I have to confess that quite unintentionally I did my Government and my country a great wrong. In spite of all my very considerable experience, I did not see at the time the danger into which I was drifting, and I had gone too far to draw back when I realised with a shock the awful position in which I had placed myself.

As you know, I was drafted into the Ministry through an rather unusual channel. It is not often that a diplomat forsakes diplomacy to take part in politics. An extraordinary combination of events, however, contrived to place me in a curious position, with the result that great influence was brought to bear on me to give up the Embassy of which I was in charge, and return to England to take up a minor position in the Cabinet.

Probably, in spite of the influence which was exerted, I should never have consented to do this but for the fact that I knew the minor position I was offered was merely a temporary one. I was given to understand clearly that it was but a stepping-stone to the Premiership. So I decided to accept the office.

Now the country from which I returned was Russia. I was, as you may possibly remember, Ambassador at St. Petersburg.

I was there for many years, and enjoyed an unusually close and intimate friendship with the Czar. That was at once the beginning of my ambitions and troubles. It was, indeed, that friendship which, to a great extent, induced me to transfer my labours from St. Petersburg to London.

I do not know what acquaintance you may have of Russian affairs, nor what knowledge you may have of the Emperor himself. I can only assure you that, in spite of all that may be said against him, his Majesty is absolutely sincere and honest in his desire for universal peace. He suffered untold agonies of mind during the struggle with Japan, and since peace was arranged has made use of every diplomatic means to bring about a general disarmament by the Powers.

In this aim he met, of course, with most violent opposition. Some of the Imperial family went so far as to accuse their kinsman and nominal ruler of being a traitor to his country.

However, in spite of all opposition, he persevered; and, as he believed that England was also sincere in her desire for peace, he cultivated my acquaintance to a marked degree.

Unfortunately, in an evil hour, it suddenly dawned upon me that my name might be handed down to posterity, jointly with that of the Czar's, as the man who paved the way to universal peace.

But my ideas were different from those of the Czar. His Majesty wished to work along the line of least resistance, and was quite prepared to spend years of patient effort in bringing about his dream of the millennium.

For my part, I was, I suppose, an old man in a hurry. I could not afford to wait for years to see the triumph of my schemes. I was getting on in life, and it seemed to me that if I did not hasten I might die without my ambition being realised.

I therefore set to work entirely to remodel the Czar's ideas, and as a result ultimately worked out the most daring plan for compelling Europe to lay down its arms that had ever been conceived.

When that plan was fully perfected I was to take it to my own King and ask for his consent to it. I knew his Majesty was as genuinely desirous for peace as the Czar, and I really foresaw no difficulty in being able to persuade him to sanction the scheme which I had drawn up.

It is quite unnecessary to go into its full details here, but perhaps I had better give you a glimpse of the outline. Briefly, England was to make use of the entente cordiale to compel France, by means of an ultimatum which would expire at the end of twenty-four hours, to consent to stand in with Great Britain and Russia in a demand that Germany's military force should be whittled down to the limits of the Swiss Militia. It was also to be stipulated that Germany's naval programme should always be one-half of the combined programmes of Great Britain, Russia, and France.

Thanks to the treaty with Great Britain made some years ago with the Scandinavian States, the Netherlands, Belgium, Portugal, and Spain and Italy, Germany would have been speedily isolated. She would have awakened one morning to find herself absolutely friendless, except, perhaps, for Austria. It would have been doubtful, too, whether even Austria would have remained faithful to her pushful friend when she saw the whole of Europe allied against the Fatherland.

It was certainly a daring scheme, but one which, I think, must have met with instantaneous success. Every aspect of it had been considered, and even the contingency provided for by the Czar and myself.

Naturally it was impossible to carry the details of so complicated a piece of business in one's head. I was half-afraid to commit them to writing myself, and so the Czar suggested that he should, with his own hand, draw up the lines of the agreement which we proposed to foist on Europe.

I brought a copy of the document, made by the Czar himself, back to this country, and for three years I waited impatiently for an opportunity to present the scheme to his Majesty, and, if possible, persuade him to put it into operation.

Those were three years of terrible anxiety. I carried the papers with me both day and night. A hundred times a day I would clap my hands to my breast-pocket to see if they were safe, and a score of times I would start up in my bed at night feverishly to ascertain if I still had them in my possession.

But, in spite of all my care, I lost them. I kept the papers in a thin morocco-leather case, which bore the Imperial arms of Russia. One day I was looking through them in my room in Downing Street when I was suddenly informed that I was wanted at the telephone. Unfortunately, at that time I had no extension to my room.

I need not particularise as to from whom the telephone message came. Suffice it to say that it was a summons which I could not disregard. I hastily gathered the papers together and, as I thought, thrust them into the breast-pocket of my coat.

