"every enemy alien is known, and is now under constant police surveillance."—mr. tennant, under-secretary for war, in the house of commons, march 3rd.
one of the gravest perils with which the country is still faced is that of the enemy alien.
notwithstanding all that has been written and said upon this most serious question, ministers are still content to pursue a shuttlecock policy, in which there is very little satisfaction for any intelligent patriot.
each time the subject is brought up in the house of commons there is an apparent intention of the government to wilfully throw dust into the eyes of the public, and prevent the whole mystery of the official protection afforded to our enemies being sifted to the bottom. a disgraceful illustration of this was given on march 3rd, when mr. joynson-hicks moved:
"that in the opinion of this house it is desirable that the whole administration of the acts and regulations concerning aliens and suspected persons should be centred in the hands of one minister, who should be responsible to the house."
[pg 97]
the debate which followed was illuminating. sir henry dalziel, who is strongly in favour of a central board to deal with spies among us—a suggestion i made in my recent book "german spies in england," as a satisfactory solution of the problem—said, in the course of a splendid speech, that the government knew that, at the present moment, there was a settled spy-system, and there was no use denying it. as the daily telegraph on the following day pointed out, that there is such a system is almost as natural an assumption as that the enemy possesses an army service organisation or a press censorship. i have already pointed out, in various books i have written, that systematic espionage is, and has been for many years, a most cherished part of german war administration, developed with characteristic thoroughness. the question is whether that department of the enemy's activity has, or has not, been stamped out as regards this country; and it would be idle to pretend that there is any public confidence that it has been stamped out.
there is an absence of vigour and an absence of system about the dealing with this source of danger, and i maintain that the national safety requires the taking of this matter more seriously, and the placing of it upon a satisfactory footing. the government admitted that, on march 3rd, seven hundred male enemy aliens were living in the east coast prohibited area, and we know that arrangements for their control are so futile as to leave, quite unmolested, some individuals whose known connections expose them to the highest degree of suspicion. of one such notorious case, mr. bonar law—who cannot, surely, be accused of spy-mania—declared that he would as soon have allowed a german army to land as allow the person in question to be at large in this[pg 98] country. how the arrangement has worked in another particular case was exposed in some detail by mr. butcher. the lady concerned is closely related to more than one of those in power in germany. her case was reported to the war office. the war office called upon the general officer commanding in the northern district to take action. he requested the police to make inquiries, and the chief constable of the east riding subsequently reported, "strongly recommending" the removal of the lady from the prohibited area. the general accepted this advice, and an order was made for her removal on january 25th. it was never executed; and on february 7th it was withdrawn.
such is one illustration of the utter hopelessness of the present state of affairs. and yet, in face of it, mr. tennant, under-secretary for war, actually rose and made the definite assertion that every enemy alien was known and constantly watched!
could any greater and more glaring official untruth be told?
is every enemy alien known, i ask? let us examine a case in point, one in which i have made personal investigation, and to the truth of which a dozen officers of his majesty's service, and also civilians, are ready to testify.
investigations recently made in certain german quarters in london, notably in the obscure foreign restaurants in the neighbourhood of tottenham court road, where men—many of them recently released from internment-camps—and women meet nightly and toast to the day of britain's destruction, revealed to me a startling fact. here, posing as an italian and a neutral, i learnt facts regarding the movements of german aircraft long before they were known either to our own authorities or to[pg 99] the press. for several weeks this fact, i confess, caused me considerable thought. some secret means of communication must, i realised, exist between the enemy's camp and london, perhaps by wireless, perhaps by the new german-laid cable, the shore-end of which is at bacton, in norfolk, and which, eighteen months ago, in company with the german telegraph-engineers, i assisted to test as it was laid across the north sea to nordeney. in the archives of the intelligence department of the war office will be found my report, together with a copy of the first message transmitted by the new cable from norfolk to germany, a telegram from one of the kaiser's sons who happened to be in scotland at the time, and addressed to the emperor, which read: "hurrah for a strong navy!"—significant indeed in the light of recent events!
