 tremendously, admiring especially the methods of English 
 poHtics and colonization. 
 
 How curious it is to note the immense power which 
 a handful of Jews have suddenly gained in the country 
 which until now was the seat of absolute despotism, and 
 where for centuries the Jews have suffered such a martyr- 
 dom of cruel oppression. It almost looks sometimes 
 as if our httle continent were destined to be the bone 
 for America and the Jews to pick. 
 
 We are on the way to Munich, where I hope to spend 
 some weeks. I hear that the feehng between Prince 
 
MUNICH, SEPTEMBER 1918 247 
 
 Rupprecht of Bavaria and the Crown Prince is so em- 
 bittered that the Bavarian Prince has threatened to 
 withdraw his whole army. 
 
 Munich, September 1918. — A propos of peace — I have 
 just heard a story which has really made me feel a httle 
 more cheerful, as it is founded on fact. A man here, a 
 high official, has a friend who before the war held a 
 responsible position in a big bank in London. A few 
 weeks before it broke out, he was dismissed from the bank 
 on the grounds that there was going to be trouble with 
 Germany, and that he had better get back there as soon 
 as possible. At that time there were no pubhc rumours 
 of war. He has been in BerUn ever since, and about a 
 fortnight ago he suddenly received a letter from the afore- 
 said bank, offering him a new post in it with a high 
 salary from the ist of October 1918 onwards. He was 
 more than astonished and wrote back, sajdng there must 
 be some strange error, for the war was waging more than 
 ever, and he could neither quit Germany nor enter Eng- 
 land, as far as he could see. Whereupon he received a 
 prompt answer saying that there was no mistake, and 
 repeating the offer of the post from the ist of October. 
 
 It is very hard to write anything definite about the 
 present state of things here. I myself feel almost 
 frightened at the way things are closing in on aU sides 
 on Germany. The Germans calm one another by 
 saying that the retreat is only impelled by strategical 
 motives, and that Hindenburg means to take up his 
 position on the Siegfried line behind the Scheldt Canal, 
 whilst the hostile forces are meant to spend the winter 
 in the devastated land outside. 
 
 I wonder what the real meaning is. Do Hindenburg 
 and Ludendorff at last reaUze the truth of Kiilhmann's 
 words, " The war can never be settled by militaiy 
 methods alone," and are they cunningly retreating in 
 time, that peace may be based on the fact that the German 
 
248 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 army has quitted the enemies' land ? Or do they fear 
 the spirit of their own troops ? Again and again I have 
 heard rumours of German regiments refusing to attack when 
 ordered to do so ; in other words, that a spirit of mutiny 
 is arising here and there amongst the exhausted soldiers. 
 
 Munich, Sunday, September 29, 1918. — To-day I 
 noticed an especially scared look on the faces of those 
 around me, and on my inquiring what had happened 
 they told me that the Allied troops have made another 
 combined offensive and have managed in places to break 
 through the Hindenburg line ; that news has come of 
 Bulgaria's movement towards a separate peace ; that 
 Malinoff has already proposed a truce, and that all the 
 Germans residing there have been given notice to leave 
 the country, and that Czar Ferdinand is about to abdicate 
 in favour of his son. In addition, the news of the Turks' 
 defeat in Palestine has become a pubhc fact. This means 
 of course an end to Germany's dream of a colony in Asia 
 Minor and a direct traffic route from the Baltic Sea to 
 the Gulf of Persia, whilst the Bagdad railway hne will 
 remain a monument of things that were not to be. 
 
 And yet, with ruin staring at them on all sides, there 
 are still people here who continue to protest that every- 
 thing stands well, and that any one who spreads a 
 report to the contrary will be punished with five years' 
 imprisonment with hard labour. 
 
 Down here, in a quiet retreat in Munich, I expected 
 to be quite out of touch with the feverish world of to-day, 
 especially as at this time of the year there is no one as a 
 rule in town ; but I have been agreeably disappointed, 
 and during my three weeks' stay here have met more 
 friends and heard more news than during the whole last 
 six months. 
 
 Amongst the many birds of passage who have passed 
 through during the last ten days were two very interest- 
 ing figures, no less personages than those young Princes 
 of Parma, brothers of the Empress of Austria, who 
 
MUNICH, OCTOBER 1918 249 
 
 negotiated with Clemenceau some six months ago, and 
 are said to have handed over the notorious " Peace- 
 letter " written by the young Empress. Great excite- 
 ment would prevail were their presence here known, as 
 having served in the Red Cross Department of the Belgian 
 army they are considered to be hostile. This casts a 
 glamour of romance over their appearance, which is 
 further heightened by reports of one of them being be- 
 trothed to the future bride of the Crown Prince of Bavaria. 
 They were seen to enter the " Konigshof," the hotel where 
 my husband is staying, on a visit to the old Queen of 
 Naples, who has hved there since the beginning of the 
 war, and who is herself a romantic figure, reminding us 
 of historical episodes of an almost forgotten past. 
 
 Munich, October 1918. — The crash has come at last, 
 and although so long expected, it seems very sudden to 
 most of those people who insisted on always looking at 
 things through spectacles couleur de rose. The strangest 
 thing to me is the panic which seems to have seized on 
 those very men who, until now, have borne the responsi- 
 bility of all the calamities of the last four years with such 
 stoical optimism. 
 
 Hertling, the good old pohshed man of learning as he 
 is, has accepted the situation, and has made his exit with 
 the quiet courtly bow of the last representative of the 
 ancien regime, and a new era has set in. 
 
 Here is another of those strange paradoxes which the 
 war has so often shown us : the heir-presumptive to a 
 throne chosen as their leader by the men who are striving 
 to abohsh all thrones for ever. Enter Prince Max of 
 Baden, who has in reahty been quietly working together 
 with Solf, ever since last autumn, to bring about just 
 that event which seems to have faUen so unexpectedly from 
 the skies. It remains to be seen how far this new man 
 will acquit himself of the almost superhuman task of 
 clearing this modern German Augean stable of the collected 
 abominations of strife and warfare. Impossible as the 
 
250 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 task seems, the gesture with which he undertakes it has 
 already won him the confidence and sympathy of more 
 than half the people of Germany. 
 
 On the whole a great sigh of rehef escapes from the 
 hps of the tormented nation on this eventful Sunday in 
 October 1918, when the new peace programme has met 
 the eyes of the world. 
 
 " This means peace ! " you can hear at every corner 
 of the streets, where people stand hurriedly reading the 
 unusual news. And " peace " smiles in the eyes of every 
 little shopgirl in the baker's or grocer's shop as she 
 hands you your loaf of coarse half-baked bread, or bag 
 containing 100 gmis. of lard. 
 
 For the wealthier classes and the miUtarists things bear 
 a different aspect. They could very weU support another 
 year or so of the war materially, as they are not half- 
 starved and overworked hke the greater mass of the 
 people. For them the metamorphosis from rosy dreams 
 of world-power and expansion and increased wealth 
 to the gloomy reahties of an impoverished, humiUated 
 Germany is all too overpowering. 
 
 I wonder what the feehngs of a Ludendorff and a 
 Hindenburg must now be ? As the move can never have 
 been made without their consent, they must indeed re- 
 cognize the hopelessness of their position and the defeat 
 of their plans. So many figures of colossal import are 
 striding across the stage of Europe to-day that one can 
 only find a parallel in the classical days of history. One 
 would expect Shakespeare to arise again from his quiet 
 resting-place in the little church at Stratford to pen the 
 dramas of aU these men, kings and princes, warriors and 
 statesmen, who, filled to overflowing with some frenzy of 
 patriotism or self-worship, have fought hke fanatics, only 
 to be toppled over and cast aside by the impulse of some 
 divine law. 
 
 Ludendorff, the strong dictator, is said to have had an 
 interview with the Kaiser a few days ago, during which 
 he burst into tears, admitting that nothing more could 
 
MUNICH, OCTOBER 1918 251 
 
 be done by his army, and begging the Kaiser to dismiss 
 Herthng and bring in a democratic government under 
 the banner of the Sociahsts. 
 
 What must this step have cost a man hke Ludendorff, 
 who until now was the greatest opponent to Sociahsm, 
 thus having to plead its cause ? 
 
 For the ordinary looker-on this new peace movement 
 is so surprisingly quick and sudden. Is the Kaiser in 
 such fear of losing his throne that with one swoop he leaves 
 his high place in the sun of the divine right of kings, and 
 agrees to all these new demands which practically deprive 
 him of the most precious jewel in his crown, and leave 
 him an ordinary mortal hke other people ? There are 
 many persons who admire him more for this one act than 
 for any previous one during his reign. He, as well as 
 King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, has probably made a virtue 
 of necessity, and seeing the shades of Bolshevism approach 
 every day nearer, has crowned the long years of his reign 
 with an act of abnegation. 
 
 Naturally the Pan-Germans are still shouting and pro- 
 testing in the old bombastic rhetoric for which they are 
 so famous. The pillar-posts are covered with blood- 
 curdhng placards, depicting the towns on the Rhine 
 devastated by bombs and fire, in case the miUtary 
 efforts of the army relapse, and an open-air demonstra- 
 tion has been made in front of the " Iron Hindenburg " 
 in the Tiergarten without the police of the now demo- 
 cratic government interfering, a thing which would 
 have been impossible under the iron rule of the mihtary 
 dictatorship. 
 
 In the meantime we are all in an agony of suspense to 
 know what Wilson's answer will be. Will he prove him- 
 self great enough to bear the huge responsibility of the 
 destiny of almost the whole world, which fate has placed 
 in his hands ? Will he recognize himself as the instru- 
 ment of a divine will, or show himself to be but the puppet 
 of party strifes and short-sightedness ? These and many 
 other questions people are pondering with anxious eyes. 
 
252 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Berlin, October 17, 1918. — We returned to Berlin 
 yesterday, and find things in a terrible state of depression 
 and gloom, portentous of the break-down which we have 
 been expecting for so long. One hears the wildest rumours 
 as to what is going on, and every moment some one keeps 
 coming in with a fresh account of what is supposed to be 
 taking place. 
 
 Ludendorff has had a nervous break-down. The army 
 is practically in a state of mutiny, and one whole division 
 is said to have already surrendered. The soldiers, they 
 say, are already turning on their officers and throwing 
 hand-grenades at them, and a train full of officers return- 
 ing from leave back to the front was stopped, and they 
 were all forced to get out and return home. At the same 
 time one hears of innumerable soldiers writing home in- 
 dignant at the proposition of an armistice, and saying 
 they will not hear of one on the terms proposed by the 
 Entente. 
 
 The population of the Rhine Provinces are shuddering 
 at the idea of the huge German army setthng down to 
 winter quarters in their land, as they say there is no 
 more discipline left. I even heard of people in Frankfort 
 being privately advised to leave, as it has been whispered 
 the enemy might possibly be there in a fortnight. 
 
 In any case, exaggerated as these reports may be, the 
 universal demorahzation of the people is very great, and 
 one has sometimes the impression of a flock of sheep who 
 have lost their leader and are going about in a dazed sort 
 of manner, looking about for a loophole of escape from 
 the impending evil. 
 
 Somebody told me of having seen King Ferdinand at 
 Mannheim, when he was there doing his cure, and heard 
 his farewell words, which had been : " Au re voir next 
 year, when I shall be back again for the cure as a private 
 gentleman, no more as a king. My friend WiUiam will 
 also have abdicated by then ; he and I have both out- 
 lived our time." 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1918 253 
 
 The Emperor — the poor Emperor ! " How are the 
 mighty fallen." The Caesar once so omnipotent, with his 
 dream of riding down that magnificent Heer Strasse at 
 the head of a conquering, victorious army, passing through 
 the massed multitudes assembled to greet him, entering 
 Brandenburger Tor, the smiUng figure of Victory point- 
 ing the way down Unter den Linden ! And now this 
 shadow of a king, strugghng with destiny to keep his 
 throne but a few days, a few hours, longer. 
 
 I have felt bitter enough towards him at times in the 
 past, thinking he could have done more to prevent the 
 unnecessary suffering and cruel methods employed during 
 the war : in particular, the violation of Belgium's neu- 
 trahty ; the sinking of the Lusitania ; Miss Cavell's 
 death ; the ruthless submarine warfare ; the use of 
 poisonous gases ; and the senseless air-raids over un- 
 fortified towns. 
 
 But now that his time has come, one pities him. A 
 deplorable position for a great king to be the object of 
 pity. Why has he let things go so far ? Why has he not 
 already abdicated, instead of waiting until he is forced to 
 do so ? Every child in the street is saying, " The Kaiser 
 must go." He absolutely seems to cling to his shadow 
 of a throne, and people say, curiously enough, it is the 
 Kaiserin who is advising him and begging him not to go. 
 
 Last Sunday he was seen walking through the Tier- 
 garten, a white-haired, broken man. At least he shows 
 physical courage in doing this, as there are, I believe, 
 men enough who would like to shoot him. 
 
 It is a pitiful sight to watch the death-throes of a 
 great nation. It reminds me of a great ship slowly sink- 
 ing before one's eyes, and being swallowed up by storm- 
 driven waves. I feel intensely for Germany and her 
 brave long-suffering people, who have made such terrific 
 sacrifices and gone through so much woe, only to see 
 their idols shattered and to reahze that their sufferings 
 have all been caused by the blundering mistakes and 
 overweening ambition of a class of " supermen." 
 
254 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 What a bluff this whole last offensive has been ! It 
 really looks Uke a mad adventure on the part of Luden- 
 dorff, seen in the Hght of ulterior events. They ought to 
 have accepted the American proposal of peace made last 
 January. Prince Rupprecht as well as Hindenburg urged 
 the Kaiser to do so, but it seems that the Crown Prince, 
 and especially Ludendorff, begged for one last offensive. 
 How right Hindenburg was when he said : " Let us 
 threaten the offensive as much as you Uke, but let us 
 avoid it at all costs." 
 
 It is said that the Emperor was absolutely in the dark 
 as to the real strength of the American army, Ludendorff 
 suppressing all information, so absolutely did he rely on 
 his offensive. On hearing this I could not help exclaim- 
 ing : " WeU, however much Ludendorff wished to keep 
 the Emperor in ignorance, surely the Emperor could have 
 found it out for himself, as he sees the English papers." 
 He probably is Uke the unbelieving audience to whom I 
 remember reading the following extract from an Enghsh 
 paper : " Last week 35,000 American troops landed daily, 
 and the Americans are landing on an average 350,000 
 troops a month." The only remark I heard on it was : 
 " Bluff ! Enghsh newspapers always lie ! " 
 
 At the same time the poor soldiers declare that it is 
 not so much the overpowering number of the American 
 troops which has turned the tide, as the fact that there 
 is no more rubber left to make gas-masks, and that they 
 cannot face the gas without them ; and then the terrible 
 Enghsh tanks. The poor fellows shudder at the very 
 name of them. They say they were prepared for ten or 
 twenty, but during the last few weeks they have been 
 advancing in columns of hundreds. Even the German 
 officers admit that this form of weapon is the first military 
 invention which has proved too much for the genius of 
 German mihtarism. 
 
