New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-20
MIR. Olney
OF The REASONS WHY HE WOULD BEEN RIGHT
AMBASSADOR TO ENGLAND
Copyright, 1918, by C. W. smaney,

London, March Is.
think it matter for regret that Mr..
o,,ev should have declined the En-
,,oesv 10 London; just as i think it
.,ost honorable TO President Wilson TO
hore offered it, The cable gives us. as
.hs way Of the cable is. more versions
han one of Mr.. Olney's reasons for
ren,sing. So far as they are personal,
,hore is no more TO be said. If he thinks
,;,nself too old or finds it inconvenient
- leave his beloved Boston, he is the
only Judge. But it is also said that he
;naeines difficulties might arise out of
h,s share in the Venezuela business
ord that the British government might
,biect 10 receive as Ambassador the
outhor or joint-author of the too
eamous dispatch of July. 1890, which
reopened in a militant way the question
~ the boundary between Venezuela ana
British Guiana.
If Mr.. Olney had any such idea as
that. IT is l believe. wholly erroneous.
snonsible for President Cleveland s
belligerent message TO Congress in De-
cember. it would be the same. They do
not bear malice in the Foreign Office.
Sir Edward Grey. the present Foreign
Minister. is not a man needlessly TO re-
vive the memory of old injuries or even
of wanton affront. Mr.. Olney was
acting officially: under instructions
from President Cleveland. But if the
roljcv had been his. as the actual dis
match was. ii would not now stand in
the way OF his friendly reception as
Ambassador.
say that on general principles. But
there happens to be a recent precedent.
When the late Baron Marshall Won
Bieberstein was named German Ambas-
sador TO London he had been for many
Years the extremely active and almost
always successful opponent of British
policy at Constantinople. He had con-
tended against British interests Of
many kinds He had defeated and dis
credited one English Ambassador after
another lie had overthrown British
ascendency i'm the councils of Turkey.
He had substituted Germany for Eng
land as Turkeys next friend. In mat
iers Of diplomacy, of commerce, of war,
Of finance, and many others he had
made German influence preponderant
instead Of British influence. There
could not he a more pregnant or more
poignant contrast than the contrast be-
tween the position Of Great Britain
while SIR Stratford de Radcliffe-the
Great Eltchi-was British Ambassador
In ConstantinOplc, and the position or
Great Britain now with Sir Gerard
Lowther as Ambassador l impute
nothing TO Sir Gerard. The debaclc
began before his time. but it continued
during his time, and l suppose nobody
would think of saying that since 1908,
the date of his appointment, his author
its in Constantinoplc. under the old
regime or the new, was ever compar-
able 10 Baron Marschall's; or that the
siplomatic disasters Of Great Britain in
Turkish matters were 10y him arrested
or diminished.
Yet when Baron Marschalrs name
was laid before tho British Govern
mcnt as Ambassador TO Great Britain,
1t was welcomed by the Government;
and not only by the Government. IT
was acclaimed by the Press, and when
the great German set foot on English
soil he was greeted as no Ambassador
has been greeted in our time. Thcre
was a party which declared he came
as a messenger Of peace. There was
another and stronger party which in
sisted that he came to prepare the way
for war. Each welcomed him with
equal fervor.
In the face OF such facts as these
how can it be maintained that Mr..
Olney would have been anything but
persona oraid: and 10 those who knew
him. or knew of his share in the set
tlcment Of the Venezuela controversy
persona grdfisSind? l will undertake TO
say that, among those whose opinion
in such matters counts. Mr. Olney re-
fusal has been received with something
more than regret. II is understood TO
be final. but the regret is an abiding
regret. and the state Of mind here on
the whole subject is such as Ameri-
Il % 10
an appointment Is likely to be made
before this letter can be printed-and
10 some extent because 1t will bel
think IL may be useful to explain what
the English think about it, and why. l
have Of course no sort Of notion whom
the President is likely 10 choose, and
discIaim in advance all thoughts of
personalities or personal application in
what I say.
On technical grounds there is much
to be said for the European system OF
appointing diplomatists to diplomatic
posts. But since we have not and
never had. and are not likely soon 70
have. such a thing as a diplomatic
service. or any means Of supplying
trained diplomatists TO DO the work OF
the country abroad, it is much tha'
we have the next best thing; the hapi'
Of sending our best men to the grea'
posts. Nowhere has this been more
regularly the custom than in tine choioe
Of Ministers and Ambassadors TO the
Court # & James's; il Mr.. Bryan will