they took, and which they subsequently placed at my disposal, is reliable.[83] The Proofs of Policy. The question as to how far these outrages are attributable to policy and superior orders becomes imperative. It was at first difficult to answer. For a long time I did not find, nor did I expect to find, any documentary orders to that effect. Such orders, if given at all, were much more likely to be verbal, for it is extremely improbable that the German authorities would be so unwise as to commit them to writing. But the outrages upon combatants were so numerous and so collective in character that I began to suspect policy at a very early stage in my investigations. My suspicions were heightened by the significant fact that exhaustive inquiries which I made among Indian native officers and men in the hospital ships in port at Boulogne, and at the base hospitals, seemed to indicate that experiences of outrage were as rare among the Indian troops as they were common among the British. The explanation was fairly obvious, inasmuch as many of these Indian witnesses who had fallen into German hands testified to me that the German officers[84] seized the occasion to assure them that Germany was animated by the most friendly feelings towards them, and more than once dismissed them with an injunction not to fight against German troops and to bring over their comrades to the German side. For example, a sepoy in the 9th Bhopals testified to me as follows: “I and three others were found wounded by the Germans. They bound up our wounds and invited us to join them, offering us money and land. I answered, ‘I, who have eaten the King’s salt, cannot do this thing and thus bring sorrow and shame upon my people.’ The Germans took our chupattis, and offered us of their bread in return. I said, ‘I am a Brahmin and cannot touch it.’ They then left us, saying that if we were captured again they would kill us.” There was other evidence to the same effect. Eventually I obtained proofs confirming my suspicions, and I will now proceed to set them out. On May 3rd I visited the Ministry of War in Paris at the invitation of the French military authorities, and was received by M. le Capitaine René Petit, Chef de Service du Contentieux, who conducted me to the department where the diaries of German prisoners were kept. I made a brief preliminary examination of them, and discovered the following passage (which I had photographed) in the diary of a German N.C.O., Göttsche, of the 85th Infantry Regiment (the IXth Corps), fourth company detached for service, under date “Okt. 6, 1914, bei Antwerpen”: “Der Herr Hauptmann rief uns um sich und sagte: ‘In dem Fort, das zu nehmen ist, sind aller Wahrscheinlichkeit nach Engländer. Ich wünsche aber keinen gefangenen Engländer bei der Komp. zu sehen.’ Ein allgemeiner Bravo der Zustimmung war die Antwort.”