.vWSANCflfr. G ' c-c ■) Ml ! ^x\ll!BRA!?Y^/ vNN^llBRARYQr^ ,^\^MlMIVr A. /i>. y ■* '^ ^OJIlVJJO'f^ ^OJIIVJJO'^ "^^Ti] RV/, sNinSA'.Tflfj. ;i> 5 1)1 f .nFfAIIFO/?!'. .<.OF-CA!JFO/?,.(v AV^FUNIVERVa ^^6'AJivyaii-^^'^ ""^^^Ao ^iii V4^. vvNUIBRARYQr^ "''dUJUVJ JV3 \WEUNIVERV/, '/- ^i'ilJJ.NV ^.L ^fJV VAajAl.Nil JiV> 'audijvjju 0% ^.OF-CAIIFO/?^ ? . ^v\F univerv/^ Or U ■^AaJAlNilJWV ScOF 4? :rj/a. .,NiosANr,Fifj> ^ .01^ "^AaiAINO 3V\V^ \WAVr,Flfj> ''Jl _ 1 I ^ l\v^ -o^M!BRARY/^'■ A\iURRARYQr aMM'^'VER^//, ^1 - ^ /i> OFfMIFOfp.iv .^OFCALIFO/?.!'. , \MF I'N'IVFR.V//, ^MI sv\Fl'^! U5jr YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY CD UJ "^ ^ FOREWORD " It was rather a cessation of war than a beginning of Peace." o Tacitus. I HAVE received many letters since I began to write the articles which are incorporated in this book. Some have been critical, while others, on the Nt contrary, have been of the most charming character. ^ The first sort, the critical, were on the lines that I seemed to write in a not unsympathetic ^ way of the ex-Kaiser. The writers remarked that it was incomprehensible to people who had lost dear ones in the War that I should put the chief instigator of all its horrors in a favourable light. Perhaps these critics — ^whose views I respect exceedingly — ^thought that I had not suffered loss, and was therefore not in a position to feel as acutely as they did that the treatment meted out to WiUiam ii. in Holland was too good for him. May I be allowed to mention here that I did suffer loss in the persons of my youngest brother, Robert Noel, Captain, Royal Fusiliers, who died of illness in British East Africa during the campaign of von Lettow-Vorbeck, 1918; of my husband's i^.*y-i>./^i'-hc^ vi THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE brother, Henry Bentinck, Major, Coldstream Guards, who died of wounds received at the Battle of the Somme, September 1916 ; of my first cousin, Maurice Dease, V.C., Lieutenant, Royal Fusiliers, who was killed at Mons, 23rd August 1914 ; and of my first cousin, Roger Noel Bellingham, who died in France, 4th March 1915. These two cousins were Irishmen. I would like here to mention that in his recent book. The Lives of Francis and Riversdale Grenfell, Mr. John Buchan has made a mistake. He mentions Francis Grenfell as being the first British officer to whom the great honour fell of earning the first V.C. in the European War. Gallant Francis Grenfell fell on 2Mh August 1914, and was mentioned in the Gazette of 17th November as having won this distinction, whereas Maurice Dease was killed in command of his guns, holding a bridge over which our soldiers were retreating, at Mons on 23rd August, and he was mentioned in the Gazette of 16th November as having been awarded the V.C. So the unique distinction of being the first officer in the British Army to win the Victoria Cross must be transferred from Francis Grenfell to Maurice Dease. I have tried to show the ex-Kaiser as impar- tially as possible. George Mereditli's fines seem to explain better than any words of mine exactly what I mean : FOREWORD vii •' I have studied men from my topsyturvy, Close, and, I reckon, rather true. Some are fine fellows : some, right scurvy : Most, a dash between the two." That the impressions I gathered of his ideas from the people amongst whom he Hved in unique circumstances for eighteen months when I stayed at Amerongen last summer (1920) should have ever materialised into articles, much less should have become a book, was unthought of by me in December 1920. Some one suggested then that I should record these impressions ; that they would be of interest as a tiny mosaic in the life-story of this much- discussed man, and that when, after he has been gathered to his fathers, his full history comes to be written my humble chronicle may perhaps not be entirely without value. I feel it is presumptuous that I should set down what I heard and saw in face of the many already existing annals, and those which are in process of being written by persons whose knowledge of the character in question highly qualifies them for the task. I would like here to mention that I never took any notes for the making of this book, which will, of course, be obvious from my explanation of how the articles came to be written ; neither have I ever in my life kept a diary, so that all which I have written in the following pages is from memory, with the exception, naturally, of the his- viii THE EX-KxilSER IN EXILE torical facts taken from books of reference and Memoirs which I quote in the text. One word more. Many waiters in their Prefaces take the opportunity to thank their friends for their help in getting data and facts for their work. With the exception of the Directors of the Weekly Dispatch, whose courtesy made the rather difficult \vi'iting of the articles as pleasant as possible, I have no one to thank ! And so I will offer my gratitude to the magnificent British Navy and Army for giving me the name for my book. For the concrete result of their dogged and gallant fighting with the help of our Allies most surely is — The Ex-Kaiser in Exile. Glorious, lovely old England ! I have travelled in the five continents and I have never seen a country to equal you for beauty on a perfect day in June. Once more your splendid sons have been victorious and have shown the world how dangerous it is to attack their Motherland. You have conquered in war and now you must conquer in peace. " If England to itself do rest but true." This can be done, and how ? By work. " He that will not live by toil Has no right on English soil." KiNGSLEY. For, as Henry Newbolt says, " The work of the world must still be done." And if we do each our honest share we will keep our heritage as THE HON. ROBERT NOEL Captain, Royal Fusiliers. Born 1888 — Died 1918 at Masassi. B.E.A., on active service European War. Youngest son of Charles George Noel, Earl of Gainsborough. (i^Iy brother.) Sec page 17 (Foreword ). FOREWORD ix Shakespeare described her four hundred years ago. In reading the Hnes it is impossible not to be struck with dehght and wonder, for we have indeed been able to keep our England as the other William (the greatest William) described her — ^when most of the rest of Europe has crumbled. " This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, This earth of Majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise ; This fortress, built by nature for herself. Against infection from the hand of war ; This happy breed of men, this little world ; This precious stone set in the silver sea. Which serves it in the office of a wall. Or as a moat defensive to a house. Against the envy of less happier lands ; This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England " King Richard ii. NORAH BENTINCK. Yew Tree House, Exton, Oakham, 1921. "The Lord also spake unto Joshua, saying, . . . Appoint out for you cities of refuge, . . . And when he that doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him in . . . and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; . . ." — Joshua xx. 1, 2, S, 4, " Then ye shall appoint you cities to be cities of refuge for you ; that the slayer may flee thither, which killeth any person at unawares. And they shall be unto you cities for refuge from the avenger ; that the manslayer die not, until he stand before the congregation in judgment." Numbers xxxv. 11, 12. ILLUSTRATIONS The Ex-Kaiser in Exile .... Frontispiece The ex-Kaiser walking in the grounds at Amcrongcn, with his Adjutant-General Dommes. FACING PAGE The Hon. Robert Noel ..... viii Captain, Royal Fusiliers. Born 1888 ; died 1 91 8 at Masassi, B.E.A., on active service, European War. Youngest son of Charles George Noel, Earl of Gainsborough. (My brother.) Lady Norah Bentinck ..... 1 Daughter of Charles George Noel, Earl of Gainslxnough. Hans Willem Bentinck . . . . .4 1st Earl of Portland. Common ancestor tn the Counts Bentinck and the Cavendish-Bentincks. Born 1649; died 1709. Charles Anthony Ferdinand ... .8 5th Count Bentinck. Lieut. -General, Coldstream Guards. Born 1793; died 1864. Served in Peninsular War and at Waterloo. Married Countess Mechtilde of Waldeck and Pyrmunt. Henry ....... 8 6th Count Bentinck (eldest son t)f 5th Count). Owner of Mid- dachten till 1874, when he resigned his birthright. Lieut. -Colonel, Coldstream Guards. Born 1846 ; died 1903. Captain Robert Bentinck . , . . .8 Eldest son of 6th Count. Born 1875. (My husband.) Henry Noel Bentinck . . .8 Aged 9 months. Born 1919. (My son.) xiv THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE FACING PAGE MiDDACHTEN ....... 9 Which belonged to my husband's father till he resigned it in 1874. Generals who came from Spa with the Ex-Kaiser . l6 Walking outside the walls of Amerongen, saying "No, no!" to the photographer. The Ex-Kaiseh's " Sanctuary," Amerongen . . 24 Showing outside moat. Amerongen . . . . . . .24 Showing double bridges — the only possible access to the house — thus making it a peculiarly safe retreat. Amerongen (Front View) , . . . .28 Showing the steps up which the Emperor walked on his arrival on November nth, 1918. DooRN House . . . . , .28 The present home (1921) of the ex-Kaiscr. Fac-simile of the Abdication signed by the Ex-Kaiser AT Amerongen . . . . . .32 Room where Abdication was signed . . .33 The Ex-Kaiser in Exile . . . . .48 The ex-Kaiserin hands the ex-Kaiser a cablegram in the grounds of Amerongen. General Dommes, the Adjutant to the ex-Kaiser, is the other figure. William II. . . . .60 Befbre the Great War. William II. . . . .60 During the Great War, 1914-1918. William II. . . . . . .60 After the Abdication ILLUSTRATIONS xv FACING PAGE Major Henry Bentinck . . . .64 Coldstream Guards. Born 1881 ; died of wounds in France, 1916. (My husband's brother.) Third son of Lieut. -Colonel Count Bentinck (6th Count). His letters have been published under the title of Letters of Major Henry Bentinck. Frau von Ilsemann . . . . . .112 Geb. Gravin Bentinck. Hauptmann von Ilsemann . . . .112 Adjutant to the ex-Kaiser. On their wedding-day, October 7th, 1920. Invitation to the Bal-bei-hof in Vienna . . .124 Showing the mistake made in the writing of my name. Programme of the Dancing .... 124 At the Bal-bei-hof. Menu of the Supper ..... 124 At the Bal-bei-hof in Vienna at which I was present. It is identical with that used during the reign of Maria-Theresa, the last of the Hapsburgs (1717-1780). Her father (Charles VI.) it was who conferred a Countship on the Hon. William Bentinck on December 24th, 1732. William the Silent . . . . . .148 Prince of Orange. Born 1533; murdered, 1584, by Balthazar Gerard. From whom by his third wife, Catherine de Bourbon, are descended the ex- Kaiser and his late host. Count Godard Bentinck. / Lady Norah Bentinck . . . . .152 With her children Brydgytte Blanche, aged 3^, and Henry Noel, aged 10 months (1920). (Photo. E. O. Hoppt'.l LADY NORA II lil':.\riN"CK (Daughter of Charles George Noel, Earl of Gainsborough). CHAPTER I " I would merely remai-k that history blamed the Dutch authori- ties who surrendered Charles i.'s murderers to his son, whilst no blame has ever been attached to those Dutchmen who honoured Charles n. when he was a refugee in Holland." — Sir Walter TowNLEY in the New World, September 192O. FoREWARNiNGS may often be given to us without our realising their significance. Count Godard Bentinck, owner of Amerongen, and one of a shooting party on a neighbouring estate in the second week of November 1918, could not account for the feeling that impelled him to return home with his daughter on Saturday the 9th, instead of staying over the Sunday as he originally intended ; but he obeyed the impulse without at the time thinking much about it. At two o'clock next afternoon, while the rain came down heavily outside, he was smoking a cigar in his library, with no particular preoccupa- tion to disturb his peace, when a servant opened the door and announced that a telephone call had been made for him. " Where from ? " asked the Count. " The Hague, Graaf ." Wondering what the call could possibly be about (for it was from the Dutch Foreign Office), he hurried downstairs, " Count Godard Bentinck ? " he heard on taking up the receiver. " Yes ; what is it ? " 2 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE " The German Emperor has crossed the frontier. Will you take him in, also his suite of about thirty persons, for a few days until a suitable lodging can be found for him ? " Sometimes in life supreme decisions have to be made — decisions which affect the whole of one's subsequent life. Mercifully they are rare. But on this day, 10th November 1918, when the tele- phone rang at Amerongen, Count Godard Bentinck had to make such a decision. This was indeed a thunderbolt ! He stood re- flecting for a few minutes on all the implications of the request ; and then said he was sorry he could not oblige, but would have to refuse. H\.\( M \K\, A,\ll'Jv().\(.l-..\ Showing: outside moat AMERONGEN Showing double bridges — the only possible access to the house — thus making it a peculiarly safe retreat. See page 23 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 25 deference, of course, was paid to the chief guest by all the suite ; but a certain abstractedness was occasionally apparent. The Kaiser himself did his best to keep things going, and talked a good deal and with much animation. No word of bitterness or reproach was heard from him, and this fact particularly struck Count Godard. " Never," he told me, " from that day to this has a bitter word of any one, German or English, fallen from his lips, with the sole exception of Prince Max of Baden, of whom he remarked, ' Max von Baden ist hinter mir gegangen ' (Max of Baden has tricked me behind my back)." This was an allusion to the fact that Prince Max, who was Imperial Chancellor at the time, had issued a decree on 9th November that the Kaiser had abdicated — ^though, as a matter of fact, he did not do so till 28th November. It was this, with British propaganda, that he believed helped to make his position in Germany impossible ; the people, naturally accepting what their newspapers told them, believed that the Emperor had forsaken them, and this aroused bitter feeling. From his rooms the Kaiser could see over the treetops the masts of ships passing slowly up and down the Rhine, for this river runs only about a mile from the house. Amerongen is withdrawn some distance from the main road between the towns of Ai'nhem and Utrecht, in a backwater of the country, as it were. This, of course, made it peculiarly suitable as an unofficial prison-retreat. The Castle, a brick building of four storeys, which replaced the original 4 26 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE Castle destroyed by fire nearly two and a half centuries ago, has large, lofty, well-proportioned rooms, marked by a solid comfort and dignified by many art treasm-es. It is surrounded by two moats, one round the walls, the other at a distance of a hundred yards. From the windows of their quarters the servants could fish in the moat. For the Royal couple (the ex-Kaiserin was expected soon) a suite of four rooms had been prepared at the back of the Castle. They are all large and high-ceilinged ; and the walls are covered with painted canvas, on which are little vignettes with flowered borders. The furniture is chiefly Dutch, but with a great deal of French (Louis Quinze chiefly) and English, and there are many Chinese pieces ; all is arranged with an admirable taste that gives to the beautifully proportioned chambers an appearance of dignified calm. In one, a narrow four-poster bed, its slender posts hung with beautiful blue-grey silk brocade, catches the eye. It has given rest to two of the most talked-of monarchs in history ; for it was that used by Louis xiv. in three out of the six weeks, beginning in May 1672, in which, with the great Conde and Turenne, he conquered half the Netherlands. That was in the earlier days of his splendour, and, no doubt — ^taking into account the official bedroom receptions of those days — it figured in many a gay and glittering gathering, as well as grave and urgent council. If furniture could speak — but we will allow each one who looks upon it to make his own reflections on this link between the two " L'etat, c'est moi " rulers. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 27 one in the heyday of his fame, the other in the most mortifying moment of his decline. I began this chapter by mentioning the curious unrecognised forewarning Count Godard received on 10th November. I will end by recalling a strange little omen, linking the Kaiser with the Bentinck family. Wilhelm ii., on 9th August 1909, had visited Count Bentinck (Count Godard's eldest brother) at his castle at Middachten. The Kaiser arrived at about five o'clock, and his train remained in the little station at Steeg, which was gaily decorated with Dutch and German flags. The day was a hot and stifling one, and a violent storm suddenly burst. Strange to say, the only flag which was torn from its post and flung violently to the ground was the German one. The incident was discreetly commented on at the time, but since the Revolution and the coming together again under such strange circumstances of a Hohenzollern and a Bentinck it has struck people more forcibly, for the omen seemed indeed to have been symbolic of what the future held. CHAPTER II " Do you deserve to be regarded as a blameless person, stalwart for the right in words and in deeds ? " — Juvenal. *' Three days " had been the period suggested, off-hand and very hurriedly, for the ex-Kaiser's stay at Amerongen ; but it was almost at once recognised that this provisional arrangement would have to be extended. The truth was that no one in high authority knew quite what to do with the fugitive; the outcome of the chaos in Germany, where minor thrones were collapsing and old institutions being uprooted daily, could not be foreseen, and the revolutionary ferment even in staid Holland was causing considerable disquietude ; and so no better solution of the embarrassment which the ex- Kaiser's arrival had thrust upon the Dutch could be found than that he should remain as quietly as possible in the isolated and peaceful residence of Count Godard Bcntinck until the situation cleared. Whether or not the fugitive himself suggested the probable number of days of his stay I do not know; but one may draw one's own deductions from the fact that some time later he remarked musingly to his host, " How strange it is ! I have until now never stayed in any man's house for more tlian tliree days, and witli you I have been for months ! " 28 W' ->f?^ ■U « ":|| ;ii 11: U' ~ 1 ^'%. AMERONGI \ I I'M 1\ I \ I I W Showing the steps up which the Emperor walked on his arrival on November i ith, 1918. •'^-^w ^tie c^yi^, ■ DOORN MOUSE The present home (1921) of the ex-Kaiser. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 29 I have used the word " peaceful " in describing Amerongen, but that adjective has ceased to apply to the quiet old Dutch house since 11th November 1918. Of course that month was a more than usually unpeaceful time. Within the grounds the suite brought day-long bustle ; without, in the village, every available room was filled, and the innkeeper did a splendid trade. Motor-cars dashed backwards and forwards, aeroplanes whirled overhead. Press representatives from all parts of the world flocked to the gates — but no farther than the gates. Only the central figure was hidden. No better protected retreat for him than the tree- surrounded Castle within its double moat could have been found in Holland. A strong military guard had been posted at Amerongen before the fugitive's arrival, and from that time no one was allowed to pass unless furnished with a special " permit." At the outer entrance, where the walls meet the gates, there is a large brick-floored orangery, and this was used as a guard-room. Here an authorised visitor was given a white card with his or her name written in full on it (no card being given unless the name had been " passed " by Count Godard). Passing up the avenue and over the outer moat, the visitor yielded the white card at the inner gate to the ofiicer in charge of the second detachment of soldiers, and received a blue one in exchange. This was the last formality before entering the Castle. On returning, the visitor gave up the blue card, and was then free to leave the grounds. All relatives and friends of the family had to 30 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE go tlirough this formality every time they visited Amerongen. This was only a check on visitors from outside though, the members of the household and the entourage being too well known to require such a " pass." Both the gates were securely fastened every evening, and during the dark hours Amerongen held its fugitive safely away from the outside world. His safety was made doubly sure by the fact that, when frosts came, the ice round the inner moat (where no skating was allowed) was broken regulaily every night. Now that the ex-Kaiser has left there are, of course, no more guards, and so there is nothing to stop the inquisitive motorist turning off the high road and darting over the moat past the house and out again, in order to see the now famous refuge of William ii. Such an occurrence happened when I was there, and is a cause of considerable annoyance to the family and their guests. At Amerongen the post of Burgomaster was held by a friend of the Bentinck family (parishes are much larger in Holland than in England, and the post, which corresponds roughly to that of a mayor or chairman of a county council, is some- times held by county gentlemen), and he naturally had much to do with arrangements without the gates ; but everything relating to the guarding of the ex-Kaiser was in the hands of the Governor of the province of Utrecht. Many mysterious visitors sought an entrance, and once — ^but that was at a later period than that which I am now describing — a man drove through the gates in a shabby old hired brougham, THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 31 although he apparently had no " pass." The bewilderment and annoyance were great, and how he had managed to enter remained a puzzle. Though the merely curious were kept back at the gates, contact with the outer world was constant and feverish in these early days. Prince Max of Baden had on 9th November announced that the Kaiser had abdicated, but the exile himself had made no formal renunciation of his rights. How and when, if at all, that formality was to be accomplished was the question which agitated him in his interviews and ponderings within the walls — ^for he was little seen out of doors. No rest could come to him, for the drama was not yet finished ; the last curtain had not been rung down, and this could only be accomplished by a supreme action on the part of the chief actor. Whatever the reports from Berlin, set in motion by Prince Max of Baden, had been he was still German Emperor, and it behoved him with his own hand to put himself down from the pinnacle on which (apart from his birth) his masterful personality had placed him. On his arrival from Spa he had brought a large " suite " with him, consisting of the following gentlemen, according to the Times, 13th November 1918 : Colonel-General von Plessen, Lieut enant- General von Gontard, Hofmarshal von Platen, Major-General von Frankcnberg, Major-General von Litorff, Major-General von Grimman, Colonel Count von Moltke, Surgeon-General von Niester, Major-General von Hirschfeld, Captain von Ilse- mann, Captain Seiss, Captain Knauff, Captain Schaderberg, and Captain Grutsche. 32 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE At first he naturally did not discuss with his host at any length the great political events of the day affecting him, and since that time he has been sparing in comment on the actual circum- stances attending his abdication. But it was understood that one of the principal determining motives for the formal act of abdication was (apart from the fact that he had already been de- throned) that it had been declared from the allied side that there would be " no peace with a Hohen- zollern," and that therefore a possibility of his later return to Germany might delay a peace settle- ment. There was, also, the fact that his acceptance of the status of a private citizen would ease the difficulties of those who gave him temporary shelter. How far he should compromise the rights of his successors was another problem. Parleyings were continued to the end of the month before the form of the official act of abdica- tion was definitely fixed. The 28th of November ^ arrived, and, prelimin- aries over, several black-coated men were led silently up the staircase and through the gallery — where from the walls dead makers of history clad in robes grandiose and picturesque looked down on these living history- makers garbed so unheroically — to the Kaiser's apartments. In one of these pictures Count Godard Bentinck is represented in the robes of a Knight-Commander of the Teutonic Order. The uniform is very effective, having a tunic of white cloth with black V-shaped collar and cuffs, high military boots somewhat similar to those worn by the Life Guards, 1 1918. loh verzlchte hlerdarch fur alle Zukunft aaf die.- Reohte an der Erone Freassea and die -damit verbandenea Beohte &a der deatsobea Ealserkrone. Zaglelcli entblnd© Ich alle Baamtea des Deatachen Reichs and PrGUBseaa sowie alle Offizlere, Dnteroffiaiere and Marm- Bohaftea der Marine, dee Preusslsohes Heeres und der Truppea der Bundeskontingente des .Treaeidee, das eie Uir als Ihrea Kaiser, Kbaig and Oberstea Befehlshaber geleistet haben. Ich ervarte voq ihnen, dass ale bis sur Neaordaang des Deatschea Reichs den Inhabern der tataachlichea Qewalt la Deatachland helfen, das Deutsche Volk gegen die droheadea Gefahren der Anarchic, der Hungersnot and der Premdherrschaft za schutzcn. Urkundlich uater Unserer Hochsteigenhandigea Unter- BOhrift and beigedrucktea Kaiserlichea Insiegel." Gegebea Amerongen, dea 28. November 1918. FAC-SIMILE OF THE ABDICATION SIGNED BV THE EX-KAISER AT AMERONGEN (By the courtesy of the Proprietors oj The Daily Mail.) THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 83 with golden spurs, the true sign of knighthood. Black cloth knee-breeches are worn, and from the shoulders hangs a graceful white cloak. The whole is surmounted by a black hat with a white plume, and round the neck is worn a massive chain of silver. I mentioned in the last chapter that four rooms had been reserved for the Royal couple. These led off the central gallery. As you enter the room in which the abdication was signed two windows face you. In the recess of one stands a fine Buhl writing-table, also faintly reminiscent of Louis Quartorze, the victorious occupant of Amerongen, for the type of furniture derives its name from Charles Andr6 Boule, a cabinet-maker in the service of the Grand Monarque. Any one seated here looks out across the moats to pleasant fields, and then, farther away, to ships on the Rliine. Here it was, within view of the river that runs through all German history, that the Kaiser definitely became ex-Kaiser by signing the simple typewritten sheet of which I give a reproduction on the next page, and of which the following is a translation : " I hereby for all the future renounce my rights to the Crown of Prussia and my consequential rights to the German Imperial Crown. " At the same time I release all officials of the German Empire and Prussia, as well as all the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the Navy, of the Prussian Army, and of the federal contingents, from the oath of fealty, which they have made to me as their Emperor, King and Supreme Commander. I expect of them that until 5 84 THE EX-I^ISER IN EXILE the reorganisation of the German Empu'e they will help those in possession of actual power in Germany to protect the German people against the threatening dangers of anarchy, famine, and foreign domination. " Given under our hand and our Imperial seal, " WiLHELM. "Amerongen, November 28, 1918." The signature, which he had copied from his grandfather, so beloved of the German people, was as bold, the flourishes as flowery, as ever. Apropos his signature I may say how very unwilling he is to give it away ; the most people may usually expect is a piece of wood sawn by his hand, on which he inscribes a bold " W." The ceremony, if it could so be called, was brief. The fateful document was handed to the emissaries, who with a total absence of the externals of place and dignity left as quickly as they had arrived, bearing with them to the New Germany the precious corner-stone for the edifice they hoped to erect on the ruins of Kaiserdom. After they had left, the ex-Kaiser came to his host and said, " Nothing should happen in your house of which you are ignorant, and I wish to tell you that at this moment I have signed my abdication." That was all, and naturally no comments on the poignant situation were made. From the ex-Kaiser's point of view this must have been a terrible day, the culmination of all the previous tragic happenings which had led up to it. He bore it, I was told, with fortitude and resignation. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 35 One may wonder whether this abdication may prove worthless — " a scrap of paper." For he might argue that he signed it against his will, and, another point, that it was only for himself that he resigned. In view of the Berlin report, reproduced in the Times of 18th January 1921, that evidence has been obtained that the Hohenzollerns have joined in preparations for a new revolutionary coup, and that a number of former German officers living in Amsterdam are implicated, one's attention is focused on the wording of the document. That day, according to the Times, brought another important event for the exile — ^the ex- Kaiserin ^ arrived from Germany. For both the meeting was emotional. She looked worn and ill. They had last been together some time before the final crash, and that " catastrophe " — for so it appeared to her, a thing terrible and inexplicable — had been infinitely more shattering to her than to him. She was taken at once to her rooms, and was attended by the Countess Keller, a very great friend, who came to her on her marriage and has been with her ever since. Here she remained for several days, and for some considerable time after her arrival she did not appear for meals. She was, as every one knows, more interested in the hidden domestic life than in the public political one. She believed the role of her husband was divinely ordained, and when the foundations 1 Since this was written the death of the ex-Kaiserin occurred at Doom on nth April 192 1. The coffin was taken to Potsdam. The Royal train came to the station of Maarn to convey the mortal remains to Germany. 