Washington [was] a man who positively enjoyed reading other people’s mail. And I think we should just face it that Washington was able to tell a lie; and in fact, he told a great many of them and he smiled as he did. … It’s a sign of the times, I think, that I can think only better of him now that I know how adept he was at spying the daylights out of the British. And itself that’s a testament to how much we’ve changed since then, I think, because to the modern mind, not spying on your enemies in the middle of a struggle for survival would be a dereliction of duty on the part of any commander. And in this sense, as in so many others, Washington really was very far ahead of his time. Washington’s brilliance as a spymaster, his natural genius for the job, shines through….
–Alexander Rose, speaking about his book Washington’s Spies.
This spy ring of “lone dogs” — nearly impervious to penetration because they all knew each other from childhood — was run by Washington himself. He was reportedly like a boy with a new toy as he experimented with the invisible ink they concocted, which was impervious to discovery by heat.
Some months back, somebody posted something about using mildly deceptive tactics to help change the mind of a business owner so he’d allow CCW permit holders to carry on his premises. IIRC, Linoge took umbrage at the tactic being beneath the dignity of our civil-rights movement, although I can’t find either the post or his comment, so I could certainly be wrong about that in all number of ways. Still, I think this should make it a bit more difficult to scoff at deception or other dishonorable methods as being unworthy of being harnessed in service of the greater cause.
I believe the post you were looking for is here: http://www.wallsofthecity.net/2009/11/parting_of_ways.html . By way of shortening it, my primary objection with Sebastian’s position is that I adamantly and totally refuse to use the tactics of our opponents in order to secure potential victory for ourselves, whereas he has absolutely no problems adopting them wherever he feels necessary. That is certainly his perogative (and anyone else’s), and he is more than welcome to sacrifice what remains of his integrity however he so desires… I simply will not associate with him in the future. Something tells me he will not mind.
Hmm. Thank you for the link. Somehow I’d missed your extended colloquy with Joe in the comments, which I found very interesting.
In the same C-Span talk quoted above, the author noted that having learned a great deal about the mechanics of espionage from the revolutionary war, Washington almost immediately after becoming President instituted a rather large black budget for espionage purposes. It could have been considered defensive in nature, as Spanish/French/British agents were abundant in the new nation, but the point would be that in peacetime, Washington felt it absolutely necessary to institutionalize lying. I don’t think that particularly compromised his integrity, do you?