Bilateral relations

“ In the transaction of your foreign affairs we have endeavored to cultivate the friendship of all nations, and especially of those with which we have the most important relations. We have done them justice on all occasions, favored where favor was lawful, and cherished mutual interests and intercourse on fair and equal terms. ”

“ Little occasions for controversy, little causes for irritation, little incidents of conflicting interests continually arise, as they do among friends and neighbors in the same town, but the general trend of international relations is a trend towards mutual respect, mutual consideration, and substantial good understanding. ”

“ Luckily, we have a little with us and when it is distributed among the ladies, who immediately fill their mouths with it, diplomatic relations are opened. They seem ready to entertain almost any proposal, within reason, that we may make. ”

“ What man seeks a quarrel with another with whom he is on terms of mutual advantage? The first thought is, Can I afford to give up our friendship and intercourse? And if this question were proposed by nations sustaining to each other those relations which we advocate, the answer would be. ”

“ It is this capacity of contributing to a common good that tests the development of the relations between States. According as the organization of these relations becomes more nearly complete, 'the more the motives and occasions of international conflict tend to disappear, while the bonds of unity become stronger'. ”

“ Turn now to the United States, separated by a broad ocean from immediate contact with the Great Powers of Christendom, bound by treaties of amity and commerce with all the nations of the earth, connected with all by strong ties of mutual interest, and professing a devotion to the principles of Peace. Are Treaties of Amity mere words? Are relations of Commerce and mutual interest mere things of a day? Are professions [78] of Peace vain? Else why not repose in quiet, unvexed by Preparations for War? ”

“ It is likely that time will be more powerful than discussion in removing the divergence between the two nations whose friendship is so closely cemented by the intimacy of their relations and the community of their interests. ”

“ We sedulously cultivate the friendship of all nations as the condition most compatible with our welfare and the principles of our Government. We decline alliances as adverse to our peace. We desire commercial relations on equal terms, being ever willing to give a fair equivalent for advantages received We endeavor to conduct our intercourse with openness and sincerity, promptly avowing our objects and seeking to establish that mutual frankness which is as beneficial in the dealings of nations as of men. ”

“ I do not hold the view that antique methods are pursued by diplomatists which no man of common sense adopts in the ordinary work of everyday life. On the contrary, the work of diplomacy is exactly the work which is done every day between two great firms, for instance, which have business relations, or between two great corporate entities which have interests diverging or interests in common. If you are a man of sense you do not create difficulties to begin with. ”

“ In view of the responsibilities that devolve upon us in giving effect to the new treaties, it is our will that our ministers of state, acting on our behalf, should instruct our officials of all classes to observe the utmost circumspection in the management of affairs, to the end that subjects and strangers alike may enjoy equal privileges and advantages, and that, every source of dissatisfaction being avoided, relations of peace and amity with all nations may be strengthened and consolidated in perpetuity. ”

“ We have asked for a recognized place in the great family of nations, but in doing so we have demanded nothing for which we did not offer a fair equivalent. The advantages of intercourse are mutual amongst nations, and in seeking to establish diplomatic relations we were only endeavoring to place that intercourse under the regulation of public law. ”

“ But, though acting in that respect as advocates, diplomatists are essentially ministers of peace, whose constant and primary duty is mutually to devise conciliatory means for the adjustment of conflicting pretensions, for the continuance of friendly relations, for preventing war, or for the restoration of peace. ”

“ But they have also another use—a moral, if not a religious use, in that they teach us so powerfully the dependence of nations upon each other—their mutual relations, and the absolute necessity of each to the comfortable existence of all the rest. ”

“ The usages of intercourse between nations do, however, require that official communication be made to friendly powers of all organic changes in the constitution of States, and there was obvious propriety in giving prompt assurance of our desire to continue amicable relations with all mankind. ”

“ Our foreign relations today are governed by an outlook that looks upon foreign policy as a tool for national development, that looks upon every nation as a friend and ally, and that regards our place in the family of nations as one deserving of respect. ”

“ Of course, between two countries with so long a common boundary, whose citizens are passing to and fro, whose citizens are investing money, each in the country of the other, questions are continually arising; but the all-important element for the decision of every question, the good understanding, kindly feeling, and the habit of conducting relations upon the basis of reason and friendship, practically disposes in advance of all questions which can arise. ”

“ They are all highly conscious of their own prestige and dignity, and they always communicate with one another in a formal way. In it all, we see the signs of emotions and habits that extend far back to the beginnings of social life and indeed into animal life. The display which takes the form of social relations among nations, represented well by uniformed diplomats, is so plainly archaic and its real meaning so obvious that we can hardly fail to understand what it is all about. ”

“ The fortunes of nations should not be left to the hazards of the unforeseen. Those who are responsible for guiding relations between States need a vast equipment in knowledge and in aptitude. They must know the resources, the constitution and manner of government, the treaty obligations, the character of the dominant personalities, the national temperament and national objects, both of their own State and of its connexions—sometimes unruly and suspicious connexions—in the Family of Nations. ”

“ Introductory
'La diplomatie, traitée théoriquement, peut être ramenée à des principes fixes, parce qu'elle est fondée sur des préceptes plus ou moins positifs, et qu'elle a un objet précis et distinct, celui de régler les rapports qui existent ou doivent exister entre les divers États: dans son acception la plus étendue, c'est la science des relations extérieures ou affaires étrangères des États, et, dans un sens plus déterminé, la science ou l'art des négociations. ”

