The Coming Conquest of England | Page 4

deutsche
Traume (F. W. Vobach and Co., Leipsic). The translator offers no
comment on the day-dream which he reproduces in the English

language for English readers. The meaning and the moral should be
obvious and valuable.
LONDON, September, 1904.

THE COMING CONQUEST OF ENGLAND
I
THE COUNCIL OF STATE
It was a brilliant assemblage of high dignitaries and military officers
that had gathered in the Imperial Winter Palace at St. Petersburg. Of the
influential personages, who, by reason of their official position or their
personal relations to the ruling house, were summoned to advise and
determine the destiny of the Tsar's Empire, scarcely one was absent.
But it was no festal occasion that had called them here; for all faces
wore an expression of deep seriousness, amounting in certain cases to
one of grave anxiety. The conversation, carried on in undertones, was
of matters of the gravest import.
The broad folding-doors facing the lifesize portrait of the reigning Tsar
were thrown wide open, and amid the breathless silence of all
assembled, the grey-headed President of the Imperial Council, Grand
Duke Michael, entered the hall. Two other members of the Imperial
house, the Grand Dukes Vladimir Alexandrovitch and Alexis
Alexandrovitch, brothers of the late Tsar, accompanied him.
The princes graciously acknowledged the deep obeisances of all present.
At a sign from the Grand Duke Michael, the whole company took their
places at the long conference table, covered with green cloth, which
stood in the centre of the pillared hall. Deep, respectful silence still
continued, until, at a sign from the President, State Secretary Witte, the
chief of the ministerial council, turned to the Grand Dukes and began
thus:--
"Your Imperial Highnesses and Gentlemen! Your Imperial Highness
has summoned us to an urgent meeting, and has commissioned me to
lay before you the reasons for, and the purpose of, our deliberations.
We are all aware that His Majesty the Emperor, our gracious Lord and
Master, has declared the preservation of the peace of the world to be
the highest aim of his policy. The Christian idea that mankind should
be 'ONE fold under ONE shepherd' has, in the person of our illustrious
ruler, found its first and principal representative here on earth. The

league of universal peace is solely due to His Majesty, and if we are
called upon to present to our gracious Lord and Master our humble
proposals for combating the danger which immediately menaces our
country, all our deliberations should be inspired by that spirit which
animates the Christian law of brotherly love."
Grand Duke Michael raised his hand in interruption. "Alexander
Nicolaievitch," he said, turning to the Secretary, "do not omit to write
down this last sentence WORD FOR WORD."
The Secretary of State made a short pause, only to continue with a
somewhat louder voice and in a more emphatic tone--
"No especial assurance is required that, in view of this, our noble liege
lord's exalted frame of mind, a breach of the world's peace could not
possibly come from our side. But our national honour is a sacred
possession, which we can never permit others to assail, and the attack
which Japan has made upon us in the Far East forced us to defend it
sword in hand. There is not a single right-minded man in the whole
world who could level a reproach at us for this war, which has been
forced upon us. But in our present danger a law of self-preservation
impels us to inquire whether Japan is, after all, the only and the real
enemy against whom we have to defend ourselves; and there are
substantial reasons for believing that this question should be answered
in the negative. His Majesty's Government is convinced that we are
indebted for this attack on the part of Japan solely to the constant
enmity of England, who never ceases her secret machinations against
us. It has been England's eternal policy to damage us for her own
aggrandisement. All our endeavours to promote the welfare of this
Empire and make the peoples happy have ever met with resistance on
the part of England. From the China Seas, throughout all Asia to the
Baltic, England has ever thrown obstacles in our way, in order to
deprive us of the fruits of our civilising policy. No one of us doubts for
a moment that Japan is, in reality, doing England's work. Moreover, in
every part of the globe where our interests are at stake, we encounter
either the open or covert hostility of England. The complications in the
Balkans and in Turkey, which England has incited and fostered by the
most despicable methods, have simply the one object in view--to bring
us into mortal conflict with Austria and Germany. Yet nowhere are
Great Britain's real aims clearer seen than in