Part 5

I concealed as much as possible the shock of surprise which this confession caused me. Up to that moment I had naturally imagined that the Prince was on his way to consult the Tsar, and obtain his approval, as the ally of France, of whatever designs were in progress. I now realised suddenly that I had overlooked a factor in the situation whose importance might be greater than Prince Victor’s own.

I need scarcely say that I refer to his brother Louis.

In enumerating the pretenders whose ambition threatens the Republic, I had naturally omitted this prince, whose claims seemed to be overshadowed by those of his elder brother. I now recalled his popularity as a young man of the most charming manners, and the prestige which he derives from his rank in the Russian Army and the personal friendship of the Tsar.

What was more possible than that Garnier and his comrades, passing over the unattractive elder, should have chosen as the figurehead of their usurpation this romantic character, who would be doubly dependent on them, because he would be doubly a usurper?

These reflections passed through my mind swiftly enough for me to answer without any perceptible pause--

‘You are paying a visit to your brother?’

Prince Victor nodded, as though that were a matter of course. It was easy to see that he felt it a relief to be able to discuss the situation fully and frankly with a man of experience and resource, one who moreover had no reason for taking his brother’s side.

Briefly, his story came to this:--

‘Some years ago, after the death of our father, my brother had a long consultation with me about the prospects of our family. He asserted that he was more popular in France than I was, and suggested that the chance of a Bonaparte restoration would be improved if I would consent to abdicate in his favour. This I naturally refused to do, but he pressed me, and got other members of the family to do the same, and at last I gave way so far as to say that if there were a substantial prospect of success, and it really depended on my resigning my rights in my brother’s favour, I would do it.

‘When I said that, of course, I thought it would be a question of a popular plebiscite, like our uncle received, and that I should be bound by the voice of the majority. But ever since then I have seen feelers put out from time to time in the Paris papers, suggesting that I did not wish to insist on my rights as the heir of the great Napoleon. And now within the last few days I have received a letter from my brother, informing me that a restoration is at last possible, and calling on me to fulfil my pledge, and publicly abdicate my claims.’

I listened to this remarkable disclosure with the keenest interest. It confirmed my suspicions on almost every point, though I was still far from feeling that I had obtained a complete solution to the problem set me by Wilhelm II.

My companion let it be seen plainly that he was not very well pleased with the prospect of being supplanted by his younger brother. I took this feeling into account in the advice which I offered.

‘The only thing you have told me that is new to me, is the fact that Prince Louis is the person favoured by the conspirators,’ I said. ‘I knew there was some such plot on foot, but, like every one else, I took it for granted that you were the only possible candidate for the empire.’ My companion breathed indignantly.

‘As for the success of the movement, that is highly problematical. You will not feel very satisfied if you execute this solemn act, only to see your brother rise for a moment on the shoulders of the mob, and then vanish like Boulanger, leaving your House more feeble than at present.’

‘Then what do you advise me to say to my brother?’ he asked eagerly.

‘I think your course is perfectly clear. You are entitled to demand the fullest information, in the first place. If that satisfies you that your brother’s success is assured, that no action on your part can retard it, then you will act gracefully by conceding a signature which will not deprive you of anything, and will give you substantial claims on his gratitude. But if you see that you are being asked to efface yourself without sufficient grounds, you have only to declare that you are not convinced, and to issue a manifesto to your supporters in France, reminding them that you are still the head of the House of Bonaparte.’

My companion received this suggestion with every sign of satisfaction. During the remainder of the journey I lost no opportunity of playing on the same string, and making him feel that I was, as it were, his ally, engaging in defeating a plot which was much more against him than against the Republic.

When we reached the Russian frontier, I had no difficulty in inducing the Prince to pass me through the barrier as the secretary of the Comte de Saint Pol, and I thus entered Russia in perfect security, in a character which would have amazed the Third Section.

