It is significant that in the
Intelligence Department at Berlin they knew an attack was imminent,
although they did not know it at Port Arthur. Furthermore, Russian
securities dropped eighteen points on the New York Stock Exchange,
hours before the official knowledge of the attack came through. This
information leaked out through the German Embassy in Washington.
Seven days after I left, Togo made the torpedo attack in which he sank
the _Czarevitch_, _Retvitsan_ and _Palada_.
Before I took the steamer back to Europe, I went to Kiou-Chau, the
German colony in China, and filed a long report by cipher cable. Six
months later I had the satisfaction of having a talk with numerous
officers of the German General Staff and of receiving compliments on
the correctness of my observations, reports and predictions.
Later I learned the reasons why I had been sent to Port Arthur.
Germany desired to ascertain the exact relative strength of the Port
Arthur defenses and Russian positions in the Far East for the
following reasons:
Since the time of Frederick the Great, the only power on the Continent
which Germany has feared and has always been loath openly to quarrel
with, is Russia. Through the setback she received in the Far East in
1905, her influence steadily decreased in the Balkans and the recent
fiasco of Russian machinations during the Balkan war, has made her
become a secondary factor for decades to come.
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