Britain's Deadly Peril: Are We Told the Truth?Le Queux, William
History
Britain's Deadly Peril: Are We Told the Truth?
Le Queux, William
Secret service -- Germany; Spies; World War, 1914-1918
What rule or method can be discerned, for example, in a system which
allows news to appear in the papers in Scotland which is suppressed in
the newspapers in England? Why, indeed, should one paper in England be
permitted to print facts, and another, published half a mile away, be
debarred from printing the self-same words?
The public--who, since August 4th last, are no longer school-children
under the Head-Mastership of the Prime-Minister-for-the-Time-Being--are
now wondering what all this curious censorship means, and for what
reason such an unreliable institution--an institution not without its
own scandals, and employing a thousand persons of varying ideas and
warped notions--should have been established. They can quite understand
the urgent necessity of preventing a horde of war correspondents, at
the front, sending home all sorts of details regarding our movements
and intentions, but they cannot understand why a Government offer of
£100 reward, published on placards all over Scotland for information
regarding secret bases of petrol, should be forbidden to be even
mentioned in England.
They cannot understand why the Admiralty should issue a notice warning
the public that German spies, posing as British officers, are visiting
Government factories while at the same time the Under-Secretary for
War declares that all enemy aliens are known, and are constantly
under police surveillance. They cannot understand either why, in
face of the great imports of foodstuffs, and the patriotic movement
on the part of Canada and our Overseas Dominions concerning our wheat
supply, prices should have been allowed to increase so alarmingly, and
unscrupulous merchants should be permitted to exploit the poor as they
have done. They are mystified by the shifty shuttlecock policy which
is being pursued towards the question of enemy aliens, and the marked
disinclination of the authorities to make even the most superficial
inquiry regarding cases of suspected espionage, notwithstanding the
fact that German spies have actually been recognised among us by
refugees from Antwerp and other Belgian cities.
The truth, which cannot be disguised, is that by the Government's
present policy, and the amusing vagaries of its Press Censorship, the
public are daily growing more and more apathetic concerning the war.
While, on the one hand, we see recruiting appeals in all the clever
guises of smart modern advertising, yet on the other, by the action of
the authorities themselves, the man-in-the-street is being soothed into
the belief that all goes well, and that, in consequence, no more men
are needed and nobody need worry further.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account