The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-07-02

ward was constantly exercised when he
was the head Of tn Department OF STATE
Mr.. Hay guided the negotiations by which
England frustrated the effort Of the Powers
to make representations on behalf Of Spain
were few, but they added to the already
brilliant reputation Of the embassy.
CAREER IN WORLD POLITICS.
On his recall from Great Britain to sue
coed Secretary Day, at the end Of the
Spanish War, Mr.. Hay entered upon the
career In international politics which has
set his nation in an authoritative place in
the councils Of he world. In seven years
hs negotiated more than fifty treaties OF
all degrees OF importance.
Though not all OF his work had the COM
plete approval Of the country, as in the
superseding the Clayton Bulwer treaty,
no one ever pretended that Mr.. Hay had
not moved diplomatic mountains hitherto
regarded az anchored fast to the very
center Of the earth.
| His diplomatic triumph followed so
close one upon the other that the country
ceased to comment on them and accepted
them as part Of the routine of the Secre-
tary's responsibilities Foreign journals,
however, exclaimed again and again, and
sometimes In no good temper, against,
his ends.
Whether he was convincing the Cuban
Government Of the wisdom Of it's adoption
Of a reciprocity treaty in 1908 or was estab-
fishing the open door principle In China
lead the way through the maze Of preoe-
dents and around the pitfalls Of inter
national jealousies. while the rest Of the
diplomats Of the world followed, wonder
ing, half afraid and smiling with salts
faction.
HIS WORK FOR CHINA.
Mr.. Hay got the confidence Of the much
abused Chinese by drawing back from
the greedy rush for indemnity loot after
the taking Of Pekin. He devised the plan,
previous to the fall. by which the Ameri-
can forces, though acting simultaneously
with those OF other nations, were not COM
mitted to any untradtional entanglng
alliance with any or all Of them.
He stood against the world for the in
tegnty Of China, which was not only threat
ened but practically wou have been sacri-
feed. had it not been for his Patient
was no longer q field for spoliation. When
Russia attempted to turn the open door
into private avenue for aggression and
domination Mr.. Hay succeeded in framing
circular note Of protest to the powers
spec. by Russia. has since been enforced.
in effect. by Japanese arms.
His part in the settlement Of the protracted
Alaskan boundary dispute and his quieting
of the Venezuelan trouble in 1923 also
added to his reputation as a dipomatist
of the highest order
STUCK TO HIS POST.
=, There was a time not very long after
Mr.. Roosevelt's inau guration when the
rumor got abroad that MIR. Hay desired to
give up his portfolio and rest. President
Roosevelt begged him to remain, feeling
that, however many slight differences there
might be between himself and the Secre-
tary of State in matters Of procedure, and
particularly in the time to be taken in any
given procedure, he could not well spare
Mr.. Hays grasp of the manifold difficulties
which have confronted the Administration
abroad.
A thousand interests throughout the
country brought pressure upon Mr.. Hay
possibly permit him.. That he sacrificed
his life to the sense Of the duty thus borne
in upon him is the feeling Of many Of those
who knew him best. Mr. Hay was very
the wounds which adverse and unkind or
unfair comment gave him The fuss made
by critics of the Administration in the
Panama negotiations cut him to the quick.
Soon after the second inauguration OF
went atroad Broken in nh heath. He had 50
concealed his weakness from the public
that the first intimation Of the seriousness
OF his condition came when he tainted at the
gangplank Of the steamer on which he sailed
and was carried aboard.
1t was reported that his recovery was
complete, but when he returned late last
month he appeared to be in poor health.
A special messenger from the President
met him on the steamer down the bay, and
1t was generally assumed that the message
had to do with the pending effort to bring
about peace in the Far East.
Plunging thus into the thick OF his duties,
undertaking a task more serious than any
he had essayed he found himself far less
robust than he had believed. He went to his
summer home at Lake Sunapee on June %.
to his country and to English letters have
not been limited to his own country. A. B.
Hart, professor OF history at Harvard said
Of Mr.. Hay not long ago:
Just as Bismarck was In his day, John
Hay is to-day the dean OF all diplomats
Justice Brewer of the Supreme Court
said in 1903 that in place Of the sneered at
shirt sleeves diplomacy which had been
attributed to this country, John Hay has
created the John Hay type of diplomacy"
which was tactful without untruthfulness,
firm without menace, and direct without
brutality.
The following institutions had given
him the degree Of doctor Of laws: Brown
Princeton, Western Reserve, Dartmouth
and Yale. He was trustee Of the Carnegie
Institution.
HIS QUIET HOME LIFE.
Mr.. Hays home lie was of the quetest.
AT his bachelor dinner, in 1874, a friend said
to him:
How long will your honeymoon be?"
1T will last for the rest Of my life, l think !
he said quietly.
His closest friends believe that he prophe-
was built as home rather than as a place of
entertainment. III few who