Royal Navy brought off their
first success. For the whole enemy spy system within the United
Kingdom was virtually laid by the heels within twenty-four hours of
the declaration of war. Every effort to set it up afresh subsequently
was nipped in the bud before it could do mischief.

One point, however, deserves to be placed on record. The
disinclination of H.M. Government to announce the execution of the
first enemy agent to meet his fate, Lodi, was one of the most
extraordinary incidents that came to my knowledge in connection with
enemy spies. Lodi was an officer, or ex-officer, and a brave man who
in the service of his country had gambled with his life as the
stake--and had lost. He had fully acknowledged the justice of his
conviction. All who were acquainted with the facts felt sympathy for
him, although there could, of course, be no question of not carrying
out the inevitable sentence of the court-martial. And yet our
Government wanted to hush the whole thing up. They did not seem to
realize that the shooting of a spy does not, when the spy is an enemy,
mean punishment for a crime, that it represents a penalty which has to
be inflicted as a deterrent, and which if it is to fulfil its purpose
must be made known. Those of us who knew the facts were greatly
incensed at the most improper, and indeed fatuous, attitude which the
Executive for a time took up. What made them change their minds I do
not know.

Then there was the cable censorship, an organization which did
admirable work and got little thanks for it. The personnel consisted
largely of retired officers, and many of them broke down under the
prolonged strain. The potentialities of the cable censorship had not
been fully foreseen when it was automatically established on
mobilization, and of what it accomplished the general public know
practically nothing at all. The conception of this institution had at
the outset merely been that of setting up a barrier intended to
prevent naval and military information that was calculated to be of
service to the enemy from passing over the wires, whether in cipher or
in clear. But an enterprising, prescient, and masterful staff
perceived ere long that their powers could be developed and turned to
account in other directions with advantage to the State, notably in
that of stifling the commercial activities of the Central Powers in
the Western Hemisphere. The consequence was that within a very few
months the cable censorship