numbers of the enemy population consisted of persons who had been residents for many years. Many of them had married natives and had families; many were engaged in business or in the practice of professions; and many had acquired large property interests.

The presence of enemy subjects in such large numbers, especially in England and France, constituted a serious problem, the danger of which was accentuated by the fact that a large proportion of such persons were reservists who had had military training and who, if they had been allowed to depart, would have returned home to serve the armed forces of the enemy. The problem of dealing with them justly was further complicated by the existence in both countries, as in others where Germans resided in large numbers, of a highly organized and extensive system of espionage, for the Germans generally have acted in accordance with Treitschke's view that "in the national wars of the present day every honest subject is a spy." Under these circumstances, the countries situated in close proximity to Germany felt that the national security would be dangerously compromised by allowing the enemy alien population the same degree of freedom that had been generally accorded in the more recent wars of the past.

BRITISH POLICY

On the 3d of August, 1914, the day following the outbreak of war between Germany and Great Britain, Parliament passed the Aliens Restriction Act, authorizing the government to impose by Order in Council certain restrictions on aliens residing within the United Kingdom, without distinction between those who were subjects of an enemy state and those who were subjects of friendly Powers. The measures which the government was empowered to take included prohibiting aliens to land or embark in the United Kingdom; their deportation; requiring them to reside in certain designated areas; compelling them to register, and any other measures "which appear necessary or expedient, with a view to the safety of the realm." The Act prescribed appropriate penalties for violation of any Order in Council issued in conformity with the law, and gave the courts summary jurisdiction

14 Text in Pulling's Manual of Emergency Legislation, pp. 6-8, and in Baty and Morgan, War: its Conduct and Legal Results, pp. 470-2.

of cases involving such violations. The Act further declared that the onus of proving that a person was not an alien should lie upon him, thus reversing the old English rule that the burden of proof rests upon the party charging the disability.15

On the same day an Order in Council entitled "The Aliens Restriction Order" was issued in pursuance of the authority thus conferred, and it was followed by other supplementary and amendatory orders from time to time, while instructions and directions were frequently issued by the Secretary of State for Home Affairs. Portions of the order applied to all aliens, friendly and enemy alike, but its main purpose was to restrict the liberty of those of enemy nationality only. The order designated certain "approved" places in England, Scotland, and Ireland at which aliens of friendly Powers were permitted to land and from which they were allowed to depart, but enemy aliens were forbidden to land at or depart from such ports without the permission of a secretary of state.

The Secretary of State for Home Affairs was authorized to deport any alien (whether an enemy subject or the subject of a friendly Power) whenever in his judgment it was deemed advisable. Enemy aliens were prohibited without a permit from entering or residing temporarily in certain designated areas, several hundred in number, some of which embraced whole counties and many boroughs, parishes, and districts, especially on the seacoast.16 Enemy aliens residing anywhere in the United Kingdom, and all aliens, whether friends or enemies, residing in prohibited areas, were required to register with a local registration official, and in case of a contemplated change of residence they were required to furnish the registration officer full particulars in regard to the date of the proposed change and of the place to which it was proposed to remove.17 No enemy alien was allowed to travel

15 Bentwich in this JOURNAL for July, 1915 (Vol. 9), p. 644.

16 Permits to reside in the prohibited areas appear to have been granted rather freely. In December, 1916, 4294 enemy aliens were reported as residing in these Solicitors Journal and Weekly Reporter, Dec. 30, 1916, p. 162.

areas.

17 Many complaints were made of the hardships which the registration requirement entailed in particular cases, e.g., in the case of English women married to Germans. One case was reported of an English woman whose German husband had deserted her twenty years before, but who was required to register and report

more than five miles from his registered place of residence without a permit, which was limited to twenty-four hours, except in special circumstances. No enemy alien, without the written permission of the registration officer, was allowed to have in his possession any firearms, ammunition, petroleum, signaling apparatus, motor cars, cycles, or boats, air craft, cipher code, telephone installation, military or naval charts, and various other articles. Likewise, the circulation among enemy aliens of any newspapers printed wholly or mainly in the language of an enemy state was forbidden, except with the written permission of a secretary of state. The Secretary of State for Home Affairs was empowered to order any chief officer of police to close any premises used for the purposes of a club and habitually frequented by enemy aliens. Enemy aliens were prohibited from engaging in the business of banking, except with the written permission of a secretary of state, who was authorized to prescribe such conditions and restrictions as he deemed advisable, and no enemy alien who was at the time or had been engaged in such business was allowed to part with any money or securities of such bank.18 For the purpose of enforcing such orders, constables were authorized to enter, search, or occupy any premises in which the business of banking had been carried on by an enemy alien.

