El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-01-25
HE IS An EASY MARK.
Opinion Of the Diplomatic Corps
Concerning Sherman.
But THEY MAY BE MISTAKEN.

Yet the New Secretary of State Is Some
what Embarrassed by Defective Mem
ory-His Logical Faculties and Percep-
tions Are Keen as Ever.
WASHINGTON, Jan. ga Special. The
selection of Senator Sherman for secretary
of state in the Mckinley administration
does not give satisfaction among the diplo-
matte CORPS But the gentlemen who rep
resent at this capital the nations of the
world will have to endure what they can
not mend. Their principal objection to
Mr.. sherman is that he is embarrassed
with "a treachcrous memory. 1t is not easy
for him to remember the details even of
IMPORTANT conversations. The diplomatic
gentlemen fear that they will have endless
trouble with the new secretary for this rea-
son. They remember that during the last
months of Mr.. Blaine's service in the state
department, when the great statesman was
i'll, he suffered the same trouble. He could
not remember More than one foreign
minister found upon reminding the score
tarv of what had been said to him or what
he had said on u former occasion that 1t
had wholly slipped his mind. In the eng It
became necessary for the ministers, in
order to avoid trouble to insist that short
hand notes should be taken of every impor-
tant conversation. Mr.. Blaine consented
to this, though not without some reluctance
and a sense of personal humiliation, for he
ultimately became aware of his failing.
Moreover, the foreign ministers cOntriVCd
to carry on most of their intercourse with
the state department by means of written
communications. They now say that for
their own protection they will do the same
thing with Mr. Sherman.
SticIlIers For Form.
Another cause of friction between Sccre-
tarv sherman and the members of the dip
lomatic corps will be the determination of
the secretary to turn over to his assistants,
in so lar as possible the task of receiving
about routine matters. Mr.. Sherman has
decided 10 do this in order to save himself
ANNOYANCE. He believes the bulk of the
work of the state department can just as
well be carried on by the subOrdinates of
the Office as by the chief. In this he is no
doubt right and is inStituting Il precedent
which should have been established years
ago. In no other foreign office in the world
is so much of the actual business transact
cd by the chief official. But the custom
has grown up hero, and it will not be with
good grace that the foreign ministers con-
sent to transact their business with man
of inferior rank to themselves when the
secretary himself is in the city. They are
great sticklCrs for form and for etiquette,
these foreign gentlemen. But of course, it
is not their function to select the official Of
our government with whom they shall do
business.
1t has already become an axiom among
the foreign gentlemen that Secretary Shcr-
man is TO be an easy mark. They say that
so far as his state department is concerned
President Mckinley is going into office on
crutchCs. But the men who are close to
Senator Sherman say these foreign critics
will not be long in discovering their error.
They are undertaking their antagonist.
While it is true Senator Sherman is well
along in years and his memory is a trifle
defective, he is in full possession of his
logical faculties and his perceptions are as
keen as they ever We're.
Old Men For Counsel.
1.-THE men who imagine Senator Sher-
man is going to be Il weak secretary of
state simply do not know what they are
talking about, said General Grosvenor of
Ohio to me. "Mr sherman will fool them
to the top of their bent if that is their
opinion of him. 1 know Mr. Sherman
very well. l meet him frequently, and we
like to talk about public and party matters
together. When any one sits down to talk
with Senator sherman, he needs all his
wits with him. If he intends to keep up
his end and To be Il match for the old SEN
ator, he cannot go to sleep or become lazy
in his mental processes. The senator is
not as much at his case while on his feet
talking to the senate as he used to be in his
younger days, for he does sometimes have
to pause and think for word. But this is
nothing. He never IL fluent speaker,
and he has not made his fame with his
tongue. But take him in council or sitting
talking man to man, and he is Il match for
the kecneSt men the countries of the world
can send here.
1t may not bc generally known. but it is
true, that by this time most of the foreign
offices in Europe are in possession of full
information concerning the mental attain
mcntS, the character, the temperament,
the experience, the trend of ideas the hab-
its, the strong points and the weak points
of the man who is soon to be secretary of
state of the United States. They have
''siZcd him up, as it We're, and from this
estimate of him will govern themselves
whenever important matters arise in which
they are interested. Their effort to classify
Mr.. sherman is not unique at all in diplo-
matte practice. They do this as regular
thing, not only as to the United States,
but as to all the other countries of the
world.
The Aim of Diplomacy.
As one may infer, the chief aim of diplo-
macy is to get ahead Of the other fellow, in
which respect 1 suppose diplomacy resom-
blcs trade, manufacturing, the professions
and most of the activities Of our human
family. But it docs seem q littlc cold
bloodcd for the Germans or the French or
the Italians to sit in Judgment upon our
new secretary of state, to analyzc him as
one would Il race htrsa and deliberately to
lay their plans for getting the best of him
Secretary sherman may not find it prac-
ticablC to treat ambassadors in the fashion
which he prcsCribCs for mere ministers
There is a vast difference between an en-
bassador and minister. The former has
precedence everywhere and is disposed to
insist upon his rights. At Paris, some
years ago, an American minister tried for
two weeks to get an audience with the for
eign secretary, but he could not because
there was always an ambassador ahead of
him. He went carly in the morning and
staid till late in the day, but without sue
cess. He cooled his heels in the antcroom
while the ambassadors of fourth rate pow
erS walked in. We now have ambassadors
at London, Paris, Berlin and Rome, and