August 2 2, 1918 
Land & Water 
13 
"The Caprice of D.O.R.A. : By J. Couduner de Chassaigne 
A Plea for "Allied Aliens" 
.^F AM an alien in this country, and I am proud of the fact, 
■ thoug)i I hate the hostile word, which, true to its Latin 
■ origin, means that I am considered in official England as 
I being different in essence from, and antagonistic to, 
•^^ the surroundings in which it is my privilege to hve. 
In any case I would rather remain an alien to the end of 
my life than become a naturalised citizen anywhere, even 
with the qualification of British, for, in my opinion, a man 
who has two patries has none. Personally, I know of no 
Frenchmen naturalised in England, though there may be a 
few. But, as a rule, a real Frenchman born in France from 
good honest French stock remains French, and nothing else, 
until the day of his death. 
If I am not mistaken the same may be said of Englishmen ; 
anyway, I have never met in France a real Englishman, 
whatever his station in life, who pretended to be anything 
but a citizen of his native land, of which he was rightly 
proud. That is the spirit that maketh men. 
Sometimes kind English friends, who want to be polite, 
insist on forgetting that I am a technical alien and call me 
an ally. The Home Office, the Foreign Office, and the police, 
however, quickly remind me of my real status, which is, for 
the present, the status of an allied alien, and though that last 
word grates on me, I should be quite content if my newly 
•acquired position of allied alien, as distinct from neutral 
aliens and enemy aliens, were to ensure me, and my fellow 
allies, treatment worthy of such a flattering expression. 
Now what is exactly the situation of a friendly alien, 
allied or neutral, living in this country ? Take, for instance, 
my own experience. 
I have carefully fulfilled all my obligations towards the 
English authorities from the very beginning of the war. I 
registered myself when I was required to do so, like every- 
body else, on the National Register ; I registered again 
■when required to do so at the police station of my district, 
and obtained there, for the modest sum of one shilling, a 
book of identity. Again, in 19 16, I registered at another 
police centre, bringing with me all necessary papers from 
the French Consulate General in London, giving all informa- 
tion relating to my military position in France. A few 
months ago I again filled up forms and papers at my Con- 
•sulate in order to comply with the requirements of the 
military law. All that is quite as it should be ; but what 
has been given to me in exchange in the way of facilities, 
whenever I want to travel to any place outside London ? 
Germans uninterned have to obtain permission from their 
police station when they go more than five miles from their 
domicile, and this favour is seldom refused by the pohce, 
whose behaviour in the majority of cases is perfectly courteous 
and considerate. But surely allies ought to be treated with 
«ven greater consideration than Germans, though they be 
aliens too. I have tried in vain, however, to discover in 
what respect my lot as a Frenchman differs from that of an 
enemy of this country. It is true that I can go out at night 
in the streets of London after ro p.m. without breaking the 
Jaw, but apart from this little concession, I am under the 
close supervision of the police. If I wish to leave my domicile 
for one night to go to a friend in a distant suburb, I can do 
so without informing the police of my intentions. But if 
I have to, go outside London, be it only for a journey of half 
an hour, I am liable 'to^a fine of £160 or six months prison 
unless I return to town within twenty-four hours. Thus, 
should I miss my last train from Beaconsfield after dining 
with an old political friend, I break the law of the land, 
and I can bless my stars if my escapade does not lead me 
before the magistrates. 
If I want to go for the week-end to Oxford, the following 
are the precautions I must take in order to conform to the 
commands of D.O.R.A. I have to go on the previous Friday 
to my police station to inf(irm the officer in charge of my 
desire to go to see an old University friend. Being good- 
natured the sergeant makes no objection, and indicates in 
my book of identity the place I want to visit, adding a 
big rubber stamp-mark as a proof of my good faith. The 
moment I arrive at Oxford on the Saturday I have to go, 
as quickly as I can, to the police station there. More stamp- 
ing takes place, after which I am free to spend my week-end 
in that delightful seat of learning. But on the Monday, 
before departing, I have to call again at the police station, 
when the date of my departure is inscribed in everlasting 
characters in my book of identity. If I am not mistaken 
I have to call again on the Tuesday, if not on the Monday 
evening, at the police station of my district in London. 
