The Coming Conquest of England

A >> August Niemann >> The Coming Conquest of England


"Little brother! little brother!" he cried, quite breathless from his
ride in such hot haste, clasping, with genuine Russian impetuosity, his
friend, whom he had found again under such strange circumstances, to
his breast. "By all the saints--I should think it was quite time that I
came!"

Then, turning to the astonished officer commanding the firing squad--

"There must be a mistake here. No harm must happen to this gentleman,
for he is not only a personal friend of my own, but he is also a
comrade, an officer of the allied German army."

The lieutenant shrugged his shoulders.

"I have to carry out my orders, Colonel! I can undertake no
responsibility for any mistakes on the part of my superior officers or
of the court-martial."

"I take, then, all the responsibility on my own shoulders for preventing
you from carrying out your instructions, lieutenant! This gentleman will
accompany me, and I give my guarantee for him."

He gave his horse to one of the soldiers, linked his arm in that of
Heideck, and took him off to the tent he occupied in the camp, giving
the while most exuberant expression to his delight at having seen him
again. The breakfast, from which Georgi's message had startled him, was
still on the table, and Heideck needed not much encouragement to partake
of it; for only now he properly realised how much he was in want of
bodily sustenance. Prince Tchajawadse would not hear of any thanks for
what he had done; but when Heideck asked him if he had really correctly
understood that the Prince had spoken of an alliance between the Russian
and German armies, the latter was not slow to give all information on
this head.

"Yes! yes!--it is the fact! The German Empire is hand-in-hand with us.
The first piece of good news that I heard on reaching the army was that
William II. had declared war upon England. The world is in flames. Only
Austria and Italy are neutral."

"And I had no notion of it! But, after all, that is easy enough to
explain. All the telegraph cables are in the hands of the English, and
it was easy for them to suppress every unwelcome despatch. The Indian
newspapers are only allowed, of course, to publish what is agreeable to
the Government; but I am burning with curiosity to learn more. Do you
perhaps know how matters have developed as yet, and in what way Germany
thinks of carrying on the war?"

"It appears that an invasion of England is contemplated. Germany has
mobilised one half of her army, and has occupied Holland. The French
troops, on the other hand, have entered Belgium, so that the two Powers
control the whole coast opposite England."

"And has any action taken place at sea as yet?"

"No; at least down to the present no news has reached us of a naval
battle having been fought. Things are evidently still in the stage
of preparation, and nothing has been heard about the movements of the
German and French fleets. However, the latest intelligence that I
have is now fairly old. We with the army only learn the news that the
Cossacks bring us."

Heideck struck his forehead.

"I feel utterly astonished. To comprehend and digest at one time all
that you have told me almost passes the capacity of a single brain. But
pardon me, Prince, if I trouble you, who have already done so much for
me to-day, with a further request. I am in great anxiety about a lady,
the widow of an English officer who fell in yesterday's battle, and who
was committed to my care. I only left her this morning early, when I was
arrested to be taken before the court-martial, at the mausoleum of Anar
Kali, where she had been interned with other prisoners. Advise me what
to do, in order to send the lady, whose welfare is nearest my heart, a
reassuring message as to my fate, and at the same time shield her from
annoyance and discomfort."

"That is a very simple matter. Do you object to giving me the name of
the lady?"

"Not at all. It is Mrs. Edith Irwin, the widow of Captain Irwin, whom
you also perhaps met in Chanidigot."

"I think I have some recollection. There was something about a gambling
affair, with which he was not very creditably connected--wasn't it so?
Well, then, while you take a good sound sleep in my tent here I
will ride over to Anar Kali, visit the lady, and find out how she is
situated. Be quite sure that no unpleasantness shall happen to her, if
only I succeed in finding her."

"Your kindness puts me quite to shame, Prince. I--"

"You would do precisely the same if fate had happened to have exchanged
our roles. Why, then, waste words about it? I cannot, unfortunately,
offer you a more comfortable couch than my camp-bed there. But you are a
soldier, and I think both of us have, before now, had a worse shakedown.
So, then, pleasant dreams, my friend! I will take care that you are not
disturbed for the next two hours."

Hurriedly, as though to escape all further expressions of gratitude, the
Prince left the tent.




