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Beginnings |
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Spies, codes and secret agents have been active in British affairs of state for many centuries. They came to prominence during the reign of Elizabeth I when Britain was torn by religious differences and under constant threat from foreign powers. Mary Queen of Scots virtually signed her own death warrant when correspondence linking her to a plot to overthrow the monarch was intercepted and ciphers in it decrypted by agents loyal to Elizabeth. Cromwell established the first effective postal monopoly in the UK with an Act of Parliament 1653; followed by a further law in 1657 whereby Parliament authorised the opening of selected items of mail under warrant. It was "to discover and prevent many dangerous and wicked Designs ... the Intelligence whereof cannot well be Communicated but by Letter". This practice had ceased by the 1840s when Britain's unchallenged naval superiority and its growing material prosperity encouraged Victorian statesmen to dispense with the need for intercepted information.  |
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