Lody, beyond all question, was a very remarkable2 man. Before going into the details of the charge against him, it is well worth while to recall some of the leading features of his career.
Born in Berlin, he was only thirty-five, yet he had seen enough of life and the world to have satisfied many men of double his age. There is hardly a corner of the civilised world into which he had not travelled. He had been much in America, and it was a considerable help to him, in his work as a secret-service agent, that he spoke3 English with a decidedly American accent. This, no doubt, explains the fact—of which more presently—[Pg 139]that he posed as an American, and used an American passport, which really belonged to a certain Mr. Charles A. Inglis.
It was as Mr. Charles A. Inglis that Lody arrived in England early in August. He knew England and Scotland well, and he is believed to have been in this country once or twice earlier in the year. Originally, he served in the German Navy; after he left he became a steward4 on the liner "Hamburg." In the meantime he married a very handsome American woman, to whom, apparently6, though the marriage did not turn out very happily, he was very deeply attached.
When the Hamburg-Amerika Line established a series of personally conducted tours from Berlin, Lody secured an appointment to take charge of a party of rich Americans who were going round the world. He made a similar tour in 1913 and in the summer of 1914, and when the American medical societies held an International Conference in London, Lody was one of the guides who helped to show them round England. None of the Americans, it may be mentioned, ever doubted that he belonged to their country.
It was in August, as I have said, that Lody came to England on the mission that led him to his death. He travelled as Mr. Inglis, though to an American acquaintance who chanced to meet him he was still Lody. It was some weeks before the attention of the Confidential7 Department was drawn8 to him, and then began a game of hide-and-[Pg 140]seek, which was not without a humorous side.
From August till the middle of September, Lody was in Edinburgh, a district prohibited to enemy aliens, though not, of course, to an American. Thence he sent, to Stockholm, a telegram which aroused suspicion. On September 7th he was followed from the neighbourhood of Rosyth, and with magnificent "bluff9" he went direct to the police and complained. So well did he play the part of an injured and innocent American citizen, that the police actually apologised to him. He slipped away and, for a time, all trace of him was lost.
Then he went to London and began an examination of the steps that had been taken for the protection of the principal buildings. Again the Intelligence Department got on his track, and from that moment his doom10 was sealed. No doubt he thought he had shaken off all suspicion, but he was soon to be undeceived.
After a visit to Scotland about the end of September, Lody went to Liverpool, no doubt to pick up all he could about the Mersey defences, and then over to Ireland in the guise11 of an American tourist on a visit to Killarney. But the police had their eye on him all the time, and he was arrested and detained until the arrival of Inspector12 Ward5 of Scotland Yard. His trial and conviction followed.
The public will never know the full extent[Pg 141] of Lody's doings as a spy, but it is beyond question that he was a most daring and dangerous man. The reports he made have not yet been published, but they were of such a character that, in the interests of the State, much of the evidence was taken in camera, and those who have been privileged to read them declare that, in their keen observation and clear expression, they are among the most remarkable documents that have ever come into the possession of the War Office. The Confidential Department did its work well, and it is worth noting here that after grave suspicion fell upon Lody, he was so closely shadowed that none of his reports left the country, and they were produced in evidence at the trial.
Lody's task was to travel about England and to send to Germany news about our naval13 movements, about our losses and the steps that were being taken to repair them. One message he tried to send from Edinburgh read:—"Must cancel. Johnson very ill last four days. Shall leave shortly." Innocent enough! But to Berlin, as Lody admitted at his trial, it meant that the British Fleet, in four days, would be leaving the Firth of Forth14.
What, we may well wonder, was to be cancelled!
There was a dramatic scene in the ancient Guildhall when the court-martial assembled to try Lody for his life—a scene strangely unfamiliar15 in a country which, for a genera[Pg 142]tion, has had little experience of military trials. The court was composed of Major-General Lord Cheylesmore as President, and eight officers in uniform. In the dock stood Lody, guarded by two khaki-clad soldiers with bayonets fixed16.
