The Washington herald., 1911-07-02
PLOMATIC RECEPTIONS
TO CEASE In FRANCE

to the other members of the diplomatic
corps. which has always been looked
upon as q sort of introduction 70 the
newcomer, is TO cease, according to an
Official note sent out by the dean Of the
diplomats at Paris, Sir Francis Berthe,
the British Ambassador. The cause has
not been assigned, but conjectures are
rife among society people.
The cessation of these receptions, It
is whispered. is due to the instigation Of
the ancient nobility Of the Faugbourg st.
Germain, who steadfsstly declined to
participate In anything. connected with
the republic. Still one phase seems
mysterious to the Parisians. 1t was
also Sir Francis, then Ambassador from
England to the QuiYinal, who announced
the cessation OF similar receptions at
Rome. Perhaps England may have an
object In thus obstructing intimate re-
lations between International diplomats
at foreign capitals. At any rate dip
lomats accredited to the French re-
public in future will be seen only In the
salons Of the Paris aristocracy. Cit
oyens no longer will have an opportunity
to meet them on an equal footing.
The court at Vienna heretofore always
in the matter of receiving foreign rep
lresentatives. The "Hofourg' for CEN
turtles has been known as the ultra
feudn seat OF court etiquette, and
though the envoy Of q friendly nation
must be acceptable to ruler as we'll as
cabinet at all European courts, this pre-
rogative has been known to be carried to
excess at the court of Austria The real
reasons for such rejection never are given
nor required.
A hiA Is sufficient, and the man Sc
lected disappears as a possibility, and
in ways known to foreign Offices some one
who is known to be persona grata- is zen
passant" suggested to the imperial chan
cellorie. Germany, though less exclusive,
seemed to have believed to have cause
for dissatisfaction with DR.. Hill, the
American Ambassador. only recently.
Hence his unexpected resignation, that
is unexpected on this side of the water,
but not in Berlin, where our affable col
lege professor never was persona grata,
and would have been-rejected at the time
OF the resignation of Charlemagne Tower,
when Mr.. Taft assumed the Presidency.
but for the Intervention Of the Kaiser
himself. who was deterpined to continue
in the very best relations with this re-
public.
It was said at the time that the hints
of the German foreign office were dis
regarded at Washington. but OF course,
any one who is conversant with diplomatic
usages is aware that, while the United
States has a perfect right to object to
receiving any one the President dislikes,
II has absolutely no right to dictate to
other nations whom to receive as repre-
sentative and must pOnceda the YDrfyileQe
ii exercises to others.
But. speaking OF European usages, II
must be admitted that until ambassadors
were created in this country, the envoy
of the United Safes, as a rule, was rele-
gated to a place behind the smallest OF
monarchies or worse. 1 know of an in
stance where the American minister &C
cOmpanied a prominent American who
desired to pay his respects to a European
sovereign. Both were kept waiting in the
antechamber over an hour until after the
audience OF another person who had en-
tered the palace after them. Why? Be-
cause the country that other envoy rep
resented enjoyed a higher status with
that particular nation, and II was one
of the South American countries at that.
On the Quai d'Orsay. in Paris, there are
volumes containing the names of emil
nent men named for foreign embassies
whose appointments had to be withdrawn
because the states to which they were
to be sent objected. Not long ago ex-
Minister Leygues, a man OF the highest
rank in craftsmanship, was chosen to
represent at the court of Alfonso XIII.
The press had pointed out his fitness,
when word reached the foreign Office
that Alfonso couldn't receive him. The
Spanish foreign minister pointed out
that NJ. Leygues was a Free Mason, and
that he would be out of place at
Catholic court The real reason was that
Leygues had been active in the con-
fiscation of church property after the
separation OF church and state in
France.
The most famous case of ambassa-
dorial rejection was when Nicholas I
of Russia refused to receive the Brit
fish Ambassador, Sir Stafford Canning,
The reason given was that Sir Stafford
was a bad character" Lord Palmer
ston was then prime minister. He in
sisted that Russia should receive the
rejected diplomat. Count Won Nessel-
rode, the then Russian foreign minis
ter, replied that the narrow spirit and
the whole disposition of Sir Stafford
were offensive TO the Gar. Neverthe
less, Palmterston had the appointment
published in the official gazette, add
ing a curt note that England was its
own masmter to nominate whom she
pleased as representative.
To this the Russian foreign office an
swered as pointedly that Russia did not
al all contest England's right to name
whom she pleased, but that, on the
other hand, the Car had the right to
decide whom I o receive at his own
court and that he never would receive
Sir Stafford. He was not sent to st.
Petersburg.
But the fun of it was that at the very
time when England, or rather the ag-
gressive Palmerston, was asserting Great
Britain's right to appoint whom and
where she pleased, the French foreign
Office was informed by Downing Street
that the recently appointed Count de Rey-
neval couldn't be received as the Ambas-
sador of France in London because he
was covered with debt and almost
bankrupt"
The real reason was that Count Rayne-
val had figured under the empire as one
of the most active of Napoleon's lieuten-
ants in defeating the Vaccinations of
the British at the courts of Europe. He
had been specially active in Portugal.
where, until mis- advent, the British had
ruled.
In 1872 Austria named Baron Wynyrif-
fen Ambassador to Paris. Theirs, then
President, declined to receive him. and
told why. THE baron had been years in
Berlin, and was reputed to be intimate
with Bismarck. so that his presence in
France would have given Prussia two