The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-20
DIPLOMATS PERaUISITES.
DIFFICULTIES WHICH THE AMERI-
CAN MINISTER ENCOUNTERS.
Customs of the United States and
Those of Foreign Countries Conn
Dared.


pared.
From the Philadelphia Ledger.
Now that several of the first rate powers
of the congress of Vienna, namely, Great
Britain, France. Germany and Italy, have
raised the rank of their diplomatic repre-
sentatives to the United States from min
istor to ambassador, the United States,
having reciprocated, and several other ma
tons. among which are Austria and Rus
STA, may be said without fear of contra
diction to be contemplating a similar
move, it is most interesting to contemplate
the conditions as they exist in the life of
the diplomat of the United States as COM
pared with those of the representatives of
the several foreign powers in this country.
| Although from the standpoint of commerce
and from the standpoint of size, the United
States have been classified among the
great nations of the earth, those countries
which were represented at the congress of
| Vienna in 1916 have not recognized this
/ country automatically as hrst-class
| power The raising of the rank of our
/ diplomatic representative to ambassador
changes somewhat the aspect of the mat
ter and gives the United States just
| claim among the congress of nations for
a place among the worlds leaders
Along with this raising of the rank in
| four of the greatest countries represented
| at the congress of Vienna, there are certain
| questions which, although they have been
urged year after year ever since the time
| when John Adams was minister to the
| court of st. James, have never yet met
with vigorous response from the congress
of the United States. This, in brief, is a
| matter Of perquisltes and salaries. 1t has
| been for years the public principle of the
| United States to exploit her democracy
| and simplicity among the nations, and II
| is for this reason and for no other that
| the representatives of the United States
| at all or almost all of the great European
| capitals are obliged to draw upon their
| private resources for the payment of many
Obligations incurred in necessary dlplo-
matte functions from which there is no
escape without the displeasure of the FOR
eign office of the country to whom the rep
resentative is accredited.
| Our ambassador to London receives the
| largest salary paid to American amoassa-
| doris, $17,500, the same amount only peinS
| paid to the ambassadors to France, Ger
many, Russia and Mexico. SIR juan
| Pauncefote, the representative of the Brit
| ish government in Washington, which is
considered a smaller diplomatic post, or
| course than that at Paris, Berlin, or 81.
| Peters burg and of course, carries smaller
| emoluments and perquisites, receives Soz,-
| 500 and the house and grounds, which are
| owned by the British government. BE-
| sides this, there are other perquisites al
| lowed for horses and servants, all OF the
| latter being Englishmen, and most of them
| having lived in Washington through the
| administrations of several ministers ana
| ambassadors. The American ambassador
| lives in a house which he rents furnishes.
| This has a disadvantage, in the fact that
| for social purposes every four years makes
/ a change in the American embassy and
| suggests, perhaps, to the average Eng
! lishman the thought that the American
embassy is not permanent institution.
| However this may be, the American am
| bassador does not dare to purchase
| house for the use of an embassy and resi-
dence combined, for fear-a. contingency
most lilSely-that his successor would not
| be willing, or could not afford, even II
| he wished to take it off his hands at the
| end of his administration. Congress.
! however, is not sensitive to appearances
| That Jeffersonian simplicity which char
| acterizes its deliberations is felt in this
| way throughout the world. In France the
| situation is the same. Several men, be-
| cause of the lack of fortunes of their own,
have declined the honor of serving as am
bassadors to Paris, because they knew
that if they did they would return at tho
expiration of their terms bankrupt In
| London the difficulties are perhaps greates
than in Paris If the American ambassa-
dor has large family and the women so
| out into society, each reception is most
expensive to the ambassador.
If the queen holds a drawing room, or
| the Prince of Wales a levee, all of the
members of the diplomatic corps are
| invited and are supposed to be present.
| So great is the necessity for preserving
| the entente cordiale that all of our rep
/ =. 81 -
structed by the Secretary of State, as far
| as may be consistent with their other
| duties and their time, to use all tact and
| discretion in preserving personal friendly
| relations with officers of the government.
! Therefore it is a rare occasion when GER
| tain representatives of the American
| United States embassy do not appear al
| these drawing rooms or levees. If the
ambassador has a large family. and sew
| eral daughters to be presented at court,
| the gowns necessary for the occasion,
| which tell must be of prescribed fash
ion with long train and veil, cost in
| themselves a small fortune.
In addition to this the wife of the am
| bassador is supposed not to appear twice
| at a drawing room in the same court
| gown. Then there are little dinners and
| big dinners, small receptions and brushes
| to be given, in the thought of the pay
| ment for which there should be no misery
| ScrupleS, SuCn as cannot De LOSIereQ by
| the policy of this government. And not
| only is the ambassador and his family af-
| fected by the necessities of the situation,
| but all Of the attaches and their families,
| If they have them, suffer as we'll As a
| matter of fact, only men of means can
| for moment consider the offer of a dip
Iomatic post at any of the great Euro
pean capitals. Some of them are taken
| by men of means with social aspirations.
| and, as men of means are not necessarily
| men versed in the miracles of interna-
tional law or always diplomats in the Eu
| ropean sense of the term, the policy can
| not be considered wise one
In Washington the British embassy is
one Of the finest in the residence portion
Of the city, and was among the first to be
built for the use of foreign representa-
tives. Sir Edward Thornton was British
minister about twenty years ago, and
bought the large corner at N street and
Connecticut avenue. upon which he set
about building the house in the substau-
tial English fashion. Sir Edward Thorn
ton, 1t is said, could have bought the en-
tire block between Connecticut avenue
and Nineteenth street, from N street TO
a..