THE SPY SYSTEM OF GERMANY.

Kumara Times, Issue 851, 23 June 1879, Page 4

THE SPY SYSTEM OF GERMANY.

[LONDON GLOBE.] The ominous reports of an alleged treasonable communication of important military secrets to a foreign Power have produced quite a sensation. Strange to say, the Government, always ready to contradict even the vaguest rumors as soon as they cast the least discredit on any of its officials, has hitherto abstaiued from referring to the deplorable subject. The only paper which, so far as I know, has published a denial of the current statements is the Tagblatt, which does not, however, enjoy such authority as to set at rest the mis-givings generally felt. The person said to have been grossly maligned is a Saxon officer, who, on hearing of the grave accusation laid to his charged, requested a thorough investigation into hia conduct, which, according to the above-mentioned paper, resulted in establishing his entire innocence. He intends proceeding with energy against his defamers, who certainly deserve severe punishment if their calumnies are proved to 1 be'without foundation. lamat a loss to conceive how these disreputable accounts, so openly discussed, not only among officers,: but even in political circlesat large, can have been propagated fprtanch a length of time without immediately meeting with a categorical disavowal. The Saxon Minister of War, who lately passed through .Berlin, appears to have had an audience of the Emperor, to whom he minutely explained the whole matter. If the Saxon Major, so wickedly slandered,Succeeds in bringing to jusfice his accusers, we shall probably be enabled to state the origin of the base attacks to which he has been subjected. As the pretended treachery was compared with the criminal-proceedings of Baron Erti, the Austrian lieutenant, who is now undergoing a long term of imprisonment in expiration of his unpardonable offence, it. will, perhaps, be interesting to hear that the German General Staff has since that time thoroughly revised its method for the acquisition of secret information respecting the organisation and defieibiency of foreign armies. Previous to the impeachment -of Baron Erti, who seems. to have been closely connected with, if not incited to his treason by the then military representative of the Gertaarr Government in Vienna, the military plenipotentiaries accredited abroad were the chief organs by which the Cabinet obtained the information. These attaches having exposed themselves to reproaches so detrimental to their honor as gentlemen, they were forbidden to engage in any transactions which might injure their personal reputation. As the Government is still extremely well acquainted with all 'the particulars of foreign armies, it is perfectly obvious that this intelligence is procured by means of an elaborate system of espionage. This supposition is confirmed to me on good authority. Numerous secret agents, having no official character whatever, and with whom, on detection, any connection might without hesitation be disclaimed, are now actively employed in ferreting out the secrets, the disclosure of which is considered in any way desireable. The Bpieß, who, I regret to own, are almost exclusively natives of the country betrayed by them, receive their instructions directly from head quarters, and are not known even to the diplomatic representatives of the Empire.