The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-11-21
TEMPERATURES.
COMMUNICATIVE FORMER MIN

COMNUNICATIy FORMER MIN
IsTERS.
The long line Of presidents that
keeps padlocked the lips of our foreign
representatives after their services
have been dispensed with and they
have retired from their eminence to the
comparative insignificance of private
citizenship has been shattered by Mr..
Taylor, who lately left the post of min
lister to Spain, and by Mr.. Terrill. who
also recently ceased attending to the
! interests Of the United States about the
bed of Europes Sick Man" Each of
them has contributed to the pages Of
magazines articles giving the public
information acquired by them in, of
course, their official capacity, and in
Mr. Taylors case, accompanying it
with an expression of his individual
ment should pursue towards Spain and
Cuba. Naturally, this innovation has
attracted q wide attention and com
ment, the latter, among papers not of
the party faith of these gentlemen,
taking on an acrimonious flavor They
are accused of having committed Il
grave and objectionable offense against
the canons of diplomacy
That they have offended against
precedent goes without saying. That
they have exercised anything more
than their rights cannot be .estab-
lished. Each reveals zot5Ing that the
published blue books do not contain.
I Neither exposes anything that is as
yet among those venerable and moss
grown humbugs known as state Sc
crets. Each has merely given to the
public entertaining narratives of some
of the things he saw while abroad,
made possibly more interesting because
of the official glasses through which
he viewed them. If information is
needed by the general public to permit
more accurate judgment of our foreign
relations, it would seem as if such
knowledge can come from no more
authentic source than the gentlemen
who have represented our country in
the particular COUNTRIES, and whose
opportunities for hearing and seeing
were certainly superior to those of the
ordinary tourist, or even of that su-
perior being, the special correspond
ent Of our newspapers.
But this innovation opens a wider
question. The crushing of the Shell
of precedent, which has hitherto kept
concealed from the public all knowl-
edge having any character of RELIABLE
ity of our relations with countries with
which difficulties have arisen, suggests
the question whether, in republic,
among self-governing people, there
should be any state secrets" what
ever. Why should not the public be
Informed from day to day of what the
administration of it's foreign affairs
is doing? Who is more interested ?
Who have a greater interest? If trou-
bles evolve war, it is the people who
must furnish the men to fight, and it
is they who must pay the expenses of
the war Is there not something alb
surd in this Withholding from them
information Of all the intercomnuni-
cations between the powers until mat
ters have reached such stage that a
conflict is imminent. if not inevitable?
Granting that such course is proper
among monarchies. where the king or
emperor is the state and the father
of his people, it is Very questionable
whether it should obtain among peo-
pie who hold their government in their
hands and change it's managers at
will
Recent events confirm this view We
have had minister sent to Madrid
to relieve Mr. Taylor. He was given
instructions. What they were no one
out of the state department knew.
But the news hunters in Washington
assumed to know, and they gave the
public to understand that the instruc-
tons were emphatic and belligerent.
The reaction came in a sharp tumble
in the stock market. Again, more re-
Gently, We have had a treaty of some
kind negotiated with Russia and Japan
relative to pelagic sealing in Bering
sea What its terms are no one out of
the charmed circle knows Surmise
takes the place of knowledge, and, as
our government is anxious to prevent
open sea sealing. and England insists
upon it, under the Paris award, sur
mise is warranted in concluding that
the treaty is an agreement to prevent
English sealers from catching seals.
Should this be the case and England
should stand for her rights. a conflict
is inevitable. 1t thus becomes possible
that this nation may be precipitated