On our arrival in Petersburg I asked Prince Napoleon if he intended to go to his brother’s address. He answered proudly--

‘I am still the head of my House, I believe. It would be more suitable for me to let my brother know of my arrival in order that he may wait upon me.’

I willingly charged myself with the delivery of the summons.

The announcement that I came from Brussels secured my instant admission to Prince Louis’s presence.

‘I have the honour to act as secretary to his Imperial Highness, Prince Victor Napoleon,’ I explained.

‘Ah! In that case you bring me a letter from him, no doubt?’

‘I bring your Highness a message simply. The Prince desires to see you.’

‘But I cannot leave Petersburg--surely my brother knows that!’

‘He knows it so well that he is in Petersburg.’

Prince Louis sprang to his feet, thunderstruck.

‘Victor is here!--already!’ he exclaimed in confusion.

For answer I named the hotel at which we had put up, explaining at the same time that the Prince wished to preserve his incognito strictly.

Prince Louis prepared to accompany me to the hotel in the carriage which had brought me to his house. As we drove along, he inquired--

‘Are you in my brother’s confidence?’

‘I believe I enjoy that honour,’ was my reply. ‘At least I am acquainted with the business which has brought him here.’

‘Perhaps you can tell me something of my brother’s views?’ he said, feeling his way.

‘I think his Highness expects to receive full information before he takes a step which will be irrevocable.’

‘Ah!’

‘He thinks, perhaps, that you may have been deceived by exaggerated promises, and that he has the right to forbid any premature attempt whose failure would damage the Bonapartist cause.’

Prince Louis gnawed his moustache with some impatience.

‘My brother must not be unreasonable,’ he murmured. ‘One is never certain of success in these attempts.’

‘If you will allow me to advise you, you will give him the fullest opportunity of judging of your prospects. It would be a serious thing for everybody if he were provoked into any public demonstration against you.’

The younger Prince changed colour.

‘Is it so serious as that?’ he exclaimed. And during the remainder of the drive he continued wrapped in thought, only the working of his brow betraying the anxiety within.

The greeting between the brothers was cordial, if not affectionate. I took it for granted that I was to be a party to the conference, and as each brother believed that I was secretly friendly to him, neither suggested that I should retire.

As soon as we were seated round the table, on which I had laid out some paper, pens, and ink, Prince Victor formally opened the discussion.

He spoke with a good deal of dignity and some eloquence. He treated it as a matter beyond dispute that he was the sole depository of the authority of the great Napoleon, entitled to the absolute obedience of every member of his House. He disclaimed any personal ambition, and referred to his former pledge, which he described as a promise to abdicate if he were convinced that such a step on his part was really likely to result in the restoration of the empire.

He then laid it down that he retained the sole right to decide if and when the time for this step had arrived, and hinted that it was his duty, as well as his right, to interfere actively to check any designs of which he disapproved. He concluded by professing a sincere and hearty interest in his brother’s fortunes, and inviting Prince Louis to confide in him fully, as in his best friend.

This statesmanlike deliverance appeared to inspire the younger Prince with genuine respect. He appeared to be a good deal embarrassed in the beginning of his reply. It was a difficult task to tell his elder brother that he had been rejected in favour of Louis himself.

After acknowledging in the most ample manner his brother’s claims on his obedience and gratitude, Prince Louis proceeded--

‘The state of France shows clearly that our House has no chance of success by constitutional means. The Republic can only be subverted by the action of the Army, which embodies the spirit of the nation more truly than the collection of provincial advocates and financiers which calls itself the Chamber of Deputies. The Army will be guided by its chiefs, and, therefore, it is the Staff which holds our fate in its hands. The generals very naturally feel a preference for a soldier. It is now nearly six months since I was first approached in the greatest secrecy by General Garnier.’

I had the utmost difficulty in not betraying my emotion at the sound of this name, so inseparably connected with the Dreyfus Case.

