Britain's Deadly Peril

Britain's Deadly Peril by William Le Queux

Britain's Deadly Peril, written by William Le Queux in the spring of 1915, argues that Britain has once again been caught unready for a great war and now faces a series of dangers that its leaders refuse to acknowledge. The author opens by asking whether Britain has ever been prepared for war and concludes that the nation survives by "muddling through," as it did in the Crimea and South Africa. He blames years of ignored warnings, above all those of Lord Roberts, who was dismissed as an alarmist. He credits Mr. Winston Churchill and a few officers with foresight, but says the British Army's survival at the Marne hung by a hair. He describes the chaos of the early recruiting rush, when the War Office raised the physical standard for recruits and caused a slump in enlistment. He claims to have given the British Secret Service, in 1908, a report of a secret speech by the Kaiser. In it the Kaiser outlines a plan to invade England with Zeppelins and a large army, and to use spies to supply a cause for war. Le Queux then names a series of further perils. The first is a premature peace urged by pacifists. He insists that Germany must be crushed, that the Allies must make peace jointly, and that Germany's hatred is aimed chiefly at England. The second is the neglect of trade. He urges British business men to capture Germany's foreign markets and calls for closer commercial union within the Empire. The third is rising food and coal prices. He cites figures showing steep increases in wheat, flour, sugar, coal and meat, and tables of retail prices. He blames "rings" of speculators and says that cocoa and tea exported to neutral countries have reached the German Army. Labour unrest is the fourth. He condemns strikes on the Clyde and Tyne and in the London Docks, and quotes the journal Engineering on highly paid workmen who lose time. He says such stoppages delay vital war supplies, and he calls them unpatriotic. The author asks again and again whether Britain is doing enough. He questions the pace of recruiting and the late blockade of Germany. He also questions the delayed attack on the Dardanelles, the poor separation allowances for soldiers' families, and the lack of provision for disabled soldiers. A long section attacks the Press Bureau and the censorship for suppressing news and for uneven treatment of newspapers. He cites the baseless La Bassee story and the Home Office's attempt, through the Bureau, to silence the Globe's criticism of its spy policy. The nation, he says, is not told the truth. The longest sections concern enemy aliens and spies. Le Queux quotes Mr. Tennant's assurance in the House of Commons that every enemy alien is known and watched, and he calls it untrue. He gives his own account of watching mysterious night signals in Surrey with naval officers, including the repeated letters "S. M." and an answering light from the direction of London. He reports that the War Office replied only with a printed acknowledgment. He adds reports of other signalling, a car with a searchlight, and the Folkestone arrest of two Germans. He also describes the Boy-Ed and Stegler affair in America, and he prints readers' letters about suspected spies, including barbers, a German doctor and a bookkeeper's story. He criticises the release of German prisoners and the comfort given to German officers at Donington Hall. Finally he turns to invasion. He recalls Lord Roberts's help with his earlier book and argues that Germany may still attempt a raid. He calls for plain instructions to coastal civilians on evacuation, and for official recognition and arming of the Volunteer Training Corps. He treats Zeppelins and submarines as less dangerous than the German commercial invasion expected after the war. He ends this portion by calling ignorance of the truth the root peril, and by attacking the Press for exaggerating victories and for failing to shape opinion in neutral countries such as Italy.

By William Le Queux · First published 1915 · Genre: Wartime propaganda, Political polemic, Non-fiction war commentary · 11 chapters · 53,286 words

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World War I · British military unpreparedness · Political polemic · Wartime propaganda · Espionage and spies · Enemy aliens · German invasion threat · Kaiser Wilhelm II · Zeppelins · Premature peace · Food price inflation · Wartime profiteering

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Britain's Deadly Peril is listed on Textopian as an essay by William Le Queux, dated 1915 CE.

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More by William Le Queux