36 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE of this her world were scattered she could only think it was because malign forces had triumphed. Thus her plight at least seemed pathetic to the onlookers at the meeting, and for a woman, distressed in mind and destitute of state, there was only human sympathy. She was in great fear for the safety of her husband. Then, and for long afterwards, she started in alarm at any unusual noise in the night. " They are coming for him," she would cry, and burst into tears. She had the fixed idea that Britain was to blame for the War, and that con- viction is still unshakable. I would speak with all respect of this Royal and noble lady, whose whole life, overshadowed publicly as it was by her brilliant husband, has been devoted privately to being a good wife and a good mother. In pre-war days few could equal and none excel her regal and gracious appearance. The suite of the ex-Kaiser began to dwindle rapidly. Formal abdication had taken away any excuse for keeping so many soldiers and officials around him, and, in any case, he would not have been allowed to retain them. He became more definitely " the exile." Finally, his establishment was reduced, apart from servants, to Lieutenant- General von Gontard (a man in the sixties), whose position was now analogous to that of a Chamber- lain, and Captain von Ilsemann, his aide-de-camp. When in July 1918 the German plan was to capture the whole of the Marne, and the railway connecting Paris and the Eastern Front was to be severed preparatory to cutting off the Eastern armies THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 37 from those in the centre and the west, General von Gontard, with General Lindequist, was com- manding groups of divisions. At the wedding of Count Godard Bentinck's daughter to Captain von Ilsemann I had several opportunities for closely observing this man. His personal appearance is not striking, and his somewhat weak face, with its receding chin, would not, I imagine, inspire much confidence. His physiognomy is rather of the parrot type, and does not compare favourably with the fine, strong cast of countenance so often noticed in the German commanders. He is assiduous in his attentions to his master, and is very tenacious of the old regime, which consisted largely in flattery and hiding any unpleasant truths from the Emperor. Captain von Ilsemann, on the other hand, is the exact opposite, and represents an entirely different school. He has a good, strong, determined face, out of which two dark blue eyes look very straightly. He always says what he means and what he thinks, and this manner, although at first dis- concerting to one used to perpetual adulation, has come to be much appreciated by the ex- Kaiser. I will explain how he came to hold his present position, for he was unknown in Court circles before 1914, and his father was ennobled by this Emperor. Had Germany won there is no doubt he would have been given some very high position, and the ordre pour le merite would have been his. But the fates decreed otherwise, and instead of 38 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE this distinguished order and a place in the Court of Berhn he won for himself a charming wife, whom he would never have met had it not been for the Revolution ! He distinguished himself in action against the Russians in East Prussia at the beginning of the War, and was in consequence appointed to the staff of Hindenburg. The veteran thought highly of his work, and in course of time made him the bearer of one of his dispatches to the Crown Prince. Here again the young soldier made a good impression. The Crown Prince thought he would make a useful counterpoise, in the retinue of his father, to the elderly soldiers, diplomatists, and politicians by whom he was surrounded, and sent him to Main Headquarters with a recom- mendation. In this way he became an aide-de-camp to the Kaiser. He is clever and energetic and of a gay disposition, and the Kaiser, finding his youth- ful cheerfulness a tonic, kept him in close attend- ance. He accompanied the Imperial couple to Constantinople ; and of this trip, by the way, he tells of his amusement at seeing the Kaiserin trying to stab with a hatpin unpleasant insects that were crawling on the walls of a palace in which they were lodged. WTien the list of his remaining " suite " was presented to the Kaiser to choose two gentlemen to remain with him the pencil was not put through the name of Sigurd von Ilsemann. It had been thought that perhaps he, young and energetic as he v/as, might wish to go back to Germany and there carve out a fresh career for himself. But THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 39 the friendship which bound him to his dethroned master was too strong for this. So when it was suggested that the Emperor wished him to stay, he fell in with the plan. Since the abdication he has, in his capacity of private secretary, become more and more closely attached to his master. His greatest value perhaps is that the ex-Kaiser, Avho before his debacle never knew whom to believe, now has the plain facts, whether pleasant or unpleasant, from this exceed- ingly frank and most agreeable young man. Christmas came before the ex-Kaiser had settled down to the freer share in the life of the household and the closer association with his host that in time became inevitable, and from which followed the conversations and incidents I shall describe. As is usual in Holland and in Germany, great preparations were made for the observance of the festival. One significant incident occiuTcd at Amerongen. There, as here, carol singing is one of the features of the celebration. The village choir gave a little entertainment, at which one of the chief items was the well-known German hymn, " Stille Nacht, Hcilige Nacht." Hearing this, the ex-Kaiser spoke of his wish that the choir would sing to him at midnight on Clnistmas Eve ; but the authorities, whose great care was to avoid any step that might show a disposition to regard him as a guest rather than as a prisoner, prevented this arrangement bemg made. Within the Castle there were httle encounters that caused amusement to all concerned. The maids were interested in the guest, and little 40 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE attentions to his comfort brought them to his notice. Thus at Christmas and New Year he would greet them in the most unceremonious way while they were at their work, to wish them good luck and happiness, and to shake them by the hand. Being taken unawares on those occasions, they would quickly run their hands down their aprons to clean them before the handshake was given. And so the greetings took place with laughter. The feeling existing between the Castle and the village is quite feudal in its friendliness, and this atmosphere was much appreciated by the Emperor. The servants remain for years and years, and are related to the domestics of all the other Bentincks scattered over Holland. Thus they seem to form one large family and live to- gether on the happiest of terms. During these first months when his world was all so upside down the exile remained indoors a good deal except when he was sawing wood, and one of his chief pleasures at this time was to watch the members of the family and the villagers skating on the moat round the house. He would often spend a whole afternoon at the windows of his sitting-room looking on. One of the fre- quenters was a most graceful skater, and he was particularly keen not to miss her appearance, and sometimes sent a message asking her to come to skate. Mention of this reminds me of a bright, cold day in February 1919, when the sun shone on the skaters. The ex-Kaiser's doctor — ^a short, stout, good-tempered-looking man, with a dark moustache THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 41 and beard — came often to the Castle in the mornings in the early days, chiefly to see the ex-Kaiserin ; and on this occasion he remarked laughingly to me, " Real Hohenzollern weather ! " " That's what we always say when it's a fine day," he added. CHAPTER III " But now I am cabined, cribbed, confined, bound in by saucy doubts and fears." — Macbeth. To a man whose life had been extraordinarily varied and occupied even for one of his position ; who had delighted in the rapid succession in audience of notable men in all spheres in all countries and in the pomp and circumstance of Courts and the glitter and excitement of naval and military displays ; who in his constant travels had never missed an opportunity for a picturesque or dramatic pose — ^to him the daily round at Amerongen must have seemed extremely dull ; though, no doubt, to millions bereaved and im- poverished by the war his lot would appear enviable compared with theirs. Wherever he went he left some striking memory of his meteoric career. In visiting Damascus in February 1914 I was personally struck by this idiosyncrasy, which on this occasion took the form of extolling Christianity. We were visiting Saladin's tomb, on which reposed a huge bronze wreath of laurels which the Emperor had placed there. When he gave it there was a large cross in the wreath, but this had since been torn out by the Turks. A cross on Saladin's tomb certainly did seem incongruous, yet one could understand the feeling which lay THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 43 behind the action, impetuous and perhaps mis- taken as it was. One is very sensitive to adverse opinions on one's rehgious beliefs in the East, and I underwent this unpleasant experience when entering the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.^ In the porch of this church — which belongs equally to all sects and denominations of Christians — there is a wide stone seat which is the perquisite of certain Turkish families. Here, year in year out, sat or rather lounged young Turkish men who regarded the fervent stream of devout Christians excitedly approaching this extraordinary church with a sort of slightly veiled sarcastic commiseration, mingled with a haughty toleration. To the pilgrim on the thresh- old of Calvary this was not a pleasant sensation. But even so — to the uninitiated and unversed onlooker — ^the presence of the Turk in Jerusalem seemed to be the only possible solution to an exceedingly difficult question. Remembering all these varied journeys of William ii., his Vita Nuova behind a moat must have seemed indeed monotonous. Nevertheless, he did not follow any regular routine. He was, and is, too impulsive to have a settled plan for any day. As he had no affairs of State to deal with, and had, in fact, little else to do in the afternoons and evenings than to pass the time in the way most agreeable to him, he suited the occupation to the whim of the moment — so far as his confined conditions per- mitted. I say that to qualify my account, which follows, of an ordinary day at Amerongen. ^ March 1914. 44 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE One habit has been invariable since he became an exile ; he rises extremely early, a habit, I am told, which many sovereigns keep. But he does not, I think, go to bed as early as the late Emperor of Austria, who was in Salzburg once when we were there. Our hotel was near the Schloss where he stayed, and one night on coming back in our droschke across the noisy cobblestones from a theatre our chiver suddenly stopped and told us that he could take us no farther. " Der Kaiser schlaft," he said, with a whimsical smile. This feeling for Franz-Joseph was common to the peasants of Austria, and some of the tributes of love they paid him were fantastic. For instance pork, the most popular of meats in the Dual Empire, was always spoken of as Kaiser-Fleisch, and daily at midday when he was stopping at the Castle in Vienna crowds of people would turn into the courtyard on to which some of his private apartments looked, and would enthusiastically cheer the old man as he walked feebly to the windows and waved his hand to them in the most naive and fatherly fashion. But to return to William ii. The ex-Kaiser's first attendant in the morning, his valet, is a tall, good-looking man of about forty, who has been with him for many years. He is the only one around the exile to-day who wears his moustache in the old turned-up way, which, no doubt, will go down in historical portraiture as an outstanding characteristic of the pre-war Emperor. He has large, melancholy brown eyes, and his smile, when he politely returns a greeting, is a little wistful THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 45 and sad. It was one of Montaigne's characters, I believe, who remarked that " no man is a hero to his valet," but I think that this valet must be the exception which proves the rule ! Like the other personal attendants he is very solicitous for his master's comforts. By eight o'clock the Emperor is generally out and takes a good walk. When he first arrived he used to go outside the Castle demesne, but this practice was soon discontinued, and so there only remained the walk between the moats and the garden, beyond which lies along the outside wall a distance of about 300 yards. He wore a blue serge suit and a Homburg hat, which sometimes had a black cock's-tail feather stuck in it. On cold days he wore a large cape made of " Loden," a dark green, closely woven stuff, very warm and waterproof, which is worn by all from Emperor to peasant throughout middle Europe. For some time after his arrival his supply of civilian suits was, for all practical purposes, non- existent. This was understandable, for uniform days were over, and it was only these, naturally, that had come with him from Spa. The people in the village have never borne him any ill-will or feeling of malice, and were quite glad to have him among them. He would often stop and talk to the men in the grounds and nod them a friendly " Good day." Prayers for the household were at 8.45, and he was always back in time for them. They took place in the picture gallery, with the host's daughter, who is very artistic, at the organ. He often chose the hymns. Sometimes, afterwards, 46 THE EX-ICAISER IN EXILE he would laughingly reprove his host for the tattered state of the books. The little service was in Dutch, a language which he was soon able to speak fluently. After breakfast, which was taken to his rooms, his correspondence had to be tackled. It was very heavy, and came from all parts of the world ; some was abusive, but much also was sympathetic, for it must be remembered that he had a large party still attached to him in Germany. In these early days he had four gentlemen still with him, and their aid prevented him from being completely snowed under in the mornings. One of the four, who has since returned to Germany, was a very good musician, and whiled away many hours at the piano, lingering lovingly over Wagner, Beethoven, Chopin, and Liszt. He was composing an opera, and said that music was the real interest of his life and soldiering only a necessity. The rest of the morning would be spent in cutting and sawing wood. We have often heard that this was his favourite pastime at Amerongen, but I did not realise with what zest he applied himself to it or the great amount of work he got through till I saw his handiwork myself. In the whole of his stay he cut down several thousands of trees, covering a closely set half-acre of ground. It is true that they were chiefly small Scotch firs, with trunks about six inches in diameter ; but these were not only cut down but carefully sawn up in small pieces and as carefully stacked by himself. When, during the last years of the War, coal was almost unobtainable in Holland, Count Godard THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 47 Bentinck, to be ready for emergencies, installed at the Castle china stoves specially made for burning wood. All the wood now used in these stoves is that sawn up by the exile. The supply for a year ahead is kept at the back of the stables, and last October ^ I saw, ready for this winter, a solid mass of his blocks, occupying a space roughly about twelve feet in length and breadth and eight feet in height. The apertures of the stoves are narrow, and the wood has, in consequence, to be cut up in small, uniform pieces ; so it will be seen that the exile had to be workmanlike. In the grounds the Bentinck children had built a summer-house — one which did them infinite credit, for it was a most elaborate and comfort- able little place. Here were books, tables, com- fortable chairs, and a tiny cooking-stove, with all the requisites for a light meal. To this the wood- cutter would retire when he was tired, and port, cigarettes, and cigars would be brought to him. Maps would then be spread on the table, and here he would go over his battles again. With finger on map he would discuss with animation the scenes of victory or disaster of the last four years, and his many rapid journeys from front to fi'ont. On the opposite side of the path a lean-to had been erected for his convenience, with all the rest of the paraphernalia necessary to wood- cutting. Here, in his serge suit, collarless, with his shirt slightly open at the neck, would the fallen monarch spend most of his time when not in the house — sawing, sawing, sawing ! ^ 1920. 48 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE Sometimes one of his " suite " or a member of the family would be with him, but it was not unusual for him to spend many hours alone when thus occupied. What a change for the War-Lord of a year ago ! It is here that he cuts the wood into narrow strips which he uses to give as mementoes to attendants and, indeed, to friends as well. When he arrived from Belgium he had — as is usual with Royal persons — a. goodly store of jewellery for use as gifts. Wliat I saw consisted chiefly of aquamarine pendants on platinum chains, and others with the Imperial cipher in tiny diamonds prettily set on pale blue enamel. But these, of course, had to be kept for special occasions ; so the signed strips of wood were very useful when unimportant little gifts were needed. And these will — in the future — be interesting in their small way as typifying in concrete form the favourite employment of the fallen monarch. At one o'clock came luncheon, sometimes in his own room, sometimes with the family. It was of an ordinary kind — an entree consisting of eggs, rissotto, etc., followed by game. Sometimes a salmon from the Rhine would be sent by friends of Count Godard Bentinck, and this was much appreciated, for sentimental as well as for culin- ary reasons. Dutch cooking is extremely good (though, on account of the quantity of cream and butter used, it is decidedly bad for the figure !), and, like all of us, the ex-Kaiser enjoys the efforts of a good chef. There are always two at Ameron- gen — a German and a Dutchman. Of wine he Central News.) THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE ^^""ri^pS'n ^^""^^ "-^t Vi"' ^ ^^blegram in the grounds of Amerongen. General Dommes, the Adjutant to the Kaiser, is the other figure. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 49 drank sparingly, chiefly white ; but a good deal of champagne had come with him when he crossed the frontier. Afternoons, when fine, were spent out of doors ; but when it was wet or dull outside he would, with one of his attendants, walk round and round the gallery for over an hour, solely with the idea of taking exercise. On fine days he would go for long drives through the Amerongen woods, which arc large and wild, and in which one can roam for hours without meeting another human being. From them, on particularly clear days, one can see nearly into Germany. Occasionally, but not very frequently, he would motor along the roads in the neighbourhood. His radius was a very re- stricted one. Seven miles in the direction of Doom (his present home) was the outside limit of these excursions, and lie was thus never near a large town, Utrecht being fourteen miles beyond Doom, and Arnhem about fifteen miles from Amerongen in the other direction. He has several big cars, all Merc6d^s, and he invariably travels at a high rate of speed — he is gone almost before one reahscs that he is there. A favourite car has a light -coloured wooden body, and looks as though it had been built for use on shooting expeditions. When I was there I noticed that his car moves off with great dash and gains speed very quickly. His chauffeur is now old in his service, and — like all his servants — is as respectfully ceremonious as in the old days when Jove's whisper made millions incline. The foot- man always hands him his military overcoat — 7 50 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE the only military thing he uses now — with a bow, and carefully buttons it for him from high under the chin downwards. I saw him depart once from Amerongen after a visit, and was much struck by the scene. The car was in the background ; servants were obsequiously bowing and keeping at a proper distance ; Count Godard and several other gentle- men, among them one of his sons who was at the time staying at Doom, were all hovering about him. Before he put on his coat he looked a mixture of King Edward vii. and Prince Henry of Prussia, but with the coat on he and the scene were trans- formed, and I could visualise him, as I had often seen him in pictures, surrounded by officers of the higher command, feet planted well apart, stern, eager face looking up, finger pointing forward. One of the places to which he motored most frequently was Zuylestein, the home of Count Charles Bentinck, elder and only surviving brother of Count Godard, and situated near Leersum, a mile from Amerongen, in the direction of Doom. The house, which dates from the twelfth century, is smaller than Amerongen, but very charming. A tower, surmounted by a curiously shaped, slate- covered ball, rears itself above the main building and leans quite noticeably to the west. It be- longed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to the family of the Nassau-Zuylestein. They married with the de Reede Ginkells, their neigh- bours at Amerongen, and they again entered into matrimonial bonds with the Bentincks, thus bringing the two properties (through women) to their present owner. Count Godard. At one time THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 51 the novelist Maarten Maartens, well known a decade ago to English readers, rented Zuylestein, and, I believe, portrayed some members of the Bentinck family in one of his books. The ex-Kaiser doesn't shoot now, not because he may not, but because it is considered wiser that he should not indulge in this sport which was once such a favourite recreation of his. Neither does he ride, and so his pastimes are very limited. The ex-Kaiserin was always fond of riding, but has been too ill ever since her arrival in Holland to do so, and she gave her favourite hack, which was sent to Amerongen from Germany, to Countess Elizabeth Bentinck last spring.* It is a chestnut about 16 hands up to 12 stone, with a mane and a long tail, and must be familiar to visitors to Berlin before the War. Tea was a meal the Emperor thoroughly en- joyed, and scones and buns were always specially made for him by the Scottish housekeeper, who has been at Amerongen for about thirty years. Wlien- ever he returns there now he likes to see her, and has always been most friendly to her — a fact she much appreciates, and she cannot say too much in his praise. During the summer months the hours between tea and dinner would be filled by watching tennis, walking and chatting about the garden, or maybe again betaking himself to the sawing. In winter, reading, writing, or being read to, or talking with any guests who might be at Amerongen, if he thought they would be interesting, and, of course, sympathetic to him. ^ 1920. 52 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE He doesn't play any games, nor does he care at all for cards. Apparently he never plays bridge, which would help to while away the too-long hours. Talking seems to be his most congenial pastime, and of this he never wearies. There was, how- ever, one thing in which he was deeply inter- ested, and this was the building of a Cottage Hospital. When the house which he had bought at Doom was ready for him to live in, and the time had definitely come for him to leave the sheltering roof of Amerongen, he felt he would like to leave a lasting memorial to the place in gratitude for the refuge it had given him at the bitterest moment of his downfall. Its building and equipment interested him very much, so that all during the spring and summer of 1920 he had this to occupy his free hours. It is a very nice little place, standing in its own grounds (given by Count Godard Bentinck). The whole was of German make, and the erection was superintended by a German foreman. It was designed to accommodate twelve patients. There were a small isolation ward to hold four cases, two rooms each containing four beds, a sitting- room looking on to a verandah, a most modernly equipped operating theatre, a large sterilising drum, two bathrooms, a cleverly arranged kitchen, and a pantry fitted with every possible necessity. Nothing was forgotten. The ex-Kaiser watched its rise stage by stage. He carefully inspected the equipment, even to the linen and to the china dinner and tea services, of which pieces were adorned with tlie letter " W." A German woman THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 63 belonging to a sisterhood of nurses was placed in charge. She, by the way, I was interested to learn in a short conversation I had with her, had nursed British soldiers during the War. She wore a black costume rather like a nun's, with a black bonnet from which peeped a demure little white frill. The curious thing about this elaborate monu- ment of the ex-Kaiser's gratitude is that the village people seem loth to use it ! They are frightened of it ! They think to go there means certain death ; nobody would surely go to a hos- pital unless they were doomed ! Everything is there : a competent staff, equipment to deal with every sort of ailment, and they are decidedly pleased and proud to possess it and most grateful to the Royal donor — but go to it as patients ! No I One's case must be really desperate, they think, to surrender oneself into the hands of nurses and doctors ! Sometimes during the long summer evenings the village choir, which was superintended though not trained by Countess Elizabeth, would sing out of doors, and the sound of their voices would float pleasantly over the moats. In anything of this sort the exile took much pleasure and interest. And so the days would somehow be consumed. Dinner was a meal he never missed, being very different in this respect from the ex-Kaiserin, whose state of health, which caused continual anxiety, detained her in her rooms. Very often there would be guests for dinner, chiefly relatives or near neighbours of the host, and sometimes the burgomasters (mayors) of Amerongen and Leersum 54 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE were asked. On these occasions there was never any excess of formality. People would rise as he entered the room, and he was always treated as " the Emperor " — a practice followed, of course, in the immediate entourage of dethroned monarchs. He was most genial at the evening meal, when people he liked were present, and readily seized any excuse for a laugh. Puns on names were one of liis little indulgences, and he soon became versed in all the houseliold jokes (and the Dutch Bentincks are renowned for them, and keep them up from one generation to the next !). War and politics were not usually touched upon at these times, but he liked to hear any liarmless social gossip about well-known people, and relished it all the more if these happened to be friends or ac- quaintances of his. People who are shy, and whose shyness causes them to be gauche, irritate him, and sometimes, if the women either side of him at dinner are not very forthcoming, and leave it to him to start a conversation, thinking that this is what he would like, he might ignore them, and shoot a sudden question across the table to some one whose over- heard conversation interests him. But his bonhomie can be and often is very marked. Hermann, the butler at Amerongen, is quite a cliaracter, and possesses a humorous but most impassive countenance. If a question arises at dinner about a place or date or a person's name that none can answer, the ex-Kaiser will turn to him for a solution, " Well, Hermann, and what do you say ? " Hermann's verdict, delivered with a perfectly stolid face, is always accepted as THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 55 final. (He happens to be an extremely well-read butler.) In connection with the Emperor's likes and dislikes as to people's behaviour, his uncertain manner makes him a most difficult person to be sure of pleasing. I was told of a man in a well- known German regiment who, at receptions, always studiously kept out of the way, and never joined in the circle of admirers who gyrated round the Imperial magnet. This annoyed the Emperor, and he once remarked, " AVhy does Z always hide behind the curtains ? He can't expect me to go and pull him out I " On the other hand, people who are too forward are apt to incur his displeasure also. As I have said before, the ex-Emperor is never so happy as when he is talking. After dinner, when the rest had gone to bed (the ex-Empress, when she came down for this meal, always retired very early), Count Godard and his guest would sit till late into the night. It was then that the really animated discussions took place. These were something new in his life. As Kaiser he had been fond of talking to leaders in the arts and sciences, in politics and the services, and in industries. But these conversations in the days when he was continually interrupted by affairs had been chiefly in snatches, and could hardly be described as sustained and intimate. Now he was alone with his host, free to talk for hours without having to weigh his words — as in the days when his utterances were important, and were, moreover, at the mercy of newspaper reporters, who could twist them to mean what they liked. And here 56 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE he was able to be simpler ; there was no necessity of maintaining an Olympian pose. One can imagine the two men sitting together thus, when the house was quiet with sleep. The most-discussed figure in contemporary history — a prisoner ! The eagle who never ceased to beat through the world with untiring wings — a prisoner ! To a man who never rested, this life, to say the least, must have been a fantastic houleversement. His memory appears to be prodigious, and my uncle told me, when I saw him in March 1919, that during those first four months the Emperor had never repeated himself in conversation, and always had something interesting and knowledge- able to say on whatever subject was mentioned. He seemed to know something about everything, and the young Bentincks were much impressed by his versatility, especially when he discussed their collections with them, and gave them helpful advice, the subjects being coins and stamps. He was, and is, always ready to stay up to any hour of the night once the talk is well launched. He smokes endlessly on these occasions, but he doesn't seem to mind what he smokes, and will take anything he is offered or finds lying about. He takes up a cigar or cigarette, lights it, takes a few puffs, throws it away, and innnediately takes up another. He will go on like this quite uncon- sciously ; and if he gets on to a favourite topic he will discuss it for hours and hours. He hardly ever sits when talking, but moves about restlessly, gesticulating freely. The relief of being able to speak quite openly must have been great, and perhaps, for the first THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 57 time since his accession, he was able to show what sort of a man he really was, and he could cease having to act up to what he wished the world to think he was. Many subjects were, of course, touched upon, and in the next chapters I will try to give a slight indication of his views on well- known men and things. CHAPTER IV " But War's a game which, were their subjects wise. Kings would not play at." The Task, Cowper. I ASKED Count Godard Bentinck whether the Emperor really thought that the British Army was " a contemptible little army," adding that it was surely flying in the face of Providence to make such an assertion when one remembered its past glorious achievements ! His answer was that the Emperor meant, compared to continental armies it was small, and that as to the word " contemptible," people do not always mean what they say nor weigh their words when speaking in moments of intense pressure and excitement. This much -repeated phrase of the ex-Kaiser's has become a maddening kind of boomerang which keeps whizzing round in the air and con- tinually returning to strike its thrower. During the War, however, he learnt that it was by no means contemptible. Indeed, he very definitely admires the British Tommies. He has said so again and again. " Their bull-doggedness, the marvellous way they kept coming up," are given as perhaps their most outstanding characteristic. " The English soldiers were magnificent," said THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 59 Captain von Ilsemann, his aide-de-camp, repeating to me the substance of the ex-Kaiser's continual references to our soldiers. " How we admired them ; and how — let me say so in all truthfulness — ^how we liked them 1 " Admiration from a professional point of view is one thing, but " liking " is another, and, as I suppose I looked a little incredulous, he went on to explain. Some of the reasons for the liking are curious. " Your soldiers looked so fit and smart and well-turned-out compared to other armies," he said, " and the men were so well shaved I How we looked forward to getting into British trenches — we knew they would be clean, and that we should at least find plenty of soap and shaving apparatus ! We appreciated these, for towards the end we had no more ourselves." Any number of rosaries, too, were found. " That was too funny I " he thought, and he could not account for it. I suggested that these would only be found in any number in trenches which had been occupied by Irish troops. But I have been told that English soldiers, no matter their creed, bought quantities of rosaries, which they wore round their necks by way of adornment, so this fact might account for the ones found in the trenches in such great numbers as to cause comment. I asked once whether any particular regiments had made a special impression on their minds, and, although the whole Army was praised as being the most gallant foe any soldier could wish for, the achievements of the Guards were com- mented upon as showing what finely disciplined and extra highly trained troops were capable of. 60 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE It was thought that had the whole Army been trained to the pitch of these troops the War would have been over in half the time, but this, of course, it was agreed would have been impossible. It is difficult enough to make ten men act identically and simultaneously ! What a tour de force to make a thousand men do so ! The Kaiser (as he then was) made a practice during the War of sending for men who had had a share in notable deeds but had been captured. After the affair at Zeebrugge, he visited the place and informed one of the British prisoners who had taken a leading part in the attack that it was " a brilliant exploit, one of the most brilliant of the War ! What made you do it ? " he asked. " Just for a joke ! " responded the other. " How English I " was the amused rejoinder. A thing that struck me in all these talks (and I would like to say here that Captain von Ilsemann spoke to me only of the most discussed topics of the day, and naturally from the German point of view) was the reiteration of the opinion that the British soldier was " always a gentleman." This is pleasant to be told, and shows that as a nation we have improved in the last hundred years, that is, if any credence can be placed in the following account, which is an extract taken from a letter written by Countess Bentinck, nee Countess Aldenburg, to her grandchild, Sophie Bentinck, who married Admiral Sir James Hawkins- Whitshed : "November 25, 1794. " You are making the noblest and most praise- worthy efforts in God's great cause " (here again ^ o < o m THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 61 we see the tendency shared by Philip ii. of Spain and William ii. of Germany to draw the name of the Deity into the squabbles of men) " and that of the Sovereigns, the laws, order, and public secui'ity, but all these virtuous efforts are useless and even harmful by reasons of the false measures adopted. " You pay too little attention in choosing the instruments you employ, and also there is a frightful want of discipline in your armies. " Instead of conquering your enemies and protecting your allies, your soldiers give themselves up to such atrocious violence and such murderous behaviour that your troops, who should guard the possessions of your allies, are, on the contrary, the worst of destroyers and assassins. They have rendered you objects of horror. . . . The English troops completely pillaged the Chateau of Batten- burg, belonging to Count de Bentheim Steinfort ; they did not leave one wooden skittle, and what they couldn't carry away they smashed to pieces and threw out of the windows. They committed the same horrors at the town of Bhiiren, belong- ing to the Prince Stadholder. . . . Everywhere it seems they have been guilty of the same excesses, so that all the provinces refused to receive them. . . . But at Nymegen they sui'passed in violence everything that history can relate of the most inhuman hordes of barbarians that have ever dis- graced mankind. " Before they gave up that unhappy city it was they themselves, with fire and sword, who merci- lessly pillaged it, massacring all who opposed them, and not content with fighting the Dutch " (their allies !), " who came to help their countrymen, they took them prisoners and drowned them, destroying the bridge by which they themselves should have retired. The Scotch Regiment and that of Bentinck were the innocent victims ! . . . 