‘Garnier conveyed to me that he and his brother generals had decided that the time was ripe for a revolution, in which they anticipated receiving the support of the Church and the _noblesse_. He said they were determined to avoid a second catastrophe like that of the mountebank Boulanger, and therefore they meant to abolish the Republic by a military pronunciamento, and declare France a monarchy under their protection. And, in short, he offered me the crown in the name of the French Army.’

‘You reminded him of my existence, perhaps?’ put in the elder brother with some bitterness.

‘I refused to entertain the offer until it had been made to, and refused by, you,’ Louis protested earnestly. ‘Garnier replied that in no event would his brother generals agree to your nomination, and that, if I declined, the offer would be made to the Duke of Orleans, who commanded the support of the clerical faction. It was a question of Bonaparte or Bourbon, and I relied on our compact that in such a case you would relinquish your rights in my favour.’

Prince Victor turned to me as though he wished me to express his sentiments. I accepted the task.

‘It would have been better if you had taken Prince Napoleon into your confidence before giving any definite answer,’ I said. ‘General Garnier might have paid your elder brother the compliment of explaining the reasons for setting him aside.’

‘I did not consider the project sufficiently mature at that time,’ was the answer. ‘I thought it better to wait till the affair assumed a tangible shape.’

‘And this stage has now been reached?’ I inquired.

‘It has. My brother will understand that a pretext was necessary for the action of the Army, and that pretext could only be the danger of war. For a long time we were troubled with the difficulty that neither in Germany nor in England was there any disposition to attack France, and our treaty with Russia laid it down in the most explicit manner that the Tsar would only come to our assistance in the event of our being attacked.

‘But at last, thanks to the vigilance of Garnier and the other chiefs of the Staff, it has been discovered that Germany is secretly preparing for a stealthy spring; she is covering France with her spies, and, but for the timely arrest of this Dreyfus----’

I could not resist a subdued exclamation of triumph as the utterance of this name completed the chain of discovery. The whole intrigue engineered by the artful and unscrupulous French generals lay displayed to my eye, as on a map. I listened like one in a dream as Prince Louis continued explaining to his brother the peril of the French nation, the justification for the Army’s taking command of the State, and the consequent certainty of a Bonaparte restoration.

Victor listened silently, unable to think of any objection, and seeing his own chance of ever reigning as Emperor of the French slipping from him. It was I who put the decisive question.

‘You have, I suppose, taken the Tsar into your confidence, and convinced him of the reality of the danger?’

‘We have obtained the promise of his support,’ Louis answered.

‘Good. In that case you will not refuse your brother the reasonable proofs which it is his right to demand, that you have not been deceived.’

‘What proofs do you expect?’

‘I respectfully advise Prince Napoleon to request an interview with the Tsar.’

This advice was received with very different feelings by the two brothers. Prince Louis cast on me a look of surprise and annoyance; his elder brother’s eyes glistened with pleasure at a suggestion whose value was at once apparent to him.

‘You cannot object to my following my secretary’s advice’, said Prince Victor, after a moment’s pause. ‘The interests of my House are at stake; and before I resign the prospect of a throne I have a right to be thoroughly satisfied. The Tsar is your friend, and, therefore, you should be pleased to accept his mediation.’

Prince Louis yielded, not very graciously, to these representations, and undertook to arrange the conference. He then withdrew, leaving us to discuss the situation.

It is unnecessary for me to relate what passed between Prince Napoleon and myself. I succeeded in fixing him in the opinion that he had been treated ungenerously, and that he owed it to himself to thwart a dishonest and doubtful conspiracy, calculated to bring the name of Bonaparte into odium.

The following day, about the same hour, we were received by the titular autocrat of All the Russias.

The only persons present, besides the two brothers, were myself and the celebrated Pobiedonostzeff, who up till quite recently has exercised a mastery over the mind of his nominal sovereign that has been compared to that of Richelieu over the feeble Louis XIII.

