Evening star., 1925-07-23
HUMOR
and
DIPLOMACY
BY ROBERT UNDERWOOD
JOHNSON,
Former American Ambassador to Italy.


Former American Ambassador to Italy.
/ The general opinion is not likely to
place the sense of hunor among the
requisites for diplomat, but any one
who has had occasion to observe 'the
career" is not likely to be indifferent
to that quality as part of the equip
ment of an embassy or legation. 1t
would be a rash historian who would
undertake to compare in usefulness
those of our representatives at for
eign courts who had humor-Irving,
Lowell, Hay or Choate, for instance
with those who were intent upon
playing their serious game in serious
tashion, such as John Quincy Adams
Humor is a keen critic and a pretty
safe guide, and may be of great use
by indicating when one may employ
the light touch and when the firm
grasp. The too scantily recorded
social history of American diplomacy
would doubtless reveal the value of
both methods. The retort courteous
or Charles Francis Adams to Lord
Russell when the British government
had given permission to the Confed-
crate cruisers to sail from English
harbors-"It would be superfiuous for
me TO point out to your lordship that
| this is warts a fine example of the
| dignity and resoluteness of a clear
| sighted man in a crisis.
Charles Summers Hun1or.
Even Charles Sumner, who was a
| man of little humor, could not escape
| It's perVastveness when, pleading with
| an English judge for the abolition of
| primogeniture, he was asked what we
| QhOIll6 N arfn ioI,
| should leave his whole estate to his
eldest son, and responded: Break the
will on the ground of insanity"
| Doubtless many a serious compli-
| cation has been solved-or, what is
| better, prevented-by Jest that fore
| shadowed a nations policy. A wink
| is often as good as a nod, and q deli
| cate wit, with a bit of instinct, may
| go farther than a sedate expression
of opinion buttressed by erudition.
| Mr.. Lloyd Georges humor got him
! out OF many a scrape, where Lord
| Curzon's serious and documented
| zeal came badly off.
| One recalls the difference in this
| respect between Lincoln and Seward,
the Presidents "one war at a time
| tempering the diplomacy Of the Sec
retary of state: and throughout the
| war how often did the humor of the
Western lawyer dispel the White
| House atmosphere of gloom? And
what would have happened to Theo-
| dore Roosevelt if his strenuous ethical
| career had not been permeated with a
surprising sense of humor? 1t was
| this quality, too, which sustained
Maurice Francis Egan in his long and
at last successful campaign as Min
| lister to Denmark to compass the pur-
chase of the Virgin Islands.
1
Lacking I'm Some.
A number Of cotemporary statesmen
| seem to be lacking in this wholesome
and protective quality, though it must
| be admitted that great leaders have
succeeded in spite of the defect. II
Mussolinf, after g. brilliant record
shall some day come to grief, 1t is like.
| ly to be for lack of this sixth sense
| that perceives ones own incongrIIities
as well as those of others He gave
| an example of dead seriousness
when he said, soon after his accession
| to power, that Malta should become
| an Italian possession and the Mediter-
| ranean an Italian lake; but this was
| so preposterous a suggestion that the
London clubs simply guffawed. Mus
| solini had the good sense to abandon
| the idea.
| We have in our own borders two
|
some good fairy bestowed upon them
the gift of humor, might have risen
from distinction to eminence-both
| scrupulously honest and acknowledged
| to be sincere-Mr. Bryan and Mr.
| Borah. They are both products OF
the debating school type of education
| and Of the ambition to set things
right, which, a fine purpose in itself
| SO often makes lopsided characters
| Mr.. Bryan's literalness can see moth.
! ing In the hypothesis Of evolution
| but simian inheritance. Mr.. Borah' s
| hard-and-fast logic closes his eyes to
the peril to our Institutions of the
bolshevist idea. Each in his way is
a patriot and has done the state
| some service" But even in this
| trif1ing world of ours one could wish
! that their activities were tempered by
/ the gentler ministrations of q less
/ awful look at life.
| (Copyright 1o25)