62 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE Shall I tell you without choosing my words what public opinion thinks of a wise and prudent nation which Europe once looked upon as her liberator ? They say that a fatal custom has unhappily taken firm hold in England and ruined all your actions : that all your measures and counsels are arrived at by brains overheated by porter and wine, that this fatal habit prevails in your councils, in your armies, that it has become the fashion to drink ; that members of the Government vie with each other as to who can drown and disorganise his intelligence the most — his intelligence, that grandest privilege of man, which alone differen- tiates him from the animals 1 " One groans to see the sublimest nation in Europe grovel through this detestable habit, and enslave its glory, its power, its great talents under barrels and bottles ! . . . " Adieu, ma chire enfant. I am ill and unhappy about you all, and I love you as much as I detest Port and Burgundy and all those instruments of hell destined to corrupt and deteriorate the most estimable and honest mortals in the world." * The verdict of our twentieth-century enemies that "the English fought like gentlemen" and * Extract from the Memoirs of Charlotte Sophie, Countess Bentinck, by Mrs. Aubrey le Blond. Charlotte Sophie, reigning Countess of Aldenburg — which Grand-Duchy lies between Hanover and Bremen on the coast of the North Sea — was one of the best-known women of her day (11715-1800). She was on terms of friendship with Frederick the Great, Voltaire, Catherine the Great, and the Queen of Sweden, with whom she kept up a constant correspondence, and she was related to a large number of the Royal houses of Middle Europe. Her two Bentinck granddaughters married Englishmen, re- spectively Sir Robert Shore Milnes, Bart., and Sir James Hawkins- Whitshed, Bart. It was to the eldest of her two grand- daughters that the letters I quote were written. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 63 "their morale was wonderful " is satisfactory, and proves that the efforts of our nation builders since those wassailing days have not been wasted. Talk of the War in all its aspects was never- ending during the ex-Kaiser's stay at Amerongen, and so it is now at Doom, and in his visits to his old host. And when, as often happens, the sudden and dramatic end of the War is discussed, it is always to the British propaganda, with its deadly effect on the spirit of resistance of the German people, that he attributes his downfall. " Ach, diese propaganda von Northcliffe I Es war ko-loss-al ! " (" Oh, that propaganda of North- cliffe ! It was colossal ! ") And after repeating these words to me, his aide-de-camp, tapping his brow with his finger-points and screwing up his eyes, ejaculated, " Was$ fiir ein Mensch ! " (" What a man ! ") " If we had had a NorthcHffe we could have won the War," he added. I heard this said often. And I learned, while I was at Amerongen, that this, so far as the ex- Kaiser was concerned, wa& not a willing tribute, but one wrung from him. He regards Lord Northcliffe with intense bitterness, looks on him as his worst and most deadly enemy ; he cannot speak of the propaganda without this personal animosity clearly showing itself. Captain von Ilsemann told me that the power wielded by Lord Northcliffe was a constant source of wonderment to the exile. " It is incredible ! What Lord Northcliffe thinks to-day, England thinks to-morrow," he says. And he is puzzled to know why. The Secrets of Crewe House was sent for when 64 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE I was there, so maybe he is now conversant with its contents. Practically every important English book on the War finds its way to Amerongen, and although the ex-Emperor seldom reads them himself, he soon hears from his friends what the gist of them is, and he is always kept cognisant of the English point of view. The Times is taken daily at Amerongen, and sometimes leading articles and criticisms of important people and books are shown to him. Extracts from others of our newspapers and periodicals also occasionally find their way to him. Possibly the editors and writers would some- times be surprised at the interpretation put on their articles at Doom ; for certain schools of continental thought have always believed that British policy is subtly Machiavellian. That Al- bion is perfide (France's pithy epigram on the British political character) is firmly held to be true in the minds of the Emperor and his minions. A book in which he was much interested was The Letters of Major Henry Bentinck, third son of Count Godard's eldest brother, and my brother-in-law. These letters contain more a soldier's philo- sophical and religious views than an account of his doings, but they also say some hard things of the Germans. He looked through the book and admired its arrangement, but did not read it. Three much-discussed books were Mr. J. M. Keynes' Economic Consequences of the Peace, which was thought to give an extremely fair view of the situation ; Mi'. Harold Begbie's Lord Haldane, which was read with great interest ; and von Bethmann HoUweg's exposition of his policy MAJOR HENRV DENTIN CK Coldstream Guards. Born 1881 — Died of Wounds in France 1916. (My husband's brother). 3rd son of Lieut. -Colonel Count Bentinck (6th Count). His letters have been published under the title of "Letters of Major Henry Bentinck." THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 65 before and after the " scrap of paper " and " Iiack- ing through " Belgium avowals. They were sur- prised that the latter had not been published in English, in view of the notoriety of the author in our country ; but a translation has since appeared (October 1920). One thing the ex-Kaiser cannot understand is the falling of Lord Haldane into disfavour with the British. He considers Lord Haldane the greatest War Minister we have had. His point of view, as his aide-de-camp explained to me, was that Britain must have a strong navy, just as Germany must have a strong army. In addition, in Germany von Tirpitz wanted a strong navy, and the German people supported him, although they groaned under the taxation ; Lord Haldane was a supporter of national military service, but the British would not countenance any scheme involving conscrip- tion. So, according to the ex-Kaiser, the only thing Lord Haldane could do was to have relays of highly trained short-service troops, who could be called up at any moment after disband- ment, and to get raw material through the Territorials, and train them so that they could quickly be turned into soldiers. That was a brilliant plan. " Furchtbar klug ! " (" Frightfully clever ! "), commented the adjutant. " You say Britain was not prepared for war. She had never been so prepared. She was as prepared as the people would allow themselves to be." Incidentally I told him I had been present in the House of Lords on the occasion of Lord 66 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE Roberts' great speech there in favour of national mihtary service, and he was interested to learn how uncordially it had been received. I mentioned just now that one of the chief things which struck me in our conversation was the genuine admiration felt for the British soldier ; I was also struck by another point — ^their equally genuine dislike of British politicians. " We don't dislike the English, but we hate your politicians." It seemed to me that in the exile's entourage they do not consider those responsible for guiding British policy so stupid as the British themselves are inclined to think ! And this view seems to be held also by the French, judging by a statement made in the Paris Senate on 21st March 1921 by M. Lucien Hubert, reporter of the Senate's Foreign Affairs Committee. " Great Britain," he said, " showed her skill in winning friends everywhere, having allies in every political party and group abroad, making use of everything British, without exception of party or doctrine, supporting her friends till their final triumph, rescuing them when in danger, and protecting them in time of stress. That," he said, " was the basis of British propa- ganda, and she had eyes and ears and hands everywhere." President Wilson, the ex-Kaiser thinks, gave the final tip-over to his tottering throne — a view not without its piquancy when we remember that the President (to quote Mr. Keynes) " was made in Paris to appear to be taking the part of the Germans, and laid himself open to the suggestion THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 67 — ^to which he was very sensitive — of being ' pro- German.' " How the President's iniGiuence told is set forth in this fashion. The President had announced that he would never make peace with a Hohen- zoUern ; and thus it would have been excessively difficult for the Kaiser to make a stand for his dynasty in Germany itself without bringing added disasters to the country, with the Allied armies already nearing its frontiers. The people were starving, the morale of the army had gone, and Germany was well- nigh mad with hunger and unrest caused by Bolshevist agent provocateur, German Socialists, and Northcliffe propaganda. All they wanted was food, and nothing but peace could bring them that. In the ordinary course of events the Emperor need not necessarily have abdicated because he had lost the War, but he was forced to this action by Wilson's ultimatum. W^at puzzled the ex-Kaiser for long was that the German people, who had been so obedient to his will, so dazzled by his might and so fulsome in adulation for thirty years, should have so lightly let him go in November 1918 ; and, moreover, that they should have abandoned him, " the All Highest," for persons whose position was not such as to gain them much public esteem in official-worshipping Germany — persons destitute alike of social prestige and experience in the complicated art of governing. That, indeed, puzzles him still ; but he has some explanations ready, now that he has 68 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE had leisure to reflect on the events of that November. The ease witli whieli the change was made was, in his opinion, due to a misrepresenta- tion of the motives which caused him to flee to HoHand. The German people, he thinks, were led to believe that by his flight he had deserted them in their hour of greatest need, and, as a result, anger against him became as bitter as trust before had been complete. Perhaps they would not have accepted this view, and certainly would not have submitted to their new leaders, had they not been badly shaken by our propaganda and by privations at home and bewildered by the disasters in the field ; and, above all, if the Allied resolve to make " no peace with a Hohenzollern " had not been dinned into their ears. A contributory factor is believed to have been the work of the German Socialists. They had for more than two years sought to break the fighting spirit of the army and of the youths whose turn Avas coming to fill the ranks. Mothers and wives (this is the official version) had been paid a weekly sum as bribe to write distressed and distressing letters to relatives at the Front, with a view to weakening their morale as much as possible. The imputation that his flight was due to concern for his own bodily safety without regard to the people's interest still rankles in the ex- Kaiser's mind. What else was there for him to do but withdraw ? he asks ; and then he goes over again the story of the first days of the Revolution. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 69 He proposed to go to Berlin. " Give me some troops," he said to Hindenburg. " There are no troops that will follow Your Majesty there," replied the veteran. " What ! None ? " " None, Your Majesty ! " He then thought he would reach Berlin somehow, anyhow, to be at the heart of the trouble. Inquiries were made to the capital. He was told by telegraph that he must not come ; that the streets were running with blood. His entourage urged him not to go, as that would only add to the country's plight with- out any advantage to him. Then Prince Max of Baden's hasty announcement of an abdication proved decisive. It has been pointed out that Hindenburg on his return to Berlin got a magnificent reception ; but that was after he had taken the armies back, and — ^Hindenburg was not the Kaiser ; his presence did not affect the political situation. Suicide as an alternative to flight was freely spoken of in England, people perhaps remember- ing how often the Kaiser's ancestor, Frederick the Great, had contemplated this escape from the evils that followed his too frequent wars. But there were plenty of precedents for the flight of monarchs and their temporary or permanent residence outside theii* country during revolu- tions ; and the ease with which Holland could be reached must have been tempting. I heard the theory discussed that it would have been to the advantage of the dynasty, or, at any rate, of the monarchical idea, not to sign the Armistice conditions offered. It is considered that had Baron von Lersner, representing the old 70 THE EX-I^ISER IN EXILE school, and not Herr Erzberger, representing the transitional, been in charge on the German side during the negotiations the history of the next few months would have been wiitten differently. A refusal to sign and a continued retreat before the Allied armies would not necessarily, according to this view, have involved much additional slaughter ; the German Army, we were told, had not then sufficient fit divisions to do much fighting. On the other hand, the late Lord Fisher in his Memoirs relates that General Plumer had told him that he was personally convinced of the efficiency of the German Ai'my at the moment of the Armistice. We also read in the same book a statement of Mr. Lloyd George's in the Guildhall, 9th November 1918, that one of our foremost Ministers had said on the previous Sunday that " the Allied Powers were on their last legs." All this evidence is very conflicting, and per- haps we are still too near to the subject to get the true perspective. Had the Armistice not been signed when it was. Allied troops would have presumably marched to Berlin notwithstanding the above statements, for Mr. H. C. O'Neil in his History of the War tells us the French had many fresh divisions ready to move if the Armistice terms were not accepted. Again we read in Could We Have Avoided or Won the War? by Colonel Bauer (Ludendorff's political adviser), that "the second Battle of the Marne was the first great disaster and the real turning-point of the War." Even in July he said that the army was worn out, yet Von THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 71 Kiihlman, whose opinion is to be trusted, was displaced by the miHtary clique for saying that " the War was not to be ended by purely military decisions." * The Monarchist idea seemed to be, that had the Allies gone to Berlin much bloodshed would have been avoided, and their occupation would have led to the establishment of order by the bringing of food and relief. The feeling in those circles seems to be that undue pressure was brought to bear upon Herr Erzberger, who, in their opinion, should not have signed the Armistice so hastily. The dominating idea was that the old hereditary ruling faction knew what would eventually be for the good of the people better than the men who, by a sudden extraordinary turn of fortune, found themselves masters of an immense power which they were not trained to handle. I noticed that Monarchists, while brooding over such ideas, were more angry with their fellow- Germans for abandoning the Kaiser than with the Allies for seeking his overthrow ; the latter was an understandable course in enemies, the former an unforgivable crime ! And the more the ex- Kaiser reflects on the circumstances of his fall, the more does it appear to him that " the unkindest cut of all " came from his former subjects rather than from his enemies. For his opinion is that he strove to do, and in fact did, great things for his country in all departments of world-trade and politics ; that his country's benefit was always placed first. Even for the War, inglorious though » H. C. O'Neil, History of the War. 72 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE its ending was for him, he thinks he can make a case before Germans. And, after all, for whom and what was he displaced ? As he walks about the grounds in Doom, the question leaves him " marvelling greatly." CHAPTER V " To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual ways of preserving peace." — George Washington. " An armed peace keeps the peace." — Bismarck. The rapid strides taken by Socialists and Social Democrats in governing Europe is a continual source of comment by the ex- Kaiser. As a rule he is reserved in his remarks on British public men, but one thing about them which strikes him is that they are still so largely ckawn from the old ruling classes. Lord Curzon, the Cecils, Mr. Balfour, Mr. Churcliill, are, he thinks, of a type almost unique in the Governments of post-war Europe. The circumstance is com- mented on when, as often enough happens, the relative advantages of absolute and limited mon- archies are considered. Mr. Lloyd George is con- sidered more of the type that comes to the front in France. Mr. Churchill is admired for the part he played in the Gallipoli adventure, and also because he is believed to be largely responsible for the intro- duction of the Tanks — ^the Tanks which were so typical of England ! Heavy and slow, but how relentless when once set in motion I Gallipoli, in fact, is more talked of than any other war exploit on the British side. The con- ception was " marvellous." If it had succeeded 74 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE how brilliant would have been the results I " Do you know how nearly you were through ? " Captain von Ilsemann asked me. " You were through once, in fact, if you had had enough reserves to push on." But the most wonderful thing in the eyes of the ex-Kaiser was the landing and holding-on by our soldiers. To be able to get men to do a thing like that was astonishing. He thought it would be a most difficult thing to get troops anywhere in the world to attempt what they achieved. But when one saw the superb specimens of manhood which Australia sent over, one could well believe that there was nothing such troops would tremble at, and the names of these splendid bush- raised boys will be for ever remembered in wonder and gratitude by England. During the War, Australia's naval expenditure amounted to more than £87,000,000. It is almost incredible that a nation consisting of 5,000,000 of people should have borne manfully such a crushing burden, and this wonderful feat will ever stand out gloriously in their annals. In his speech on Anzac Day, April 1921, Mr. Churchill referred to the Australian troops thus : " That event (the coming of the Australians and New Zealanders) was unprecedented in all history. Never before had an army of that kind been drawn across such tremendous distances by the compulsion purely of ideas and sentiments. Even as a purely military operation the landing on the GallipoH Peninsula would always rank as an achievement of the first order." I have travelled in all our Colonies, and the THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 75 thing which struck me and touched me the most was that whenever they used the word " Home " they always meant England — even those who had been born in the Dominions. Mr. Churchill came in for a great deal of attention on account of his speech in the House of Commons last July, and his subsequent article in the London Evening News (28th July 1920) on the menace of the Bolshevist armies and the part Germany might play in meeting it. " A Poland broken," he wrote, *' would mean a Germany con- fronted with an awful, a wonderful choice. . . . It would be open to the German people either to sink their own social structure in the Bolshevist welter, or by a supreme effort of firmness, self- restraint, and courage to build a dyke of lawful, patient strength against the flood of Red Bar- barism flowing from the East.'* There was general agreement with that view. " But," pointed out Captain von Ilsemann, " one moment you want us to be a bulwark — a. dyke of lawful, patient strength — ^and the next we are only allowed 200,000 men, not even enough to police our frontiers, far less to control the arming of Bolshevists or Spartakists in Germany." Perhaps it is not strange that talk should seldom turn on the war on the sea ; the ex-Kaiser's natural place was in the field, not on the wave. Wliat repercussions on Doom recent discussions here of the Battle of Jutland have had I do not know, though I am sure the controversy is being closely followed ; but I heard no allusions to naval matters while I was at Amerongen excepting the following ; 76 THE EX-KjilSER IN EXILE A German naval officer told nie about the struggle at Kiel just before the end. No amount of organisation, he said, could have kept the war- ship crews in hand. They were practically never out of port, and discipline gradually broke down ; it was a wonder to him that the men " stuck it " as long as they did. As it was the work of our Navy that kept the men shut up in port, and as it was by the Kiel mutiny (and the British propa- ganda) that the Revolution was set going, this testimony may help as a juster idea of the share of the Navy in the closing stages of the War. He told me that in order to escape from Kiel with his life he had to discard his uniform, but before doing this " it was necessary I had some others to put on, you see," and he had a prolonged search to find a disreputable enough suit of clothes to render him immune from sudden attacks of an exceedingly unpleasant natm-e. On the other hand, I was told that the sailors met in the train after leaving Kiel were the gentlest of men, and willingly handed their food to an English lady (my informant) who happened to be travelling with a great many of them on the night of the Revolution. Air fighting is another neglected theme. I never heard of any talk about the raids on London, excepting when the ex-Kaiser's aide-de-camp asked me about my experiences. I told him of an hotel dinner at Claridge's during the week in Sejitember 1917, when there were four raids on the town, and of how uncaring and fatalistic every one seemed to be ; of the exceeding gaiety of the guests ; and of the fact that whenever the shelling became hideously loud the band played louder still. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 77 " But how could you ? " he asked. I told him that from wliat I had seen — ^that was in the West End — people didn't really seem to mind much, and became quite accustomed to the raids ; and that we had stood at the hotel door to watch the shrapnel running down the street as though blown by a giant wind. " But how could you ? " he repeated. " It must have been terrible, terrible ! " And alto- gether he was much struck to hear how little, on the whole, people had been affected. This had been a form of warfare which he had not experienced, and he was interested to hear of the coming of the Zeppelins over my old home Ext on, in Rutland ; of how the first intimation of their proximity was a muffled, rhythmical booming which was heard down the chimneys, followed by the fluttering and crowing of the pheasants. I told him of one occasion when many bombs were dropped within a few miles of the place into a field in which turnips had been stacked in conical heaps. There had been a heavy fall of snow the day before, and these were thickly covered and perhaps looked like the tops of tents. Any- how, no other reason could be imagined for the dropping of a considerable number of bombs in this very isolated spot. On this occasion the house rocked, and several panes of glass were broken. The noise was both terrifying and terrific. I spoke of the Daily Mail map, showing the places hit in the raids on London ; these included the Royal Mint, St. Pancras Station, Victoria Embankment, Ministry of Munitions, North- 78 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE Western Railway, War Office, Scotland Yard, and the Admiralty, but he had not seen it. During his exile the ex-Kaiser has meditated much on the relative advantages of autocracy and constitutional monarchy. His conclusion is, I gathered, that a limited monarchy is the form of government best suited in our days — a fairly obvious one for him after his experiences. In his book. Count Czernin, Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister in Berlin, says : " In his youth the Emperor William did not always adhere strictly to the laws of Constitution ; he sub- sequently cured himself of this failing, and never acted independently of his councillors. At the time when I had official dealings with him he might have served as a model for Constitutional conduct." It seems there has always been a difference of opinion between the Prussian kings and their people as to the best mode of governing, and Frederick William iv. (1795-1861) greatly dis- liked the Prussian Bureaucratic Government and wanted to turn it into a Constitutional Monarchy. During the Revolution in 1848 he appeared as a Nationalist. He was succeeded by his brother, William i., first German Emperor and most beloved of Prussian rulers. William ii. has said that he, too, thinks a Constitutional Monarchy to be the best, though the public might find this hard to believe remembering his summary dismissal of Prince Bismarck. " Wliat made you send him away ? " Count Godard Bentinck once asked the ex-Emperor, when the Iron Chancellor's name cropped up in THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 79 conversation during one of their long evening talks at Amerongen. " Let nobody think I did not admire Bismarck," he replied. " I think he was one of the most remarkable men of the age. But I was very young, and I saw that Bismarck would be the uncrowned Emperor. / could not tolerate that. He or I had to go." As the years went on he learned to accept much that was " intolerable " to him earlier. He holds that it was largely the bureaucrats of Europe who brought on the War, and I shall refer to this later in regard to a little incident relating to Sukhomlinoff.