Germans have been found in possession of hotels and mansions in
strategic positions all over the United Kingdom, and to-day numbers of
alien enemies--thanks to the order which has released them from the
internment-camps--are actually employed at the various great railway
termini in the Metropolis! Fancy such a state of affairs being
permitted by Imperial Germany--a country in which British prisoners of
war are half-starved, as evidenced by a cleverly composed letter before
me from one who is unfortunately a prisoner, and which passed the German
censor, whose knowledge of English was not so extensive as to cause him
to suspect.
When the reader has digested the pages which follow--chapters which give
a very lucid, calm, and first-hand idea of the low-down methods of
German espionage, he will, I venture to think, agree that it is of no
use to cross the barbarian's sword with a peacock's feather. Germany
intends, if she can, to crush and to humiliate us, to devastate our
homes, to outrage and massacre our dear ones, and by every subtle and
dastardly means, to bring upon us a disaster so stupendous as to stagger
humanity. Shall we remain lulled to sleep further by assurances which
are not borne out by facts? Germany's advance guard of spies are
already here, rubbing shoulders with us, many of them smug and
respectable citizens passing among us entirely unsuspected, members of
our churches, honoured, and believed to be Britons. Some are alien
enemies, others are traitors, who have imperilled this country's safety
for the lure of German gold.
In another place I have fully explained how the German Government held
out an alluring bait to myself. If this was done to me, then surely it
has been done to others.
We are Britons, fighting for our King and our Country. Our fathers,
husbands, sons, and brothers, have gone forth to battle for the right
and hurl back the barbaric Teuton-tide which threatens to overwhelm us.
Some, alas! already lie in their graves. Is it therefore not our duty
to those we hold dear to see that spies shall not exist in our midst?
If the Government are so utterly incapable of dealing effectively with
the problem, as they are now proved to be, then why do they not allow
the formation of a Central Board, with drastic powers, to end at once
this national danger, which grows more acute with the dawn of every day?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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