XVI

THE PROFESSOR


Sound though Heideck's sleep was, the confused din that penetrated
through the sides of the tent would have recalled an unconscious person
to life. Confused and drowsy as he was, he hurried out just in time to
prevent a wild-looking, dark-skinned Indian from dealing a heavy blow
with a thick staff, which he held in his right hand, upon a thin,
black-garbed gentleman, who was surrounded by a whole band of natives.
The European, with his emaciated, beardless face, looked like a
clergyman, and all the greater was Heideck's surprise that none of the
Russian non-commissioned officers and soldiers, who were spectators of
the assault, raised a hand to protect him. It was certainly not his duty
to act in this place as one in authority, but the danger in which he
perceived this perfectly defenceless man to be, made him forget all
personal considerations. With a menacing shout he drove off the excited
Indians, and, taking the stranger's arm, led him into the tent.

None of the Russian military prevented his doing so. He had been seen in
confidential conversation with the Colonel, and his position as a friend
of the Prince procured him respect.

The stranger, half dead from fear, gratefully accepted the glass of
wine which Heideck poured out for him, and, having recovered somewhat,
thanked his protector in simple, but cordial terms. He introduced
himself as Professor Proctor, of Acheson College, and explained that
he had come to the camp to look after a relation who had probably been
seriously wounded. He had on a sudden found himself threatened by a band
of excited Indians, who were probably misled by his dress to take him
for a cleric.

"You, also, are no Russian, sir. Judging from your accent, I should take
you for a German."

Heideck assented, and narrated his history in a few words. Having done
so, he could not help expressing his amazement at the attack of which
the Professor had been the victim.

"Never during my whole stay in India have I ever before observed any
outburst of hatred on the part of the Indian natives against the English
clergy," he said.

To this the Professor replied: "Even a few days ago not one of them
would, I should think, have had anything to fear; but in the face of
such terrible upheavals as are now taking place all ideas are thrown
into confusion, all slumbering passions are unfettered. I do not venture
to think of the horrors that will take place throughout the whole of
India now that the bridle that curbed the people has been rent asunder;
and the worst of all is that we have only ourselves to blame."

"Do you mean on account of the carelessness with which the defence of
the country was organised?"

"I do not mean that alone. Our fault is that we have ignored an eternal
truth, the truth that all political questions are only the external
expression, the dress, so to say, of religious questions."

"Pardon me, but I do not quite follow the sense of your words."

"Please consider the slow, steady advance of the Russians in Asia.
Every land that they have brought under their sway--all the immense
territories of Central Asia have become their assured, undisputed
possessions. And why? Because the Russians have known how to win over
the hearts of their subject races, and how to humour their religious
views. The victors and the vanquished thus better assimilate. The
English, on the other hand, have governed India purely from the
political side. The hearts of the various races in India have remained
strange and hostile to us."

"There may be some truth in what you say. But you must allow that the
English have in India substituted a new civilisation in return, that
inculcates a spirit of intellectual progress, and I conceive that no
nation can for any length of time remain blind in the face of higher
ideals. All history forms a continuous chain of evidence for the truth
of this statement."

"The word 'civilisation' has various significations. If it is only a
question of investigating whether the government and administration
of the country have improved, the answer is that the civilisation
we brought to India has, beyond all doubt, made enormous strides, in
comparison with the conditions that obtained in former centuries. We
have broken the despotism of the native princes, and have put an end to
the endless sanguinary wars which they waged with each other and
with their Asiatic neighbouring despots. We have laid down roads and
railways, drained marshes and jungles, constructed harbours, won great
tracts of lands from the sea, and built protecting dams and piers. The
terrible mortality of the large cities has considerably decreased. We
have given them laws assuring personal security and guaranteeing new
outlets for trade and commerce. But the aspirations of our English
Government have been purely utilitarian, and as regards the deeper-lying
current of development no progress is anywhere perceivable."

"And, pray, what do you exactly mean by this?"

"Your views in this matter are possibly divergent. I discern in most of
our achievements in India only another manifestation of that materialism
which has ever proved the worst obstacle to all real development."

"It appears to me, Mr. Proctor," Heideck interrupted, with a smile,
"that you have become a Buddhist, owing to your sojourn in India!"

