GERMAN SPY MANIA.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1350, 30 January 1912, Page 8

GERMAN SPY MANIA.

FEAR OF HOME-BRED TRAITORS. A good many people must havo wondered during tno past few days (soys the London "Morning Post" of J 21), at .the remarkable outbreak of feeling iu Germany to which the rccent trial gave rise. They will havo remembered at least two cases when Gernian spies or alleged spies were caught in England, ami havo reflected that' on tho=e occasions, in spite of n good deal of newspaper headlining, the British public refused to be very much impressed, or at any rato_ to allow itself to becomo excited. AYhy should there be so great a Jilferpnce? With regard to tho latest German outbreak, a very probable explanation is,that the opportunity was taken to exploit tho incident for all it was worth for electioneering purposes. We . must be content to believo that the evidence justified tho condemnation of the men as spies, though it is open to us to doubt whether the British Government was responsible, as alleged, for their activity. But wirepulling for electioneering purposes is not always' so remarkably successful as it would appear to liaye been in the present tnslauce, so that a further explanation would seem necessary. It- may probably be'found in the fact that all the men recently condemned for the attempted betrayal of German Government secrets were Germans. In other words, it was not the fear of tho foreign spy, but of tho homebred traitor, which caused tho excitement. Wo have not recently had any such unpalatable experience, and it is to be hoped that wo may not have. 'How greatly that fear can stir a nation was made clear in France by the history of the unhappy Dreyfus case. There is, however, a very good reason for believing that all the spies recently caught in both countries were "free lances," men who thought'that if they could succecd in getting hold of any valuable information they would improve their fortunes thereby. The reason for believing this is that, as far as we know from history, when a Government wishes to employ a spy, it takes very good care fa send an expert, who will not bo caught, and not an amateur, who probably will bo. None of the recent exponents of the art would seem to have been up to what we may assume to -bo Government standard. Wo have, for instance, the history of the Duo de Choiseul's spy, Colonel' Beville, who was employed in England after the Seven Yeats War, and of the Count de Parades during the War of American Independence, to guide us. Each of those men succeeded in covering a great deal of ground, and in collecting a vast amount of information, without being found out. Fortunately, information pained in this way is severely dig. countod; for experience shows that a spy's employers aro never inclined to trust him overmuch. There is always tho suspicion that he, may bo exaggerating 111 order; to .prove how: well the labourer is worthy of'his hire.