i was wondering if, by any secret means, this cable could be in operation when, on the afternoon of february 23rd, an officer of the naval armoured car squadron called upon me and invited me to assist in hunting spies in surrey. the suggestion sounded exciting. signals had been seen for a month or so past, flashed from a certain house high upon the surrey hills. would i assist in locating them, and prosecuting a full inquiry?
within half an hour i was in a car speeding towards the point where mystery brooded, and which we did not reach till after dark. a gentleman living three miles across the valley, whose house commanded full view of the house under suspicion—a large one with extensive grounds—at once placed a room at our disposal, wherein we sat and watched. in the whole of these investigations i was assisted by an officer who was an expert in[pg 100] signalling and wireless, a signaller of the service, two other officers equally expert in reading the morse code, while i myself have qualified both in morse and wireless, and hold the postmaster-general's licence.
on the previous evening an all-night vigil had been kept, and messages had been read, but i only here record my own experiences of this exciting spy-hunt. on reaching our point of vantage i learned that suspicion had first been aroused by a mysterious and intense white light being shown from a window in the country mansion in question, which was situated upon so strategic a point that it could be seen very many miles in the direction of london. and there, sure enough, was the one brilliant light—at all other windows of the house the blinds being drawn—shining like a beacon all over the country. it had shone first at 6.30 p.m. that night, and, as i watched, it showed till 6.48, when it disappeared. after three minutes it was shown till 7.30 exactly, when suddenly it signalled in morse the code-letters "s.m." repeated twice, and then disappeared till 9 o'clock, when again the same signal was made. the light remained full on for ten minutes, and was then suddenly switched off.
this was certainly remarkable. the officers with me—all experts in signalling—were unanimous as to the two letters, and also to their repetition. these signals, i learned, had been seen times without number, but until the smart young officer who had called upon me had noticed them, no action had been taken.
having established that mysterious signalling was really in progress, i set forth upon further investigation. taking my own signalling-appara[pg 101]tus, a very strong electric lamp with accumulators and powerful reflectors, which would show for fifteen miles or more, i got into the car with my companions—who were eager to assist—and, having consulted ordnance-maps and compass, we went to a spot high-up in an exposed position, where i anticipated the answering light from the mansion might be seen.
we found ourselves in a private park, upon a spot which, by day, commands an immense stretch of country, and from which it is said that upon a clear day the sussex coast can be seen. here we erected our signalling-apparatus and waited in patience. the night proved bitterly cold, and as the hours crept slowly by, the sleet began to cut our faces. yet all our eyes were fixed upon that mysterious house which had previously signalled.
for hours we waited in vain until, of a sudden, quite unexpectedly from the direction of london, we saw another intense white light shining from out the darkness. for a full half-hour it remained there, a beacon like the other. then suddenly it began winking, and this was the code-message it sent:
"s.h.i.s. (pause) h. 5. (pause) s.h.i.s.f. (pause with the light full on for two minutes). i.s. i.e. (pause) e.s.t. (light out)."
turning my signal-lamp in its direction, i repeated the first portion of the mysterious message, and then, pretending not to understand, asked for a repetition. at once this was given, and, with my companions, i received it perfectly clearly!
sorely tempted as i was to signal further, i[pg 102] refrained for fear of arousing suspicion, and, actuated by patriotic motives, we agreed at once to prosecute our inquiry further, and then leave it to "the proper authorities" to deal with the matter.
through the whole of that night—an intensely cold one—we remained on watch upon one of the highest points in surrey, a spot which i do not here indicate for obvious reasons—and not until the grey dawn at last appeared did we relinquish our watchfulness.
all next day, assisted by the same young officer who had first noticed the unusual lights, i spent in making confidential inquiry regarding the mysterious house and elicited several interesting facts, one being that the family, who were absent from the house showing the lights, employed a servant who, though undoubtedly german—for, by a ruse, i succeeded in obtaining the address of this person's family in germany—was posing as swiss. that a brisk correspondence had been kept up with persons in germany was proved in rather a curious way, and by long and diligent inquiry many other highly interesting facts were elicited. with my young officer friend and a gentleman who rendered us every assistance, placing his house and his car at our disposal, we crept cautiously up to the house in the early hours one morning, narrowly escaping savage dogs, while one adventure of my own was to break through a boundary fence, only to find myself in somebody's chicken-run!