 The news of the sinking of the Leinster has just reached 
 me. What a deplorable deed, to say the least of it ; 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1918 255 
 
 just at the eleventh hour, when Germany is trying to 
 prove to the world that she desires peace simply from 
 hmnane reasons. At that very moment she orders the 
 sinking of the Leinster, and 450 English civihans are 
 drowned, most of them women and children. Of com^se, 
 Germany excuses herself with the old tale that it was a 
 mistake, and that she has had no time to call in her 
 submarines. At the moment when Germany's destiny is 
 hanging on a hair, such an awful responsibiUty is left to 
 the discretion of the lieutenant in charge, and he, as it 
 happened, is a boy of 22 years of age, who by his error 
 plunges hundreds of families in sorrow, and again summons 
 up the burning indignation of all England. 
 
 Berlin, October 23, 1918. — To-day there was a general 
 feeUng of suppressed excitement everywhere in BerUn. 
 The Reichstag was opened, and every one was quivering 
 with excitement to hear the new Reichskanzler's speech. 
 
 The new Note to America was made pubhc, and then 
 Wilson's answer to Austria fell like a bomb-shell. It 
 means the entire break-up of that country, and for people 
 in any way connected with it. Personal friends of mine, 
 the Larisches, came to see us. They say they feel as if 
 the ground had been suddenly cut away from under their 
 feet. Everything changes for them, as their father's 
 estate will become Polish, and they are only one example 
 out of thousands. 
 
 Austria will be reduced to quite a small kingdom, but 
 as the young Kaiser very sensibly says, he much prefers 
 being king over a small, happy country than being 
 Emperor over a big, unhappy one. Perhaps Kaiser 
 Wilhelm will come to look at things in the same way. 
 
 Meantime the aversion towards the Kaiser is increasing 
 daily. Wilson's answer to the second German Note will 
 probably decide his fate. As events go, it looks pretty 
 clear that disturbances and riots, even civil war, are not 
 to be evaded. From our windows last evening I could 
 see rows of armed policemen hning the street, and on 
 
256 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 inquiring what they were doing there, was told that the 
 people had threatened to attack the Admiralty as a 
 demonstration against submarine warfare. The whole 
 affair, however, ended calmly, and there were no riots. 
 The Germans luckily do not know how to make an 
 effective demonstration. 
 
 Mounted poUcemen patrol the streets near the Bran- 
 denburger Tor day and night, and one has an unpleasant 
 feeling that our house will be one of the first to be raided, 
 if anything serious does occur. It is very difficult to 
 know what to do ; in the country the castle would be 
 attacked for food, and here the Bolshevist element will 
 probably let themselves go at the big houses near the 
 Tor, although some people say we are safer here than 
 an3Avhere else in Berhn, as machine-guns are in readiness 
 all round this part of the town. I cannot say that makes 
 the vicinity more attractive on the whole. Many people 
 have already hired cellars to retire to in case of emergency, 
 and are hiding their silver and valuables. 
 
 Berlin, October 24, 1918. — Last evening there was 
 another demonstration going on under our windows, 
 caused by the triumphal procession accompanying the 
 notorious Socialist, Liebknecht, who has returned from 
 prison, where he has been for the last two years. He 
 was seated in a carriage with his wife, surrounded by 
 flowers, and they drove slowly by the Reichstag and 
 through some by-streets, landing finally at the Russian 
 Embassy. There Liebknecht addressed his assembled 
 friends in a speech tainted with Bolshevism. 
 
 The people are gradually awakening to a sense of their 
 power, but all the same there are still invisible hands 
 pulling the strings of justice, or rather injustice, and ready 
 to nip any pacific movement in the bud. A large peace 
 meeting was dispersed two days ago, the orator not 
 being allowed to speak, on the plea that no permission 
 for the meeting had been obtained, although the request 
 had been sent in three times. 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1918 257 
 
 Whilst depicting the last agony of the country at large, 
 one is apt to forget the sufferings of the individual, but 
 what the war is not destroying in human hfe, the terrible 
 grippe epidemic is carrying off. One hears of whole 
 families dying out in a few hours, and it is an extra- 
 ordinary fact that most of the victims are young girls 
 and women. An uncanny idea, death thus restoring the 
 balance between men and women for life. 
 
 There was an unusual hour of excitement and interest 
 to-day in the Herrenhaus, which generally dozes over 
 questions of moment. My husband and eleven others, 
 Prince Pless, Count Magnis, Counts Galen, Hochberg, etc., 
 suddenly took a line of their own, stood up, and declared 
 their intention of voting for the Universal Suffrage Bill. 
 There is no doubt that it will soon be a fait accompli. 
 
 There is great groaning over the hardness of Wilson's 
 second Note. A man from The Hague tells me that Wilson 
 would hke to make moderate terms for Germany, but 
 that England and France are blind with victory, and will 
 not let him do as he Ukes. They mean to punish Germany 
 for her falseness and for her brutahties. He added : 
 " England seems quite to forget that for four years they 
 have shut off Germany from the outer world, and have 
 been cold-bloodedly starving her women and children the 
 whole time." 
 
 There are different points of view — each nation's vision 
 is only focussed on the brutalities of the other. 
 
 Another man, a German officer who has just returned 
 from three years' imprisonment in England, declares that 
 it was the sinking of the Lusitania, the death of Miss 
 Cavell, and the Zeppelin raids that raised the English 
 army. Before the Lusitania there had been no en- 
 thusiasm in England about the war, but after that they 
 were all like mad dogs let loose, and rose as one man to 
 avenge the dastardly deed. 
 
 As for air raids, I am told I must not give my views 
 on this subject, but I have good reasons for feeling bitter. 
 
 s 
 
258 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Last spring my mother had to go to a nursing home in 
 London for an operation. The very night after the 
 operation there was an air raid near her hospital, and 
 the fright brought on a heart collapse so that her life 
 was despaired of. 
 
 Berlin, October 26, 1918. — Gebhard heard from the 
 Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, whom he met in the Herren- 
 haus, that the Emperor does not mean to abdicate unless 
 he is forced to. He was so terribly cut up by the bad 
 news from the front, that he collapsed and retired to bed 
 for three days ; but as soon as he received the news of 
 some local success he quite cheered up again, and became 
 as sanguine and hopeful as ever. This change of mood 
 is typical of the Kaiser and all his entourage ; they 
 are entirely swayed by the news which is dished up to 
 them by Ludendorff, and seem incapable of forming an 
 independent opinion of their own, otherwise things could 
 never have come to such a pass. If the Kaiser had really 
 investigated all the information of the last twelve months, 
 and, above all, hstened to the pessimists, he would not 
 have been so surprised by the turn things have taken 
 now. 
 
 Prince Miinster, who was again here last night, told us 
 he had been spending the day trying to see Prince Max, 
 who is laid up with grippe. If things were not so tragic, 
 I should be inchned to smile at some of the incidents 
 which thrust themselves on one's vision at the most critical 
 moments. Picture, for instance, Prince Max, a man on 
 whose every word the whole world is waiting, lying in 
 bed in a high state of fever, and his worried A.D.C. going 
 in and out on tip-toe, anxiously trying to extract an 
 answer on matters of burning importance. 
 
 Luckily, Prince Max seems to be at last the right man 
 in the right place. People have confidence in him here, 
 and in England they seem to be appreciating his poUcy. 
 I see there was quite a laudatory article on him in the 
 Nation. It is said that when he has once assured himself 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1918 259 
 
 that a thing is right, no Ludendorff or any other power 
 on earth can persuade him to act to the contrary. 
 
 Count Paul Miinster, who was dining here last night, 
 gave us a graphic account of his journey from Hanover, 
 His train was packed with German civilians returning 
 from Belgium. They were rather depressed at the manner 
 of their exodus, for, having devoted themselves during 
 the last four years to the work of helping the population, 
 spending time and money on the reorganization of the 
 ruined land, in return the inhabitants spat in their faces 
 as they left. 
 
 One of them described the return of the King and 
 Queen of the Belgians from their long exile ; it must 
 have been a moving scene from all accounts. They landed 
 at Ostend, and were carried shoulder-high by English 
 sailors, amidst dense throngs of people all bowing to 
 the earth in reverent respect. Not a word was spoken, 
 he said ; only a murmur of welcome and relief passed 
 through the massed populace, who could not speak for 
 tears of emotion, and it might rank as one of the most 
 impressive scenes in history. 
 
 Berlin, October 25, 1918. — Nothing but Wilson's third 
 Note is being discussed now, and as the translation is 
 extremely unclear, every one interprets it according to his 
 own sweet will. I have now seen the original English text, 
 which has been published in some of the German papers, 
 and we at once saw there was only one interpretation 
 possible, which is that the Entente do not wish to negotiate 
 until the Emperor abdicates, as they do not trust his 
 word. 
 
 This reading seems to have struck other people in the 
 same way, for a luncheon party was quickly arranged at 
 Prince Eulenburg's house to-day, at which the Kaiser 
 assisted; and where it was discussed whether he should 
 abdicate at once or not. They seemed to have decided 
 to break off negotiations and to stand by the monarchy, 
 or at least leave the casting vote to Hindenburg. 
 
26o AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 I was just on the point of going to bed when a message 
 came saying that Prince Miinster wished urgently to see 
 us. He told us that he had heard of the aforesaid resolu- 
 tion, and was brooding on it on his way here to ask us 
 to give him some dinner, when he suddenly felt he must 
 do something to prevent Germany making such a hope- 
 less mistake. So, certain that Hindenburg would be 
 dining at his usual quarters at that hour in the Generalstab, 
 he had gone straight off there and asked if he could see 
 the Field-Marshal. On being told that he was at dinner, 
 he begged the astonished Ordonnance-officer to give his 
 name to the Field-Marshal, and ask if he might have a 
 few moments' conversation with him. A few minutes 
 later Hindenburg came out into the hall, taking him by 
 both hands and shaking them wannly, at the same time 
 asking him, " What is it ? " He asked Prince Miinster 
 to join him at supper, and in the dining-room a place was 
 immediately made for him next to the Field-Marshal. 
 
 He then explained that he had heard of their intention 
 of breaking off negotiations, in order to save the Kaiser, 
 and entreated them to reconsider their decision, or in any 
 case to take time and keep things going, not to commit a 
 step which must inevitably imperil the Fatherland, 
 
 To these words Hindenburg only answered gloomily, 
 " I stand or fall with my Kaiser." 
 
 Prince Miinster did not let himself be discouraged, and 
 continued his argument. He said that if the Field- 
 Marshal as well as the Kaiser went, there would be no 
 central figure for the people to look up to, and the country 
 would be inevitably lost, that the nation must have 
 some one in whom they could trust, some one who repre- 
 sented their ideals, or chaos and anarchy would infaUibly 
 ensue. To which the company present said, " Hear, 
 hear ! " He argued that if Hindenburg stayed on, they 
 might still save the Kaiser, hear what the Allies had to 
 say, and keep on with the negotiations. Should the 
 conditions for an armistice be incompatible with the 
 honour of the nation, then they would appeal to the 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1918 261 
 
 country and make a last stand, the like of which had 
 never been known. 
 
 Hindenburg was deeply moved, and hurried into his 
 military motor to drive straight to Prince Max at the 
 Foreign Office, to offer him his decision. They are now 
 there settUng the matter. 
 
 One hears so many confficting opinions about the 
 Kaiser's abdication that it is difficult to arrive at any 
 definite conclusion oneself, without perhaps doing injustice 
 to a man who I beheve, whatever others may say, only 
 acts from a high sense of duty. On the one side it seems 
 as if it would bring peace nearer if he went, as he, hke 
 all HohenzoUerns, has deprived the people (or at least 
 wished to do so) of their own free will in the question 
 of government, and has prevented their expanding or 
 developing pohtically, fearing it might lessen his personal 
 power. On the other hand, the HohenzoUerns rescued 
 Prussia from a state of poverty and insignificance, and 
 consolidated the German Empire into a power so great 
 that it has taken the efforts of the whole civihzed world 
 to break it But now the course of history is being 
 changed, ancient forms of government must disappear 
 under the stress of new ideas and new forces, and as some 
 one said to me, " The German nation must be apparently 
 disloyal, to save themselves from themselves." In other 
 words, they must put their honour aside and make what 
 may seem a " dishonourable peace," to save the country 
 from inevitable effacement. 
 
 It seems to me, whatever way they decide, the end 
 will be the same, so better now than later. If it came to 
 an appeal to the country, half the men would not respond, 
 as they ask why they should sacrifice themselves when 
 the end is pre-ordained. It is known and owned by many 
 miUtary men that the guns are worn out, that the Enghsh 
 and French ones shoot farther, and that a great deal of 
 the ammimition does not fit, so that the artillery could 
 not last more than a fortnight. 
 
262 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 My personal feelings of dislike and bitterness towards 
 the men who have perpetrated so many brutal deeds 
 during these four years is counterbalanced somewhat 
 by sorrow for the good and brave men of this land who 
 have sacrificed so much for false ideals, and at the sight 
 of a great country crumbUng into ruins, destroyed by 
 the culpable ambition of a few self-seeking men. My 
 feelings are shared even more intensely by other English 
 women married to Germans, who are all more or less 
 pained at the downfall of a nation which has offered so 
 much to the world, and whose fundamental feelings 
 and attitude towards hfe in general are more in harmony 
 with our own than those of any of the Latin races, 
 
 Berlin, October 29, 1918. — Things seem to be hurrying 
 towards a catastrophe, and the new Government, the 
 heirs to. all the enormous errors of the late one, are 
 having a hard time of it to keep law and order. For the 
 moment everything seems to be depending on the Kaiser's 
 abdication. Public opinion says that as LudendorfE has 
 gone he ought to go too, and the road to peace would be 
 smoother. Like two drowning men, the one is dragged 
 down by the other to destruction. It is said that on 
 Ludendorff's proposing his demission to the Kaiser, the 
 latter accepted it with the words, " In fact, it would 
 render my position easier if you went," and nothing more. 
 
