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    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 .

• Citation
  • 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/