From The Spectator, 24 October 1914:
It is alleged that in London there are something like a hundred thousand people, and as many more in the rest of the country—probably the figures are twice too high—of German and Austrian nationality. These aliens are for the most part at present earning their living in various trades. It certainly would be laying rather a heavy burden upon our shoulders to intern the whole of them, and to feed, clothe, and generally provide for their wants. No doubt if it must be done it must, but it would surely be unwise to hound the Government on to such action unless it is clear that it ought to be taken…
The spy problem is a special one, and really not very closely connected with the problem of the enemy alien. That spies are a great danger at the present time, and that espionage is being carried on on a, gigantic scale, we do not doubt. It has been shown again and again that reports of the movements of our ships and of our troops, and every form of information useful to the enemy, are rapidly and secretly despatched from this country day by day and hour by hour. It must not be supposed, however, that the men who betray our secrets to the enemy are necessarily Germans. Unfortunately there is every reason to believe that they are not only British subjects, but men of British birth. There is a percentage of bad men, of desperate men, and of bribable men in all countries. In a country of nearly fifty millions like ours, this percentage, though low, means a formidable number…
We hold that the alien question and the spy question are matters which cannot be wisely dealt with under a system of mob rule or newspaper clamour. They must be left to the responsible Government. But though we say this, we do not mean to suggest that there can ever be anything wrong in making the Government feel, if they do not feel it already, the tremendous responsibility which rests upon them of not allowing the nation to run any unnecessary peril. The safety of the realm is very largely in the hands of the Home Office. On the heads of the Home Secretary and of his colleagues in the Cabinet that responsibility will be visited. The nation will stand by them in whatever demands they make—even if they ask for measures for securing our safety which might act cruelly or harshly upon innocent people. What the nation must not do is to hound the Executive into action which they at heart believe to be unnecessary, or even dangerous.
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