Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-11

China wants to "save her face" China
sees that we send ambassadors to Bel
GUM, Japan, Cuba, Great Britain,
France, Germany, most South and Cen
trail American countries and other
great powers" but have been sending
to her-a country whose population
equals that of all of our ambassadoriai
nations ombined-merely minister
plenipotentiary. She feels sighted, and
when an Oriental feels so Inundated,
kari-kari or an ambassador Is the only
recourse.
What Is an ambassador? How does
he differ from a minister plenipoten-
tiary or an envoy extraordinary?
X n \ Il
The practical difference Is only in
rank-not in power nor responsibility
To make 1t plain and simple, an am
bassador, theoretically. is the persona
fication Of the sovereign who sends
him, and so Is of equal rank with the
sovereign who receives him. He deals,
theoretically, directly with the king
Of the country to which he is sent
not through the foreign minister of
that country
He and his majesty sometimes make
agreements which, even to the foreign
minister, are not open agreements,
openly arrived at"-s'ungentlemanl
agreements" as 1t were, actually setting
aside the foreign minister's statesman
ship. Maybe that is little passe to-
day, but it was done before the war.
Even today an Ambassador can high
hat mere minister of foreign affairs
and strut right into windsor Castle,
hang his hat on the chandelier and
greet the King with utmost dignity and
sang-froid (French for cold-blooded-
ness). If the King takes off his hat,
the Ambassador uncovers, too; If his
majesty feels the draft too severe on
his bald head and puts on his hat, the
Ambassador does, too. Not so minis
ter plenipotentiary; he mus remain un-
covered in the presence OF royalty, cold
or not.
According to international law and
practice, only an Ambassador rates a
carriage with six horses" in the capital
to which he is sent Within the last
decade a certain American Ambassador
to Great Britain was reported to be
driving his Ford hivver about London,
his own chauffeur; but 1t is hard to eX
pect international law to keep pace with
modern improvements, even as to am
bassadorial equipages. The law Is even
older than any model T.
Il y \
becomes confused since the World War,
especially as to chapeaux and chevaux
During the war 1t was found that 1t
took 40 men to equal eight horses. Box
cars were so labeled: "Quarante hommes
on hut chevaux" Gao men or s
horses"). So one doughboy equaled
one-fifth of horse. Now international
law makes out that one ambassador
shall rate six horses. So one ambaSsa-
L. 20 xyof a
doughboy does not remove his hat when
on duty in the presence of either royalty
or an ambassador. That Is what makes
diplomacy so complicated and difficult
to comprehend, parce que la guerre,
c'est fini! College undergraduates go
hatless, but not doughboys or ambassa-
doris.
Perhaps that is what has mystifled
China and made her cry out for an
American Ambassador in place of
doughboy, or even q minister pleni-
potentiary.
What difference does it really make?
None, except rank at dinner tables,
which, perhaps, is what has been mag
nified in the minds of the heather
Chinee" after hearing garbled news
from the American Capitals official So
ciety column. China feels that, being
a democracy, too, like the United States,
where all pigtails are of equal length,
If not equal curl or permanent wave,
since the overthrow Of the Manchus,
she should emulate Americans and be-
come a stickler for rank. So she in
sists on an American Ambassador.
Now the first Ambassador that China
ever had was an American, Hon. Arson
Burlingame, who was sent her by Presi-
dent Lincoln as q mere minister pleni-
potentiary. Seven years later, viz, In
1858, China ignored his Yankee accent
In speaking Chinese and she made him
her own Ambassador to America and
the rest of the world. He proved so
valuable as such, that she has never
forgotten the usefulness of American
Ambassadors. That incident of taking
raw material furnished by America, in
the form of q minister plenipotentiary,
and completing the manufacture of a
finished product in the form of an Am
bassador, was the most graceful COM
pliment that the Orient ever paid to
the Occident. So, f1attered by it, we
have continued to supply similar raw
material, expecting her to continue to
process" it into the finished product.
yellow peril or not, who can blame