[4] The author would not have felt at liberty to mention this gentleman by name except for the fact that his connection with the Secret Service was made public in the Press on the Trebitsch Lincoln affair.
SECRET SERVICE ORGANISATIONS, COMPARISONS, AND INCIDENTALS
ESPIONAGE IN PAST AGES--MODERN BRITISH SECRET SERVICE FOUNDED, 1910--POSSIBLE IMPROVEMENTS--COMPARISONS--JEALOUSIES OF BIG DEPARTMENTS--EXAMPLES OF RECKLESS EXTRAVAGANCE--BUSINESS MEN WANTED--ECONOMIES IN THE SECRET SERVICE--BUNGLING INCOMPETENCE--IMPASSIVENESS OF THE FOREIGN OFFICE--GERMAN WAR METHODS--FRENCH AND DUTCH SECRET SERVICE--MILITARY INTELLIGENCE, B.C.--RISE AND DEVELOPMENT OF GERMAN SECRET SERVICE--THE EFFICIENCY OF SCOTLAND YARD--DETAILS OF GERMAN FOREIGN PROPAGANDA AND EXPENDITURE--BRITISH SECRET SERVICE, ITS COST AND FRUGALITIES--MAJOR HENRI LE CARON--NATHAN HALE--SIMILITUDE OF THE LIFE OF A SECRET SERVICE AGENT.
Not until the reign of Henry VII. and the days of the great Cardinal Wolsey do we hear speak of organised systems of Secret Service. Cromwell encouraged the department, whilst Charles II. seems to have arranged grants for its continuance equivalent to £500,000 per annum. Pitt was a firm supporter of the service, and Canning is said to have paid £20,000 for the treaty of Tilsit.
In earlier times, British Intelligence Agents were attached to the Chancelleries of our Ministers abroad, as is the case to-day with nearly every nation, except our own. Remuneration was given commensurate with the risks and service. But from the 'sixties the pay diminished and the department faded away from being an asset of much general valuable utility.
The present British Secret Service Department was founded about 1910 by an officer, a man of untiring energy, pluck, and perseverance, who has rendered noble service and willing sacrifice. Since its initiation this department seems to have been harassed, attacked, and shot at by petty jealousies, which, during the agony of the crisis of war were ignoble and contemptible in the extreme. An observer behind the scenes can therefore admire the more the men who ignored this and worked on, unheeding all, with but a single thought, and that the welfare of their King and Country.