CHAPTER XXIV
Within ten days of the sinking of the _Vlodoya_ Europe was electrifiedby the news, published far and wide through the English andContinental press, of what amounted to a pitched battle between twoarmed private yachts in mid-Atlantic. As may well be imagined, thestrange narrative of the officers and sailors of the _Vlodoya_lost nothing either in the telling to the interviewers or in thereproduction in the newspapers.
The boats' crews had been picked up, about thirty-six hours after thesinking of the Russian yacht, by a French liner, which took them to leHavre. The officers had taken the greatest precautions to prevent themen from speaking too freely, but it was no use. There were twojournalists, one an Englishman and the other an American, on board theboat, and they agreed to divide the sensation between themselves andtheir two countries. Both were in the service of wealthy journals, andthey bribed as freely as they did unscrupulously, with the resultthat, in addition to the general gossip of the ship, which was more orless accurate, they each possessed a fairly comprehensive narrative ofwhat had happened on the high seas between the _Nadine_ and the_Vlodoya_, both of which were speeding over the wires to America andCanada within half-an-hour of the liner's arrival at le Havre.
But the Englishman did even better than this, for he practicallykidnapped the third engineer of the _Vlodoya_, who could speak verygood French, chartered a special steamer to Southampton, pumped himabsolutely dry on the passage, and turned up at midnight at the officeof his paper with a column and a half of vividly-written descriptionof the most sensational event that had taken place on the high seassince the affair of the _Trent_ during the American war.
The presses were stopped, the matter was set up with lightning speed,and by the next morning that journalist had achieved the biggest scoopof the twentieth century. The news agencies immediately wired extractsall over the Continent, and meanwhile the news had been leaking outthrough other sources in France, for passengers will talk, and thecaptain was bound to make his formal report as to the picking up ofthe castaways; wherefore, within twenty-four hours the wholeContinental press was teeming with interviews, more or less authentic,leading articles, and notes on the subject of this astoundingoccurrence. Two Russian newspapers published a few meagre details, andwere promptly suppressed.
The _Globe_, in a leader on what it termed the "astonishingintelligence published by a morning contemporary," put the matter veryconcisely, and with its usual clearness and insight into foreignaffairs.
"We have here," said the writer, "not only one of the mostastonishing, but one of the most significant incidents of moderntimes--an incident which, almost incredible as it is, is neverthelessthe more significant when taken in conjunction with other contemporaryevents, of which our readers have been kept constantly informed. It isnot customary for either Russian or English private yachts to carryguns, and it is somewhat unusual for a Russian yacht, owned by awell-known Russian ex-Minister of State, to start, as we know the_Vlodoya_ did, from Southampton on a cruise to the Baltic, stop atCherbourg, and then turn up in the middle of the Atlantic. But what isthe world to think when this yacht, the property of a nobleman high infavour at the Court of St Petersburg, deliberately opens fire on ayacht owned by an English nobleman, whose guest the owner of the_Vlodoya_ had been but a few days before? Perhaps even more amazingis the fact that the English yacht replied in kind; crippled heropponent, took the owner and his daughter prisoners, set the crewadrift, sank her adversary, and vanished. Viscount Branston's yachtwas, we understand, bound for Halifax, with two distinguished Frenchladies on board. A cable just to hand informs us that nothing has beenheard of her, although she should have arrived there nearly a weekago. With some reluctance we feel compelled to ask whether there isany connection between this extraordinary occurrence and themysterious electrical works which, as is well known, are beingconstructed, at enormous expense, by a syndicate of which bothViscount Branston and his father, the Earl of Orrel, are prominentmembers. There have been many strange and wild rumours current aboutthis enterprise within the last few months, and we confess that thisalmost incredible incident appears to lend some countenance to them.
"In the same connection, it is necessary to call attention to the factthat, just as this enterprise was approaching completion, France andRussia both equipped a so-called scientific expedition for the purposeof once more attempting to force a passage to the North Pole. We donot profess to have any inside knowledge as to these mysteriousproceedings, but we confess that we should not be greatly surprised ifit would not be more correct to read 'magnetic pole' for 'north pole'.It is impossible to see anything other than an internationalsignificance. Noblemen of different nationalities do not nowadays goout on to the high seas to fight naval duels to arrange their privatedifferences; wherefore it appears that either the _Vlodoya_ was acommon pirate outside the law of nations, and yet owned by a Russianex-Minister, who was on board when the act of piracy was committed, orshe was a privateer acting under the licence of the RussianGovernment. We, in common with the whole civilised world, shall awaitwith the utmost anxiety the immediate development of this whollyunparalleled state of affairs."
The world waited for about a week, and heard nothing. The BritishForeign Office made its usual timid and tentative representation, andreceived the usual snub, to the effect that the Russian Government wasinvestigating the matter as fully as possible, but had so far onlyarrived at the fact that the English yacht fired first.
But the plots and counterplots and the steady preparations which hadbeen going on for the working out or the defeating of the great schemewere now about to bear fruit, and the world was not to be lacking insensations such as it had never experienced before.
No sooner did the German Government learn the story of the duelbetween the _Nadine_ and the _Vlodoya_ than its secret agents began toput two and two together, and make their representations accordingly.Ex-Captain Victor Fargeau was known to have been an intimate friend ofAdelaide de Conde, who was a guest on board the _Nadine_, and,further, to have been in close communication with Count Valdemar, theowner of the _Vlodoya_. He had left his country, taken up hisresidence in Paris, and had been proved to be in close touch withGeneral Ducros. All this was significant enough, but when thecleverest of all the German agents in Paris found out that ex-CaptainVictor Fargeau, late of the German Army, had been appointed to thescientific command of the French Polar Expedition, darkness becamelight, and a peremptory demand was sent from Berlin to Paris for hisimmediate extradition on the previous charge of high treason.
