The espionage system of the Germans far exceeds that of any other
country in its extent, cost, and organisation. It was thoroughly
exposed after the war with France in 1870, when it was definitely
shown that the German Government had an organisation of over 20,000
paid informers stationed in France, and controlled by one man,
Stieber, for both political and military purposes.
To such completeness were their machinations carried that when Jules
Favre came to Versailles to treat about the surrender of Paris with
the headquarter staff of the German army he was met at the station
by a carriage, of which the coachman was a German spy, and was taken
to lodge in the house which was the actual headquarters of the spy
department. Stieber himself was the valet, recommended to him as
"a thoroughly trustworthy servant." Stieber availed himself of his
position to go through his master's pockets and despatch cases daily,
collecting most valuable data and information for Bismarck.
Somehow, on the surface, suspicion of the German spy methods seemed
to have subsided since that date, although at the time widely known
throughout Europe. But their methods have been steadily elaborated and
carried into practice ever since, not in France alone, but in all the
countries on the Continent, and also in Great Britain.