It was at once evident that the decision of Nicholas II. would be largely determined by the advice which he received from his spiritual and political mentor. In effect, the conference resolved itself into a duel between the formidable Russian statesman and myself; he, animated by a hatred of freedom, which led him to sympathise with the design against the Republic; I, influenced by a sense of justice, and a desire to do my duty by the German Emperor.

Having briefly acknowledged the favour of the Tsar in receiving him, Prince Napoleon left the statement of his case in my hands.

I began by briefly referring to the understanding between the two brothers, and the present situation of affairs.

‘What Prince Napoleon desires,’ I went on, addressing myself to Pobiedonostzeff, ‘is to understand whether he is being asked to abdicate on sufficient grounds. Is he dealing with a mere hole-and-corner conspiracy, which may end in a fiasco; or is it true that his Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia is committed to the approval and support of his brother’s enterprise?’

The Tsar glanced from my face to that of his Minister, as I concluded, with an expression which convinced me that his Majesty knew very little about the affair, in which he had no doubt blindly accepted the guidance of Pobiedonostzeff.

The Procurator of the Holy Synod had evidently come prepared with an ambiguous reply.

‘His Majesty is a friend of France, and, as such, he naturally views with concern the weakness of the Republic, a weakness inseparable from Governments which rest on the authority of the mob. The Emperor is at the same time a friend of the House of Bonaparte, though, of course, he has no wish to interfere in favour of any particular candidate for the French throne rather than another.

‘He is pledged by treaty to come to the assistance of France in the case of an unprovoked attack by the Three Powers, or by the English. It follows that where the danger of such an attack exists, his Majesty is ready to encourage any prudent measure in the interests of France, such as this appears to be.’

Prince Louis smiled, well pleased at this skilful answer. His brother gave me an expectant glance.

‘Am I to understand, then--or, rather, is Prince Napoleon to understand--that it is the threatening attitude of Germany which has weighed with his Imperial Majesty?’

‘You may say the treacherous intrigues of Germany. The Germans have been careful to avoid any open provocation.’

‘His Majesty has received satisfactory proofs, no doubt, that such intrigues exist?’

‘Undoubtedly. General Garnier, on behalf of the Staff of the French Army, has laid before the Emperor’s advisers documents which prove up to the hilt that Germany is merely waiting for the psychological moment to spring upon France, disarm her, and erase her from the list of the Great Powers.’

‘Would it not have been more in accordance with precedent if these documents had been submitted to you by the President of the French Republic through the medium of the French Ambassador?’

I was glad to notice the Tsar turn a questioning look on his Minister as I delivered this thrust, for which Pobiedonostzeff was evidently not prepared.

‘I do not understand your objection,’ he said, in some surprise. ‘Prince Napoleon is surely not interested on behalf of the Republican Government.’

‘The interest of Prince Napoleon is to know the truth,’ I responded sternly. ‘Conspirators are not always scrupulous about the means they employ. General Garnier is not a man who can be pronounced incapable of manufacturing evidence in favour of his schemes.’

The Procurator’s face flushed.

‘You venture to insinuate that General Garnier is a forger!’ he cried wrathfully.

‘Listen, M. Pobiedonostzeff. In the time of the late Tsar I was employed by the Russian Government, before it concluded the treaty of alliance with France, to obtain secret and precise information concerning the military strength of that country. I have never revealed the name of the officer from whom I purchased that information. Shall I do so now?’

The Russian Minister gazed at me in consternation, and his master appeared equally surprised. Glancing at a slip of paper which lay before him, Pobiedonostzeff asked--

‘Who are you, then? Your name cannot be Rémillard.’

‘It is V----,’ I answered.

The Procurator threw himself back in his seat, astonished.

‘Your police have not shown their usual astuteness, I am afraid,’ I observed, smiling.

The Tsar now interposed in a tone of more authority than I had ventured to hope from his not very strong face.

‘Do you suggest, M. V----, that the whole Staff of the French Army are engaged in a conspiracy to forge documents?’

