The spy _par excellence_ is one who has in him or in her a decidedly criminal instinct. Men and women of this class make the best spies, from the point of view of their employers; and by reason of this the German system, since Stieber passed out from it, has been more effective in the elucidation of details than of large essentials--something is missing from the moral pervert who makes the best spy, or it may be that there is no longer at the head of the secret-service organisation such a genius as Stieber, who could make his small creatures accomplish large designs. Stieber, Zerniki--one may choose out half a dozen or so of names just as in criminal records one may choose out the names of Peace and Crippen, or even of the Borgias, as capable of great things in crime. But the spies of later days in the German secret service have not been put to great uses, or the temper of the British people would not have been misunderstood to the extent that led to Ireland being looked on as "a revolting province," or the colonies of Britain as only waiting for a chance to escape from British rule. The general work of the spy seems to have degenerated along with the nation that founded the system, down to petty ends and inconsequent results; we have seen, in this present war, that the occupation of Brussels was carried through without a hitch owing to the machine-like perfection of the German spy system--there was cause for congratulation, from a German point of view. But we have seen none of the great coups that made the campaign of 1870 as great a triumph for Stieber as for Bismarck and his royal master. The anti-espionage system of British secret service is worthy of note in connection with the decline of the German system of espionage. In this connection the _Scotsman_ report of the trial of Graves bears quotation, more especially the deposition of Inspector Trench, who described the effects found on Graves at the time of his arrest. "The prisoner, on being arrested at his hotel, had in his possession a doctor's book, apparently empty. This was found, on inspection, to contain two leaves stuck together. In the middle were sentences and figures--a code which had been subsequently deciphered by a process of subtraction from the A.B.C. code. "He also had... cartridge cases of the latest Army pattern. The code-notes contained phrases like `clearing practice,' `have lowered defending nets,' `land fortifications are manned,' etc." Further, Graves had lived in Edinburgh as "a medical student taking his last degree in science," but had not been near any hospital, and had used the paper and envelopes of a well-known English firm for his correspondence, in order to avoid inspection of his letters by the post office.