 The whole country is waiting breathlessly for the 
 conditions of the proposed armistice, which the Entente 
 are about to issue, and which every one surmises will 
 be utterly impossible. Prince Miinster has just come in 
 from the Kriegsministerium and the Auswartige Amt, 
 and reports that they too are prepared for the terms 
 being unacceptable, and there is one party which hopes 
 that the country wiU call up every available man to 
 make a last desperate stand, after the old platt-deutsch 
 motto : " Lever dod als Slav ! " 
 
 I see that Balfour and Lloyd George have gone to 
 Paris, and that Lord Grey and Henderson have joined 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1918 263 
 
 Lord Lansdowne in his " Peace Campaign." Things 
 appear to be tending to an end at last. The next few 
 weeks will be harrowing to a degree, but the general 
 opinion is that peace will be signed on or about New 
 Year's Day. 
 
 The Emperor left for the Grosse Hauptquartier 
 yesterday evening ; there were reasons for beheving 
 that he was in danger here, so he has been sent away. 
 The barracks in Berlin were closed last Sunday. No 
 soldier had leave ; they were told off in small companies 
 with loaded rifles to guard the castle and keep order in 
 the streets. Rumours were abroad that the Russian 
 Embassy is a nest of Bolshevism and is secretly spreading 
 it all over Germany, and Liebknecht is beginning to-day 
 the first of a course of eighty speeches in different towns, 
 each of which will begin with the words : " Two years 
 ago I went into prison a sociaUst. I have come out of it 
 an anarchist. I will tell you the reason why." 
 
 It appears that Hindenburg did send in his resignation 
 a few days ago, but withdrew it after much persuasion, 
 and Prince Miinster, who dined here last night, confessed 
 that he could not help feehng a httle proud seeing that 
 Hindenburg has followed his advice as to the delay. He 
 told us that, among other things, Hindenburg has said 
 to him : " You advise our postponing the breaking off 
 of negotiations until we have seen the conditions of the 
 armistice, but do we really need to wait before we see 
 them ? You know as well as I do what they will be hke." 
 
 Prince Miinster further showed us a copy of his letter 
 to Hindenburg, setting forth reasons for his remaining 
 in office. I give one of the chief paragraphs here : " The 
 German people would not have understood if they had 
 j&rst been told that the present Government and the 
 sudden peace offer of same, which must have seemed 
 quite inexphcable to the uninitiated, was made ' at 
 the request ' of the Oberste Heeresleitung (the military 
 leaders). And now, if this same Oberste Heeresleitung, 
 
264 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 at the moment when Wilson declares himself willing to 
 carry out the mediation for which he has been asked, had 
 declined same without waiting to hear the conditions 
 which the hostile military leaders will fix as introduction 
 of eventual peace negotiations, then our people would 
 have lost their faith in the man whom they made their 
 ideal. Now they wiU recognize that they were right in 
 doing so. Uphold them in this faith, Herr Feldmarschall, 
 by dutifully and unselfishly remaining on in these most 
 hitter times ! This faith in you is the only thing that still 
 remains to the uncertain Fatherland to fortify it. Should 
 you go too, then Bolshevism will descend upon us." 
 
 Ludendorff is regretted by few. His most ardent 
 admirers are now his chief foes. They try to do him 
 justice, calhng him the " German Napoleon " with the 
 keenest brain in the country, but, as they say, he and 
 Hindenburg have brought the country to this pass, by 
 dehberately deceiving the people and by underestimating 
 the economic capabilities of their own land, as well as 
 those of the enemy. He was a military despot, and at 
 the same time a tool in the hands of a few great industrials 
 who worked him for their own ambitious ends. He alone 
 is responsible for the unexpected offer of peace put forth 
 by the Foreign Office, which seemed to most people a 
 sudden and untimely confession of weakness. He had 
 at last realized how useless any further fighting was, 
 and in a moment of panic telegraphed to the Foreign 
 Office, hoping to put all the onus of the act at their door, 
 but they in return have exposed him and his doings. 
 
 The more one thinks over the history of this war, 
 and the terrible sufferings of the German nation, the 
 more one is astonished at the way they have borne the 
 yoke which has been laid on them. Seemingly not one 
 single man (with the exception of Liebknecht and Harden, 
 who were promptly punished for it) has ever dared to 
 stand up pubUcly and protest against a system which 
 was so palpably leading the country to destruction. It 
 almost seems as if the whole nation had been hypnotized. 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1918 265 
 
 and if any one gave the slightest signs of awaking from his 
 phlegmatic trance, he was treated as a dangerous lunatic 
 and put into a strait-jacket. 
 
 It seems to me that the loss of position and fortune, 
 even of life itself, would have been worth the effort of 
 saving the country. But so few men are possessed of 
 moral courage, while they nearly all have physical 
 courage, and would much more readily stop a bullet 
 than try to stem the tide of popular opinion. 
 
 Professor Nicolai, whose open appeal to his country- 
 men in the Times I have just been reading, is one of the 
 very few men who dared to seem disloyal to his country, 
 purely from reasons of loyalty. For venturing to attack 
 the German methods of warfare he was degraded from 
 his rank as army surgeon and incorporated as a private 
 combatant soldier, and only evaded certain death at 
 some exposed position at the front by escaping to 
 Denmark in an aeroplane. 
 
 Berlin, October 31, 1918. — The news of Austria's 
 separate peace has fallen hke a bomb on poor Germany, 
 who Uke a sinking ship sees herself being deserted, even 
 by the rats, as some one bitterly remarked. Now 
 Austria, which, for unpohtical people, was the spark 
 that set the firebrand in flames and involved Germany 
 in the conflagration, has betrayed her in a dastardly 
 manner. 
 
 This morning my maid came into my room to tell me 
 that Emperor Karl had fled from Vienna, taking eighteen 
 vanloads of furniture with him and all the crown jewels. 
 He is said to be seeking refuge in a castle in Hungary, 
 which, judging from the chaos and revolutionary spirit 
 surging there, seems rather extraordinary. 
 
 My husband's man of business rang him up just now 
 (10.30) to say that, although it is not yet in the papers, 
 Germany is already acquainted with and practically 
 has accepted the terms of the coming armistice, and 
 that in effect they mean capitulation. Some of the 
 
266 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 conditions seem to be as follows : Cologne is to be occupied 
 by the English, Baden-Baden by the Swiss, Strassburg 
 by the French, Metz by the Americans, Heligoland by 
 the EngUsh, and so on. 
 
 The other conditions will soon become pubhc property. 
 I just note down these items as interesting me most. 
 
 The German banks have in a way ceased payment, 
 as there has been a panic for the last week. There is a 
 rush, and over five milliards have been drawn out by 
 the people. In order to prevent a catastrophe no one 
 may draw out more than 200 Mks. at once. 
 
 Every moment the telephone brings us fresh tidings 
 of foreboding for Germany. Its shrill call seems ominous 
 of coming evil. The Austrians, they say, are helpless 
 to prevent the enemy marching through their country, 
 and the French and Italian troops are already approaching 
 Germany. The former they expect through Dresden 
 and the latter through Bavaria, while the Serbians will 
 come through Silesia. 
 
 The Austrian troops are already returning in dis- 
 orderly bands, plundering the villages through which 
 they pass for food, and a state of confusion reigns in the 
 Austrian Embassy here, nobody knowing to whom they 
 are responsible for anything. 
 
 Our friend Count Larisch has received a wire from his 
 father in Austrian Silesia, advising him to come at once 
 and help to arrange matters. On preparing to start 
 they were told it was practically impossible to get there, 
 as the whole railway service in Austria is disorganized. 
 Another friend, Graf P , an Hungarian in the Em- 
 bassy, has also had a telegram from his father bringing 
 the news that his sister's castle in Hungary has been 
 burnt to the ground and nothing is known of the fate 
 of his sister and her eight children. 
 
 In addition to the news of burning castles, destroyed 
 crops, dismembered countries and the approaching enemy, 
 friend Death is making havoc among the population at 
 
BERLIN, OCTOBER 1918 267 
 
 home in the form of the grippe. There is hardly a family 
 that has been spared. From our housekeeper at Krie- 
 blowitz I hear that the whole village is stricken with it, 
 and the wretched people are lying about on the floors 
 of their cottages in woeful heaps, shivering with fever and 
 with no medicaments or any one to attend them. The 
 doctor from Canth is unable to come, as he is absolutely 
 overworked, having the whole district to look after, 
 his colleague being already dead of the grippe. I wired 
 at once to the Convent of the Grey Sisters at Breslau, 
 asking them to send a nurse, which they did immediately, 
 and I heard this morning that from the moment of her 
 arrival she only had three hours' sleep for the next 
 forty-eight hours, there were so many people to attend to. 
 Again I telegraphed to Breslau begging them to send 
 another sister to help- but they replied regretting that it 
 was impossible to do so, as the epidemic was so virulent 
 in Breslau there was not a single sister to be spared. I 
 then hurried away to " Wertheim's " (the Harrods of 
 Berhn) and bought up as many clothes and comforters 
 as I could without a " Bezugschein," to send to the poor 
 people, and bribed the saleswomen in the different 
 departments to sell me things bj^ promising to send 
 them each a partridge for dinner. They told me that 
 hundreds of their staff were at the moment laid up with 
 the grippe, and that seventy of their girls had died last 
 week of it. 
 
 Herr B , who has just arrived from Hamburg 
 
 and lunched with us to-day, says it is hke the plague 
 there, 400 people dying in one day ; and as they have 
 not coffins enough to put the corpses in, they have used 
 furniture vans to carry them to the cemetery, and on the 
 way there an accident happened to one of them ; the 
 van fell over and the poor bodies fell out and were strewn 
 all over the road. How ghastly ! 
 
 We are returning every day nearer to the barbarism 
 of the Middle Ages in every way. I am often astonished 
 that there are no religious fanatics nowadays to run 
 
268 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 through the streets, dressed in sackcloth and ashes, 
 and calling on the people to repent of their sins. 
 
 Berlin, October 1918. — Last night Prince Miinster, 
 who dined with us, told us that he had been to the officers' 
 
 prison camp in N to see Mr. F., a son of an English 
 
 friend, and was shocked to find that his nerves and his 
 health are utterly broken down, as he had been a prisoner 
 ever since August 1914. He had been happy enough, 
 he said, as long as other Enghshmen had been with him ; 
 but, on their all being repatriated, he was left alone with 
 only the companionship of French and Roumanians. 
 This, together with the monotony of only being allowed 
 to walk round one square garden for four years, had so 
 told on his nerves that he felt he was going out of his 
 mind. 
 
 Prince Miinster, who is always very kind-hearted in 
 such matters, telephoned to the Commandant of the 
 Xth Army Corps, and obtained permission to have him 
 removed to a rest-cure resort in the Harz Mountains, 
 and, wonderful to relate, was so eloquent that he gained 
 permission to carry him off then and there to his own 
 place in Derneburg for three nights. 
 
 One can imagine the joy of Mr. F. at once more finding 
 himself in the midst of the comfort and luxury of English 
 home-hfe with an English hostess at the head of it. 
 Princess Miinster was at home, and, needless to say, 
 took care that he should enjoy those two days. Prince 
 Miinster then wrote to Prince Max of Baden, reporting 
 the whole case, and Prince Max, who was ill with the 
 grippe, telephoned to him, giving him a free hand to act 
 as he liked in the matter. He came at once to us to tell 
 us the good news and to get our help in making the arrange- 
 ments for his immediate return to England. Prince 
 Miinster brought him to lunch with us on his way to 
 Aachen. You can imagine what an interest it was to us 
 to see and talk once more with an English officer, and to 
 speed him on his way, and what pleasure it gave Princess 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 269 
 
 Miinster and myself when we heard that he had safely 
 arrived in England. 
 
 Probably Mr, F., who has been shut up all these four 
 years in a German military camp, will never realize to 
 the full what Prince Miinster has done for him. Only 
 my husband and myself know how much credit he deserves 
 for this great act of kindness, and what a feat he has 
 performed in overcoming all the difficulties in the way. 
 He has simply spent the last four days going backwards 
 and forwards between the Kriegsministerium and the 
 Auswartige Amt, meeting at every step with fresh difficulty 
 and being continually referred to somebody else. But 
 Mr. F. told me that he did understand, and would always 
 feel an undying gratitude towards Prince Miinster. 
 
 Curiously enough, Prince Miinster tells me that the 
 man from whom he received the kindest aid in the matter 
 of repatriating Mr. F. is General Hanisch, the Commander 
 of the Xth Army Corps, the very man whose name is held 
 in abhorrence in England and other countries, as the 
 arch-Hun in torturing and worrying the prisoners. 
 
 Berlin, All Saints' Day, November 1918. — November 
 has set in with its usual cheerless atmosphere of dull 
 grey impenetrable mist. 
 
 I have just returned from early Mass and still feel 
 some of the peace one can only gain to-day from com- 
 munion with the dead. They alone know peace in these 
 days of fierce strife and hatred when every man's hand 
 is directed at his brother's throat. Sometimes, indeed, 
 something Hke a thrill of envy seizes on me, when I hear 
 that he or she, people I have known well, have fallen 
 asleep, aU the horrors of existence over — " Ueberwunden," 
 as the Germans say. Ah ! who knows what we all have 
 stiU " zu iiberwinden ! " Years perhaps stiU of malice 
 and hate before the sun again sets over a world full of 
 charity and goodwill. 
 
 Hardly had we left the quiet holy atmosphere of the 
 church, when Graf Westfalen told me the news of Graf 
 
270 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Tisza's murder. He had been shot walking with a lady 
 in the street, and she had been wounded too, it seems. 
 
 Baroness Sternburg came in to see me in a great state 
 of perturbation. On her way she had met Frau von 
 Schwabach, the wife of one of the great bankers here, 
 who had confided to her that she had all her most valuable 
 jewels in her muff, and was carrying them to the bank, 
 as a revolution was expected within the next three days. 
 She added that they were sending all their most valuable 
 pictures into a place of safety, and had themselves decided 
 on dispersing, each to some different place, as it will not 
 be safe to stay on in their big luxurious house in the 
 Tiergarten. 
 
 Baroness Sternburg had just been to the bank to try 
 and get some money, but they had refused to change 
 her cheque. The bank manager, however, had given her 
 £50 from his own money, sajdng he had known her for 
 years and was so sorry for her in her lonely position here. 
 
