The Cordova daily times., 1922-12-16

I5- WAOIllANN IO1N, oCC, lV. tho
 ways of diplomacy are deep, dark
 and mysterious.
 When Prime Minister Mack enzie-
 King, of Canada, paid personal
 visit to Washington some months ago there was a good deal of specu-
 lation The Premier himself an
 nounced that he was here to dis
 cuss with Secretary of State Hughes the possibility of bringing up to date
 the Rush-Bagot Agreement. which
 provides for practical disarmament l on the Great Lakes. Inasmuch as the Rush-Bagot Agree ment has worked very satisfactorily for more than a hundred years, it was not entirely clear just why it
 should be replaced. Nevertheless everyone was glad MT. Mackenzie King had come-everyone except per haps the British Ambassador. It was noted at the time that the Premier put up at a local hotel, not the embassy.
 President Harding met Premier
 Mack King, and Secretary Haghes conferred with him for near ly an hour. Following the confer
 ence it was stated that the Premier's proposal had been sypathetically re- ceived.
 The conviction that the Rush.
 Bagot Agreement was not upper
 most in Premier Mack enzie-King s mind at the time of his visit has
 grown in the months that have elapsed. Now it is beginning to dawn upon
 official Washington that, willingly
 or unwittingly, Premier Mackenzie King accomplished a great deal
 more by his Washington trip than mere academic discussion of an anticipated treaty. AS matter of fact, the Canadian statesman accom-
 plished nothing short of the estab-
 lishment of precedent for direct
 diplomatic negotiations between the
 United States and Canada.
 Move For Embassy
 f This precedent has served him | in good stead in the plan accredit- ing a permanent Canadian Minister to Washington. This proposal for
 direct diplomatic representation is
 most distasteful to the British Gov ernment, despite the recent an
 nouncement by Sir Auckland Ged- l des, the British Ambassador here, that he was not opposed to the plan. , All Britishers with a pride in the
 British Empire feel that to inaugu- rate a regime or direct negotiation between the various dominions and foreign governments would be a dan
 gerous step in the direction of dis solution of the Empire. Nevertiie- | less, pressure from Canada has been
 such that the British Government
 has been forced to give ground, with the result that it has advanced
 several compromise propositions. 1 One of these is that the Canadian
 representative at Washington should
 be a kind of Vice-British Ambas-
 sador, having quarters in the Brit
 ish Embassy and, perhaps, acting for the Ambassador in his absence This plan is not satisfactory to the Cana dians, who want minister distinct
 and separate from the British Am
 bassador, with headquarters of his own. Another compromise suggest ed is that the Canadian represen- tative be a kind of high commission CT. Ttis, also, is unsatisfactory to Canada. l .a. 70 U. s. Impartial
 The attitude of the United States toward the whole matter is one of
 gracious receptivity. This Govern
 ment would welcome a Canadian di- plomatic representative, but believes
 any move in that direction must come from Canada or Great Britain.
 Appointment of a Canadian Minis ter, however, would not necessarily
 be followed by appointment of an American Minister to Ottawa, it is
 stated officially.
 Information here indicates that
 Premier Merchandising is acting