lf was
saved only by a hair's breadth. The sincerity of all this, and of much
more which would not be believed if I chronicled it, may be established
by one conclusive instance of the general craziness. Men were seized
with the illusion that they could win the war by giving away money.
And they not only subscribed millions to Funds of all sorts with no
discoverable object, and to ridiculous voluntary organizations for doing
what was plainly the business of the civil and military authorities,
but actually handed out money to any thief in the street who had the
presence of mind to pretend that he (or she) was "collecting" it for the
annihilation of the enemy. Swindlers were emboldened to take offices;
label themselves Anti-Enemy Leagues; and simply pocket the money that
was heaped on them. Attractively dressed young women found that they had
nothing to do but parade the streets, collecting-box in hand, and live
gloriously on the profits. Many months elapsed before, as a first sign
of returning sanity, the police swept an Anti-Enemy secretary into
prison pour encourages les autres, and the passionate penny collecting
of the Flag Days was brought under some sort of regulation.

Madness in Court

The demoralization did not spare the Law Courts. Soldiers were
acquitted, even on fully proved indictments for wilful murder, until at
last the judges and magistrates had to announce that what was called the
Unwritten Law, which meant simply that a soldier could do what he liked
with impunity in civil life, was not the law of the land, and that a
Victoria Cross did not carry with it a perpetual plenary indulgence.
Unfortunately the insanity of the juries and magistrates did not always
manifest itself in indulgence. No person unlucky enough to be charged
with any sort of conduct, however reasonable and salutary, that did not
smack of war delirium, had the slightest chance of acquittal. There were
in the country, too, a certain number of people who had conscientious
objections to war as criminal or unchristian. The Act of Parliament
introducing Compulsory Military Service thoughtlessly exempted these
persons, merely requiring them to prove the genuineness of their
convictions. Those who did so were very ill-advised from the point
of view of their own personal interest; for they were persecuted with
savage logicality in spite of the law; whilst those who made no pretence
of having any objection to war at all, and had not only had