‘Something of the kind, I am afraid, sire.’

‘But this notorious case, which has excited the attention of the whole of Europe--the _Affaire Dreyfus_?’

‘I am in a position to assure your Majesty that Captain Dreyfus had no more to do with Germany than M. Pobiedonostzeff here.’

The Procurator of the Holy Synod raised his head.

‘You are very confident, it seems to me, M. V----,’ he sneered. ‘May I ask if you have been retained by the party which is seeking to reopen the case of Dreyfus?’

‘No, M. le Procureur, my knowledge has been acquired from an opposite quarter.’

‘From General Garnier himself, perhaps?’

‘No, _not this time_,’ I retorted, with biting significance. ‘My information was derived from his Imperial Majesty, Wilhelm II.’

Never shall I forget the changes which passed rapidly across the faces of three of my listeners as I made this statement. Prince Victor Napoleon alone received unmoved an announcement for which he was already prepared.

‘It is not a month,’ I added calmly, ‘since the German Emperor charged me with a commission to find out two things: the reason for the theatrical publicity given to the trial of an obscure captain in the French Army, and the object of the persistent attempt to represent him as a spy of Germany.’ I paused for a moment and turned to Nicholas II. before concluding. ‘That commission I have now accomplished. I am now in a position to inform the German Emperor that the purpose of this shameful comedy is to impose on the French people the belief that they are in danger of an invasion, from which they can only be delivered by a Bonaparte restoration under the patronage of your Majesty.’

The face of the young Tsar went red and white by turn.

‘I swear by Saint Nicholas that they shall eat their forgeries!’ he said.

And I have reason to know that it was the pressing and peremptory request of the Russian Emperor that at last secured the second trial, and the final pardon and release of the unhappy sufferer.

IV

WHAT WAS BEHIND THE TSAR’S PEACE RESCRIPT

Perhaps the most sensational event in recent history was the publication by the young and newly crowned Tsar of All the Russias of a rescript calling upon the great military Powers of the world to disband their armies and dismantle their fleets, and inaugurate an era of universal peace.

This extraordinary invitation produced a flutter in all the diplomatic dovecotes, for European statesmen have learned by this time that Russia does nothing in vain. Everywhere the same question was asked: ‘What is behind this rescript?’

It is scarcely necessary to add that, with the exception of a few sentimental fanatics in England and the United States, no one was inclined to put faith in a demonstration which was actually the prelude to a raid on the ancient liberties of Finland, in order to swell the armies of the Imperial peacemaker, and to a combined attack by all the great Christian Powers upon the only unarmed Empire in the world.

Nobody was deceived, but every one was disconcerted for the moment, and I was disconcerted like the rest. I was more. I was irresistibly drawn on to attempt the solution of a mystery which fascinated me like a difficult chess problem set before an expert in the game.

I could not afford, of course, to set about such an investigation merely for my own amusement. After waiting a decent time on the chance that I might be sent for by one of the Governments most interested in unravelling the schemes of the great Eurasian Power, I took the unusual step of going unasked to proffer my assistance to the Ambassador of a Power to which I have rendered important services.

To my surprise and chagrin I found myself repelled on the threshold, the Ambassador in question, a diplomatist of great experience, declaring that there was nothing to discover.

‘I share your disbelief in the peaceful intentions of the Russian Council of State,’ his Excellency was good enough to say to me. ‘But this is a matter with which they have really had nothing to do. This rescript is the outcome of the Tsar’s own individuality. He is a philanthropic young man, carried away by the enthusiasm natural to his age, and his advisers have had to give way to him. That is all; and it only remains to see whether his idea is practicable.’

The explanation was a plausible one, and all the more so because by this time the character of the new ruler of Russia was fairly well known to those whose business it is to reckon up the personalities of sovereigns and statesmen. Still I was not convinced.

‘That is exactly the explanation which I should offer to the Foreign Offices of Europe, if I were M. Witte,’ I ventured to observe.