Revelations of a German attaché; ten years of German-American diplomacy

Front matter

Ill liii

I iii mm.

liliiii iiil iS-

Preface

Up to the period of the Spanish-American war beautiful Washington had been considered as a buen re tiro for well-deserving diplomats who had a claim to a quiet and comfortable little resting place. Since the beginning of the imperialistic era of the United States, however, Washington has become an important storm centre of world politics and the Powers of the Old World carefully consider this change in conditions. They now appoint only their best men, men familiar with all cjuestions of international politics and trade, to represent their interests at the seat of the American Federal Government.

As in all other fields of public life, the reckless goahead spirit, to which the American Republic owes its world power, shows itself in its relations with the representatives of the Old World. The diplomats in long-tailed coats and knee breeches, before they become acclimated and learn to appreciate at their full value the ''shirt-sleeve," ''Rough-Rider" methods of their American colleagues, frequently pay a bitter price for their experience.

It was given to me, during the critical time which followed the close of the Spanish-American war, to be entrusted with numerous important missions by the German Embassy in Washington and, through my position of confidential agent to the Ambassador in matters relating to the newspaper press, to obtain an astounding insight into the secret goings-on, the behind the scenes, so to speak, of German and Ameriviii PREFACE

can diplomac}-. I likewise had opportunit}' to study at first hand the sordid machinations of a coterie of self-seeking men who attempted to disturb the good understanding existing between the United States and Germany.

In the pages of this book the public will learn for the first time the absolute imvarnished truth regarding the relations existing bet^veen the t^vo countries and the attempt of a powerful and corrupt press to interfere with them on both sides of the ocean.

Who in Germany, for instance, knows that the much-lauded visit of Prince Henr}', which officially was supposed to have added to and cemented the friendly relations existing betv^-een the German Empire and the United States, as a matter of fact terminated in a diplomatic incident? — A diplomatic incident purposely produced and amounting to a deadly affront to the honour of the German nation, an incident which would have had a less shameful ending if a man like Bismarck had been Imperial Chancellor instead of Prince von Biilow? To whom is it known that the German ambassador. Dr. von Holleben, was forced to leave the Federal Capital under conditions so shameful and disparaging that the history of no other country shows their equal? Who knows that all this was done to make room for a man whose principal, if not exclusive, service is his personal friendship with the present Rough Rider President of the United States? For a man upon whose diplomatic abilities no German paper up to date set a proper valuation except "Simplicissimus," whose famous cartoon has been amply justified !

To whom is it kno\sTi that after, and in spite of, these discouraging experiences the German Emperor and the Confederation of German Princes have renewed

PREFx\CE ix

relations with the German emigrants to America, who at one time were despised as renegades? And that while this rapprochement may appear highly desirable and commendable from the Imperial and all- GERMAX standpoint, it is viewed in quite a different light by official circles in America?

He who has followed with an unprejudiced eye the course of events since the Spanish- American war cannot but conclude that a continuation of this policy of deceiving the public mind and suppressing the truth will bear bitter fruit. Some day these tw^o peoples, racially descended from the same stock, will have to ladle out the soup that is now being prepared for them by selfish interests.

It has not been an easy matter for me to write and give to the world this book, containing as it does the sum of my obsen-ations and experiences in the sen-ice of the Imperial German Embassy in ^^'ashington. In it I have frankly called persons and things by their real names, taking the standpoint that a danger once known is a danger half defeated.

jNIay the German and American peoples learn the truth, and wreck the schemes of those "dark men of honour" who would plunge the two coimtries into an unholy war, before it is too late.

Charlottenburg. Tegeler-Weg 103

September, 1907.

emil Wittt,

COXTENTS

~i

L r^Z ilMB^iaST A33 ^32. ?3LE."

Contents

CHAPTER

XXI. Puzzles and Politics

XXII. "Hands Across the Sea"

XXIII. Some Social Organizations

XXIV. And— The Future?

XXV. Shall I Be Vindicated—?

PAGE

213 223

Chapter I The Embassy And The Press

The I2th of March, 1902. — What was telegraphed to the Philadelphia North American from the Federal Capital. — "Has Washington demanded von Holleben's Recall ?" — The New York papers appear in extra editions. — The General Manager of the "Associated Press" requests an interview for the press. — I send a request to Dr. Mantler, chief of the Wolff Telegraph Bureau, to see me. — "Keep a stiff upper lip !"

