Friends and Enemies: The Underground War between Great Britain and France, 1793-1802
Introduction
This is a history of failure.
Of incompetence, self-interest, inconsequence, disappointment and
cruel twists of fate. So why bother? Perhaps because we cannot appreciate
'winners' without fully understanding the nature of their defeated
adversaries. Because even in failure there is much to admire and
study, courageous acts driven by honour, conviction, skill and daring,
like brave Hector facing invincible Achilles before the walls of
Troy. Perhaps because by analysing the errors of the past we can
avoid them in the future. Because 'losers' too can have a vital impact
on the course of history. The second 'hundred years' war' between
France and Great Britain had already been raging intermittently for
some 90 years when the French Revolution exploded in France. The
war that eventually broke out between Britain and the new French
Republic in 1793 was to take on new and significant dimensions. The
old conflict between rival monarchies was reshaped by the emergence
of the Republic which undermined many of the old 18th Century notions
of conflict, diplomacy and power. Political and social ideology came
to the forefront as both countries were rent by internal divisions
and challenges to the authority of the governments. In this volatile
environment there was considerable scope for espionage and underground
activities, as each country sought to exploit and co-operate with
the disaffected citizens and subjects of the other to discover and
disrupt their plans, exacerbate their weaknesses, win the war and
bring about desired political changes. These efforts proved exceedingly
difficult to undertake successfully but they were a fascinating and
vital aspect of the contest between France and Britain, republican
and royalist, governing and rebel.
While the Revolutionary
and Napoleonic Wars raged for twenty-three years (1792-1815) and
involved all the major states of Europe in espionage and covert actions,
I have chosen to focus on Britain, France and Ireland in 1793-1802.
This is because clandestine activity had a particularly unique place
in the struggles between and within those countries. The distinct
period between the commencement of hostilities in February 1793 and
the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 was one of the most dynamic and significant
in the history of espionage and covert actions in modern Western
Europe and ideologies and forces at work in the countries concerned
necessitated new and enhanced methods of domestic rule, security,
surveillance and investigation.[1]
The purpose of this thesis
is to analyse the various aspects of intelligence and clandestine
operations in this period in order to determine and understand their
nature, the response they engendered, the factors that influenced
their success or failure, and the impact they had on the societies
of France, Britain and Ireland and the course of this crucial period
of history in Western Europe. The focus throughout is on the agents
and their methods.[2] The basic
structure is as follows: we will begin with an analysis of clandestine
operations throughout our period, exploring the composition, context
and aims of the primary participants and governments involved; the
means and methods of agents and information collection; the analysis
of information and the process by which it is turned into intelligence
'product'; and the undertaking of covert actions. The second chapter
will analyse domestic security and counter-intelligence operations.
This will be followed by a case study exploring one particular clandestine
operation of this period – the attempt by the Anglo-Royalists
to secure a monarchist majority in the French parliaments and provincial
administrations via the elections of Germinal Year V, with the intention
of securing sufficient political, military and popular support to
carry out a coup d'état against the Directory in order to
restore the monarchy. We will analyse the various aspects of intelligence
and clandestine operations associated with this agenda. Finally we
will close with some reflections and conclusions on the outcomes
of clandestine operations; the nature and efficacy of the techniques
and methods employed by agents, spymasters and security services;
and the impact these activities had on the social, political and
military history of this period and the future of intelligence operations. The
Appendix contains a list of the major clandestine and security organisations
that operated in France, Britain and Ireland during this period.
It details their areas of operation, leaders, members, agents and
key contacts. It is intended to assist the reader in understanding
the composition and allegiance of the various organisations and agents
referred to in the text.
It is not my intention
in this work to make a moral judgment on whether the motives, methods
and actions of the various clandestine organisations and operators
discussed here were appropriate and reasonable in the circumstances.
Rather as they progress through this study I would encourage the
reader to consider four factors: the justice and motives of a particular
cause; the considerations, care and reasoning that went into the
planning and undertaking of particular operations; the advisability
of a particular course of action in the relevant circumstances; and
the consequences of that course of action. With these considerations
in mind I shall leave it to the reader to draw their own moral conclusions.
This study relies on a
wide variety of sources. As far as possible I have attempted to allow
the voices of the past to speak for themselves, or at least to incorporate
their insights and opinions into my analysis. Unfortunately many
of the relevant primary documents lie unpublished in archives in
Britain, Ireland and France. However I have happily been able to
examine the correspondence and memoirs of some active agents and
statesmen like William Wickham, Theobald Wolfe Tone, Sir Sidney Smith,
Paul Barras and Viscount Castlereagh, and to have had access to some
excellent secondary sources which contain and refer to useful primary
material, such as Fryer's Republic or Restoration in France? which
contains extensive extracts of communications between Wickham and
his senior agent and collaborator Antoine d'André. Wickham's Correspondence provides
us with an excellent insight into the mind and methods of not only
this unique spymaster and covert operator but also his principal
correspondent and director, the British Foreign Minister Lord Grenville.
