Essay on "18th Century European"

Essay 4 pages (1414 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

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… READ MORE

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