In New York about midday of the 12th of March, 1902, the electric bell in my front room rang violently and a man stood before me with his card, on which was engraved the name of ''Mr. Egan, Special Correspondent of the Associated Press/' He drew from his pocket a newspaper whose large-typed extra still smelled of fresh ink, and pointed with his forefinger to the striking headlines.

''I have a message from our general director, Mr. Melville Stone, who begs you to give your views on this subject through the Associated Press."

I took the sheet curiously from his hand and began to read. I could hardly believe my eyes! What I saw there, in giant type, was the equivalent of a declaration of war against the German Empire ! ! I herewith give the notice as received by the German official wire, which the correspondents of German newspapers in New York transmitted, first in English and then in German translation.

"N. Y. (Evening) World, 5th Edition, Wednesday, March 12, 1902.

HAS WASHINGTON ASKED VON HOLLEBEN'S RECALL?

REPORT THAT THE GERMAN AMBASSADOR HAS RECEIVED HIS

PASSPORTS AND BEEN ORDERED TO LEAVE THE

COUNTRY IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS.

Philadelphia, Pa., March 12,

"The North American to-day publishes the following special despatch from its Washington correspondent:

"Not since the historic De Lome incident, v^hich had its part in the beginning of the Spanish-American war, has Washington been so stirred as by the rumour to-night that one of the foreign ambassadors has been informed that he must leave the country.

"Though only a rumour, and though denied formally, but without enthusiasm, at the State Department, the impression persists, and is embellished with details.

"vON HOLLEBEN SAID TO BE THE MAN

"Ambassador von Holleben, of Germany, is the foreign representative who is said to have displeased the United States Government so seriously that he has received his passports. According to report, the incident v/ill net lead to a rupture in the relations between the two countries. A gentleman who is in a position to learn at an early moment any important developments said to the North American correspondent to-night:

"An ambassador has received his passports, and has been told to leave the country within forty-eight hours. I will not disclose his identity; the whole story will be known in a day or two. The time allowed to him has been extended from forty-eight hours to thirty days.

"intriguing in corporation AFFAIRS

"There will be no international complications. The Ambassador has been intriguing in the affairs of some corpo-

THE EMBASSY AND THE PRESS 17

rations, and it is probable that an apology will be tendered by his government in due time, thus closing the incident.

"These statements were repeated to Secretary of State Hay to-night, and he was asked whether it was true that Ambassador von Holleben had been invited to return to Germany. The Secretary denied it.

"It was told by another official that von Holleben had intended returning with Prince Henry, but had deferred his departure thirty days."

To appreciate the full meaning of the foregoing telegram, one must bear in mind that the despatch appeared less than twenty- four hours after the departure of Prince Henry of Prussia, brother of the German Emperor, who started on his homeward journey March nth. It was a deadly insult to the German Emperor, a provocation without example, which undoubtedly would have serious consequences for the amiable relations between the German Empire and the United States of America.

I returned the sheet to Mr. Egan, who was looking at me curiously. With an artificial appearance of unconcern, which in reality I was far from feeling, I replied :

'T am surprised that Mr. Melville Stone should remember me. May I ask, before I give you an answer, how he got my address ?"

Mr. Egan raised his eyebrows and thought a moment. "I shall commit no indiscretion by telling you. Mr. Stone got your address from Washington."

"Allow me one more question, Mr. Egan. When did you see Dr. Mantler last?"

Dr. Mantler is the general director of the semi-official Wolff's Telegraph Office in Berlin, who was in the suite of Prince Henry and made the American, tour with him, and who remained in New York for a short time after the Prince's departure.

"I saw Dr. Mantler before I came to you!'*

"Then I must ask you to present my compliments to Mr. Melville Stone and say to him that for the present I prefer not to express my views. And will you kindly say to Dr. Mantler that I shall expect a visit from him to-day?"

