mit did not appear to call for an immediate
reply, although, as your Excellency is aware, the German
Government threatened, and have since carried out, reprisals
against British subjects in Germany.

At the same time, I hope in due course, when the measures taken
here have assumed a definite form, proper consideration having
been given to reasonable claims for exemption as regards
particular categories of persons, to address your Excellency
further on the subject, with a view of obtaining the release at
least of British subjects in Germany who correspond to those
categories.

I may state at once that no Germans over the age of 45 are being
arrested.[13]

I should, however, be glad if your Excellency would endeavour to
bring home to the German Government that His Majesty's
Government are faced with a problem which does not apply to the
same extent in Germany.

There are, roughly, 50,000 Germans resident in this country, and
the presence of such large numbers of the subjects of a country
with whom Great Britain is at war must necessarily be a cause of
anxiety to the military authorities who are concerned with
taking adequate measures for the defence of the realm.[14]

In detaining persons who might, in certain eventualities, become
a source of danger to the State, His Majesty's Government are
only acting in accordance with the dictates of a legitimate and
reasonable policy, and they would be clearly lacking in their
duty to the country if they neglected to safeguard its interests
by allowing the continuance of possible risks to the public
safety.

In proceeding as they have done they have only had this one
consideration before them, and it has never once been their
intention to indulge in a domestic act of hostility towards
German subjects as such, or in any way to inflict hardship for
hardship's sake on innocent civilians.

Every endeavour is being made, as Your Excellency is aware from
Mr. Chandler Anderson's report on the concentration camps, to
mitigate the inconvenience to the persons detained, and to
provide the best possible treatment for them under the
circumstances.

As time goes on it is hoped that it will be possible to improve
further the necessarily austere conditions of the military
discipline to which the prisoners are bound to be sub