The following were the charges on which Lody was accused:—
The accused, Carl Hans Lody, alias17 Charles A. Inglis, an enemy civilian18, is charged—first charge—with committing a war crime, that is to say, war treason, against Great Britain, in that he at Edinburgh, on or about September 27, 1914, attempted to convey to a belligerent19 enemy of Great Britain—namely to Germany—information calculated to be useful to that enemy by sending a letter headed Edinburgh 27/9/14, and signed Nazi20, addressed to one Karl J. Stammer21, Berlin, which contained information with regard to the defence and preparations for war of Great Britain. The second charge is that of committing a war crime in that he on or about the 30th of September attempted to convey to a belligerent enemy of Great Britain—namely to Germany—information calculated to be useful to that enemy, by sending a letter, headed Dublin and signed Nazi, and addressed to Karl J. Stammer, which contained information with regard to the defences and preparations for war of Great Britain.
Lody's movements were very clearly traced at the trial by Mr. Bodkin, who prosecuted22 for the Crown. It was shown, by the visé on the American passport he was using, that he had been in Berlin as recently as August 4th. Another document found on him proved that he was in Bergen, in Norway, on August 20th. In all his movements he passed as[Pg 143] Charles A. Inglis. It is not necessary to follow him in detail, but it may be mentioned that apparently he reported both to a man named Burchard, at Stockholm, and also to Stammer at Berlin. There were found in his notebook not only a copy of the "Johnson" telegram, but also particulars of British losses in battle and in the naval fight in the North Sea, a list of German cruisers and German ships sunk up to date, and also copies of four other communications to Burchard.
Mr. Bodkin made it clear that, through the Post Office officials, certain letters to and from persons abroad had been examined and copied, and in some cases delivered; since August 4th letters for Norway and Sweden posted in any part of the United Kingdom were sent to London and there examined. Several of these were to and from the prisoner.
The main part of the evidence against Lody was taken in camera and has never been made public, but that it was overwhelming there can be no doubt; indeed, Lody himself admitted that he had had a fair trial, and was quite justly dealt with. It was, however, mentioned that his letters contained reports on such places as Queensferry, near the naval base at Rosyth, and various other places round the coast.
There was a very remarkable incident when Lody himself gave evidence, an incident which gives us a good deal of insight into the real character of this remarkable spy.
[Pg 144]
Having admitted that his name was on the German Navy List, he said that when he went to Berlin at the end of July he reported himself to "a certain department," making a request that he should not be sent on active service as he was an invalid23, having undergone a serious operation some years before and being unfit to do any fighting. Narrating25 events in Berlin, Lody said, "A proposition was put before me by a certain person."
"Are you willing," counsel asked him, "to give the name of that person?"
Then for the first time Lody's iron nerve broke down. He burst into heavy sobs26, and in a voice almost choked with emotion, replied: "I have pledged my word of honour not to give that name, and I cannot do it. Although names have been discovered in my documents, I do feel that I have not broken my word of honour."
"Are you unwilling," counsel asked, "to tell us the position in life that person occupies?"
Again Lody hesitated; then he added quietly that the person was a superior naval officer. "I was summoned to see him," he said; "and I had three or four interviews with him."
Then came a question which provoked a very remarkable reply. "Are you willing," asked counsel, "to tell the court what took place at those interviews with your superior officer?"
"I am willing to tell the court," said Lody.[Pg 145] "And I am willing not to conceal27 anything, but I should like it not to be in public, as I shall certainly refer to very essential and important affairs."
Lody was then asked to give the "principal instruction" that he received, and he did so readily. He was to remain in England until the first engagement had taken place between the two Powers, and send information as regards the actual losses of the British Fleet. Then he was at liberty to go on to New York; he had previously28 asked for permission to do so. He was also told to get all the information he could with regard to the movements of the Fleet, and what was going on in England, but was specially29 warned not to go and "spy round," but to see as much as every traveller could see.
Lody added that he was very reluctant to undertake this work, as he felt he was not well fitted for it. He pointed30 this out, he said. It was put to him that pressure was applied31 to him to induce him to undertake the mission, to which he replied: "There was no pressure, but there is certainly an understanding. If they make a suggestion you feel obliged to obey. I have never been a coward in my life, and I certainly won't be a shirker."
