Part 15 (2/2)

Now when we have the annual interest to be paid by Germany exceeding the annual increment of the country, the social and even moral bankruptcy of the country must ensue. If repudiation of the loan or any part of it is then forced, the loss naturally falls upon those who have taken the loan. The working-man or small capitalist, who put all his savings in the war loan, is without support for his old age, and so with the man who took insurance in the Insurance Companies or put his savings in a bank. If that bank becomes bankrupt through repudiation of the war loan, you then have the country in a position where the able-bodied are all working to pay what they can towards the interest of the government loan, after earning enough to keep themselves and their families alive; and the old and the young, without support and deprived of their savings, become mere poor-house burdens on the community.

Already the mere interest of the war loan of Germany amounts to four billions of marks a year; to this must be added, of course, the interest of the previous indebtedness of the country and of each political subdivision thereof, including cities, all of which have added to their before-the-war debt, by incurring great debts to help the dest.i.tute in this war; and, of course, to all this must be added the expenses of the administration of the government and the maintenance of the army and navy.

It is the contemplation of this state of affairs, when he is convinced that indemnities are not to be exacted from other countries, that will do most to persuade the average intelligent German business man that peace must be had at any cost.

CHAPTER XIV

WORK FOR THE GERMANS

The interests of Germany in France, England and Russia were placed with our American Amba.s.sadors in these countries. This, of course, entailed much work upon our Emba.s.sy, because we were the medium of communication between the German Government and these Amba.s.sadors.

I found it necessary to establish a special department to look after these matters. At its head was Barclay Rives who had been for many years in our diplomatic service and who joined my Emba.s.sy at the beginning of the war. First Secretary of our Emba.s.sy in Vienna for ten or twelve years, he spoke German perfectly and was acquainted with many Germans and Austrians. Inquiries about Germans who were prisoners, negotiations relative to the treatment of German prisoners, and so on, came under this department.

One example will show the nature of this work. When the Germans invaded France, a German cavalry patrol with two officers, von Schierstaedt and Count Schwerin, and several men penetrated as far as the forest of Fontainebleau, south of Paris. There they got out of touch with the German forces and wandered about for days in the forest. In the course of their wanderings they requisitioned some food from the inhabitants, and took, I believe, an old coat for one of the officers who had lost his, and requisitioned a wagon to carry a wounded man. After their surrender to the French, the two officers were tried by a French court martial, charged with pillaging and sentenced to be degraded from their rank and transported to Cayenne (the Devil's Island of the Dreyfus case).

The Germans made strong representations, and our very skilled Amba.s.sador in Paris, the Honourable William C. Sharp, took up the matter with the Foreign Office and succeeded in preventing the transportation of the officers. The sending of the officers and men, however, into a military prison where they were treated as convicts caused great indignation throughout Germany. The officers had many and powerful connections in their own country who took up their cause. There were bitter articles in the German press and caricatures and cartoons were published.

I sent Mr. Rives to Paris and told him not to leave until he had seen these officers. He remained in Paris some weeks and finally through Mr. Sharp obtained permission to visit the officers in the military prison. Later the French showed a tendency to be lenient in this case, but it was hard to find a way for the French Government to back down gracefully. Schierstaedt having become insane in the meantime, a very clever way out of the difficulty was suggested, I believe by Mr. Sharp. Schierstaedt having been found to be insane was presumably insane at the time of the patrol's wandering in the forest of Fontainebleau. As he was the senior officer, the other officer and the men under him were not responsible for obeying his commands. The result was that Schwerin and the men of the patrol were put in a regular prison camp and Schierstaedt was very kindly sent by the French back to Germany, where he recovered his reason sufficiently to be able to come and thank me for the efforts made on his behalf.

I made every endeavour so far as it lay in my power to oblige the Germans. We helped them in the exchange of prisoners and the care of German property in enemy countries.

There were rumours in Berlin that Germans taken as prisoners in German African Colonies were forced to work in the sun, watched and beaten by coloured guards. This was taken up by one of the Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg who had been Governor of Togoland and who also took great interest in sending clothes, etc., to these prisoners. Germany demanded that the prisoners in Africa be sent to a more temperate climate.

