ment for mobilization of its armies, a considerable number succeeded in getting away. The greater number, however, either preferred to remain or were compelled to do so on account of the difficulties mentioned. All who remained were from the beginning subjected to a rigorous régime of surveillance for the purpose of preventing espionage and other acts calculated to compromise the national security.43

In consequence of the more serious character of the enemy alien problem in France as compared with that of England, owing mainly to the proximity of France to Germany and the rapid invasion of the country by the Germans, the French Government considered that the public safety did not permit the enemy alien population to be left at large, as was done in England for some eight months after the beginning of the war. In the early days of the war, therefore, the greater part of the enemy alien population, particularly that of Paris, was removed to concentration camps located in various parts of France, mostly in the western departments behind a line extending from Dunkirk to Nice. The persons so interned were divided into two groups: first, natives of Alsace-Lorraine, Czechs, Greeks, Poles and Armenians; and second, Germans, Austro-Hungarians, Ottomans and Bulgarians. As in England, enemy aliens belonging to the first group were regarded as being the unwilling subjects of their respective governments, whose sympathies were assumed to be largely on the side of the Entente Allies. In consequence they were separated from other interned enemy aliens and allowed a relatively larger degree of freedom, such as the privilege of spending the daytime away from the camps to which

43 Valery, article cited, p. 359.

44 The original order provided for twelve camps, but the number was increased from time to time, until there were fifty-two in the latter part of the year 1915. Clunet, 1916, p. 156. The Minister of the Interior stated, in December, 1915 (Journal des Débats, Dec. 12), that the number of German and Austro-Hungarian subjects then interned in concentration camps was about 45,000. He also stated that the number of aliens who had been "chased" from France since the outbreak of the war was 4700; the number of arrests on the charge of espionage was 1125; the number of persons condemned to death by the councils of war was 55; the number condemned to forced labor was 34; to réclusion 14; to imprisonment 29. Aside from the condemnations by the councils of war, there were a considerable number of condemnations by the judicial courts.

they were attached.45 Those in the second category, however, were allowed no such privileges and were kept under a régime of strict surveillance.46

Owing to the fact that the disproportion between the enemy alien populations of Germany and France was less than that between England and Germany, and also because males of military age of both France and Germany were liable to compulsory military service, the difficulties of reaching an agreement in respect to the exchange of certain classes were less serious. As early as October, 1914, therefore, an agreement was reached for the reciprocal repatriation of all males, except those between the ages of sixteen and sixty, and of all women regardless of age. Subsequently a new agreement was entered into for the repatriation of all males under seventeen and over fifty-five and also of males between those ages who were incapacitated for military service by reason of their affliction with any one of twenty specified diseases or infirmities.47 A similar agreement was entered into between the French and Austro-Hungarian Governments. 48

In France, as in the other belligerent countries, popular hostility towards the enemy manifested itself in a variety of forms. Generally in all of them persons of enemy nationality were deprived of all titles, honors, or dignities which had been conferred upon them by the governments with which they were at war, and even scientists were expelled

45 Enemy aliens of this class were accorded specially favorable treatment in other respects. Thus, they were allowed the benefit of the moratorium and were granted permits de séjour more freely than were other enemy aliens. Moreover, the measures in respect to sequestration were enforced against them with less rigor. In these respects, also, Bulgarians and Ottomans not actively hostile appear to have been treated with more liberality than were Germans and Austro-Hungarians. See Clunet, 1915, p. 1091; and 1916, pp. 267 and 1634.

46 Valery, p. 362. Regarding the special leniency accorded to enemy aliens in the first group, see also Clunet, 1915, pp. 1091–3, and 1916, pp. 267, 814–16 and 1634. Conditions in a typical concentration camp (Château roux Bitry) are detailed in Clunet, 1916, pp. 478 ff.

47 It was announced in the press dispatches from Berlin on Nov. 24, 1916, that some 20,000 German civilians then interned in France would in accordance with this agreement be released and allowed to return to Germany. The number of Frenchmen in Germany who were repatriated in pursuance of the arrangement was, however, considerably smaller.

48 Text in Clunet, 1916, p. 515.

from academies and learned societies. By a French decree of November 17, 1914, all German subjects (except residents of Alsace-Lorraine who were of French origin) who had received appointments in the Legion of Honor were dismissed as an act of reprisal against the Germans for various acts of barbarity and especially for their destruction of historic monuments.4 As an answer to the manifesto of the ninety-three German intellectuals, most of the French academies and learned societies expelled members who were the subjects of enemy Powers.