 Countess Radolin and her sister. Baroness Bissing, 
 came in to lunch. They were nearly heart-broken at the 
 break-up of Germany, They are so essentially Prussian, 
 and such fervent royalists, that they could not speak of 
 the expected abdication of the Emperor without tears in 
 their eyes. They are, of course, absolutely military in 
 their ideas, and blame the Foreign Office for all the 
 mistakes that have been made. I suggested that perhaps 
 Ludendorff ought to have a great share of the blame too, 
 but they would not hear of it ; and I wondered to myself 
 whether they realized, what we were perfectly cognizant 
 of, that Baron Bissing had intensely resented Ludendorff 's 
 interference in the government of Belgium, and had en- 
 tirely disapproved of Ludendorff's ordering the deporta- 
 tion of Belgian workmen into Germany. In fact he had 
 even sent in his resignation because of it, but had been 
 prevailed to stay on, and died shortly afterwards. He 
 let it be thoroughly well known, however, that Luden- 
 dorff was interfering too much in many departments of 
 administration about which he knew nothing at all. 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 271 
 
 7.30 P.M. — ^This afternoon May Larisch came in, full of 
 fresh news as to what is going on in Austria. She also 
 blames Ludendorff, on the ground that Count Czernin had 
 personally begged him several times during the course of 
 the last eighteen months to make peace, as Austria could 
 not hold out any longer, but that the " Dictator " would 
 listen to no one. She told me, too, that Prince Max 
 Fiirstenberg has arrived this morning from Vienna and 
 reports that all is quiet there, and that the Emperor has 
 returned temporarily, but his family and household are 
 still in Hungary. 
 
 The Austrian Ambassador, Prince Hohenlohe, and his 
 wife have gone to Vienna to receive orders, as all com- 
 munications by telegram and telephone have been cut off 
 for the last few days. 
 
 Our nephew, L. C. S., came in to tea and stayed to 
 dinner. He is working at the Press Bureau of the General 
 Staff, and says he sees many interesting telegrams that 
 are never published at all, and that the war telegrams 
 in the papers are very different from the original ones 
 received. He says that Erzberger is now their chief, and 
 all telegrams and correspondence have to be submitted 
 to him, and that Ludendorff' s successor is Erzberger's 
 and Scheidemann's friend, and, although a General, he 
 has never been to the front at all, but has been working 
 in one of the Wirtschaftsamter here in Berlin throughout 
 the whole war. He has been chosen for this responsible 
 position in order to please the people, with whom he is 
 very popular, as he never forbade their holding socialistic 
 meetings or making demonstrations. 
 
 He further told me of a meeting he had witnessed a 
 few days before between Hindenburg and Tirpitz. Tirpitz 
 had asked for an interview with the Field-Marshal, but 
 having been shown into the room, Hindenburg received 
 him very coldly and immediately showed him out again, 
 saying that his time was so taken up he could not give 
 him an interview. This demonstrates clearly enough 
 how much the Field-Marshal and the military authorities 
 
272 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 blame Tirpitz and the U-boat war for the chmax of 
 to-day. 
 
 Berlin, Sunday, November 3, 1918. — The universal 
 opinion is that things are coming to a head this week, 
 and the movement will probably begin to-morrow. No 
 one seems to be quite clear whether it will be the long- 
 whispered Revolution (with a capital R), or whether the 
 masses of the people are going to revolt and turn on their 
 tormentors, as they now regard the ruling classes. 
 
 We have been warned to keep our outside blinds 
 down all day, and to make ourselves as little observable 
 as possible. I begin to feel that our house is in an 
 unenviably prominent spot, and that any one inclined 
 to wreak their feelings of revenge on Brandenburger Tor 
 would probably include us as well. 
 
 They say it is to be a choice between Scheidemann 
 and the Emperor. One of them must give way, and the 
 people are going to settle which of them it will be. 
 
 The Russian Embassy is the centre of much suspicious 
 observation. There has been a remarkable number of 
 Russian couriers arriving for some time past with boxes 
 and baggage of all kinds, which are never examined, of 
 course. These couriers are never seen to return. There 
 are reports that the Embassy itself is full of ammunition 
 and weapons, and we suspect it is a hotbed of Bolshevism 
 and anarchy. They ought to have been sent away before. 
 Liebknecht is seen to be constantly going in and out of 
 the Embassy, and publicly proclaims his anarchistic views. 
 
 It is expected that the conditions of the Armistice will 
 be made known to-morrow and will be accepted by Ger- 
 many on Wednesday, and then we may look out for riots. 
 
 We continue hearing distressing reports of the wild 
 disorder prevailing in Austria and Hungary. Nearly all 
 our own personal friends are grievously affected by it. 
 A friend just arrived from Vienna told us that near Horn, 
 Count Hoyos's estate, thousands of Italian prisoners have 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 273 
 
 been liberated by the Czechs, and are now at large 
 ravaging and plundering all the castles in that district, 
 
 I hear that the Entente does not by any means intend 
 leaving Austria at the mercy of Germany, which is 
 brimming over with wrath at the way Austria has stolen 
 a march and concluded peace alone. The Germans 
 forget that Austria made an earnest entreaty to Prussia 
 last year to make peace, and on her refusal entered into 
 private negotiations with America with the present re- 
 sults. And now the almighty Wilson is going to protect 
 the broken-down peoples from the anger of their former 
 allies. In the meantime the land is Uke a seething cauldron 
 of furious nations all more or less at war with one another, 
 with the hapless young Kaiser trying in vain to still 
 them. 
 
 We continue hearing such ceaseless abuse and criticism 
 of Kaiser Wilhelm that I sometimes feel like blushing with 
 shame at people who have always professed such loyalty 
 to their sovereign, and now that the reins of government 
 are slowly falhng from his hands turn round and openly 
 rend him. Just those who were amongst the most cringing 
 of his satelHtes are the most ferocious in their attacks on 
 him, and do not hesitate to denounce him publicly at 
 luncheons and dinners. Many of them he has really 
 made, and these are the worst. 
 
 The deplorable part of it is that, whilst condemning 
 them, I have to ask myself whether these people may not 
 be right ; and if he really is false. People who know 
 him best, and who try to do justice to his character, say 
 Kttle more than that he is a man of very able parts, 
 possessing a wonderful memory and an unusual capacity 
 for comprehending technical questions of engineering, 
 architecture, etc. 
 
 Yesterday I had tea with Frau Solf , and we had a long 
 talk together. Poor woman, she was very sad, and on 
 my congratulating her on her husband's position, she only 
 answered : "It has come too late. A year ago there 
 
 T 
 
274 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 might have been reason for congratulation, but now all 
 the mistakes have been made and he will have the thank- 
 less task of negotiating with England, knowing that he 
 cannot save the situation, as he might have done a year 
 ago." Further, she said, she was in constant anxiety for 
 his Hfe and health, for besides working unceasingly night 
 and day, they had received all sorts of roundabout 
 threats that, when disturbances should occur, her husband 
 and the other ministers will be in great danger. 
 
 I have just been warned by a friend who shall be 
 nameless that the demonstrations are to begin to-morrow. 
 This made me very nervous, and I asked him if they 
 expected bloodshed of any kind. He said he hoped not, 
 as they had managed to get the Bolshevist Embassy 
 away in time, otherwise no one knows what might have 
 happened. They were hurried off last night with scant 
 ceremony, so that they may be across the frontier by 
 to-morrow. One of their numerous cases which I men- 
 tioned burst open conveniently in the luggage compart- 
 ment, and a whole mass of papers came to Ught, fuU of 
 anarchist proclamations to the people, stirring them up 
 to bloodshed and plunder. 
 
 My friend said it was he who had given the order for 
 the Embassy to be removed, and the mission had to be 
 carried out as secretly as possible, so as to take the 
 conspirators by surprise and prevent them having any 
 opportunity of communicating with any one here. The 
 commissaries of the police suddenly appeared at eleven 
 o'clock last night, ordered them to be ready to leave by six 
 o'clock this morning, and stayed on keeping a strict watch 
 over them, not leaving them until Joffe with his personnel 
 of seventy Russians were safely despatched in the seven 
 o'clock train this morning, \\ithout any one in BerUn 
 being aware of the fact. 
 
 I must confess I heaved a sigh of relief at this news. 
 Please God it will save bloodshed to-morrow, and at any 
 rate we have a body of some fifty policemen always in 
 readiness lodged in the stables at the back of our house. 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 275 
 
 My friend smiled. " I don't think you will have one of 
 them here to-morrow, as they will probably all be busy 
 fighting the rabble in the street," he said. 
 
 On my husband's return I of course recounted all 
 these interesting facts, whereupon he at once sent for the 
 head of the pohce, and without appearing to know any- 
 thing of coming events, presented him with a box of 
 excellent cigars, in return, as he said, for their looking 
 after us so well all these days. The man told him that 
 some of his men had just been called out to put down a 
 demonstration in front of the Russian Embassy. 
 
 If any one had told me years ago that I should ever 
 be within a few miles of a " revolution " breaking out, 
 with the probability of blood being shed, I should have 
 been paralysed with fear. And here we are face to face 
 with one, and I even feel comparatively calm and thank- 
 ful, because from information received, the revolutionary 
 party have decided to pass by our house without plunder- 
 ing or demolishing it, as my husband has never taken 
 any active part in politics and they have nothing against 
 him, 
 
 Berlin, November 8, 1918. — To-day is the fourth 
 anniversary of my brother Wilfred's death, who fell at 
 the battle of Ypres. We went to early Mass this morn- 
 ing to commemorate it, and on returning from church 
 we were greeted with the news that the Socialists had 
 given the Kaiser an ultimatum for abdication until one 
 o'clock to-day. From that moment we have been in a 
 ceaseless state of unrest and anxiety. We are completely 
 cut off from the outer world, as all train services are 
 suspended in and out of Berlin. Even the telephone has 
 been cut off between Berhn and other places, and no 
 telegrams can be sent off. This morning we tried to 
 telephone to Krieblowitz, to hear whether our Jager w^ho 
 is bringing us our food supply had. started or not, but 
 were unable to do so. 
 
 As we are practically at an end of our provisions, 
 
276 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Gebhard went out in search of food, and managed to 
 bring in quite a quantity of things — ducks, a turkey, 
 vegetables, etc. — a proof that there are still some things 
 to be had by paying a high price for them. 
 
 I had been advised not to leave the house, but between 
 twelve and one o'clock eventually went out to get a httle 
 fresh air. The Wilhelm Strasse was Uned with armed 
 policemen, and all the different ministerial offices were 
 closed very early and the employees sent away, as every 
 one had been warned that raids from the mob were to 
 be feared. Thousands of loafers were standing about 
 Brandenburger Tor, others of a rather rough-looking 
 appearance were marching towards the castle. Early in 
 the morning I had been already awakened by the sound 
 of loud singing in the street, and on looking out of the 
 window I saw hundreds of young sailor lads marching 
 by, carrying parcels and looking very pleased with them- 
 selves. No one seems quite to know who they are, or 
 what they are doing here. Some say they have mutinied, 
 seized the trains by force, and come to Berlin for protec- 
 tion, having killed or imprisoned eighty of their officers 
 beforehand. Others are said to be expected from Kiel, 
 and the Stettiner station is being armed, artillery being 
 posted there to prevent the trains being seized. 
 
 Prince Wedel, whom we met in the street, shook his head 
 and repeated what many others are sajdng, that it was a 
 mistake of the Kaiser not to have come to Berlin and faced 
 the people. He presumes he is anticipating the wish of 
 the Sociahsts to hand him over their ultimatum personally. 
 
 Berlin, Evening, November 8, 1918. — Baroness Roeder 
 and her husband, who only arrived from Stuttgart yester- 
 day, came in to see us. They have been spending the 
 summer in Switzerland and were exceedingly surprised 
 to find what a state Germany is in, and especially the 
 pandemonium existing in BerHn. He, poor man, is look- 
 ing quite crushed and broken-hearted. For him life is 
 practically over. He was Master of Ceremonies, and for 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 277 
 
 more than fifty years a faithful courtier to the Emperor ; 
 and now at one stroke the whole structure of existence 
 dissolves before his eyes and melts away as if it had never 
 been, leaving him stranded. There wUl be probably no 
 pension forthcoming, and so the future is a perfect blank 
 to them. In addition to this they have just had the 
 terrible news of their son-in-law's death at the eleventh 
 hour. Only a few weeks ago he had come into his father's 
 estate and fortune, and now everything goes to his Uttle 
 son, a child of five years old. 
 
 The particulars of this officer's death, as he related 
 them, are very harrowing to hear. He was colonel of 
 one of the crack Wiirttemberg regiments, and a great 
 favourite and very popular with every one. The officers 
 \mder him were the flower of Wiirttemberg. They were, 
 strange to say, in reserve and seemingly out of all danger, 
 with no idea of an attack, when suddenly they found the 
 enemy upon them. They had broken through three fines 
 of trenches without the Germans firing a shot. The 
 surprised regiment did its best to stave off the attack, 
 but within an hour, from 750 men there were only 100 
 survivors to relate how things had happened. 
 
 I wonder what the result of the meeting of the 
 delegates for an armistice to-day will be ? General von 
 Winterfeldt and Erzberger went off two days ago. What 
 a humifiating errand, and what a curious meeting for 
 General von Winterfeldt and Marshal Foch, who some 
 short years ago were ultimate friends, as Winterfeldt 
 fived for many years in Paris. Every one expects that 
 France will take her fill of revenge and make terms as 
 hard as she can. Poor Germany is not in a position to 
 resist any humiliation ; she is completely exhausted. 
 • ••••• 
 
 Amongst other news of the day, some one told me 
 that when the Russian Embassy was searched yesterday 
 they found a fist of the houses of rich people that they 
 intended raiding. Thank God, our name was not amongst 
 
278 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 them, but we can never know when we may be uncon- 
 sciously offending the powers that are to be, or when 
 we may come into their black-list. 
 
 My husband, who has just come in from Unter den 
 Linden, reports that he saw van-loads of armed soldiers 
 being driven towards the Schloss. He was told that the 
 Kaiser was expected to return, and that the SociaUsts 
 intend seizing the train and taking him prisoner, but 
 do not intend to murder him. Prince Heinrich has 
 escaped under dramatic circumstances from Kiel. They 
 say he has gone to Denmark with Tirpitz, as they are 
 both on the list for court-martial and punishment, owing 
 to the submarine warfare and the deceptions practised 
 by them on the nation regarding it. The Marine-Amt 
 here is filled with soldiers, as a raid had been planned. 
 
 The first intimation that people here got of the so- 
 called " strike " in Kiel and Hamburg was when the 
 Kriegsministerium here rang up the Marine-Amt in 
 Kiel, asking for particulars from the Admiralty. They 
 were answered by the words, " Hier die Genossen," 
 and they vouchsafed the further information that some 
 eighty officers were shut up safely and that everything 
 was in the hands of the Genossenschaft. One can imagine 
 the astonished faces of the chiefs here ! 
 
