“You have, of course, heard of the rebellion that has broken out in the southern provinces of Brazil, but I doubt whether you have any accurate information as to its real strength. The Government naturally minimizes it. But it is really very serious.
“Briefly, it is organized and maintained chiefly by the 1,000,000 German immigrants, who form two-thirds of the population of the three southern provinces. With these are a few excitable Brazilians of the class that is always ‘agin the government’, partly because they hope to gain something for themselves by success and partly because they are naturally prone to fly off the handle.
“The revolution has two prominent leaders; the Count of Ouro Preto, and his son. In Berlin we somehow got an idea that the old man was dead, but he isn’t. He is very much alive! It is his wife, the daughter of the duke of Hochstein, through whom your friends claim the duchy, who is dead.
“The old count is all sorts of a man. Like Castro of Venezuela he was a cattle-thief in early days—or so his enemies say—and graduated, through a period of banditism, to political prominence and enormous wealth. He has organized the rebellion and has it working like clockwork.
“You want to know, of course, whether this rebellion has any connection with Germany and with the request of Ouro Preto to the Kaiser. I think it has! So far as I can find out, there was no rumor of rebellion among the Germans here till young Ouro Preto got back two months ago; there was some discontent, of course, but not enough to account for an outbreak. This fact, however, by itself amounts to little. Nor is the prominence of the Ouro Pretos in the movement particularly significant, although of course, it is cumulative. What is more important, however, is that half a dozen German officers, whose names I will add at the end of this letter, are here training and leading the rebels. You might find out whether they are still carried on the rolls of the German army, and if not, why not?
“Another significant fact is that the rebels are being supplied with munitions of war from Germany. At least three steamers recently arrived from Hamburg loaded with all sorts of war materials. I know this to be a fact. You know how strict the Germans are when they want to be and how impossible it would be for three vessels to get away from German ports on filibustering expeditions without the connivance of the authorities. It would be interesting if you should be able to trace those arms and should find out that they came from government stores, wouldn’t it?
“Taken separately, you see these things prove nothing; taken together, they indicate that something is up. Just what it is, I don’t know. Do you?
“Being on the inside, so to speak, you may know why the Kaiser might want to cause trouble in Brazil. I confess I can’t see his object. And I can’t see what difference it makes to the United States—except as a basis for a newspaper story, which, by the way, I have not written. There’s self sacrifice for you.
“(N. B. If things get a little more exciting, I’ll have to use it, so watch out.)
“By the way, the countess seems not to be in Brazil and I can’t find out where she is. She didn’t come back with her brother.”