* Naturally the then autocrat of the United States figured largely in the discussions with his host, to which the sittings of the Peace Conference gave rise. " Oh, Wilson ! " ^ he exclaimed to Count Godard. " He is a greater autocrat than I or the Czar of Russia ever was. He has got more power than either of us had. I call him Kaiser Wilson." But his views on the limitations of that personal power were much the same as those current among diplomatists at that time. " You can see he does not understand the Old Europe. It will break him." Similarly he shared the common doubts of the possibility of establishing a real League of Nations. Only if men were ideal beings could the scheme succeed ; as mankind is constituted at present, it was an impracticable proposal. But although he laughs at Wilson for his ambitious autocratic * Russian War Minister, 1914. * President of the United States during the Great War. 80 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE ideas, it was always rather repugnant to him to suffer any infringement of his absolute control in State affairs ; and I doubt if the idea is any less repugnant to him now, clearly though he sees an even greater limitation was necessary. To get a true mental pictm-e of the man's environment — and environment is nearly everything — one must remember that the idea of the " Divine Right of Kings " (the origins for wliich belief are so ably put forth by Sir George Frazer in liis remarkable book The History of the Divinity of Kingship) was no empty phrase to him, but a deep reality confirmed by the traditions of his House, his dazzling position in the eyes of the world, and his firm conviction that he was in some sort of mysterious way the " vice-regent " of Christ on earth. His belief was a natm^al outcome of the " Holy Roman Empire " idea of Pope and Emperor ruling Europe between them, one representing tlie Deity in spiritual things and the other in material affairs. No doubt he was attracted by the notion of re- viving the " Empire " in some modernised form. It will not be forgotten that he visited Leo xiii. in Rome, and that this event was followed by a distinct rapprochement between the Vatican and Germany, Protestant Power though the latter was. It may or may not be significant in tliis con- nection to remember that on his retirement in 1909 Bulow (a Prince of Prussia since 1905), and " My Bornjird," as his Royal master affectionately called him, went to live in Rome with his Italian wife. Princess Marie Camporeale, since when only the grave has excelled him in silence. It will be remembered that he rejected Mr. Chamberlain's THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 81 overtures for an Anglo-German-American Alliance, and that he never took much trouble to relax the Anglo- German tension, for so long a bogey in Europe. Now, when the ex-Kaiser considers the role of a ruler in the light of his experiences, it is the disadvantages of autocracy that are most apparent to him. " The world says I am mad," he said some time after his abdication, " but if it knew what tremendous difficulties I have had to contend with it would perhaps be surprised that I am at all sane." With sixty millions of Germans putting photo- graphs of " Unser Kaiser " in their front parlours, and with flatterers fawning at his feet — " he, I think," says Count Czernin, " was the only monarch in Europe whose hand it was customary to kiss ; not even the Hapsburgs suffered their entourage to do this " ; and to what really nauseating flattery he was subjected may be learned from Dr. Bodam Kriegan's Der Kaiser im Felde — with such stimulants to the belief that he was a demi-god it is not surprising that he found " tremendous diffi- culties " when confronted with the hard facts of the outer world that are so different fi'om courtiers' fanciful pictures. Another monarch who firmly believed in the " Divine Right " was Philip ii. of Spain, whose conception of his place in the Universe is illustrated by the fact that he required all important docu- ments submitted to him to begin " God and Your Majesty." His laboriousness, his unconquerable patience, and his great mental calmness, all seem to have been an imitation of Providence, of whom he considered himself the junior partner. II 82 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE Indeed, some of William ii.'s utterances during the War might easily have been based on Philip ii.'s speeches to his troops in the Netherlands. Early in 1919, when the exile's character and doings were being widely discussed, I asked Count Godard Bentinck whether it was really the fact that the ex-Kaiser had the opinion of himself that his reported constant allusions to the Deity and himself seemed to show. I said I could not believe this, and that it must be the newspapers' way of making him ridiculous in the eyes of the world. But I was told, " No ; he has always been brought up like that, you see, and it is not to be wondered at that he has these feelings very deeply planted in him." The following letter, written to Bethmann- Hollweg on 31st October 1916, and purporting to be from the Emperor, gives an idea of his mind : "My dear Bethmann, — I have long" been turning our conversation over in my mind. It is clear that the peoples of the enemy countries, kept in a morbid war atmosphere and labouring under lies and frauds, deluded also by fighting and hatred, possess no men who are able, or who have the moral courage to speak the word which will bring relief — to propose peace. ; *' Wliat is wanted is a moral deed, to free the world, including neutrals, from the pressure which weighs upon all. For such a deed it is necessary to find a ruler who has a conscience, who feels that he is responsible to God, who has a heart for his own people and for those of his enemies, who, indifferent as to any possible wilful inter- pretation of his actions, possesses the will to free the world from its sufferings. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 83 " I have the courage. Trusting in God I shall dare to take this step. Please draft notes on these lines, and submit them to me and make all the necessary arrangements without delay. " (Signed) William I.R." This letter, although wi'itten in October, was not published in Germany till 14th January 1917, because the German Socialists were at that time claiming to have been the prime movers in pro- ducing the Peace Note. At Amerongen all talk sooner or later turned to the War. And the ex-Kaiser steadily maintains that he did all he could to prevent it. " God knows I am innocent of what my enemies charge me with, and that to me is the only thing that matters," he says. " My conscience is clear before God, and what other people think can't be helped." It is true that there was much that was con- tradictory in the arguments I heard repeated, some of them on the familiar lines that the mere march of events would inevitably have brought the rivahy of Britain and Germany to a head in an armed clash later, if not in 1914. Often he spoke of what an impossible position his was just before the War broke out and again just before the Armistice. " I never knew whom to believe," he said. "People would tell me so-and-so was the case, and yet I could never be sure that I was being told the truth." No wonder he contrasts with some envy the strong foundations and established functions of limited monarchy with the deceptive illusions and uncertainties of autocracy t 84 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE An experience of my own, however, throws some Hght on the ex-Kaiser's claim. I was on my way back from Bayreuth to England on 1st August 1914. As our long, overladen train dragged itself slowly through the peaceful country, where the ripe corn was lazily waving in the late afternoon sunshine, I stood for a long time at the window of the corridor, long enough to see the light go. Then from the shadows outside I heard low, muffled words. They seemed to me to be thrown at the slow- moving train in a curious Sphinx-like, fatalistic way. " Mobil ist's . . . Mobil ist's . . . Mobil ist's. . . ." Then I saw it was from the Landsturm posted at intervals along the line that the catastrophic words came. The British mind at once jumped to the conclusion, " So this is then ' Der Tag.'' " (At Amerongen, by the way, they would have none of " Der Tag " idea. They said it was a tiny and very unimportant matter which the English Press had magnified.) For the remainder of that journey through Germany I talked with many Germans. They left me under the impression that they looked upon the Emperor as being against war. I remember distinctly one constantly repeated saying, "The Kaiser is the Peace-Kaiser. He doesn't want war. But the Crown Prince wants war." And I re- member, too, that in the German newspapers which we read feverishly that day it was pointed out that in Berlin the Kaiser was coolly received, but that the Crown Prince, on the other hand, was vociferously cheered because it was believed he sympathised with the war party, which un- doubtedly existed in Germany. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 85 People in England have often been puzzled as to why Germany went to war. She was winning the commerce of the world and the power which that carries — ^then how extraordinarily stupid of her to plunge into the risks of war ! I pointed out this view to Captain von Ilsemann, the ex- Kaiser's aide-de-camp, with the added comment that the British certainly did not seek a fight. " But would Britain have sat down quietly for another ten years and watched us absorb- ing the commerce of the world ? " he replied. " Surely not, as it would mean ruin for her. It was natural she should wish to stop our develop- ment. War was the only way to do it. So ! " " I congratulate you," he continued. " Britain has achieved most fully and gloriously what she went out to achieve. She has put Germany back for twenty years. ... It remains for her to keep what she has wi-ested from us." I saw some similarity in tliis to the views of a German general at a dinner-party in Dresden in November 1911, and I related my conversation with him to Captain von Ilsemann. The general, elderly, fat, and with long, overhanging eyebrows, was sitting next to me, and immediately after we had finished soup he turned to me and asked in perfect English, " And do you believe we are going to war with England ? " Feeling that it did not in the least matter what I thought, I nevertheless responded, "Yes, I do think so." — " Why ? Do you believe this fellow Blatchford ? Do you believe the Daily Mail ? No important people in England believe it, do they ? " I answered that the Daily Mail, I thought, had a 86 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE great deal of power. — " But do you believe we want to go to war ? " he insisted. " We love your beautiful England." — " Yes," I answered, " you love her because you would like to possess her — that's the way you love her ! " This seemed to amuse him very much. " But why should we want war ? " he con- tinued. " We are botli very happy and con- tented." To this I answered that I could understand it, for, were I a German, I might be annoyed at seeing England take first place in the world. I should want my own country to be first. I shouldn't like to be only No. 2 in the world. There was a slight pause, and then, bending towards me and resting his hand on my arm, he said slowly, " Ah, there speaks a proud English- woman" ("eine stolze kleine Englanderin" were the words he used). " And you are quite right, my dear ! We do want to go to war, but not until England is weak enough and Germany is strong enough. But to go to war with England we must have more seaboard. So Belgium and Holland — wht " and he made a significant gesture with his hands. Then, shaking his fore- finger at me, he said, " England is now at three o'clock, when the sun shines the brightest." I was astonished to hear this phrase again, as, curiously enough, precisely the same words had been said to me one year before at a ball in Vienna given by the German Ambassador Herr von Tschirschky. Captain von Ilsemann's comment on the story was that there this view did obtain in certain THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 87 military circles, and there was always a more or less aggressive party in all countries. There was never any hesitation at Amerongen in fixing the blame for the actual outbreak of war in 1914 on Russia. Indeed, it was an article of faith in the entourage that St. Petersbui'g had set the great machine in motion. The Russian side of the beginning of hostilities is difficult to fathom. We read : " On the 30th July the French Ambassador, M. Cambon,^ told Sir Edward Grey ^ that he felt Germany would most likely call upon France to cease preparation or to engage to remain neutral in case of a conflict between Germany and Russia." ^ Bismarck, it will be remembered, once remarked that a breach with Russia could very easily be cauterised, so perhaps Germany didn't fear her very much as a foe. " It was a war made by bureaucrats," was a phrase I heard more than once. Sukhomlinoff, the Russian Minister of War, was the villain of the piece. I was told of the exile's view of " Sukhom- linoff 's treachery " : " How he had forced the Czar in a really terrible interview to sign against his will the order for general mobilisation ; how the Czar later regretted his action, sent for the Minister, and instructed him to cancel the order ; how the Minister replied that the order was 1 French Ambassador to the Court of St. James in 1914. 2 English Foreign Minister in 1914. (His great-grandaunt Elizabeth Grey, daughter of Sir George Grey, first Baronet, married my great-grandfather, Charles Noel, first Earl of Gainsborough, second creation. She died at eighteen, and her only child was my grandfather. 3 H. C. O'Neil, History of the War. 88 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE already being carried out, and could not be countermanded without hopeless confusion ; and how, in saying so, he was lying, the unissued order being in his pocket at that moment." The Czar, it is understood, signed the order on the afternoon of Wednesday, 29th July. As to when it was issued there is a conflict of evidence, regarding which an experience of my own has, I think, an important bearing. Bethmann Hollweg, in his book published last year,i said : " Then on the morning of 81st July, General Sukhomlinoff finally convinced the Czar himself of the necessity of mobiHsation." With this, Mr. H. C. O'Neil, in his History of the War, agrees : "It was at this point, 31st July, that Russia decided to announce general mobilisation." My point is that the news of the Russian mobilisation was known in Germany on Thursday, 30th July, and the presumption therefore is that Sukhomlinoff issued the order when it was signed — i.e. on 29th July. From 20th July to 1st August 1914 I was at Bayreuth, in Bavaria, for the Wagner Festival. On 30th Jidy I motored with friends to Rothen- burg, a show mediaeval town in Germany, and that night dined with Count Z , wlio had two sons in smart German regiments. I shall always remember his fury against the Russians. I can see him now strutting up and down the room like a bantam cock — ^he was a small man, and had covered himself for that occasion with medals which he had gained at the Battle of Sadowa ! " Es ist unverschamt (it is positively shameless) * 1920. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 89 of the Russians to mobilise against us," he said angrily. " How dare they send (mentioning the number) army corps to fight us ? They must be mad ! What are they doing it for ? " His intense fury with the Russians was quite un- intelligible to me at that time, and, moreover, I was far too much taken up with the music I had been hearing in the last few days and the unique charm of Rothenburg to be interested in politics. But he, at any rate, knew on 30th July of the Russian mobilisation. And the scene came back vividly to me when, in Holland in 1919, I heard the talk about Sukhomlinoff and how he " tricked " the Czar about the issue of the order. As I have mentioned Bayreuth I might tell of how we ourselves noticed mobilisation in progress under our very eyes in the opera-house there. During the performance of Gdtterddmmerung, which we witnessed on Wednesday. 29th, the places occupied by Austrian officers during one act were empty in the next, and the orchestra and chorus were being gradually depleted as, of course, these were composed of nationalities other than German. We were immensely struck by the contrast on Friday, 31st July, when we were present at the performance of The Flying Dutchman. The town was in gala, gaily bedecked with flags and garlands of leaves in honour of the Crown Prince of Bavaria (so much in the public eye later), who was attend- ing the Festival ; but as we drove out of the town away through the pinewoods to our hotel, the scene changed : the insouciance of normal times 12 90 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE suddenly slipped away and we were confronted with a " state of war," for marching towards us in the sweet-smelling still summer night were troops, and then we realised that the phantom we had all talked of — perhaps a little lightly — for years past had indeed become a terrible reality. All the maids in our hotel were weeping, and one of them threw her arms round my neck, sobbing and saying, " Ach warum hat der Kaiser krieg gemacht ? Wir war en alle so gliicklich. Warum hat er es gethan." (" Oh, why did the Emperor make war ? We were all so happy. Why did he do it ? ") Always in Germany I was struck by the way the people (I mean the Volk [peasant]) spoke so personally of the Emperor. It seemed he was much more spoken of as having power in public things which affected them than is our King here. In England it is generally the Government which is inveighed against, or, more vaguely still, " they." This reminds me of the story of the youthful maid of honour who is reported as having said in the hearing of Queen Victoria : " Oh, I believe they've made five new Peers." The Queen's answer came swiftly and very quietly : " They, my dear ? " At first the Kaiser was very anxious to know what English people thought and said of him, and particularly what former English friends believed about him. He spoke to Count Godard with much affection of these old friends, and, indeed, appeared to look back to old days in England with a sort of wistfulness. Often he spoke of how much he had enjoyed his visits there. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 91 One was forced to remember, on learning of his still repeatedly expressed liking for English ways, that he was the son of an English Princess, who had — like all English Princesses — clung with patriotic love to all that was English. Wliat he admired particularly, although I don't believe he likes unconventionality in his own surroundings, was the social freedom and unconventionality, judged by continental standards, of English people- He envied their individualistic spirit generally. Germans had been winning considerable distinction in athletics in late pre-war years, but it was chiefly in trained and regimental fashion — as, for example, you would get a score of Germans to dive to an instant as one man — ^to which their whole existence in subjugation to one leader or another rendered them apt. It will be recalled that he tried to vary this " at the word of com- mand " spirit by efforts to introduce games in which individual initiative has some scope, as, for instance, in golf. These efforts were not successful ; but they may perhaps be taken as indication of the suppressed English side of his nature trying to assert itself. It seems that he always liked talking to English people when he had the chance. I recall a certain occasion (not so very long before the War) when at a party which consisted chiefly of German and Dutch people he chose quite markedly to converse with an Englishwoman, saying, " Well, and what about England ? " adding, with a humorous look, " Still got that d d Liberal Government ? " CHAPTER VI " But, oh, the truth, the truth, the many eyes that look on it, the diverse things they see." — George Meredith. And so the days passed until June 1920, when the ex-Kaiser at last left the kindly roof of Amer- ongen, which in his woe and confusion had given him " sanctuary," and betook himself to his new abode, Doom. Before he acquired this property the ex- Kaiser had had a long search for a home. It began soon after he came to Amerongen. There are very few big houses, as English people under- stand them, in Holland ; so that the search under- taken by his friends was difficult. Belmonte, belonging to Baroness Justine Constant and her sister, Countess Piickler, a house about as far from Amerongen on the one side as Doom is on the other, was at one time considered, but the project fell through. Then one of the most beautifully wooded properties in the country (from the windows of the house one can see into Germany) came into the market, but owing to some delay on the financial side of the transaction the place fell into other hands. The traveller who motors along the straight, stone-paved high road from Utrecht to Arnhem can, near the village of Doom, get a passing glimpse of a white, unpretentious house in the 92 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 93 middle of a wood. It is there that the former head of the German Empire now Hves. If he stops at the village " restaurant " for luncheon the traveller is perhaps told nonchalantly by a waiter that " the Emperor " lives there, but unless he inquires he will hear no more ; for the people of the village have become used to the exile's proximity, and regard it with character- istic Dutch phlegm, not to say indifference. If he be curious to find more, he can go along the avenue, about half a mile in length, from the high road to the entrance, and, standing at the iron gates — and there is no rule forbidding people to go so far — he can look into the grounds and view portions of the house not screened by trees. Very often the ex-Kaiser can be seen in his shirt- sleeves at his favourite occupation of cutting up trees near the road leading to the house. This sequestered residence (it is about four miles from the nearest railway station, Drie- bergen) looks more like the retreat of a successful merchant than the country house we are accus- tomed to in England. It has no architectural beauties, and the grounds in which it is set are very small ; a newly grown wood and a few fields form the confines. There is no moat such as surrounds most country houses in canal-intersected Holland, and the gates and lodge are insignificant in appearance. Since he bought it the ex-Kaiser has spent a great deal of money in improving the property. Many rooms have been added to the fabric, and bath, electric light, central heating, and scientific cooking arrangements have been installed by or 94 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE under the superintendence of German workmen. A large entrance hall has been built, and in it has been placed a magnificent marble staircase brought from the Royal castle in Berlin. Cottages were built for the servants, to house their wives and children ; and near Doom — a prosperous-looking village of from 1500 to 2000 inhabitants, whose houses stand in their own well-kept little plots of ground, and are solidly built and painted in gay colours — a house has been rented for his gentlemen attendants, who only go to him for the day, and do not sleep under his roof. This is a pleasant little villa, situated away from the highway down a little wooded road — a quiet spot where it is possible for them to enjoy a certain amount of privacy. Among the occupants is the doctor, a German, who is constant in his attendance on the exiled couple. The ex-Kaiser's house and grounds are watched by Dutch soldiers. This is not because he is considered a prisoner, but merely because the authorities have undertaken to see that he is not unduly molested. The guard is strict. No one may present himself without a special written permission on which the name and many par- ticulars about the visitor are inscribed. A well- known Englishwoman who endeavoured to gain an entrance was stopped not so long ago.^ Many trippers in the summer months try to get a glimpse of the ex-Kaiser in the grounds, and hang about the roads when it is rumoured that he is outside. During all the spring of 1920 the roads between the German frontier and Doom groaned under ^ Summer 1920. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 95 the weight of enormous wagons laden with precious and beautiful things belonging to the Royal pair, and until then — wonderful to state — carefully- guarded in their palaces for them. Pictures and statuary, tapestries, gold and silver plate, mirrors, porcelain and glass, were now to fill the hitherto unknown and unsung house in the wood. Some of their belongings in the way of clothing were missing after the Revolution. Certainly the ex-Kaiser's plight at first was in some degrees comparable to that of the late ex-Empress of the French when she fled to England by means of the late Sir John Burgoyne's yacht. It is said that she possessed nothing but what she wore and a little handbag. The ex-Kaiser had more, for he arrived in a special train ; but his wardrobe, with the exception of what he brought with him, was completely looted during the Revolution, so that nothing was available to forward on to him in Holland. Even his pocket-handkerchiefs had been taken. Notwithstanding all these losses he is, however, still an exceedingly rich man. His wealth a few months before the War was estimated by the compiler of the Almanack of German Millionaires to be £19,700,000. This included the value of land and forest properties which were forfeited to the State during the Involution, when a large portion of his personal belongings shared a like fate. Nevertheless, he still possesses a great for- tune, and there is a very considerable margin left over from his income, I imagine, after the wheels of his present household are comfortably oiled. 96 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE It is noticeable that the money fortunes of modern fallen monarchs do not seem to share very fully the fate of the political fortunes. Even the ex-Empress Eugenie left at her death the other day ^ a fortune estimated at about £200,000. Days and nights at Doom are singularly lacking in glamour ; that is when there are no visitors. The exile's routine is much as it was at Amerongen — early rising, walking, wood-cutting, and motoring. He does not like to be long parted from his aide-de-camp, Captain von Ilsemann, upon whose buoyant personality he has grown more and more to rely ; so when the latter became engaged to Count Godard Bentinck's daughter, Countess Elizabeth, an arrangement was made by which he slept one night at Amerongen and the next at his own quarters at Doom ; which meant that he stayed with the ex-Kaiser all the evening and went to him early in the morning. On the mornings on which he breakfasted at Amerongen he set off on his bicycle in time to arrive at Doom soon after nine. The first occupation after breakfast is to read eight German daily newspapers, for the exile naturally takes a deep interest in the doings of the country from which he has been cut off. Some he reads himself, others are read aloud to him by the faithful Ilsemann — who, when the official, intimate life of the ex-Kaiser is written, will surely go down to posterity as another Bourrienne or Boswell (minus the volumes). Of the papers the Conservative Kreutz- Zeitung is a favourite. In the old days Professor ^ Winter 1920. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 07 Schiemann (lately deceased) was responsible for the spirit in which foreign affairs were treated in its columns, and the Kaiser, who put great trust in his judgment, always kept in touch with this paper. The others range in political outlook from Junker to Socialist. He makes an effort to swallow the unpalatable doses the latter offer ; but there are certain periodicals which he " cannot abide." One of these is Zukunft, run by the brilliant matador journalist, Harden, a vitriolic wi'iter supposed not to entertain much feeling of affec- tion for the Hohenzollerns. ^Vhen I mentioned Zukunft I was greeted with such epithets as " Ei ! " " Pfui 1 " " Nein 1 " in undisguised tones of dis- gust. It will be remembered that Harden was one of Prince Bismarck's closest friends after that statesman's fall, and probably knows more of the veteran's private views, and thus of the inner history of the late Empire, than any one in Germany to-day — a circumstance which might be discom- forting to the exile. Masses of letters have, of course, to be tackled. Those in which the writers expressed their detesta- tion of him in unrestrained terms and called down vengeance on his head are now infrequent ; not that the writers necessarily have changed their opinions, but probably because they have had their say. These letters, very numerous at first, used greatly to agitate the exile. " How can they believe it ? " he would exclaim, when he was strongly upbraided for having permitted atrocities. I think that the restless " walking up and pacing down " in the picture gallery at Amerongen during »3 98 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE the direful winter 1918-19 must have been partly undertaken to soothe his tormented mind. But I propose to deal more fully later with his attitude on this subject. Now among the famity and business letters come some signed each with hundreds of names, and setting forth the loyalty of ardent monarchists in Germany. A particular and most faithful adherent is the old Field-Marshal Hindenburg. An idiosyncrasy of the veteran is to use large-sized foolscap sheets as notepaper. I have never seen such hand- writing ! His nibs must be at least an inch thick, and each letter is about two inches in height ! Oceans of ink must be used. Being interested in the meanings of caligraphy, I particularly noticed that as the writing sprawled gigantically over the paper, the lines most markedly slanted upward. Apparently hope springs eternal in Hindenburg's fiery and monarchical breast ! The day of the year on which, naturally, the mass of letters is overwhelming, is that of his birthday anniversary (27th January), of which he has just celebrated the 62nd, as I write. ^ Then the ardent souls of the Fatherland pour out their torrent of good wishes. I notice that on this anniversary he received 336 letters and telegrams from Germany, and was presented with sixty-four baskets of flowers, the donors of which included the ex-Kings of Bavaria, Saxony, and Wiirtemberg. A notable fact in this connection is that a man with whom the Kaiser was on terms of personal friendship, and in whose home he * February 1921. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 99 often stayed in " le temps passe," has not written to him on any anniversary since the debacle of 1918. The exile shows that this silence hurts him. This is the third of his birthday anniversaries which he has spent as an exile, but the first since abdication in which he has been the host, and so able to choose his guests with greater freedom than he could when himself the guest of another. It was the fashion in the old days to celebrate it with great pomp, and I see there was a faint sug- gestion of old times in his donning uniform on this occasion. Birthday celebrations are features of the social life of the circles in which he now moves, and the ex-Kaiser is a zestful participant in the dinner-parties at Doom, Amerongen, and Zuy- lestein, which mark these occasions. A table is put aside for the display of gifts, and baskets of flowers usually make a great heap of colour on the floor. One of the Bentinck birthdays took place during my visit, and though I was not present when the ex-Kaiser came, I saw the presents he brought — a large single aquamarine set in platinum and a basket of azaleas tied with an enormous yellow satin bow. The newspapers and letters leave little time for book-reading. He is much interested in Ger- man books on the War and dealing with the science of the various branches of armies. (I remember a German artillery officer, whom I met at the wedding at Amerongen, telling me that the ex-Kaiser ap- parently knew as much of the latest developments of artillery as a specialist in that arm.) But there is one kind of book into which he plunges with absorption : that dealing with Freemasonry. His 100 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE brother, Prince Henry of Prussia, sends him every- thing that appears on the subject, and there is frequently a newly arrived pile to attack of a morning. When I stayed at Zuylcstein in March 1919 (while the ex-Kaiser was still at Amerongen), his ex-Majesty sent me some new German books and pamphlets dealing with this subject. He is convinced of its sinister power in world politics, and he attributes as much evil-doing to its secret machinations as did our eighteenth-century ancestors to the doings of the " Illuminati." In 1794, when all Europe was aflame, the calamities of those days were also imputed to the inner workings of secret societies. From the correspondence of the day we gather that the most dangerous of these was one called " Les Illumines," a society which claimed to receive direct from God, independently of the Church, a special light or revelation. Various bodies from earliest times have be- lieved themselves to be, in a transport of fervour, the recipients of special manifestations ; but the " Illumines " of the eighteenth century were opposed to all religion and believed only in the light of reason. Later, some of them amalgamated with the Freemasons I will now quote, if I may, once more from the Memoirs of Countess Bentinck.