affectation; and the picture galleries and museums and schools at
once occupied by war workers. The British Museum itself was saved
only by a hair's breadth. The sincerity of all this, and of much
more which would not be believed if I chronicled it, may be
established by one conclusive instance of the general craziness.
Men were seized with the illusion that they could win the war by
giving away money. And they not only subscribed millions to Funds
of all sorts with no discoverable object, and to ridiculous
voluntary organizations for doing what was plainly the business
of the civil and military authorities, but actually handed out
money to any thief in the street who had the presence of mind to
pretend that he (or she) was "collecting" it for the annihilation
of the enemy. Swindlers were emboldened to take offices; label
themselves Anti-Enemy Leagues; and simply pocket the money that
was heaped on them. Attractively dressed young women found that
they had nothing to do but parade the streets, collecting-box in
hand, and live gloriously on the profits. Many months elapsed
before, as a first sign of returning sanity, the police swept an
Anti-Enemy secretary into prison pour encourages les autres, and
the passionate penny collecting of the Flag Days was brought
under some sort of regulation.



Madness in Court

The demoralization did not spare the Law Courts. Soldiers were
acquitted, even on fully proved indictments for wilful murder,
until at last the judges and magistrates had to announce that
what was called the Unwritten Law, which meant simply that a