n England. England is the one spot on the map of Europe where
an anarchist cannot be laid by the heels unless there is evidence
against him that will stand the test of open court. Anarchists take
advantage of this fact, and plots are hatched in London which are
executed in Paris, Berlin, Petersburg, or Madrid. I know now that this
leniency on the part of the British Government does not arise from
craft, but from their unexplainable devotion to their shibboleth--'The
liberty of the subject.' Time and again France has demanded the
extradition of an anarchist, always to be met with the question,--

'Where is your proof?'

I know many instances where our certainty was absolute, and also cases
where we possessed legal proof as well, but legal proof which, for one
reason or another, we dared not use in public; yet all this had no
effect on the British authorities. They would never give up even the
vilest criminal except on publicly attested legal evidence, and not
even then, if the crime were political.

During my term of office under the French Government, no part of my
duties caused me more anxiety than that which pertained to the
political secret societies. Of course, with a large portion of the
Secret Service fund at my disposal, I was able to buy expert
assistance, and even to get information from anarchists themselves.
This latter device, however, was always more or less unreliable. I
have never yet met an anarchist I could believe on oath, and when one
of them offered to sell exclusive information to the police, we rarely
knew whether he was merely trying to get a few francs to keep himself
from starving, or whether he was giving us false particulars which
would lead us into a trap. I have always regarded our dealings with
nihilists, anarchists, or other secret associations for the
perpetrating of murder as the most dangerous service a detective is
called upon to perform. Yet it is absolutely necessary that the
authorities should know what is going on in these secret conclaves.
There are three methods of getting this intelligence. First,
periodical raids upon the suspected, accompanied by confiscation and
search of all papers found. This method is much in favour with the
Russian police. I have always regarded it as largely futile; first,
because the anarchists are not such fools, speaking generally, as to
commit their purposes to writing; and, second, because it leads to
reprisal. Each raid is usually followed by a