Castlereagh's Memoirs and Correspondence provides us with
a contemporary perspective from the side of the government, as the
then Chief Secretary for Ireland and his associates strove to monitor
and break up the operations of Irish and British radicals. Barras' Memoirs were
written years after the events they depict, by a man of notoriously
questionable morals determined to defend his reputation. They must
therefore be treated with care but they do give us important details
on the workings of the French Directory. Particularly relevant to
this study is Barras' description of events leading up to the coup
d'état of 18 Fructidor Year V and his interaction with the
police and his own clandestine contacts. Tone's Life is invaluable
in seeking to gain an understanding of the life, mind and motivations
of a late 18th Century agent and rebel.
Numerous secondary works
have been consulted, some with a narrow focus on specific agents,
areas and clandestine operations, and others detailing the wider
socio-political context. Most of the former focus primarily on the
operations themselves, with only Sparrow's Secret Service paying
particular attention to the craft and methods of agents and analysts.[3] Along the
way, I will also occasionally refer to modern intelligence analysts
for guidance, particularly the American experts Allen Dulles and
Abram Shulsky.[4]
Notes:
[1] The struggle between
Great Britain and Republican France of 1793-1802 was a quite different
character to that between Britain and Imperial France which followed
it in 1803-1815. The second phase of the war was a rather more
straightforward affair between two competing nations, with the
French royalists and British and Irish radicals playing a far more
minor role in proceedings.
[2] Those wishing to
read more about the political, military and social history of Western
Europe in this period can consult the myriad works that address
these matters. I refer those particularly interested in the clandestine
operations of the British, French and Irish to the works of Colin
Duckworth, Michael Durey, Marianne Elliott, W. R. Fryer, Jacques
Godechot, Sir John Hall, Maurice Hutt, Oliver Knox, Harvey Mitchell,
Elizabeth Sparrow, Paul Weber and Roger Wells detailed in my bibliography.
[3] See Paul, vicomte
de Barras, Memoirs of Barras, Member of the Directorate,
Volume II, ed. G. Duruy, translated by C. E. Roche, London, Osgood,
McIlvaine & Co., 1895, and Memoirs of Barras, Member of
the Directorate, Volume III, ed. G. Duruy, translated by C.
E. Roche, New York, Harper & Brothers, 1896; John Barrow, The
Life and Correspondence of Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith, G.
C. B., Volume I, London, Richard Bentley, 1848; Richard Stewart,
Viscount Castlereagh, Memoirs and Correspondence of Viscount
Castlereagh, Second Marquess of Londonderry, Volume I, ed.
C. Vane, Marquess of Londonderry, London, Henry Colburn,
1848; W. R. Fryer, Republic or Restoration in France? 1794-7:
The Politics of French Royalism, with particular reference to the
activities of A. B. J. d'André, Manchester, Manchester
University Press, 1965; Edward Howard, Memoirs of Admiral Sir
Sidney Smith, K.C.B., &c., Volume I, London, Richard Bentley,
1839; Elizabeth Sparrow, Secret Service: British Agents in France
1792-1815, Woodbridge, The Boydell Press, 1999; Theobald Wolfe
Tone, Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone, Compiled and arranged by
William Theobald Wolfe Tone, ed. T. Bartlett, Dublin, The Lilliput
Press, 1998; William Wickham, The Correspondence of the Right
Honourable William Wickham from the Year 1794, 2 vols, ed.
W. Wickham, London, Richard Bentley, 1870.
[4] See Allen Dulles, The
Craft of Intelligence, New York, Harper & Row, 1963;
Abram N. Shulsky, Silent Warfare: Understanding the World
of Intelligence, Washington D.C., Brassey's (US), Inc., 1991.
I have also consulted William J. Daugherty, 'The role of covert
action', L. K. Johnson (ed.), Handbook of Intelligence Studies,
London, Routledge, 2007, pp. 279-288; John Hollister Hedley,
'Analysis for strategic intelligence', Handbook of Intelligence
Studies, pp. 211-226; Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen, Spy
Book: The Encyclopedia of Espionage, 2nd Ed., New York, Random
House, 2004; Mark Stout, 'Émigré intelligence reporting:
Sifting fact from fiction', Handbook of Intelligence Studies,
pp. 253-268.
Placed on the Napoleon
Series: January 2011
[ Research
Index | Government
Index
|
Get Involved: