Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-12-25

Office signatures for documents as
soon as they are delivered.
Il Without further adventure l reached
Madrid. AS the train was four hours
late ! did not present myself at the
embassy. / was met by a commits
saire at the station, delivered him the
papers, received his signature, posted
1t to the Wilhelmstrasse, and made
connections for Barcelona. Some
where of that city, in the open sea,
the Panther was waiting.
With the utmost difficulty I char
tered a tug, and in the twilight set
Off to find the Panther. It was COM
ing night when we finally saw her
dark. trim hull lying against the hori-
zon. She was well named the Pan
ther. for In this case a false spring
by her meant war.
AS we steamed up alongside a sem
try hailed US from the deck. l
shouted that I had come to see the
captain, but he told US to stand of.
Finally. after persistently hailing the
warship, the officer of the watch came
to the rail and held parley with me.
II have imperial orders to see the
captain" I shouted.
The Amazing Message.
Apparently this satisfied him, for
he let me come on board. Without
further delay I was shown into the
captains room. Very important the
captain. Picture him, a man in the
f~orties. STRAIGHTFORWARD, rather jolly,
and with m of those German naval
boards. The slightest mistake by the
captain of the Panther would have
flung England and France into war
with Germany. He stood for a mo-
ment regarding me.
well, what is this? What is your
Wilhelmstrasse NUMBER" he finally
said.
Seventeen" I told him.
That appeared to satisfy the cap
tain. / knew that the Wilhelmstrasse
had wired him that Number Seven
teen" was coming. Still he was care
full.
Where we're your first instructions
received?"
From Wedell."
subsequently,"
! felt him looking at me sharply.
Confirmed by the emperor" l re-
piled, land l deliver you herewith the
following message. You are re-
quested to use the private service
code as soon as l have delivered this
mocooo &c II x,o.. nnd .oUoo& - - eoaa
direct to Count Wedell."
The captain got up and, moving
noiselessly to the door, opened 1t
swiftly. There was no one about.
"All right" he said, '1et me have
It,"
| repeated what I had memorized,
what the emperor had given me in the
secret chamber, and Immediately
afterward destroyed all visible trace
of. I said:
"On no account, it does not matter
what official commands you have re-
ceiyed or may receive, are you to
use open force when the Panther
goes to Agadir. No matter what
stress is brought to hear upon you by
arising conditions, no matter what af-
front may be done your code of naval
honor, you are under no. circum-
stances to s any force against
France or England"
Like myself, when the emperor gave
me. that message, the captain Of the
Panther was dumbfounded. It was a
direct contradiction of the official or
ders he had received from the foreign
office to go to Morocco and make a
demonstration against the French and
the English interests. Those previous
orders had been to create war, this
varbal message was to stop war!
Could the German "Jingoes," the
big gun manufacturers, the steel peo-
pie. the army and navy men, the
powerful faction, have heard me de-
liver that message to the captain OF
the Panther, they would have bel
lowed with rage. The whole empire
wanted war, but the tired, swarthy-
faced man in the little underground
chamber at the Wilhelmstrasse, not
absolutely absolute" as he Is popu-
larly supposed to be, deemed it wise
not to fly In the face of public opin-
ion at the time and countermand the
official orders to the Panther. So he
had done so in the dark, verbally, by
me. knowing that SO he served the
best interests of his empire.
The rest is contemporary history.
You remember how the Panther
steamed to Morocco, how she forced
her way into the harbor of Agadir
and created an international sensation
by remaining there about two weeks.
You remember how one French and
n English warship came almost ST.
simultaneously. and how the officers and
everybody tingling to open fire, the
terrible war that broke out in 1914
just missed being precipitated then.
You may not know that the British