jected, and
every endeavour is being made already to rectify any mistakes
that may have occurred, both in the arrest of persons who should
properly be exempt, and in the regime, which, through its
hurried organisation, could not fail to contain a certain number
of defects at the outset....

Into the case for and against general internment I do not propose to
enter; it has nothing to do with the main purpose of this book. It does,
however, concern that purpose to point out first that the general
internment of resident enemy nationals (whatever its justification in
any particular case) is contrary to modern usage, and second that the
order for general internment was given first not in Germany, but in
Britain. The popular view on this subject is erroneous. The German order
was issued as a "reprisal,"[15] but, once issued, it was carried out
with dispatch, a dispatch which was, of course, easier because of the
comparatively small number of British subjects in Germany.

It will, I think, be useful to quote some further letters. The first
document is an extract from a telegram received, _via_ Copenhagen, by
the U.S. Embassy in London on November 7, 1914. The telegram is from the
Ambassador (Mr. Gerard) at Berlin, and conveys the representations of
Mr. Chandler Anderson, of the American Embassy in London, who was at
the moment in Berlin. Anderson says:

Tell Foreign Office that there is no compulsory military service
required by German law for men over 45, and any men over that
age serving in the army are volunteers. Agreement to release all
men over 45 would produce better understanding, refusal is
regarded as questioning truth of their assurances, which were
endorsed by our Ambassador. Would like to settle these matters
while here, and want to leave on Tuesday or Wednesday. Am
arranging to have someone from this Embassy return with me to
report, for information of Foreign Office here, about
concentration camp and reasons for internment of civilians, in
order to establish common basis for their treatment and
provisions and clothing furnished and pay of officers, on the
understanding that accounts will be balanced at close of war or
at stated intervals.--GERARD, Berlin.

American Minister, Copenhagen.

The following documents deserve careful consideration:

_Memorandum communicated by American Embassy._

N