War by Revolution. Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I

THEGERMANTHREATONTHEPERIPHERY 125

fromthefailureoftheGhadritestocontactfortraininginrevolution-
aryactivitiesaGermanexpeditioninYunnaninsouthernChina,and
fromtheinabilityoftheGermanstoshipweaponsto Siam.
TheSiamesegovernment'sdependenceonBritishIndiaforinfor-
mationsoonenabledBritainto uncovertheplot.DuringJulyand
August,attheurgingofBritain'sministerin Bangkok,Herbert
Dering,theSiamesegovernmentarrestedfifty-sixGhadrites,includ-
ingtheGerman-speakingJodhSingh."BecauseofintenseBritish
pressure,SiamandtheDutchEastIndiesalsobannedtheimporta-
tionofseditiousIndianliteratureintoeachcountry,althoughthe
prohibitionin theIndiesdidnotincludeGermanpropaganda.In
NovembertheBritisharrestedtheJavaneserevolutionaryDekkeras
hetraveledfromEuropetoSiamfortheBerlinIndiancommittee.
HeintendedoncetheretopublishGermanwar newsandIndianrevo-
lutionarymaterialsforsmugglingviaBurmaintoIndia."
StillanothercostlyandunrealisticGermanadventure,begunin
theUnitedStates,alsoendedindisaster.Duringthespring,theGer-
manconsulateinSanFrancisco,withauthorizationandfundsfrom
theGermannavy,purchasedasteamship,theMaverick)totransport
to AsiathearmsacquiredbyPapeninthefallof1914.TheGermans
acceptedtheclaimsofRamChandra,whohadpurposelymisledPapen
andotherReichofficialsto believethathundredsofthousandsof
revolutionarieswaitedinthePunjabandatKarachito receivethe
arms.AGermanplancalledforloadingtheweaponsontoaschoo-
ner,theAnnieLarsen)ownedby aGerman-Americanshippingagent,
whichwouldrendezvouswithandtransferthearmstotheMaverick
offthecoastofMexico. FromtheretheMaverickwouldcarrythe
cargotoBangkokundertheAmericanflag.
Theschememisfired,however,whenbothBritishandAmerican
authoritieslearnedofitandstoppedandsearchedtheMaverickbe-
foreitcouldreachMexicanwaters.TheAnnieLarsenfinallydocked
nearSeattle,Washington,whereAmericancustomsofficerspromptly
confiscatedtheshipanditscargo,whichhadbeenfalselydeclared
for Mexico.Theincidentcausedanunpleasantexchangebetweenthe
U.S.StateDepartmentandBernstorff,anditcontributedtostrained
relationsbetweenGermanyandAmerica."