Mr. Egan's expression suddenly changed. "I will tell you," he remarked, *'that some deviltry is on foot, whose origin and purport are unknown to me, but it seems to me that they are trying to draw you into the affair, and I advise you to keep a stiff upper lip.

"As a correspondent of the Associated Press I accompanied the Prince in his travels over the whole country and he made a very pleasant impression on me, as well as all the other newspaper men. But as for your ambassador, Mr. von Holleben — Oh ! what a funny little man ! When he used to pass through the car reserved for the correspondents on the special train he always waited for us to rise, stand stiffly and bow, and he would get fiery red and as angry as a turkey cock if we did not do so."

Mr. Egan, who later, during the Russo-Japanese war, went to Tokio for the Associated Press, left with a friendly word and the promise to faithfully give my message to Mr. Stone and also to Dr. Mantler.

The hours went by and Dr. Mantler did not come. The interests of the Empire were offered up for personal revenge and the mischief ran its course.

How near the German people were, during these eventful days, to war with the United States will be learned through these disclosures.

CHAPTER II "oh, these simple Americans!"

"Oh, these simple Americans !" Naive conception of American naivete among German diplomats. — Announcement of Prince Henry's American visit. — Expression of the old, "historic friendship" between the German and American peoples. — Serious illness of the President's eldest son. — The Prince comes, though Washington warns him off. — His triumphal procession through the United States. — "Dear fatherland, may peace be thine !" — What did the chief of the Federal secret service report to Washington? — The imperial yacht HohenBollern steams out of New York harbour before the appointed time.

''These Americans are so naive; there is no halt which they will not eagerly swallow if it is only offered them with a friendly smile and sufficiently sugared T This sentiment was often expressed by an intimate friend of Herr von Holleben during the time I had the honour to be attached to the embassy for press matters, and it is characteristic of the comprehension that the men in that circle of German diplomacy entertained of the statesmen of the New World, and which led to so many fatal mistakes. After a succession of unpleasant incidents — one has only to remember the Dewey-Diederichs episode in the Bay of Manila, the unfortunate Samoa affair, the Coghlan intermezzo (Hoch der Kaiser) and the Venezuela imbroglio — suddenly Berlin diplomacy remembered the old "historic friendship" which had bound the Prussians, from the days of Frederick the Great, to the United States, and laid stress on the fact that the North American

Republic had no truer and more honourable friend than the German Empire. And to assure this fact to the world in general, and America in particular, the announcement was made that Prince Henry would tour the United States of America.

The official American world rubbed its eyes in astonishment. The telegram which contained the first news of the approaching visit was like lightning from a clear sky. The "yellow" press, just at this time, was conducting a furious war dance against Germany, whom it accused of having evil intentions against the Monroe Doctrine, and in Washington the tourist swarms daily passed by the German Legation and pointed with their fingers to the officials who were visible behind the barred windows and of whom the guides usually remarked : "Those are the representatives of the Power with which we will have our next war and which we will thrash the way we did the Spaniards."

Was it to be wondered at that official Washington could not be brought to believe in the newly discovered "historic friendship" between Germany and the United States, and ascribed other motives to Prince Henry's visit than those which had been given out? A test was made, and the severe illness of the President's son, Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., taken as an excuse for the following telegram, which I give exactly as it appeared in the New York Staats-Zeihing:

VISIT IN QUESTION

A Postponement of Prince Henry's Visit Possible. Only a Decided Change for the Better in the Condition of the President's son will make it Possible not to delay the visit planned,

Washington, Feb. lo: If at the end of this week there has been no decided change for the better in the condition of Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., it appears that Prince Henry of

"OH, THESE SIMPLE AMERICANS !" 21

Prussia will be obliged to delay his visit to the United States till later in the year.

Promptly followed from Berlin the cabled answer that even in the event of the worst in the case of young Roosevelt, there would be no necessity for delaying the Prince's visit, as this was not a presidential one but intended for the German people of the country.

One may imagine how charmed those in the White House and the neighbouring embassies were with this answer.

