He has begged to be excused from
accepting or returning any diplomatic courtesies."
"Nevertheless," Nigel persisted, "I should send for Prince Shan. If it
had not been," he went on slowly, "for the complete abolition of our
secret service system, you would probably have been informed before now
that Prince Shan has been having continual conferences in this country
with one of the most dangerous men who ever set foot on these
shores--Oscar Immelan."
"Immelan has no official position in this country," the Prime Minister
objected.
"A fact which makes him none the less dangerous," Nigel insisted. "He is
one of those free lances of diplomacy who have sprung up during the last
ten or fifteen years, the product of that spurious wave of altruism
which is responsible for the League of Nations. Immelan was one of the
first to see how his country might benefit by the new regime. It is he
who has been pulling the strings in Russia and China, and, I fear,
another country."
"What I want to arrive at," Mr. Mervin Brown said, a little impatiently,
"is something definite."
"Let me put it my own way," Nigel begged. "A very large section of our
present-day politicians--you, if I may say so, amongst them, Mr. Mervin
Brown--have believed this country safe against any military dangers,
because of the connections existing between your unions of working men
and similar bodies in Germany. This is a great fallacy for two reasons:
first because Germany has always intended to have some one else pull the
chestnuts out of the fire for her, and second because we cannot
internationalise labour.
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