that night was truly one of adventure. nevertheless, it established many things—one being that in the room whence the signals emanated was a three-branch electrolier with unusually strong bulbs, while behind it, set over the mantelshelf, was a[pg 103] mirror, or glazed picture, to act as a reflector in the direction of london. the signals were, no doubt, made by working the electric-light switch.
the following night saw us out again, for already reports received had established a line of signals from a spot on the kent coast to london and farther north, other watchers being set in order to compare notes with us. again we watched the beacon-light on the mysterious house. we saw those mysterious letters "s.m."—evidently of significance—winked out in morse, and together we watched the answering signals. all the evening the light remained full on until at 1.30 a.m. we once more watched "s.m." being sent, while soon after 2 a.m. the light went out.
in the fourteen exciting days and nights which followed, i motored many hundreds of miles over surrey, sussex, and kent, instituting inquiries and making a number of amazing discoveries, not the least astounding of which was that, only one hour prior to the reception of that message on the first evening of our vigil—"h. 5"—five german aeroplanes had actually set out from the belgian coast towards england! that secret information was being sent from the kent coast to london was now proved, not only at one point, but at several, where i have since waited and watched, and, showing signals in the same code, have been at once answered and repeated. and every night, until the hour of writing, this same signalling from the coast to london is in progress, and has been watched by responsible officers of his majesty's service.
after the first nights of vigilance, i had satisfied myself that messages in code were being sent, so i reported—as a matter of urgency—to the intelligence department of the war office—that[pg 104] department of which mr. mckenna, on march 3rd, declared, "there is no more efficient department of the state." the result was only what the public might expect. though this exposure was vouched for by experts in signalling, men wearing his majesty's uniform, all the notice taken of it has been
war office,
whitehall,
s.w.
27th february 1915.
the director of military operations presents his compliments to mr. w. le queux, and begs to acknowledge, with thanks, the receipt of his letter of the 25th inst. which is receiving attention.
a mere printed acknowledgment—reproduced above—that my report had been received, while to my repeated appeals that proper inquiry be made i have not even received a reply!
but further. while engaged in watching in another part of surrey on the night of march 3rd, certain officers of the armoured car squadron, who were keeping vigil upon the house of mystery, saw[pg 105] some green and white rockets being discharged from the top of the hill. their suspicions aroused, they searched and presently found, not far from the house in question, a powerful motor-car of german make containing three men. the latter when challenged gave no satisfactory account of themselves, therefore the officers held up the car while one of them telephoned to the admiralty for instructions. the reply received was "that they had no right to detain the car!" but, even in face of this official policy of do-nothing, they took off the car's powerful searchlight, which was on a swivel, and sent it to the admiralty for identification.
this plain straightforward statement of what is nightly in progress can be substantiated by dozens of persons, and surely, in face of the observations taken by service men themselves—the names of whom i will readily place at the disposal of the government—it is little short of a public scandal that no attempt has been made to inquire into the matter or to seize the line of spies simultaneously. it really seems plain that to-day the enemy alien may work his evil will anywhere as a spy. on the other hand, it is a most heinous offence for anybody to ride a cycle without a back-lamp!
it will be remembered that in norfolk it has been found, by mr. holcombe ingleby, m.p. for king's lynn, that the zeppelin raid on the east coast was directed by a mysterious motor-car with a searchlight. therefore the apathy of the admiralty in not ordering full inquiry into the case in question will strike the reader as extraordinary.
this is the sort of proceeding that gives force to the contention of those supporting the motion of mr. joynson-hicks in the house of commons, that the whole matter of spies ought to be placed in the[pg 106] hands of a special authority devoted to it alone, and responsible to parliament. as things stand, the country is certainly in agreement with mr. bonar law in believing that the government "have not sufficiently realised the seriousness of this danger, and have not taken every step to make it as small as possible." most people will agree with mr. john s. scrimgeour, who, commenting upon the shuffling of the government, said:
"let the press cease from blaming the strikers. also let 'the men in power' cease from their censuring, for very shame. can i, or any man in the street, believe that we are 'fighting for our lives' while the enemy lives contentedly among us? read the debate, and take as samples mentioned therein—'brother of the governor of liége,' 'german financial houses,' and 'baron von bissing.' don't make scapegoats of these working-men, or even of the non-enlisting ones, while such is the case. neither they, nor any one else in his senses, can believe in the seriousness of this 'life struggle' while the above state of things continues. it is laughable—or deadly."
