German Spies in England: An Exposure

by William Le Queux

The truth seems to be that as regards the military spy in time of war, popular opinion stands in need of revision. In the face of the instances quoted, it cannot be fairly said that the military spy is necessarily a man of dishonour. The spy and the revolutionary, in some respects, fall under the same category. If they succeed, well and good; if they fail, they pay the inevitable penalty, and no mercy is shown them. Yet the revolutionary as well as the spy may be a person of blameless honour.

As a matter of fact, the Germans themselves—whose sense of honour no one will regard as being excessively nice—seem to recognise the distinction between the military spy and the wretched agents of espionage, of whom they have made abundant use, who in times of peace, work, and can only work, by abusing the hospitality of the nation among whom they live, and by tempting men to betray their honour and their country's secrets. The Japanese, too, one of the proudest of nations, and with a code of honour as strict as any in the world, have recognised that there is nothing essentially dishonourable about the military spy. During the war with Russia, Mr. Douglas Story relates, they captured a Russian who was spying disguised as a Chinaman. They shot him, of course, but they afterwards sent into the Russian lines a message in which they hailed the spy as a brave man, and expressed the hope that the Russian army held many others equally brave.

Perhaps the most remarkable spy case on record is that of Major André, which aroused the fiercest indignation during the American War of Independence. André, who was born in London in 1751, joined the British Army in Canada, and became aide-de-camp to General Clinton. Benedict Arnold, an American commandant, had undertaken to surrender to the British forces a fortress on the Hudson River, and André was sent by Clinton to make the necessary arrangements.

On the night of September 20th, 1780, Arnold and André met at a place called Haverstraw, on the Hudson River. Then André changed his uniform for plain clothes, and attempted to pass through the American lines by means of a passport given him by Arnold in the name of John Anderson. As he was approaching the British lines, however, he was captured by a patrol of the enemy, who handed him over to the American military authorities.

Washington at once convened a board of officers, who found André guilty of espionage, and declared that he ought to be put to death. Curiously enough, André himself did not protest against this sentence; all that he asked was that he should be shot instead of suffering the ignominious death of hanging. This request, however, was refused, and, accordingly, he was hanged on October 2nd, 1780.

The case created an uproar in England. The essence of spying is that the spy shall be caught while seeking information, and André was not thus caught. The Americans contended that so long as he was captured before he had returned to his own lines he was to be regarded as a spy, and, therefore, liable to condemnation. Many people in England, and elsewhere, regarded André as a martyr. George III. granted a pension to his mother, a baronetcy was conferred on his brother, and, in 1821, his remains were allowed to be exhumed, and were brought to England and buried in Westminster Abbey!

It is most important to recognise the distinction between spying, properly so called, and "war treason." The inhabitants of an occupied territory do not owe any allegiance to an invader, but they do owe him the duty of remaining quiet and abstaining from acts which might endanger his safety or success. They are subject to his martial law regulations, and, under certain circumstances, they may be guilty of war treason. War treason has been defined by the Germans as:—

"The act of damaging or imperilling the enemy's power by deceit, or by the transmission of messages to the national army on the subject of the position, movements, plans, etc., of the occupant, irrespective of whether the means by which the sender has come into the possession of the information be legitimate or illegitimate (e.g., by espionage)."

It is, of course, regarded as an act of perfidy when a person whose rights as a non-combatant have been regarded abuses his position to render aid to the national army. Non-combatants, save when the "levy in mass" has been put in force, have no right, it is considered, to meddle in any way with the operations of the contending armies.

Bearers of despatches, whether military or civilian, are not spies so long as they work openly. During the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck contended that all who attempted to pass out of Paris by balloon were spies, and should be treated as such, and though those who were caught were not put to death, they were very harshly treated. He was, undoubtedly, wrong under international law as recognised at the present day.