of those "reprisals of good" which
many believe to be more constructive than reprisals of frightfulness.
The Penny Blue Book on the treatment of prisoners of war, issued not
long after this, was not helpful to these hopes. As regards Germany,
this publication consists almost exclusively of the "unofficial
information and rumours" which, as Sir Edward Grey stated in February,
1915, His Majesty's Government "trusted did not accurately represent the
facts." The result is unfortunate. The Blue Book is limited by its title
to "the first eight months of the war," and deals almost exclusively
with charges brought before the close of 1914, when, as is well known,
there was confusion everywhere. The method of arranging the evidence is
too much that of an advocate aiming at producing the maximum effect. For
example, we read (page 6): "The United States Consul-General at Berlin
heard on October 16 that information regarding the treatment of
non-commissioned officers and men of the British Army who are prisoners
of war in other camps is anxiously awaited at Torgau. 'Rumours of their
exposure to the elements, their starvation and their treatment, are
rampant all along the line.'" On turning to Misc. 7 (1915) we find that
_these last words were not those of the American Consul-General_, but
those of an officer interned at Torgau. The American Ambassador, Mr.
Gerard, writes: "It should also be added that, although the British
officers at Torgau state that they have heard reports of starvation and
ill-treatment of British soldiers in other prisoners' camps, the Embassy
have no reason for believing that this is the case." _This statement is
omitted in the Penny Blue Book._

To give the public an idea of the camp at Doeberitz quotations are made
(page 33) from an article by an anonymous American journalist. An early
official report is cited which gives a very different impression, but as
it is quoted in quite a different part (page 18) of the Blue Book, the
contradiction is only seen on careful examination. On the covers of the
two copies of the Blue Book which I have are lists of Foreign Office
publications. Amongst these (see pages 9, 10) is Miscel. No. 11 (1915)
(price 3d.), which contains two official U.S. reports on Doeberitz, one
by Mr. Jackson, the other by Mr. Lithgow Osborne, both of them entirely
favourable. No hint of the existence of these reports (received on April
10 and April 24 respectively) is given in the body of the Pen