Diplomat

“ The Man in the Street, be he in Plymouth or in Petersburg, Margate or Madrid, Rochester or Rome, believes that treaties duly translated and made in duplicate or triplicate, signed by the Sovereign, sealed with the Great Seal, and delivered with all the pomp and ceremony which diplomacy demands, are a safeguard against war. But your modern diplomat smiles, for he knows they are not. ”

“ The craft of the diplomat, whose foxy instinct endeavors to fix the incentive stigma of a causeless war upon neighboring nations, as the precursor of slaughtered millions, for the absorption of coveted territory, should prove a source of reprobation, rather than praise, to the peaceful perceptions of instinct. ”

“ A diplomat must be in touch with all sources from which he can glean information.
Individual capabilities and zeal will naturally play a great part; but the means that a Government places at the disposition of its foreign missions are also of the highest importance. ”

“ That does not mean that a diplomat is to consider it his duty only to show himself at all the parties and fêtes given by the upper ten thousand, but it is one of his duties, as at such places he might gain information unobtainable elsewhere. ”

“ But there is abundant evidence available that the process of evolution has not yet advanced the human race to the point where the same tactics are impossible in the hands of more powerful, if less courteous, marauders. And it is just as well to remember that there is only one kind of diplomacy effective with such gentry. And one kind of diplomat, best exemplified in the person of Stephen Decatur. ”

“ The proof of what I say is the Englishman’s unquestioned superiority in diplomacy. People who have no experience of cosmopolitan society seem to think that the successful diplomat must be a detective of the popular novel type: an astute if somewhat unscrupulous politician and a polished lady’s man all rolled into one. ”

“ The broad outlook on human affairs implied in “historical sense” is more necessary to the diplomatist under modern conditions than in the 18th century, when international policy was still wholly under the control of princes and their immediate advisers. Diplomacy was then a game of wits played in a narrow circle. ”

“ A certain diplomat of the seventeenth century is said to have written in praise of his occupation, diplomacy “causes sudden revolutions in great states. It excites hatreds, jealousies and seditions. It arms princes and whole nations against their own interests; it forms leagues and other treaties among sovereigns and peoples whose interests are quite opposed to one another ”

“ It is, I suppose, among the normal duties of a diplomat to engage in negotiations and conferences, to write notes and aide-memoire, to entertain at dinner parties, and cultivate good will toward the government he represents. ”

“ A Foreign Office and a Diplomatic Service are great instruments for preventing, as far as can be prevented, and diminishing, even when you cannot prevent, friction between States which are, or which ought to be, friendly: How is the task of peace-maker—because that is largely the task which falls to diplomatists and to the Foreign Office, which controls diplomatists—to be pursued if you are to shout your grievances from the housetop whenever they occur? ”

“ 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. ”

“ Diplomacy, instead of secret whispering, a finger to its lips, must shout from the housetops. Great nations cannot be governed from cellars. Diplomats are not necessarily conspirators. There is such a thing as walking in the sunlight. ”

“ I have doubtless stated the essentials of all good diplomacy, which may be rather regarded, therefore, as a grace of state, than the effect of management. For to tell the truth is not in itself diplomatic, and to have no care for the result a thing involuntary. ”

“ I had foreign diplomatists to address, and it was consequently unworthy of my rôle and unnecessary for my mission to belittle a Government, which France had tolerated for eighteen years, more than it had belittled itself. ”

“ The French writer, Garden, in his Traité de diplomatie, gives the following49 elucidation: “Put on this plane, diplomacy becomes like a transcendent manœuvering of which the entire globe is the theater, where states are army corps, where the lines of combat change unceasingly, and where one never knows who is a friend, and who is an enemy. It is a political labyrinth in the midst of which ability alone is capable of moving with ease and without being smothered by detail.” ”

“ For this purpose no rules can be drawn up for the guidance of a diplomat in such a matter, for unless a man be born with such qualities he cannot acquire them, and to those who do not possess them I might as well speak to the deaf as write these observations. ”

“ How many great qualities must such a man possess! You will find in all countries many such diplomats of low degree; consummate negotiators arguing in the interests of calico, jewels, frippery, wines; and often displaying more true diplomacy than ambassadors themselves, who, for the most part, know only the forms of it. ”

“ The definition of the art of diplomacy which has been cited is one which is suggested more especially by the requirements of what is termed le style diplomatique, le style de cour, or le style de chancellerie. The art of writing letters and notes and of producing other compositions, whether they be merely polite or be sternly pertinent to the business on hand, is not the whole of the art of diplomacy. ”

“ There are few diplomatists who in the long run do not prefer to capitulate with their conscience and their patriotism, and to guard the interests of their country and their sovereign with somewhat less decision, rather than, incessantly and with danger to their personal position, to contend with the difficulties which are prepared for them by a powerful and unscrupulous enemy. ”

“ In either case it will be observed that the public interests will be best served by appointing a professional diplomatist who by long experience has acquired a high aptitude for the peculiar office of diplomacy. Neither the soldier nor the courtier can hope to discharge the duties of diplomacy with success unless they have taken pains to instruct themselves in public policy, and in all that region of knowledge which I have already described as necessary for the negotiator. ”

“ And when peace supervened and became in the hands of diplomats a feverish and restless thing, almost as nerve-racking as war, then by many hundreds of warriors unwanted by the State and without employ, the dull routine was forgotten while the fierce craving remained. ”

“ So, in the same way, your new nations may get up a king and a court, a senate, an army, and a ministry, but let them not meddle with diplomacy—the moment they do this they burn their fingers: your diplomate is like your chasseur, and your groom of the chambers; if he be not well done, he is a miserable failure. The world has so many types to refer to on this head, there can be no mistake. Talleyrand, Nesselrode, Metternich, Lord Whitworth, and several more, have too long given the tone to this peculiar walk to admit of any error concerning it ”