the intelligence department of the war office—that department so belauded by mr. mckenna—certainly did not display an excess of zeal in the case of signalling in surrey, for, to my two letters begging that inquiry be made as a matter of urgency, i was not even vouchsafed the courtesy of a reply. yet i was not surprised, for in a case at the end of january in which two supposed belgian refugees, after living in one of our biggest seaports and making many inquiries there, being about to escape to antwerp, i warned that same department and urged that they should be questioned before leaving london. i gave every detail, even to the particular[pg 107] boat by which they were leaving for flushing. no notice, however, was taken of my report, and not until three days after they had left for the enemy's camp did i receive the usual printed acknowledgment that my report had been received!"
that night-signalling has long been in progress in the south of england is shown by the following. written by a well-known gentleman, it reached me while engaged in my investigations in surrey. he says:
"the following facts have been brought to my notice, and may be of interest to you. in the first week of october six soldiers were out on patrol duty around folkestone looking for spies—always on night-duty.
"one night they saw morse signalling going on on a hill along the sea outside folkestone. the signalling was in code. they divided into two parties of three, and proceeded to surround the place. on approaching, a shot was heard, and a bullet went through the black oilskin coat of one man (they were all wearing these over their khaki). they went on and discovered two germans with a strong acetylene lamp, one of them having a revolver with six chambers, and one discharged, also ten spare rounds of ammunition.
"they secured them and took them to the police station, but all that happened was that they were shut up in a concentration camp! this story was told me by one of the six who were on duty, and assisted at the capture."
to me, there is profound mystery in the present disinclination of the intelligence department of the war office to institute inquiry. as a voluntary worker in that department under its splendid chief, col. g.w.m. macdonogh—now, alas! transferred[pg 108] elsewhere—my modest reports furnished from many places, at home and abroad, always received immediate attention and a private letter of thanks written in the chief's own hand.
on the outbreak of war, however, red-tape instantly showed itself, and i received a letter informing me that i must, in future, address myself to the director of military operations—the department which is supposed to deal with spies.
i trust that the reader will accept my words when i say that i am not criticising lord kitchener's very able administration. if i felt confident that he, and he alone, was responsible for the surveillance of enemy aliens in our midst, then i would instantly lay down my pen upon the subject. but while the present grave peril continues, and while the government continue in their endeavour to bewilder and mislead us by placing the onus first upon the police, then, in turn, upon the home office—which, it must be remembered, made an official statement early in the war and assured us that there were no spies—then upon the war office, then upon the admiralty war staff, while they, in turn, shift the responsibility on to the shoulders of the local police-constable in uniform, then i will continue to raise my voice in protest, and urge upon the public to claim their right to know the truth.
this enemy alien question is one of britain's deadliest perils, and yet, by reason of some mysterious influence in high quarters, ministers are straining every muscle to still delude and mislead the public. these very men who are audacious enough to tell us that there are no german spies in great britain are the same who, by that secret report of the kaiser's speech and his intention[pg 109] to make war upon us which i furnished to the british secret service in 1908,[1] knew the truth, yet nevertheless adopted a policy that was deliberately intended to close the eyes of the british public and lull it to sleep, so that, in august, our beloved nation nearly met with complete disaster.
but the british public to-day are no longer children, nor are they in the mood to be trifled with and treated as such. the speeches made by mr. mckenna in the house of commons on march 3rd have revealed to us that the policy towards aliens is one of untruth and sham. the debate has aroused an uneasiness in the country which will only be restored with the greatest difficulty. to be deliberately told that the intelligence department of the war office is cognisant of every enemy alien—in face of what i have just related—is to ask the public to believe a fiction. and, surely, fiction is not what we want to-day. we want hard fact—substantiated fact. we are not playing at war—as so many people seem to think because of the splendid patriotism of the sons of britain—but we are fighting with all our force in defence of our homes and our loved ones, who, if weak-kneed counsels prevail, will most assuredly be butchered to make the kaiser a german holiday.
