German Spies in England: An ExposureLe Queux, William
History
German Spies in England: An Exposure
Le Queux, William
Secret service -- Germany; Spies
Remember one highly important fact. It is perfectly easy to-day to
travel from Holland or Denmark to Berlin, and there is no difficulty in
anyone with a British or American passport travelling from this country
to Holland. Some two hundred British and American passports have been
"mislaid"--in plainer language, stolen--by the German authorities. Can
we think for a moment that it would be impossible for the Germans to
find agents quite willing to run, as commercial travellers or what not,
the trivial risk of making the journey from England to Holland, where
their information could be handed over for conveyance to Berlin?
Lody came to England as an American; I have no doubt he could have
gone back to Berlin in the same guise if he had wanted to. We know
perfectly well that every scrap of official news published here finds
its way to Berlin in a very short time--a distinguished British
General a few days ago stated that the German commanders had copies
of the London papers within a few hours of publication. Where, then,
assuming a spy in England has secured some useful information, lies the
difficulty of transmitting it to those who are ready and anxious to
receive it?
Suspected passengers on the steamers, it may be said, can be searched,
and letters found upon them examined. Is it to be imagined that a spy's
reports would be written in copperplate on a large sheet of paper for
all and sundry to read? Need they even be written at all?
Censorship on mails and on cables, and the close examination of
cross-Channel passengers are excellent precautions, but, after all, we
are only locking the door after the horse has been stolen. Admit that
the spy is here, grant that he has got hold of a piece of important
information, and I will wager that he finds means of transmitting it to
his Government, if he possesses an ounce of sense.
The man Louis Trabbaut, sentenced at Marlborough Street, had passed
through the German lines nine times between London and Brussels. More
than this, it has been shown that the Kaiser, since the war began,
has been using a courier _to send letters to London_! On October
8th, Mr. H.L. Reiach, editor of the _Yachting Monthly_, received a
card from Vice-Admiral K. von Eisendecher, who is attached to the
Kaiser's suite, stating that he would no longer subscribe for that
journal. There is no reason, as the _Daily Mail_ pointed out, why this
particular communication should not have been sent by open post in
the ordinary way, but for some reason the Kaiser's Admiral preferred
to use the secret courier service. The letter, written at Karlsruhe,
was evidently brought over by a courier, stamped with an English penny
stamp, and posted in the South-West district of London.
I wonder what else came over by that courier, and, still more, what
went back!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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