49

As in England, the hostility to Germans and Austro-Hungarians was not confined to those who were subjects of an enemy Power, but it was extended to persons of enemy origin who had been naturalized in France. Although the policy of denationalization was not resorted to in England (there was, however, considerable popular demand for it), in fact naturalized British subjects of enemy origin were interned, as has been stated, and otherwise subjected to the same restrictions and disabilities as those imposed upon enemy subjects. France went further, and by an Act of Parliament of April 7, 1915, provided for the denationalization of naturalized French citizens born in enemy countries.50 The measure was made compulsory in the case of those who had borne arms against France or who had left French territory to escape military service or who had directly or indirectly given aid to the enemy. All naturalization certificates granted to the subjects of enemy countries since January 1, 1913, were to be revoked. The Minister of Justice was required to make known within three months the names of all other naturalized Frenchmen who in his judgment were deemed worthy of retaining their French nationality. The certificates of all others were to be withdrawn and the denationalization to be considered as having taken effect from the date of the outbreak of the war, without prejudice to the rights of third parties.51

49 Text in Législation de la Guerre, Vol. I, p. 206, and Rev. Gén., 1915, Docs. p. 38.

50 Inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine who were French citizens prior to 1871, or descendants of such persons, were excepted.

51 Législation de la Guerre, Vol. II, p. 101; Dalloz, Vol. IV, p. 114.

GERMAN POLICY

Aside from the refusal of the German Government to allow any days of grace during which enemy aliens might leave, such as were allowed in England and France, the general policy of the German Government was less drastic in the beginning than that of either the British or French Governments, for there the problem was less serious owing to the relatively small number of enemy aliens and the absence of any such extensive system of espionage as existed in England and France. Strong complaints, however, were made in England of the harsh treatment to which British subjects, especially invalids at Nauheim, Carlsbad, and other places were subjected, and of the imprisonment of others.52 Both British and French nationals are said to have been summarily expelled from various cities, without distinction as to age or sex, and without being allowed to take their baggage with them. For a time no general legislative or administrative measures affecting enemy aliens were adopted. They were allowed access to the courts (unless domiciled abroad), their property and business enterprises were not put under sequestration, and there was no wholesale. internment of the enemy alien population in concentration camps. Very soon, however, in consequence of reports reaching Germany that large numbers of Germans were being arbitrarily arrested and im

52 Satow, Treatment of Enemy Aliens, Publications of Grotius Society, Vol. II, p. 8. Serious charges were also made by the French Government against the German authorities for the rough and brutal treatment to which its consuls at Manheim, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, and other places were subjected. See the reports made by these consuls to their government, Rev. Gén. de Droit Int. Pub., July-Oct., 1915, Docs. pp. 62-64 and pp. 72–73.

The Russian Government also complained of various brutalities to which its nationals in Germany were subjected. See text of a circular communicated to the press by the Russian Embassy at Paris on Jan. 13, 1915, Rev. Gén. de Droit Int. Pub., July-Oct., 1915, Docs. pp. 105-109. Ambassador Gerard says all Japanese in Germany were immediately imprisoned upon the outbreak of war between the two countries. Popular hostility toward Japanese residents, he says, was very strong. No restaurant in Berlin would admit them and they had to be supplied with food by the American Embassy. When Mr. Gerard finally obtained permission for them to leave Germany, he had to send an escort with them to the Swiss frontier to protect them against attack. Gerard, My Four Years in Germany, Philadelphia Public Ledger, Sept. 9, 1917, p. 1.

prisoned in England and that the entire German population had been compelled to evacuate certain regions of France, the German Government proceeded to adopt retaliatory measures. In a dispatch of November 8, 1914, to Mr. Page,53 Mr. Gerard stated that the German Government did not question the right of the British Government to arrest German subjects suspected of espionage, but that "great popular resentment has been created by the reports of the arrests of other Germans, and the German authorities could not explain or understand why German travelers who have been taken from ocean steamers should not be permitted to remain at liberty." Up to the 6th of November, the dispatch stated, considerable liberty of movement had been allowed to British subjects in Germany, and they had been allowed to carry on their business without serious interference. There appear to have been no serious outbreaks against British or French nationals in Germany and no wrecking of shops or other property.

On the latter date an order was issued by the German Government for the general internment of all British males between the ages of seventeen and fifty-five. 54 This order, it was added, "was occasioned by the pressure of public opinion, which had been still further excited by the newspaper reports of a considerable number of deaths in the concentration camps." 55 As in England and France, civilian prisoners were segregated and confined in specially improvised concentration camps, most of the British being housed in the buildings of a race course at Ruheleben near Berlin. There were, of course, the usual complaints of harsh treatment of prisoners in the German concentration.

53 Misc. No. 8 (1915), [Cd. 7857], p. 19.

54 Regarding the legal status of interned civilians in Germany, the Reichsgericht held, in August, 1915, that they were not prisoners of war in the sense in which the term is used in the Hague Convention. They were not, therefore, liable to trial by a military tribunal. Text in Clunet, 1917, pp. 257 ff.

55 Americans in Germany have not as yet been interned. According to an official announcement from Berlin on April 14, 1917, they were to be treated along the same lines as laid down in President Wilson's proclamation concerning the treatment of Germans in the United States. They appear to have been allowed substantially the same freedom of movement and business activity as was allowed neutral persons, except as to residence in fortified places. According to a press dispatch of April 24, 1917, however, American newspaper correspondents were notified that their presence was no longer "desirable," and they accordingly transferred their residences to neutral countries.