By an Order in Council of January 7, 1915, registration officers were authorized to grant to Turkish subjects belonging to the Greek, Armenian, or Syrian races, or members of any other community well known to be opposed to the Turkish régime, certificates of exemption from any or all of the provisions of the Aliens Restriction Order, except those which applied to alien friends.

To prevent evasion of the restrictions thus imposed by concealing their real identity, enemy aliens were prohibited from changing their names or the names of partnerships or companies of which they were members.

regularly to the police. Solicitors Journal and Weekly Reporter, Vol. 61, p. 732. By an Order in Council of Aug. 27, 1916, the Secretary of State was authorized to grant exemptions in special cases. Ibid., Vol. 61, p. 741.

18 Licenses were granted to certain German banks from time to time in accordance with the provisions of this order.

At the outbreak of the war, the British Government accorded to German subjects a period of seven days during which they might leave, but it does not appear that any considerable number actually got away. Neither Germany nor Austria-Hungary, however, allowed any period of grace, and all male British subjects, regardless of their age or condition, were refused permission to return to their native country.19 Soon after the outbreak of the war the German Government informed the British Government through the American Ambassador at Berlin that it was prepared to allow British subjects then in Germany to leave, provided the British Government would accord reciprocal treatment to German subjects in Great Britain. In short, the German Government proposed that the British Government should exchange more than 50,000 Germans in England for some 5000 British subjects in Germany. The German population in England was classified as: (a) reservists, who were under duty to render military or naval service; (b) persons detained for military or naval reasons; and (c) noncombatants "not specially detained." Many reports having reached England that British subjects detained in Germany were being badly treated, the British Government gave serious consideration to the German proposal, and on August 31 replied expressing its willingness to permit all German women and children,20 all males under sixteen years of age and over forty-four years, and all persons between those ages who were not under liability for military service in Germany and who would give an undertaking not to take part, directly or indirectly, in the operations of the war, to leave, provided the German Government would reciprocate. On September 15, the German Government replied to the British counter-proposal, offering to accept it in the main, except that it refused to allow the departure of British males of military age who were not under duty of military service in England, even though they were willing to give an undertaking not to take part in the operations of the war. It having in the meantime come to the

19 Sir Ernest Satow, in an article entitled "The Treatment of Enemy Aliens," published in the Publications of the Grotius Society, Vol. II, p. 8.

20 The British Government stated that in fact it had from the first allowed women and children to leave England, although the German Government had not accorded reciprocity of treatment in respect to women of British nationality.

attention of the British Government that the liability to military service in Germany had been extended to include males up to the fifty-fifth year, the British offer was modified so as to withhold the privilege of departure to males between the ages of sixteen and fiftyfive years. The German Government denied that compulsory military service existed for men over forty-four years of age, although it admitted that such persons were serving in the army as volunteers. The British Government took the position, however, that the fact that men up to fifty-five years of age were actually serving in the German army must be taken into consideration in reaching an agreement.

According to a telegram of October 22, 1914, from the American Ambassador at Berlin to the American Ambassador at London, Germany was allowing all British civilians, except men between the ages of seventeen and fifty-five, and also clergymen and physicians of all ages, to leave Germany, and Sir Edward Grey, in a communication to Mr. Page of October 28, informed him that the British Government was according reciprocity of treatment to German civilians belonging to these classes. 21 But apparently the German Government still refused to allow the departure of males between the ages of seventeen and fifty-five who were willing to give a pledge not to take part in the war, and therefore the British Government was not prepared to release German subjects of this class. In reply to an inquiry from Berlin of November 3, 1914, received through the American Embassy, as to whether the British Government was arresting "wholesale" German subjects over forty-five years of age, Sir Edward Grey stated that no Germans over that age had been arrested. At the same time he asked the American Ambassador to call the attention of the German Government to the fact that there were upwards of 50,000 Germans residing in England, the presence of whom must necessarily be a cause of anxiety to the military authorities, who were charged with taking suitable measures for the defense of the realm. The German Government, on the other hand, he said, had not the same excuse for proceeding

n Correspondence between His Majesty's Government and the United States Ambassador respecting the Release of Interned Civilians, etc., Misc. No. 8 (1915), [Cd. 7857], p. 13.