Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1901-11-23

do not lack them nowl But IL may
well be doubted IL iii any century Of
the glorious future before us there will
ever appear two such sincere, high
minded, self respecting lovers of the
people as the last fifty years have
shown us in Abraham Lincoln and
William Mckinley
II am asked to say something about
our diplomacy. You want from me
nothing but the truth, and yet If
confine myself to the truth | cannot
help fearing | shall do my profession a
wrong in the minds of those who have
been in the habit of considering diplo-
macy an occult science as mysterious
MS alchemy and as dangerous to the
morals as municipal politics. 1t must
be admitted that this conception of
the diplomatic function is not without
certain historical foundation.
There was time when diplomacy
was science of intrigue and false
5000. of traps and mines and counter
mines. The word 'machiavelic' has
become an adjective in our common
speech. signifying fraudulent craft and
guile. But Machiavel was as honest
a man as his time justified or required.
The king of Spain wrote to the king of
France after the massacre of st. Bar
tholomew consratulating him upon
the splendid Discrimination with which
that stroke of policy had been accom-
plished In the last generation 1t was
thought a remarkable advance in
straightforward diplomacy when
Prince Bismarck recognized the adj
vantage of telling the truth, even at
the risk of misleading his adversary.
The comparative simplicity of our dip
lomatic methods would be matter of
necessity if it were not of choice.
Secret treaties. reserved clauses, pri-
vate understandings, are impossible to
us. No treaty has any validity until
ratified by the senate. Many require
the action of both houses of congress
to be carried into effect. They must
therefore be in harmony with public
opinion.
"As to the measure of success which
our recent diplomacy has met with 1t
is difficult if not impossible for me to
speak. There are two important lines
of human endeavor in which men are
forbidden even to allqde to their sue
cess-affairs of the heart and diplo-
matte affairs. In doing so one not only
commits a vulgarity which transcends
all question of taste, but makes all fu-
ture success impossible. For this rea-
son the diplomatic representatives of
the government must frequently suffer
in silence the most outrageous imputa-
tions upon their patriotism, their in
telligence and their common honesty.
To justify themselves before the public
they would sometimes have to place in
jeopardy the interests of the nation.
They must constantly adopt for them
selves the motto of the French revolu-
ZIONIST. Let my name wither rather
than my country be injured
But if we are not permitted to boast
of what we have done we can at least
say word about what we have tried
to do and the principles which have
guided our action. The briefest eX-
preston of our rule of conduct is per-
maps lut uottiiht thC SoAh-
en- rule. With this simple chart we
can hardly go far wrong.
THE attitude of our diplomacy may
be indicated in n text of Scripture
which Franklin. the first and greatest
of our diplomats. tells us passed
through his mind when he was pre-
scented at the court of Versailles. 1t
was text his father used to quote to
him in the old candle shop in Boston
when he was a boy, 'Seest thou man
diligent in his business he shall stand
before kings Let us be diligent in our
business. and we shall stand-stand
you see, not crawl nor swagger-stand
as friend and equal, asking nothing.
putting up with nothing but what is
right and just among our peers In the
great democracy of nations"