The Spectator at war: Don’t let’s be beastly to the Germans

From ‘The Right Spirit of Concentration’, The Spectator, 15 May 1915:

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Ruth Bloomfield

Why the London exodus is over

It need not be supposed that we are blind to the dangers which arise from a large number of aliens in our midst. We have several times written of these dangers. But latterly, whenever the subject was debated in Parliament, the answer was that the War Office were responsible for the control of aliens who could do harm, and that the War Office were doing what they thought necessary. We may, if we like, suspect that the War Office were not doing enough, but they, at all events, were in possession of the facts and we were not. In a general way in such circumstances we must trust the War Office, especially as it is obvious that, even on the assumption that the hunting down of aliens is an important piece of national work, there are many other and much more important duties to be performed.