that public opinion is highly angered in consequence of the refusal of the government to admit the danger of spies, and face the problem in a proper spirit of sturdy patriotism, is shown by the great mass of correspondence which has reached me in consequence of my exposures in "german spies in england." the letters i have received from all classes, ranging from peers to working-men, testify[pg 110] to an astounding state of affairs, and if the reader could but see some of this flood of correspondence which has overwhelmed me, he would realise the widespread fear of the peril of enemy aliens, and the public distrust of the apathy of the government towards it.
surely this is not surprising, even if judged only by my own personal experiences.
how the public are deluded!
the "times," february 17th
the secretary of the admiralty makes the following announcement:
information has been received that two persons, posing as an officer and sergeant, and dressed in khaki, are going about the country attempting to visit military works, etc.
they were last seen in the midlands on the 6th instant, when they effected an entry into the works of a firm who are doing engineer's work for the admiralty. they made certain inquiries as to the presence or otherwise of anti-aircraft guns, which makes it probable that they are foreign agents in disguise.
all contractors engaged on work for h.m. navy are hereby notified with a view to the apprehension of these individuals, and are advised that no persons should be admitted to their works unless notice has been received beforehand of their coming.
the "times," march 4th
mr. tennant, under-secretary for war, during the debate in the house of commons upon the question of enemy aliens, raised by mr. joynson-hicks, said he could give the house the assurance that every single enemy alien was known, and was at the present moment under constant police surveillance. he wished to inform the house and the country that they had at the war office a branch which included the censorship and other services all directed to the one end of safeguarding the country from the operations of undesirable persons. it would not be right to speak publicly of the activities of that branch, but it was doing most admirable service, and he repudiated with all earnestness the suggestion that the department did not take this matter of espionage with the utmost seriousness.
let us further examine the facts. mr. mckenna, in a speech made in the house of commons on november 26th on the subject, said: "the moment the war office has decided upon the policy, the home office places at the disposal of the war office the whole of its machinery." on march 3rd the home secretary repeated that statement, and declared, in a retort made to mr. joynson-hicks, that he was not shirking responsibility, as he had never had[pg 111] any! now, if this be true, why did mr. mckenna make the communiqué to the press soon after the outbreak of war, assuring us that there were no spies in england, and that all the enemy aliens were such dear good people? i commented upon it in the daily telegraph on the following day, and over my own name apologised to the public for my past offence of daring to mention that such gentry had ever existed among us. if lord kitchener were actually responsible, then one may ask why had the home secretary felt himself called upon to tell the public that pretty fairy-tale?
now with regard to the danger of illicit wireless. early in january 1914—seven months before the outbreak of war—being interested in wireless myself, and president of a wireless association, my suspicions were aroused regarding certain persons, some of them connected with an amateur club in the neighbourhood of hatton garden. having thoroughly investigated the matter, and also having been able to inspect some of the apparatus used by these persons, i made, on february 17th, 1914, a report upon the whole matter to the director of military intelligence, pointing out the ease with which undesirable persons might use wireless. the director was absent on leave, and no action was taken in the matter.
a month later i went to the wireless department of the general post office, who had granted me my own licence, and was received there with every courtesy and thanked for my report, which was regarded with such seriousness that it was forwarded at once to the admiralty, who have wireless under their control. in due course the admiralty gave it over to the police to make inquiries, and the whole matter was, i suppose—as is usual in such cases—[pg 112]dealt with and reported upon by a constable in uniform.
here let me record something further.
in february last i called at new scotland yard in order to endeavour to get the police to make inquiry into two highly suspicious cases, one of a person at winchester, and the other concerning signal-lights seen north-east of london in the metropolitan district. i had interviews with certain officials of the special department, and also with one of the assistant commissioners, and after much prevarication i gathered—not without surprise—that no action could be taken without the consent of the home office! how this latter fact can be in accordance with the home secretary's statement in the house of commons i confess i fail to see.
