Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-02-12

VAhS punt. lie dcAGu QulCh1y.
II am familiar only with the intel
ligence department of the admiralty"
I replied.
Their SYSTEM" he asked. rs it so
extensive and efficient as we have
been led to believer"
That canont be exaggerated
A Startled Foreign Minister.
. At this Sir Edward began to
throw out innuendoes to which l re-
piled in like vein. The interview was
not progressing. Finally he came out
with what was. in his mind.
do you know If any officials or ma
val officers r selling or negotiating
to sell information to foreign intelli-
gence Departmental
Although he had not said English
officers or officials, I knew what he
meant, but made up my mind not to
tell everything I knew.
There are such,' I replied.
1t had the effect of making him
look at me in a most startled man.
ner.
How do you know that? On what
grounds do you make that as
sertion?" His agitation was ill-con-
cealed.
Il have no specific proof" l replied
(which l had)-"but from informa-
ton that has been gained from plans
that have been secured-plans like
those of your dreadnaughts Queen
Mary and Ajax-it is obvious that
these things have been done with the
cooperation of high officials of your
country"
He pressed me for further details,
but l withheld them.
Were you ever present at confer
ences attended by high officials?
Were you, for instance, at the Schlanr
genbad meeting? Have you any data?
Any documentary evidence of having
been there?"
I vas not a bit startled. | had
guessed it would be that. His very
question showed that it was useless
for me to deny that I had been at the
Black Forest conference where Ger
many had tried her best to isolate
France by winning over England. Pos
sibly Churchill, recalling my meeting
him during the Boer war, had dropped
a word about this coincidence to his
Lordship.
Naturally l told him l possessed no
such data. Still, / did not like the
trend of his talk. I began to suspect
that thfc nrs4s~I ~,st&~u -,o- l-4--
one of two things Either he did not
know everything about the Black For
est meeting-(not at all improbable
with the conditions existing in Eng
lands cabinet at that time)-or else
he wanted to learn if l knew the tenor
of that conference. In either case, it
was n of those occasions where I
deemed it wise to keep my own coun-
sci.
After many searching questions
upon the French system and her army
and navy, he began to try to lead me
to make comparisons between their
strength and England's, these being
based upon my personal observations.
This, and the whole trend of his
thought, led me to suspect that Sir
Edward Grey was In noways sure n
his W mind of, or favorable to, the
proposed German-English alliance.
With men like his Lordship personal
antipathy plays a powerful part in
such matters.
Unsatisfactory Fishing.
He then began to try to make me
divulge the contents of any personal
dispatches l had carried for the Ger
man emperor.
do you know" he asked abruptly,
IF the German emperor v e commu-
nicated with Viscount H~aldane?"
yes, sir"
He leaned forward eagerly.
How, and under what cirepm-
stances?'
why, l thought 1t common knowl-
edge that they often correspondent.
They are good friends"
Not that. ] mean direct secret
communications between them, con-
corning affairs of the state"
1 denied any knowledge of this, al
though | knew it to be SO.
He began fishing around again,
and his hints found me very stupid.
My unsatisfactory answers seemed
to displease Sir Edward Grey, for
with true British discourtesy he abb
ruptly began working at something
on his desk and without even saying
good day, let a commissaire bow me
out.
A few days later / received definite
instructions from Captain Robinson.
l was to go on my first mission in
the interests OF the British secret
service and subsequently another mis-
sion brought me to New York, where