Secret and Confidential

Contents

CHAPTER I

Fruitless endeavours — Staff College — Fear of Russia — Officers and languages — First visit to Russia — Railways in Russia — Sir Robert Morier — Lord Hutchinson — Kindness of Alexander III — Russian superstition — Literary innovations — Examinations — England or India — Russian aggression — My clerk scores — Return to England — Henry Brackenbury — To the staff in London


CHAPTER II

My work at the War Office — War and Foreign Offices — British diplomatists — fertile brain — Kaiser fears Russia — Germany and Russia — reconnaissance — Berlin General Staff — Poles and Russia — Journey in Russia — Peculation in Russia — Passport overlooked — State opera at Berlin — Chinese tea — Return to London — Foreign agents — Enemy secrets — A misunderstanding — My new post


CHAPTER III

Visit to Russia — Scares about Russia — Sir Robert Morier — Herr von Fritz — An invention — Military attaches — Colonel Gerard — Sir Redvers Buller — British decorations — Imperial hospitality — Court customs — Wingate’s coup — A lost secret — Rumour — Sir Reginald Gipps — Lord Rosebery — The Queen approves — Military secretaries — The Duke of Cambridge — Strategy in India — Colonel Repington — I succeed Gerard


CHAPTER IV

Diplomatic pinpricks — A sequel In Pekin — A Chinese masterstroke — Sir John Jordan — Hotbed of gossip — Results of censorship — My privileges — Favoured regiments — A breeze — Mutual tension — Morier damns me — Despatch writing — Armaments — Diplomacy — An ultimatum — The Queen and Morier — The hidden hand — Russian landlords — Russian hospitality — A vulturesque crow — A right royal feast — A mad scheme — Buffer States — A real genius


CHAPTER V

A Japanese visitor — Rights of property — A capitulation — Intrigues — Russian scepticism — Pitfalls — Leisurely work — False alarms War risks A peaceful end


CHAPTER VI

Swathed in crape — A wicked slander — A trap — A helpless spy — Our thunder stolen — Austrian buyers — Russian students — An ambassador’s joke — Morier’s successor — A startling telegram


CHAPTER VII

An article of faith — French anarchists — A flank movement — Russian difficulties — A mark of confidence — Start for Turkestan — A friend in need — Transcaspia — An auto-flyer — Bad influences — Buffer States — Cheques in Russia — Field kitchens — Grombchevsky — A Pamir force — An Afghan invitation — A new road to India- — Ionov avoids me — Smart work — -Death of Alexander III — Reception by Ionov — A touch of irony


CHAPTER VIII

A Russian rebel — The Prince of Wales — Wedding of Nicholas II — Hospitality rampant — "No heeltaps" — My knuckles rapped — Opinions differ — The Scots Greys arrive — A formidable outlook — Colonel Welby wins — A German dinner-party — A wine bath — Nicholas II — Foreign stupidity — The Court of Vienna


CHAPTER IX

Railway zone system — Society offended — An ambassador recalled — A horse show — Reval races — An equine tragedy — An evil omen — Kouropatkin arrives — Pamir Commission — Inquisitive visitors — A valued chief — Lascelles for Berlin — A scramble to pay — A masterful man — The Kaiser must be mad — False reasoning


CHAPTER X

A tactless remark — Sir Nicholas O’Conor — A Persian horseman — Crown jewels — Coronation visitors — An unwanted guest — Duke of Connaught — State entry into Moscow — An awful disaster — Religious scruples — Miles of smiles — Foundling hospital — A new face — A surprise — Far East rumours — Siberian railway


CHAPTER XI

A stroke of ill-luck — Exiles — Love of liberty — Fortunate convicts- — Suicide in Siberia — Appalling hardships — A railway accident — Settlers in Siberia — A murdering nurse — Crime in Siberia — A long stage — Official friction — A night drive — A cheat — Wonderful instinct — An admiral's error — River thunder — Under suspicion — Cost of living — An Imperial wit — Deeds before words — A Church robbed — Distance no object — A plea for ferocity — Japanese pretensions — Judgment of pace — A panic — An unlucky Mayor — A sable cloak — Wealth of Siberia — Prejudice — Official secrecy


CHAPTER XII

A Japanese custom — Antipodes day — The Diamond Jubilee — Palace equipment — June 22 — A lady in tears — Parliament at Court — The Queen’s command — A naval review — The tipping system — A difficulty — The Marseillaise — William II — President Faure — Prince Louis Napoleon — A collector — A gracious act

CHAPTER XIII

A sad forecast — A shifty minister — Wei-hai-wei — Far East negotiations — Nicholas II on burglars — What is an autocrat ? — Departure from Russia


CHAPTER XIV

Rejoin War Office — Sir William Robertson — A good memory — forgery — A Hatton Garden haunt — Secret service — A tour in France — War maps — A new proposal — Ordered to Berlin — Glimpse into the future — The Kaiser’s wish — Mr. Chamberlain

CHAPTER XV

I retire from the army — A precedent — Arrive in Mukden — Manchuria — Some Russian leaders — A Swiss critic — Experts differ — Defective training — Port Arthur isolated — My new commander — Friction — A Staff Officer’s error — Russian bravery — General Bilderling — An outpost commander — Medical Missions


CHAPTER XVI

A sense of duty — Result of 1904 campaign — Russian hopes — Received by the King — Return to Russia — Stopped at Irkutsk — I write a letter — Ordered to return — A mutilated telegram — An offensive gendarme — Return to England — King Edward’s approval — The plot thickens — Sir Neville Lyttelton — A leisurely department — Nicholas II receives me — The power of the purse — Commanded to Balmoral — A royal compliment — A misstatement — Jekyll and Hyde — Some eminent opinions


CHAPTER XVII

How to get recruits — Brainy staff work — My second retirement


CHAPTER XVIII

The Press Bureau — raise a brigade — Brighton pier mined — -An excellent staff — My economic proposals — Money in fat — Back to private life


CHAPTER XIX

Vision of Lloyd George — Repington and Roumania — Lord Bertie — Treasury conferences — A French loan — Genius of Mr. McKenna — An unfortunate remark — The Lord of Lords — Lord Oxford and Asquith — Arrive at Petrograd — Scarcity of food — Effects of hunger


CHAPTER XX

Russian G.H.Q. — Allied missions — Emperor and password — Roumania declares war — False allegations — Priestly power — Diplomatists disliked — Emperor on Sazonov — My bad manners — Ferdinand of Bulgaria — Sir Alfred Knox — The Spanish Ambassador — Our huge losses — Changes in commands — Empress on William II — Empress and the truth — Gorman politeness — Japanese visitor — Lighter moments — Faith in England — Russian finance — General Berthelot — Salonika deadlock — The Serbian Minister — False charges — Time to depart


CHAPTER XXI

An awkward situation — A compliment — A question of rank — The Emperor’s view — Janin on gossip — Opinions may differ — Papa wants to see you Protopopov — A warm argument — Buchanan visits G.H,Q. — Court etiquette — King George and Empress — Autocracy doomed — Mr, McKenna — Sir E, Grey — A delicate topic — Telegram from Gourko — A lost letter — Hostile influences — What might have been

 

CHAPTER XXII

Effects of hunger — Unskilful treatment — Bolshevism certain — Lenin mistake — Our authorities misled — Causes of the Great War — British might

 

INDEX



FRONTISPIECE

The Author with the Emperor of Russia September 1916

MAPS

Journey in Central Asia, 1894

 

Winter Journey through Siberia, 1897