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132
WHAT I SAW IN RUSSIA


the matter of treating at least some prisoners, these atheist Bolsheviks carried out the Christian precept of loving their enemies.

I know I shall be told I am glossing over or trying to gloss over some of the evils and indignities which British people suffered. I am doing no such thing. They lost their property and their means of living—those of them who were rich—just as the wealthy Russians did, no more, no less. They received the same treatment as all other Russian citizens. Those of them who fell under the bann of the law did so, sometimes through their own fault, at other times through misfortune ; but the outstanding fact remains that, as I have already stated, they did receive a different kind of treatment from any prisoners I know of under a similar set of conditions.

One other thing in connection with prisoners. Before leaving Copenhagen I saw a telegram which stated that smallpox, diphtheria and spotted typhus had broken out in the British prison camps. All I can say is that once more I call for figures. It is all very well for such statements to be made ; all very well for people to talk at large about deaths from these diseases in prisons and prison camps. I ask in this respect for figures. How many British people suffered from these diseases ; how many died and their ages. If these figures are published, we shall find that there has been