^ On 30th September 1794 she writes : " These hot-headed people (the ' Illumines '), attracted by the riches of the Jesuits while all the time pretending to be good Freemasons, managed * Charlotte Sophie, Countess Bentinck : Her Life and Times, 17 1 5-1800, by Mrs. Aubrey le Blond. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 101 to get hold of the Duke of Orleans, whose con- temptible character was just what they wanted coupled with his rank of Prince of the Blood, and made him a Freemason, together with certain other nobles of the same sort. Through them were brought about all the horrors we have witnessed and the French Revolution. But even this was not enough to satisfy them, for they aimed at overturning not only France but the whole of Europe 1 . . . Then they had to rouse to enthusiasm the colder blood of the Northern nations for the idea of equality and liberty ; em- bitter them, tickle their desire for novelty ; make them discontented. "They saw that most nations only occupied themselves with matters of domestic and pecuniary interest, and seldom read or noticed what went on elsewhere. These had to be enlightened. . . ." And so it goes on, and we could believe we were reading a letter of 1921 instead of one written in 1794! Yet, on the other hand, we read what Lord Moira (Francis Rawdon Hastings, first Marquis of Hastings and second Earl of Moira, 1754-1826) said on the same subject at the same time. The following words of his were written in 1800; " Certain modern publications have been hold- ing forth to the world the society of Masons as a league against constitutional authorities — an im- putation the more secure because the known constitutions of our fellowship make it certain that no answer can be published. It is not to be disputed that in countries where impolitic pro- hibitions restrict the communication of sentiment. 102 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE the activity of the human mind may, among other means of baffling the control, have resorted to the artifice of borrowing the denomination of Freemasons, to cover meetings for seditious purposes, just as any other description might be assumed for the same object. But, in the first place, it is the invaluable distinction of this free country that such a just intercourse of opinions exists without restraint as cannot leave to any number of men the desire of forming or frequent- ing those disguised societies where dangerous dis- positions may be imbibed. And, secondly, the profligate doctrines which may have been nurtured in any such self-established assemblies could never have been tolerated for a moment in any lodge meeting under regular authority. We aver, there- fore, that not only such laxity of opinion has no sort of connection with the tenets of Masomy, but is diametrically opposite to the injunction which we regard as the foundation-stone of the lodge, namely, Fear God and honour the Eang." I was interested in the view on the subject of this well-known English soldier for a personal reason also ; as a very fine full-length portrait of him in uniform hangs in the hall of my old home at Ext on. So here we have two exactly opposed views written almost simultaneously by two well-known people of the world. One must bear in mind, however, that English and Continental Freemasonry are very differently constituted. " Plus 9a change, plus c'est la meme chose." (" The more things change, the more they remain the same.") When the Emperor went to Amerongen one of the first things he asked Count Godard was THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 103 whether he was a Freemason, and was pleased when the answer was in the negative. He told Count Godard that when he went to England as quite a young man, Queen Victoria had advised him not to join that Society, meaning, of course, the con- tinental variety — ^tlie political institution which is definitely anti-clerical and anti-religious, and plays a very great part in many European countries, particularly Italy and France. Unlike the Englisli kind, it has determinately banished the Deity from its teaching. His repeatedly expressed belief is that there are only two organisations, apart from Governments, which have any real power in the world to-day — those of Roman Catholicism and Freemasomy. So great are they and so deeply do they work into the minds and lives of their adherents that no one can foretell the end or what they will achieve. One of them must, he thinks, fall through the power of the other. It is only fair to say, in passing, that he was broadminded in his dealings with the different religious bodies of his country. Germany was a Protestant Power, but it will be remembered that the fact that he was a Roman Catholic did not prevent Count Hertling, "der alte Fuchs" ("the old Fox"), as the Bavarians called him, from becoming Imperial Chancellor. Of course there is an extremely large, rich, and powerful Roman Catholic section in Germany which includes many royalties, a large portion of the aristocracy, and an enormous number of the middle and lower classes and peasants. It will also be remembered that Winthorst, the great leader of the " Centre," was a Catholic 104 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE and Bismarck's most formidable opponent in his " Cultur Kampf " against clericalism. How near the mark, one wonders, was Shelley in liis poetical epitome of War ! " War is the statesman's game. The priest's deUght, The lawyer's jest." Fairly though different religions were treated under the Empire, the famous decree " Ne Temere " regarding marriage laws was never promulgated in Germany, and, far as she went in many cases to meet Rome, this papal decree apparently was the limit over which she wouldn't step. Bismarck had once said, "Nach Canossa gehen wir nicht " ("To Canossa we will not go "), referring to the time when Pope Gregory VII. (Hildebrand) literally placed his foot upon the neck of the then " Romische Kaiser," Henry IV., which episode is portrayed in mosaic in the porch of St. Mark's in Venice. For three days the great Emperor was made to walk barefooted through the streets of Canossa. By this phrase the Iron Chancellor left no doubt as to his meaning ! This humiliating episode occurred in 1077. Nearly nine hundred years later, in 1903, William ii. paid a visit to Leo xiii., no longer an autocrat like Gregory, but a prisoner, albeit a powerful one. The magnificence of this visit contrasted strikingly with the quiet unobtrusive- ness of King Edward's * a little earlier. Berlin was now to be on the most friendly * Edward vii. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 105 terms with the Vatican. Many views as to the ultimate object of this rapprochement were held by different cliques and sections of thought. Some saw in it a slight to United Italy, others a bid for the Protectorate of the Eastern Christians in anticipation of the defection of France. Another series of conjectures ascribed the eclat given to the visit to the Pope to the desire to gain the support of the German Catholic party in domestic politics. But Count von Biilow had met with a refusal from Cardinal Rampolla when he proposed that the Eastern Christian Pro- tectorate should be given to Germany, and this was very pleasing to the Russians, whose paper, the Novoe Vremya, descri})ed it as "a very severe blow to German influence in Syi'ia, where numerous communities of Catholic Germans are already formed." However, the German Government missions in China have been gradually transferred from French to German protection since the action in 1899 of Mgr Amzer in requesting and obtaining permission to found a mission which should not be under French Protectorate. An arresting point in contemporary history is the increasing defer- ence shown to the Papacy by Protestant Powers in contrast to the neglect or even hostility of nominally Catholic nations. The key to this friendly attitude may perhaps be found in the mental reservation contained in Bismarck's historic phrase. M. Jean Correre, a journalist with a reputation for being in touch with the Vatican, detected in the Emperor's visit an attempt to influence the 14 106 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE future conclave favourably for German interests, and it was said that the Emperor worked on behalf of Cardinal Gotti, Prefect of Propaganda, as a candidate for the Papacy, hoping thus to secure a political Pope chiefly solicitous for the diplomatic power of the Holy See, and anxious to substitute for the lost temporal power a temporal influence which he would place at the disposal of Germany. As the Hapsburgs had been known to place tlieir nominee in Peter's chair, perhaps the fertile and scheming brain of William ii. imagined that a Hohenzollern might be able to do likewise. That there was German influence present in the Vatican in the person of Mgr Gerlach is certain, and on very high authority it is said that this priest had the Pope " in his hand." In this connection it is interesting to read in the Letters of William i. to Bismarck that in 1876 Bismarck, in a letter to the Crown Prince Frederick, mentions a President von Gerlach as a Protestant belonging to the Evangelical Church who, however, associates himself with the " Centre " (Catholic) party and the Jesuits, therefore Bismarck seems to think he and his friends are not to be trusted. It was on the occasion of this historic visit, if my memory does not mislead me, that as the Emperor drove through the streets of Rome in splendour, escorted by blond giants of cuirassiers, specially chosen for length of limb and breadth of shoulder (he shares the liking of his predecessor, Frederick the Great's father, for very tall men), he was now and again greeted with the flattering cry of " Charlemagne ! " It was with the acclama- THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 107 tions of hundreds of German pilgrims and the whole of the red-gowned students of the German Ecclesiastical College ringing in his ears that the Protestant monarch passed into the silent, cool courts of the Vatican, and for twenty-five minutes remained in conversation with the man who, to the minds of himdreds of millions of human beings, represents God on earth in all matters pertaining to faith and morals. How strange and mixed and tragic must the memories of the exile be ! In view of the much-discussed subject of papal neutrality during the War, I asked at Amerongen what the German impression was about the delicate subject. Captain von Ilsemann told me that in Germany Benedict xiv. was looked upon as being pro-English. I hold no brief for the Papacy, but I thought this was a tribute to its neutrality. It is not for me to say that he was neutral or otherwise, but, humanly speaking, it should not have been surprising did he tend more towards the Central Powers, consisting as they did of Catholic Austria and Germany, who, notwith- standing her Lutheranism, had done more politically to conciliate the Papacy than any other modern Protestant nation. One of her most important acts in this connection is the presence of an Embassy to the Vatican as well as to the Quirinal. Zionism is another question which greatly perturbs the ex-Kaiser, and one of the books which every one had been reading when I was in Holland last summer ^ was the anti-Semite The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The machinations which the curious pamphlet purports to disclose were firmly * 1920. 108 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE believed to have been among the causes which led to the World War and later to the rise of Bol- shevism in Russia. The ex-Kaiser shared some of the prejudice in military and diplomatic circles against Jews, but he did not allow it to interfere with his recognition of the part played in raising the country to the pinnacle of commercial success before 1914 by such of them as Ballin, the great shipowner ; Rathenau, the electrician and financier ; and Dernburg, managing director of the Deutsche Bank before becoming Colonial Secretary. There also are not lacking in Germany brilliant Jews in other fields of activity who have added to the arts and learning of their adopted country, such as Hauptmann, the poet-playwright ; Liebermann, the painter ; Ehrlich, the heroic fighter of disease ; and Rheinhardt, the stage wizard. It is, however, hurtful to some of the most esteemed Jews that the ex-Kaiser should hold this view regarding members of their faith and nation, and a little book has come to my notice called the Jewish Bogey and the Forged Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, by Lucien Wolf, which utterly repudiates all the political misdoings imputed to the Jews in the aforesaid pamphlet. It is well worth reading, if only for the reason that one should be acquainted with both sides before making a judgment. A man who is constantly referred to as being a Jew is Hugo Stinnes, one of the most important men in Germany to-day. But in the Reichstag Handbook his religion is described as Evangelical. His wealth is colossal, and I imagine that he is far more powerful than the ex-Kaiser ever was. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 109 He controls the greater part of Germany's coal, iron, and steel supply, and is suspected of having wrecked the Spa negotiations in order to secure the occupation of the Ruhr Valley and thus realise a Franco-German coal combine. Over and above this he owns over sixty news- papers, and, unlike Lord Northcliffe, whose paper supply comes from forests in Newfoundland, Hugo Stinnes owns miles of woods in Germany for that purpose. His influence on German public opinion is growing apace, and he is the leader of the German People's Party, which is anti-socialistic, reactionary, and royalist, and so it would seem that Monarchists would have a very strong backer in this prince of industry. Incidentally, one may perhaps say that the brains of the Fatherland to-day are more successful in commerce than in politics. I well remember the admission a German of wide experience in the world made to me when I met him in visiting, in the autumn of 1913, the home of the late Baron Marschall von Bieberstein, who had died that summer, and considered by far and away Germany's greatest diplomat. " We cannot pro- duce really great diplomats," he said. " Perhaps we are too rough in our ways. We cannot ' finesse ' as other Europeans can." Of all the tales circulated about the ex-Kaiser's versatility — as painter and composer, for instance —that crediting him with an aptitude for preach- ing has the greatest semblance of truth. It was natural that he should be keenly interested in religious questions, both on account of his need as ruler to reconcile the conflicting political aims 110 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE of the churches in Germany and on account of the conviction which his upbringing and earher en- vironment firmly estabHshed in his mind that he was in a special sense a representative of God on earth. It is not surprising now that in the wreckage of his glory he clings to the consolations of religion. At Doom, as at Amerongen, morning prayers are part of the daily round, but here they are conducted by the exile. On Sundays a special service takes place, at which he very often preaches himself. I am told he has quite a gift for this form of self-expression — a gift that may be dangerous to the soul, as tending to make a man vain if he is not surpassingly humble — and that what he says is interesting and thoughtful and is delivered in an impressive and gripping manner. There is no straying from the orthodox path ; a matter of some consequence, since many of the servants who attend these services are Dutch, and a wave of unconventional religious thought is at present passing over Holland, based chiefly on the assumption that our Saviour Jesus Christ was not the Son of God. His orthodoxy is, indeed, vouched for by a Utrecht minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, whose doctrines in the main are similar to those of the Lutheran Church to which the exile is attached. This minister is a small and rather bent old man, with patriarchal white locks and long, snowy beard. In his capacity of " old friend " of the Bentinck family he is sometimes rather critical of the doings and sayings and apparel of the younger generation, but notwith- THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 111 standing this — not very unusual — characteristic he is always welcome and constantly a visitor at Amerongen and Doom. I noticed that he spoke long and often to the exile on the day of the wedding reception I attended at Amerongen ; indeed, some of the guests were obviously a little surprised at the attention which the latter paid to him. He is apparently never so happy as when discussing theology of the Calvinistic type with the recluse. One can imagine what texts for reflection and discourse they found in the mutability of human fortunes, the vanity of earthly power, and the lessons of adversity. CHAPTER VII " Yet looks he like a king." — King Richard //. During the winter of 1919-20 Countess Elizabeth Bentinck had become engaged to Captain Sigurd von Ilsemann, and their wedding was fixed to take place on 7th October 1920. The day dawned one of brilliant hot sunshine — ^the right back- ground for a marriage day. The bride, who is extremely popular in the village, had been asked not to enter it for a week previous to the great day, and so she was happily astonished to see into what a fairyland of greenery the people had transformed the place. Three miles of green festoons had been made to decorate the streets, and here and there on the way to the church had been erected with boughs charming little imitation castellated houses. The villagers had spared themselves no trouble to make this indeed the bride's own particular day. The ex-Kaiser was greatly looking forward to the outing also, and it was the first gaiety of this sort that he had had since the revolution. As no one ever knows exactly when he will arrive, the wedding guests had been waiting for about half an hour in the long rectangular drawing- room at Amerongen. It was about eleven o'clock. Conversation went on easily though in subdued tones, but nobody moved about, and the array — (By the courtesy oj the Proprietors of The Daily Mail.) FRAU VON ILSEMANN HAUPTMANN VON ILSEMANN 'geb: Gravin Bentinck). Adjutant to the ex-Kaiser. ON THEIR WEDDING DAY. OCTOBER 7th, 1920. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 113 women to the left, men to the right, in a wide half-circle facing the door on the inner wall — was ceremonious. Suddenly, without any preliminary warning, two tall attendants, in long blue coats and tricorne hats and with silver - topped staves, flung open the big double door and announced : " Der Kaiser 1 " The hum of conversation ceased abruptly. A slight, stiffly erect figure in the uniform of a German field-marshal took two short, quick steps into the room, halted near the door with a smart click of the heels, gave a rapid succession of slight, jerky bows to right and left, and then, in the silent pause of a few minutes that ensued, looked restlessly and uncertainly round the company. He held a helmet tucked against his right side by his right arm, and his left hand pushed forward slightly the hilt of a sword that had clattered as he entered. I have described the ex-Kaiser's entry in this way, because, by chance, it was made in a dramatic fashion, and the effect was heightened rather than lessened by his nervousness. There was a slight pause, and for a few seconds before Count Godard came forward to greet him he stood (as he had so often before, but on how much wider a stage) a solitary figure, to which all eyes were turned. This was the first opportunity I had for close observation of him. I had many more that day. And I may begin by saying that the reports that represent him as a mental or physical wreck are entirely misleading ; they probably have been 15 114 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE based on the fact that his appearance now is markedly different from that of pre-war days. He did not look his best at the moment I am describing. He was obviously in an extreme state of tension, being conscious that there were people there, both Dutch and English, who would not have cared to meet him had it not been for their relationship to the bride. It was a grey man we gazed upon — grey of dress, of face, of hair, and steely of eye ; though, perhaps, putty-colour would more accurately de- scribe the hue of his complexion. The short, soft beard had no streaks of black in it ; the moustache, long and drooping at the ends, was a shade whiter ; the eyebrows (rather an unusual effect) were grey ; the hair, thick and wavy, but with no trace of dark strands, was brushed back from his brow, not exactly en brosse in continental fashion or flat in the English, but with an um^uly tuft standing up near the front. There was no sign of the old " Kaiser Fire " in his eyes or of the verve and " aplomb " — the " ME's here " ^ — of pre-war days. Everything sym- bolised by the moustache, so gaily and proudly pointing upward, had gone, and this changes the face so much as to make him look almost a different man. The life, the enthusiasm, the buoyancy of the pre-war Emperor is no longer there, and in its place one sees a quiet, bearded old gentleman. Not bent nor weak nor decrepit, as some of the reports would have us believe. No. He stands perfectly erect, and is a most noticeable figure. Curiously enough, he had a hard look, but ^ See Autobiography, Margot Asquith. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 115 that was because he has scarcely any eyelashes, and, though his eyes are not prominent, there is not a sufficiently deep depression from the high cheek bones to give a soft contour. His hair was neither clipped short in military fashion nor noticeably long ; one saw that he had small ears. He did not strike me as what one calls " a fine- looking man " ; he was rather short for that. This was the first occasion on which he had appeared in uniform since his abdication. On his breast were about a dozen orders. After Count Godard had welcomed the visitor (the ex-Kaiser is always addressed as " Majestat " — " Your Majesty " — and he prefers the word " Emperor " to " Kaiser "), a tour was made of the half -circle, and the guests were presented one by one. Each made a bow, low in some cases, slight in others, and his friends received a warm handshake accompanied by a click of the heels. With those whom he had already met the ex-Kaiser exchanged a few amiable sentences, and with a few ladies, relations of the bride, he had quite long conversations. I noticed that his eyes did not rest on the one to whom he was speaking. His glance was always darting here and there. The formalities' of introduction over, the half- circle broke up into little shifting groups for conversation. The guests wore ordinary light garden-party dress, for the day was mild, even summery ; the younger men were in morning dress, many of the older in frock-coats. There was no constraint, but the tones were a little subdued, in deference to the ex-Kaiser's well-known dislike of loud-voiced talk. The ex-Kaiser himself 116 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE stood quietly chatting with his host and men of the family with whom he was acquainted, and who came up from time to time. He gesticulated a little, but the impression was of a quiet, elderly man, friendly and genial in manner, and without any pose ; for by now the ice was broken, and he was quite at ease. As I said before, he was looking forward with an almost juvenile zest to tliis " outing," and the scene, bright with flags and flowers, and lively with the villagers en fete, was an animating experience that he had not enjoyed for long. And what gave him particular pleasure was the fact that the daughter of the Count, the young hostess of many months of whom he had grown very fond, was being married to his trusted adjutant and in- separable follower. Captain von Ilsemann. The bride is very Dutch in all her sympathies, proud of the country in which her ancestors have struck such deep root for centuries past. She had lived a very quiet, retired life, and the change for her when the Kaiser first arrived was immense. She was the only lady in the Castle, and her shy grace and sweetness had given her great charm as a hostess to an exile deeply wounded in spirit when first he came. His affection for her had grown to be almost paternal. We had all been talking for about a quarter of an hour when the bride and Captain von Ilsemann entered. The ex-Kaiser advanced impulsively to meet her, as she made a deep curtsy, and shook her hand long and warmly, smiling and talking eagerly. His handshaking, I may say, is of the most cordial kind when it is a friend he greets. He brings his THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 117 hand forward with a wide, swift, sweeping gesture, as if his heart were in it. There are occasions, it is true, when he tenders two cold fingers ; but that is another story. From the time of the bride's entry until the preparations for the civil mnrriage ceremony, which were meantime going on in another room, were completed, he remained chatting to the bride, apparently happy and as simple in manner as any elderly, long-standing friend of the family might be. Then the signal was given that all was ready, and nearly the whole of the company left the room, the ex-Kaiser among them, for he was to sign the register as a witness. I was one of the few who remained behind, and so cannot say anything about the ceremony, excepting that it seemed long, about half an hour altogether, I think. The bride and bridegroom were the first to return to the drawing-room. Then, a few minutes later, came the ex-Kaiser, his host, and a niece ; and what appeared to me a pretty incident took place. The bride, perhaps thinking of the change in her position her marriage to the exile's adjutant had made, began to make a real royal curtsy. At once the ex-Kaiser hastened forward, and with extended arm stopped her. " Nein, nein, nein ! " he exclaimed, smiling to her in friendly reproof. Everything was informal at this stage, con- gratulations to the newly wed couple being post- poned until after the ceremony in church. People moved about chatting until Count Godard Ben- tinck approached the ex-Kaiser and said something to him, and together they went to another room. 118 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE It was time to go to the village church — Dutch Reformed — where a minister from Utrecht, the friend of the Bentinck family to whom I just referred, officiated. I pass over the ceremony at the church, as the ex-Kaiser was not present. The weather being fine, the guests being conveyed in open horsed carriages, and the villagers loudly cheering a bride who had passed her life among them, the drive to and from the Castle was extremely pleasant and picturesque. Outside the church, on our way back, the whole party was kinematographed. On the top of the steps of the bridge over the inner moat — ^the Castle is enclosed by two — ^the ex-Kaiser stood awaiting the return of the bride. She and her husband were in the first carriage ; I was in, I think, the fourth, and so I did not see the greeting. I was told it was most paternal, and I could readily picture it from what I had seen of the long conversation in the drawing-room and the spontaneous movement by which he had checked her attempt to curtsy. When I reached the drawing-room he was standing alone in a far corner, while the bride and bridegroom at the head of the room were beginning to receive the formal — and very hearty — congratulations of the guests. This was the bride's hour, and he kept unobtrusively out of the way, only following everything with his eyes, until the procession of guests had ended. It is only fair to say, indeed, that his attitude the whole of the day, apart from the moment of his abrupt entry, was as unobtrusive and far from posing as possible. It was perhaps twenty minutes before luncheon THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 119 was announced. By that time the ex-Kaiser, still in his corner, was chatting with some of the men, one of the small groups away from the big one surrounding the bride. He led the way from the drawing-room with a niece of the host and mother of one of the little bridesmaids — there was no " best man " at the marriage ceremony, and only child bridesmaids. Luncheon was served in the large picture- gallery encircling the main staircase, notable for its collection of paintings of the Dutch school and its many objets d^art. At the head of the main table sat the ex-Kaiser next to the bride ; there were about six tables disposed round the gallery. It was a quiet function. The meal was slight but of extreme excellence — everything being cold except the consomme, four courses being served in an hour, with a servant to each two guests. The ex-Kaiser, who ate sparingly and sipped hock, had long lost any trace of his initial nervousness, and seemed in excellent spirits as he turned from one to the other of his companions. On the wall to his left was a life-size marble bust of himself which he had presented to his host. One's eyes strayed from it to him ; and one thought of then and now. It was, I believe, sculptured at the beginning of the War. Here was the War Lord, dominating, self-confident, moody, changeable, tragic ; helmeted, with the folds of a military cloak falling loosely round his shoulders, the outstretched right hand grasping a sceptre. Who, looking from the marble to the man, would not reflect on his strange destiny ? But, apart from such reflections, one was afforded a most 120 THE EX-KAIStiR IN EXILE instructive comparison in personal appearance. One saw that it was his grey beard and the long, drooping moustache that had the biggest part in the change from truculence in its prime to an elderly benignity. Among the toasts proposed was one to the leading guest. It was briefly put by the host and quietly responded to. Standing up, he said quietly in German (he could not be heard a little distance away), " I thank you very much. I am glad to be here on the happy day of your dear child's wedding." Luncheon over, most of us went out of doors, the ex-Kaiser leading the way. While half of us lingered on the bridge over the inner moat, he went down into the courtyard and stood most of the time a little way to the left of the steps and half hidden by a large pillar, chatting with various members of the family. From his long stay at the Castle he was well versed in all the concerns and the little idiosyncrasies of the household and its retainers ; and, naturally, on that day family gossip took first place. Thus there was some merriment ; but there was no throwing back the head and hearty laughing as I have been told there was in the old days. To persons trained in and for Courts a good memory and a sharp eye for small things as well as large are, if not indispensable, at least highly desirable qualifications. Royalty, for instance, is supposed never to forget a face or a name ; or, at least, if it does so, never to betray the fact. Such gifts and accomplishments are the ex-Kaiser's in abundance. