A ROLL OF GERMAN OFFICER PRISONERS. (To me EDITOR OF
TER " SPECTATOR.") Sia,—It would be well if a nominal roll of the German officers, prisoners during the recent operations on the Somme, together with the names and numbers of their regiments, were published by the War Department. Sir D. Haig's modest despatches undoubtedly give to those who can study them a sound knowledge of our successes. But the public, looking mainly to the ground gained, do not always fully realize the moral effect of the large numbers of unwounded officers and men who fall, not always unwillingly, into our bands, to say nothing of the great masses of war material and cannon. The publication of the names of the officers taken would help to illustrate and illuminate the reports, and would be some index of the number of other prisoners, whose names would be too voluminous for the list. `Their numbers and some detail of the war booty should; however,• he added. In neutral countries the results, I am certain, are seldom realized, and the effect would be good. The crowds that gather at the library windows, when severe fighting is announced, and watch the progress shown on the war maps, only look for the new line marked daily in pencil, and fail to grasp the other important results. Sympathizers with our enemies are often fond of propounding that the German Government keep back no information from the public, and that the circulation of British newspapers is encouraged. This may be the truth, or what has been amusingly denominated "an fiunfruth." Be this as it may, the circulation in Germany of the details of officers, our prisoners, may relieve anxiety in many German families, even if it some- what discounts the reports of victories of their sons at the front. And even if the Germans determine to retaliate, and, in revenge, to publish the names of our poor fellows who have the mis- fortune to fall into their talons, after all, the blow will be lacking in much of the brutality that has characterized most of their
former conceptions.—I am, Sir, &c., J. H. RIVEIT-CArSAC. Vevey.
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