Let us give credit where credit is due—even in espionage. I think everyone will admit that, whatever view we may take of this spy's offence—and views on the subject of espionage will always vary widely—Lody[Pg 146] behaved as a brave man. He was, in the first place, absolutely loyal to his chiefs; there was about him nothing of the craven wretch32 as willing to sacrifice his own country as any other if he could hope by so doing to win any favour for himself. Nor would he even speak in open Court of matters which, as he thought, might have been prejudicial to us. One cannot but recognise his chivalry33. It is not often that the man in the dock deserves all his counsel says about him, but Lody was an exception, and the eloquent34 plea on his behalf made by Mr. George Elliott, K.C., who defended him, deserves to be remembered, not only for its references to Lody, but as a tribute to British justice, which placed at the service of a dangerous adversary35 the skill of one of the most brilliant members of the English Bar.
Whatever his fate might be, said Mr. Elliott, he hoped the accused would remember to the last hour of his existence that he had received from the country whose interests he came to betray a trial which, for fairness, was unrivalled in history. He said, quite frankly36, that he came to this country in the service of his own—as a German actuated by patriotic37 German motives38. He had told the Court all that he could tell, refusing to speak only where it clashed with his word of honour as an officer and a gentleman. He was not a man who had sold his country for gold, and he had not attempted to corrupt39 a single British subject or official.
[Pg 147]
"I plead for him," said Mr. Elliott, admitting that a conviction was unavoidable, but asking the Court whether they could not find some extenuating40 circumstances, "not as a miserable41 coward, or as a fear-stricken wretch, but as a man born of a land to which he is true, whose history and traditions he cherishes. His own grandfather was a great soldier who held a fortress42 against Napoleon, and it is in that spirit he wishes to stand before you here to-day. He was ready to offer himself on the altar of his country. I am not here to cringe for mercy; my client is not ashamed of anything he has done. Many a man would do for England what he did for Germany—may, in fact, be now doing it. Whatever his fate, he will meet it bravely like a man."
The verdict, as usual in the case of a court-martial, was not announced until some days later, when an official statement told us that Lody had been shot. He maintained his courage to the end, and died without a tremor43. Before he died he left a letter in which he admitted he had had a fair trial, and expressed appreciation44 of the fact that he had been treated, not as a spy, but as an officer.
Now we come to the ugliest and darkest side of the Lody case. It will be remembered that Lody was able to get about by the aid of an American passport issued in the name of Charles A. Inglis. It was thought, at first, that this was merely a passport obtained[Pg 148] either by forgery46 or by false pretences47; as a matter of fact it was a perfectly48 genuine document, but Lody had no right to it. How it came into his possession shows the depth of degradation49 to which the German General Staff are prepared to descend50.
Mr. Inglis, it was ascertained51 after the trial, was a bona fide American traveller holding a genuine passport. He left his passport with the American Embassy in Berlin for registration52 with the German Foreign Office, or some other department. The Embassy sent it in for registration and it was never returned. Nor was it ever heard of again until it turned up in the possession of Carl Lody—a spy in Great Britain!
The German explanation to the American Embassy was that the passport had been mislaid. The same fate, it is said, has befallen no fewer than two hundred United States and British passports in Germany, and the corollary of this astounding53 announcement is that at the present moment there may be two hundred German agents wandering about equipped with British and American passports which are perfectly genuine, and not in the least likely to be suspected.
The stealing of these passports by the German authorities has been the subject of an official British communication, so that there can be no doubt about the fact, whether the exact number had been stated or not. "It has come to the notice of the Foreign Secretary," says the British statement, "that[Pg 149] some passports belonging to British subjects leaving Germany have been retained by the German authorities. Such cases should be reported to the Foreign Office."
I say without hesitation54 that I do not believe any other country on the face of the globe would descend to such methods as this. I say, moreover, that no nation capable of such conduct can be regarded as possessing a shred55 of public honour. It is comparable only to the white flag treachery, or the mounting of machine guns in Red Cross ambulances, which is a feature of German warfare56, to the murder by bombs of non-combatants in districts where there cannot be any soldiers, to the sowing of mines on the high seas, to the making of shields for soldiers out of the bodies of miserable civilians57, to the slaughter58 of women and children at Louvain and Aerschot. What will the civilised communities of the world have to say in the future to Germans convicted out of their own mouths of disregarding every law of God and man that may operate to their disadvantage?
