



Produced by Donald Lainson





THE COMING CONQUEST OF ENGLAND


by August Niemann


Translated by J. H. Freese



CONTENTS

I.      THE COUNCIL OF STATE

II.     THE OFFICERS' MESS

III.    A RUSSIAN COMRADE

IV.     THE CIRCASSIAN BEAUTY

V.      THE CAPTAIN'S WIFE

VI.     THE OUTRAGE

VII.    THE MAHARAJAH

VIII.   THE PAMIRS

IX.     THE GERMAN EMPEROR

X.      FIVE LAKHS OF RUPEES

XI.     THE MOBILISATION

XII.    THE CAMP OF LAHORE

XIII.   THE BATTLE

XIV.    IN THE PANIC-STRICKEN CITY

XV.     THE COURT-MARTIAL

XVI.    THE PROFESSOR

XVII.   DOWNING STREET

XVIII.  THE YOUNG RUSSIAN CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS

XIX.    ON THE ROAD TO SIMLA

XX.     A FRIEND IN NEED

XXI.    EDITH'S ADVENTURES

XXII.   THE ETHICS OF ESPIONAGE

XXIII.  HOMEWARD BOUND

XXIV.   THE ADVENTURES OF THE CALEDONIA

XXV.    A SUSPICIOUS FISHING-SMACK

XXVI.   CAMILLE PENUROT

XXVII.  EBERHARD AMELUNGEN

XXVIII. THE FATE OF A SPY

XXIX.   A WOMAN'S TREACHERY

XXX.    EDITH'S LAST JOURNEY

XXXI.   THE STOLEN DOCUMENT

XXXII.  NEWS OF AN OLD FRIEND

XXXIII. THE LANDING IN SCOTLAND

XXXIV.  THE BATTLE OF FLUSHING

XXXV.   AT HAMPTON COURT




AUTHOR'S PREFACE


I recall to mind a British colonel, who said to me in Calcutta: "This is
the third time that I have been sent to India. Twenty-five years ago, as
lieutenant, and then the Russians were some fifteen hundred miles from
the Indian frontier; then, six years since, as captain, and the Russians
were then only five hundred miles away. A year ago I came here as
lieutenant-colonel, and the Russians are right up to the passes leading
to India."

The map of the world unfolds itself before me. All seas are ploughed
by the keels of English vessels, all coasts dotted with the coaling
stations and fortresses of the British world-power. In England is vested
the dominion of the globe, and England will retain it; she cannot permit
the Russian monster to drink life and mobility from the sea.

"Without England's permission no shot can be fired on the ocean," once
said William Pitt, England's greatest statesman. For many, many
years England has increased her lead, owing to dissensions among the
continental Powers. Almost all wars have, for centuries past, been
waged in the interests of England, and almost all have been incited
by England. Only when Bismarck's genius presided over Germany did the
German Michael become conscious of his own strength, and wage his own
wars.

Are things to come to this pass, that Germany is to crave of England's
bounty--her air and light, and her very daily bread? or does their
ancient vigour no longer animate Michael's arms?

Shall the three Powers who, after Japan's victory over China, joined
hands in the treaty of Shimonoseki, in order to thwart England's aims,
shall they--Germany, France, and Russia--still fold their hands, or
shall they not rather mutually join them in a common cause?

In my mind's eye I see the armies and the fleets of Germany, France, and
Russia moving together against the common enemy, who with his polypus
arms enfolds the globe. The iron onslaught of the three allied Powers
will free the whole of Europe from England's tight embrace. The great
war lies in the lap of the future.

The story that I shall portray in the following pages is not a chapter
of the world's past history; it is the picture as it clearly developed
itself to my mind's eye, on the publication of the first despatch of the
Viceroy Alexieff to the Tsar of Russia. And, simultaneously like a flash
of lightning, the telegram which the Emperor William sent to the Boers
after Jameson's Raid crosses my memory--that telegram which aroused in
the heart of the German nation such an abiding echo. I gaze into the
picture, and am mindful of the duties and aims of our German nation. My
dreams, the dreams of a German, show me the war that is to be, and
the victory of the three great allied nations. Germany, France, and
Russia--and a new division of the possessions of the earth as the final
aim and object of this gigantic universal war.

THE AUTHOR.




TRANSLATOR'S NOTE

This volume is the authorised translation of Der Weltkrieg deutsche
Traume (F. W. Vobach and Co., Leipsic). The translator offers no comment
on the day-dream which he reproduces in the English language for English
readers. The meaning and the moral should be obvious and valuable.

LONDON, September, 1904.