“ Retief took the papers and tucked them into an inside pocket.
"One of the many functions a diplomat is called on to perform in a small consular post. Excellent experience. I needn't warn you to be circumspect. ”

“ Thus and thus alone can a prince gather round him a diplomatic bodyguard worthy of the name. If he follows this advice, his diplomatic service will quickly outstrip all others and a deeper mutual confidence will arise between himself and his diplomatic agents upon which the success of all his negotiations will rest secure. No diplomatist is less to be envied than he who finds himself at a foreign court bereft of the confidence of his own. ”

“ There are. indeed countries in which the distinguished diplomatist may hope to reach the highest place and most exalted dignities in the realm, by which means we in France may learn to raise the profession of diplomacy to that degree of public recognition which it deserves, and from which the service of the King and the greatness of the kingdom must certainly profit. ”

“ The reader who has not delved into the diplomatic correspondence does not readily conceive of the range of subjects which thus come under the attention of an American minister abroad, in the present habit, which unites the old diplomacy and the formality of old centuries with the hustling end-of-the-century practice, in which every citizen enjoys the attention of the minister. ”

“ The diplomatist_must bear in mind once for all that he is not authorised to demand that a whole nation shall conform to his way of living, and that it is more reasonable, and in the long run greatly to his own comfort, to accommodate himself to foreign ways of living. He should beware of criticising the form of government or the personal conduct of the prince to whom he is accredited. ”

“ It has been observed for the last fifty years, that the tone of diplomatic correspondence was much improved, as to simplicity and directness. Once, diplomacy was another name for intrigue, and a paper of this sort was expected to be a mesh of artful phrases, through which the true meaning might be detected, but never actually grasped. Now, here is one where an occasion being afforded by the unutterable folly of the corresponding party, a minister speaks the truth as it lies in his mind, directly and plainly, as man speaks to man. ”

“ We had a beautiful dinner here last night—very brilliant too, as we all were going to a ball at the Russian embassy afterward. All the diplomats and army men were in uniform—and one or two of the army men were really brilliant. But none of the diplomats. They say that no nation sends us its best or even its second best. It seems that diplomats don't amount to much in this day of cables. Those who have any intelligence naturally go [Pg 87] to courts, where the atmosphere is congenial and where there are chances for decorations. ”

“ Diplomacy demands Professional Training.Let me further emphasise my conviction, which, alas, is not yet shared even by ministers of state in France, that diplomacy is a profession by itself which deserves the same preparation and assiduity of attention that men give to other recognised professions. The qualities of a diplomatist and the knowledge necessary to him cannot, indeed, all be acquired. ”

“ But it is equally obvious that there are occasions when it is of the highest advantage to maintain a more elaborately equipped mission at a foreign court, and even to send two or three diplomatists of higher rank to assist in the conduct of negotiations and in the other activities of diplomacy. ”

“ Ladies’ night in a Turkish bath.
* * *
Dear Skipper—Who are the leading Turkish rulers?—Jack Sellers.
Pasha Hat, Mustapha Beer and Esaad Enuf.
* * *
Dear Capt. Billy—What is your best definition of a diplomat?—Phillis Fullabunk.
A diplomat, Phillis, is a man who, when he [23] gets home late, sneaks into bed backwards so that if his wife awakes he can tell her he is just getting up. ”

“ It is believed by many, and I had shared that belief, that a diplomatic corps near a government of any importance must be composed of persons of superior ability, knowledge, and culture—a high school of state-craft, in which the intimate secrets of the art might be learned. ”

“ If this be true in the transactions of common life, with how much more force does it apply to the intercourse between diplomatists? The deceitfulness of diplomacy has become almost a proverb. In Europe the talent of over-reaching gives a minister the glory of diplomatic skill. The French school has been distinguished in this art. To prove it, I need only mention the name of Talleyrand. The American school teaches far different lessons. ”

“ Obviously, the diplomatist is an attorney for a client.2 Incidentally, the whole training of his profession is to try to prevent war. He does try to prevent it; so does every right-minded man. It is a horror and a scourge, to be avoided as you would avoid leprosy. When it does come, the diplomatist’s business is to place all the blame for it with the enemy. ”

“ The Secret of Success.The diplomatist must, however, bear constantly in mind both at work and at play the aims which he is supposed to be serving in the foreign country, and should subordinate his personal pleasure and all his occupations to their pursuit. In this matter the two chief aims which the able negotiator places before himself are, as I have said, to conduct the affairs of his master to a prosperous issue, and to spare no pains to discover the designs of others. ”

“ If I have laid stress upon the essentials rather than upon the form and circumstance of diplomatic work, if I have also spoken with candour, both regarding the duties of the minister at home and of his agents in foreign parts, it is because I believe that a knowledge of the truth is the necessary. ”

“ Nothing in diplomatic history is more eccentric than the long sermons upon abstruse points of divinity and ecclesiastical history which the English ambassador delivered from time to time before the States-General in accordance with elaborate instructions drawn up by his sovereign with his own hand. ”

“ And, perhaps, the real use of diplomats, if they are prudent and level-headed men, is to control the ambitions of the military element, to adopt a wider outlook, to consider the ultimate consequences rather than the immediate effects of things. ”

“ Therefore the ambassador should be a man of peace; for in most cases, and certainly wherever the foreign court is inclined towards peace, it is best to send a diplomatist who works by persuasion and is an adept in winning the good graces of those around him. ”