“I must add that Bauer’s (that is Ludendorff’s) suggestion was that I should not see the Kaiser by myself, but together with Stinnes, Duisburg, and Krupp v. Bohlen.
“I replied to Stinnes that I considered it very inadvisable for such a deputation to visit the Kaiser, who would never tolerate that four gentlemen—two of whom were perfect strangers to him—should speak to him about such matters. It would be better that Herr v. Bohlen, or, if Ludendorff attached special value to it, I myself should call on the Kaiser in private, and that either Herr v. Bohlen or I should then endeavour to induce the Kaiser to see the other three gentlemen as well.
“Stinnes was greatly depressed and took as grave a view of the situation as I did myself.”
Ballin’s notes on the Berlin meeting are confined to a few jottings, from which it appears that not Lieutenant-Colonel Bauer but Major v. Harbou in his stead took part in it, and that the question of selecting a suitable candidate for the Chancellorship proved impossible of a satisfactory solution. As a last resort, if everything else should fail, Ballin thought of proposing Stinnes himself, because in his opinion the situation demanded a man of dictatorial character and with the authority of a dictator.
Concerning his interview with the Kaiser, Ballin wrote down the following notes:
“I arrived at Wilhelmshöhe on the morning of September 5th, and I was asked to ‘report’ to the Kaiser at 12.45 p.m. This expression was chosen because the new head of the Kaiser’s Civil Cabinet, Herr v. Berg, evidently wished to invest my visit with an official character which would enable him to be in attendance. After a while, however, the Kaiser became impatient and did not wish to wait till the hour appointed for the interview. So I was requested by telephone to hold myself in readiness by 11 o’clock.
“I went to the Castle at that hour and waited in the room of the aide-de-camp until the Kaiser came and asked me to go for a walk with him. However, Herr v. Berg was also there and accompanied us. Consequently the conversation lost much of the directness which would have been highly desirable in the Kaiser’s own interest, as well as in that of the country.
“I found the Kaiser very misinformed, as usual, and full of that apparent buoyancy of spirit which he likes to display in the presence of third persons. The facts have been twisted to such an extent that even the serious failure of our offensive—which, at first, had depressed him very much—has been described to him as a success. It is now intended to retire to the old Hindenburg line, so that the only result of the offensive has been the loss of several hundreds of thousands of valuable lives. All this, as I have said, is dished up to the poor Kaiser in such a fashion that he remains perfectly blind to the catastrophic effect of it.
“He now puts his whole trust in Herr v. Hintze, whom he evidently looks upon as a great light.
“I told the Kaiser of my grave misgivings and made him clearly understand that I did not think there would be much use in entering into peace negotiations with Great Britain. I urged that no time should be lost in immediately approaching Wilson, who was an idealist and who had no territorial aspirations in Europe. If, however, the war should continue much longer Wilson would most probably become subject to the influences of a war party, and then we could no longer hope that he would still insist upon a settlement along the lines of his idealist programme.