"Perhaps so, sir, and I should not be ashamed of such a creed. Many
a one, who on first coming here regarded India with the eyes of a
Christian, has, on nearer acquaintance, become a Buddhist. Greek wise
men once expressed the wish that kings should be chosen from among the
philosophers. That may possibly be an unrealisable hope, but I do
not believe that a ruler who has a contempt for philosophy will ever
properly fulfil the high duties of his station. A policy without
philosophy is, like an unphilosophical religion, not established on
firmer ground than those houses there on the river Ravi, whose existence
is not safe for a single day, because the river at times takes it into
its head to change its course. A government that does not understand
how to honour the religious feelings of its people, does not stand more
securely than one of those huts. The fate that has now overtaken the
English is the best proof of what I say. We are the only power in Asia
that has not founded its political sway upon the religion of the people.
In our folly we have destroyed the habitual simplicity of a nation,
which, until our coming, had been content with the barest necessities of
life, because for thousands of years past it cared more about the
life after death than for its earthly existence. We have incited the
slumbering passions of this people, and by offering to their eyes the
sight of European luxury and European over-civilisation, have aroused in
them desires to which they were formerly strangers. Our system of public
instruction is calculated to disseminate among all classes of the Indian
race the worthless materialistic popular education of our own nation. Of
all the governors and inspectors of schools who have been sent hither by
England not a single one has taken the trouble to penetrate beneath the
surface of the life of the Indian people and to fathom the soul of this
religious and transcendentally gifted race. What contrasts are not the
result! Here a holy river, priests, ascetics, yogis, fakirs, temples,
shrines, mysterious doctrines, a manifold ritual; while side by side,
without any transition, are schools wherein homely English elementary
instruction is provided, a State-supported university with a medical
school and Christian churches of the most varied confessions."

"But how would it have been possible to combine in a school modern
scientific education with Indian fanaticism?"

A superior smile flitted across the professor's intellectual face.

"Compare, I pray you, the tiresome trivialities of English missionary
tracts with the immortal masterpieces of Indian literature! Then you
will understand that the Indian, even when he approves Christianity as a
system of morals, demands a deeper and wider basis of these morals, and
inquires as to the origin of the Christian doctrine; and then he very
soon finds that all light which has come to Europe started from Asia. Ex
oriente lux."

"I am not sufficiently well informed to be able to answer you on this
point. It may very well be that even Christianity was not the offspring
of Judaism alone, but of Buddhism. It may also be the case that the
teachings of our missionaries of to-day are too insipid for the Indians.
But the metaphysical needs of a people have, after all, little to do
with sound policy and good laws. Think of Rome! The Roman state had most
excellent laws, and a magnificent political force which for centuries
kept it in its predominant position among the nations of the world. But
what of religion and philosophy in Rome? There was no state religion
whatsoever; there was no priestly hierarchy, no strict theological
codex, but only a mythology and worship of gods, which was of an
eminently practical character, and it was owing to their practical
common sense--or, as you would prefer to call it, materialism--that
the Romans were enabled to found an organised society upon purely human
needs and aspirations. And why should what they were enabled to achieve
be impossible again for other nations who have succeeded them in their
world-power? The spirit of the age is ever changing, yet it is only a
regularly recurring return of the same conditions, just as the planets
in the heavens, ever again in their orbit, come back to their old
positions."

"And supposing the 'Zeitgeist,' like many planets, does not move in a
circle but in a spiral line? The British world-sovereignty has, as we
see, taken a higher flight than did the Roman. Could not this British
world-power, by permeating wise diplomacy with the profound idea of
Indian philosophy, have attained to a great reformation of the whole
of the human race? It would have been a glorious idea, but I have here
learnt how far they were from its realisation."

"All the same, I do not think that the English army would have been
defeated by the Russian, had they not fought in accordance with the
rules of antiquated tactics."

"Oh, sir, if the Indian troops had fought with their whole soul for
England we should never have sustained this defeat."

"As a soldier, I am inclined to dispute that. The Indians will never be
a match for a well-disciplined European army. The race is wanting in too
great a measure in military qualities."

"The Indian people is, by nature, it is true, gentle and good-hearted.
In order to render it wild and bloodthirsty it must be wounded in its
most sacred feelings."

