Spies of the Kaiser: Plotting the Downfall of England Read online

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  _Spies of the Kaiser Plotting the Downfall of England_

  _By William Le Queux: Author of "The Invasion of 1910"_

  Contents

  IF ENGLAND KNEW THE PERIL OF ENGLAND CHAPTER I: HOW THE PLANS OF ROSYTH WERE STOLEN CHAPTER II: THE SECRET OF THE SILENT SUBMARINE CHAPTER III: THE BACK-DOOR OF ENGLAND CHAPTER IV: HOW THE GERMANS ARE PREPARING FOR INVASION CHAPTER V: THE SECRET OF THE NEW BRITISH AEROPLANE CHAPTER VI: THE SECRET OF THE NEW ARMOUR-PLATES CHAPTER VII: THE SECRET OF THE IMPROVED "DREADNOUGHT" CHAPTER VIII: THE GERMAN PLOT AGAINST ENGLAND CHAPTER IX: THE SECRET OF OUR NEW GUN CHAPTER X: THE SECRET OF THE CLYDE DEFENCES CHAPTER XI: THE PERIL OF LONDON CHAPTER XII: HOW GERMANY FOMENTS STRIFE CHAPTER XIII: OUR WIRELESS SECRETS CHAPTER XIV: PLAYING A DESPERATE GAME

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  _Spies of the Kaiser Plotting the Downfall of England_

  _By William Le Queux: Author of "The Invasion of 1910"_

 

  _LONDON: HURST AND BLACKETT, LTD. PATERNOSTER HOUSE, E.C._

  IF ENGLAND KNEW

  No sane person can deny that England is in grave danger of invasion byGermany at a date not far distant.

  This very serious fact I endeavoured to place vividly before the publicin my recent forecast, _The Invasion of 1910_, the publication of which,in Germany and in England, aroused a storm of indignation against me.

  The Government, it will be remembered, endeavoured to suppress itspublication, because it contained many serious truths, which it wasdeemed best should be withheld from the public, and on itspublication--in defiance of the statements in the House of Commons, andthe pressure brought upon me by the Prime Minister--I was denounced as apanicmonger.

  But have not certain of my warnings already been fulfilled?

  I have no desire to create undue alarm. I am an Englishman, and, I hope,a patriot. What I have written in this present volume in the form offiction is based upon serious facts within my own personal knowledge.

  That German spies are actively at work in Great Britain is well known tothe authorities. The number of agents of the German Secret Police atthis moment working in our midst on behalf of the IntelligenceDepartment in Berlin are believed to be over five thousand. To eachagent--known as a "fixed-post"--is allotted the task of discovering somesecret, or of noting in a certain district every detail which may be ofadvantage to the invader when he lands. This "fixed-agent" is, in turn,controlled by a travelling agent, who visits him regularly, allots thework, collects his reports, and makes monthly payments, the usualstipend varying from L10 to L30 per month, according to the socialposition of the spy and the work in which he or she may be engaged.

  The spies themselves are not always German. They are often Belgians,Swiss, or Frenchmen employed in various trades and professions, and eachbeing known in the Bureau of Secret Police by a number only, theirmonthly information being docketed under that particular number. Everysix months an "inspection" is held, and monetary rewards made to thosewhose success has been most noteworthy.

  The whole brigade of spies in England is controlled by a well-knownmember of the German Secret Police in London, from whom the travellingagents take their orders, and in turn transmit them to the"fixed-posts," who are scattered up and down the country.

  As I write, I have before me a file of amazing documents, which plainlyshow the feverish activity with which this advance guard of our enemy isworking to secure for their employers the most detailed information.These documents have already been placed before the Minister for War,who returned them without comment!

  He is aware of the truth, and cannot deny it in face of theseincriminating statements.

  It is often said that the Germans do not require to pursue any system ofespionage in England when they can purchase our Ordnance maps at ashilling each. But do these Ordnance maps show the number of horses andcarts in a district, the stores of food and forage, the best way inwhich to destroy bridges, the lines of telegraph and telephone, and theplaces with which they communicate, and such-like matters of vitalimportance to the invader? Facts such as these, and many others, arebeing daily conveyed by spies in their carefully prepared reports toBerlin, as well as the secrets of every detail of our armament, ourdefences, and our newest inventions.

  During the last twelve months, aided by a well-known detective officer,I have made personal inquiry into the presence and work of these spies,an inquiry which has entailed a great amount of travelling, muchwatchfulness, and often considerable discomfort, for I have felt that,in the circumstances, some system of contra-espionage should beestablished, as has been done in France.

  I have refrained from giving actual names and dates, for obviousreasons, and have therefore been compelled, even at risk of being againdenounced as a scaremonger, to present the facts in the form offiction--fiction which, I trust, will point its own patriotic moral.

  Colonel Mark Lockwood, Member for Epping, sounded a very serious warningnote in the middle of 1908 when he asked questions of the Minister forWar, and afterwards of the Prime Minister, respecting the presence ofGerman spies in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and elsewhere. He pointed outthat for the past two years these individuals, working upon a carefullyprepared plan, had been sketching, photographing, and carefully makingnotes throughout the whole of East Anglia.

  With truth, he declared that this organised system of espionage was forone reason alone, namely in preparation for a sudden raid upon ourshores, for "the Day"--as it is known in Germany--the Day of theInvasion of England.

  The replies given by His Majesty's Ministers were colourless, thoughthey both actually confessed themselves unable to deal with thesituation! Under our existing law it seems that a foreign spy is freeto go hither and thither, and plot the downfall of England, while we,ostrich-like, bury our head in the sand at the sign of approachingdanger.

  The day has passed when one Englishman was worth ten foreigners. Modernscience in warfare has altered all that. All the rifle-clubs in Englandcould not stop one German battalion, because the German battalion istrained and disciplined in the art of war, while our rifle-clubs areneither disciplined nor trained. Were every able-bodied man in thekingdom to
join a rifle-club we should be no nearer the problem ofbeating the German invaders if once they landed, than if the spectatorsin all the football matches held in Britain mobilised against a foreignfoe. The Territorial idea is a delusion. Seaside camps for a fortnight ayear are picnics, not soldiering. The art of navigation, the science ofengineering, or the trade of carpentering cannot be learned in fourteendays annually--neither can the art of war.

  In response, we have held up to us the strength of our Navy. But is itreally what it is represented by our rulers to an already deludedpublic?

  Only as recently as March 29, 1909, Sir Edward Grey, replying to Mr.Balfour's vote of censure in the House of Commons, was compelled toadmit that--

  "A new situation is created by the German programme. When it is completed, Germany, a great country close to our own shores, will have a fleet of thirty-three Dreadnoughts, and that fleet will be the most powerful which the world has ever yet seen. It imposes upon us the necessity of rebuilding the whole of our fleet. That is the situation."

  Germany is our friend--for the moment. But Prince Buelow now admits thatthe Kaiser's telegram to President Kruger was no personal whim, but theoutcome of national policy!

  What may happen to-morrow?

  WILLIAM LE QUEUX.