Chapter XIII
Missionaries of Discontent

Previous chapters have dealt with plots that have come to full accomplishment either in success or failure. The present is concerned with a conspiracy still in the making, which bids fair to be more vast and fraught with more terrible consequences than any that preceded it. Moreover, it intimately concerns the British Empire, though it is not exclusively directed against it.

It is only necessary to talk with any one who is well acquainted with the East to learn beyond all shadow of doubt that there exists throughout the Orient an organized intrigue against European and Christian supremacy. If the person consulted has made a long and careful study of the tortuous politics and secret tendencies of Asia, the information given will become startling by its definite menace and by the proof of the existence of a revolutionary organization that spreads its tentacles from Europe and America over the whole of North Africa and Asia.

Before discussing the danger that must be faced, it may be well to consider how far Great Britain, the Power most seriously threatened, is in a position at home to overcome this serious threat. After the Russian Revolution a section of the Jewish Press displayed an alarming affection for Bolshevist ideas, and openly encouraged Bolshevist propaganda in Great Britain. The Morning Post had occasion to draw attention to this dangerous campaign, which was disavowed by the leading patriotic Jews, as is shown by the following letter published in its columns:

"Sir,—We have read with the deepest concern and with sincere regret certain articles which have recently appeared in two closely associated Jewish newspapers in this country on the topic of Bolshevism and its 'ideals.' In our opinion, the publication of these articles can have no other effect than to encourage the adoption of the theoretic principles of Russian Bolsheviks among foreign Jews who have sought and found a refuge in England.

"We welcome, accordingly, your suggestion that British Jews should 'dissociate themselves from a cause which is doing the Jewish people harm in all parts of the world.' This is profoundly true, and we, on our own behalf and on behalf of numbers of British Jews with whom we have conferred, desire to dissociate ourselves absolutely and unreservedly from the mischievous and misleading doctrine which these articles are calculated to disseminate. We repudiate them as dangerous in themselves and as false to the tenets and teachings of Judaism.

"Partly in order to counteract the mistaken policy of the newspapers referred to, the League of British Jews was founded in November, 1917. The proceedings and views of the League are published in a monthly bulletin, entitled Jewish Opinion, which can be obtained at the offices of the League, 708-709, Salisbury House, E.C.2, and which may eventually be merged in a larger journal appearing at more frequent intervals.

"For we thoroughly concur with your criticism that 'the British Jewish community, most of whom, as you rightly say, 'are by no means in sympathy with this (Nationalist) crusade, are being served very badly by their newspapers.' Meanwhile we take this opportunity of repudiating in public the particular statements in those newspapers to which you have felt it your duty to call attention.—Yours, etc.,

"Lionel de Rothschild.
Swaythling.
Philip Magnus.
Marcus Samuel.
Harry S. Samuel.
Leonard L. Cohen.
I. Gollancz.
John Monash.
C. G. Montefiore.
Isidore Spielmann.
"April 22, 1919."

Unfortunately the attitude of these patriots was not that of all British Jews, and they were violently attacked for their action. Nor can it be said that the political behaviour of those Jews who have taken a leading part in the Government of Great Britain has been reassuring. It can scarcely be said that Sir Alfred Mond's political achievements merit his inclusion in the Ministry. The connection of Lord Reading, our Lord Chief Justice, with the Marconi affair was, to say the least of it, by no means in accordance with the traditions of our public life. More serious still is the appointment of Sir Herbert Samuel as Governor of Palestine, where a Jew will be called upon to hold the balance between an Arab majority and a Jewish minority in a hot-bed of intrigues. Then Mr. Montagu, despite his family relationships with a firm which has established something resembling a monopoly in the silver market, is Secretary for India.

As for Mr. Montagu's attitude, he disclosed it in a fit of irritation in his opening speech in the Dyer debate in the House of Commons. His speech was not the calm advocacy of his Government's policy which one has the right to expect from a Minister of State whose conscience is untroubled. It was an elaborate extenuation of Indian sedition by one who has confessed himself proud of the friendship of that leader of rebellion, Mr. Gandhi, and Mr. Montagu's excited denunciation of British "terrorism" in India might take its place beside the striking poster referred to by Mr. Rupert Gwynne:

"Conquer the English monkeys with bravery. This is the command of Mahatma Gandhi. Get ready soon for the war, and God will grant victory to India."

The idea of a world conspiracy directed against law and order, and indeed against Christian civilization itself, would before the war have seemed absurd and impossible to the average Englishman. The idea that there could be an intimate connection, say, between a revolution in Portugal, a strike at home, and a murder in India would never have occurred to any ordinary man before August, 1914. The war has produced a complete change of mentality, because we have had concrete proof of close connection between rebellion in Ireland, trouble in Egypt, disaffection in India, revolution in Russia, to mention only a few of the disorders brought about by Germany.

It might have been expected that when the war was finished German propaganda would have come to an end and everything returned to its previous state of tranquillity. But it is becoming every day more evident that the conspiracy against civilization did not finish with the defeat of Germany. The Germans certainly used various organizations against us, but, as it has been our object to show, they never really controlled or directed them. Behind the scenes was a "formidable sect" using the Germans for their own ends instead of being used by them, and when Germany fell and German money disappeared, the conspiracy still went on unimpeded.

