Evening star., 1930-12-07
Is Diplomacy Changing?
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and yet It was powerless to restrain the
passions Of the crowd, which was, 50
to speak, drunk with fury,
The great difference between the wars
Of the past and the future Is the feeling
OF animosity which the latter. will leave
behind them, because they bring ma
tional feeling into play. Even the small
est hamlet will have its dead and the
whole country viii be devastated, Tai
leyrand said that a man should know
how TO renounce his hatredS. Unfor-
eunately, some people like to hate; they
hnd 1t gives them fresh energy. If we
are to discover force that will prevent
natlonS from lighting among themselves,
we must look beyond democratic senti-
mentS. we have the League Of Nations
Must Guard Interests.
Foreign policy is not a matter of SEN
timent. Its object Is to accommodate
accidental circumstances to the perma.
nent laws that control the destinies Of
nations. These laws exist independently
OF ourselves. The interests of people do
not vary. They are determined by ma
lure, their geographical position and
itself; Philip Augustus at Bonyines and
Joftre on the Marne were defending the
same cause. It Is the same In peace as
IN war: The same political ideas show
themselves in the same way as in for
mer times. Montesquieu notes that the
Romans often compelled CONQUERED
countries to settle their differences by
arbitration and to sink their shipS. II
Is not so long ago that others adopted
the same principle. There is nothing
new under the sun.
1naSmuch as national interests do not
cnange the foreign policy Of q country.
Wnatever upheavals may take place in
its internal concerns must necessarily
be traditional, and whenever q new pol
Icy Is embarked upon we must deter
mine It's conditions and accept its con-
sequences. The old French monarchy
discovered this In the eighteenth CEN
tury when its alliances were reversed
To take later example, a colonial pol-
icy implies a naval policy, and thereby
leads to policy Of union or hostility II,
respect to other maritime powers. En-
peror William was logical when he said
that Germany'S future was on the sea.
put we may question whether Berlin
tully realized to what extent the tradi-
tional relations between Germany and
England would be affected thereby.
Diplomacy Not An Intrigue
The bulk Of the public imagine that
diplomacy Is nothing but intrigue. and
when diplomatist does not intrigue he
Is looked upon as a votary of pleasure
chiefly concerned with banquets and en-
tertalnment. A few people, however,
are not satisfied with this rather sum-
mary way OF treating the question.
They want to get to the bottom of
Things. They take the world to be
kind OF theater. and talk about what
happens behind the scenes" of politics
From their point Of view policy is a
stage provided with plenty of changes
OF scenery, trapdoorS, and so on. Be
ing convinced that whatever happens
Is prepared and premeditated, they do
d1pIomatists the honor of taking them
Tor SO many Machiavellis and great
contrivers Of catastrophes. These peo-
pie cannot believe that things happen
OF themselves, that neither Richelieu
nor bismarck could control the events
that favored or hampered their plans
and that. as Frederick the Great once
remarked. the art of politics Is not to
make events happen, but to take ad-
vantage OF them when they do hap
The fact is that the qualities that
go TO make up a successful ambassa-
oor are not those needed by a minister
OF foreign affairs. The latter concen-
uateS' so to speak. the action Of his
representatives scattered all over the
world. He compares the reports thev
send him, draws the balance and main.
tains IN the conduct of his foreign
policy that harmony which results in
unity ana success; but he lives in his
own country and Is not In contact with
the outside world. The Ambassador
on the other hand, has this direct con-
tact. He follows his own governments
instructions, but at the same time he
informs, enlightens and warns it, and
sometimes he has to hold 1t back. HIS
freedom OF Judgment should not, Of
course, amount to lack Of discipline. but
q governing minister who objected to
1t would have no more sense than a
man VINO puts out his eyes In order to
see. On the other hand, an anbassa-
dor who does not dare to be ANYTHING
more than a letter box is q source OF
danger to his government.
Diplomat Must Have Character.
We can thus see that the most neces-
sary qualification of a diplomatic rem
resentative is character.
While diplomatist should trv N
succeed, he would be we'll advised not
10 DO 1t too openly. Success Is some
times embarrassing. Nothing Ia more
dangerous than to excite the amour
propre OF an adversary, and no sue
cess can be lasting unless it Is accented
by both sides. To my mind the high
est duty Of diplomatist Is and ALWAYS
VIII be to avert war For this reason
consider that the happtest moment in
my career was when I succeeded. as
french Ambassador to GERMANY in
1911, IN averting war over the Agadir
incident. Although hostilittes broke
out in 1914, We diplomatistS neverthe-
less won victory In 1911 by securing
three years Of peace.
diplomatic representative also must
exercise self-control. A Minister who
cannot contain himself gives his oppo-
nentS an 1ncalculable advantage. AS
an instance Of this, I need only quote
what happened In 1914. I always had
high opinion of the moderation with
which the imperial chancellor, Herr
Won Bethmann-Hollweg, expressed him
self; but when, on the eve Of war and
under the influence Of his excitement
In discovering that England was siding
with US, he used the phrase "a scrap
OF paper" to describe the treaty signed
by Prussia guaranteeing the neutrality
OF Belgium, he was evidently unable to
control himself, and his phrase, "a
scrap OF paper" will weigh heavily
against his country in the scales Of
history.
Sek-MaStery Is Necessity.