What is so interesting, and so irritating, about the spy-
maniacs is that they are always true to form. In the Crimean War there were many otherwise sane citizens who asserted and believed that the Prince Consort had been confined for espionage in the Tower of London. During the last war the maniacs became even more unbridled in their antics. Lord Haldane, one of the greatest War Ministers that Great Britain ever had, was hounded from office because he had made some appreciative remarks about German philosophy. Sir Eyre Crowe, who had damaged his own career by warn- ing the Government of the impending German danger, was spat at by hysterical women in Elm Park Gardens. It was whispered even that Lady Oxford and Asquith (who with her usual unconquerable loyalty had refused to abandon an old governess in distress) was not above suspicion. Leverton Harris had to resign office because his wife had visited a German officer in Donnington Hall. And countless amiable and unhappy citizens of German origin were exposed to petty but almost intolerable persecution.
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