The Germans, when they sent Lenin to Russia, availed themselves of those secret forces of which they had already made use against Great Britain. The directors of the secret conspiracy were quite ready to use the Germans for their own ends of poisoning European democracy. Yet the first result of Lenin's journey to Russia after the collapse of Russia was, as Ludendorff admits, the downfall of Germany.

Those who were with the Allied troops after the Armistice in the sectors of the front where the enemy had been demoralized by Bolshevist propaganda had clear evidence of the terrible power of the forces that the Lords of Germany had so foolishly let loose.

When the French troops first reached the Rhine at Neu-Brisach, a number of motor lorries were surrendered. Each lorry was driven across the river by two chauffeurs, one of whom wore the red rosette that marked him as a member of the Soviet, and the trembling officers watched them as they sung songs of triumph, and did not dare to give an order. A number of officers had been shot down the night before. Many of the lorries were decorated in celebration of defeat, and it was only in the French lines that the officers could insist on these decorations being removed.

It was no small local conspiracy that had triumphed so completely over the arrogant Imperialism and iron discipline of the German Army, and the French showed their realization of this fact by sternly upholding the German officers against any sign of insubordination among the troops, who were promptly ordered to remove the red rosette from their caps.

Germany, in her lust for world rule, coquetted with the hidden powers that were conspiring to destroy not only the British Empire and the Allied Nations but the whole of civilization and Christendom. There can be no doubt that the enemy employed the secret organizations which are the cause of the world unrest, and spent money like water to obtain their support. The "formidable sect" was ready enough to take German money and cause trouble among the Allies, but it jealously guarded the control of its organizations, and when the time came it left Germany to its fate.

Experts are agreed in saying that the cause of the existing unrest in India is mainly an organized form of propaganda which has been at work for years, disturbing, as Mr. Montagu would say, "the placid, pathetic contentment of the masses," and investigation shows that this organization, which is steadily gaining strength, is of amazing complexity. In 1912 attention was officially drawn to the existence of a conspiracy, organized with extraordinary ingenuity in some centre which could not be discovered, throughout India in the proceedings of the Commission on the Indian Army of which Field-Marshal Lord Nicholson was President.

India is not the only country affected; on the contrary, the new gospel is preached in every country of the East, whether under European control, semi-independent or independent, throughout North Africa from Morocco to Egypt, in Turkey, Arabia, and the whole of Asia including Japan. Thus it is possible to find agents preaching the same doctrines slightly adapted for local needs in a "douar n in Morocco, in Teheran, Kabul, Constantinople, or Calcutta. The whole of this vast area is divided up into zones, each with its controlling centre, from which direction is given, and which passes on the word received from other centres.

The character of the propaganda is even more surprising than the perfection of the organization. It is, generally speaking, neither religious nor national, and this very point brings it at once into line with our general inquiry. On the positive side it is what may be called democratic, and on the more definite negative side anti-European and anti-Christian. If the protocols are to be believed the essential part of the universal conspiracy is first the use of the word "Liberty," which "brings society into conflict with all the Powers, even with that of Nature and God," in order to set "all Powers one against the other by encouraging their liberal tendencies towards independence."

Elsewhere the protocols state that "the triumph of our theory is its adaptability to the temperament of the nations with which we come in contact." In the East, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, the watchwords of the French Revolution, have been replaced by American Republicanism. Republicanism is particularly suited for the East, since "Republican rights are an irony for the pauper." On the other hand, the fundamental notion of the "formidable sect" is the destruction of Christianity and all religion except the Jewish.

There is certainly a great similarity between the propaganda now being carried on in Asia and "the programme of violence and hypocrisy" advocated by the protocols. Religion is regarded by the Asiatic intriguers as a useful weapon, but they do not insist upon it except when a religious question gives them a chance of causing sedition and furthering their ends.

They are aiming definitely at setting the Eastern world against the Western, and therefore it is their intention to unite the East and bridge over all religious and national differences. The gospel they are secretly preaching is Pan-Oriental, and their desire is to shake authority in the States under Christian tutelage and to arouse anti-Christian sentiment in independent Eastern States. Asia against Europe is the object at which they are aiming, and no doubt the plotters hope to gain their ends in the world-wide confusion that would accompany a war between West and East.

One of the objects of the secret conspiracy is "with the aid of Europe to promote on other continents sedition, dissension, and mutual hostility." With this object in view the promoters of disorder, who have one of their most important headquarters in Switzerland, have portioned out the areas on which they are to work. Seditious literature and agents pass from Europe to Turkey, and their influence spreads by definite routes over Asia Minor to Persia and Afghanistan, From there they pass to the tribes of the North-west Frontier, and the zones of influence radiate out so that not a village is missed.

Books that secretly hint at rebellion, speeches made in Europe, and cunningly distorted articles from European papers are distributed among those who can read. The agent emphasizes every local grievance and turns a molehill into a mountain, always inculcating the doctrine of hatred of the Christian. Above all, he uses everywhere he goes his personal influence to persuade those he meets that they are hardly treated, condoling with one man on his undeserved poverty, flattering another with tales of the great power that his abilities merit.

