Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-01-01

rooms, q large general meeting hall
and a morning room. It being the
property Of the royal family. l found
two old pensioners of the imperial for
est service in charge. They had a
good fire going in the CRATE, which was
welcome. for it was still a little damp
and chilly. especially in this wet noun
tain forest.
Patrolling both ends of the road we're
a number of gendarmes. They were
scattered through the woods. too. form
ing a Gordon through which no one
could come. Indeed, they had chal-
lenged me. About three o'clock in the
afternoon the German and Austrian
ENJOYS came out from the hotel, and
at a quarter to four Il remember
Waechter remarking, They're three
quarters of an hour late!") the chug
of a motor announced the others, Lord
Haldane and Winston Churchill.
A Group Of History Makers.
had never happened to meet Hal
dane before, and l found him the Eng
lish gentleman personifled-polished
and reserved. Yet his reserve, tenn
pered by age, blended into q genial
mellowness. The usual English AFRO
gance had evidently been subdued by
reason of his cosmopolitan knowledge
Of the world. In speech and action he
was a Chesterfield, but in appearance
he was not unlike a canon or a bishop,
a little ascetic looking. and rather
bald.
Quite the other type OF Anglo-Saxon,
still boyish in looks, high-strung and
nervous, cratic in speech and action,
just a bit self-conscious, Winston
Churchill was the youngest member of
this remarkable gathering. / had met
him during the Boer war, and as he
took off his motoring coal he looked at
me closely.
Il believe I've seer you before" he
said.
II met the right honorable gentle
man In the Bloemfontein field hospital
during the war"
"Ah, yes" said Churchill, his face
lighting up.
He had had his wound dressed there;
his recognition showed his remarkable
memory.
After refreshments the ENJOYS i'm
mediately adjourned to the big norm
ing room, and l was posted outside to
see that no gendarme or forest PEN
sioner came within earshot. l was
not present at the beginning of the
conference. but after an hour had
passed / was summoned.
My first impression as l opened the
door was of an air of ~tenseness. 1t
was obvious in the way Churchill was
staring across the table at Haldane.
1t was an ordinary large German oak
dining-room table, and in the middle
were two big shaded lamps. 1t was
growing dusk, and after lighting the
lamps I backed away to a corner Of
the room.
/ had a distinct impression of the
features of the six men who were max
ing history round that table. There
were writing materials, stacks Of pa
per and documents at every place.
Sheets of paper were covered with
their handwriting. Only in front of
Won H~eeringen were the sheets blank,
for he never makes a note On anything,
carrying everything in his marvellous
memory.
Obviously what were the last words
of a speech came from Moritz, the Aus
trian, as l entered: And to make this
all possible" he was saying. I'VE must
break the Russian federation in the
Balkans"
The Pawns In the Game.
From his place at the head Of the
table the iron-gray-haired Kiderlen-
Waechter rose slowly. l noticed he
wore another of those atrocious vests.
Turning on his left he gazed at
Churchill and Tirpitz; his careful
measuring eyes then met Moritz, an
expectant, slightly rvo figure at
the other end of the table awaiting
the reply to the point he had raised.
And Waechter's eyes turned from him
to Heeringen, to Haldane; hen he
spoke. I recall distinctly the import
of his remarks.
Gentlemen" he said, the point
raised by General Moritz must stand,
and, of course, it needs the sanction
of our respective heads. AS Lord Hal
dane has pointed out, 1t does compli-
cate matters to m extent. The Bal
kans concern Austria most; to my way
of thinking it is quite within reason to
accede this point. CAS- write l recall
wildly how grave they had all be-
come. They knew what this meant
war in the Balkans.) On all main
points," said Observation-Disclosures I'VE
are agreed. AS indicated by his impe-
rial majesty, the primary reason of
our meeting is to come to a tacit un-
Outstanding in regard to technical de-
tails. This we have done. 1t is unfor-
tunate. however. that this possible
phase, the Balkan point, has not been
gone into hefora. suppast that wa