10 
LAND & WATER 
October 25, 1917 
Had a long conversation with Prince Henry at Kiel. W lien liiey 
ftad finished talking, his Royal host drew him to a window 
which overlooks the town and said : " That church and all 
those houst'S you see upon the hill-side, will shortly be pulled 
down to make room for the new yards where we are going to 
build submarines." 
Besides his knowledge of and devotion to all things per- 
taining to the Gcnnan navy, Prince Henry occasionally under- 
took diplomatic missions at the request of his brother the 
Kaiser. Some of the Royal tern's attracted'the attention of 
the world, notably the Prince's visit to South America and to 
the United States, the object of which was undoubtedly to 
convince the Teutonic colonists scattered over the Western 
hemisphere that the Fatherland did not mean to lose sight of 
its distant subjects, upx)n whom it relied for the spread of 
Pan-German propaganda. 
The Two Brothers 
These missions, which included several cruises through 
Pacific waters, were no joy to Prince Henry. He regarded 
them as inevitable but tedious duties, only undertaken at the 
insistence of his Imperial brother, with whom his relations have 
not been invariably cordial. The following story is an illus- 
tration of occasional differences of opinion between them, 
and also throws a curious light upon the character of the Kaiser. 
A few years before the war, the necessity arose to nomi- 
nate a new Admiral of the Fleet. The Kaiser apparently 
hesitating lx>tween tw-o candidates, sought cotmsil of his 
brother. Tlie latter strongly supported one of il e officers in 
question, giving at the same time all his reasons loi preferring 
him to the other. The Kaiser listened in silence to Prince 
Henry's advice, and they went off together to an official 
banquet where the promotion was to be announced. In the 
middle of the dinner. Prince Henry, as it, fearing that his 
brother's memory might fail him, sent him on a piece of folded 
paper the name of his favourite. The Kaiser, reading it, 
smiled an acquiescence, but this gesture did not however pre- 
vent him from proclaiming at the end of the repast the name 
of the other candidate, as having been promoted to the rank 
of Admiral. It took Prince Henry a long time to get over 
the incident, but ultimately his sense of duty to the Imperial 
cause. forced him to forget his private mortification. 
Some such feeling of patriotism was doubtless responsible 
for his numerous journeys to England, much more numerous 
in fact than the British public realised at the time. When 
discussing Prince Henry, some time ago, with an eminent 
politiciin. he surprised me with the remark : " You don't 
know then that Prince Henry liad a great admiration for an 
English lady, whose name, by the way, I never knew. There, 
no doubt, lies the reason of his frequent visits to England." 
I am inclined to think, however, that the charming Dukinea 
had neither name nor existence. Such a legend would furnish 
an excellent means of stifling any suspicion v hich the Prince's 
presence in England might arouse. Nor would it be the first 
time that amorous intrigues have been invented as a cloak for 
secret political designs. 
What is certain is that Prince Henry, well informed upon 
everything that touched the British Navy, often served as the 
discreet exponent of the German point of view. I will cite 
a typical instance of this, which happened in 1910, about the 
end of February. On that date Prince Hmiy was in London 
and the following conversation took place betwem H.R.H.- 
and an influential personage in Londrn society, with whom 
he was on terms of friendship. In the smoking room, after 
dinner. Prince Henry suddenly tuined towards his host and 
said : " My dear X., why is it that we cannot get on ? " 
X., taken aback, took refuge in generalities about bad feeling 
engendered by the Press and commercial ri\alry. But the 
Prince, shaking his head, replied : " No, no, that won't do." 
Whereupon his host, feeling that the moment had come for 
frank explanation, remarked bluntly that it was no wonder a 
sentiment of suspicion had been aroused in England by the 
enorm(JUS additions tcj the German Navy. As these ships were 
not required to fight France or Russia, we were justified in 
assuming they were intended to fight England. 
In an excited voice, Prince Henry declaied that nothing 
was further from the intentions of Germany than a war with 
Great Britain. 
" We have now," he added, " forty years of peace behind 
us which has permitted us to become a nation. Before that 
we had been fighting for over a century, and most of the 
battles in the Napoleonic wars took" place on German soil. 
Now that we are lx;ginning to prosper peacefully what object 
could we have in going to war with you ? We'have nothing 
to gain by it, and in any case it w;ould cripple and probably 
destroy our trade. Why cannot your people understand that 
Germany only wants to defend her commerce ? As for the 
plan for invading England, we have none; nor in my opinion 
is such a thing possible. How, will you tell me, could we 
send transports full of tropps as long as there is even one 
submarine afloat ? 