THE COMING CONQUEST OF ENGLAND




I

THE COUNCIL OF STATE

It was a brilliant assemblage of high dignitaries and military officers
that had gathered in the Imperial Winter Palace at St. Petersburg. Of
the influential personages, who, by reason of their official position
or their personal relations to the ruling house, were summoned to advise
and determine the destiny of the Tsar's Empire, scarcely one was absent.
But it was no festal occasion that had called them here; for all faces
wore an expression of deep seriousness, amounting in certain cases to
one of grave anxiety. The conversation, carried on in undertones, was of
matters of the gravest import.

The broad folding-doors facing the lifesize portrait of the reigning
Tsar were thrown wide open, and amid the breathless silence of all
assembled, the grey-headed President of the Imperial Council, Grand Duke
Michael, entered the hall. Two other members of the Imperial house, the
Grand Dukes Vladimir Alexandrovitch and Alexis Alexandrovitch, brothers
of the late Tsar, accompanied him.

The princes graciously acknowledged the deep obeisances of all present.
At a sign from the Grand Duke Michael, the whole company took their
places at the long conference table, covered with green cloth, which
stood in the centre of the pillared hall. Deep, respectful silence still
continued, until, at a sign from the President, State Secretary Witte,
the chief of the ministerial council, turned to the Grand Dukes and
began thus:--

"Your Imperial Highnesses and Gentlemen! Your Imperial Highness has
summoned us to an urgent meeting, and has commissioned me to lay before
you the reasons for, and the purpose of, our deliberations. We are all
aware that His Majesty the Emperor, our gracious Lord and Master, has
declared the preservation of the peace of the world to be the highest
aim of his policy. The Christian idea that mankind should be 'ONE fold
under ONE shepherd' has, in the person of our illustrious ruler, found
its first and principal representative here on earth. The league of
universal peace is solely due to His Majesty, and if we are called upon
to present to our gracious Lord and Master our humble proposals for
combating the danger which immediately menaces our country, all our
deliberations should be inspired by that spirit which animates the
Christian law of brotherly love."

Grand Duke Michael raised his hand in interruption. "Alexander
Nicolaievitch," he said, turning to the Secretary, "do not omit to write
down this last sentence WORD FOR WORD."

The Secretary of State made a short pause, only to continue with a
somewhat louder voice and in a more emphatic tone--

"No especial assurance is required that, in view of this, our noble
liege lord's exalted frame of mind, a breach of the world's peace could
not possibly come from our side. But our national honour is a sacred
possession, which we can never permit others to assail, and the attack
which Japan has made upon us in the Far East forced us to defend it
sword in hand. There is not a single right-minded man in the whole world
who could level a reproach at us for this war, which has been forced
upon us. But in our present danger a law of self-preservation impels
us to inquire whether Japan is, after all, the only and the real enemy
against whom we have to defend ourselves; and there are substantial
reasons for believing that this question should be answered in the
negative. His Majesty's Government is convinced that we are indebted
for this attack on the part of Japan solely to the constant enmity of
England, who never ceases her secret machinations against us. It has
been England's eternal policy to damage us for her own aggrandisement.
All our endeavours to promote the welfare of this Empire and make the
peoples happy have ever met with resistance on the part of England.
From the China Seas, throughout all Asia to the Baltic, England has ever
thrown obstacles in our way, in order to deprive us of the fruits of our
civilising policy. No one of us doubts for a moment that Japan is, in
reality, doing England's work. Moreover, in every part of the globe
where our interests are at stake, we encounter either the open or covert
hostility of England. The complications in the Balkans and in Turkey,
which England has incited and fostered by the most despicable methods,
have simply the one object in view--to bring us into mortal conflict
with Austria and Germany. Yet nowhere are Great Britain's real aims
clearer seen than in Central Asia. With indescribable toil and with
untold sacrifice of treasure and blood our rulers have entered the
barren tracts of country lying between the Black Sea and the Caspian,
once inhabited by semibarbarous tribes, and, further east again, the
lands stretching away to the Chinese frontier and the Himalayas, and
have rendered them accessible to Russian civilisation. But we have
never taken a step, either east or south, without meeting with English
opposition or English intrigues. To-day our frontiers march with the
frontier of British East India, and impinge upon the frontier of Persia
and Afghanistan. We have opened up friendly relations with both these
states, entertain close commercial intercourse with their peoples,
support their industrial undertakings, and shun no sacrifice to make
them amenable to the blessings of civilisation. Yet, step by step,
England endeavours to hamper our activity. British gold and British
intrigues have succeeded in making Afghanistan adopt a hostile attitude
towards us. We must at last ask ourselves this question: How long do we
intend to look on quietly at these undertakings? Russia must push