 Thank goodness, our Jager has just arrived from 
 Krieblowitz with fresh food, or we should be badly off 
 indeed. He says he took nearly two days to get here, 
 as no trains were running, and goodness knows when he 
 would have arrived if at Sommerfeld an order had not 
 suddenly come that no soldiers were to be allowed to 
 come to Berhn for fear of them joining the rioters. So 
 they were all tmned out of the train and a few civiUans 
 were allowed to take their places instead. 
 
 Berlin, Morning, November 9, 1918. — It is beautiful 
 sunny weather, and from my window I can see the people 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 279 
 
 standing about in groups talking and gesticulating 
 excitedly. Some of our servants went out to ask them 
 if they were going to make a riot, but they answered' 
 " No, they were not going to make a disturbance, but as 
 the Government could not put an end to the war, they 
 meant to show them how to do it." 
 
 Numbers of sailors and soldiers are driving by in 
 motor-cars ; they all seem to have nothing much to do. 
 We are expecting the armistice conditions every hour ; 
 they have already been handed over by Marshal Foch, 
 and, as we hear, are to be answered in seventy-two hours. 
 The courier has just radio'd from the front that he cannot 
 get through the German Unes, as the fire is still continuing. 
 They have radio'd back, informing him that the firing 
 has been caused by an ammunition depot exploding 
 accidentally. So now he will be hurrying towards us 
 to bring the important news. 
 
 We have been told that the German Commission arrived 
 very late for the meeting with Foch. They were delayed 
 by the awful state of the roads, which were nothing but 
 large pit-holes caused by shells, so that a sequence of 
 punctures had been the result. I hope the conditions will 
 be of a nature to quiet the growing agitation of the people, 
 and give them some tangible prospect of better things, 
 otherwise I fear we shall have our house-tops falling over 
 our heads, and perhaps burying us in the debris. 
 
 Berlin, Evening, November 9, 1918. — What a long 
 time ago it seems since I wrote these last ominous words ! 
 And here we are right in the midst of the tumult of a 
 great revolution. After all our expectations, it has in 
 reality fallen on us hke a bomb — ^the Kaiser's abdication 
 and the revolution. 
 
 Outside there is a seething mass of people constantly 
 coming and going. Sinister-looking red flags are waving 
 where so short a time ago the black, white, and red were 
 hanging, and the dynasty of the Hohenzollems has come 
 to a tragic end. Things had in reality grown quieter this 
 
28o AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 morning, as we had heard that the decision had been 
 postponed to Monday, and we had thought we still had 
 one or two days of waiting before the dice fell. 
 
 I did not go out, but from my window could see the 
 strange-looking loafers hanging about the street ; young 
 men, their hands in their pockets, with the hanging bent 
 shoulders of those who all too young have had to bear a 
 burden too heavy for them. They stood about quietly 
 enough, with youthful, serious eyes, as if gazing into a 
 future that was to be kinder and better. The faces of 
 one or two struck me especially ; one does not see them 
 often hereabouts, and their look of patient strength had 
 something pathetic in it. Nothing much happened, 
 however, until after luncheon. Gebhard and I were 
 sitting quietly reading our papers, when at about two 
 o'clock a perfect avalanche of humanity began to stream 
 by our windows, walking quietly enough, many of them 
 carrjdng red flags. I noticed the pale gold of young girls' 
 uncovered heads, as they passed by with only a shawl 
 over their shoulders. It seemed so feminine and incon- 
 gruous, under the folds of those gruesome red banners 
 flying over them. One can never imagine these pale 
 northern women helping to build up barricades and 
 screaming and raging for blood. 
 
 Whilst my thoughts were running in this strain, our 
 butler Karl came in to announce that the Kaiser had 
 abdicated. Tears came into both our eyes as we grasped 
 the momentousness of the hour, and although we have 
 both often criticized him, we could not help pitying the 
 fallen king in this hour of bitter trial. Just because 
 fate placed him in such an exalted position, the faU is 
 all the greater, the humiliation harder to bear ; and any 
 one living in Prussia, and knowing how the Prussians 
 regard the Hohenzollerns as the founders of aU their 
 prosperity and good fortune as a nation, will understand 
 how many loyal hearts will be cut to the quick at this 
 undoing of their king. But it was no time to mourn for 
 the individual, and our attention was soon fixed on what 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 281 
 
 was passing outside our windows. There, evidently no 
 one sorrowed at the loss of an emperor. There could 
 hardly have been a greater air of rejoicing had Germany 
 gained a great victory. More and more people came 
 hurrying by, thousands of them densely packed together 
 — men, women, soldiers, sailors, and strangely enough, a 
 never-ceasing fringe oi children plapng on the edges of 
 this dangerous maelstrom, and enjoying it seemingly 
 very much, as if it had been some pubhc fete-day. 
 Although the processions of revolutionists were at first 
 orderly enough, one could easily perceive a change in 
 the temper of the people as time passed by. The patient, 
 phlegmatic expression which covers so much innate 
 strength in the Germans gradually changed to a more 
 emotional mood ; eyes began to flash, faces became 
 flushed, and one had the feehng that it needed but a tiny 
 spark to kindle the glowing ashes into a flame. 
 
 In between the dense masses of the marching throng, 
 great mUitary motor-lorries, packed with soldiers and 
 sailors waving red flags and cheering and shouting vehe- 
 mently, forced their way, the occupants apparently trying 
 to stir up the strikers to violence. A characteristic 
 feature of the mob was the motors packed with youths 
 in field-grey imiform or in civil clothes, carrying loaded 
 rifles adorned with a tiny red flag, constantly springing 
 off their seats and forcing the soldiers and officers to tear 
 off their insignia, or doing it for them if they refused. 
 They were mostly boys of from 16 to 18 years of age, 
 who looked as if they were enjoying their sudden power 
 immensely, and sat grinning on the steps of the grey 
 motors like schoolboys out on an escapade. This, how- 
 ever, did not prevent their occasioning a good deal of 
 harm in the course of the day, for of course some officers 
 refused to obey them, which led to bloodshed and even 
 death ; for these youths did not stop short at violence, 
 and, I beheve, any bloodshed that occurred was almost 
 entirely due to the unrestrained freedom suddenly placed 
 in their hands. 
 
282 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 I think about 200 of these big lorries must have 
 passed by our windows in two hours, and every moment 
 the feehng of so many elementary forces being suddenly 
 let loose grew more alarming. We, of course, had all 
 our iron bUnds pulled down and the doors of the house 
 locked, and only kept one window open to be able to see 
 what was going on. 
 
 Every moment groups of people collected in front of 
 our window, gesticulating and shouting frantically ; and 
 to our private dismay, in one waggon-load passing by we 
 distinguished French and Russian prisoners amongst the 
 Germans, all waving the red flag, their faces glowing with 
 delight at the unwonted freedom. We were not a little 
 alarmed, for we knew that if the Germans begin frater- 
 nizing with the prisoners and liberating them, we may 
 at any moment have a dangerous rabble of some two 
 milUon Russians let loose on us, who in their underfed 
 condition would stop short at nothing. The strangest 
 and most disagreeable feeling of all was that nobody 
 knew definitely what was happening and what was the 
 meaning of it all. Every one seemed to be steering 
 for Unter den Linden and Pariser Platz, and as the 
 afternoon wore on we heard that an attack was being 
 made on the royal castle. The great Brandenburger 
 Tor was soon covered with climbers who succeeded in 
 hoisting the red flag on it, and in front of the Adlon 
 Hotel machine-guns were placed, and the mob went in 
 forcing the officers there to tear off their badges. The 
 revolutionists robbed the soldiers of their arms, and 
 strutted about with them to the constant danger of the 
 passers-by. 
 
 At tea-time Baron and Baroness Roeder came in and 
 stayed on to dinner, as it was almost impossible for them 
 to get back. Dr. Mainzer came too, to offer us the shelter 
 of his Khnik, which lies in a garden-house in an un- 
 frequented street. If there is danger, we shall go and 
 take refuge there. Count Soden, from the Bavarian 
 Legation, dropped in as well, and broke down into tears 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 283 
 
 when we attempted to condole with him on the abdication 
 of his king, Ludwig of Bavaria. 
 
 Up till now we had only occasionally heard a stray shot 
 or two, but during our early dinner at 7.30 news kept on 
 coming in that things were growing more and more serious, 
 and that a fierce battle was raging in front of the Schloss. 
 
 It is said that the mob are bent on ransacking the 
 castle, and have already carried off silver and plate. 
 They have looted the royal horses, carriages, and motor- 
 cars, and are busy using them, as we have already heard 
 the hoot which was until now the signal for the Kaiser's 
 appearance on the scene. Of course, we cannot yet 
 judge how many of the rumours spreading Uke wildfire 
 may be true, for every one has some different story to 
 tell. They say that the waterworks which supply 
 Charlottenburg have been blown up and half the suburbs 
 are without water. 
 
 My husband has just escorted the Roeders back to 
 their pension, with the help of our young footman Emil, 
 but before they departed some one telephoned down to say 
 that it was not advisable for us to spend the night in our 
 apartment on the ground-floor, so I have written a note 
 to our tenant Excellenz von Derenthall who hves on the 
 top floor, asking whether we may sleep there for the night. 
 She replied instantly that we should be most welcome. 
 
 On bidding Baroness Roeder good-night, she jokingly 
 said she should die of fright if she heard even one gun- 
 shot an5rwhere in her neighbourhood. I quite agreed 
 with her, but we very soon reaUzed we were to hear many 
 more than one. On making arrangements for the night 
 with the servants, we have just heard two shots in front 
 of our windows in the Tiergarten. Some scared women, 
 who tried to get into safety behind our big doors, say 
 that two women have been wounded in the Tiergarten 
 from rifles going off accidentally in the hands of un- 
 practised civiUans. 
 
 Gebhard, who has just returned from accompanying 
 the Roeders home, tells me they made friends on the way 
 
284 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 with a young revolutionary soldier, who escorted them 
 as a guard. He says he spoke so quietly and sensibly 
 about the situation, saying they did not wish any blood- 
 shed at all, but that they had been goaded on by all the 
 suffering and misery of the last four years spent in the 
 trenches, and now the people meant to put a stop to 
 it. God grant that it may go off as he says, and give 
 us a peaceful night ! 
 
 I have arranged for all the servants to sleep at the 
 back of the house, in case of danger, and we are now 
 going up to our new sleeping quarters with the kind old 
 Derenthalls. 
 
 Berlin, Sunday Morning, November lo, 1918. — More 
 dead than alive, I will try and write down the events and 
 impressions of last night, which I shaU never forget. 
 After we had all separated for the night, I lay awake, 
 very tired. We were constantly disturbed by the sound 
 of stray rifle-shots, and the feehng of uncertainty as to 
 what was going on out there in the darkness of the huge 
 city made sleep impossible. After thus passing inter- 
 minable hours, as it seemed, suddenly about two o'clock 
 the stillness was broken by the noise of a regular fusillade 
 of machine-guns and rifles being fired off — as it seemed — 
 over our very heads. Trembling with fear, I rushed into 
 the dining-room accompanied by my husband, where we 
 found Frau von Derenthall and her two Uttle maid- 
 servants already assembled. 
 
 There we sat crouched together in the darkness, for 
 we dared not turn on a Hght, hstening to the fierce 
 fighting going on all around us from the Bradenburger 
 Tor away over to the Reichstag, our rooms being fiUed 
 with the fumes and smoke of the guns. Occasionally 
 we crept out on to the balcony to try and see what was 
 going on, but could only see small groups of soldiers 
 all armed, with red flags in their hands, standing round 
 the Tor. At the end of an hour the firing died away, 
 and Frau von Derenthall suggested we should have a 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 285 
 
 cup of coffee ; and the two maids set to work and made 
 us some. We could not help laughing as we sat there 
 shivering in our dressing-gowns. Frau von Derenthall 
 told us that all last year she had been wishing to ask us 
 to dinner, but had not been able to get anything choice 
 enough for " the smart Bliichers " for their first meal 
 in her house, and had kept on postponing it until the 
 right occasion should offer itself ; " and this," she said 
 with a smile, " is our first smart meal, sitting huddled 
 together in the dark, sipping weak corn-coffee to keep 
 up our spirits." Dear old Excellenz von Derenthall slept 
 peacefully through all the tumult, being 84 years of age 
 and stone deaf. 
 
 At about five o'clock we returned to our apartment, 
 where we found that our servants had spent the night 
 in very much the same way as ourselves. During the 
 whole morning people were telephoning from every part 
 of BerHn to know how we had spent the night. It was 
 like being in the midst of a beehive alarmed by some 
 hostile force. All Berlin seemed to be humming and 
 buzzing around us. 
 
 Baron and Baroness Gevers (the Dutch Minister) rang 
 us up and begged us to come round to them and spend 
 the day, though they regretted not being able to repeat 
 their invitation of yesterday to sleep there, for there was 
 such a panic amongst all the Dutch in BerUn they were 
 all telephoning and asking for protection, and people 
 kept arriving every minute. They mentioned that they 
 had tried to get Baron and Baroness Roeder to come to 
 them, but it was impossible to get through Unter den 
 Linden. It was barred off for the people, and firing was 
 going on in the Wilhelm Strasse, the Dorotheen- und 
 Freidrich Strasse. I begged the Baroness not to worry 
 about us, for if things became too hot we intended going 
 to Dr. Mainzer's Klinik, far away from the zone of danger, 
 in the Winterfeld Strasse. Then Prince and Princess 
 Taxis rang us up. She told us it was quiet round their 
 way, as the publishing office of Vorwdrts, the great 
 
286 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Socialist paper, was just opposite their house, and so the 
 revolutionists respected their quarter. 
 
 The early part of the morning was fairly quiet. We sat 
 in our rooms, the iron blinds down and just one hght 
 burning, feehng comparatively easy in our minds. Some 
 of the servants had gone out on a tour of exploration, 
 and we ourselves heard nothing but a stray rifle-shot 
 now and then, which however no longer disturbed my 
 equilibrium, for as long as one heard no machine-guns 
 one had got to the stage of considering it quiet. 
 
 At twelve o'clock Dr. Mainzer came to inquire how we 
 were, and asked if I would hke to come to his Klinik in 
 the afternoon and spend the night there, I said that if 
 things were going to be as bad as they were last night, 
 I should. He and Gebhard were assuring me that all 
 would probably be quiet now, and Dr. Mainzer was de- 
 scribing how peaceful and orderly the crowds were round 
 the Reichstag and in the Tiergarten, when suddenly, as 
 if in mockery at his words, a great burst of machine- 
 gun firing cut short his sentence. We all rushed to the 
 windows, and looking through the cracks in the blinds, 
 we saw people hurrjdng in crowds from apparently every 
 direction at once. We all ran out into the back court- 
 yard, where we found Prince Henckel, his brother. Count 
 Krafft, Prince Wedel, and all their households collected. 
 They locked and barred all the entrances, as there was 
 danger of the mob storming them in their rush for shelter 
 from the firing. 
 