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 121 Little escapes him at any assembly. His pale, vigilant, side-glancing eyes take in every detail of looks, dress, manner, and equipment. And that is particularly the case if he has the fortune — which does not happen very often nowadays ! — to see pretty, well-dressed people. Everything is noticed then — ^the colour and make of a gown ; whether it is too long or too short, and how it is worn ; whether or not ankles are neat and feet are well shod ; what jewels are worn, and how they match the owner's garments and the colour of her eyes. And, after a party is over, he will speak critically or admiringly of the looks or the clothing of the guests. I had ample leisure at the wedding reception at Amerongen, of which I have already spoken, to observe this trait in the exile's character. The dresses there were less decorative and more old- fashioned than they would have been at a similar gathering in England. Until lately it was the custom of French people to twit the English with having clumsy feet or ankles ; they held all the gold medals, so to speak. Recently we have improved in this respect ; one sees plenty of pretty, slender feet and ankles neatly and narrowly shod and smartly stockinged in silk. But the Germans and Dutch are in the position we were accused of occupying. The men themselves complain of the comparative rarity of the slim and elegant English or American type among their womenfolk. Two or three of the guests, however, by the shortness of their skirts (in comparison with those of others — for they would have been deemed on the long side in i6 122 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE England) showed trim ankles, and the ex- Kaiser commented on the fact. There were others who he thought would have been better advised not to comply with the exigencies of a fashion requiring a shortening of the skirts ! The wearing of silk stockings is not so general as in England, and the old pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church, who was at the reception, was loud in his condemnation of such " useless frivolities " ! I write in no critical spirit ; I merely compare this gathering to one of the same kind in England. But even "comparisons," says Shakespeare, "are odorous ! " Courtly manners are still de rigueur there, and when met are much appreciated if only for the fact that they are becoming noticeably rare in England — except, of course, in a certain circle where no one would be tolerated whose behaviour did not conform to certain standards. The charm created by such manners is an elusive thing, but though the parfum it exhales is delicate and difficult to describe it always makes its presence felt. The ex- Kaiser likes his own womenfolk to be simply and quietly attired — ^the unnoticeable in blue or grey or dark stuff, with little ornamenta- tion. Nowadays he sees little else than the simple and old-fashioned. He is not much in the open beyond his own grounds, and if he were, there would be few diversities of attire to catch his eye. The vogue for wearing slightly outre clothes has not yet widely spread in Holland, nor, I imagine, in Germany, and there one sees no smart, peculiarly striped tweed skirts, no gay silk jumpers. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 123 no tight-fitting caps drawn closely round the face and allowing the escape of tantalising curls, no " saucy " woollen stockings nor well-made Scotch brogues or shooting shoes. Oh no ! But should a person appear thus garbed, it would cause much amused comment on, though withal a lurking disapproval of, " your extraordinary English fashions." But he, as any other man who frowns on the adventurous in the dress of his own people may be, is susceptible to the appeal of the exotic in others. Perhaps, too, a vivid or elegant gown recalls Court days, when, however stiff and formal the general tone might be, there were always some beautiful women to give freshness and life to the assemblies. The ex-Crown Princess, quick-witted and charming, was, it will be remembered, doing much to remove the reproach of dowdiness that clung to the dress reputation of German women. Generally, however, it was, and is, only at a distance that the ex-Kaiser finds unconventionality amusing, however often he may express a liking for it in the abstract. Rigid conformity to historical procedure was practised at his Court, and would be again, I am sure, if he were back in Berlin. As I visited this town only as a tourist I was not present at any Court ceremonies, but these, though no doubt stiffer and less elegant, could not outdo those of Vienna in scrupulous observance of traditional custom. Here were given two kinds of State Balls : one was called a " Hof Bal," at which, I believe, there was a large crowed, and for which it wasn't very difficult to obtain an invitation ; the 124 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE other was called the " Bal-bei-Hof," and this was, I imagine, the most exclusive assemblage of its kind in Europe. I was invited to this Ball when I was staying with a friend in Vienna in February 1910, and was much struck by its remarkable adherence to tradition, which almost amounted to ritual, so exactly did the ceremony follow a prescribed rule. From the days of Maria Theresa, incidentally the last of the Hapsburgs, no deviation of any sort in the way of form had taken place — the same " menu," from the identical recipes, being used on the night I dined off a three hundred years old oak table and drank the finest iced Pilsener out of heavy, chalice-shaped glasses as had been the case during the reign of that great Empress. Champagne was never brought in at these feasts ; it was much too modern an innovation ! It will be noticed from the invitation card, of which I give a reproduction, that an amusing mistake was made in the writing of my name ! On entering the ballroom, the walls of which were mirrored, the Lord Chamberlain, Prince Montenuovo, approached me, and I was asked to come and be presented to the Archduchess, who was doing hostess that night for the old Emperor Franz- Joseph. All the other guests — perhaps two hundred — were standing along one side of the large room, and I, to my horror, found myself following this exceed- ingly tall and magnificent -looking personage across the centre of the room — alone. A few minutes later a door opposite opened, and from another glittering room of gold and mirrors and scintillating chande- liers the Royal procession advanced towards me. IL- |.l'..lol ,,«.-.t('. LWITATIOX TO THE BAL-BEI-HOF IN \'IENXA (Showing the mistake made in the writing of my name). V" Walzer l" Quaiirille 2"'^ Walzer Laucier Cotillon SOUPEK (7^12 Uhr> 3'" Walzer 2'" Quadrille ^i.r Walzer Sclinellpolia 7 Pf-hruir ILUO- Programme of the Danxinx. at the Bal-bei-Hoi. Souper du 7 Fevrier 1910, Iloui Ion. — Crt'iiie d'orgc Diclv a la gelee Ze|.! yr St, Huln-rt. Chai lon^i rotis, salade, compote. (.liar lolic aux pfeclies Dessert Menu of the Supper At the Bal-bei-Hof in Vienna at which I was present. It is identical with that used during the reign of Maria-Theresa, the last of the Hapsburgs (1717- 1780). Her father (Charles VI) it was who conferred a Countship on the Hon. William Bentinck on December 24th, 1732. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 125 The late Archduke Franz Ferdinand was there with his wife, Countess Hohenberg. She took no part whatever in the official part of the proceed- ings, all the presentations being made to an Arch- duchess who was, I believe, a Princess of Parma. I was immensely struck on this occasion by her unpleasantly ambiguous position, and it is always said that it was through the influence of the German Emperor at the Court of Vienna that she was given any consideration at all in public social functions. I mention this little episode and give the menu and the invitation which bade me to the Ball as an interesting memory of days which are no more. As in dress, so in general outlook, the ex-Kaiser prefers the " old-fashioned " type of woman, the German " frau," to whom " Mein Mann " is the cherished embodiment of wisdom and authority. He likes the self-effacing woman, the one as observant of the changes in the mind as is the fisherman of the water's surface when the winds blow lightly across it, who hangs on his words admiringly, whose desire is submissively to comfort a man who is to-day indeed a wounded exile but is still potentially a towering figure. He likes the kind whose voice is hushed and sympathetic in his presence, and to whom " the Emperor likes this " or " he doesn't like that " is sufficient to influence deportment. Their eager- ness for his welfare, indignation at the world's treatment of him, and, above all, a listening attitude and a rapt reception of his monologues are the passports to his favour. Not that women play much part in the life 120 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE at Doom — and less than ever since the late Empress's death. It is men who gather round him and in whose company he is most at home. Even among them, as among women, his vanity makes him sensitive to any suggestion of absence of regard, even so slight as is implied by lack of eagerness to court his gaze. A man whom he saw sometimes in Berlin never obtruded himself on his notice, and when at " Kaiserliche " receptions remained outside the circle that buzzed round the Imperial magnet. It annoyed the Kaiser that this person did not seek to be near him ; but if the man had pushed himself forward he would more than likely have incurred the Royal displeasure. He is generally inclined, however, to be friendly and genial with people whose social position is in no way comparable with his. No one needs to be reminded of the difference in the attitude of the English or Americans and the Germans to women, but I may perhaps note two little illustrations which came under my eyes. One was at Dresden, when driving to some military manoeuvres in which the Emperor rode in front of his glittering " Garde du Corps." A carriage passed us, and in it sat two smartly dressed officers and a lad3^ The officers sat facing the horse, the lady with her back to the animal. The other was in Thuringia, where we had been to visit the house w'here Luther is supposed to have thrown the ink-pot at the Devil. Here I saw a man driving a woman and an ox yoked to a plough. The ex-Kaiser particularly resents that people should impute to him discourteous behaviour. In THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 127 the early days of the War he stayed for a time in a chateau belonging to a lady who had fled at a moment's notice, leaving all her personal belongings lying about — buckled shoes under the dressing-table, stockings hanging out of open drawers, and the clothing she had just exchanged for her travelling garb carelessly thrown on to the bed. When the Royal suite arrived the first thing the ex-Emperor did was to have long lists of all the lady's possessions made, and then he had them all put away into certain apartments which he ordered to be locked. The key and the lists of her belong- ings he then had sent to her in Brussels, whither she had fled. She persisted, however, in spread- ing a report that his people had looted her chateau. Much later the house was destroyed by the guns of all nations ; and so I suppose she never saw her exceedingly marvellous garments again. A characteristic act of the Kaiser's, of which I was amused to hear, took place at Constanti- nople, whither he and the Empress went with a large " suite." With Captain von Ilsemann and other attend- ants he visited some of the harems and was much struck by the beauty and youth of some of the inmates. I do not know whether it was a result of these visits or not, but the Kaiser announced his wish that during his sojourn all the Turkish women should go unveiled ! This request, or order — for at that time the Kaiser was a person of tremendous importance to the Turks — was obeyed. It struck me as one of the most autocratic acts 1 1 had ever heard attributed to William ii. 128 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE The late ex-Kaiserin was of a very different temperament to her husband, and maybe she shared the view of the late Mrs. Roosevelt that " a woman's name should only be mentioned twice in public^ — on the day of her marriage and the day of her death." But, retiring and devoted to the home and charities as she was, she did not lack perspicacity in public affairs. I was told she was one of the first to recognise the revolutionary danger. During the summer of 1918 certain great ladies were giving big parties, with buffets loaded with every kind of rich food and rare delicacy. This behaviour annoyed the Kaiserin very much, and she made it known that she strongly disapproved of it at a time when it was common knowledge that people were starving. Very different from the " Why don't they eat cake, then ? " of Marie Antoinette, when told the people of Paris had no bread. The two other ladies most closely bound to the ex-Kaiser are, of course, the ex-Crown Princess and his daughter, the Duchess of Brunswick. The Duchess was known before her marriage to be the only person who could wheedle " papa " to do her will against his own. She, the only daughter in a family of seven, is now the mother of four boys. It is curious how the male sex predominates in the Hohenzollern family. In looks she is typically German. Her sister-in-law might readily be taken for a Frenchwoman. She is always beautifully dressed, and the lead she gave was resulting in a great change in women's fashions in Germany when the THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 129 War came and stopped that particular develop- ment. Her prestige in Germany is still quite remarkable. To servants the ex-Kaiser has a pleasant manner. His personal attendants seem strongly attached to him, and the general servants, most of whom are Dutch, show every sign of content with their occupation. I have already noted that he makes friendly inquiries about, and gives presents to, servants at Amerongen. The nurse who went with me to Holland, after seeing him and hearing what the others had to say, asked me, wonderingly, if he could really be so wicked as people had said. 17 CHAPTER VIII " Ghosts only come to those who look for them." — Holtei. The subject of missing property during the War, or " lost," was, as I said in the last chapter, a sore one with the exile, and he was highly indignant that there should have been any suggestion that he was not careful of other people's possessions. A good deal of interest was taken by some of the English illustrated papers early in the War in the famous " pastels " of St. Quentin — some eighty of the drawings of eighteenth-century beauties by Quentin la Tour, which, " the most delicate flowers of a refined art," were among the greatest treasures of the town. He had them all packed by experts and sent to Berlin, where he had a book compiled containing the history and a reproduction of each picture. The book I saw lately,^ and I can testify to its beauty. When all the copies were made, the originals, it is claimed, were carefully returned to their rightful owners. The late ex-Kaiserin very much resented what was said about the ex- Kaiser in the Press, and this, amongst other things, led her to entertain strong anti -British feelings. It is curious to reflect that this mild and kindly woman, easily moved to help those in distress near her, and keeping aloof 1 September 1920. 130 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 131 from politics, was the one at Doorn who was dis- tinguished by a bitter dislike for the English — she would on no aceount ever see any one of the race, if such a meeting were desired by the other side. This may be explained by the fact that she was typically German in her home life. One knows how the husband bulks in the households of the Fatherland — a massive figure ! Violent hands were to be laid on her husband. That was indelibly impressed on her mind as the central fact ; and to her the other facts were of little account. Since she went to Doorn she was so ill that she seldom saw any one but her most intimate friends, and Countess Keller and Countess von Brockdorff- Rantzau were the ladies who were most constantly with her. She spent much of her time in making and knitting garments for the children in the most impoverished parts of Germany, and seldom left her rooms, but the homely side of the life around her always awakened her interest. Nykerk, a place on the Zuyder Zee well known to tourists and about twenty miles from Doorn, is one of the few places where peasants still wear the traditional dress of the countr}^ a peculiarity of which is that little girls of from four to fourteen are dressed like old women and don numberless parti-coloured petticoats, twenty-seven having been the highest number so far attained ! Sometimes these children come to Doorn, and the ex-Kaiserin was always amused to see them. One of the ex-Kaiser's pleasures now is to give or to go to luncheon and dinner parties, at which are present people whose acquaintance he 132 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE has made since his arrival. But not all the neighbours enter into relations with him. There is, indeed, a strong party in Holland, and not only in democratic circles, which views the presence of the exile with great disfavour. It is often said that Holland is pro-German, but before anything Holland is sturdily and steadfastly pro- Dutch 1 Apropos these parties, there was a diffi- culty last September in obtaining meat owing to the prevalence of foot-and-mouth disease in the district. Count Godard thereupon sent as much game as he could to Doom, though at that time partridges were the only available birds. As the exile has no shooting of his own these were very acceptable. To Amerongen he goes frequently, sometimes on very short notice. One may judge how little he is inclined to dally over his own luncheon by the fact that, though that meal is fixed at Doom for one o'clock, he often telephones that he will arrive at Amerongen about two. On these occasions he usually remains for the whole after- noon and sometimes until as late as seven o'clock. The duration of his stay largely depends on whether the turn of the conversation leads him on to favourite subjects. His talk, then, has " an infinite variety," touch- ing upon works of philosophy, music, religion, history, travel, Assyriology, and Egyptology. I mention the last because he is very much interested in the history of ancient civilisation. It will be remembered that in his travels in the East he showed a practical interest in the excavations on the sites of buried cities. He has not lost that THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 133 interest, and when the subject is broached the conversation tends to become chiefly a monologue. Religion in all its aspects is also a favourite topic with him, and this leaning he may perhaps inherit from his ancestor, Frederick William ii., maker of the alliance between England, Prussia, and Holland about one hundred and thirty years ago, who was much inclined to look upon the mystic side of life, and constantly had recourse to mediums for advice in political affairs. Bismarck, in the third volume of his Thoughts and Remini- scences which have lately appeared, refers to this peculiarity in Frederick William, for it was a trait of which his sturdy character did not approve ; and it will be remembered that the first difference between him and the young Prince arose when the latter supported a Court chaplain's plan for fighting the rising Socialist movement by means of Christian teaching. I heard that William ii. was interested in the researches into supernormal phenomena which a well-known Bavarian was making on the lines followed by Sir William Crookes and Sir Oliver Lodge ; but it was a subject which was not congenial ; and how little his entourage, who usually reflect his views, were inclined to give credence to such legends as that of the " Angels of Mons " will appear from the following account of a conversation in which I took part. One night, after dinner at Amerongen, our talk turned — as it so often does in life, and more especially at the present time — on ghosts and super- natural phenomena, and as a natural consequence the subject of the ** Angels of Mons " was broached. 134 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE Captain von Ilsemann, the ex-Kaiser's aide-de- camp, asked me whether I believed in the story. I told him that I had never met any one who had seen the vision with his own eyes, but that, on the other hand, I did not find it at all diffieult to believe. " British people always believe in such things," he replied laughingly, " and there they differ very much from the German razees. Besides, it is nearly always women who give credence to such tales ; men are seldom affected by them." " I must say, though," he went on, " that although there is nothing analogous to the ' Angels of Mons ' story in the German Army, we often thought we saw masses of men behind your first line troops, and were surprised that you did not follow up your advance on these occasions, feeling so sure that you had plenty of reserves. Oh, it was, taken all round, a mysterious war, full of happenings that no one can account for or explain." I said that perhaps Prussians (he is a Prussian) are not so open to supernatural influences as are some other peoples. Then we reverted to his remark that it is usually only women who pay attention to tales of the supernatural. " Let me tell you of one man, at any rate, who had cause to take a ' ghost ' seriously," I said, and related the experience of a colonel in the British Army, as recounted by him- self, and not, I believe, yet published. The colonel was awakened one night by a strange feeling which he could not explain. By his bed he saw a nun standing. Naturally aston- THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 135 ished and annoyed at her presence, he demanded how she had managed to get there. She, however, gave him an evasive answer to this question, and then proceeded calmly to tell him that the world deserved the War on account of its wickedness and godlessness, and that millions would have to suffer much pain and loss and horror, but that in the end, which was further away than people imagined, England and France would win. Then in some mysterious way she vanished. Very much perturbed at this extraordinary incident, the colonel determined to visit a convent which he knew was not very far away. In the morning he made his way there, and asked to see the Reverend Mother. He told her what had happened, and said that unless she could guarantee that none of her nuns would be guilty in future of such an offence, he would have to take strict measures, which he would be loth to do, to make such visits impossible. The Superior of the convent said that she could not believe such a thing had taken place, but that she would send for all her Sisters, and as they filed through the room would he kindly point out the culprit ? He acquiesced, and she led the way into the adjoining room. As he entered he gave an exclamation of surprise. The Mother-Superior turned and saw him standing in the middle of the room, his eyes glued to a picture of a young and meek-faced nun which hung upon a wall. " That's her," he exclaimed excitedly ; " that's the one who came to my tent last night." The Mother-Superior 136 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE turned to him, smiling strangely, and said, " Ah, she has been dead for twenty years, M. le General." It was the picture of a French girl, who died at twenty-two, in 1895, and who had entered the convent at her particular desire when she was only sixteen years of age. To the Catholic world to-day she is known as the " Little Flower," and the power of working miracles is believed to be hers. The life of this wonderful girl ^ is worth an hour's study even to the most incredulous and busy among us. In these days when positive scepticism of all supernormal phenomena is so curiously mixed with a willingness to believe almost anything without its being vouched for by serious and responsible people, the doings of this French child cannot help but arrest our attention. Many soldiers of all nations know her power and revere her in the following terms : " Little Sister of the Trenches," " War Godmother," "Warrior's Chosen One," "Soldier's Saint," " Soldier's Shield," " Angel of Battles." These lovely names remind us of the soldiers of Jeanne d'Arc whom they called by the fascinat- ing cognomen of " Victory's Sweetheart." In the light of what has happened since 1914 it is interesting to remember her words as the flames were greedily licking round her slim young form. " Oh, Rouen, Rouen," she called, " some day you will suffer for what you are doing." And so, as ever, the axiom of the wise old ^ See the book Shower of Roses, to be obtained from the Carmelite Convent, Lisieux, France. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 137 Greek remains true— " The mills of the gods grind late, but they grind exceeding fine." The aide-de-camp could not believe this story. " No, no," he said ; " such things do not happen. War is a stern and awful reality." In connection with the above story I suggested that when men were tired out, hungry, overworked, and overstrung in every way — mind and body and soul — they might think they saw, or might even really see, sights which would be hidden from them in normal moments. In moments when the body is nearly worn out and the brain, on the contrary, intensely alert, I thought one might be very near the border-line, or, indeed, for some moments beyond it, without tasting of physical death. But he could not see that at all. Although he had constantly been in a state of physical exhaustion such as I had described, he had never, lor one fleeting second, he said, had such imaginings. Anything he saw was a solid reality. We spoke of the ghosts of Glamis and Cortachy, and the many Banshee tales with which Ireland abounds. But he only laughed, and said there were no such stories current in Germany. I got the impression that he looked upon it as a sort of rather laughable weakness on our part that we should think about such things at all — a weakness due to the infusion of Celtic blood. But although the party at the Castle that night were very sceptical about the whole subject, a fact which I related to them as being the true experience of a clair-audient friend of mine did arrest their attention, since it had to do with a German "Fritz " killed in the early stage of the War. i8 138 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE My friend told me she became conscious that there was a German spirit presence in the room she occupied in an hotel in the North of England, where she was staying for a few months. The proprietress at first indignantly denied that any German had ever been in the house. Later, on being pressed, she said that before the War a German man of business had often had that room. My friend, herself a medium, got into direct com- munication with this spirit, who, among other strange things, informed her that he " hated being dead." He was young, apparently, and had been cut off much too soon from the joys of life. And now he came to her as being the only one whom he could get into communication with, and told her that he wanted to have news of his wife and of the child which had been born to her just after his death. He gave his name and the name of the town where his wife lived. My friend had never heard of the town, but on looking in a gazetteer she found it was a suburb of Berlin. Captain von Ilsemann said he thought it a remarkable story, and asked if any steps had been taken to find the woman out. He thought he had scored when he found that none had been. We agreed that it was the death of youth which had brought the subject so much to the fore lately. Perhaps, as I have been dealing with " visions," I may be permitted to recall an omen. In February 1914 I was at Port Said on my way to Jerusalem, and while I was in the boat an Indian soothsayer came up to me begging to tell my fortune. As this is a temptation I never can refuse, I acquiesced, and was immediately " rooked " of £2 ! THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 139 The soothsayer squatted down and began to make cabaHstic signs on the deck. Suddenly looking up, he said, in awestruck tones, " August ! August! Something terrible in August." Horrified I asked whether something very dreadful was going to happen to me then. But he continued, in tones of scorn, " Not to you ! To the world. Blood, blood, in August ! " And nothing else could be got out of him. In connection with these subjects a curious little paragraph may be read in the preface which Wilkie Collins wrote to his extraordinary book. The Moonstone^ in 1866. In relating of the evil attributes possessed by some precious stones, he mentioned that it was a deeply rooted belief that the large stone which was set in the sceptre be- longing to the Czar of Russia was a carrier of bad luck, and that sooner or later the power of the possessor of this stone would fall and crumble. These words were written more than fifty years ago ! During the War much mystery at times covered the Kaiser's movements. I have read in the German newspapers lyrical descriptions of his ubiquity, how one morning you would hear of him here, the next hundreds of miles away — mysterious, all-pervading, untiringly vigilant, ever the mainspring of grand plans on all fronts. I asked his aide-de-camp whether there was any truth in the story, widely circulated at one time, that other men had been dressed up like the Kaiser and been rushed about Europe as " decoys " to keep the actual whereabouts of the War-Lord a secret. 140 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE " What things people will believe ! " laughed the aide-de-camp, as he denied that there had ever been any decoys. Talk once turned to the ingenuity and daring of Captain Miiller of the Emden. I remarked that so famous had the voyage of Miiller become that " Emden " was almost a household word at one time, and that some one had been called " the Emden " because " she was so fast and had never been caught yet " ! This was repeated at Doom for the amusement of the exile. That the ex-Kaiser is a very " temperamental " person is well known. Nobody needs to be re- minded of his long series of " indiscretions," from (to take only those directly affecting this country) the Kruger telegram of 1895 to the famous inter- view on Anglo-German naval rivalry in 1908. But how much of these manifestations was due to mere " temperament " and how much to calculated policy has been a matter of doubt to those who have had no opportunities of close observation. A well-known saying of his was that it was natural to him to trust people rather than to mistrust them. My own impression is that " tempera- ment " played a larger part than is generally supposed. A glance at the uncertainties of his manner in the reception of visitors during his exile^ may give us a clue. He may be going to meet some people with whom he has made up his mind he will not agree. Should their appearance and their demeanour, contrary to his expectation, please him when he speaks to them, he will readily grant some request THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 141 he had fully intended to refuse. A moment after he may regret that he had committed himself to a promise, and again change his mind a few hours later. Prince Biilow, for long the Imperial Chancellor, used, as a result of studying his master's idiosyn- crasies, to sandwich his political requests between as many jokes as he could collect, and by thus diverting the Kaiser's attention, get the kind of answer he wanted. Whether the Chancellor often succeeded in hoodwinking his master, I cannot say, but it is certain that the ex-Kaiser is extremely sensitive to personal impressions and thus very variable in manner. He may, for instance, have intended to be affable to visitors, but be put out of humour by some little incident unconnected with the visitors, or by some nuance of their manner displeasing to him, and his whole behaviour will be cold and abrupt. Sometimes, when he is not pleased, or is nervous or upset, he only gives two fingers when he shakes hands, though his usual handshake is cordial. He is, in short, an impetuous^ highly strung, emotional man, suffering from restrictions for which nothing in his previous life prepared him. His powers were kept at full working pitch, and his intellect was stimulated, when he could rush from one corner of Europe to the other — from Norwegian fjord to Grecian isle — in company with the chosen ones of the earth. No one, perhaps, enjoyed the pleasures the world holds for the mighty as much and as fully as he did. Now he feels the lack of them proportionately keenly, 142 tp'j: ex-kaiser in exile and it is understandable that the variableness of temperament which, under the stimulus of select intelligences, is said to have given a certain vivid charm to his personality in the old days, should appear a less attractive characteristic in the absence of the dazzling accompaniments of a Court. Visitors, generally speaking, are welcomed at Doom for the break they afford in an other- wise rather monotonous existence. They must be authorised visitors, of course ; he would never lack for callers if he were an easily accessible person. And, in spite of the barriers placed in the way of the merely curious, he receives a fairly constant stream of guests. The most important of these are, naturally, his sons. The ex-Crown Prince comes over from Wieringen only at stated times. There is no privacy about these visits, which are always mentioned in the Dutch Press. The opinions one hears about him are many and diverse. I was told that he was very popular in the army, and that the soldiers would do anything for him. In his book, Count Czernin mentions a conver- sation which he had with him in 1917 about a possible Peace, and he says that the Crown Prince promised to go to Vienna to discuss it with the Emperor Karl. He never went, however, and later, when Count Czernin met Ludendorff in Berlin, the latter said to him, " What have you been doing to our Crown Prince ? He had got quite slack, but we have stiffened him up again." On the other hand, it is said that he was always extremely warlike. As far as I could gather, however, there seems to be a great differ- THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 143 ence in the feelings entertained by the German people for the fugitives. Whereas the ex-Kaiser is always talked about and discussed, whether on friendly or unfriendly lines, the name of the Crown Prince is never mentioned. I gather that his character is not admired by serious people in Germany. Relations with his father are now more cordial than they were. The heir to a throne is sometimes troublesomely independent, as the ex- Kaiser, if he takes a backward glance to his own youth, may remember ; but acute discords have ceased with the removal of the occasion of them. Their views on many general questions still differ, but they can discuss them amicably. The once ebullient Crown Prince is now considerably subdued, and his visits are very quiet affairs, spent almost wholly within the grounds of Doom. But it would seem that it has taken two years of what is practically imprisonment in a doleful Dutch island to make him thoughtful, as becomes his years and position. An incident, which showed how careless and haphazard were his ways, oc- curred when he came to Holland. On the evening on which he arrived, at the end of his flight, he drove up to the house allotted him for residence in a fly hired from the nearest posting-house. It was apparently a " dark and stormy night," and he and his companions may have been bewildered and tired. At any rate, he was so forgetful of what was in his charge — moral obligation, from what we hear, at no time caused the volatile prince serious inconvenience — that he left in the cab some archives of the Royal House ! 