A British army, as it was,--is,--and ought to be

by James Campbell

As more irregularities are generally committed by soldiers when absent from their corps, either upon duty or otherwise, than at other times; patroles of the police ought therefore to be constantly moving upon the roads in all directions, and should particularly have their eyes upon all guards, and people allowed for the service of the commissariat, either when foraging in collecting supplies of any kind, or in bringing them from the depots in the rear; and this useful corps should also extend their observations, even as far to the rear as the hospital stations more immediately belonging to the army in the field. These various, important, and indispensable duties if properly performed, and their due performance being shown by simple returns or reports, would require a considerable police force; but as I would expect them to be armed and equipped in all respects as dragoons, they could, upon any emergency, be called upon to act as such, and they must, therefore, in no way be looked upon as taken away from the fighting part of the army; by the regulations they would enforce, and by their preventing all straggling of soldiers or followers of the camp in search of plunder or liquor, the army would be rendered considerably more efficient through their exertions. Therefore, to the establishing of such a corps, which ought to be composed of well-conducted and well-paid men, I beg particularly to request attention.

There is a point too much overlooked, or, at least, but little understood in our army, viz. that of employing spies in order to obtain intelligence; and, as I should expect, that the head of the police is a man of ability and penetration, I would recommend that he should be entrusted with the management of this necessary point of service. If it is properly conducted, most useful information may be procured; especially if sufficient means for this purpose are placed at the disposal of a commander of the forces. There are various classes of spies, but I am anxious to be as brief as possible in alluding to them.

1st. Men considered of importance and in high situations, who, through avarice or meanness, yield to corruption. It belongs, however, to the Government of a country to employ such spies, and it is believed that Russia especially has, at this moment, many of them engaged in various countries, and in various ways.

2nd. Men supposed to be respectable in character, priests and intriguing women (I here adopt the words of a French writer), to be almost always found in countries in which war may be carried on; who, through a good use of part of the money, which it may be contrived to remit to them, can procure sometimes valuable information; but the best of such spies are usually found amongst those mentioned, and who are the least liable to raise suspicion.

3rd. Individuals admitted in various ways into the enemy's army—such as servants to general and other officers, sellers of spirits, provisions, and many trifling articles required by soldiers; and some men may through them be induced to desert at particular moments, especially when any important movements are about to take place. Such people can repeat the conversations they may have listened to; they can say pretty correctly where the enemy is in force; what direction he is moving in, as well as what places are occupied by his detachments; but this is generally all that can be looked for from them, their communications being frequently too confused and uncertain to be much relied upon. But some men, for money, as I know from experience, can be found (indeed they offer themselves) who would perform acts that would scarcely be believed, were I to state them.

4th. Intelligent peasants of the country, of whom there are always plenty to be found; but a good many of them should be sent out at one time, under the pretence of selling various articles in the enemy's camp, or cantonments; also to the detachments on his flanks, and lines of communication and operation. Such men should not, however, be employed at any great distance from their homes, as they soon become ignorant of the country and roads.

5th. Good information can often be obtained from prisoners of war of all ranks, if prudently and judiciously questioned by an officer, such as I suppose the head of the police would be; and correct intelligence was even sometimes, to my knowledge, pumped out of our single-minded officers at the out-posts, by the French, during the Peninsular war.

6th. The best and most useful of all spies, are those, who, though known as such, are employed and paid by both parties, according to the value of the information they are able to obtain. It is at the same time prudent, that they should be closely watched by the police, without their being aware of it, whilst they remain with our army; and it is not difficult to deceive them, and thereby make them convey false intelligence to the enemy. It would, however, be very imprudent at any time, to place too much reliance upon the reports of even the best spies. It is, however, an established principle, that every possible information should be extracted from spies, without unguardedly opening the mind to them, which too much zeal or anxiety might sometimes lead us into; and it is always wise to employ for the same object, men unknown to each other, so that they cannot concert between them to deceive. Only one spy should be spoken to at a time, and that in the most secret manner. Little should be said to them; but they ought by every means to be induced to talk much. They should also be led astray by seeming to attach much importance to objects which are little cared about; at the same time it requires much attention, to find out whether one is dealing with double spies or not, for without this knowledge, we must be taking unnecessary trouble, and often acting in the dark. Now, no commander of the forces, nor chief of the staff, could possibly be supposed to enter personally into such transactions, nor could they possibly find time to devote to such minute investigations; but the head of the police, whose duty it would be to make them, in the prudent manner I have suggested, could communicate the result of his perseverance in these respects to either, as he might be directed.

Spies should be well paid, especially when it is ascertained that they have acted faithfully; and Frederick the Great of Prussia, who has always been considered good authority, says in his military instructions to his generals, (a work which should be carefully read by all officers,) "a man, who, in your service, runs the risk of a halter, deserves to be well rewarded."

I beg to apologise for here intruding what may be looked upon as a digression; but mentioning information to be obtained from deserters, has brought to my recollection the extraordinary circumstance—at least I consider it as such—that it should have fallen to my lot, to have had the lieutenant of my company desert to the enemy; the only instance of the kind I ever heard of in the British army. It occurred just before our advancing in pursuit of the French, from what were considered the lines of Torres Vedras. I do not know in what part of Ireland Mr. B—— first saw the light, but he had been sent in early life to Salamanca, to be brought up for the Roman Catholic priesthood. It was, however, I suppose, found that he was unfit for that calling; at least, I understood that he had never been ordained; and having married, some person had most unwarrantably taken it upon himself to recommend him for an ensigncy in the army, for which he was still more unfit than to be a priest, for he was both vulgar in looks and manners; but as he spoke Spanish, and some Portuguese, and announcing himself wherever he went as a good Catholic, he got on, though very ignorant and illiterate, famously, both with the priests and people of Portugal. But he had, on one occasion, very nearly, in that country, come to an untimely end; for having been sent off, in order to get him away from the regiment, with part of the 3rd division's "advanced guard of infamy"—that is to say—the soldiers' wives, whom it was found necessary to send to the rear, in consequence of the depredations they daily committed; these Amazons, headed by a well known character, rose upon him with the most diabolical intentions, as some may remember, for the circumstance was much laughed at at the time, and he only escaped from their clutches, by jumping out of a window, at the risk of breaking his neck.