 The house was surrounded by dense masses of people, 
 and, as the house-porter told us, there was going to be 
 a fight between Brandenburger Tor and the Reichstag, 
 presumably the Red Guard against loyal officers and 
 soldiers. The whole street, he said, would soon be closed, 
 and so, if we wanted to get away, we had only three 
 minutes to do so. We therefore decided to go, and creep- 
 ing out through the back entrance and crossing the back- 
 yard, we managed to get into the street some distance off 
 by going through a little public-house. The crowds in 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 287 
 
 the street were so densely packed that we could hardly 
 get through. Every one was frantic with excitement ; 
 one man had been killed and some wounded quite near 
 our house. From every crossing we saw waggons full of 
 soldiers and sailors coming, all armed with rifles and 
 hand-grenades, and flying the red flag, whilst every soldier 
 we met already wore the red cockade on his cap, which 
 looked like a patch of blood over his forehead. It was 
 not a morning for timid people. 
 
 We managed to force our way through the throng, 
 crawling along in the shelter of the wall for fear of a 
 stray bullet, until at Potsdamer Platz we found an empty 
 droshky, and after some cogitation as to the advisability 
 of taking it, and being abused by the mob as aristocrats, 
 I feigned a sudden faintness, and Dr. Mainzer shouted 
 out for some one to drive a sick woman to a KUnik. The 
 driver consented and the crowd did not object, so we 
 hurried in and drove here to this quiet house, which seems 
 like a haven of rest after all the tumult and agitation of 
 the last hours. 
 
 In the afternoon we were continually rung up by 
 different people telling us news of what was going on. 
 There are already so many contradictory reports rife that 
 I shall wait and see before beUeving them. Every one's 
 imagination is running away with them, and anxiety and 
 uncertainty are at the bottom of many rumours of violence 
 and bloodshed. On the whole I have the feeUng that 
 the mood of the people at large is rather like that of a 
 goaded, tired wild beast, ready to spring and kill if ex- 
 asperated any more, and yet just as ready to be quieted 
 and tamed if food be given it. 
 
 Princess Taxis rang us up to say that the new Socialist 
 Chancellor, Ebert, the successor of Prince Max of Baden, 
 has already threatened to resign as he cannot hold the 
 people. I hope this news will be soon contradicted, as 
 Ebert, although a Socialist, is an orderly and well-meaning 
 man enough, and if he is really forced to make way for 
 Liebknecht it would be terrible, for the latter makes no 
 
288 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 secret of his anarchist intentions. He would let the rabble 
 loose at once to fire and plunder our houses. 
 
 Early in the afternoon my maid and Karl telephoned 
 to say that shooting had commenced in the neighbour- 
 hood, 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 inchned 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 trembhng 
 — 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 
 
 staunch and true men to the Kaiser, and had been very 
 much cut up at his fall, and at the surprising turn that 
 things have taken. 
 
 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 Uke 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 
 ahve, 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 Uke Liebknecht 
 
 u 
 
290 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 and Rosa Luxemburg, and one cannot help admiring the 
 disciphned and orderly way in which a revolution of such 
 dimensions has been organized, with until now the least 
 possible loss of hfe. Truly, a great storm is passing over 
 the land, and princes are falling from their thrones Uke 
 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 descrip- 
 tion 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 sajdng he could not let them in without 
 further orders, they smashed a side-window and chmbed 
 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 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 291 
 
 not a word of tnith 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 en- 
 treaties 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 trembhng 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 feehng amongst those surrounding her had 
 
292 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 every- 
 thing ; 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, 1918. — 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 grati- 
 tude to the Mainzer family for all the kindness 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 English- 
 woman said to me, the idea of continuing to exist and 
 work on the minimum of food still possible under the 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 293 
 
 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 contem- 
 plating turning on the gas on herself and her two small 
 children, and putting an end to the horrors of hving. 
 A diet of heavy vegetables, cooked without fat of any 
 kind, with dry bread and potatoes, is not in the long- 
 run consistent with the nerve-power necessary under the 
 circumstances. 
 
 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 
 humihation 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 pohtical meeting, they are shot at by the 
 hidden gunners on the roof, and the soldiers immediately 
 return the shots. 
 
 From a young soldier who has just entered on his military 
 service and was called up to help guard the royal castle 
 
294 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 ParUament, entered and told them that the German 
 Empire had ceased and a Repubhc 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 hberty was opening out before 
 them. History repeats, or rather mimics herself in a 
 somewhat tasteless way at times. StiU 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 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 295 
 
 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 every 
 important public building sentries are posted, and in 
 front of the Brandenburger Tor, with its grotesque blue- 
 black 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 imagina- 
 tion look like armies in mournful retreat, moving as if 
 in rhythm to the funeral dirge of the melancholy autumn 
 wind. 
 
 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 feehngs of love and ad- 
 miration for my own native land, and indignation at the 
 brutal methods of warfare employed here, and the mental 
 
296 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 suffering and agony I endured myself in the first years 
 especially. But now I feel that a spirit of justice and 
 good feeUng 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 
 
 ours this evening, Graf K , a man who has seen much 
 
 of the world and is a German of the best type. Of course, 
 he is feeUng 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 
 Enghsh, but were wanting in a sense of humour and 
 romance, and somewhat dull with all their learning, 
 when Graf K intervened : 
 
 " I've been listening to j^our discussion, and with due 
 deference to all your opinions, I must confess that, like 
 most foreigners, you are utterly superficial in your judg- 
 ment of us. Well, you've thrown down the gauntlet, 
 and I'll pick it up, 
 
 " Does any one of you really know the German 
 people ? BerHn, for example, can hardly even be called 
 a German town, so httle does it represent Germany. 
 And yet you come here, you Enghsh 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 hterature, which is the expression 
 of our soul ? Why, I know Enghsh 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 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 297 
 
 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 aU 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 Enghsh have, but I think that may be regarded as 
 almost in our favour on the whole. 
 
 " For the rest, you understand us just as httle 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 
 Enghsh, and we have the faults and virtues of the toilers 
 of the fields. In the same way as your httle 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 ehminate 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 
 twihght 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. 
 
298 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 " 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, quahties 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 feehngs 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 Nibelungenlied, 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 Enghsh, who have gained their broad- 
 minded 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." 
 
 " You wish," said I, " to imply that we English are 
 not inspired by Nature in our actions or manner of life ? " 
 
 " I think," was his answer, " that the Enghsh of to-day 
 are more the result of the civiUzation of towns than other- 
 wise. For the rest, I have not attempted to analyse 
 their mentahty more closely. I chiefly wished to point 
 out the chief source of those fundamental quahties which 
 
BERLIN, NOVEMBER 1918 299 
 
 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 beheve if the nations understood one another 
 better there really might be no more wars." 
 
 This is about the substance of what Graf K said 
 
 this evening. I suppose there is a good deal of truth 
 in it, and that we Enghsh are too inchned to expect the 
 same quaUties in other nations which we are accustomed 
 to in ourselves, forgetting that chmate 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 orderhness 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 
 materiahstic 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 telUng us to get away from Berhn as 
 soon as possible. Two camps have been formed amongst 
 the SociaHsts, the Ebert moderate party and the Lieb- 
 knecht 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 fl5dng 
 for his hfe, I asked him if he thought the people were to 
 blame for all the misery that has come upon Germany. 
 
300 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 Ues," is responsible for the great 
 spht 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 feehngs by suggesting that 
 a fresh air treatment suited me best. 
 
 I was interested in listening to their conversation, 
 which I overheard by feigning to be asleep. 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, NOVEMBER 1918 301 
 
 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 sailor- 
 companions 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 with- 
 drawn 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 
 rehef that the iron clutch of militarism has been loosened 
 for ever, and that there is so little feeUng 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. 
 
 Quiet and order are only a question of food, and every 
 one is admiring the clever way Dr. Solf has worded his 
 
302 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 negotiation to Wilson, making it appear as if food were 
 guaranteed should quiet and orderliness prevail here. 
 
 Krieblowitz, December 1918. — 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. There- 
 fore 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 clank- 
 ing sword, the golden crown, and the purple mantle will 
 be sadly f aihng 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 aU over 
 the country, when they have been turned into some state- 
 edifice 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 
 ofiicers, and when, after the defection of Austria and 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, DECEMBER 1918 303 
 
 Bulgaria, these officers wished to make a last desperate 
 attack on the British Fleet, the men refused to put to sea 
 
 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 bicker- 
 ings and jealousies between the different states, which 
 are all aiming at reducing the power of Berhn. 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 Berhn 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. Pubhc and private 
 food supphes are plundered and confiscated by bands of 
 individuals, who terrorize over the unarmed civilians. 
 Strikes are weakening and endangering the Httle Ufe that 
 is left in the land, and the enormous and disproportionate 
 wages being lavished on the working people bid fair to 
 paralyse aU industry and trade. There are miUions of 
 people out of work, and yet ever3rthing is at stagnation 
 point. 
 
 The nation at large is economically demoraUzed and 
 corrupted by the organizations of miUtarism. The high 
 wages paid for the most elementary work connected with 
 the war has so ruined the labouring classes morally, that 
 no one wiU work for any but an abnormal price, whilst 
 
304 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 domestic servants and charwomen are hardly to be had 
 at all in the towns. 
 
 Another problem is what is to become of all the active 
 officers who are being dismissed, and who in civil Ufe 
 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 Uke poisonous darts. For years people have 
 been strugghng 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 re- 
 semblance 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 hope- 
 lessly torn than we ever dared imagine, and certainly the 
 German woman of to-day is the worst clad in all Europe. 
 
 It is a sorry outlook for Christmas, and not even the 
 children will be able to indulge in any of the Uttle luxuries 
 which the " Weihnachtsmann " usually left at their door. 
 
 I have had a letter from BerUn describing the festive 
 entry of the returning troops. " It was not the triumph- 
 ant 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 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, DECEMBER 1918 305 
 
 ' 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 Uttle 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 flower- 
 wreathed horse. 
 
 " A feehng 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 hfe. The 
 streets are so crowded and overflowing with men that I 
 am beginning to wonder how long it wiU 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 BerUn is the number of beggars one 
 now sees ever3rwhere. All the blind, the halt, and the 
 lame of Prussia seem to have collected here and are reap- 
 ing a golden harvest. Daily the traffic 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 Hke the one on the evening of December 6, when 
 fourteen innocent men and women were killed. To-day 
 none of us can teU 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 thousand marks on 
 
 X 
 
3o6 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Liebknecht's head ! ' ' Liebknecht outlawed ! ' 'A hun- 
 dred 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 al- 
 ready 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, ambi- 
 tion, 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 ! " 
 
 May the New Year bring us better things ! 
 
 Krieblowitz, January 1919. — 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 Enghsh 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. 
 
 Hatred of the enemy seems now to have disappeared. 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, JANUARY 1919 307 
 
 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 Enghsh officers who have been 
 sent on the Red Cross Commission to Berlin are making 
 a great stir with their smart appearance ; every one is 
 admiring them immensely. 
 
 It is, after all, the royalties who are perhaps most to 
 be pitied now. Often without ready money, no roof to 
 their heads, and no food-cards, they are dispersed all over 
 Germany, afraid of making themselves known for fear of 
 the mob, and not accustomed to look after themselves in 
 any way. 
 
 The fate of the HohenzoUerns 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 Uving in two small rooms in Breslau. 
 He has no money, and as he is living under an assumed 
 name 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 
 here, 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 SybiUenort. He has taken 
 refuge there now, but as it was always kept as a show- 
 place, and only used for two or three weeks' hunting 
 occasionally, it is not fitted up with any ordinary com- 
 forts. There is no electric light, no heating, nothing for 
 the winter, so that he is obUged 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 
 
3o8 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 some food with them, but the mob took it away from 
 them at the station. 
 
 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 have 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 pro- 
 ceeding 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 1919 309 
 
 Brandenburg is said to be a hell on earth. An of&cer 
 told me that he could only get a plate with a few mush- 
 rooms 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 
 committed suicide at the present state of things. 
 
 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 bhnd 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 pohtics to be discussed at meals, she had 
 no means of " feehng 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 Bhndenheim, 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 1919. — We are bidding fare- 
 well to Krieblowitz, for I wonder how long! I feel a 
 pang at leaving the place and the people ; one becomes 
 
3IO AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 1914, 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 
 run out. 
 
 At the same time we must either let or lend our apart- 
 ment in Berlin, as aU 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. 
 
 We hope to be in Berlin on January 8, and intend 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, JANUARY 1919 311 
 
 asking Sir R. Ewart to dine with us. I think that the 
 moment we have an English General sitting at the same 
 table, and see the English officers strolhng down Unter 
 den Linden, we shall really begin to feel that England is 
 not so very far away after all ! 
 
 I hope, 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 Enghsh feehngs, 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 S5rmpathizing 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 Enghsh officers now in Berlin, 
 an event worthy of special record. Among them was a 
 Lieutenant M , who had been sent to help in re- 
 patriating the Enghsh prisoners. He told us of the in- 
 describable state of things in Berhn. 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 
 
312 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 and his staff had been obhged 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 " Putsch." 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 hmb before his eyes, because when the mob 
 
 shouted out " Vote for X ," she said, " No, don't." 
 
 The lack of food, the high prices, the universal demoraliza- 
 tion 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 Uke 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 dis- 
 illusioned 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 l5^ng on the 
 pavement where some struggle has taken place. Our 
 house is in the most dangerous position of aU, 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 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ. JANUARY 1919 313 
 
 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 Ustening 
 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. Berhn, 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 incon- 
 ceivable that in a few short weeks such people should be 
 reduced to such a condition as they are. The man- 
 servant, 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 
 
314 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 deter- 
 mined 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 fhght 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 milhons of money, hidden under 
 his coat. AU these facts sound so romantic that I some- 
 times feel as if I had been transferred into an exciting 
 and thrilling novel d la Walter Scott, where fugitive 
 royalties, faithful followers, fair ladies in distress, hidden 
 treasuries, and the bloody reahties of the revolution form 
 a varied and moving spectacle against the sombre back- 
 ground of the Silesian landscape, with the vast secretive 
 forests and their lovely hunting-lodges in which more 
 than one crownless prince is lying low for the time being. 
 
