I recounted all this at the time in a private lecture to officers,
illustrated with lantern slides and maps, as a military problem which
would be interesting to work out on the actual ground, and it was not
really until the report of this leaked into the papers that I realised
how nearly I had "touched the spot." For, apart from the various
indignant questions with which the Secretary of State for War was
badgered in the House of Commons on my account, I was assailed with
letters from Germany of most violent abuse from various quarters, high
and low, which showed me that I had gone nearer the truth than I had
even suspected.
"You are but a brown-paper general," said one, "and if you think that
by your foolish talk you are to frighten us from coming, you are not
right."
FIELD SPIES.
It is difficult to say where exactly a spy's work ends in war, and
that of a scout begins, except that, as a rule, the first is carried
out in disguise.
The scout is looked up to as a brave man, and his expedients for
gaining information are thought wonderfully clever, so long as he
remains in uniform. If he goes a bit further, and finds that he can
get his information better by adopting a disguise--even at the greater
risk to himself through the certainty of being shot if he is found
out--then he is looked down upon as a "despicable spy." I don't see
the justice of it myself.
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