Though as a matter of fact I have little doubt that, however well we had behaved, the General would have found some excuse for inflicting reprisals. For he was quite capable of inventing regulations off his own bat. He was a sort of self-elected dictator, and drew up his own code and Army Act. His most scandalous infliction was an order that the covers should be removed from all books before being issued to the camp. The old excuse was brought forward; the French used to hide maps and poison between the cardboard and the cloth. For this order the General had apparently no authority whatsoever, and it was particularly unjust, because we had been precisely told at Karlsruhe that all books must come direct from a publisher, so as to prevent any danger of their being tampered with. The result was that we had all sent home for new copies of books of which we already had soiled duplicates, and then when the books arrived, we found that they had to be practically cut to pieces. They told us that the books could be kept for us if we liked, but naturally we did want to read them, now that they had come, and we had no other alternative but to authorise their execution; and surely for the true book-lover there can be no fate more awful than to have to stand in silence and watch book after book being barbarously mutilated. Occasionally we would try and save a volume. The Bible was the centre of much controversy. There was no reason why it should be regarded as any more innocent than a Swinburne as a possible receptacle for propaganda, but the censor did certainly hesitate over it for a moment. But eventually he did not relent. “No, I’m afraid it must go,” he said; “after all that God has put up with during the last four years, He ought to be able to survive this.” It was the one flash of wit he showed, but it did little to save our covers. To all intents and purposes the books were ruined. The leaves began to turn up at the edges. After a book had been read three times, the glue at the back had cracked, and the pages gradually loosened. It was a sorry business; at least two hundred pounds’ worth of books must have been cut up within three months, and there was absolutely no authority for the order. This we discovered later on, when we managed to lodge a complaint before the Central Command at Frankfort. They told us there that they had no objection at all to the issue of books with covers, and the restriction was instantly removed; but in the meantime no small part of a library had been destroyed.