Then all is well ; a dangerous ally has come back -safely to 
his official abode, and England is safe. 
i must own up that these visits to the police stations have 
little charm for a man and far less for a woman. There is 
nothing pleasant in^the feeling that your mother or your wife 
is obliged to mix with the enemy aliens, or the doubtful 
people, which, at certain hours, crowd the police stations of 
great cities. The same indignities are inflicted on English- 
born ladies who have had the misfortune to marry a^ ally. 
I know of some cases which make one's blood boil. Never 
shall I forget the indignation of one of my most distinguished 
colleagues, a French journalist, who, before leaving England 
on an official mission for the British Government, wired to 
his wife, an English-born lady, asking her to return imme- 
diately from the country where she was staying. He was 
going on a long and dangerous expedition. She hurried back 
to say good-bye to him and, forgetting that she was no 
longer English, did not fulfil some formalities, with the 
result that she got into very hot water with the police officials 
— who, after all, were only carrying out the law, "■ 
Present Concessions 
It is true that foreign journalists who belong to allied 
countries have been granted, at the request of Lord Bum- 
ham, acting as President of the Empire Press Union, special 
permits from the War Office which dispense them from regis- 
tering when travelling on duty. But even then one is never 
quite certain as to the meaning of this authorisation, and these 
facilities being strictly individual do not prevent the wife of 
a Frenchman or of an Italian, when travelling with her 
husband, being subjected to all the vexations referred to 
above. 
Nor are Americans exempt from this harsh treatment in 
spite of their cousinship to the English people. I can vouch 
for the truth of the following case. It happened to an 
American lady, a woman of position, related to a member 
of the Government, who has done great work for the Allies 
and for England in the hospitals. She was staying for the 
week-end with an English official pf some importance, and 
his wife, also an American, somewhere on the South Coast. 
She arrived on the Saturday evening, and at midnight, after 
the whole party had retired, the police called at the house, 
insisted on the lady coming downstairs, told her that being 
an alien she had broken the law, and ordered her to pack her 
things and leave the house at once. After a long argument 
she was allowed to remain till the morning, but then she had 
to go. Evidently, the law is the law. She had forgotten to 
notify her movements to her police station, and she was 
punished accordingly. 
All this may seem to my readers of little importance. 
We are at war, and, of course, precautions are taken by 
every country against aliens of all description. It is quite 
possible that in France there have also been many mistakes 
made by officials in their dealings with foreigners, but in any 
case the French Governmenf would have one good excuse for 
such severity ; our territory is invaded by the enemy and 
spies have little difficulty in crossing any of our land frontiers. 
Even if it were proved that foreigners have a hard time in 
France, which is not the case, it would be no excuse for the 
treatment inflicted on them in England. Let me hasten to 
say that the law is administered in this country with the 
utmost tact and kindness by high officials of the War Office, 
of the Home Office, and of Scotland Yard. In spite of that, 
undue hardship is inflicted sometimes, though in the cases I 
have alluded to, police officers and magistrates did no more 
than simply apply the letter, if not the spirit, of the Defence 
of the Realm Act. 
But what the Allies Hving in England beg from the Govern- 
ment is that the letter, not the spirit, of the law should be 
altered, and as quickly as possible. Things cannot remain 
in the fifth year of the war as they were during the two first 
years. It is high time that a legal distinction should be 
drawn for the duration of the war between the foreigners 
and the enemy aliens. Already the Ministry of National 
Service has adopted the word of "foreigners" to describe 
allies and neutrals as distinct from the real aliens, our 
enemies. Another distinction might well be made between 
the allies and the neutrals, and some special facilities granted 
