The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-06-26
EVERY MAN IS WATCHED
THE SPY SYSTEM AS IT IS CIRRIED
 ON IN FRANCE TO-D1Y.
An Eye Kept on Natives and Foreigners Alike by AuthOrities-Re Republic In- debted to Russia for its Plan of Es-

debtcd to Russia for its Plan of Es-
 pionagC,
 The miserable Dreyfus agitation un-
 der which France is smarting for the
 moment has revealed in all their horror
 the iniquities of espionage. It is a sys-
 tenn which all nations loathe, but whose
 suppression no nation is strong enough
 to advocate. Secret service, in fact in
 one shape or another exists and will eX-
 ist in all civilized countries until inter-
 national relations are largely modified.
 Yet without a touch of prejudice it
 may be said that France .is better
 adapted by habit and temperament to
 this sly practice which has wrought her
 ruin than any other nation, save her
 great ally. For If we forget the tangle
 of foreign jealousies and look within
 the borders of France herself, we shall
 find an active system of spies and spy
 tng, If she keeps an attentive eye upon
 her enemies she is no less watchful ot
 her own citizens whom she would tain
 believe miracles of loyalty. In brief, no
 man domiciled in France, be he native
 or alien, escapes the notice of the au-
 
 in England something of a disgrace; in
 France it is to be a free-born citizen or an accepted foreiner, and if we do not reconize this striking difference which divides the countries we shall never un-
 derstand the miserable intrigue which threatens to destroy our neighbours self respect France, then, for all her free and democratic institutions, is watch
 ylo crp eve upon all those who sojourn within her borders. In the first place, every full-grown citizen, every acknowledged stranger is dignifed by the notice Of the prefecture.
 Down there on the Quai des Orfevres is kept a vast pile of papers, to which the familiar name of "dossier" is given, and no resident in Paris (we speak now of the capital, though the system is un- iversal) is so poorly considered as to escape the prefect's attention Every fnan, then has his 'dosSier,' to which fs added the smallest fragment of lnfor- n1ation which assiduity can gather, without his own knowledge the eyes of the city are upon him and here, at least, Ignorance is bliss, for no man endures to live a constant victim of govern mentss curiosity. How, it may be asked. is this constant inquiry sus- tained? The police of France is organ ized less with a view to the detection of the guilty than to observation of the innocent. Curiosity must be satisfied at all costs, and we are gratitied with the strange spectacle of a democracy pledged to a system which would better beft a tyranny of the middle ages,
 The prefect or his staff is supposed to be omniscient Into his willing ear are poured the gossip and scandal of the day. For instance, there are certain meeting places in Paris which are not commonly discussed. Yet the persons who manage them are always on terms of friendship with the police. We have MT. Goron's word for it that perfect understanding exists in this instance between the law and the lawbreaker. The prefect, in fact, promises his pro- lection in return for information re- ceived. The information is useless and the system would be inexplicable did not Mr. Goron, himself a distinguished official, supply the key. It pleased Lou {e XVI, we are told, to know what roysterers were abroad yester-night, and that the monarchs curiosity might be satisfied a method of discovery was devised which has lasted unto this day Was ever a droller situation dreamed even in comic opera? The revolution was brought about in the midst of bloodshed and terror that Louis XVI | might be deprived of all power to inf1u- ence the people and the people by mere force of tradition have carried on his | own impertinent and purposeless meth- | ods of collecting news which does not l concern them.
 And no one protests, partly from hab- | it and partly because there is a general | feeling that information thus gathered | cannot be used against the subject of l inoriry, Of course it can, and doubt | less is: yet the Frenchman does not | If his "dossier" be scrupu- 1ousIy kept, so also are the "dossiers" of | Messrs. Dupont, Durand and Drumont. | Moreover, his criminal code has accus- toned him to a habitual suspicion. Where every man is guilty of all the crimes until he prove his innocence, it is well to take precautions, and it is in accord with the spirit of French law, as it was in accord with Louis XVL's curiositv to discover beforehand the worst that may be known of all poten- tial breakers of the law. So the off, cials of the prefecture collect their news by smoking cigars with the patron or natronnes of unadvertised meeting places.
 But this is not their only method of procedure Their energy is astonishing, and the present writer was once most seusibly flattered by their attention. He was travelling from Paris to Dieppe and had fallen into q half sleep, when suddenly he woke up to hear his own oriyate affairs discussed at the other end of the carriage The speaker, had an intimate acquaint- ,nce with his habits and movements, and only one explanation was possible; A detective of the railway line had com- ,,itted an indiscretion from sheer bore lom. It is difficult to account for his waste of force, and no wiser reason nav be hazarded than that it is part if d system to which every Frenchman 6 covertly accustomed. But the old ,ashioned, monarchical method of spy ng has been strangely supplemented hiring the last five years. When Carnot was murdered in 1894 he whole of France was seized with ; ,anic and bill against the anarchists l vas pushed through the chamber in the ate autumn The deputies, anxious for heir favorite watering places accepted