The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1899-05-25
THE SPY SYSTEM IN FRANCE.

|
| But the old-fashioned, monarchical
! method of spying has been strangely
supplemented during the last five years.
When Cannot was murdered in 1894, the
whole of France was seized with panic.
and bill against the anarchists was
| pushed through the chamber in the late
autumn. The deputies, anxious for
| their favorlte watering places, accepted
the widest provisions, and the concier-
ges of Paris were promoted, almost
without opposition, into informal agents
of the police. Henceforth there was a
spy in every house. whose duty it was
to record the habits, the friends, the
pursuits of all the occupants. The plan,
no doubt was borrowed from Russia,
and truly it reflects no credit upon the
republic. For a worst instrument of
tyranny and blackmaiI was never in
vented and it is most contemplate be-
cause it will always remain Intellectual.
The honest concierge is still amenable
to brides, and a villaipaus locataire
would take a peculiar care to win the
respect of his legal guardian. Moreover,
by his station and upbrnging, the con-
cierge is deficient in intelligence, and it
is more than likely that he shows his
limitations in befogging the police. Nor
can he hide from his clients the respon-
sibilities of his new position He will
tell you, inadvertently, Of course. the
address of a friend who has escaped
your notice, or he will reveal as 1t were
by accident, that he has perfect
knowledge Of another friends peculiar
+ ilings. The situation is not dang rous,
but it is not pleasant, and though habit
accustoms one to suspicion. 1t is difficult
to accept without question this return
of democratic France to the practices of
'manarchical barbarism." Louis XVI.
persisted upon the scaffold, and the de-
scendants of his executioners have in
tensitied the petty tyranny which cost
him his life. Nor has this tyranny de-
creased of late The Affaire has dipped
France deeper in the mire of terror, and
to-day not only are citizens watched,
but their letters are unscrupulously
opened. No man whose political con-
victions are we'll known and unpopular
need expect to receive his correspond
ence through the simple channel of the
post. On the contrary, 1t will be read,
censured and perhaps suppressed. Nor
is the simple foreigner exempt from
this scrutiny, and a Jews best method
of communication is a special messen-
ger. i
The other day Mr. Dreyfus, the broth
er of the condemned man, pointed out
quite simply that he had been shad-
owed for five years and there Is no |
doubt but that all his correspondence |
las been austerly sifted. These restfic- |
tions upon the liberty of the subject |
would cause the widest uproar in Eng !
land which is not a democracy. In |
France, which boasts the triple watch
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
no infringement upon the simple rights
Of the citizen seems to be resented. But
France, as we have pointed out before Is
still the slave of tradition She has
adopted a republican form of govern
ment by an effort of intellect; she
speaks Of freedom with all the eloquence
Of a parrot. None the less, and this
proves how closely she clings to the past
which she has dishonored, she resents
no encroachment upon the rights of citi-
she is willing that servants
should spy upon their masters, and she
IS even prepared to approve, after thirty
years of untrammelled government, the
prurient curiosity of Louis XVI, whom