The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1878-08-01
Diplomatic Etiquette.

A hundred years ago q meeting of
Congress like that of Berlin would
have been almost impossible, owing to
the disputes which must have arisen be-
tween the Plenipotentiaries about pre-
cedency. Until the Congress of Vienna
put an end to these squabbles once and
for all by framing simple and sensible
rule which reduced precedence to a
question of seniority, or sometimes of
alphabetical order, diplomatists spent
most of their time in grumbling about
sights they had received from one
another. Some of these Sights were
intentional, others arose from accident.
Lord Stair, while Ambassador to the
Court of Louis XIV, was overtaken one
day, as he was going from Paris to Yer
sailles, by the coach of the Spanish Am
bassador. His coachman shouted to the
driver on the other box to slacken speed,
because it was grave breach of man
ners that one envoy should outstrip
another; but the Spaniard, who seems
to have had the best team, drove by
boorshly, whereon regular "bump-
ing" race ensued, the English coach
man making deliberate attempts to pole
the coach of his Spanish Excellency.
In the upshot the Spanish Ambassador
had to make sort Of excuse to Lord
Stair. alleging that his coachman did
not understand English; but probably
he was pleased at the triumph which he
owed to his horses legs. The Spanish
diplomatists were always a naughty and
quarrelsome set, who were never con-
tent to take the second place when the
first could be had by fnessing or push
ing. Armed encounters between the
retinues Of rival ministers used to be of
frequent occurrence, and the broken
heads which resulted led to intermin-
able exchanges of diplomatic notes.
During the reign of Louis XIV the SER
wants of the French Ambassador had
free fight outside st. Peters one Easter
Sunday, with those of the Spanish
Ambassador; and it was the latter who
got the best of it. Having driven the
Frenchman from the piazza, they upset
the ambassadorial coach, cut the traces
and turned the horses loose, after hack
ing their tails of-a barbarous as well
as insulting outrage. The Pope had to
cat uuiuuic PIC OftI IulS dudlI, IOr Cne
Grand Monarque was furious and talked
Of sending an expedition to Rome unless
reparation was done him. Reparation
consisted in those times in handing over
the culprit servants of one embassy to
the tender mercies of the ambassador
who had been aggrieved, and this
mighty parsonage would generally cause
them to be soundly whipped in his
courtyard. But it was seldom that the
real culprits got the whipping, for am
bassadors naturally felt kindly towards
the menials who had done battle in their
honor. Their usual course was to ap-
ply to the Government to which they
were accredited for loan of prisoners
from some common Jail, whom they
would dress up in their liveries and
send to be beaten, or else they would
hire rogues who consented to be whip
ped for gratuity. Either arrange
ment was winked at; for then, as now,
a slight put on an ambassadors livery
was considered as offered to the ambassa-
dor himself. As late as 1S46 the French
Minister at Madrid, writing to M.
Guizot about an assault which his
cbasseur had suffered from Spanish
policeman, said feelingly: 81 received
a kick in the person of my servant"