The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-26
THE SPIES OF PEACE.
How the Nations Watch Each other
and Get Information.
From the London Express.

anu UCA
From the London Express.
There are many things about each
other which nations would like to
know. In order to discover what they
must know, but are not allowed to,
civilized states employ military spies.
They may be military or naval at
taches, duly accredited to an embassy,
or secret agents, who are sent to re-
side or travel in those districts from
which Information is required by the
intelligence department. The work of
the first class is not unimportant, but
it is not risky. The officer may not
overstep the bounds of common hon
esty. and rarely, If ever, attempts to
achieve anything secretly. He is close
ly watched and knows it. If he be-
comes a strong center of attraction
he may divert the attention of watch
ers from some secret agent who is
possessing himself of the particulars
the attache is ostensibly so anxious
to acquire, but is successfully prevent
ed from securing. The attache is use
full as a clearing agent. Spies be-
come possessed of facts which are Of
no real value to those who employ
them, but are assumed to be worth
much by the agents of other coun-
tries, and an exchange of pieces Is
effected. Sometimes apparently use
less information is sought simply for
it's exchange value. For instance,
some years ago two British officers
created considerable annoyance In
Russia by their persistence in hanging
about the district in which the au-
tumn maneuvers were to take place.
They were invited to join the staff
the British attache was there-but this
honor they declined.
Then representations were made at
the British embassy, where the officers
were unknown, and subsequently they
disappeared for a time, only to be dis
covered at the end of the maneuvers
in one Of the five great fortresses
which protect the west frontier OF
Russia, and the one that had been the
center of the military operations. Had
these men been Prussian officers their
position would have been dangerous
and an unpleasant international Incl
dent might have occurred. The Russo
German frontier is nothing to Great
Britain. neither is the Franco-German.
We exchange the first piece" with
Germany for the second, and the sec
ond with France for little bit OF
news about Russia in Asia which IN
dia believes to be important. And thus
we get home.
Each country has it's own peculiar
sphere of interest to which it devotes
its greatest attention. Great Britain
has so many that, properly speaking,
it has none. But India is always alarm
ed as to Russia and agents-British
and native-of the India department
are ever busy seeking particulars like
ly to be of service when we have to
defend an empire which already in
the military sense extends from Alden
Of h0 T1h
agents in Russia are officers of the In
dian army, but, needless to state, they
do not travel as such. Some affect to
be tourists of an innocent but inquir-
ing turn of mind; some go as CONNER
cial travellers; some lean to religious
propaganda, while others collect curl
osities.
These agents have been so energetic
and prolific in their disguise that in
the south of Russia the bona fide COM
mercial traveller excites suspicion. The
Russians now insist upon all com
mercials'' being licensed and taxed;
moreover, the intelligence department
has found the orders for goods obtain
ed by its travellers somewhat embar-
RAISING. AS a buying agent the spy has
also worked we'll. No Briton can now
go across the Caspian to purchase
skins any more than to sell hardware,
or even just to amuse himself, with
out his letters being opened and the
company he keeps carefully noted.
Elsewhere than in Central Asia the
inquisitive foreigner is likely to be de-
tanned as a suspect if found near a
dock yard, arsenal, fortress, masked
battery or military undertaking of any
kind. The real tourist may excite sus-
picion, and no doubt many of the peo-
pie arrested are innocent, but occa-
sionally spy is captured, and usually,
of course, is liberated, after Inquiries.
Foreign consuls are apt to be much
more energetic, emphatic and positive
when a government agent is taken
than they are when the innocence of
the parties held is so apparent that IL
needs no proof. In ordinary circum-
stances, when the spy is known, he
thereby becomes innocuous, and he
knows it. If discovered, the -impolite
Russian way is to forbid him to enter
the country, or to declare he comes
from a plague infected port, or that
he is Roman Catholic or Jew.
The polite way is to offer him guard
or helpmate or companion. The spy is
then shown what he must see, and as
soon as he has seen and reported the
various military dispositions are
changed so that the information he OBJ
tually misleading. The polite British
way is to take the recognized spy round
the golf links or give him pegs of whis-
ky and tell him soft stories as he sits
on stool enjoying interminable regi-
mental cricket. then to send or take
him home a happy, talkative man, with
nothing to tell. That is what happens
when Russian vessel calls at Perrin.
for water" or Russian officers show
themselves curious as to the forts at
Alden.
Many are the lodges resorted to by
British agents in order to avoid being
"spoofed' by their Russian hosts. Their
common way is to hunt in couples, each
INDEPENDENT of the other. so that IL
one is taken the other may still sue
coed in getting through with the work.
This plan has other advantages. The
eastern races make adept spies. Rus
sia's agents when out of uniform, be-
tray their calling by being so well in
formed, which is unusual in Russia,
but 1t takes a clever, educated man to
detect them. and there are few such
among the class of people the agents
frequent in the East. for they pretend
to be merchants. veterinary surgeons,
peddlers and even Migrants. In the Far
East in the matter of espionage Japan
has the game almost entirely to itself
A Japanese can readily become so good
an imitation of the Chinaman, Man
chu or Mongol that the Russian can
not identify him. and the Chinaman
who does will certainly not denounce
him.
"A telegraph system in the East Az
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