Then came the Prince. The American Congress had voted thirty thousand dollars as an entertainment fund, so he travelled over the country as a guest of the American nation. The Germans arose as one man to greet him. Wherever the Prince appeared, all the German societies swarmed in line, German flags waved, and 'Test Steht und treu die Wacht am Rhein" as well as "Deutschland, Deutschland iiber Alles," was sung.

The Prince was convinced by his own observations, and could inform his imperial brother, that he found himself in a country in which a third * of the population was of German birth or German descent, and fully determined, under all circumstances, to he true to Germany. He saw and convinced himself of the truth of the expression which once Dr. von Holleben had used to a reporter at a critical time, namely, that any war between Germany and the United States woidd he in the character of a civil war. But if Prince Henry and Dr. von Holleben were witnesses of those imposing mass demonstrations of the Germans in America, so also was John E. Wilkie, who, after years of newspaper service, had become head of the Federal Secret

* Actually less than one-tenth.

Service, and who, with a number of lynx-eyed agents, had made the entire triumphal tour with the Prince, and whose reports to the President, as well as to the State Department, would not be less interesting or instructive than those of the princely guest of the American nation to the German Emperor, and those of Herr von Holleben to the foreign office in Berlin.*

A threatening storm gathered, which broke the instant the Prince had turned his back on the American shores. I have heard from an absolutely authentic source that the original intention had been to engineer the von Holleben incident while the Prince was present in America. That would have meant war, but, fortunately for the welfare of both nations, strong influences were brought to bear, with the result that the planned rough-rider play, if not entirely hindered, was at least put off a few days.

Who has not known until now why the imperial yacht Hohensollern suddenly lifted anchor several days before the allotted time and steamed out of New York harbour without ceremony, will find here the reason for that astonishing circumstance. *'We are first and last responsible," David J. Hill, American Under- Secretary of State, had said to me on a former occasion, "and if the anger of the people were to be aroused, there could be no retreating."

A lucky providence ordained that the imperial yacht Hohenzollern did not have the fate of the Maine in the harbour of Havana.

Even the "American naivete" has, as one sees, its limits.

* "Prince Henry's visit, however, was really intended to solidify the German-American movement in behalf of the Fatherland." — Thayer's "Life of John Hay," Vol. H, p. 290.

Chapter III

How it happened that the Washington telegram regarding Herr von Holleben's recall appeared in the Philadelphia North American. — On the advice of Dr. Franz Schneider, Paris correspondent of the Cologne Zeitung, I determine to put in writing a history of my relations with the Embassy. — ''Habent sua fata libelli !" — An article in the Vienna Deutsche Zeitung, and its consequences. — Hatred of the German press for America. — Plan for publication of a "Washington correspondence." — A letter of recommendation from the American Charge dAffaires at Vienna. — I meet Ambassador von Holleben and Dr. Laufer, editor-inchief of the Norddeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung, in Berlin. An opinion of the American Charge at Berlin. — My arrival in Washington.

The Philadelphia North American, which was the first and only paper to publish, on the morning after the departure of Prince Henry from America, the news that Dr. von Holleben had received his passports and been requested to leave the United States within forty-eight hours, is one of the most respectable and influential daily papers in the United States and belongs to the millionaire, John Wanamaker, who, during President McKinley's administration, was Postmaster General, and is in the closest relations to the present statesmen in Washington. This would explain how that ominous telegram from the American capital was accepted in its columns and how the general director of the Associated Press, Mr. Melville E. Stone, in New York, at the same time received my address ''from

Washington" and was asked to try to get me to express my views in regard to the statement in the Philadelphia publication.

But how did it happen that the powers in Washington had my address and brought me into conjunction with the telegram sent out by them?