 Krieblowitz, January 23, 1919. — In the midst of a 
 rush of legal and financial business which we have to com- 
 plete 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) and her 
 
KRIEBLOWITZ, JANUARY 1919 315 
 
 husband, the brother of the King of Saxony, the Crown 
 Prince was there too and entirely won my heart by his 
 simple friendly manner. 
 
 Our hosts overwhelmed us with thanks for the Uttle 
 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, at 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 reahty 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 con- 
 sented to come away in the motor-car, they would be 
 taken to a place of safety. Baron Metzsch was obhged 
 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 
 of the red flag, as there was no precedent of a Saxon 
 king ever having done such a thing before. He spoke 
 and acted with great dignity, and within a quarter of 
 an hour they had left the place on foot. Princess Johann 
 Georg, who is very dehcate and a Kttle lame, and used 
 to nothing but the greatest comfort and luxury, had to 
 cUmb up a steep hill and scramble over rough fields and 
 hedges until she finally found shelter, having 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- 
 
3i6 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 enjo5dng the 
 informahty 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 famihes sitting round a tea- 
 table 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 home- 
 made 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 deUcacies 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 
 
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 1919 317 
 
 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 hstened 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 an5d;hing with the German 
 people had they made the slightest overture towards a 
 reconciliation. People were ready here to make repara- 
 tion 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 1919. — 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 
 anjrthing else. Neither she nor the Emperor, he was told. 
 
3i8 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 would even mention the Crown Prince, but always change 
 the subject at once when his name crops up. 
 
 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 walked 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 mihtary 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 in 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 will not own or reaUze 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 them- 
 selves up with the poUtical 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 
 
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 1919 319 
 
 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 hed 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 hkely 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 East- 
 em to the Western Headquarters, so as to keep him 
 " out of the way," when his Generals were especially 
 occupied. 
 
 My informant also told me that the Kaiser deeply 
 regretted the death of Miss Cavell and that the order 
 for the execution had been given by a drunken General 
 who was personally vindictive towards England. The 
 Emperor gave an order then that no woman was to be 
 executed without his sanction. 
 
 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 
 
320 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 reaUze 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 mihtary 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 BerUn, 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 
 responsibihty for the war (and I am told that there are 
 documentary proofs which he hves 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 
 
BERLIN, FEBRUARY 1919 321 
 
 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 nationahties, 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 Bol- 
 shevist 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, " I 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 
 
322 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 not know if the story as I have told it is apocryphal, 
 but certainly the Princess did later on give up some of 
 her stores of food. 
 
 In the Train on the Way to Holland, February 4, 
 1919. — After a few agitated days in Berhn, 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 round- 
 about 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 
 f eehng 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 General's 
 views and opinions of life in BerUn, 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, Lettow- 
 Vorbeck, for whom he expressed much admiration, and 
 who, he said, was down in the annals of the war as having 
 
THE HAGUE, FEBRUARY 1919 323 
 
 " 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 Brandenburger 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 hterally, at the 
 outbreak of the revolution, to fly for their Uves, 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 Gennan and Dutch sentries, and were at one moment 
 nearly given away by the Duchess's bulldog, which 
 objected to being dragged under a barbed- wire fence. 
 However, " all's well that ends well," 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 thriUing 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 : 
 
324 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 " We crossed the frontier yesterday, and I am going to 
 tell you about our last few days in Berlin. 
 
 " 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. 
 
 " I had my passport, but my mother had to get her 
 American passport vised, and we were obliged to go to 
 the Po'hzei-Prasidium for the purpose. We started early 
 the next day, driving past your palace to the Branden- 
 burger 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 EngUsh, 
 ' 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 hghtning 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 PoUzei- 
 President Eichom, 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 1919 325 
 
 men were violently excited, and everything was in greatest 
 confusion. There were piles of rifles and machine-guns 
 at every window. 
 
 " It did not take long for us to realize that we were 
 in the most dangerous spot in Berhn. 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 mihtary 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 
 HohenzoUern for years, and now I guard Herr Eichorn, 
 and I will guard him with my hfe and soul to the last.' 
 Thrilled and moved almost to tears, I felt hke joining 
 the guard myself and fighting against an3rthing. 
 
 " The messenger arrived with the seal, and Herr 
 Eichom soon returned to sign and seal the passport. 
 
326 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 While he was doing so, a sailor rushed in shouting, 
 ' They are coming ! ' Our friend again tried to persuade 
 Eichom 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 civihans coming down the Linden. 
 Their faces were stem 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 ; Eichom had 
 been rescued, but the sailor I had spoken to had lost his 
 Ufe." 
 
 Countess S relates her experiences as follows : — 
 
 "The civil war which has been raging in BerUn 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 Ust ' of 
 aristocrats who were to be arrested and probably shot. 
 I never knew a quiet moment after I heard this, and 
 you may imagine what my feehngs were like when one 
 day a band of revolutionary soldiers actually appeared, 
 demanding my husband and sapng 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 Ufe 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 
 
THE HAGUE, FEBRUARY 1919 327 
 
 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 hght- 
 ing up every stone in the cellar before they were assured 
 that I was not foohng 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 fareweU that if aU 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 ItaUan for nothing. However, 
 I did not wish to have my amiabihty 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." 
 
 February 191 9. 
 
 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 sideUght 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 fines in my diary in those days of flight in 1914 ? 
 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 
 
328 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 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 civiUzation, 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 friendhness we were accustomed 
 to meet from acquaintances and friends in former times, 
 we English or Americans who happen to have aUen 
 husbands are subject to mistrust and suspicion every- 
 where. Instead of our position being alleviated by the 
 end of actual hostihties, 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 im- 
 partial (as far as this was possible) to both countries, and 
 of endeavouring 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 famihes 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 fall- 
 ing 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, 
 
THE HAGUE, FEBRUARY 1919 329 
 
 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 djdng 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 
 pubUc. Thus, everywhere we feel banished and in exile, 
 and long for a time when a more charitable feehng 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 aUens. 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 beUeve 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 
 
 Adlon Hotel, 245, 282, 311 
 Aeroplane raids in Germany, 152, 
 
 155, 182, 232, 245 
 Alba, Duke of, 114 
 Albania, King of, 7 
 Albert, Mrs., 323 
 Alsace, 16, 169, 173 
 American Army, 185, 228, 237, 
 
 243. 254 
 American Embassy in Berlin, 9, 
 
 17. 33. 51. 64, 84, 107, 108 
 American Notes, 71, 84, 137, 164, 
 
 255. 257. 259 
 Amerongen, 317 
 Amphion, H.M.S., 11 
 Ampthill, Lord, 167 
 Antwerp, 34, 38 
 Armenti^res, 226 
 Armistice, 265, 272, 277 
 Amim-Boitzenburg, Count, 10 
 Arras, 166 
 
 Asquith, Mr., 87, 133, 232 
 Astoria Hotel, 18 
 Austria, 13, 74, 122, 142, 153, 156, 
 
 214, 255, 265, 271, 272 
 Austria, Emperor and Empress of, 
 
 174, 214, 222, 235, 249, 255, 265 
 
 Baden-Powell, 56 
 Balfour, Mr., in, 186, 262 
 BaUestrem, Count, 15, 18, 73, 145 
 Ballin, Herr, 87 
 Bar along, s.s., in 
 Barchfeldt, Baroness, 106 
 Bavaria, King of, 283 
 Bavarians, 60, 62, 158, 166, 190, 
 
 230, 233, 242 
 Belgians, 8 
 Belgian atrocities, 16, 25, 28, 29, 
 
 61, 78, 93. 117 
 Belgium, King and Queen of, 259 
 Beresford, Lord, 30, 123, 141 
 
 Berlin, 102 
 Berliner Zeitung, 108 
 Bernhardi, General, 75 
 BernstorfE, Count, 164, 170 
 Beseler, General v., 308 
 Bessarabia, 16 
 Bethanien Krankenhaus, 17 
 Bethmann-HoUweg, 36, 91, 96, 98, 
 
 no, 112, 120, 125, 133, 140, 151, 
 
 168, 169, 175, 201 
 " Bezugschein," 156, 184, 267 
 Biron, Princesse de, 106, 181, 192 
 Bismarck, 112, 173 
 Bismarck, Prince, 116 
 Bissing, Baroness v., 270 
 Bissing, General v., 44, 86, 166, 
 
 270 
 Blankenburg Camp, 52 
 Blindenbeim, 309 
 Bliicher, Count (of Mecklenburg), 
 
 171 
 Bliicher, Count Gustav, 57, 83 
 Bliicher, Marshal, 145 
 Bliicher Palais, 166, 208, 288 
 Bliicher, late Prince, 27, 144 
 Bliicher, Prince, 7, 12, 15, 16, 40, 
 
 45. 49. 72. 114. 122, 144, 149, 
 
 168, 210, 244, 246, 257, 258, 278, 
 
 283, 300, 310 
 Bliicher, the, 46 
 Bolshevists, 2qo, 241, 256, 263, 
 
 272, 288, 312 
 Boy-Ed, 224 
 Braganza, Prince Miguel of, and 
 
 Princess, 84, 106, 107, no, 148, 
 
 163, 167 
 Brandenburger Tor, 193, 256, 
 
 276, 282, 284, 286, 292, 295, 
 
 323. 324 
 Breen, Lieutenant, 322 
 Breslau, 75, 144, 180, 267, 300, 313 
 Brest-Litovsk, 185, 190 
 
 331 
 
332 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Brockdorff, Countes?, 29, 220 
 
 Brussels, 20 
 
 Bulgaria, 79, 82, 195, 248 
 
 Bulgaria, King of. See Ferdinand 
 
 Biilow, General v., 8 
 
 Bulow, Prince, 36, 112, 120, 181, 
 
 189 
 Busche, Baron v., 315 
 Butler, Dr. O'Brien. 63 
 Buxton, Noel, 186 
 
 Calais, 35, 41, 172, 196, 206 
 Casement, Sir Roger, 42, 87, 130, 
 
 138, 323 
 Cavell, Miss, 84, 147, 167, 192, 257, 
 
 319 
 Cecil, Lord Robert, 167 
 Charlton, Admiral and Lady, 2, 
 
 47, 172, 188, 322 
 Chateau-Thierry, 238 
 Christmas, 100, 185, 304, 306 
 Churchill, Mr. Winston, 63, 64 
 Clairvoyance, 170, 215 
 Clary, Countess, 311 
 Clemenceau, 249 
 Coal question, 161 
 CoUoredo, Count and Countess, 
 
 123, 141 
 Cologne, 266 
 Colonies, German, 24 
 Connaught, H.R.H. the Duke of, 
 
 170 
 Constantine, King. See Greece, 
 
 King of 
 Coudenhove, Count, 240 
 Courtney, Lord, 186 
 Crefeld Camp, 44, 151, 167 
 Cressy, H.M.S., 31, 33 
 Crown Prince, 175, 187, 213, 242, 
 
 247, 254, 301 
 Crown Princess, 321 
 Croy, Nancy, Duchess of, 52, 106, 
 
 163, 192, 323 
 Croy, Princess Marie of, 192 
 Czar of Russia, 174, 239 
 Czernin, Count, 222, 271 
 Czemowitz, 143 
 
 Daily Mail, the, 24 
 Dardanelles, 79, 141 
 Davis, Dr., 246 
 Delbriick, 136 
 Derby, the Earl of, 124 
 Derenthall, Excellenz v., 285 
 
 Derenthall, Frau v., 284 
 Derneburg, 37, 135, 137, 268 
 Dohna, Count and Countess, 116, 
 
 121, 131 
 Dresden, 72 
 Dresden, the, 81 
 Dresel, Mr., 119, 140, 165, 167 
 Dumba, Mr. and Mrs. v., 89 
 Dutch Legation, 166 
 
 East Front, 16, 21, 23, 54 
 
 Ebert, Chancellor, 287, 288, 299 
 
 Eckersdorf, 74, 76 
 
 Edward VII., King, 14 
 
 Eichendorfi, General v., 242 
 
 Eichorn, Herr, 324 
 
 Eitel Fritz, Prince, 9 
 
 Embassy, German, i, 2 
 
 Emden, the, 65, 66, 132, 224 
 
 Emperor, German. See Kaiser 
 
 Empress, the, 20, 161, 168, 193, 
 220, 293, 309, 317 
 
 England, resentment against, 10, 
 98 
 
 Ernst Giinther, Prince and Prin- 
 cess. See Schleswig-Holstein 
 
 Erzberger, Herr, 178, 181, 271, 
 277 
 
 Erzerum, 123 
 
 Esplanade Hotel, 7, 18, 35, 89, 96, 
 102, 145, 148, 163, 311, 323 
 
 Essen, Baron and Baroness, 95, 
 
 3" 
 Eulenburg, Prince, 259 
 Ewart, General Sir Richard, 311, 
 
 322 
 
 F , Mr., 268 
 
 Falkenhayn, General v., 128, 153 
 Feilding, Colonel and Mrs. Row- 
 land, I, 192, 216 
 Ferdinand, King of Bulgaria, 244, 
 
 248, 251 
 Finlay, Mr., 43 
 Flotow, Herr v., 106 
 Foch, Marshal, 238, 277, 279 
 Food Question, 77, 90, 122, 127, 
 135, 143. 146. 152, 155, 156, 158, 
 183, 231, 239 
 Frankfort, 182, 245 
 Frederick, the Empress, 74 
 French, Field-Marshal Lord, 203 
 Friederich, General, 202 
 Friedrich Karl, Prince, 170 
 
INDEX 
 
 333 
 
 Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince, 152 
 Fiirstenberg, Prince, 107 
 Fiirstensteim, 181 
 
 Galen, Count, 257 
 
 George V., H.M. King, 18, 62 
 
 George, Mr. Lloyd, 168, 186, 189, 
 
 205, 226, 232, 262 
 Gerard, Mr. and Mrs., 64, 137, 147, 
 
 164, 165 
 German Emperor. See Kaiser 
 German Navy, 15 
 Gevers, Baron and Baroness, 127, 
 
 194, 206, 285 
 Givenchy, 216 
 Glasersdorf, 73 
 Gleichen, Count, 123 
 Goeben, the, 18 
 Goering, Richard, 303 
 Goltz, General v. der, 46 
 Gotzen, Countess, 106, 204 
 Greece, King and Queen of, 64, 
 
 137, 147, 164, 165 
 Grew, Mr. and Mrs., 116, 165 
 Grey, Sir Edward (now Viscount), 
 
