Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-07-22
The piplomatio servloe.
watterson in Courier Journal.

NhllbThOH III NOuIlCA OOhlhais
Our minister in London having no rank
or title and very scanty pay, stands al
most at the foot of the diplomatic column.
II he Is popular in society he must OBJ
tain his popularity somewhat at the eX-
pense of his country. He must pander TO
the aristocracy, and instead of standing
upon his simple republican dignity, the
position of his nation and the weight OF
his character, he must and does more or
less become turf-hunter and toady. A
man with such worldwide fame as Mr..
Lowell, backed by the highest degree of
learning an English university can confer,
was censured and Justly censured at
home for his English leanings;
and yet even Mr.. Lowell would have
found it hard to get on here
il he had been less English
and more American. How could it be
with men not so distinguished or not dis
tinguished at all? Our present minister
will forgive me for saying it, but his pop
ularity, which is conceded, springs from
the fact that, being a smart New England
er, with the ready adaptability of the
Yankee, he fell in with prevailing modes
and forms, which, well enough in them
selves, lure one unconsciously away from
the duties for which alone an envoy is
sent abroad--the decorous yet firm and
Watchful guardianship of the interests OF
his country and his countrymen. These
are not always--indeed they are rarely
compatible with the demands of society
and the preiudices Of the ruling class,
| and In this latter case the minister must
be as great and as strong man as Charles
Francis Adams to rise to the occasion.
do not mean that the American min
lister in London should wrap the Ameri-
can flag about him and perform. do not
mean that he should stick his legs In q
pair of Irish iack-boots and whoop up
the boys. But do say that popularity
In England for minister Of the United
States means the subordlnation OF Ameri-
can to British ideas, and the adoption by
the minister of complete British outht'
Mr. Phelps showed that he had done this,
or was seeking to do it, when he tickled
the Tories by the,Iconceit that nobody in
America but riff-raff of demagogues,
seeking the Irish vote, sympathized with
Mr., Gladstone in his home-rule fight, and
then, thinking to reinstate himself in the
good graces of the riff-raff, our genial
but inexperienced representative hurries
down to the foot-lights to preside at a
midnight supper given in theater In
honor of q variety clog dancer.
Into such inconsistencies as these does
unassured position lead the best OF men,
and, in the very nature of the case, the
position of the American minister In
London is unassured. Meanwhile, the
government from which he is sent is the
greatest on earth and the natural rival oil
England, requiring here not popular
man in society but strong man In al
fairs.
OF course what is said here OF England
may be said with equal, or greater, force
of the other European monarchies. They
are all hostile to us. Our representative
must ever be at disadvantage. Aus
tria spat In the face Of an Ameri-
can woman because she was Jewess'
Yet It would have made faces be.
hind the back Of her husband II
she had not been Jewess and
he had been technically accepted as min
lister. AS said before, we do not need O
diplomatic establishment in any Of these
capitals. The suite Of hired apartments
which 20 by the name OF the American le'
cation, has been time out OF mind but q
SYNONYM for hunkeydom, and should be
called the snob office. Much OF the kind
OF work that is done must be done by
secretaries and attaches. We have no