but i warn the government that the alien peril—now that so many civil persons have been released from the internment camps—is a serious and growing one. the responsibility should, surely, not be placed upon, or implied to rest upon, lord kitchener, who is so nobly performing a gigantic task. if the public believed that he was really responsible, then they, and myself, would at once maintain silence. the british public believes in lord kitchener, and, as one man, will follow him to the end. but it certainly will not believe or tolerate this see-saw policy of false assurances and delusion, and the attempt to stifle criticism—notably the case of the globe—of which the home office have been guilty. there is a rising feeling of wrath, as well as a belief that the peril from within with which the country is faced—the peril of the thousands of enemy aliens in our midst—most of whom are not under control—together with the whole army of spies ready and daily awaiting, in impatience, the signal to strike[pg 113] simultaneously—is wilfully disregarded. even the police themselves—no finer body of men than whom exists anywhere in the world—openly express disgust at the appalling neglect of the mysterious so-called "authorities" to deal with the question with a firm and strong hand.
naturally, the reader asks why is not inquiry made into cases of real suspicion reported by responsible members of the community. i have before me letters among others from peers, clergymen, solicitors, justices of the peace, members of city councils, a well-known shipowner, a government contractor, members of parliament, baronets, etc., all giving me cases of grave suspicion of spies, and all deploring that no inquiry is made, application to the police being fruitless, and asking my advice as to what quarter they should report them.
all these reports, and many more, i will willingly place at the service of a proper authority, appointed with powers to effectively deal with the matter. at present, however, after my own experience as an illustration of the sheer hopelessness of the situation, the reader will not wonder that i am unable to give advice.
could germany's unscrupulous methods go farther than the scandal exposed in america, in the late days of february, of how captain boy-ed, naval attaché of the german embassy at washington, and the kaiser's spy-master in the united states, endeavoured to induce the man stegler to cross to england and spy on behalf of germany? in this, germany is unmasked. captain boy-ed was looked upon as one of the ablest german naval officers. he is tall and broad-shouldered, speaks english fluently, and in order to americanise his appearance has shaved off his "prince henry"[pg 114] whiskers which german naval officers traditionally affect. when he took up his duties at washington he was a man of about forty-five, and ranked in the german navy as lieutenant-commander. but his career of usefulness as naval attaché, with an office in the shipping quarters of new york, has been irretrievably impaired by the charges of stegler, whose wife produced many letters in proof of the allegation that the attaché was the mainspring of a conspiracy to secure english-speaking spies for service to be rendered by german submarines and other german warships on the british side of the atlantic.
the plot, exposed in every paper in the united states, was a low and cunning one, and quite in keeping with the methods of the men of "kultur." mrs. stegler, a courageous little woman from georgia, saw how her husband—an export clerk in new york—was being drawn into the german net as a spy, and she stimulated her husband to give the whole game away. to the united states police, stegler, at his wife's suggestion, was perfectly frank and open. he exposed the whole dastardly plot. he stated that captain boy-ed engineered the spy-plot that cost lody his life, and declared that in his dealings with the attaché the matter of going to england as a spy progressed to a point where the money that was to be paid to his wife for her support while he was in england was discussed. captain boy-ed, stegler went on to say, agreed to pay mrs. stegler ￡30 a month while he was in england, and furthermore agreed that if the british discovered his mission and he met the fate of lody, mrs. stegler was to receive ￡30 a month from the german government as long as she lived!
[pg 115]
stegler said he told his wife of the agreement to pay to her the amount named, and that she asked him what guarantee he could give that the money would be paid as promised. at that time mrs. stegler did not know the perilous nature of the mission that her husband had consented to undertake. when stegler reported fully to his american wife, and she got from him the entire story of his proposed trip to england, she, like a brave woman, determined to foil the conspiracy. captain boy-ed was not convincing regarding the payment to her for the services of her husband as a spy by the german government for life, and she told her husband that the german government would probably treat captain boy-ed's promise to pay as a "mere scrap of paper." having been urged to study the recent history of belgium, stegler confessed that he had his doubts. finally he resolved to reveal the existence of a plot to supply german spies from new york.
could any facts be more illuminating than these? surely no man in great britain, after reading this, can further doubt the existence of german-american spies among us.