 I, 81, 87, III, 125, 168, 186, 262 
 Groning, General v., 169 
 
 Hahn, Herr, 186, 190 
 Haig, Field-Marshal Earl, 208 
 Haldane, Viscount, 167, 318 
 Hamilton, General Sir Ian, 141 
 Hampshire, H.M.S., 140 
 Hanisch, General, 269 
 Harden, Maximihen, 173, 264 
 Hatzfeldt, Prince, 232, 245 
 Hay, Captain Ivan, 123 
 Hedwig IQrche, 11 
 Helfferich, Herr, 82, 175, 201 
 Heligoland, 22 
 Henckel, Count and Countess, 9, 
 
 25, 48, 69, 70, 112, 140, 195, 212, 
 
 311, 316 
 Henckel, Count Krafit, 286, 288 
 Henckel (-Donnersmarck), Prince, 
 
 286, 288 
 Henderson, Mr., 262 
 Henry of Prussia, Prince, 46, 242, 
 
 278 
 Herrenhaus, the, 106, iii, 116, 
 
 178, 189, 213, 244, 257 
 Herthng, Count, 187, 189, 200, 
 
 240, 249, 251 
 Hesse, Landgraf of, 73 
 
 Hesse, Prince Christian of, 78, 
 
 131 
 Hesse, Prince Frederick Karl of, 
 
 320 
 Hesse, Prince Max of, 62, 106 
 Hesse, Princess Margaret of, 62, 
 
 73 
 Heydt, Baron v. der, 232 
 Hindenburg, General, 22, 23, 32, 
 
 no, 153, 162, 173, 175, 187, 238, 
 
 245. 247, 250, 254, 259, 260, 
 
 263, 264, 271, 293 
 Hintze, Herr v., 240 
 Hiss, Dr., 15 
 Hochberg, Count Conrad, 15, 16, 
 
 17. 257 
 Hohenlohe, Prince and Princess, 
 
 12, 22, 25, 31, 33, 107, 112, 195, 
 
 271 
 Hohenlohe - Langenburg, Prince 
 
 and Princess, 18 
 Holzminden Camp, 244 
 Hooge, 72 
 Hospital ships, 171 
 House, Colonel, no 
 Hoyos, Count, 66, 272 
 
 Isenburg, Prince and Princess, 
 
 106, 192, 197, 217 
 Isenburg, Prince Joseph v., 218 
 Isenburg, Prince Karl, 218 
 Italy, 41, 143 
 
 Jackson, Mr. and Mrs., 107, 119, 
 
 165 
 Jagow, Baron v., 12, 34, 81, 82, 
 
 III, 127, 154, 159, 195, 213, 217, 
 
 240, 245 
 Joffe, Russian emissary, 246, 274 
 Johansen, Dr., 51 
 Johnson, Dr., 63 
 Jutland, battle of, 139, 142 
 
 K , Graf, 296 
 
 Kaiser, the, 8, 13, 19, 30, 35, 46, 
 54, 85, 97, no. III, 120, 123, 
 128, 129, 139, 154, 160, 168, 
 176, 181, 190, 193, 201, 220, 
 237, 240, 246, 250, 254, 258, 
 260, 263, 273, 275, 278, 279, 
 289, 300, 317 
 
 Karlsruhe, 155 
 
 Kessel, General v., 149J 193 
 
 Kessler. General, 118 
 
334 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Kiel, 46, 57, 69, 278, 301 
 
 Kissingen, 65, 68 
 
 Kitchener, Lord, 32, 73, 125, 137, 
 
 140 
 Kluck. General v., 33 
 Kommandantur, 146 
 Krieblowitz, 144, 151, 161, 178, 
 
 223, 235, 267, 275, 278, 307, 309 
 " Kriegs-Gewinner," 197 
 Kriegsministerium, 209, 262 
 Kiihlmann, Baron, 3, 13, 16, 181, 
 
 185, 187, 195, 214, 231, 233, 
 
 237, 241, 247, 300 
 
 Lancken, Baron, 86 
 Langer, Karl, 280, 288 
 Langhorne, Major, 9 
 Lansdowne, Marquis of, 186, 263 
 Larisch, Count and Countess, 7, 8, 
 
 9, 25, 48, 112, 195, 204, 233, 
 
 255, 266, 271, 290, 291, 295, 311 
 Law, Mr. Bonar, 126 
 Lay, Mr. and Mrs., 107, 116, 143 
 Leinsfer, the, 255 
 Leishman, Mr., 52 
 Lettow-Vorbeck, v., 322 
 Lichnowsky, Prince, 3, 201, 213 
 Lichterfelde, 57, 163 
 Liebknecht, 135, 256, 263, 264, 
 
 272, 287, 289, 294, 299, 305, 312 
 Li6ge, 8, 16, 21 
 Lille, 44 
 
 Lippe, Prince, 107, 132 
 Lobkowitz, Prince and Princess, 
 
 65, 66 
 Lodz, 41 
 Loos, 80 
 
 Lorebum, Lord, 186 
 Lowenstein, Prince and Princess, 
 
 48, 49, 61, 69, 98, 106, 112, 132, 
 
 195. 196. 311 
 Lowenstein, Prince Johannes, 164 
 LudendorfE, General, no, 175, 
 
 185, 187, 211, 238, 242, 243, 
 
 247, 250, 254, 258, 262, 264, 
 
 270, 271 
 Lusitania, the, 50, 54, 65, 84, 89, 
 
 257 
 Luxemburg, Rosa, 290, 305, 31a 
 Lynar, Prince, 98, 107 
 Lynar, Princess Jane, 15, 16 
 
 Magnis, Count and Countess, 74, 
 116, 189, 245, 257 
 
 Magnis, Count Franz, 76 
 Mainzer, Dr. and Fr., 282, 285, 
 
 286, 287, 289, 29a 
 MaUnoff, 248 
 Malta, Knights of, 15, 45 
 Marne, battle of, 36, 106, 238, 242 
 Mary, H.M. Queen, 63 
 Matuschka, Countess, 218 
 Maubeuge, 22, 36 
 Max of Baden, Prince, 202, 249, 
 
 258, 261, 287, 318, 320 
 Mecklenburg, Duke of, no 
 Messines, 173 
 Metternich, Count, 88 
 Metternich, Princess, 107, 116, 
 
 182, 245 
 Metzsch-Reichenbach, Baron, 315 
 MichaeUs, 176, 181 
 Michell, Sir Lewis, 113 
 Mirage, 69 
 
 Mirbach, Count, 171, 236, 242 
 Mitau, 72 
 Moltke, Count and Countess, 115, 
 
 119. 195. 3" 
 Moltke, General v., 35 
 Mons, 22, 90 
 Morgan, Mr., 116 
 Move, the, 121, 131 
 Miigge, Captain v., 65, 66 
 Miiller, Captain, 132, 224 
 Muchtar Pasha, 106, 206 
 Munich, 229, 247, 248 
 Miinster, Prince, 7, 12, 13, 29, 34, 
 
 37, 54, 86, 89, 106, 116, 129, 
 
 163, 189, 202, 258, 260, 262, 
 
 263, 268 
 Miinster, Princess, 37, 63, 65, 105, 
 
 135, 163, 191, 202, 212, 268 
 Miinster, Count Frederick, 40, 163 
 Miinster, Count Paul, 57, 163, 259 
 
 Nachlass Bureau, 178 
 
 Namur, 16 
 
 Naples, Queen of, 249 
 
 Neuve Chapelle, 54 
 
 Nicholson, Captain, 33 
 
 Nicholson, Sir Arthur, 81 
 
 Nicolai, Professor, 265 
 
 Nikita, King, 205 
 
 Norfolk, Duke of, 138 
 
 NorthcUffe, Lord, 11, 81, 186, 201 
 
 Ohnesorg, Dr., 80, 140 
 Omens, 69, 137 
 
INDEX 
 
 335 
 
 Oppersdor£E, Count and Countess, 
 
 12, 25, 204, 246 
 Oppersdorff, Countess Lori, 25, 34 
 Osborne, Mr., 165 
 Ostend, 41, 228, 259 
 
 Papen, Herr v., 89 
 
 Paris, 23, 28, 29, 31, 208, 210 
 
 Parma, Dukes of, 214, 248 
 
 Pauley, Lieutenant, 71 
 
 Payer, Exc. v., 190 
 
 Platen, Countess, 115 
 
 Platen, Countess Marie, 37 
 
 Pless, Prince, 13, 123, 181, 245, 
 
 257 
 Pless, Princess, 15, 29, 31, 63, 
 
 105, 106, 129, 181, 191 
 Poland, 22 
 Polo, Ex. and Mme., 194, 206, 
 
 220, 311 
 Pope, the, 20, 29, 62, 171, 179 
 Pourtal^s, Countess, 164 
 Prisoners of war, British, 29, 30, 
 
 40. 52. 57. 63, 119. 142, 143, 
 
 165, 186, 191, 192, 202, 203, 
 
 268, 311 
 Pritzelwitz, General v., 21 
 
 Radolin, Count and Countess, 166, 
 
 270 
 Radolin, Prince and Princess, 74 
 Rath, Baron and Baroness v., 106, 
 
 141. 148 
 Rathaus,i7 
 Ratibor, Prince and Princess, 12, 
 
 65,66 
 Ranch, Captain, 203 
 Red Cross Commission, 307 
 Reichskanzler, 91, 96, 98, 169, 
 
 175, 181, 189 
 Reichstag, in, 154, 169, 255 
 Reischach, Baron, 12, 23 
 Reprisals, 63 
 Reuss, Princess, 210 
 Revolution in BerUn, 272, 276, 
 
 281, 284, 293, 299, 303, 312 
 Richthofen, v., 220 
 Riga, 181 
 
 Rizoffs, 195, 204, 236, 240, 311 
 Roeder, Baron and Baroness, 18, 
 
 23, 34, 105, 276, 282, 285 
 Rogers, Mrs., 78 
 Rothschild, Baron G., 25, 28 
 Roumania, 156, 215 
 
 Rupprecht, Crown Prince, 62, 77, . 
 
 132, 242, 247, 254 
 Russells, 168 
 Russian Embassy in Berlin, 220, 
 
 256, 263, 272, 274, 277 
 Russians, 71, 72, 84 
 
 -, Countess, 326 
 
 St. Quentin, 22, 36 
 Salisbury, Lord, 36 
 Salm, Prince Alfred, 28, 88, 98, 
 
 106, 116 
 Salm-Salm, Prince and Princess 
 
 Emanuel, 113, 121, 153 
 Sanden, Herr van de, 204 
 Sauberzweig, Major, 86 
 Saurma, Countess, 181 
 SchafEgotsch, Count, 167, 212 
 Schall, Count and Countess, 
 
 314 
 Scheidemann, i6q, 271, 272 
 Schenk, Baron and Baroness, 73 
 Schleswig - Holstein, Duke and 
 
 Duchess of, 17, 123, 195, 204, 
 
 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, 
 
 12, 15, 17 
 SociaUsts, 93, 135, 154, 159, 175, 
 
 251, 275, 299, 302 
 Soden, Count, 282 
 Solf, Dr. and Fr., 24, 81, 88, in, 
 
 128, 168, 181, 200, 249, 273, 
 
 292, 301 
 Spain, King of, 62, 86, 114 
 Sparkasse, 82 
 Spartacus, 312, 323, 324 
 Spy-fever, 10, 12, 13, 55 
 Stapleton - Bretherton, Major 
 
 Edmund, 216 
 Stapleton-Bretherton, Major Fred- 
 erick, 188, 216 
 Stapleton - Bretherton, Monica, 
 
 192 
 Stapleton - Bretherton, Major 
 
 Vincent, 2, 216 
 Stapleton - Bretherton, Captain 
 
 Wilfred, 48, 50, 275 
 Starhemberg, Princess, 74 
 
336 AN ENGLISH WIFE IN BERLIN 
 
 Sternburg, Baroness, 17, 106, 116, 
 
 188, 195, 204, 240, 270 
 Stolberg-Wernigerode, Prince, 18 
 Strachwitz, Counts Ludwig Karl 
 
 and Norbert, 223, 230, 292, 308 
 Stumm, Baron and Baroness, 115, 
 
 219 
 Submarine warfare, 30, 66, 71, 83, 
 
 88, 114, 118, 164, 167, 185, 201, 
 
 255 
 Sutherland, Duchess of, 123 
 Sweden, Crown Princess of, 63 
 Sybillenort, 307 
 
 Talbot, Lord Edmund, 44 
 
 Talleyrand, Count Eli, 25, 28, 34 
 
 Tanks, 243 
 
 Tannenberg, 37 
 
 Tattenbach, Countess, 48, H2, 
 
 115, 140, 311 
 Taxis, Prince and Princess, 107, 
 
 195, 202, 245, 285, 287, 288 
 Tempelhofer Hospital, 154 
 Tempest, Miss Cecil, 192 
 Theotokys, 174 
 Throckmorton, Lieutenant, 47 
 Times, the, 29, 30, 31, 32, 52, 60, 
 
 114, 181, 265 
 Tirpitz, Admiral v., iii, 120, 129, 
 
 189, 371, 278, 300 
 Tisza, Count, 174, 270 
 Trafford, Captain, 44, 150, 167, 198 
 
 Trotsky, 190 
 
 Tyrrell, Sir W., 2, 186 
 
 Vaterlandspartei, 178, 182, 214 
 Venizelos, 171 
 
 Verdun, 118, 121, 126, 158, 211 
 Vorwdrts, 285 
 
 Warsaw, 71, 72, 83, 88, 90 
 Wedel, Count George, 204, 276, 
 
 286 
 Welsczek, Count, 44 
 Westphalen, Count, 269, 290 
 Wied, Prince Victor, 7, 9, 18 
 Wilhelm shaven, 139, 141 
 Wilson, President, 28, 168, 232, 
 
 251, 255, 257, 259, 264, 273, 
 
 317 
 Winterfeldt, General v,, 277 
 Wittenberg, Herr, 201 
 Wolf, the, 209 
 Wolff Bureau, 173 
 
 Yate, Major, 34 
 Ypres, 173 
 
 Zeebrugge, 228 
 
 Zeppehn, Count, 121 
 
 Zeppelin raids, 23, 25, 30, 33, 42, 
 
 79, 91. 257 
 Zimmermann, Herr v., 128, 175 
 Zukunft, Die, 173 
 
 THE END 
 
 Printed in Great Britain by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinbitrgh. 
 
Deacidified using the Bookkeeper ( 
 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium OX' 
 Treatment Date: ^,,y O] 
 
 PreservationTechnoli 
 
 A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESE 
 
 111 Thomson Park Drive 
 
l€ 
 
 V