Spying in the 18th Century

Spying in the 18th Century

Spying certainly has been a strategy employed coyly by the curious (or the interlopers) for many centuries, probably dating back prior to recorded history. And interestingly, the craft of spying has not always been limited to the military. In this paper spying in 18th Century Europe is reviewed from different angles. The 18th Century spying that George Washington engaged in is also presented.

18th Century Spying in Europe

An article in the New Scientist (Harris, 1986) explains that spying was one of the activities brought on by the Industrial Revolution. The attitude of those Europeans that had designed and innovated technology was that anyone trying to steal their ideas should be punished, or even killed.

As technology emerged in England, Harris writes, "…firms endeavored, by fair means or foul, to obtain the new ideas and processes of others" (42). For example, when James Watt invented the steam engine (in the United States), the actual technology was obtained "…honestly by mines or other enterprises who paid a license fee to the firm of Boulton and Watt," Harris reports. However, thanks to the "connivance of the ironmaster John Wilkinson," there were companies that obtained the details on how to build a steam engine -- or who bought "pirated" engines -- through stealing and spying (Harris, 42).

Meanwhile in the 18th Century in Europe, there was no contest between Britain and France in the spying context because the British "morality" supposedly prevented England from spying, Harris explains (42). However, while it is know that "…foreigners ruthlessly spied on Britain," and the author presents some "celebrated instances" of industrial spying, the truth is that Britain also spied -- acting with "as little scruple as any other nation" -- when Britain wished to obtain foreign technology "badly enough" (Harris, 42).

An example of spying that led to Britain's gaining the advanced use of technology was when Thomas Lombe went to Italy to covertly obtain "…Italian silk throwing methods" (Harris, 42). Actually Lombe built three weaving machines in England that had never been seen in England prior to Lombe's development; one was to wind raw silk, another spun the silk, and the third machine twisted the silk. Critics later claimed that he invented these machines "…based on a machine… used in Italy since the early part of the 17th Century" (Spartacus Educational).

While Lombe and his brother got rich from his "inventions" (and he employed more than three hundred workers in his silk factory in Derby, UK), the Italians were so outraged that he had spied on them and had "…stolen their invention… they sent a woman to kill the men" (Spartacus Educational). Brother John Lombe died in 1722 from an apparent poisoning (Spartacus Educational).

Another example of the British spying was when British spies engaged in "…seducing… French workmen away from the great factory of Saint Gobain in the 1770s"; the purpose of this activity was to "…obtain French methods of making cast plate glass," Harris writes (42). Were there laws against pilfering technology secrets through industrial intelligence? Harris notes that the first legislation in England was written into law in 1719. Later additional laws were enacted to "…cover a wide range of trades" and by the end of the 18th Century British laws made it illegal to "…export machines, tools and drawings" from foreign sources (Harris, 42).

The initial laws in England were aimed at preventing "…skilled workmen from being suborned [bribed] into emigrating, either by foreigners or by their British collaborators" (Harris, 42). The attitude in the legal community in England at that time was aggressively anti-spying and elected officials were bitterly opposed to the pirating of technology and the bribing of workers to share their secrets. Bails and fines were "surprisingly…high," Harris writes (42); and if it could be proved that a workman had been recruited in order to steal industrial secrets the fine was 500 British Pounds per workman.

One of the world's very first "industrial espionage agents" was said to be John Holker, who was a Jacobite officer recruited by the French government in 1755 and given the title, "Inspector General of Foreign Manufacturers" (Harris, 43). The assignment given to Holker was to "obtain English technology for France," and to supervise the operators of this new technology once it was brought to France (Harris, 43).

It wasn't always a matter of stealing the designs or the parts for a specific technology, Harris explains: "…the arts never pass by writing from one country to another," he quotes from a French official writing in 1752. "The eye and practice alone train men in these activities" (Harris, 43).

In 18th Century Italy Pope Innocent XII had set up a hospice in Laterano for the poor, and the Pope instituted reforms that were designed to "…convince the wealthy to give up direct almsgiving and contribute only to the official collectors" (Grell, et al., 2004, p. 255). In other words, there was an attitude against panhandlers profiting from begging in the streets. Indeed, those with financial means (if they followed the rules) would not be giving directly to beggars, but instead a network would be set up so the wealthy could contribute to a "hospice" where the poor were locked up and needed to learn trades. Hence, some of the poor would be released to their homes. And "…the poor were encouraged to spy on one another and denounce those who cheated" (Grell, 256).

Cheating in this instance meant taking money directly from wealthy people instead of using the network set up. Spies reported on cheaters, and those spies, "…if eligible for relief, would receive the benefits denied to the defrauding poor" (Grell, 256). So it paid the poor to spy on other poor people who were caught asking for handouts on the street.

Meanwhile humans weren't the only spies in 18th Century Europe. According to Claudia Miclaus writing in Buzzle, "…Parrots have been largely used [as spies] in the 18th Century Europe, particularly in France" (Miclaus, 2011, p. 2). Parrots were popular pets during that time period, and had a "power of speech" that made them useful for people who needed to "…fulfill their desire of spying on others" (Miclaus, p. 2).

George Washington and Spying

There is no doubt whatever that George Washington's attitude was to use whatever spies he could to give him an advantage over the enemy. If a contemporary or politician disagreed with Washington on strategy, the General went about his business as best he knew how, and that included spying on the enemy. Entire books have been published based on the use of spies that Washington employed. In the book, Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring, in 1776 General Washington and his troops needed information about what the British were going to do; were they going to attack New York? Washington sent a spy into the British camp (named Lawrence Mascoll) on August 23, and Mascoll brought back "…useful intelligence" including the news that "…Tories on the island [Long Island] are very illy treated lately" and that the British would attack New Jersey" (Rose, 2006). That intelligence turned out to be incorrect.