There is no scarcity of such agents. They are produced in thousands, these missionaries of discontent, and their education is not the least of the cares of the secret conspiracy. There are men trained in India, Europe, and America who have drunk in with their study of European knowledge and culture a hatred of Europe. The teachers of Eastern religions and their priests afford a useful recruiting ground for such agents.

Naturally they are opposed to Christianity, and are ready to pass on to their pupils the poison of hatred which is all the more formidable that it is secretly organized. There are many European agents, some of them mere faddists, who pass on the dangerous doctrines unconsciously, while others deliberately betray their own blood. From this point of view, Eastern Freemasonry was extremely dangerous when the Eastern lodges sought to emulate the secret societies of the French Revolution, but the vigorous action taken by our authorities during the war, especially in Egypt, has considerably restricted its activity.

The "Invisible Force" which is arraying its might against Christendom has never doubted the importance of education. It is laying its hand in the East on the coming generation, for wherever there is a native school within the limits of its propaganda, its gospel is being preached, and the most certain proof that the whole movement is being directed by a single secret agency is that this teaching is identical from Morocco to the heart of Asia.

Among the agents employed in the East there are few Jews. It must be remembered that the people of the East have an insuperable if tolerant contempt for the Jew. This attitude is not the least of the reasons why it appears supremely impolitic to have Mr. Montagu Secretary for India and Sir Herbert Samuel Governor of Palestine. If the great conspiracy is to be overcome there must be the strictest impartiality on the part of rulers and governors. If revolution has not already broken out it is that there is still a mass of moderate and indifferent opinion which is refractory to this propaganda.

Whether this gigantic plot of throwing East against West is to be attributed to the "formidable sect" is a question that must be left to the individual judgment. All that can be said is that the purpose pursued and the methods employed are practically identical with those which have been considered in these papers. A concrete instance of the working of this conspiracy and a consideration of certain disquieting circumstances that accompanied it may throw some light on the question.

It may be remembered that on July 1, 1909, Colonel Sir W. Curzon Wyllie, an Indian official respected and admired by both natives and Europeans, was murdered at the Imperial Institute by a native named Dhingra, who paid for the crime with his life. There were certain facts connected with this murder which were never made public. There is reason to believe that shortly before the crime, Dhingra had been in Paris, and it was said that a Nationalist manifesto dated from Paris was found among his papers. It is certain that a week before, the Anarchist section of the Paris police was informed that a group of Indian conspirators in Paris were displaying great activity, and that they were preparing to bring off a coup either in France or England, probably the latter. Unfortunately this information was not passed on to the English police, as possibly further investigation might have prevented this dastardly murder.

This Paris group had been working against the Empire for a considerable period, and its existence was well known to the French police, who took all necessary precautions that no outrage should be committed in the territory for which they were responsible. Many meetings were held in a house in the Rue Laffitte and elsewhere, and a vigorous propaganda carried on. There were some genuine native fanatics among the conspirators, and several members of the Indian colony were terrorized into supporting them with funds and declaring a reluctant sympathy with a movement that filled them with alarm and repulsion. In particular, the plotters sought adherents among the young natives who came to the Paris University to study, and their threats and bloodthirsty language scared some of these students, who were anything but warlike by nature, almost out of their wits.

An important member of the group was a woman of German extraction, who appeared to be the chief controller of its action. There was, however, another woman, a Jewess, who was in friendly relations with the conspirators, though there is no proof that she took any part in their plots. This Jewess was a very remarkable person. Good-looking and ambitious, she flaunted as the confidante of a dignitary of the Third Republic, and it was public report that, with the aid of her own people and the invaluable support of the Grand Orient, she exercised behind the scenes a power equal to that of many a Minister.

In those days French Freemasonry was still a great political power. It was no longer practically supreme in politics, since its position had been badly shaken by the discovery of the part that it had been playing in the Army. The scandal that led to the resignation of General Andre, the Minister of War, showed that secret reports drawn from Masonic sources were being officially used to the prejudice of officers who were opposed to the form of Freemasonry existing in France. Attendance at church was reported to the authorities and actually served as a bar to promotion. The popular outcry that resulted from these disclosures seriously weakened the political power of the Grand Orient, though in secret, thanks to its organization and hold on the Radical Deputies and Senators, it still possessed immense influence.

It must be remembered that in France the Masonic movement was permeated with Jews. The Hebraic element was strongly represented in the Gentile lodges, and there existed Jewish lodges to which no Gentile members were admitted and in which no language other than Yiddish or German was spoken.

The "formidable sect" has never hesitated in its recognition of the importance of "encouraging the ideas of others and using them for its own purpose." Further, the protocols admit that their policy includes "a number of private assassinations accomplished by our agents, the blind sheep of our flock, who can easily be induced to commit a crime, so long as such a crime is of a political character." The stupid murder of Sir Curzon Wyllie was, according to the murderer, a political "removal."