The answer to this question throws a remarkable light on the secret-service history of our day, and, taking into consideration the tremendous interest which this exposure possesses in the disclosure of those dark events, I shall not hesitate to put on paper the "truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

In the year 1900, while I was visiting the Exposition in Paris, I met Dr. Franz Schneider, whom I had known in London and who had been a reporter in six different European capitals, one after the other, for the progressive Kolnischen Zeitiing, and who urged me strongly to write my memoirs while they were fresh in my mind, and was of the opinion that they would be of great value as a contribution to a history of the times. I followed his advice, grasped my pen and preserved my experiences of the time in which I was writing for the American press in the service of the German Empire, for the furtherance of a good understanding between the two lands, without dreaming what an almost tragic role my little manuscript was destined to have. I finished it, felt my heart lighter for the work, and locked it in my trunk, where it remained — until Washington came into possession of it. I can do no better than rewrite once more the entire manuscript, as it explains later events and throws a light on the machinations which ended in the melodramatic finale of Prince Henry's American tour.

The head of the American Secret Service, John E.

Wilkie, in Washington (as I have every reason to believe), has brought the manuscript to the knowledge of the members of the Senate and House Committee for Foreign Affairs, and to those in still higher positions, and therefore the action which has been taken against Dr. von Holleben.

There are in men's lives some fateful moments which, with their surrounding circumstances, it is impossible to erase from the human mind. Such a moment happened to me on Saturday afternoon, the 23d of April, 1898, and I remember to-day, after so many years, every circumstance as clearly and distinctly as if it had been yesterday. I was at that time sub-editor of the National Vienna Deutschen Zeitung and had been placed at the head of their information bureau on foreign affairs. As the only member of the editorial staff who was not an Austrian, I experienced in my duties as reporter much open and hidden antipathy from my more or less cherished colleagues, who had never been farther than the dust of their beautiful capital on the blue Danube and whose opinions therefore were very narrow and bigoted as far as anything outside of Austria went. A sharp disagreement grew out of this, which suddenly came to a climax on that historically memorable day of which I spoke.

As the telegram from the K. K. Telegraph Correspondent's office left no further doubt that the war which was brewing at the time of the explosion of the Maine in the harbour of Havana had become unavoidable; yes, had practically already begun, even though the official declaration of war had not been pronounced, so the Spanish-American conflict was the logical theme for the leading editorial, and it fell to my share to write it. I was already quite advanced with my work when the publisher, Dr. Theodor Waehner, a wellmeaning but rather narrow-minded man, appeared. Then followed this somewhat dramatic dialogue :

Dr. Waehner : **Well, gentlemen, what are we writing about to-day?"

I : "Doctor, war is here. I have already begun an article."

Dr. Waehner : ''But naturally we cannot permit the Americans to send their fleet to Europe and close up the Spanish harbours."

I : "You are in a good humour to-day, doctor, but, speaking seriously, I am making it plain in my article that our sympathies are with America."

Dr. Waehner: "You cannot possibly mean that! You are joking with me, are you not?"

I : "Not in the least. I have, as you know, lived in America, know the circumstances and cannot write against America."

Dr. Waehner : "That will not do under any circumstances! The Queen Regent of Spain is an Austrian Archduchess; the Austrians are a Catholic people like the Spaniards and will stand on the side of the people of their faith; besides, America is a republic, and as loyal subjects of a monarch-ruled land we may not sympathise with a republic. Therefore, it must not be so! We are for Spain and against America!"

I : "I am very sorry not to be able to share your view-point, and must beg you, therefore, to seek another editor to write such articles."

With these words I tore up the article begun by me and threw it into the waste basket, reached for my hat and cane and prepared to leave the room, when Dr. Waehner hurried after me and begged me to discuss my views at an editorial conference. There was

stormy explanation which ended by my being given a free hand to write as I thought best. In the end Dr. Waehner, who Hked a good drink, had a bottle of Hennessy Cognac brought. We smoked a cigar of peace, and harmony was again restored. I returned to my place, took out of the basket the torn manuscript, pasted each part carefully together and finished my article, though still under great excitement.

It appeared in the Sunday edition of the Deutschen Zeitung of April 24th, 1898, and is given below in its full verbal contents, not only because it throws a strong light on the then existing anti-American feeling in the German lands, but more because it was followed by the political consequences of the first degree, such as the earnest danger of a war between America and Germany, and the case without precedent in the annals of German diplomatic history of the dismissal of the Imperial Ambassador to Washington. I admit frankly that if I had been able to look into the future my article would never have seen the light of day. It ran :

FOR OR AGAINST AMERICA

Vienna, 23 April, 1898.

