Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1901-11-30
HAY ON DIPLOMACY.
United States Guided by Monroe
Doctrine and Golden Rule.
Secretary of State Outlines Plans of
Mckinley Which Are Now Being
Carried Out by His Sue
ceSsOf.

SaEEIcu out w AAAS N"S
cessOr.
Standing in the place of President
Mckinley, who just before his assas-
sination accepted an invitation to be
present, Secretary of State John Hay
spoke to the guests at the one hundred
and thirty-third banquet of the New
York chamber of commerce Tuesday
evening, Novmber 10, on Our Dlplo-
macy" describing the plans of the
murdered president which President
Roosevelt. aided by the diplomatic
corps. is striving to consummate. lie
said:
ST am asked to say something about our
diplomacy There was a time when dlplo-
macy was a science of intrigue and false-
hood of traps and mines and counter
mines. 1t may be another instance OF thal
credulity with which l have often peen
charged by European critics when L say
that + reaIlv believe the world has moved
onward in diplomacy as in many other
matters In my experience of diplomatic
life which now covers more years tndll
like to look back upon ana IN the, lai
greater record of American diplomacy
which | have read and studied, l can say
without hesitation that we have generally
told squarely what we wanted, announced
early in negotiation what we were Wiling
to give and allowed the other side TO &C
cept or reject our terms. During the tlrne
which | have been prominently conceIneo
in our foreign relations l can also say that
we have been met by the representatives
of other powers in the same spirit OF frank
ness and sincerity.
LAS to the measure of success when our
recent diplomacy has met with, It is dlfl-
cult, if not impossible, for me to SPEAK.
There are two important lines OF human
endeayor in which men are forbidden even
60 ailude to their success-affalrs OF the
heart and diplomatic affairs.
Simple Chart the Safest.
But if We are not permitted to boast
of what we have done, we can at least
say a word about what we have tried 10
do and the principles which have GUIDED
our action. The briefest expression OF our
rule of conduct is, perhaps, the Monroe
doctrine and the golden rule. With TINS
simple chart we can hardly go far wrong.
81 think l may say that our sister re-
publics to the south of us are perfectly
convinced of the sincerity of our attitude.
They know we desire the prosperity of
each of them, and peace and harmony
among them. We no more want their ter
ritory than we covet the noun tains of the
moon.
Gas to what we have tried to do-what
we are still trying to do-in the general
field of diplomacy, there is no reason for
doubt on the one hand or reticence on the
other. President Mckinley in his mes
sages during the last four years has made
the subject perfectly clear. We have
striven, on the lines laid down by Wash
ington, to cultivate friendly relations with
all powers, but not to take part in the
formation of groups or combinations
among them. A position of complete in
dependence is not incompatible with rela-
lions involving, not friendship alone, but
concurrent action as well in important
emergencies.
First of All, Peace.
I'VE have kept always in view the fact
that we are prominently a peace-loving
people; that our normal activities are in
the direction of trade and commerce; that
the vast development of our industries
imperatively demands that We shall not
only regain and confirm our hold on our
present markets, but seek constantly by
ali honorable means to extend our COM
mercial interests in every practicable di-
rection. 1t is for this reason we have nego-
tiated the treaties of reciprocity which
now await action of the senate; all of them
conceived in the traditional American spir-
it of protection to our own industries, and
yet mutually advantageous to ourselves
and our neighbors. In the same spirit we
have sought successfully to induce all
the great powers to unite in a recognition
of the general principle of equality of COM
mercial access and opportunity in the
markets of the orient. We believe that "a
fair field and no favor is all we require,
and with less than that We cannot be sat
isfied
Vast Field in ttc Pacific.
eve consider our interests in the Pacific
ocean as great now as those of any other
power and destined to indefinite develop
ment. We have opened our doors to the
people of Hawaii; we have accepted the
responsibility of the Philippines which
Providence imposed upon us; we have put
end to embarrassing conditions in which
We were involved in Samoa.
Next in order will come a Pacific cable,
and an isthmian canal for the use of all
well-disposed peoples, but under exclusive
American ownership and American control
of both of which great enterprises Pres
ident Mckinley and President Roosevelt
nave been the energetic and consistent
champions.
Sure as We are of our rights in these
matters, convinced as we are of the au-
thenticity of the vision which has led us
thus far and still beckons us forward /
| can yet assure you that so long as the ad-
ministration of your affairs remains in
hands as strong and skillful as those TO
which they have been and are now con-
1ded, there Will be no more surrender of
our rights than there will be violation of
the rights of others.
THE president to whom you have given
your invaluable trust and confidence, like
his now immortal predecessor, is as in
capable of bullying strong power as he
Is OF WronSfng a weak one. He feels and
knows-for has he not tested it in the
currents of heady fight as well as in the
toilsome work of administration ?-that
the nation over whose destinies he pre-
sides has a giants strength in the works
OF war in the works n npape
VIII Not Abuse His Power.
But that consciousness of strength
brings with 1t no temptation to do injury
to any power on earth, the produest or the
humblest. We frankly confess we seek
the friendship of all the powers; we want
to trade with all peoples; we are conscious
OF resources that will make our commerce
source OF advantage to them and also
profit to ourselves. But no wantonness or
strength will ever induce US TO drive a hard
bargain with another nation because it is
weak, nor Will any fear of ignoble crit
lcism tempt us to insult or defy a great
power because it is strong, or even because
it is friendly.
The attitude of our diplomacy NAV be
indicated in a text of Scripture which
Franklin-the first and greatest of our
diplomats-tells us passed through his
mind when he was presented at the court
of Versailles. 1t was a text his father used
to quote to him in the old candle shop in
Boston when he was boy 'Seest thou a
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 -