Instead of doing so, however, I must have missed the pocket in my haste, and let the case drop to the floor.

I was detained longer than I expected at the telephone, and on going back to my room some quarter of an hour later, I instinctively felt in my coat to see if the papers were there.

To my horror they were gone!

I did not dare to excite my household too much, lest the affair should come to the ears of my colleagues, and they should begin to wonder what secret I was keeping to myself.

Nor, indeed, was it necessary to make many inquiries. I asked if there had been any visitors, and was told that Captain Melun had called, and had waited some five minutes in my room, but that he had left before my return, saying that he was pressed for time just then, but would call later in the day.

From that moment I had not the slightest doubt as to where the documents had gone.

I sent for Melun and taxed him with the theft. He did not deny it.

You may think it rather strange that such a man as he should have been allowed to enter my house, but I must explain that I had found his services exceedingly useful in several matters. He was without scruple of any kind, and it is often, I regret to say, convenient for a minister to have some unscrupulous agent at his disposal.

I ordered Melun to give the papers up, and he laughed in my face. He told me that he had mastered their contents, and quite appreciated what they involved.

Indeed, he at once made the most insolent demands. He told me that I could well afford to pay him a quarter of a million sterling to get the papers back. He knew that my wealth was great, and did not hesitate to blackmail me to the fullest extent.

In the course of long and angry negotiations I was compelled to agree to pay over this sum. Indeed I dared not refuse.

He was not, however, content with this rapacious request. He wanted, he said, to rehabilitate himself properly in society, and to that end he had the colossal impudence to demand Lady Kathleen's hand in marriage.

I tell you frankly, Sir Paul, that I was so furious at this that I leaped out of my chair, and, old man though I am, struck Melun across his face.

It was an action which I deeply repented, for, as compensation, he demanded another fifty thousand pounds, and again impudently insisted upon his marriage with my daughter.

This, however, I steadily declined to consider for a moment. It seemed to me impossible for a man of Melun's description to fail to be contented with three hundred thousand pounds. To my dismay, I found I was mistaken. He repeated over and over again that I should ultimately consent to his marrying Lady Kathleen, and threatened me with exposure and ruin if I still held to my refusal.

Now I would have gladly faced exposure and ruin rather than have sacrificed my daughter to such a despicable hound as this. But, unfortunately, it was not only my ruin which was involved.

Of a certainty it meant the ruin of British diplomacy, if not complete disaster to the British Empire.

Disturbances in Russia alarmed the Czar. I sent Lady Kathleen over to St. Petersburg, and she urged him to make a personal appeal to our King to put the plan which I had prepared into instant action.

At the critical moment the Czar became thoroughly afraid of what the consequences might be, and declined to make any move. Moreover, he wrote me a letter saying that, even at the cost of Kathleen's marriage to Melun, the papers must be recovered and returned to him.

All this, of course, occasioned great delay, and Melun began to press me hard. I made every effort, most of them legitimate, but some, I fear, not quite legal, to get the papers back. I had his rooms searched, and I had the man himself seized and searched in my presence.

I had his friends and himself all searched on the same day and at the same hour. It was all to no purpose. I could not get the faintest clue as to the whereabouts of the papers.

Then Melun became more menacing than ever. He demanded £10,000 down and complete immunity from observation.

And to these requests I had to accede, because he told me frankly that if I were obstinate he would at once open up negotiations with Germany. This, of course, was what I had been dreading.

I knew that if a breath of this business reached the Kaiser's ears it would be the beginning of the end. I knew his Imperial Majesty too well to harbour any hope that he would not strike while Russia and ourselves were still in disagreement as to our course of action.

The situation, indeed, was all the more of a nightmare to me because I had acted without the knowledge or consent of my King or my colleagues, and the whole brunt of the blame would have to be borne by myself.

And what blame it would be! What everlasting shame and disgrace and misery—not only for myself, but for this country!

I am no child in diplomatic matters, and I saw full well that the moment Germany came into possession of the facts, the last great fight among the nations would begin.

That, then, is my story. Four days ago I was given a week's grace by the Czar in which to recover the papers or consent to Melun's conditions. I dare not disobey the Czar's commands, nor is it possible for me any longer to ignore Melun's request. At my earnest prayer the Czar sent a special emissary to me to meet Lady Kathleen at Rouen.

His Majesty knew that in this matter I had been compelled to take my daughter into my confidence. He quite appreciated the necessity for this, and was indeed most kind about the matter, though he remained insistent in his terms.

You may judge how terribly concerned he was when I tell you that the representative he sent was a member of the Imperial family. And even he was not informed of the contents of the papers.

You may realise, too, how desperate my position is, when I say that I have at last accepted your offer of help much as a drowning man clutches at a straw.