144 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE One can imagine his consternation when his belongings came to be sorted out. Ultimately the important documents were found, and I dare say were given into the care of more competent hands. The other sons come pretty frequently, for, unlike their elder brother, they are free to move about as they wish ; and his daughter, the Duchess of Brunswick, and her husband and children are the most constant, and also, I may say, the most affectionate of visitors. They may be seen not infrequently in the villages of Doom and Ameron- gen, and going to and fro to the Bentinck residences, without any fuss or display, but at their ease. The little son, aged about three years, of Prince Joachim (whose tragic death took place last August in Berlin) spends a good deal of time with his grandparents, and, like all children, he brings an atmosphere of gaiety and insouciance to a house where the outlook is often sombre. The ex-Kaiser delights in the child's prattle. Children whose visits are looked forward to are the three lively boys whom the ex-Crown Princess brings. Their mother, who is still highly esteemed and popular in Germany, has very sensible ideas about their upbringing and the importance of a good education. She is training them to be self-reliant and simple in their tastes, so that they may be able to " fend for themselves " whatever the future may hold for them of a high destiny or an obscure. One has to bear in mind in this connection that the ex-Kaiser renounced all rights to the throne only for himself ! During their stays at Doom the children spend a good deal of time at Amerongen, where they THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 145 may ride, motor, and row about on the moats. The last is a particularly favoured pastime, for it is easy to fall in the water if the boats are not carefully handled ! Many little mementoes are given to the servants on the conclusion of these visits, such as, for example, a tobacco-pouch to the chauffeur at Amerongen from the ex-Crown Princess. This, by the way, was the chauffeur who brought the exile from the unpleasant situa- tion at Maarn Station to the hospitable atmosphere of Amerongen. To his pride, the ex-Kaiser told him he was the best driver he had ever sat behind — the giving of this encomium being one of the little ways in which he showed his relief at the ending of his historic flight. That reminds me that the rooms at Ameron- gen are full of objets d'art, which the exiles, in gratitude for the hospitality shown them, have bestowed on their former host. Among the many presents to Count Godard Bentinck are two paintings of the ex-Kaiserin and the ex-Kaiser, done just before the War, and a life-sized white marble bust, done at the beginning of the War, which I mentioned as being very conspicuous at the wedding luncheon-party. Before she left Amerongen the late ex-Kaiserin gave Count Godard a finely chased gold box studded thickly with diamonds. Photographs of the ex-Kaiser's sons and daughter are everywhere to be seen, all with inscriptions below, such as " In eternal gratitude for all you have done for my parents," and " We can never thank you enough for all you have done." Prince Henry of Prussia, the ex-Kaiser's 19 146 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE brother, is perhaps the one whose visits are most eagerly awaited. He comes often, though his stay is usually brief. With him, more than with any other, the ex-Kaiser enjoys long and intimate conversations; there is no one closely associated with him who can keep him so well informed of the " temperature " of Germany. Prince Henry brings or sends all the " very latest " literature — books, pamphlets, and what-not — touching on the most important and most minute developments in the subjects which he knows most deeply interest the ex-Kaiser — of which the two chief are, as I have said before. Freemasonry and the Jewish question. The writings of Mr. E. D. Morel, who gained some notoriety during the War as a pacifist journalist and lecturer, were also sent ; and the exile is much interested in any- thing in English that states a case for Germany and criticises English action during and after the War. Amongst others who visit him, Field- Marshal von Hindenburg is notable for his un- swerving attachment to the ex-Emperor. Some highly placed men of the old Empire are " con- spicuous by their absence " — a matter of bitter- ness to the ex-Kaiser — but to Hindenburg, so far as personal relations are concerned, the revolution is as if it had not been. He remains gravely deferential to " My King, my Emperor, and my master " on his visits, and the ex-Kaiser naturally enjoys this treatment, apart from the respect with which he, in accordance with all who know him, regards the sturdy old veteran. He was not present at the wedding I attended, but had sent his regrets that he could not give his good wishes THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 147 in person to the aide-de-camp, who had once been on his staff. Many visitors, whose stay is brief and of whom very Httle is heard, come and go unobtrusively. If they are high mihtary and naval personages they are not, at any rate, be- trayed by uniforms. Since he removed to his wooded retreat at Doom, the exile no doubt finds it easier than at Amerongen to receive certain guests. He naturally observes all the discretion required of him in his position, and there is nothing to show that he has any part in directing the activities of his adherents in Germany ; but it would be expecting too much of him to refuse to see occasionally people who were prominent in his service in the old days. As the nearest point of the German frontier is only about seventy miles away, former subjects can come to Doom for a few hours, on the chance of catching a glimpse of the exile, and return on the same day. But it is not only from the Fatherland that guests arrive. Many Dutch people also are pleased to be entertained by him. Eating is, indeed, apart from a necessity, a very useful invention ! Was it not Talleyrand (accredited with most sayings of the sort) who, apropos food, said, " Tell me another pleasure which comes twice a day and lasts an hour each time ? " Not that it is the food so much as the company which is the attraction of these parties to the exile. An honoured visitor who came to see the exile soon after the abdication was the abbot of a leading Benedictine monastery in Germany. I understood, but am not certain, that he was 148 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE the abbot of Maria Laach, the renowned old Bavarian monastery (which dates from the tenth century), where the well-known von Stotzingen was abbot, and where, before the War, the ex-Kaiser was a constant guest. It was to this renowned house that members of princely families would repair to seek peace from worldly distractions if they had a vocation for the priesthood and an inclination towards monastic life. The Emperor (as he then was) designed a reredos in stone for the altar in the church at Maria Laach. This, although a fine thing in itself, did not really blend with the rest of the structure of the old building, and so the monks had another — a movable one — made to their own design. This was used all the year round, except when the Emperor informed them of an intended visit, and on these occasions it was removed, leaving exposed the Emperor's work of art for him to see in making a round of the monastery ! By this wily trick did the monks please both them- selves and their Royal visitor ! The exile has always been greatly impressed by the power of the Roman Catholic Church, and, when a ruler, was always particularly careful of the susceptibilities of the very numerous and very important section of his subjects who belonged to that Church. But he is, of course, a Lutheran, and more versed in Protestant doctrines. Thus a frequent guest at Doom is the minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, of whom mention has been previously made, who lives at Utrecht, and through his friendship with the Bentinck family has come to know the exile very well. (From a picture by Mierevelt at Amsterdam.) WILLIAM THE SILENT Prince of Orange. Born 1533- Murdered 1584 by Balthazar Gerard From whom by his 3rd wife, Catherine de Bourbon are descended the ex-Kaiser and his late host Count Godard Bentinck. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 149 I asked at Amerongen whether there was any truth in the reports that the ex-Kaiser had com- posed an opera, painted a picture, written a book, and so on, but these were laughed at as canards. He is fond of music and sufficiently acquainted with technique to be appreciative, but he is in no way a performer. That an allegorical painting which pointed to the necessity of the white races uniting in face of the " Yellow Peril " should be attributed to him is not surprising. He is still perturbed by the fear of a future overwhelming of Western civilisation by hordes from the East, and often touches on the " neglected danger " in conversation. Another topic in which he is much interested is that of genealogy. In this he is not unique ! His cult of his ancestors has almost a Far Eastern fervour, as all may judge from the famous " Sieges Alice " in Berlin, in which, with obvious pride if not with a fine discrimination or a fastidious sense of beauty, he has placed statues of his ancestors representing them as " heroes." One of the ancestors of which he is the proudest is William the Silent, first Stadtholder of the Netherlands. He was interested to hear that his former host at Amerongen could boast a fourfold descent in the female line from that renowned leader also, by his third wife, Charlotte de Bourbon, daughter of Louis, Due de Montpensier, of the Royal House of France. He (Louis) was descended in the direct male line from Louis ix. (St. Louis) through the latter's younger son, Robert de Clermont. Charlotte was therefore a great-niece of Charles 150 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE de Bourbon, Constable of France, who was killed at the famous Sack of Rome in 1527, and belonged naturally to the same family as Antoine de Bourbon, father of Henri iii. of Navarre and iv. of France ; of Charles Cardinal de Bourbon and of the celebrated Louis i., Prince de Conde, killed at Jarnac in 1567 — the famous and notorious uncles of TTenri iv. It was through the marriage of the aforesaid Robert de Clermont with Agnes, Princess of Bourbon, that the Bourbon designation first came into the Capet family. So all this man's descend- ants were de Bourbon (of the Bourbon family — showing what weight the mother's family carried in those days), and thus Henri iv. and Louis de Montpensier (Charlotte's father) were descendants directly of the Bourbon marriage. Charlotte, as a baby, had been sent to be brought up by her aunt, who was abbess of the rich abbey of Jouarre. There, it is said, for political reasons, she was forced to become a nun at the age of twelve. At the age of eighteen, however, she drew up a document, attested by witnesses, repudiating the vows which she had made against her will. She then left the abbey and went to live at Heidel- berg with her relation, the Elector Palatine, and his wife. This Court was the centre of Huguenot sympathy ; all her near relations, on the other hand, were on fire for the Catholic cause. William the Silent seems to have first seen her a few days after her escape from the convent. Three years later he resolved to marry her ! He was forty-two and had been twice married, his second wife having been repudiated by him on THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 151 the score of madness seven years previously. Charlotte was twenty-five, and had been a nun until her eighteenth year. Round their marriage raged one of the most furi' as family and religious feuds known in domestic history.^ In the face of the profound disgust and criticism of nearly every faction in Europe, William nevertheless carried out his desire and, in 1575, married her. They were, indeed, a strangely assorted pair ! She, a Catholic, a French princess, and a renegade nun ; he, born a Lutheran and a German count, brought up a Catholic in the Court of Spain, became by inheritance a Flemish magnate and a sovereign prince, ultimately died a Calvinist at the hand of a fanatical Catholic. But as the years went by hostility died down. As a wife she was an immense success and very happy. Her Protestant relations warmly sup- ported her, and she was eventually reconciled to her father and the Catholic princes of Europe. Plainly the form was not legal, but they were still too near the Reformation for any proper procedure for the legal dissolution of marriages to have been drawn up. Moreover, his second wife, Anne of Saxony, was unnormal to what was virtu- ally insanity ; she had dishonoured her husband numberless times, and was notorious all through Europe for her infamous character. In the year following the marriage of William and Charlotte, a daughter was born to them, whom they named Louise Juliana. She is the direct 1 For facts I referred to William the Silent, by Mr. Frederick Harrison. 152 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE ancestress of the House of Hanover and of nearly all the Royal Houses of Europe. Queen Victoria was the nearest to her in descent, and may I be permitted to say that my children are eleventh in descent from this most unconventional and unfanatical of men by his Bourbon wife. In whatever light one criticises him it cannot be said that the "game was not worth the candle." His aims and his ideals were not misplaced, and four hundred years later the substantial proof of his wisdom can be seen in the Holland of to-day splendidly ruled by a woman whose father was the last male descendant of the House of Orange-Nassau. The pedigrees I give on the opposite page show the manner in which William ii., ex-German Emperor, and his host, Count Godard Bentinck, are descended from the great Stadtholder. The Emperor entered into the whole life of the Castle very fully, as the following little incident shows. Every winter the Rhine rises considerably, but last year ^ the floods were worse than " the oldest inhabitant " could remember, and the whole country for miles was under water ; even the highest dikes were threatened with complete immersion. A burgomaster in a neighbouring village was drowned through falling off a flooded road in the dark into the deep water at the sides. The danger was serious, — ^how serious only those who live in a low-lying country like Holland can realise, — so every available person in and outside the house at Amerongen had to work at the pumps and help to build up the outside dike ^ 1919-20. (Photo, by Corn pt on Collier.) LADY NORAH BENTINCK With her children Brydgytte Blanche aged 3A, and Henry Noel aged 10 months (1920). _ THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 153 (round the outer moat) with faggots. In this work the ex-Kaiser joined with zest. Sometimes, no doubt from habit, he gave orders which — incident- ally — were not always obeyed. For weeks no one could go anywhere except in a boat, and I believe that, notwithstanding every one's strenuous efforts, some water did penetrate the lower part of the Castle. The framework of the rooms in which the ex- Kaiser lived at Amerongen are, curiously enough, of German wood. When, in 1672, Louis xiv. stayed at Amerongen, the owner. Baron Godard de Reede Ginkel, was Dutch Ambassador to the " Great Elector " of Brandenburg (father of the first King of Prussia), and was in Germany intriguing against the French king living in his house ! This enraged Louis so much that, when leaving the place, he ordered French troops quartered at Utrecht to set fire to the building. This they did most thoi'oughly, filling the house with faggots. When the Elector heard of his friend's loss he sent him eight hundred enormous oaks from his forests round Berlin to help in rebuilding the house. The ex-Kaiser's eyes shone when he was told this. " So, anyhow, my trees and my river didn't desert me," he remarked — the latter part an allusion to the fact that the moats are filled from the Rhine. lO CHAPTER IX " Full of misery is the mind anxious about the future." Seneca. At Doom beats the heart that was Germany ; for in the old days no one could think of Germany without the Emperor or of the Emperor without Germany. Will the ex-Kaiser again be the heart of Germany ? If he does not return, will some other Hohenzollern become head of the old Empire or at least of the Prussian State ? From Doom he is watching events. He would not be human if he did not dream of a future restoration, if not for himself at least for his House. But he would not be politic if he showed himself to be striving to make any such dream a reality, or even to be " thinking ahead " in preparation for a " coup " at a propitious moment. Therefore, whether he be merely dream- ing and drifting, or is actively planning, he naturally does not disclose. And his entourage, while ready to discuss the War, its origin and many of its conse- quences, from a point of view exactly opposite to the British, are dumb regarding the future of the Hohenzollerns ; the subject is taboo outside the walls of Doom. But still there are many little indications given of the point of view taken there. First of all, there is the phrase which I heard several times when I was at Amerongen that 164 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 155 " England has won the War but has lost the Peace." That sounds portentous, and is at any rate con- solatory to the defeated ; but I could not find out that more was meant than that the " economic consequences " of the War would be disappointing to the victors and that the political rearrangement of Europe was quite unstable. The ex-Kaiser thinks that the men who drew up the Versailles Peace Treaty were not sufficiently experienced to pretend to deal with the stupendous problems that came before them. It was, in his view, more than could be expected of human beings that they should be able in a few months to rearrange, with any prv^^pect of their scheme being permanent, a Europe whose centralised and highly efficient organisations in 1914 were the outcome not only of the work of a succession of nineteenth- century nation-builders but of centuries of evolu- tion. Germany, with its many millions of capable people welded into a nation, was bound to remain a great European Power drawing lesser States into its orbit, and the attempts he thought were made to put artificial barriers in her way could only fail sooner or later. From all I heard, I feel sure he would agree with the neat epigram of the cynic that " The War to end war has been followed by a Peace to end peace." One wonders what scheme he and his advisers would have offered at the Conference table had it been the fate of the Central Powers rather than that of the Allies to sit there ! It is so much easier to criticise than to act ; to pull down than to build up. The League of Nations, in his opinion, so far as 156 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE it is not a disguised anti-German alliance in the old style, is merely attempting to put into practice a very old and very unsuccessful European idea — and Leagues are discussed, from that projected by Henri Quatre down to the Holy Alliance of a hundred years ago, to show the futility of the project. As an ideal it is attractive ; as a working proposition it is impracticable. It is another name for the Balance of Power which Henri iv. and Sully had in their heads when they proposed having a Republique tres Chretienne in Europe. This idea underlay the arrangements of the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 to check the power of the Hapsburgs. Nearly a century later it led to the European coalition against the aggressions of Louis XIV. at the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. A hundred years after this it peeped out again at the Vienna Conference in trying to set legislation in motion which would make another Napoleon impossible. It led to the coalition of Britain, France, Sardinia, and Turkey against Russia, which resulted in the Crimean War in 1854. The Balance of Power idea was again operative in the Berlin Congress in 1878, which tried to regulate the affairs of the Balkans. Later it was the basis for the alliance of Ger- many, Austria, and Italy as opposed to that of France and Turkey. Since its existence as a kingdom in 1830 the neutrality of Belgium has been a principle of European public law. On its violation the " Great European War " broke out. Since then the League of Nations idea was given birth to by an American citizen born in THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 157 England. Those who live will see whether it succeeds in its noble aims. But it seems that neither men's minds nor their bodies can keep still for very long. Roughly speaking, Wars and Heresies come every hundred years or so. It is to be expected that sooner or later there will be restored a Germany seeking for power on the old lines, and the ex-Kaiser holds that the country will then need Prussia and, above all, a Hohenzollern to guide her in her efforts to regain the position which she held in 1914. One of Goethe's characters remarked that, " It is so sweet to reign " (" Es ist so siiss zu herschen "). One wonders whether William ii. would agree with this 1 From all one hears to-day, it is not the Mon- archical idea that the bulk of the German people object to, but the excessive Military one. The Austrian friend with whom I stayed in Vienna happened to be related to the German Royal family. She often remarked to me, with an amused little " moue," in answer to my com- ments on the charm of the Viennese, " Yes, they are delightful, but it is my Hohenzollern blood that gives me all my energy and go 1 " That is the view of the exile's entourage also — Prussia is the " Push and Go " of Germany. It would be tactless to suggest at Doom that the War, with its catastrophic end for Germany, was the result of Hohenzollern guidance, accompanied by a strong " Push " from Prussia ! It is worth while, after tracing thus far the lines of thought at Doom, to note the prospects the new Constitution offers to a Hohenzollern. A first 158 THE EX-K:aISER IN EXILE significant fact is that it is possible for the President of the Republic to be of Royal birth ; Berlin has not to look far abroad or far back to know that a republic in such circumstances may be induced by a bold President to become a monarchy. Then, to quote from the Quarterly Review's analysis : * " The sovereign power is divided between the President and the Reichstag, each being elected by the whole body of the German people voters. The President is thus placed in a very autocratic position. ... In the range of his executive authority he outdoes the Kaiser, for he exercises, in addition to supreme Imperial control, a very large authority which, under the Imperial system, was vested in the State Governments of Germany. He is elected for seven years, is eligible at the end of that term for re-election, and is responsible only to the German people. . . . Furthermore, the President of the Republic is Commander-in-Chief of the Army. It is clear that a short step would in conceivable circumstances convert his office into a monarchy." One can see the bearing on this situation of the results of the Prussian Diet elections of 20th February,^ and the consolations and hopes these offer to the exile of Doom. The purely mon- archical party increased its total of votes from 102,000 in January 1919 to 169,000, and the non- Socialist parties, who include very many half- avowed and very many undisguised monarchists, had a combined poll of 442,000 in February, as compared with 359,000 last year, while the * January 1921. 2 1921. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 159 Socialist vote fell in the same time from 619,000 to 519,000. The monarchist party's cry was " A strong party under the Hohenzollerns " ; and it is difficult to see any essential difference from that in the views of two of the leading orators of the (German People's Party (group of Hugo Stinnes, the multi-millionaire), such as Dr. Borlitz, a high school professor who fervently preaches that " the Empire can only be founded on the Kaiser idea, which still slumbers in the hearts of the be3t of the German people," and Professor Brandi, who swears that " all the greatness of Prussia comes from the dynasty." I have mentioned that the Berlin Kreuz Zeitung is much appreciated at Doom. It is easy to judge of the tonic effect on the exile of the reinstatement in that newspaper of its old motto, " Forward, with God for King and Father- land ! " which device it used at those elections for the first time since the Revolution. A distinction possibly may have to be made between the ex-Kaiser's hopes for himself and those for his House. When I was in Holland, and especially on my first visit in February 1919, his own professed desire was to sink into privacy. He hoped a thick curtain would fall behind him when he passed the friendly portals of Amerongen. The observed of all observers, as he had contrived to be for most of his life, was to become the Recluse, the Silent One of Europe. He may shrink from public gaze now, but in February 1919 he positively courted obscurity. Some people may think that he cannot possibly overcome the delight in publicity that was so obvious before the War, and that he still finds 160 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE satisfaction in constant allusions to his doings in the Press. That would be a mistaken idea. The less he sees his name mentioned the better he is pleased ; the references to him have been usually too wounding for his peace of mind. At my first visit ^ the question whether or not he should be tried before an international tribunal was then uppermost in the public mind. At that moment the world was overcome with grief for the millions of homes ruined and lives broken. The British general election had just concluded, amid resounding cries of " Hang the Kaiser I " The Paris Conference was solemnly debating the method by which he might be brought before a tribunal, and the place at which he might be tried. Only the quiet voice of Lord Robert Cecil was not heard in the uproar, who said in an interview with the London correspondent of the Echo de Paris (16th November 1918) that the extradition of the Kaiser could not legally be demanded, but it might be requested as a favour. I am often asked whether the ex-Kaiser ex- pected that he would be tried. As far as I could gather, he thought it highly improbable, but nevertheless a possibility. But however confident he may have been that his life, at any rate, was not in danger from a trial, understanding, as he did, what the laws of extradition are, it was impossible that he should not feel nervous at times. The suspense was long. Until March 1920 the result of the Allies' demand to Holland for his extradition was an open ques- tion. During all that time the British and French * February 1919. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 161 newspapers were insistent in the demand that he should be punished, the Dutch were full of the pros and cons of the dispute, and the Germans were closely attentive. There was no day on which he could escape the question. If for nothing else but for its effect on the ex-Kaiserin he would have suffered. To the strain she then underwent is attributed her breakdown. But apart from that, as he is a highly impression- able man, he underwent acute mental distress from the consciousness that periodic waves of detestation of him were passing over the world. He professed not to be able to fathom the reason for the English persistence in demanding his punishment — ^the English whose friendship he had so much enjoyed. " Why do they hate me so ? Why do the English hate me so ? " he would often ask Count Godard Bentinck. Count Godard repeated the words to me. I answered, " But people in England hold him to be responsible not only for starting the War but for instigating the worst atrocities. They say they have proof that all the horrors of Belgium were arranged before the War. They will never forget the terrible conditions under which British prisoners suffered in Germany. Neither can they get over the sinking of the Lusitania nor the shooting of Miss Cavell. They demand that he who was at the head of the Army and was ready enough to take his soldiers' and sailors' glory should equally take their shamed Count Godard repeated my words to the ex- Kaiser. The exile looked horrified, and said he 162 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE had no idea that that was what was thought. " How can people's minds invent such horrors, or think I would instigate or connive at them ? " he asked. Apparently his standpoint is that he did not invent war, that it always is and must be accom- panied by blunders and cruelties, and that these were more numerous than previously because the War was on such a gigantic scale and involved civilians to an extent unprecedented for centuries. Also the conscience of civilisation, after a long spell of peace, was more acutely conscious of the hideous side of war. One does not expect to find sensitiveness over-developed in a man who told recruits, as the ex-Kaiser did, that if he ordered it they might have to fire on their fathers. I think, however, that in spite of protestations that atrocity charges were inventions, he would himself, though unlikely to admit it, be conscious of the justice of the remark made to me by an officer who was with the German Army in Belgium during the first few weeks of the War, and therefore at almost the worst " atrocity " period. This man told me that, while he had himself seen the German troops provoked by the civilian population to a very high degree, and he considered there was exaggeration in the charges brought against the soldiery, he nevertheless thought that the German was more brutal and coarse-fibred when excited by war and all its horrible accompaniments than was the average Englishman. Another question that I am asked is whether or not the exile is writing his memoirs, as report THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 163 occasionally has it. There was no sign that he was composing an apologia, though probably data was being collected and arranged. He is not an old man, and no one can tell what the future holds for him. If the German people wished it, and had he enough power behind him, one does not see what there would be to stqp his return to Germany. For the present, however, " dignified silence " is to be preserved. Had Professor Schiemann been alive, he would doubtless have been the person to prepare the official " Life," so much was he trusted by the Kaiser. One wonders how much that professor's report on his visit to Ireland a few weeks before war broke out had to do with the impression in German official circles that England was too much entangled with Irish affairs to intervene on the Continent.