The Washington herald., 1910-04-10
SPIES IN TIME OF PEACE
In the United States and Great Britain There Are No Means

the information which they may have Sc
cured to the highest bidder and who are
prompted alone by mercenary motives.
This view was set forth by the famous
French Marshal Bugeaud, whose writ
ings are to this day standard works Of
military education, not only in the army
of France. but in those Of several other
European nations. In his volume entitled
"Apercus sur Fart de la Guerre" he ex-
presses himself in the following categori-
cal manner: English, American. and
Russian officers do not hesitate to as
sumo DISCUSSES as regards name, nation
ality. profession. and appearance in or
der to secure information concerning the
designs of the enemy. In acting thus
they are no more guilty of dishonorable
conduct or crime than the soldier is OF
murder with regard to the foe whom he
kills in battle. They risk not only impris-
onment as felons, but also a disgracefui
death, solely with the object of serving
their country, and the motives by which
they are actuated remove any faint of
ignominy from their actions Our French
officers should be encouraged to follow
their example"
That patriotism and courage Of a high
order are needed for the work of espion-
iage of the character described by Marshal
Bugeaud is sufficiently shown by the fact
that missions involving it are almost In
variably confded. not to ordinary sol
diers, but to officers who form part OF
the general staff-that is to say. those
who may be regarded as the pick of the
entire army by reason of their intelli-
gence and of their eruditiOn.
Both Hale and Andre were gentlemen
by birth and breeding as well as COM
missiOned officers. So,~ too, was Capt.
Colquhoun Grant, the famous spy OF the
great Duke of wellington during the Pen
insulaT campaign. The same may be
said of the majority Of the spies who
were shot and hanged as such during the
wars of 1870, of 1877, and Of 1904 and it is
a notorious fact that nearly all the espi-
Onage that is now being carried on by the
Russians, the Germans. the French, and
the Japanese. and. indeed. by every mill
tary and naval power of the civilized
world, is in the hands of commissioned
officers, who may or may not make use
OF traitors in effecting their aim, which
latter, it cannot be sufficiently empha-
sized, is solely to serve their country.
Even the late Field Marshal M0ltke did
not hesitate TO adopt a disguise when
he visited in 1858 the district in which
Germany fought her first battles in
France two years later a French detec-
tive kept at his heels. and his report was
among the papers found in the Tuileries
in 1870 In 1880 the late Gen. de Miribel,
who, up TO the time Of his death. was
chief of the general staff of the French
army, was expelled from Germany for
having displayed too much curiosity con-
corning military matters; and at the
present moment there are a considerable
number of German officers in French
prisons, and OF French officers in Ger
man prisons, serving terms Of captivity
for infractions Of the laws against espion-
age; laws which do not ex ist in this
country.
As far as ethics are concerned, there
| is no difference between espionage in war
/ and espionage in peace, and, all argu-
ments TO the contrary are set at rest by
the standard works on the subject, nota-
bly, by those of Capitaine de Chill of
Montesquieu, Of Buentschi, in his cOdi-
fed international law, by Frederick the
Great. and by Marshal Bugeaud. The
only distinction between the two is that
whereas in war time espionage usually
entails death to the spy, in peace il is
followed everywhere by long terms OF
Imprisonment save in the United States
and in the British Empire
| Copyrighted, 1910 by the Brentwood Company