But even out of the theft of the passports—no doubt regarded by them as an excellent stroke of "kultur"—the Germans are not unlikely to reap trouble. The United States is not a country to be played with, and in this passport trick there lie the elements of serious trouble. Americans will not be likely to lie down quietly while their passports are used for espionage, and it is more[Pg 150] than likely that the Germans have stirred up a hornets' nest about their ears. In the meantime, it is reported from Washington that the Government has instructed the Embassy in Berlin to sift59 the Lody-Inglis incident to the very bottom.
That incident, too, has brought about much more stringent60 rules with regard to passports. Henceforth no American or British passport will be recognised as valid24 which does not bear the certified61 photograph of its rightful owner, and extra photographs for registration purposes will have to be lodged62 with the Embassy or Consulate63 by which the passport is issued. In the meantime we may be quite sure that American passports in London will be the subject of very special attention. What diplomatic action the United States may take in the matter it is impossible to say, but we can be fairly sure that such a proceeding64 as the stealing of neutral passports and using them for the purposes of spying in Great Britain will hardly be allowed to pass without very serious protest.
The Lody case has had one good effect in bringing home to a public, which is, alas65! too liable to be careless in such matters, the reality of the German spy-peril in the country. The public had been so consistently deluded66 in this matter by those who were perfectly aware of the real facts of German espionage that it was far too much inclined to look upon everyone who insisted that there was a very real and very urgent spy danger as a[Pg 151] mere45 alarmist. It knows better now! Anyone who glances at the columns of the daily Press must be aware that public opinion is slowly awakening67 to the real urgency of the question, and, though I and others have been bitterly disappointed that our warnings have, to a great extent, gone unheeded, I am even now not without hope that we shall yet see the public insist that adequate steps shall be taken for our national safety in this respect.
It is true we may offend Germany by the drastic action the position demands. We may even, it is true, make the lot of Englishmen still, unhappily, in Germany, harder and more disagreeable. We shall regret either necessity. But the safety of the country has to come first.
Germany has never shown the slightest regard for our feelings, and I am sure that those of our countrymen who are prisoners in Germany, military or civil, would cheerfully suffer any conceivable hardship rather than that the safety of our beloved Empire should be jeopardised in the hope of making better terms for them.
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1
espionage
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| n.间谍行为，谍报活动 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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steward
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| n.乘务员，服务员；看管人；膳食管理员 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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inspector
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| n.检查员，监察员，视察员 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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unfamiliar
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| adj.陌生的，不熟悉的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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alias
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| n.化名；别名；adv.又名 | |
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civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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belligerent
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| adj.好战的，挑起战争的；n.交战国，交战者 | |
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Nazi
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| n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的 | |
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stammer
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| n.结巴，口吃；v.结结巴巴地说 | |
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prosecuted
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| a.被起诉的 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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narrating
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| v.故事( narrate的现在分词 ) | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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chivalry
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| n.骑士气概，侠义；（男人）对女人彬彬有礼，献殷勤 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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extenuating
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| adj.使减轻的，情有可原的v.（用偏袒的辩解或借口）减轻( extenuate的现在分词 )；低估，藐视 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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fortress
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| n.堡垒，防御工事 | |
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tremor
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| n.震动，颤动，战栗，兴奋，地震 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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pretences
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| n.假装( pretence的名词复数 )；作假；自命；自称 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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51
ascertained
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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registration
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| n.登记，注册，挂号 | |
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astounding
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| adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊，使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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shred
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| v.撕成碎片，变成碎片；n.碎布条，细片，些少 | |
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warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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civilians
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| 平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓 | |
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slaughter
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| n.屠杀，屠宰；vt.屠杀，宰杀 | |
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sift
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| v.筛撒，纷落，详察 | |
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stringent
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| adj.严厉的；令人信服的；银根紧的 | |
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certified
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| a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的 | |
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lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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consulate
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| n.领事馆 | |
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64
proceeding
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| n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报 | |
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65
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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66
deluded
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| v.欺骗，哄骗( delude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67
awakening
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| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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68
patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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69
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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