The opinion here expressedthat successes gained through a spy are morecreditable to the skill of a commander than successes in drawn battleswasvery largely held in the last centuryand military writers of great celebrityhave left accounts of the successful use which they made of spies and theirservicesFrederick the Great of Prussiain November 1760published MilitaryInstructions for the use of his Generalswhich were based on a wide practicalknowledge of the matterHe classed spies as 'ordinary spies,'double spies,''spies of distinction,and 'spies by compulsion.By 'double spieshe meantspies who also pretended to be in the service of the side they betrayed;by spies of distinctionhe meant officers of Hussars whose services hefound useful under the peculiar circumstances of an Austrian campaignWhenhe could not procure himself spies among the Austrians owing to the carefulguard which their light troops kept around their campthe idea occurredto himand he acted on it with successof utilizing the suspension of armsthat was customary after a skirmish between Hussarsto make those officersthe means of conducting epistolary correspondence with the officers on theother aide'Spies of compulsionhe explained in this wayWhen you wishto convey false information to an enemyyou take a trustworthy soldier andcompel him to pass to the enemy's camp to represent there all that you wishthe enemy to believeYou also send by him letters to excite the troops todesertionand in the event of its being impossible to obtain informationabout the enemyFrederick prescribes the followingchoose some rich citizenwho has land and a wife and childrenand another mandisguised as his servantor coachmanwho understands the enemy's languageForce the former to takethe latter with him to the enemy's camp to complain of injuries sustained,threatening him that if he fails to bring the man back with him after havingstayed long enough for the desired object his wife and children shall behanged and his house burnt'I was myself,he adds'constrained to haverecourse to this methodand it succeeded.The humanity and good faith ofFrederick the Great have never been celebratedbut how much of these principlessurvive to our own times we can gather from Lord Wolseley's 'Soldier's PocketBook.'The best way,he suggests'to send out a spy is to send a peasantwith a letter written on very thin paperwhich maybe rolled up so tightlyas to be portable in a quill an inch and a half longand this precious quillmay be hidden in the hair or beardor in a hollow at then end of a walkingstickIt is also a good plan to write secret correspondence in lemon juiceacross a newspaper or the leaves of the New TestamentIt is then safe againstdiscoveryand will become legible when held before a fire or near a red-hotironAs a nation,adds Lord Wolseley'we are brought up to feel it a disgraceeven to succeed by falsehoodThe word "spyconveys somethingas repulsive as "slave.We keep hammering along with the convictionthat "honesty is the best policy,and that truth always wins inthe long runThese sentiments do well for a copy-bookbut a man who actsupon them had better sheath his sword for ever.'
One of the most important subjects of which the new Manuals treat is theperson of the enemyThe enemyit is laid downconsists of armed forcesand of the unarmed populationThe first principle of war is that armed forcesas long as they resist may be destroyed by any legitimate meansThe rightof killing an armed man exists only so long as he resistsAs soon as hesubmitshe is entitled to be treated as a prisoner of warQuarter shouldnever be refused to men who surrenderunless they have been guilty of somesuch violation of the customs of war as would of itself expose them to thepenalty of deathand when so guilty they shouldwhenever practicablebetaken prisoners and put upon their trial before being executedas it isseldom justifiable in a combatant to take the law into his own hands againstan unresisting enemyMost of youI imagineare aware that this principle,stated in this broad wayis quite modernMost of us have learntwhen children,touching stories of the refusal of quarter to garrisons that had surrenderedin our avers of succession with FranceMany of us remember Froissart's storyof six citizens of Calais whom Edward III was with difficulty restrainedfrom hanging for the obstinate resistance they had made to the siege of theirtownIn point of factduring this warand the later war of Henry V againstFranceeven when the successful General was disposed to be mercifulhegenerally reserved a certain number of the besiegedthough a small number,for executionWhen Rouen surrendered to Henry V the latter stipulated forthree of the citizens to be left at his disposalof whom two purchased theirlivesbut the third was beheadedWhen the same kingthe year following,was besieging the castle of Montereauhe sent twenty prisoners to treatwith the Governor for a surrenderbut when the Governor refused to treateven to save their livesand whenafter taking leave of their wives andfamiliesthey were escorted back to the English armythe King of Englandordered erectedand had them all hanged in sight of those within the castle.
