The times., 1898-12-22
AMERICAN DIPLOMACY.
Sir Edmund Monson's Meaning When He
Spoke in Paris.
fFrom The New York Tribune. }

spoke IN Parls.
Trom The New York Tribune)
Were Sir Julian Pauncefote or any
other foreign ambassador at Washington
to take advantage Of some pubic pan
quet say at New York, Chicago or st.
Louis. to address such words of warning
and Of criticism TO the members and offi-
cials of the government to which he Is
accredited as those which Sir Edmund
, Monson, the British envoy on the banks
of the Seine used with regard to the
French authorities at the anniversary ban
quet of the English Chamber of Commerce
at Paris the other day. 1t is probable that
but 4 short time would be premitted 10
eiapse before he had received his pass
ports. together with on intimation that
his presence in this country in any dip o.
matte capacity was no longer desired The
]. adverse comment on the Presidential poli-
cy by Lord Sackvilie which led to his re-
ceiving his passports from Secretary Bay
ard was much less severe than that direet-
ed against the French government, and,
moreover, was contained. mot in public
speech, but in confidential letter writ en-
under the assumption that the person TO
whom II was addressed was a fellow-coun-
tryman who had asked for advice with
out any view to its publication
1t is, therefore, only in a qualified sense
that the sensational utterances of Sir Ed
mund Monson at the Chamber of Com
merce banquet at Paris the other day can
ID be described as american diplomacy.
Indeed II is impossible to find in all the
annals of the latter a single instance of
a United States Envoy awaiting himself
of the opportunity afforded by a post
prandial Grafton at n public banquet to
warn the PEOPLE of the country in which
he was stationed against the government
to which he was accredited There icing
no American precedent for speech such
as that delivered by Sir Edmund IL is
manifest that he had somthins else in
view when ne described himself as re-
sorting TO American methods of diplo-
macy.
American diplomacy may be broadly de-
scribed as disregard for the traditions.
the precedents, the etiquette, and the
rules which have hitherto governed inter
national intercourse. Diplomacy is still
considered by most people in the Old
World as a aprofession of mystery and its
science almost as one of the black arts.
Discrimination and downright lying are
widely looked upon as necessary part
of the stock in trade, and so true in
many instances is the old familiar defini-
ton of Il diplomat to the effect that he
is ian individual sent to lie abroad for
the benefit Of his country" that we lind
Count Ignatieff the most famous and
most dreaded of Russian ambassadors in
modern times, admitting to the late Car,
in response to the latter's inquiry, that
even in STEAMBOAT, where mendacity
reigns supreme and truth is unknown, he,
the count, had won for himself the nick
name of THE Father of Lies
But added he, with low bow, Il
have earned that title in the service of
your majesty
1t was Prince Bismarck who may be
said to have first begun the new style cf
diplomacy which has been adopted by the
English, and which has lately received
its fullest degree of development by the
United States. Prince Bismarck found
that lying and dissmulation were Sc
prevalent among diplomats and so thor
oughly regarded as Indispensable to Their
profession that his most efficacious mode
of throwing people off their guard was tc
speak the truth, and that, too. in the
most plain and often brutal fashion. As
people however failed TO realize that ht
had adopted these tactics. and were con
WINGED that he was merely lying in ac
cordance with the traditions and rules o.
the craft as elaborated by Maehiavelli
he was able to deceive his adyersarie:
and rivals TO a still greater degree b!
adhering TO the truth than by indulgins
in mendacity. Some of his greatest diplo
matte successes were achieved in thi
manner notably the Victories over Coun
Benedetti, the French ambassador to Ber
lin prior to the war of 1S11.