ake very little doubt, of munitions of war. The thing
must have been in train on this side for many months--possibly for
years. Here, for instance, is an extraordinary item, which is hardly
likely to be only coincidence: Out of one hundred postmasters within a
sixty-mile radius of Harwich, eighty-one have obtained their positions
within the last two years, and of those sixty-nine bear names which
indicate German nationality or extraction. But that is only one small
item. An analysis of the Eastern Railway employees, and of the larger
business firms between here and Ipswich, will tell a more startling
tale, unless I am greatly mistaken."

But to me, I think the part of the news we gathered which seemed most
startling was the fact that a tiny special issue of _The Times_, then
being sold in the streets, contained none of the information given to
us, but only a cautiously worded warning to the public that the news
received from East Anglia had been grossly exaggerated, and that no
definite importance should be attached to it, until authoritative
information, which would appear in the first ordinary issue of _The
Times_ on Monday, had been considered. It was all worded very pompously,
and vaguely, in a deprecating tone, which left it open for the reader to
conclude that _The Times_ supported the generally accepted hoax theory.
And we found that all the daily papers of repute and standing had
issued similar bulletins to the public. Asked about this, our grave
informant stroked his whiskers, and alluded distantly to "policy decided
upon in consultation with representatives of the Crown."

"For one thing, you see, London is extraordinarily full of Germans,
though we have already learned that vast numbers of them went to swell
the attendance at the East Anglian Pageant, and may now, for all we
know, be under arms. Then, too, anything in the nature of a panic on a
large scale, and that before the authorities have decided upon any
definite plan of action, would be disastrous. Unfortunately our reports
from correspondents at the various southern military depots are all to
the effect that mobilization will be a slow business. As you know, the
regulars in England have been reduced to an almost negligible minimum,
and the mobilization of the 'Haldane Army' involves the slow process of
drawing men out of private life into the field. What is worse, it means
in many cases Edinburgh men reporting themselves at Aldershot, and
south-count