BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-02-26
Our Senate Abroad.
Englishmen Envy Its Control
Of Foreign Affairs.
Would Welcome the American Sys-
tenn in Place Of the British For
eign Office Growing Weakness
Of Parliamentary Influence With
the Executive Power.

With the public alton few days ago
of the parliamentary papers on the Hay.
Paunceiote treaty, the isthmian canal
question, so Tar as England is politically
concerned, is at an end and everyone,
on this side at any rate,is happy. The
"Saturday Review" of course, has =
grumble Or two still to let loose, but the
general feeling Of ninety-ninesp put Of every
hundred Englishmen is that Vie right thing
has been done and done gracefully. They
are honestly glad to have had this chance
of showing that good will tewardAhe United
States which is now national sentiment
and they thiak it 10 small \chieveme9t to
have induced the American Senate to
overcome for moment its fattsring suspi
ciousness of English diplomacy and to ratlfy
the treaty. 1t would be useless to pretend
that there has been any great public interest
in the negotiations. The only time when
the average Englishmsn was in any way
moved was during the debate on the first
convention, when certain senators spoke oi
England az though she were South
American republic and when an amend
ment was adopted quietly and without
the smallest notice 10 Downing Street,
superseding the Clayton Rulwer treaty
But . certain eccsntricity in their deal
i,gs with washington ID what oil Eng
lishmen have come to expect 80 matter
of course, and they were perhaps more
amused than angered by the senatorial
Iacbes. The Senate, if the truth must be
told, is not now thoaght to be the body
it was when De Tocqueville held it up to
the admiration Of Europe. There ID, how
ever, one Of ito prero5atives which the
happy issue OF this canal affair has
brought into particular notice, and largely
commends itself to great many thinking
Englishmen who, with some notifications,
,oou'd like to see it or something Ike ii
incorporated In the English system. !
mean of course their control over for
eigu affairs "A control which has not only
preserved singular continuity in Amer
lean diplomacy, but has also made it emf
nsntly successful. "Shall We Americanize
our institutional" was the title Of an
article written seine years ago BY Mr..
Uksmberlain. There are not few English.
men who in their newborn craving tor
efficiency would gladly set up foreign
affairs committee somewhat on the lines Ol
the American senate.
|
overlook any features in their constitu
tlonal framework that can be made the
theme or the excuse for national pane
gyric, have quite msrvellously overlooked
this fact-that they alone have managed to
reconcile the workings of an unmitlgated
democracy with . businesslike, shrewd and
unbroken foreign policy. The Senate com
mittes on foreign affairs il not an ideal
body, either in the haphssard system by
which it is chosen or, at all times, in the
actual discharge of its functions. 1t has
made mistakes, and its composition might
easily be improved. But its mistakes have
been seondertully few, AID though the
principle on which it is perpetuslly being
renewed is theoretically absurd, the great
fact of almost continuous success can al.
csys be quoted in its favor. Here in
England, though public opinion is supposed
to act on government quicker than any.
where else, the conduct Of foreign affairs
in really in the hands Of one or Two men
Parliamentary control over the executive
grows steadily weaker soita the years in
the sphere Of foreign politics it may al
most be said TO be non existent. Early
last century Macau'ay and Brougham and
other men of tho great theoretical age Of
Liberalism used to contrast, E0t without
cemplacency, the manner in which the
foreign relations Of the empire were
managed under the system of fplly dc.
veloped parliamentary government with
that which prevailed in the old, bad era
before the time Of enlightenment. In|
those days, as they pointed out with hor
ror, tho tohole business was in the hands
Of q few imperious statesmen and ambi.
tious kings. The destinies of millions of
men were settled in the closet OF an ell.