The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-02-05
ESPIONAGE IN FRANCE.
How Visitor Is Made Aware OF the Reign or tn.
Spy SyStem


Spy System.
The third republic is no freer than
were any previous Frel..h regimes
from this deep faint of what the
French call mouchardise. Never be-
fore at any period of Frances history
has the reign of spydom been so wide
spread and absolute in Paris as now.
There has been latterly much discus
sion In the world press of the extra
ordinary degree to which official es-
pionago obtains in Russia, and very
interesting details have been forth
coming on the subject. am now in g.
position to affirm that in Paris-I do
not say throughout the whole of
France-the meshes of the detective
net are woven even more closely round
the entire population than has ever
been the case in st. Petersburg.
Evidence OF This fact might easily be
found In the secret history of the
Boulangist conspiracy. From first to
last every detail of this movement was
known to the police, more than three
fourths Of the Boulangists themselves
being informers.
The instant you arrive at Paris
station you are in the midst of spies.
lou are driven to hotel in a cab. In
half an hour the cabman will furnish
the police with any particulars he may
have been able to gather concerning
your position, destination, business,
&c. Arrived at your hotel you be-
come the object of scrutiny, as close
as 1t is secret, on the part of divers
persons, who, though attached to the
place in the capacity of manager or
cashier or even porter or 'boots," are
in reality enrolled soldiers of the
great detective army. And here
may mention a special characteristic
OF the French detective system, its
faculty OF recruiting adherents in all
classes of society. French spies for
the most part are not simple spies and
nothing more. They have trade or
occupation of their own, to which
they seem wholly and solely devoted,
while yet assiduously pursuing sub
rosa their spying.
The unsuspecting stranger in Paris
has dinner at his hotel served by a
waiter, who, as a matter of course. is
In the pay of the police and will SUBJ
sequently report to them what con-
versation he overhears during the
meal. He then sallies forth, primed
with glass or two of fine champagne,
for an evenings amusement of the
true Parsian sort. First he repairs to
one of the brilliant boulevard play
houses. A few stalls away from him
sits gentlemanly looking man with
steady. observant eyes. who chances
now and again at our friend in such a
way as to make the latter think, Il
wonder where / have seen that man
before?' He never has seen him be-
lore, but it doesn't enter his head for
moment to suspect the man OF being
what ne really is-a police spy.
The play over, there is just time for
half an hours stroll under the horse
chestnuts in the Jardin de Paris. Here
nlne-tenths of the attendants are either
spies or scamps, or may, indeed, be
both at once, for French police au-
thorities are not very squeamish in
choosing their instruments, and seem
to have sort of preference for scoun-
drels over others. Their theory runs
that the greater villain man is the
better spy he will make; moreover,
the most effacious means of keeping q
man unde" spy surveillance is to have
him become spy himself, for spies
spy upon each other quite as much as
on the rest of mankind. -Philadelphia
Times.