St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-04
AN ASPIRING DIPLOMAT

Announcer American minister 10 for
eign power has been making an ass of
himself. Emuious, perhaps, OF the
notoriety achieved by ex- Minister Ste
venS, Henry NJ. Smythe-who is not. be
1t noted, member of the omnipresent
Smith family-haS been sticking his
nose into other peoples business. and
has had it tweaked i'll consequence.
Unlike Stevens. Smythe was not
relic Of a former administration. He
was appointed to the position he now
holds as minister resident and consul
general to Hayti. by President Cleve-
land, and it is very evident that the
president has cause to regret his action
and will take early occasion to repair
his error by commanding Mr.. Smythe
to retire from the diplomatic SERVES of
the United Suites at his earliest con-
venience-to stay not upon the order of
his going, but go at once.
Mr. Smythe, like most other Ameri-
cans, has ideas of his own relative to the
manner in which governments should
I be administered. Like other Americans,
too, he does not wholly approve of the
conduct of President Hippolyte;a who
rules over the black republic in much
the same style as any other semi.bar-
barrie potentate might exercise author.
-lty. But Mr.. Smyttie did not. like most
other Americans. follow the advice of
Ben Franklin, "Mind your own bust
ness" Perhaps he thought, as Stevens
thought, that ii was the business Of a
foreign diplomat to see that the govern.
ment to which he was accredited was
conducted upon the approved American
model. At any rate, he took President
Hippolyte to task for many sins of
which he had been guilty-sins Of omis-
sion and commissieu-and advised him
to mend his ways. He Furthermore
offered to be the guide, philosopher and
friend, If he would but permit him, and
suggested that if the president would
invite him to dine they might discuss
the condition of affairs over tine wine
and walnutS.
President Hippolyte is not the most
amiable man in the world. even after he
has dIned, and has been known to order
his army of breectl-clouted warriors to
do battle against those who have Offend
ed his dignity and inaugurate wal of
determination. He was not in a friend
ly mood when the American min-
listers note reached him. He had taken
little too much rum the night before
the genuine stuff, imported direct from
the nelghboring island of Jamaica-and
was as ill-natured as a bear with sore
foot. To say that he was furious does
not express it. He at first thought of
ordering the decapitation of the otficious
official; then Of declaring war against
the government that had sent such a
fool to represent it; but finally con-
Guided that the best plan would be to
inform the Washington government
that Mr.. Smythe was persona non grata
He didn't exactly know the meaning of
the words, but they sounded we'll, and
had been used on like occasions before,
and ne would run the risk. 1t was not
as bad, at any rate, as to declare that
the minister had the itch, or was affiict-
ed with lumpy Jaw or hog cholera 1t
was diplomatic, however, and that was
sufficient. And so Mr.. Smythe, just
entered upon diplomatic career that
might have been brilliant and profitable,
sees his young ambitions nipped In the
bud. In the game of diplomacy he finds
himself in the discard.
Shakespeare says something about
vauiting ambition, which ''oerleaps
itself and falls on t'other side" MIR.
Smythe must have been filled to over
flowing with this sort of ambition. The
Haytian capital was very poor starting
place for man who wished to set the
world on fire with his diplomatic genius:
but,poor as it was, it was something, for
it was a start. Did not Grant rise from
the rank of second lieutenant in an in
different regiment to general and COM
mander-in-chief of all the armies of the
United States? And why might not
Smythe, minister to an obscure black
republic, ultimately reach the very pin
nacle of fame in the domain of diploma
cY, and take his place alongside such
men as Seward, and Fish, and Hamilton.
not to mention Gortschakoff, Bismarck
and Dufferin?
But Notwithstanding Mr.. Smythe's
ambitions. he is evidently misfit in his
present position, and ought to be re-
called.