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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
known to some one or another . If he is invited to a dinner he may be sure that some one of the servants is in the employ of the police , to give an account of the conversation that passes at table : and this was so well known under the old regime , that at great tables nothing was more common than for the servants to withdraw
immediately after a course had been set upon the table . Contrivances were made behind each chair for the plates and glasses that had been used , which were regularly taken away on removing" the course . This fashion is beginning" to be adopted in England , and with the system of Espionage it will become more general
It is said , that the English excel more in improving what is put into their hands than in invention , and this seems likely to be the case with Espionage . For it does not appear that the French made any other use of their espions than to discover every thing * that was taking place around- them . They do not seem to have
entrusted any other power to their agents . They had no idea of employing those wretches to go about the country to delude idle , ignorant , distressed , or disaffected persons , to exaggerate their grievances , real or supposed , and to stir them up to acts of outrage , insurrection or rebellion . But this comes evidently into the system of Espionage . By such a mean the superior
in the office may wield his instrument with rery great success . He may form any plot he pleases ; may bring it out at any time that suits his purposes ; may involve in it the names of the most meritorious persons in the state ; may injure their characters and reputation , and obtain , at a very little expense , the merit of putting down a most dangerous rebellion .
The consequences of the system of Espionage being introduced into a country are these : —AH confidence between man and man is gradually undermined . Friendship cannot subsist ; intrigue becomes the general employment . The master fears his servant , for the servant is
either , or is apprehended to be , a traitor . Government suspects and is suspected by every body . As Espionage takes place , all that social intercourse , for which England has been celebrated , vanishes . Adieu to the freedom of the table , to the settling of the interest of the nation or the interests
of a county . The men become idle , silly , frivolous ; fit only to triage a witty speech at a lady ^ s toilette , but incapable of uttering a noble sentiment , or of harbouring within their breasts a generous feeling .
It m \ ist be some time before such a system can be established in England . Our manners and customs are very adverse to it 1 he name of a sj » y carries with it at present something odious and contemptible . Even they , who might be iuclined
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to use them , feel " a horror at such a practice . At the utmost they can be considered only as necessary evils , and it becomes us to pause before we allow this feeling to be annihilated . The necessary
consequence of Espionage is the demoralization , to use another French term novy becoming fashionable among us , of the governors and the governed . Bad as the spies were under the old French regime , it may justly be doubted , whether their guilt was half so great as that of their
employers . Perhaps much of the evils of the French Revolution may be traced to this source ; for the system prevailed , whatever party held the reins of government : and the espions under one party , with very great ease , transferred their services to the next that came into power ; and we may safely predict , that , as long as the system continues , the French will be incapable of enjoying the blessing's of legitimate
government . One evil arising out of the system of Espionage deserves to be noticed , as it is not likely to strike those who have happily lived unacquainted with this system , and government often suffers very considerably from it : —This is the handle it gives to private malice . It cannot be expected that charges will be very accurately examined when the accused is never to be
confronted with his accuser , or , perhaps , never knows him . This happened once to an English gentleman , who , during the American war , was hurried from a town at a considerable distance from Paris , to the Bastille . There he remained six weeks ; but it is to be observed , that he was there treated with all the respect due to a
gentleman , had a good apartment , a plentiful table , and excellent wine . The governor supplied him with books from his library , and he had nothing to complain of but the loss of bis liberty . At thai time , though the two countries were at war , there was that degree of intercourse between them which admitted of a full inqniry into the character of the gentleman . This was
made in the course of about six weeks , and proved satisfactory . The gentleman was released , paid bis compliments to the secretary of state , had full liberty to return to England or reside in France as he pleased , and was assured , that the state had only to regret that he had been put to so much inconvenience . The fact was , that an individual took this method of
gratifying bis malice on an unfounded cause of complaint ; and , wherever this system prevails , many an innocent individual must suffer the pains of unnecessary confinement . These observations have been suggested by the melancholy circumstances in which this country has so unhappily been placed , and the discussions to which they have
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446 State of Public Affairs .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1817, page 446, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2466/page/70/
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