X. tliereupon indicated that although Germany's intentions 
might be pacific, she must see that her immense Navy 
threatened our national existence. With practically no army, 
England should, were she to lose command of the se;is, lose 
also all her colonies, and her independence as well. 
" As long as Germany continues to build," he added, " wo 
are bound to do the same. Where is it going to tnd ? 
Naturally, the increased taxation is being felt by all classes in 
both countries, and the middle class on whom it presses most 
heavily, is told that the other's Naval programme renders it 
essential." 
"I can only tell you," answered Prince Henry, " that this 
feeling of suspicion and distrust simply does not exist in 
Germany. Two years ago, in order to show my confidence 
in England, I took the whole High Seas Fleet to Gibraltar, and 
then to Madeira, staying away two months. In spite of this, 
you still insist on massing the whole British Fleet at Dover ! 
Why ? 1 have asked McKenna, who says it is done from motives 
of economy. Perhaps you will tell me the real reason ? " 
" Surely. Sir, you don't think a fleet is kept for pleasure, 
or for digging po'tatoes ! No ! you know as well as I do that 
it is kept for one purpose, and that is war. It's only common 
sense, therefore, to mass it at the point where it is most likely 
to be needed." 
This remark seemed to amuse H.R.H., who laughed and 
retorted : " You're really the first person who has dared to 
tell me that ! " 
His host then pointed out that we did not take the fact of 
Gerrnany's having made all arrangements for fighting on the 
Russian frontier as implying any intention of going to war 
with Russia. 
" It's only common sense," reiterated X. " to make the best 
possible disposition in peace of forces intended for war." 
Prince Henry agieed with this view, but protested that 
in Germany this action was construed as a direct preparation 
for hostilities. 
" A lot of our people have a fixed conviction that England 
would smash the whole German Fleet at the slightest provoca- 
tion. At present, whatever you say, we are at your mercy. 
All we Want is to be able to cry ' Hands off ! ' If any difier- 
cnce of opinion comes up betw een us, as happened at Algcciras, 
we have to take what you dictate lying down. We study 
European history, and we knov. that whenever any European 
Power rose to predominance, England has smashed it. Look 
at the Dutch, the Spanish, and later on the French. We do 
not mean to let Germany follow their example. That's all ! " 
This conversatitm made such an impression upon X, that 
meeting Mr. Asquith on the following day he mentioned it to 
the Prime ' Minister, who told him that Prince Henry had 
requested an interview for the avowed purpose of discussing 
the relations between the two Powers. 
X. then related the conversation of the night before ; 
whereupon tlie Prime Minister expressed the hope that the 
Grand Admiral would not be so outspoken with him, as it 
would be necessary to reply with unpalatable truths. 
But, as I learnt a few days ago from Mr. Asquith himself, 
Prince Henry confined his remarks on the occasion of their 
inte.view, to vague generalities, so vague that Mr. Asquith, 
whose memory is known to be unique, has no definite recollec- 
tion of what passed between them. 
What is the true significance of this outburst of candour with 
X. followed by such unexpected reserve when talking with the 
Prime ^Minister ? 
Was Prince Henry sent on this occasion by the Kaiser to 
throw dust in the eyes of the British Govemmont ? 
Did the straightforward answers of his friend X. 'demolish 
the arguments put into his mouth by his brother? Or was 
he simply expressing a genuine personal opinion, and having 
laiied to convince X., did he consider it useless to propound 
the same tliesis to the Prime Minister ? 
I am inclined to adopt the latter interpretation of this 
extraordinary duologue, and for the following reasons. To 
regard the Gei man Army and Navy as a means of levving 
economic blackmail upon the other nations of Europe is 
part of the programme consistently advocated by that inner 
ciicle ot Pan-Germans which includes both Prince Henry and 
Karon von Kuhlmann. Both have ever preferred armed 
menace to military action, and both place economic above 
jwlitical advantages. - 
That is why I regard these men as two of the most dangerous 
and plausible enemies we shall have to face in Germany when 
the purely military leaders are discredited 
is hpili'V?"""^"? '''^"^^ *''^ possibility of a premature peace 
s being discussed m so many different directions, we must 
oe rnore than ever on our guard against the hidden activities 
pLi Jrtff fT''''. P^^ti'^Jans who have always been clevei 
tLnlc "" ^ '? \^f^ ^^^ economic factor provides, after all 
the most powerful lever to world supremacy 
