campaign from Staten Island, he was infinitely
more so now. It was not enough to keep a ceaseless
watch across the East river.... Like every
other commander in history, all through the contest
he came to depend much on intelligence gained
through the'secret service.'"

Stuart, the earliest reliable biographer of Hale,
in writing of spies says: "The exigency of the
American army which we have just described, would
not permit the employment, in the service pro-
posed, of any ordinary soldier, unpracticed in
military observation and without skill as a draughts-
man,--least of all of the common mercenary, to
whom, allured by the hope of a large reward, such
tasks are usually assigned. Accurate estimates of
the numbers of the enemy, of their distribution, of
the form and position of their various encampments,
of their marchings and countermarchings, of the
concentration at one point or another, of the instru-
ments of war, but more than all of their plan of
attack, as derived from the open report or the un-
guarded whispers in camp of officers or men,--
estimates?? of all these things, requiring a quick
eye, a cool head, a practical pencil, military science,
general intelligence, and pliable address, were to
be made. The common soldier would not answer
the purpose, and the mercenary might yield to the

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v?