Page:Secrets of Crewe House.djvu/197

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OTHER ACTIVITIES
143

Besides the work in enemy countries, Crewe House also undertook the enlightenment of prisoners of war in the camps of Great Britain. The first necessity was the eradication of innate ideas of militarism, if it had left them with any illusions which their own experience had failed to shatter. Then the advantages of democratic government would be inculcated. Rightly it was thought that if these men could be taught that government of a country must be by the free will and assent of the governed, a small step at least would have been taken in the right direction. Such beneficent influences as could be brought to bear upon them would affect their compatriots on their return home and might fructify in the expression of changed views in their letters to their friends. There were several Prisoners of War camps scattered about Great Britain, each of them being in charge of a Commandant responsible to the War Office. The late Sir Charles Nicholson, Bt., a valued member of the Enemy Propaganda Committee, took charge of this section of Crewe House work, his usual procedure being to have a personal interview with each of the Commandants, in order to ascertain from them what newspapers and books were allowed inside the camps, and