CABINET SECRETS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3264, 8 July 1911, Page 3

CABINET SECRETS.

HOW THEY ARE REVEALED. “It would bo easier,” Disraeli once deaureii m tue House of Comn.un;-., ••for a -camel to go through the eye of a needle than for prying eyes to penetrate the arena in which iSfcato. secrets are bidder),.’ J And yet Disraeli ought to have known, even without the incredulous laughter that greeted his statement, that he was talking nonsense Of course, State secrets, like murder, “will out,” in spite of every precaution to guard them. It always has been so. and, although the leakage wu.-s never less than in'our time, it probably always will be so, so long as man is human —and curious. NEWSPAPER ‘ ‘SCOOPS. ’ ’ In the old days the practice of stealing State secrets was much commoner and easier than to-day. A century ago, it is said, more than one of the men who used to sweep out the House' of Commons made a snug nest-egg by collecting the torn scraps of paper that littered the floor near the Treasury Bench and giving them to enterprising journalists. By piecing the fragments together many a valuable item of information was found and duly made public. Even locked drawers and double doors are not proof against the determined secret-hunter. Once, at least. a journalist found his way into the Home Secretary’s’ sanctuary, picked a jock, and pulled out a “plum” in the shape of a State document of the highest secret'- and value, which he promptly put in the hands of an editor in exchange for a substantial sum. And, not many years ago, a copying-clerk at the 'Foreign Office took a copy of a very important memorandum on our negotiations with Russia, which came into his hands, and sold it for a large sum to a leading newspaper. Cabinet Ministers themselves even have not always been safe guardians of their o wn secrets. When William IV.. in 1834, “unceremoniously kicked out’ Melbourne and his Cabinet, the fact was kept a profound secret until Brougham chanced to call on the Prime Minister on Iris way home from dinner, and Melbourne told him the news in the greatest confidence. No sooner had Brougam said “good-bye” to Melbourne than off he went, straight to the “Times” office, and. for some inscrutable reason, rt-ld the 'whole story, which was made public next day. A CHEQUE FOR £SOO. Twelve years later, when Sir Robert Peel’s Administration decided to bring in a Bill for the repeal of the Corn Laws, in spite of the Premier's declaration only a few weeks earlier that lie would stick fast by them, it was said that Sidney Herbert went straight to dine with Mrs Norton, a beautiful society hostess, and .allowed the secret to be wheedled out of him. As soon as her last guest had left, the story ran. Mrs Norton drove post-haste 'to the “Times” office and imparted her precious news to the editor in exchange for a cheque for £SOO. As a matter of fact, however, it was Lord Aberdeen, the Foreign Secretary, who “let the cat out of the bag,” within a few hours of the Cabinet decision, by taking the nows to the “Times” editor himself. There is no doubt, however, that Mrs Norton and many another society lady have exercised their charms and fascinations in the discovery of Cabinet secrets, and have made substantial additions to their pin-money by the process. CARELESS MINISTERS. But so varied are the ways in which theso secrets may leak out that the wonder is they contrive to conceal themselves so well. Carelessness on the part of Ministers themselves lias been responsible for many a leakage; as when, in IS2B, Mr. Charles Kerries left on his library table a list of 'Wellington’s new Cabinet, of which lie was to bo a member. A visitor, ushered into ,his library during his absence, saw the list, made a copy of it, and handed it to the “Morning Chronicle” editoj. In another case an important State document was found in a Ministci coat pocket by his valet and appropriated; and in still another memorable case the impress of a high official s letter on an hotel blotting-pad revealed a secret which caused groat consternation, and led to its writer’s withdrawal from public life. Nowadays, since 18S9, the divulgin'- of State secrets is a criminal offence for winch the law provides exemplary punishment. t So far as the printing of important State documents goes, nothing cotnd exceed the care with which their contents are guarded. In the Foreign Office the printing is done exclusively by. an old and trusted compositor in a private, and carefully-guarded room. When it is 'necessary to give the work to one of His Majesty’s printers, as in tile case of the draft of a long Bill, the copy is given in minute sections, not exceeding three lines of type to a large number of compositors. " The arrangement of those .sections in proper order is the duty of a highly respons’hle and trustworthy overseer, who alone knows the contents of the Bill. And the moment the necessary proofs are printed the type is broken up and distributed.