“ Thus monarchs and their ministers of state cannot examine with too great care the natural or acquired qualities of those citizens whom they despatch on missions to foreign states to entertain there good relations with their masters, to make treaties of peace, of alliance, of commerce or of other kinds, or to hinder other Powers from concluding such treaties to the prejudice of their own master ”

“ Why should arms now drag us into mutual resentment? If you ask us to negotiate and carry our friendly relations, then let me ask how can four thousand years' ceremonies, music, literature, and all things, be, without sufficient reason, broken up and cast away? ... It would be better early to make out a right course of action and each remain peacefully in his own place. ”

“ I do not mean that any spirit communicated this to the nations, but that in the early formation of nationalities and the commercial intercourse between nations, susceptible public men, by reason of their exceeding impressibility, got the inspiration from surrounding spiritual influences, and to a certain degree and extent carried it into execution in the establishment of ambassadorial relations between friendly governmental powers. ”

“ We continue to receive assurances of the most friendly feelings on the part of all the other European powers, with each and all of whom it is so obviously our interest to cultivate the most amicable relations ”

“ We will develop our relations exclusively on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, respect and consideration of each other's interests, and in compliance with existing agreements, especially, those on the peaceful settlement of disputes. ”

“ International relations are so intricate and have so many delicate shadings that they elude the grasp of the ordinary man, and can be held together and seen in their proper relations only by the comprehensive and experienced mind of the seasoned statesman. ”

“ The state establishes diplomatic as well as political, economic, and cultural relations with all friendly countries, on the principles of complete equality, independence, mutual respect, noninterference in each other's internal affairs, and mutual benefit. ”

“ The government has charge of the foreign political relations, conducts negotiations, makes preliminary stipulations, signs and causes to be signed and concluded all treaties of peace and alliance, truce, neutrality, commerce, and other conventions. ”

“ The considerations suggested on the other side were, that diplomatic relations made part of the established policy of modern civilized nations; that they tended to prevent hostile collisions by mutual and friendly explanations; and that a young republic ought not to incur the odium of so singular, and it might be thought disrespectful, an innovation. ”

“ I.—THE COMMON INTERESTS OF BOTH COUNTRIES DEMAND CO-OPERATION—IDENTITY OF INTERNATIONAL ACTION It is with nations as with individuals; the larger and more valuable the commercial relations grow, the greater necessity there is for close, frank, and cordial ties between them. The heart must follow the pocket. ”

“ The work is an established and indispensable authority for an understanding of the diplomacy of the times of which it treats. It contains much that is of value bearing on internal politics both in Britain and in Continental States, and on the influence of the constitutional system and of domestic politics upon the conduct of foreign policy. ”

“ To maintain a strict neutrality in foreign wars, to cultivate friendly relations, to reciprocate every noble and generous act, and to perform punctually and scrupulously every treaty obligation--these are the duties which we owe to other states, and by the performance of which we best entitle ourselves to like treatment from them ”

“ This ancient Government, ruling a polite and sensitive people, distinguished by a high sense of national pride, may properly desire an adjustment of their relations with us which would in all things confirm and in no degree endanger the permanent peace and amity and the growing commerce and prosperity which it has been the object and the effect of our existing treaties to cherish and perpetuate. ”

“ They pledge themselves also, in the interest of good and sincere relations between the two peoples in the future to solve amicably the various territorial controversies on the basis of the principles of nationality and of the right of peoples to decide their own fate, and in such a way as not to injure the vital interests of the two nations, as they shall be defined at the moment of peace. ”

“ With the one exception of the rupture with Spain, the intercourse of the United States with the great family of nations has been marked with cordiality, and the close of the eventful year finds most of the issues that necessarily arise in the complex relations of sovereign states adjusted or presenting no serious obstacle to a just and honorable solution by amicable agreement. ”

“ Actuated by the desire that good neighborly relations may be firmly established and maintained, we beg the friendly Governments to take note of these declarations and to act in a conciliatory sense should occasion or necessity arise. ”

“ In the history of our own country—for we must not, in smug complacency and with a show of unctuous rectitude, merely look abroad for the marks of diplomacy—we might go for illustration of its sinister attributes to quarters where, perhaps, they are least expected. ”

“ These indirections are inconsistent with the dignity of nations that have so many motives not only to cherish feelings of mutual friendship, but to maintain such relations as will stimulate their respective citizens and subjects to efforts of direct, open, and honorable competition only, and preserve them from the influence of seductive and vitiating circumstances. ”

“ In a less scant treatment of our subject, we should have attempted a more precise differentiation of diplomacy and analysis of its kinds, not after the manner of the international lawyer, but for historical study and political appreciation—such as the diplomacy of courtesy and of rudeness, the diplomacy of frankness, of cynicism and deceit, the diplomacy of forcefulness and of irresolution, of a weak benevolence and a slothful overtrust and inertia. ”

“ Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?
It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world. ”

“ But how far that friendship entails obligation—it has been a friendship between the nations and ratified by the nations—how far that entails an obligation, let every man look into his own heart, and his own feelings, and construe the extent of the obligation for himself. ”