"Perhaps you judge it rather too mildly. Decided traces of barbarism
still linger in this people, even in its highest circles. Here is a case
in point that I am able to quote of my own personal knowledge. An Indian
prince, before the outbreak of the war, attempted to carry off, by
his servants, an English lady from her home, and bribed an assassin to
poison the English resident, who rebuked him for his conduct."

The Professor was astounded.

"Is it possible? Can such things be? Have you not perhaps been deceived
by an exaggerated report?"

"I myself was close at hand, and observed all that took place, and can
give you, the names. The lady upon whom this dastardly attempt was made
is Mrs. Edith Irwin, who had followed her husband, a captain in the
lancers, to the camp of Chanidigot."

The astonishment of the Professor visibly increased.

"Mrs. Edith Irwin? Is it possible? The daughter of my old friend, the
excellent Rector Graham? Yes, beyond doubt, it must be the same, because
she was married to a captain in the lancers."

"Since yesterday she is this officer's widow. He fell in the battle of
Lahore, and she herself is among the prisoners interned in Anar Kali."

"Then I must endeavour to find her, for she has a claim, for her
father's sake, upon my assistance. But, certainly, for the moment," he
observed, with a somewhat melancholy smile, "I am myself in the greatest
need of protection."

"I believe you may be perfectly easy in your mind as to this lady. My
friend, Prince Tchajawadse, has just now ridden over to Anar Kali in
order, at my request, to look after the lady."

He had not concluded the sentence when the tall form of the Prince made
its appearance at the entrance of the tent. His downcast face presaged
no good news. He advanced to Heideck and shook his hand.

"I am not, unfortunately, the bearer of any good news, comrade. I have
not discovered the lady whose guardian you are."

"What! Has she left? And you could not learn whither she is gone?"

"All that I have been able to elicit is that she was driven off in an
elegant carriage, in the company of several Indians. An English lady who
saw the occurrence told me this."

A fearful dread overcame Heideck.

"In the company of Indians? And does nobody know whither she was taken?
Did she leave no message for me or anyone else?"

"The lady had no opportunity of speaking to her. She saw the departure
at a distance."

"But she must have noticed whether Mrs. Irwin left the mausoleum of her
own free will or under compulsion?"

The Prince shrugged his shoulders.

"I cannot, unfortunately, say anything about that. My inquiries were
without result. Neither any one of the English prisoners or of the
Russian sentries was able to give me further information."




XVII

DOWNING STREET


A meeting of the Cabinet Council was being held at the Foreign Office
in London. With gloomy faces the Ministers were all assembled. The
foreboding of a catastrophe brooded over England like a black cloud;
all manner of rumours of disaster were current in the land, and coming
events were awaited with sickening dread.

"A telegram from the general in command," said the Prime Minister,
opening the paper he held in his hand. A deadly silence fell upon the
room:

"With painful emotion, I communicate to His Majesty's Government the
news of a great reverse I suffered the day before yesterday at Lahore.
I have only to-day reached Delhi with the remnant of my army, which
has been pursued by the Russian advance guard. We had taken up a very
favourable position on the left bank of the Ravi and were on the
point of preventing the Russian army from crossing the river, when
unexpectedly a violent onslaught made upon our left wing at Shah Dara
compelled us to send reinforcements to this wing and thus to weaken the
centre. Under the cover of jungle on the river-bank, the Russian cavalry
and the Mohammedan auxiliaries of the Russian army succeeded in forcing
the passage and in throwing our sepoy regiments into disorder. The
troops of the Maharajah of Chanidigot traitorously went over to the
enemy and that decided the day against us. Had not all the sepoy
regiments deserted, I could have maintained my ground, but the English
regiments under my command were too weak to resist for long the superior
numbers of the enemy. The bravery of these regiments deserves the
highest praise, but after a battle lasting several hours I was compelled
to give the order to retreat. We fell back upon the city of Lahore, and
I contrived to convey a portion of my troops by railway to Delhi. This
city I shall defend to the bitter end. Reinforcements are being sent
from all military stations in the country. The extent of our losses I
am unable to give at the time of writing. I have been able to bring five
thousand troops intact to Delhi."