To this Paris returned a polite but uncompromising refusal, and Berlinpromptly said that if the expedition sailed with ex-Captain Fargeau onboard, a German squadron would stop it and take him off. To thisFrance replied by mobilising the Northern Squadron and ordering theAdmiral in command to escort the expedition to sea and protect itagainst assault at all hazards. Paris also sent Berlin a curt Noteintimating that if the threat were carried out it would be taken as adeclaration of war.
Another Note arrived at Berlin about the same time from Petersburg,informing the German Kaiser that these French and Russian PolarExpeditions formed a joint enterprise on the part of the twocountries, and that any act hostile to the one would be consideredhostile to the other. The Note also plainly hinted that, consideringthe tremendous nature of the issues involved by a breach of theinternational peace, such a trivial matter as the extradition of aperson accused of treason could not possibly under the circumstancesafford a valid reason for what would be to all intents and purposes anact of war.
Within twenty-four hours a powerful French squadron was manoeuvringoff the mouth of the Kiel Canal, just out of range of the forts; theFrench Polar Expedition, with Victor Fargeau on board, was making itsway at full speed down the English Channel; the Russian expedition,headed by the _Ivan the Terrible_, passed the North Cape on itsway to the coast of Greenland; and four millions of Russians andFrenchmen of all arms were massed on the eastern and western frontierof Germany. At the same moment Kaiser Wilhel
m called upon his brothersovereigns of Austria and Italy, and the Triple Alliance stood to armsby land and sea. In a word, the European powder-magazine was lyingwide open, and the firing of a single shot would have turned it into avolcano.
Still the weeks dragged on, till the tension became almostunendurable. According to an old North of England saying, "One wasafraid and t'other daren't start," the risks were so colossal.
Great Britain meanwhile kept her own counsel, and went on sweeping upthe remnant of the rebel Boers in South Africa. The only precautionshe had taken was to place every effective ship in the Navy incommission.
It was at this juncture that Europe experienced a new sensation. Inone memorable week English, American, French, German, Austrian, andItalian liners from American ports brought packages of the strangestproclamation that ever was issued, and in the mail-bags of the sameboats there were similar communications addressed to all theChancelleries of Europe, and these were of a character to shake theofficial mind to its very foundations, as in fact they ultimately did.
The communications, both public and private, took the form of a modestcircular dated from the offices of the International Electrical Powerand Storage Trust, Buffalo, N.Y. Those which were addressed to thecrowned heads of Europe were accompanied by autograph lettersrespectfully requesting the personal attention of the monarch to thecontents of the circular. The circular ran as follows:--
The Secretary of the International Electrical Power and Storage Trust is directed by his Board of Managers to inform the ruling sovereigns and peoples of Europe of the following facts, and to request their most serious attention to the same:--
_A._ The Directors of the Trust view with great concern the formidable military and naval preparations which have lately been made by the Powers of Europe. In their opinion, these preparations point to a near outbreak of hostilities on such an immense scale that not only must a vast expenditure of blood and money be inevitable, but the commerce of the world will be most injuriously affected.
_B._ This Trust is a business concern. Its Directors have no international sympathies whatever, and they don't want war. At the same time, if the Powers of Europe are determined to fight, the Trust will permit them to do so on payment of a capitation fee of the equivalent in the money of each respective country of one dollar per head of effective fighting men in the field per week--fees to be paid into the Bank of England within seven days after the commencement of hostilities. A liberal allowance will be made for killed and wounded if official returns are promptly sent to the London office of the Trust, 56_b_ Old Broad Street, London, E.C.
_C._ Prompt attention to the foregoing paragraphs is earnestly requested for the following reasons:--(1) The Trust has acquired control of the electrical forces of the Northern Hemisphere, and is, therefore, in a position to make all the operations of civilised life, including warfare, possible or impossible, as its commercial arrangements may demand. (2) One week from the date above will be given for the Powers of Europe to settle their differences without fighting or to accede to the terms offered by the Trust. Failing this, the Northern Hemisphere, with certain exceptions, will be deprived of its electrical force. The consequences of this will be that cables and telegraphs will cease to work, and all machinery constructed of iron or steel will break down if operated. Railroads will become useless, and bridges of metallic construction will collapse as soon as any considerable weight is placed upon them.
_D._ Finally, I am directed to state that, in addition to these results, it is unhappily probable that the withdrawal of electrical force will very seriously affect the health of the populations of the Northern Hemisphere. Death-rates will very largely increase, and it is probable that a new disease unknown to medical science will make its appearance. It is expected to be fatal in every case, if the terms of the Trust are not complied with, but it will first affect the young and the weakly. It is, therefore, to be hoped that considerations of humanity, if not of policy, will induce the peoples and the Governments of Europe to accede without delay to the conditions which I have the honour to submit.
As may well be imagined, this seemingly preposterous circular wasreceived either with derision or contemptuous silence in every capitalof Europe save Paris. There its import was only too well-known, but atthe same time it was impossible for France alone among the nations toacknowledge herself the vassal of the Trust. In Petersburg somethingof the truth was known; but the Government, confident of the successof the two expeditions, just dropped the communication into theofficial waste-paper basket and went on with its naval and militarypreparations.
Everything depended upon the six vessels which were steaming towardsBoothia Land reaching their goal and accomplishing their mission. Ifthey succeeded, Europe would be plunged into the bloodiest war thathad been fought since the days of Napoleon. If they failed, the warwould be stopped by an invisible, but irresistible, force, andhumanity would be astounded by the accomplishment of such a miracle ofscience as it had never seen before.