* The situation in Ireland is very freely discussed at Doom, and England's management of the sister isle is much criticised, not to say jeered at. " England wants to tell the whole of Europe how to govern itself," they say. " She is an ideahst abroad on the subject of autonomy for the smaller States, ignoring, when she is not concerned, the fact that self-government for little countries — especially on the Continent, where frontiers are seldom a geographical safeguard — may seriously affect the military, commercial, and 1 Since these words were written a book emanating from Doom and dated September 1920 has appeared in England, the pubhshers being Messrs. Hodder & Stoughton. It is dedicated to twelve German generals by the ex-Kaiser, and it is accompanied by a booklet written by the late Professor Schiemann. 164 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE political situation of the large, and therefore cannot lightly be granted." An interesting fact in the above connection is that the de Reede Ginkel who became Earl of Athlone, who was prominent at the Battle of the Boyne and was largely responsible for subjugating Ireland with Dutch William iii., was the owner of Amerongen and Middachten. Round the hall in the latter house (now in the possession of Count Bentinck)^ are pictures representing warlike scenes in the conquest of Ireland. In the village at Middachten there is an inn which bears the name of " Arms of Athlone " in Dutch (" Wappen van Athlone "). The name of Orange, however, will always be fraught with sinister memories for Irishmen, with the exception, naturally, of the dwellers in the north. England (which at Doom is called " Ew^dand," narrow land — the word Eng in German meaning narrow) is closely watched. I was questioned with pointed interest about coal and railway strikes of 1919 — an interest which I felt was akin to that illustrated in the saying that not even one's best friends are wholly displeased at one's ill-fortune ! They look to the strikes in England as sure forerunners of revolution, and never cease to wonder why Bolshevism has never yet broken out badly in England. Perhaps the reason may be found in the dirge-like account given to an Englishman by one of the Bolshevik leaders in Moscow, who said that England could never be stirred up to real Bolshevism because ^ Eldest son of my father-in-law's second brother. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 165 the people were all too polite to each other and that there one never saw scowling faces. When I told them at Amerongen that well- known men had driven expresses and worked as guards and porters, and that their wives and daughters had undertaken to distribute the milk in London, they were extremely surprised. A man who had been in the German Army said to me, " German people in the same class would never have done that." A democratic aristocracy seems to be unintelligible to them. Count Hermann Keyserling, author of the Diary of a Philosopher and a great admirer of many things English, refers to the difference which exists in English and German aristocracy. He notes the self-reliance of the English as being much in their favour, and it is said that he has started a school in Darmstadt where he inculcates his ideas on upbringing into boys of good family .^ 1 Mr. Dent in The AthencBum. CHAPTER X " Mad world, mad kings." — King Richard u. People constantly ask, " Is the Kaiser mad ? " They add, " If not mad, then he must be very bad." Many insist that he is both. Put that way, it is a difficult question to answer. If I were asked, "Is he obsessed ? " I could unhesitatingly answer " Yes." But is he mad in the sense that the ruin of his empire and his dethronement have overthrown what mental balance he had ? I would answer, No. Is he mad in the sense that, as some people suppose, he is haunted, to the exclusion of all else, by the thought of his own personal responsi- bility for the devastation and woe brought to the world by the War ? Not at all. Has he fallen a victim to what is called " re- ligious melancholia " ? Has he lost grip on financial affairs ? Is he a prey to baseless alarms about his health ? So far as I can learn the answer is No. In short, though he is a much more subdued and much more bewildered mortal, he is about as much or as little " mad," in the ordinary sense, as he was before the War. Horace said that " he held all men to be mad." Lesser mortals may be excused for thinking that 166 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 167 he was unduly pessimistic ! But it will be agreed that to have complete sanity is to have perfect poise in every department of the brain, to have perfect balance and perfect control. Who would suggest that the ex -Kaiser approached that ideal ? His environment from birth until November 1918 must have made it well-nigh impossible for him even to have as much balance as an ordinary man. History has shown us examples of rulers without a vestige of vanity in them, men who felt it was their duty to serve the State not to use it for their personal advantage, men whom even the adulation accorded to William ii. from his cradle upwards could not have affected. But the ex- Kaiser had not their strong heads. He was naturally, I think, a vain man — one who preferred the glass coach to all other modes of conveyance. His vanity, it might be supposed, could not become greater in after years than it was in the beginning of his reign. But it did not visibly grow less. It was fed to distension by the delusion that " L'etat, c'est moi ! " He was, first of all, in his own opinion, the most gifted and the most important person in Germany. If Germany could become the most important country, so would he be the most important person in the world. The advancement of Germany became indistinguishable from his own glorifica- tion. And this vanity was counted a virtue, instead of a weakness. There were never flatterers wanting to declare that it was to his discerning guidance, to his dynamic impulsion, that the growth of the country's power was due. 168 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE Those who did not flatter had small chance of being heard. When he visited Kiel the prelude to the speeches made by Prince Henry of Prussia were : " Exalted Emperor, Puissant King and Master, Illustrious Brother, our sublime, mighty, and be- loved Kaiser, King and Emperor, for all time, for ever and ever — Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah ! " And he was allowed to say such things as : " There is only one law, my law, the law which I myself lay down," and " If I order you to shoot down your parents, your brothers and sisters, you are to do so." Naturally in times of great public up- heavals or of revolution such desperate measures might have to be used, but one imagines that the Kaiser — ^the father of his people — would not care to refer lightly to this awful power. Accustomed to such modes of address, and having these ideas, then, how does it come that he has not become mad in the ordinary sense, when, instead of appearing to be himself the State, or, at least, the personification of it, he finds himself an outcast, seeking safety in obscurity, and an object of execration for most of the world ? If he really believed himself to be mighty in himself, how could his mind support the brutal disillusion- ment ? The answer would be that he can still imagine he was the fly that made the wheel go round. He is off the wheel ; and is it going round ? He can point to post-Revolution Germany and triumphantly ask that question. Everything is in a worse con- dition thnn in old autocratic, monarchical days. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 169 If he were reminded that the fly was on the wheel when it was spun into the War that brought it to an abrupt stop, he would answer that for the moment the wheel had got past his control ; for, as I have already shown, he refuses to admit that he sought the War, much less was the cause of it. And he is convinced a fly will get back to the wheel, if not the same one, at least a similar if less brilliantly coloured one, and then the wheel — Germany — will go merrily round again. Besides, he does not consider himself to be an obscure outcast. In his view, he was hurled from power in a cataclysm which was as little to be withstood as any giant outbreak of elemental forces is by mortals. The expression " cosmic catastrophe " expresses the wonderment felt by many people as to how the War came about. Numbers in England and on the Continent saw in it an exact fulfilment of the prophecies of Scrip- ture ; and, from that standpoint, those who are said to have brought it about might be described as merely the instruments of fate. That the wheels of all Governments were rolling towards war was forcibly brought to my notice in a conversation I had with an English Ambassador in the winter of 1909-10. " Men's brains," he said, " have fired the world ; have set her rolling at such a pace that she is no longer controllable. Into what she will eventually hurl herself it is now impossible to fore- tell. But that it win be some great disaster is a foregone conclusion." After a catastrophe there is a gradual return to normal. No doubt, in the ex-Kaiser's eyes, a return to normal means a return to the Hohen- 170 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE zoUerns. So, though temporarily overwhelmed, he has not lost that sense of his own importance which is so necessary to him. I have laid stress on the ex-Kaiser's vanity because I think it is chiefly that very obvious characteristic of his that has led the world to say, " He's mad ! " Many obsessions cause a sort of madness. Immense wealth is one of them, genius another, and Aristotle plainly tells us that " no great genius was without an admixture of madness." Religious mania is dangerous. Some of the greatest mystics in the Middle Ages are to-day called crazy by people who have had neither time nor inclina- tion to study their mentality. Revenge can cause madness, as in Hamlet (if he was mad) ; and we know the common phrase, " Madly in love." All these causes can incite and spur to madness, but I honestly believe that of all obsessions that may turn that way the insanity of vanity takes first place. I cannot see that this obsession is more pronounced in the ex-Kaiser now than it was in the old days ; rather it seems to me less so. To ridicule (though it had to be heavily " veiled ") he was continually being exposed by his overweening vanity — due, I suppose, to his lack of a sense of humour, or of proportion, or, one might add, of seemliness. I have been told he once gave some Bibles to a garrison church, in each of which he wrote out the texts : "I will walk among you and be your God, and ye shall be my people " ; " Walk ye in all the ways which I have commanded you " ; " Without me ye can THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 171 do nothing." After each he signed " Wilhehn Imperator Rex." Had WiUiam ii. had a real sense of humour who knows but that he would still be ruling in Germany ? When I contrast the ex-Emperor as he ap- peared to his friends at Amerongenwith the Emperor as he appeared to the world before the War, especially on such extraordinary occasions as his visits to Jerusalem and to the Vatican, I am inclined to think that he is a very different man indeed. He is no longer under the necessity of posturing as he was before he fled to Holland. He has had many chastening experiences. Mere ordinary social intercourse has had an effect. Instead of talking from a height, with everybody listening as to a godhead, he can now talk like any ordinary being, and, though he is listened to with a certain amount of deference, he can hear, in reply, ordinary people's views — current opinions not specially doctored for his benefit. In judging William ii. we must not forget that since his childhood he has not been robust, and in these days of health research and eugenics we have learned how greatly the mind is controlled by our physical state. When we ask, " Why is the mind in this state ? " we must in the answer take heredity and environment and physical causes into account. One seeing the ex-Kaiser in a casual way, and not knowing who he was, would describe him as " not a physically strong but an exceedingly virile man." Environment we have dealt with. As to heredity, it cannot be ignored that there was a 172 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE strain of insanity in his antecedents, but this terrible misfortune must never be accounted a fault. " If not mad, then he must be very wicked." But you would find the ex-Kaiser unconscious of wickedness. He would ask, " What sort of wickedness ? " He did not, as an individual, systematically break the Ten Commandments. He is very religious, as I have shown in preceding articles. His private life has not been marked by scandals, and he was so continuously in the lime- light, not always under friendly eyes, that viola- tions of the moral code would not have passed without outspoken comment. So the charge would be confined to political and war wickedness, the causes of which would be inordinate ambition, an insatiable desire for more power, and, again, vanity. (We are told that the only person who does not want " more " is an impecunious parson with nine unmarried daughters 1) He protests that his political aim was the good of Germany without the hurt of others ; that he tried to avoid the W^ar ; and that such atrocities as occurred (and he denies that there were many) were the inevitable accompaniments of war which he was powerless to prevent and certainly did not incite. In reading post-war German literature it appears that many of their wise and thoughtful men were strongly against war, and were, more- over, very doubtful that the end would mean victory for Germany. Walther Rathenau (son of the famous Emil, THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 173 head of the General Electric Company) has just written a book * in which the following prophetic words — said b}^ him in 1914 — occm- : " The moment will never come in which the Kaiser and his followers, as conquerors of the world, will ride through the Brandenburg Gate on white horses. On that day history would have gone mad." Again in 1915, Strobel, a member of the " Landtag," said : " I recognise quite frankly that a complete victory for the Empire would not be in the interests of Social Democracy." Not only in Germany were views of this sort held, but in " Entente " countries also, as witness a remark made by one of their leading statesmen : " It is perfectly plain to us that there are influential circles in Germany to whom nothing could be worse than a military victory for Ludendorff." And so it seems that internal conditions — Socialistic and Democratic — had weakened the Germans enormously even before our propaganda was let loose amongst them ; and thus it was to a largely self -corrupted Germany that we, during the months July to November 1918, gave the last staggering blow which they were morally and militarily too weak to withstand, all their divisions being far below their £' ' strength. Colonel Bauer says of the second Battle of the Marne that " it was the first great disaster, and the real turning-point of the War," though in this connection I was told on good authority that ^ February 1921. 174 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE many German officers of the higher command were convinced of the inabiHty of the German Army to win the War as early as 1915. A writer in the Militdrwochenblatt (mihtary paper) summed up the causes of their debacle thus : " Our defeat has been so complete because the forces of the Central Powers have been over- taxed and completely exhausted by the pursuit of unattainable military and political aims." I remember a discussion at Amerongen about the horrors which had followed the outbreak of war and the things which had happened since — mention being made incidentally of the presence, so detested by the Germans, of black troops upon the Rhine. Our talk followed these lines : " Well, after all, you brought on the War. The world was happy and you stirred it all up. Why did you do these terrible things ? " Captain von Ilsemann's answer came quickly and hotly, with a smashing-down of his fist on the table. " No," he flashed, " it was you, it was England, who brought on the War." It is an article of faith at Doom that England made war for commercial profit, and after the Armistice was signed continued blockading Germany for months, thus ruining the health of thousands of women and children. This conversation led me to believe that it was the blockade which England carried on after she had signed which made the feeling against our country become more bitter than it was before ; their argument being that "blockade" is an ex- tremely potent and formidable act of warfare. THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE 175 and that " armistice," on the other hand, means a " temporary cessation of hostiUties." Curiously enough it was America who, in the world's history, has carried out the most exten- sive blockade ever known before the Great War. This was done by the Federals during the Civil War in the United States. It extended from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, along the Atlantic coast, and over the Gulf of Mexico — a distance of 3000 miles. It lasted for four years. And now we will take leave of the Imperial exile, so out of tune with the world. Many princes have suffered imprisonment, and worse, at the hands of an outraged world. Few, we think, have undergone it in such pleasant circumstances, surrounded by people whose sym- pathy cannot be doubted. Pity, therefore, need not be accorded to him. From Doom his eyes are fixed on Berlin. From there, his arresting, vivid, and partly pathetic figure feverishly looks to London, to Paris, and then back to Germany. Can they do without him ? Which is it best (or worst) — to have him or not to have him ? The words of Aristophanes come to the mind — " They love, they hate, but cannot do without him." We wonder ! " Qui vivra verra ! " PEDIGREE F El (4lh wife) Loui^K i>iiCoi.iiiNV = (3rd wife) ClIABlOTTB D KsCeORce WtLLrAM, CK 1., King 1657-1713 0, E ¥' Brundcnbuiu, dnid de Rcwlc (.00) FKJD.K1C W , » '■ K, .ofP ""» (son) FKBDBRIC '.. G at "Kin orp>«»» ICK William 11. (nephew t>t Fiedcrick ihc 1744-1797 Greol. King of Prussia] icK William hi.. King of Prussin 1770-1840 :k William iv., Kine of Pruisin (became o APPENDIX I.— OUTSTANDING DATES OF THE EUROPEAN WAR June 28 . July 5 • 28 . Aug. 30 or I 11 2 » 3 • » Sept. Dec. 4 • 16 . 16 . 24 . Feb. 18 . April May 25 . 7 . » 23 • >» Aug. Sept. Oct. 1 : 25 . 14 . 55 55 Dec. 19 . 28 . 15 • 55 19 • 5> 25 . Feb. 21 . April May 29 . 31 • June 5 • July Aug. I . 27 • 4TH August 1914-9TH November 1918 1914 . Archduke Franz Ferdinand shot at Sarajevo. . Kaiser's War Council at Potsdam. . Austria declared War on Servia. 31 . Russia declared War on Germany. . Germany declared War on Russia. . Germany's Ultimatum to Belgium. . Germany declared War on France. . Great Britain declared War on Germany. . British troops landed in France. . First Battle of the Marne begun. . First Air Raid on England (Sheringham). 1915 " U " Boat blockade of England. Allied landing in Gallipoli. Lusitania sunk. Italy declared War on Austria. Coalition Cabinet formed. New landing at Suvla Bay. Battle of Loos. Bulgaria at War with Servia. Lord Derby on the 49 Groups. M. Briand, French Premier. Sir Douglas (now Earl) Haig, C.-in-C. in France. Withdrawal from Gallipoli. Turkish defeat at Kut. 1916 . Battle of Verdun begun. . Fall of Kut-el-Amara. . Battle of Jutland. . Lord Kitchener, Colonel Fitzgerald, and Mr. O'Byrne lost at sea on their way to Russia. . Battle of Somme begun. . Rumania entered War. 23 178 THE EX-KAISER IN EXII E Nov. 29 Dec. 5 )i 7 >» 12 „ 20 Feb. Dec. 5J 3 »5 24 March II )5 12 )5 15 April 6 )5 9 June 12 July 14 » 17 Aug. 29 Oct. 24 Nov. 6 9 26 1916 {continued) Grand Fleet under Sir David (now Earl) Beatty. Resignation of Mr. Asquith. Mr. Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister. German " Peace proposals." President Wilson's Peace Note. 1917 Unrestricted " U " Boat warfare begun. America breaks with Germany. British take Kut-el-Amara. British entered Baghdad. Revolution in Russia. Abdication of Czar. America declared War on Germany. Battle of Vimy Ridge begun. Abdication of King of Greece. Bethmann Hollweg (German Chancellor) dismissed. British Royal House dropped their family name of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and adopted that of "Windsor." President Wilson's Note to the Pope (Benedict xiv.). Italian defeat at Caporetto. British stormed Passchendale Ridge. British capture Gaza. Pjolshevist Coup crctat in Russia (a year before the German Revolution, which started at Kiel, Nov. 6, 1918). General Maude (Coldstream Guards) died in Mesopotamia. British capture Jerusalem. Sir Rosslyn Wemyss (now Lord Wester Wemyss), First Sea Lord. Feb. 9 16 March 21 21 April 14 >> May 22 27 5) July 31 2 )> 15 18 Sept. 12 15 29 » 30 1918 First Brest Litvosk Treaty signed. General Sir Henry Wilson, Chief of Staff. British capture Jericho. German offensive in the West. General Foch becomes Allied Generalissimo. Naval raid on Zeebrugge and Ostend. Second German offensive. Germans reach the Marne. 1,000,000 Americans shipped to France. Third German offensive. Second Battle of Marne begun. (Beginning of the end for Germany.) General Foch's counter-attack. (" If we can no longer defend, then we must attack." H is words.) American attack on St. Mihiel. Austrian Peace Note. Hindenburg Line broken. Fall of Damascus. APPENDIX 179 II 5 a.m. II i6 p.m 1918 {continiiut) Oct. 25 . . General Ludenelorff lesigncd. „ 28 . . Italians cross Piave. Nov. I . . Versailles Conference opened. „ 4 . . Versailles Armistice a^i^reed. „ 5 • • Full powers to deal with situation given to Marshal Foch. Mr. Wilson's last Note to Germany. „ 6 . . Revolution at Kiel. ,, 9 . . Foch received German envoys. „ 9 . . Prince Max of Baden proclaims abdication of Kaiser. „ 10 a.m. Kaiser arrives early morning at Eysden, Belgian Dutch frontier. „ 10 p.m. Count Godard Bentinck asked to give him hospitality for three days. Armistice tenns accepted. Kaiser arrives at Amerongen. The Echo de Paris published an interview with Lord Robert Cecil, who said that " the ex- tradition of the Kaiser could not be legally demanded, but it might be requested as a favour." „ 21 . . The Hague (from Times special correspondent) : "The Prime Minister to-day declared in refer- ence to the ex-Kaiser's stay, that the ex-Kaiser is a private person, and that it is at the Govern- ment's request that Count Godard Bentinck is giving him hospitality. This was nothing else than the customary national tradition rooted in the Dutch people's sense of freedom and toleration.'" „ 28 . . Kaiser abdicates at Amerongen. He remained here for eighteen months. In the summer of 1920 he went to live at Doom, near Utrecht. 1919 June 28, at 3.12 p.m. Peace was signed in the Galerie des Glaces, Ver- sailles, where, in 1871, the ex-Kaiser's grand- father had been declaied German Emperor after the Franco-Prussian War which had been declared by Napoleon ill. on July iS, 1870. On the same day Pius ix. confirmed the decree of Papal Infallibility. Italian troops took possession of Rome on September 20. The Pope prorogued the Vatican Council on October 20, and it has never reassembled. A large number of delegates signed the Peace, the first signature being that of Hermann Miiller, German Foreign Minister, then came Dr. Bell, then the five American delegates, and after them the English signed, of whom were Mr. Lloyd George, Mr. Bonar Law, Mr. Balfour, Lord Milner, and Mr. Barnes, followed by the Domniion signatories. Then came the French, of whom was M. Clemenceau, the only man of all that company who had been present at the German Peace of 1870. Other allied delegates followed, ending with Czecho-Slovakia. 180 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE LIST OF KINGS WHO HAVE ABDICATED WITHIN THE LAST THOUSAND YEARS Only those of the most remarkable Character and the greatest political importance are given 1080 III4 II42 1200 1206 1306 1309 1439 144I 1556 1654 1669 1688 1704 1724 1730 1759 1795 1802 1804 1808 1808 1808 1808 1810 1813 1814 182I 1826 1830 1831 1834 1840 1840 1848 1848 1848 1849 1859 1866 Henry iv. of Germany (Emperor). Stephen li. of Hungary. Albert of Saxony. Lestus V. of Poland. Vladislas in. of Poland. Baliol of Scotland. Otho of Hungary. Eric IX. of Denmark. Eric XIII. of Sweden. Charles v. (Emperor). Christina of Sweden. John Cosimer of Poland. James li. of England. Frederic Augustus li. of Poland. Philip V. of Spain. Victor of Sardinia. Charles of Naples. Stanislas of Poland. Victor of Sardinia. Francis ll. of Germany (Emperor). End of " Holy Roman Empire." He becomes Emperor of Austria only. Charles iv. of Spain, in favour of his son. ,, „ again abdicates in favour of Buonapartes. Joseph Buonaparte to take the crown of Spain. „ „ on flying before the British from Madrid. Louis of Holland (Buonaparte). Jerome of Westphalia (Buonaparte). Napoleon the Great. Emmanuel of Sardinia. Pedro of Portugal. Charles x. of France. Pedro of Brazil. Dom Miguel of Portugal (by leaving the country). William l. of Holland. Christina of Spain — Queen Dowager and Queen Regent. Louis- Philippe of France. Louis Charles of Bavaria. Ferdinand of Austria. Charles Albert of Sardinia. Leopold II. of Tuscany. Bernard of Saxe-Meiningen. APPENDIX 181 1870, June 25 1873, Feb. II 1886, Sept. 7 18S9, March 9 1907, July 19 1909, April 27 1909, July 16 1910, Oct. 5 191 7, March 15 1917, June 12, re- instated 1920 igi8, Oct. 4 • 1918, Nov.* 9 . 1918, „ 12 . 1918, „ 29 . Isabella il. of Spain. Amadeus of Spain. Alexander of Bulgaria. Milan of Serbia. Emperor of Korea. Abdul Hamid li. (Turkey). Muhammed Ali Shah. ManoeP (Portugal). Nicholas 11. (Russia). Constantine (Greece). Ferdinand (Bulgaria). William ii. (Germany). Charles (Austria). Nicholas (Montenegro).' 1 Deprived of throne by Revolutionary coup d'dtat. "^ In reality, Nov. 28, at Amerongen, Holland. * Was deposed by the Congress Podgoritsa, 182 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE II.— CASUALTIES ()F THE GREAT WAR What millions died that Countries. Names of Reigning House (Prc-War), Showing how German families preponderated. Dead, includ- ing died from Wounds and Sickness. Missing. America . . President Wilson. 107,284 4,912 Austria Loraine (Hapsburg female line only). 687,534 855,283 Belgium . . Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 267,000 10,000 Britain . . Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 851,117 142,057 Bulgaria . . Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. 101,224 10,825 I'rance President Poincare. 1,039,600 245,900 Germany , . Ilohenzollern. 1,600,000 721,000 Greece . . Slesvig-Holstein, Sonderburg- Glucksburg. 15,000 45,000 Italy . . , Savoy. 462,391 569,216 Japan . . . 300 3 Portugal . Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Braganza female line only). 8,367 Rumania . Hoheiiiollern. 32,000 1 16,000 Russia . . . Holstein - Gottorp (Romanov female line only). 1,700,000 2,500,000 Servia ■^ . Kara Georgovitch. 707,343 100,000 Turkey . . Memalik-y- Osmaniy e . 436,974 103,731 ' 8,016,134 5,424,027 • Exclusive of Greeks living in Turkey and Asia Minor. ^ Servia's/oj^-war population, larger than her APPENDIX 18S AND SOME OTHER FIGURES Ccesar might be great." — Thomas Campbell Wounded. Totals. Population. Notes. 191,000 303,196 150,253,300 Republic. 2,500,000 4,042,817 41,221,342 Austrian Empire since 1804, previously part of the " Empire." 140,000 417,000 7,423,784 Kingdom since 183 1. 2,067,442 2,960,616 45,516,250 Style of King of England, first used by Egbert, a.d. 828. 1.152,399 1,264,448 4,337,513 Kingdom since 1887. 2,560,000 3.845,500 39,192,133 Republic (on and off) since 1793. 4,064,000 6,385,000 62,826,162 Empire since 1870. 40,000 100,000 2,631,952^ Constitutional Monarch estab- lished 1830. 953,886 4,385,487 36,456,437 United in 1861. 907 1,210 79,058,090 Has had a reigning dynasty for more than 2571 years. ... ,5,500,000 Republic since 1910. 200,000 648,000 7,509,009 Kingdom since 188 1. 4,950,000 9,150,000 122,000,000- Tsar : first definitely adopted for title of Russian rulers by Ivan the Terrible in 1547. 350,000 1,157,343 1,733,865 ICingdom since 1882. 407,772 948,477 18,053,404 Empire in Europe since 14th century. 19.577,406 35,609,094 2 In Europe without Poland. pre-war one, is estimated at 4,690,733. 184 THE EX-KAISER IN EXILE The following interesting figures are taken from the First Annual Report on the Armv issued since the War. The DATE IS April 1921. The total number of men recruited in the three kingdoms from 4th August 1914 to 11th November 1<)18 was 4,970,902. The contributions of tlie various countries and the percentage of enlistments to population were as follows : ...... England . . Numbers Recruited. Percentage of Total Population. Male Population. 4,006,15s 11-57 24-02 Wales . . . 272,924 10-96 21-52 Scotland . . S57,6i8 II -50 23-71 Ireland . . 134,202 3 '07 6-14 Out of the whole Army, 335 culprits were sentenced to death, 7338 sentenced to penal servitude — 140 for life. On 1st October 19 18, including Territorial Force and exclud- ing Dominion and Indian troops, the numbers were 3,838,265, of whom 147,738 were oHicers. The maximum strength was attained at the beginning of 19I8, when the total stood at 3,887,649 — 154,777 being officers, and 3,732,872 other ranks. The casualties among officers were : Killed Wounded Missing 33,337 74,082 9,362 "We thank and bless Thee, Lord, For those the brave and true Who, eager at their country's call, Strong, undismayed, surrendered all. Grant them eternal rest." PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LTD. EDINBURGH '^% UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. AINdi'AV" W"' ' "'■"'^, J|f;ppj?eE-^RC AUG 7 1981 '. .J (^^r"?-' , r,-, M0V23'to^^ fe' ;,'PP-^:^'t;v^ ' ^-■w . v5 r-0m-7,'69(N296s4) — C-120 tBRARY,9/ "AliFn!;' 'IRRARY/0/- •<, ,i.;.lll)D^RYQ^ h m ^OFCALIFOff^ ./.: \ 3>- ^ OC 1- fOjiivj 3 1158 00559 8296 icAllFn fiV// > ^ ......,# S5 'f> 0/-.^ ,#1IF >i fe^'^. ^/I ^00 99;; -^!;^^q'^/r 679 11^^ \m\]^ x\^ "^^OjnVj.jO^^ * riv /-. U'J3 1 : V J -^\ J U J I 1 1 1 1 1 1 J 1 ine.M.Tfi r,- i^c r ( r I can. v^^ i^ ^f \,%ElfJV, rrt 4-0 y< ^ni iiiiii >&Aavaan-i^ ^ ^ ^'^Jr