Another royalty who was busied with prisoners' affairs was Prince Max of Baden. He is heir to the throne of Baden, although not a son of the reigning Duke. He is very popular and, for my part, I admire him greatly. He travels with Emerson's essays in his pocket and keeps up with the thought and progress of all countries.

Baden will be indeed happy in having such a ruler. Prince Max was a man so reasonable, so human, that I understand that von Jagow was in favour of putting him at the head of a central department for prisoners of war. I agreed with von Jagow that in such case all would go smoothly and humanely. Naturally, von Jagow could only mildly hint at the desirability of this appointment. A prince, heir to one of the thrones of Germany, with the rank of General in the army, he seemed ideally fitted for such a position, but unfortunately the opposition of the army and, particularly, of the representative corps commanders was so great that von Jagow told me the plan was impossible of realisation. I am sure if Prince Max had been at the head of such a department, Germany would not now be suffering from the odium of mistreating its prisoners and that the two million prisoners of war in Germany would not return to their homes imbued with an undying hate.

Prince Max was very helpful in connection with the American mission to Russia for German prisoners which I had organised and which I have described in the chapter on war charities.

All complaints made by the Imperial Government with reference to the treatment of German prisoners, and so forth, in enemy countries were first given to me and transmitted by our Emba.s.sy to the American Amba.s.sadors having charge of German interests in enemy countries. All this, with the correspondence ensuing, made a great amount of clerical work.

I think that every day I received one or more Germans, who were anxious about prisoner friends, making inquiries, and wis.h.i.+ng to consult me on business matters in the United States, etc.

All of these people showed grat.i.tude for what we were able to do for them, but their grat.i.tude was only a drop in the ocean of officially inspired hatred of America.

CHAPTER XV

WAR CHARITIES

As soon as the war was declared and millions of men marched forward intent upon killing, hundreds of men and women immediately took up the problem of helping the soldiers, the wounded and the prisoners and of caring for those left behind by the men who had gone to the front.

The first war charity to come under my observation was the American Red Cross. Two units containing three doctors and about twelve nurses, each, were sent to Germany by the American National Red Cross. Before their arrival I took up with the German authorities the questions as to whether these would be accepted and where they would be placed. The German authorities accepted the units and at first decided to send one to each front. The young man a.s.signed to the West front was Goldschmidt Rothschild, one of the last descendants of the great Frankfort family of Rothschild. He had been attached to the German Emba.s.sy in London before the war.

The one a.s.signed to the unit for the East front was Count Helie de Talleyrand. Both of these young men spoke English perfectly and were chosen for that reason, and both have many friends in England and America.

Talleyrand was of a branch of the celebrated Talleyrand family and possessed German citizens.h.i.+p. During the Napoleonic era the great Talleyrand married one of his nephews to a Princess of Courland who, with her sister, was joint heiress of the princ.i.p.ality of Sagan in Germany. The share of the other sister was bought by the sister who married young Talleyrand, and the descendants of that union became princes of Sagan and held the Italian t.i.tle of Duke de Dino and the French t.i.tle of Duke de Valencay.

Some of the descendants of this nephew of the great Talleyrand remained in Germany, and this young Talleyrand, a.s.signed to the Red Cross unit, belonged to that branch. Others settled in France, and among these was the last holder of the t.i.tle and the Duke de Dino, who married, successively, two Americans, Miss Curtis and Mrs. Sampson. It was a custom in this family that the holder of the princ.i.p.al t.i.tle, that of the Prince of Sagan, allowed the next two members in succession to bear the t.i.tles of Duke de Dino and Duke de Valencay. Before the last Prince of Sagan died in France, his son Helie married the American, Anna Gould, who had divorced the Count Castellane. On the death of his father and in accordance with the statutes of the House of Sagan the members of the family who were German citizens held a family council and, with the approval of the Emperor of Germany, pa.s.sed over the succession from Anna Gould's husband to her son, so that her son has now the right to the t.i.tle and not his father, but the son must become a German citizen at his majority.

The younger brother of the husband of Anna Gould bears the t.i.tle of Duke de Valencay and is the divorced husband of the daughter of Levi P. Morton, formerly Vice-President of the United States.

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