The reading of this terrible report was succeeded by a chilling silence.
Then the Minister of War arose and said:--

"This despatch certainly comes upon us as a staggering blow. Our best
general and his army, composed of the flower of India's troops, have
been defeated. We may rightly say, however, that our power is still
established on a firm basis, so long as England, this seagirt isle, is
safe from the enemy. No defeat in India or in any one of our colonies
can deal us a death-blow. What we lose in one portion of the world, we
can recover, and that doubly, in another, so long as we, in our island,
are sound in both head and heart. But that is just what makes me
anxious. The security of Great Britain is menaced when we have almost
the whole world in arms against us. A strong French army is standing
ready opposite Dover to invade us, and a German army is in Holland also
prepared to make a descent on our coasts. I ask what measures have been
taken to meet an attack upon our mother country?"

"The British fleet," replied the First Lord of the Admiralty, "is strong
enough to crush the fleets of our enemies should they dare to show
themselves on the open seas. But the Russian, French, and German
navies are clever enough to remain in harbour under the cover of
the fortifications. We have, too, fleets in the Channel, one of ten
battleships and eighteen cruisers, and the necessary smaller vessels,
told off to engage the German fleet; and a second, a stronger force, of
fourteen battleships and twenty-four cruisers, destined to annihilate
the French fleet. A third fleet is in the harbour of Copenhagen in order
to prevent a union being effected between the Russian and German
fleets. The plan of sailing for Cronstadt has been abandoned, from the
experiences of the Crimean War and the fear that we should be keeping
our naval forces too far apart. Our admirals and captains will, owing to
the Russian successes, be convinced that England's honour and England's
very existence are now at stake. When in the eighteenth century we swept
the sea power of France from all the seas and vanquished the fleet of
the Great Napoleon, the rule was laid down that every defeated admiral
and captain in our navy should be court-martialled and shot, and that
even where the victory of our ships of war was not followed up and taken
the utmost advantage of, the court-martial was to remove the commander.
The time has now arrived when those old, strict rules must be again
enforced."

"According to the last Admiralty reports," said the First Lord of the
Treasury, "the fleet consists of twenty-seven new ironclads, the oldest
of which is of the year 1895. The ironclads of 1902, the Albemarle,
Cornwallis, Duncan, Exmouth, Montagu, and Russell, as well as those
of 1899, Bulwark, Formidable, Implacable, Irresistible, London, and
Venerable are, as I see from the report, constructed and armed according
to the latest technical principles. Are all the most recent twenty-seven
battleships with the Channel fleet?"

"No; the Albion, the Ocean, and the Glory are in other waters. The
twelve newest ironclads which your lordship mentioned are included in
both Channel fleets; in addition, several older battleships, such as the
Centurion, Royal Sovereign, and Empress of India are in the Channel. I
may say with truth that both the Channel Squadrons are fully suited for
the tasks before them. We have, besides, twenty-four ironclads of an
older type, all of which are of excellent value in battle."

"Among these older ironclads are there not many which are equipped with
muzzle-loaders?"

"Yes, but a naval battle has yet to determine whether the general view
that breechloaders are more serviceable in action is correct or not.
In the case of quick-firing guns it is certain that the breechloader
is alone the right construction; but in our heaviest guns, which have a
bore of 30.5 centimetre, and require three to four minutes to load, the
advantage of quick-firing is not apparent, for here everything depends
upon accurate aim, so that the heavy projectile may hit the right place.
For this purpose clever manoeuvring is everything. Moreover, the battles
round Port Arthur show us the importance of the torpedo and the mine.
The Russian fleet has met with its heaviest losses owing to the clever
manoeuvring and the superior torpedo tactics of the Japanese. It looks
as if in modern naval battles artillery would prove altogether inferior
to mines, and here our superiority in submarines will soon show itself
when we attack the fleets of Germany and France in their harbours. Only
a naval engagement between our squadrons and those of the French and
Germans can teach us the proper use of modern ships of war. And it will
be a lesson, a proper lesson for those misguided people who dare expose
themselves to the fire of a British broadside and the attack of our
torpedo and submarine boats. Let the steel plating of the vessels be as
it will, the best cuirass of Great Britain is the firm, true breast of
Britons."