there is not, i think, a single reader of these pages who will not agree with the words of that very able and well-informed writer who veils his identity in the referee under the nom-de-plume of "vanoc." on march 14th he wrote:
"this is no question of party. i am not going to break the party truce. in the interests of the british empire, however, i ask that a list of all the men of german stock or of hebrew-german stock who have received distinctions, honours, titles, appointments, contracts, or sinecures, both inside or outside the house of commons, house of lords, and privy coun[pg 116]cil, shall be prepared, printed, and circulated. also a list of frenchmen, russians, and colonials so honoured. it is also necessary for a clear understanding of the spy-question that the public should know whether it is a fact that favoured german individuals have contributed large sums to political party funds on both sides, and whether the tenderness that is shown teutons or hebrew-teutons decorated or rewarded with contracts, favours, or distinctions is due to the obvious fact that if dangerous spies were not allowed their freedom party government would be exposed, discredited, and abolished."
this is surely a demand which will be heartily supported by every one who has the welfare of his country at heart. too long have we been misled by the bogus patriotism of supposed "naturalised" germans, who, in so many cases, have purchased honours with money filched from the poor. "vanoc" in his indictment goes on to say:
"the facts are incredible. i know of one case of a german actually employed on secret service at the war office. this german is the son of the agent of a vast german enterprise engaged in making munitions and guns for the destruction of the sons, brothers, and lovers of the very englishwomen who are now engaged most wisely and energetically in waking the country to a sense of the spy-peril that lurks in our midst. the british public does not understand a decimal point of a tithe of the significance of the spy-peril. nonsense is talked about spies. energy is concentrated on the little spies, who don't count. much german money is wasted on unintelligent spies. the british officers to whom is entrusted the duty of spy-taking, if they are outside the political influence which is poisonous to our national life, are probably the best in the world. the big spies are still potent in control of our national life."
[pg 117]
are we not, indeed, coddling the hun?
even the pampering of german officers at donington hall pales into insignificance when we recollect that, upon dr. macnamara's admission, ￡86,000 a month, or ￡1,000,000 per year, is being paid for the hire of ships in which to intern german prisoners, and this is at a time when the scarcity of shipping is sending up the cost of every necessity! the hague convention, of course, forbids the use of gaols for prisoners of war, yet have we not many nice comfortable workhouses, industrial schools, and such-like institutions which could be utilised? we all know how vilely the germans are treating our officers and men who are their prisoners, even depriving them of sufficient rations, and forbidding tobacco, fruit, or tinned vegetables. with this in view, the country are asking, and not without reason, why we should treat those in our hands as welcome guests. certainly our attitude has produced disgust in the dominions.
how germany must be laughing at us! how the enemy aliens in certain quarters of london are jeering at us, openly, and toasting to the day of our downfall, i have already described. how the spies among us—unknown in spite of mr. tennant's amazing assertion—must be laughing in their sleeves and chuckling over the panic and disaster for which they are waiting from day to day in the hope of achieving. the signal—the appearance of zeppelins over london—has not yet been given. whether it will ever be given we know not. all we know is that an unscrupulous enemy, whose influence is widespread over our land, working insidiously and in secret, has prepared for us a blow from within our gates which, when it comes, will stagger even mr. mckenna himself.
[pg 118]
with the example of how spies, in a hundred guises, have been found in belgium, in france, in russia, in egypt, and even in gallant little serbia, can any sane man believe that there are none to-day in great britain? no. the public know it, and the government know it, but the latter are endeavouring to hoodwink those who demand action in the house of commons, just as they endeavour to mystify the members of the public who present reports of suspicious cases.
the question is: are we here told the truth?
i leave it to the reader of the foregoing pages to form his own conclusions, and to say whether he is satisfied to be further deluded and mystified without raising his voice in protest for the truth to be told, and the spy-peril to be dealt with by those fully capable of doing so, instead of adopting methods which are daily playing into germany's hands and preparing us upon the altar of our own destruction.
i have here written the truth, and i leave it to the british public themselves to judge me, and to judge those who, failing in their duty at this grave crisis of our national history, are courting a disaster worse than that which overtook poor stricken belgium.
