Wichita eagle., 1888-03-16
OFFICIAL SPIES.
IN EUROPE THEIR BUSINESS is CON-
SIOeRED A SCIENCE.

! Turkeys Military Attaches at the Phnci-
pal Courts-Englaud's Intelligence De-
partment-Germany's Marvelously Sys-
tematic Organization.
| OF late years in Europe spying has been
! elevated into a science. 1t goes on all the
! time The utmost and sincere friendship Of
I one nation for another does not prevent it
/ from setting in a note book. learning and
/ coming by rote all about its friends mill
! tary strength and weakness and favorite pro-
| iects and general inclinations, thus acting on
| the principle treat a friend as if be may
| some day become an enemy" In the various
capitals Of Europe there are regular bureaus
| devoted to the classification of information
| obtained by spies and to the direction Of the
movements and aims of such agents. Even
| Turkey has such department. 1t is stu
ated in the Seraskierate, and is closely ada
! cent to the lofty apartments allotted TO the
council of war, that unhappy body which
ten years ago was largely responsible for
| lettering the freedom of general officers in
the field and for the result Of the campaigns
both in Europe and in Asia. Turkey has
military attaches at the principal courts.
! They are rather faineant gentlemen, as a
]
jealous officers. They are supposed to mix
freely in general, and especially military,
society: 10 keep their eyes and ears open,
and TO get hold, by fair means or foul, OF all
official secrets relating TO military affairs.
In England the Intelligence department IS
of quite modern growth. When IT was m
vented it was put under the quartcrmaster
general Last year it YVES transferred to the
division of the adlutant general, which seems
to be its proper place. The office used to be
facing the war Office in Pail Mall, but 1t Is
now on the other side of st. James park, IN
one Of the quaint old wainscoted mansions
of Queen Annc's Gate Here are sifted and
! sorted and registered and docketed and alb
stracted the piles Of information which ar
rive through the foreign Office from military
| attaches in Paris Berlin Jenna, st. Peters
burg, COrstautinopie and Rome, as well as
from tho host of civilian representatives and
officials whom Great Britain has lying
abroad, to use the double barreled phrase OF
Sir y illi,m Temple. Every one of these Is
responsible for sending homo whatever mill
t&ry or naval information he can pick up
about certain countries. and this information
is duly forwarded TO the intelligence depart
ment, where it is either rejected or pieced III
with other morselS, very much as puzzle
map is pieced together, until it makes a
whole. The system of cross indexing in the
department is apparently perfect, and any
point required for reference can be found
literally Instantly.
But the best organized Intelligence depart
ment in the world is if not on the banks of
the Spree. at least on the banks Of one Of the
canals connected with that petty river. The
staff quarters of the German army occupy q
fine block of buildings between the Brandon
burg gate at the end of the UnteI~den Linden
and the Hanover Railway station, and in this
block, built and paid for out of the French
indemnity, the intelligence department has
great suite of Offices which gre a marvel OF
sytematic arrangement Here are 10 be
found not only all the information that
money and zeal can obtain about the military
forces Of the world, and about the terrains on
which conflicts are likely to occur, but plans
perfected down to the last detail for utilizing
the gigantic forces of the empire in whatever
part Of the world they can ever come to be
handled.
Plans are there not only for dealing with
France or Russia, or Austria or Scandinavia,
but for invading Belgium and Holland and
cisely very. very few people know They
have been drafted in the first instance as ex-
erciscs in military staff work they have then
been revised by high authority, touched up
b. the highest authority, and, being from
time TO time amended as information is re-
ceived, remain ready TO the hands Of those
who may at any time be called upon to exc
cute the task which their trainers had in
view It is all but certain that these plans
include schemes for the invasion II the
United States, but this fact need give no one
any uneasiness. as there are doubtless 70 be
found in the same corridors plans equally
exact in every particular for the invasion Of
China, Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Hjndostan,
Australia or Persia
The French are believed to have developed
an intelligence department which fairly r.
walls that OF Berlin. In 1870 they had the spy
mania very acutely. 1t was not easy for any
man of blonde aspect to travel in France,
however remotely from the theatre Of war,
without being arrested as an "EsPion
Prusse.n Now the French Gre spending
more money ard more labor than any other
country In acquiring Just the sort Of iuforTna-
ton that the spies supply. The Germans are
working much more cheaply, and. besides,
they have long ago got all the Information
they want, except about the new Lebel rife
and its cartridges Even of the latter they
know nearly all they need, for il is ascer-
tanned that the explosive in these cartridges
will not stand prolonged storage and trans
port, danger some time ago pointed cut as
likely 10 attend any ''snok.iess7 powder.
But any student Of military matters mus.
doubt whether the French will be able 20
make as much use Of the information they
acquire as the Germans DO. or the English
France used 10 have the, IN professional
sense, best educated officers II TIE world.
But that is no onser the cese- Indeed, it is
40. saying too much TO express the belief that
the French staff ere virtually uneducated IL
the science of war. Trs blunders made IN
the recent partial mobilization were * jCe.
the same sort as those made in Is70.-Sew
Tork lines
The Electric Eireh-'