Recently I was re-reading Emma and was struck by the character of Jane Fairfax—how she is held up as this example of feminine virtue and accomplishment, but still remains a mystery.  I was trying to think of comparable characters in Austen’s other novels and I hit upon another Jane: Jane Bennet.  Like Jane Fairfax, Jane Bennet is described as beautiful, well-spoken, and amiable.  The two Janes also share a certain inscrutability; other characters frequently have difficulty discerning their true feelings.

Both Janes also serve as foils for the main characters of their books.  Jane Fairfax is held up as an example of all the feminine virtue that everyone believes Emma cannot achieve—including Emma herself.  Jane is endlessly patient and kind, far more accomplished at the pianoforte, and well-educated.  Emma actually admits to herself that jealousy prevents her from becoming better friends with Jane.  Similarly, Jane Bennet contrasts with Elizabeth.  She is patient and kind—and tends to think well of everyone.  She is not prone to the kind of emotional outbursts Elizabeth displays during the proposal scene at Hunsford.

Interestingly, both Janes suffer because of their mild natures.  Jane Fairfax allows herself to be talked into a secret engagement and then must suffer from the secrecy.  It torments her so much that she actually falls ill.  Jane Bennet loses Mr. Bingley in part because his friends do not believe she is really in love.  P&P makes it clear that Jane suffers greatly, although she tries to hide her pain from her family. Austen seems to admire such characters, but she also sees the problems inherent in being too good and too passive.

Of course, there is a third Jane in the equation: Jane Austen.  What are we to make of the fact that she gave her own name to these two exemplars of feminine virtue?  It could simply be a convenience.  After all, there are also a number of characters named Anne and Mary throughout her books.  But so many of Austen’s other choices are deliberate, it’s hard to believe that one is random.  It could be that Jane Austen saw herself in these two Janes, but her letters suggest that sees herself as witty and flawed.  In other words, she more clearly resembles Elizabeth and Emma than either Jane.

It’s impossible to think of the name Jane without thinking of the phrase “plain Jane,” and perhaps Austen held something of that view about the name.  Her female protagonists often have longer or fancier names:  Elinor, Marianne, Catherine, Fanny, Elizabeth, Emma.  Perhaps she was contrasting these flawed but fascinating figures with the more perfect but also more generic Janes.  It is certainly true that Austen’s heroines go on more interesting journeys than their Jane colleagues.

This is the second in my two-part series about the secret service in the British Alien Office, the country’s primary espionage agency during its conflicts with France.

In addition to handling international espionage, the Alien Office was also responsible for suppressing domestic insurrection and sometimes charged people with sedition just because they expressed anti-government sentiments.  They did thwart one actual domestic insurrection: an incipient Irish rebellion led by agents supported by the French government.  The secret service placed agents in Ireland to infiltrate the organization. This enabled them to arrest all of the rebellion’s leaders in 1798 before the event took place and represented one of the office’s greatest success.

In 1800 the secret service helped one faction of the French royalists form the “English Committee” in Paris. The Committee was responsible for several assassination attempts on Napoleon’s life—the most famous of which was the Rue Nicaise bombing on Christmas Eve, 1800.  One of the Committee’s most successful agents was a woman, Madame Williams.  An Englishman’s widow who made multiple Channel crossings, some disguised as a sailor, Williams was never captured or apparently even suspected of being a spy.  By 1803 the Committee had detailed plans in place for Napoleon’s kidnapping or assassination.  These plans almost certainly could not have remained in place without the tacit complicity of Fouche, the well-known minister of police in Paris.

Napoleon had planted agents of his own.  One double agent arrived in England with his own false plans for overthrowing the French government.  Aware of the ruse, the British government created an elaborate counter plan that was designed to fool the French authorities into believing the British had fallen for their trick.  For months they created correspondence and moved agents around Europe with the purpose of deceiving Napoleon.

The backbone of the British plan for restoring the monarchy was a group of French generals who had pledged themselves and their troops to the royalist cause.  In 1804 some of the French generals were discovered, arrested, and imprisoned.  Savary, the chief of Napoleon’s personal guard, was charged with Investigating the extent of the treason.  He visited the home of a recently discovered traitor along the Channel coast and discovered early drafts of reports that he himself had given to the Emperor.  He realized then that the information in the reports he had been giving had been authored by the British Alien Office.

Eventually the secret service ran into trouble because it did not produce results. The office spent vast sums of money but was unable to bring about a revolution within France. William Wickham, the director of the office, was accused of misusing government funds—an accusation he felt he could not refute without revealing government secrets—and impeached.  The secret service continued its activities, but with a reduced scope and budget.

Ultimately, the suppression of the Irish rebellion remained the office’s greatest success.  It is difficult to say to what extent the secret service’s efforts helped to bring about Napoleon’s eventual demise since it is the nature of espionage to have unseen effects.  Most likely the agency’s efforts helped to sow the seeds that eventually led to many French citizens to switch to the royalist cause, but at the time eventual success was attributed to diplomacy and conventional warfare.  It is clear, however, that the secret service’s activities would have been more successful if it were not for the infighting and different factions working at cross purposes within the royalist cause.

I am Author of the Month at From Pemberley to Milton! Find out about the inspiration behind the plot for The Secrets of Darcy and Elizabeth — and get some hints about the story for my next P&P variation! Plus a Giveaway for The Secrets of Darcy and Elizabeth and When Mary Met the Colonel!

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