m. I
do not think any of us could predict with certainty that we should not
give way.

There is only one remedy short of stopping the war, and that is the
release of all civilians. Those who wish to remain, either in Germany or
here, should certainly be allowed to do so, and if the police have no
case against them, and if they can support themselves, they should be
set free. Others should be repatriated or sent to neutral countries. The
imprisonment of civilians is against the usage of war, and it is this
fact which gave force to the claim of the German Government that there
should be complete release on both sides.

I append extracts from a Swiss appeal to the belligerents on behalf of
the civilian prisoners. It was issued in August, 1917, and has already
appeared in _Common Sense_.

A civilian is not a prisoner of war.

We gladly acknowledge that the belligerent powers have
effectively lessened the sufferings of the prisoners of war with
an intelligent understanding of their duty; the military
authorities have listened favourably to the proposals of the Red
Cross, and already the soldiers have been spared many
unnecessary sufferings. Humane measures have softened the
captivity of military prisoners.

In the name of Justice we now address this urgent appeal to the
authorities in the belligerent countries to adopt the same
attitude towards civilian prisoners.

We have in mind all civil prisoners, for these, almost without
exception, are innocent victims of the war; both those who since
the beginning of the war have been interned, and those others in
the occupied territories who have been isolated, oppressed or
imprisoned, many of them in poor health, women, children, old
men, who are not allowed to join their families in a neutral
land. Our deep compassion and brotherly sympathy are especially
moved on behalf of non-combatants who have been carried away
like herds.

We pray all belligerents without distinction to hearken to our
appeal; with dread we watch the approach of another war-winter,
bearing, as it must, a fresh succession of distresses,
deprivations and reprisals. Therefore we cannot keep silence....
Numbers of civilian prisoners have been suffering since the
beginning of the war from the depressing conditions of the
concentration camps.... The civilian took no part in the war,
and in most c