SENSATIONAL PLOT STORY.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18409, 16 June 1925, Page 6

SENSATIONAL PLOT STORY.

"RETURN OF THE KINGS." LUDENDORFF'S ALLEGED j STATEMENT. . j (raoit ora ows cobksmosdzxt.) LONDON. April 24. A strange book'entitled "The Return, of the Kings" lias just been published which purports to reveal a sensational plot for the restoration of monarchies in several countries of Central Europe. The writer calls himself a political agent and hides his identity under the pseudonym "X 7." The publishers make this announcement: "Although the work is anonymous, the publishers are in a position fo state that the writer is one whose name appears in. tha Almanach' do Gotha." The book alleges • and attempts by personal experience to prcvu an amazing conspiracy. The restoration* of monarchies is to be effected by encouraging and furthering Bolshevist plots outside Kussia with the idea of scaring European countries into joining Germany in a reactionary movement ost'eui siblv to thwart the "Red Peril." i •'X'i*.'' whilst living in retirement ; amidst the Alps, was, he says, approach--1 ed by the German Secret Service and. asked to resume his old activities'and i place himself at the disposal •of the. j conspiracy. . •V . i "The four principal pawns'in our ' game," he was told, were ex-German Crown Princess' (Princess Cecile), Prin- ' cess Antoinette of Luxembourg (wife of ! ex-Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria); ! Prince Sixtus of Bourbon Parma ; (brother of ex-Empress Zita), ■ and i Monsieur Poincare. .He was to win I these' personalities for the intrigue. Prince Parma was their nominee for the throne of Poland. They desired no revival of the German Empire, but a. return of the old German Confederation, ; with independent monarchies. Then" enemies, they told the author, were the ex-Kaiser and General Ludendorif, because they are plotting a Hoh'e'nzollerri restoration on the basis of the old ; Empire. "X 7" quotes textnally. his ' conversations with some of these and i with many other European personalities. "Another War Coming." An alleged conversation with Luden- ! dorff is : quoted. The General is reported to have said: ' 'lt is strange to.me, tho rapidity with which a nation can forget ! tha wrongs dono' to it. How many | pcoplo are there in Germany to-day who ; still dream of revenge, still think'of the, dav when we will be able to pay 'back alf the injury done to us? And we shall pav it all back, belicvo me, pay.it backwith interest'and before very long.'?■ "Does your Excellency then mean that another European war is drawing near" . '.. •■•'■*» "That is precisely what I mean. Another war: is coming, and it • will be worse than the one, just ended. - They say it' was 'I who 'lost; my nerve andwho urged the conclusion l of an' armistice. I did-not. lose my .nerve, but T saw.'revolution at .work.'.We let' Bolshevism loose in Kussia, and the; Allies' in their turn let it loose upon us.'*. . , I did insist on an armistice being,;, con-' eluded)' no niatter. r under-, what conditions, and in doing lso I knew I was acting'f or.. 'the good, of my country. No matter", what happens"npw, ! ;the nucleus of ';6uf■'old''Prussian- army is' intact, and the danger of its succumbing and being destroyed by Bolshevism is past. ,;Whatr; ev|r I-'.'.have-; clone;.?!'glory; in -it,, because ff''ever'we get that revenge for -which, every .true German is yearning, it will be clue to the courage, not that I displayed when I telegraphed to the Government that an armistice must be signed." An Ambitious Kaiscrin. "And wliat of the Kaiser in all . this?" "The Kaiser wants, as I do, to see. Germany prosper- and take one day its revenge 'on her enemies. But. he does not wish to be restored to his former position; at least, ho would not return were it not for his young wife, the Kaiserin Ifcrmionc." , "Oh! T3 she the ambitious one in this case?" "Yes, and- she has been, wonderfully useful to us. Without her we could , hardly havocarried on our propaganda as successfully as we have done. She is always there when wanted. She can leave Doom; it is, therefore, easy for her to travel'about and obtain any information, wo may need. She would lilce.to.be hailed, as Empress in Berlin, and, who knows?—sho may--be, oneday." Ex-Crown Princess. The ex-Crown Princess refused to lend herself to any intrigue, and, indeed, startled "XT'"' by asking him: '' What do you make of the Bolsheviks and tho help our-Secret Service is. extending them?" and by remarking later, with reference to the possibility of a Tiohenzollerh reigning again, in Prussia: "But all this can only be the work of time. It will never be hastened by the senseless schemes'of the men at the head'of the.-Secret Service —an institution that ought to have been swept away, because it is largely the cause of Europe's present misery. . . . "We must not only profess to abstain from politics, we must • actually do it. That is what I am continually impressing upon the Crown Prince and his brothers. But we arc handicapped by the Kaiser and his intrigues. I tell this to you beeausc I wish you to understand, the. position and to realise that to-day in Prussia we stand .between the • intrigues of the Kaiser, inspired by Ludendorff and men like him, and the intrigues/far more-important and dan-

gerous; of • the ■ German Secret Service that "has' learned: -nothing from the war." The" Zinoviev Letter. In Tienna "X 7" claims to have . solved the mystery of the Zinoviev letter. "Well" (says his alas! anonymous —informant), "this is its history.' The letter Avas composed by the Anti-Bol-shevik organisation in Moscow, which is supported by the German Secret Service, and sent to Riga. Here a Bolshevik..who knew the Euglisli 1361shevik agent, entrusted with the mission of gathering news from Russia, showed it to the agent, who, after taking a copy of it, sent it to his correspondents in London. There it was seized, opened, photographed, and forwarded to its destination, Hie headquarters of the Bolsheviks in England " Returning to Berlin, "X 7" went to the headquarters, of the Secret Service, which, he says, are still i;i the same building as during the war. lie reported the Zinoviev letter discovery to his chief, to whom he refers as '' Major von ; Keller.'' "The triek wan well engineered, you must admit," was the major's comment. A writer in the "Daily Chronicle" says that the outcome is a book that inevitably challenges confirmation or contradiction from some of the- personalities, whose statements are quoted. Mingled with these interviews and statements are passages that will make Mr William Le Queux and other novelists whosc i "raw. material" are international plots, ennnter-pioti, and spie?, look to their laurels. • j