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

216 WARBYREVOLUTION

committeemembersastheyleftGermanyforSwitzerland,Turkey,
andelsewhere.Furthermore,thecommittee'sunendingdemandsfor
moneyplagueditsrelationshipwiththeGermans.A keymemberof
thecommittee,Chattopadhyaya,spentlargeamountsofGerman
moneytoattendtheinternationalsocialistconferenceinStockholm.
Whilethere,heopenedabranchofficeoftheBerlinIndiancommit-
tee.ChattopadhyayahopedtoconvincetheRussianrevolutionaries
whohadorganizedtheconferenceandthesocialistpressoftheim-
portanceoftheIndiaquestioninpostwarpeacenegotiations."
TheBerlincommitteealsoremainedactive intheUnitedStates,
butnotforlong.InJanuary 1917 it receivedwordfromC.K.Chak-
ravarty,theGerman-appointedleaderoftheIndianrevolutionary
movementinAmerica,thatJodhSingh,anagentofthecommittee
arrestedinSiam,hadturnedinformerattheLahoretrialandhad
helpedcondemnnumerousrevolutionariestodeathordeportation.
"Fortunately,"Chakravartydeclared,"theinformerdidnotknowany
ofusandourplans.">Chakravarty'sluck,however,soonchanged.In
February,mainlyinresponsetoGermany'sunrestrictedsubmarine
policy,theUnitedStatesbrokeoffrelationswithGermany,subse-
quentlyenteringthewarontheAllied side.Washingtonnowagreed
tocooperatefullywithBritainagainsttheIndianrevolutionariesin
theUnitedStates.AtthebeginningofMarch,NewYorkpoliceraided
Chakravarty'soffice inthecity.Confrontedwithpapersseizedbythe
police,heconfessedhis role.Thisdiscovery,alongwiththeWolfvon
IgelpapersalreadyheldbytheAmericans,soonled to a waveoffur-
therarrestsofbothIndianandGermanagentsintheUnitedStates."
On 20 NovemberaspectacularandlengthytrialbeganinSanFran-
cisco forthirty-fivepersonsofvariousnationalities,includingnine
GermansandseventeenIndians.TheAmericangovernmentcharged
themwithviolatingtheneutralityoftheUnitedStatesbyusing
Americanterritoryas abaseforGerman-assistedplotstopromotea
rebellionagainstBritishruleinIndia.>Thetrialdeliveredthedeath
blowtotheIndo-GermanmovementinAmerica.
Inaddition,littleofvalueresultedfromeithertheGermanor In-
diancampaignto spyonandrecruitIndiannationalistslivingin
Switzerland.Forexample,atthebeginningof 1917 aprominentIn-
dianprincewhohadlived inLondon,ThakurShriJessrasinghi,be-