Our readers know that it has been the policy of the Deutschen Zeitung first to point out the disgraceful proceedings in the murder case of Lattimer in Pennsylvania, and energetically demand the interference of the government in behalf of the murdered and wounded subjects of our monarchy. This should, properly speaking, have been the duty of the Social Democrat and Slav Hungarian Press, as those slaughtered at Hazleton were mostly Slavs and Magyar workmen; but, as is so often the case, Germany fulfilled the duty of the Magyars and Slavs, as these did not raise their pens in behalf of their brethren maliciously shot down in a foreign land. Our readers will further remember that at the end of the Lattimer trial, as well as at the yearly report of the New York German Society, we most emphatically advised against any further emigration to the United States, and recommended South America as the most promising field, as the German emigrants there help their nationality, while in the United States they run the danger of losing their

Germanism (Deutschtum). If to-day one will look back on these facts it will be impossible to accuse me of prejudice toward the North American Republic. But the same feeling of justice which urged me to interfere on behalf of the Slavs and Magyars, which the year before moved me to uphold Crete and Greece, forces us to-day, since a war has broken out between the United States and Spain, to disclose openly and honourably our views. In so doing I lay myself open to the danger of being again alone in my opinion and of drawing upon myself the anger of the so-called national publications who pretend to express the unexpressed rights and wishes of the body politic.

It is one of the saddest and most revolting exhibitions of public life that the political Pharisees and hypocrites have taken the occasion of this war for regular orgies. Without respect to their political leanings, nearly all the newspapers of the European countries have given themselves over to hounding in the most shameless manner the North American Republic. Liberal, conservative and clerical organs, pro- and anti-Semitic, as well as ''nationalist" organs, have joined to fly at poor Uncle Sam, whose politics are branded as "a. naked, brutal programme of conquest," the meanest lawlessness, the most open greed for plunder. Strangely enough, these same papers that take an entirely different attitude in regard to the foreign policy of their own countries, in that they praise and justify in them exactly what they damn in the United States. Only a few days ago, a respectable German paper demanded that the German Empire should be the sole ruler of the Samoan Islands, as German trade there in the past few years had almost entirely dwindled. But this same paper makes the most violent accusations about the robber intentions of America toward Cuba, although the value of American exports to the "Pearl of the Antilles" is immeasurably greater than Germany's to Samoa. Therefore, the harm that United States commerce has sustained is unquestionably greater. At this moment, the partition of the Chinese Empire into European spheres of interest, the so-called "lease of Chinese provinces for 99 years," is proceeding; and even to the accompaniment of strenuous appeals from the very same press which thunders against the "law-breaking, plunder-mad, brutal Yankee nation." In the opinion of all impartial persons, however, the legal right of the North American Union is de facto far clearer than that of all other governments taken together, the German included, which to-day are carving out from the Chinese Empire the fattest bits to satisfy their land hunger.

The logic of these sheets, however, is that what Europe should be allowed to do in China, America should be forbidden to do in Cuba. The inconsistency of such logic should be apparent to every one. Should the North American Union in reality wish to annex Cuba, she would have the greatest right to do so, on geographic, political, commercial, humanitarian and other grounds. But the Union has no thought of doing so, for, as President McKinley to-day remarked to a Times correspondent, he and the United States were bound by a solemn oath not to annex Cuba under any circumstances. The annexation of Cuba would be dishonourable. It was all a matter of humanity, and his object was to free Cuba from Spanish rule. Cuba was to be a Republic, under the protection of America, but he hoped that it would not long be necessary to keep American troops in Cuba. This is the promise of the President, who has, until now, in his whole political career, shown himself to be a clever, thoughtful, and, above all, an honest man. There is no possible reason not to accept his words as truth. However, should circumstances arise stronger than the human will, it would be, from our point of view, the greatest good luck for Cuba to be placed as a star in the American flag, and have a part in the blessings of progress and culture which have so long been denied her.