THE POSITION OF DIPLOMACY. T HERE is one reflection which this
Conference at Algeciras forces on the political mind, and that is the increasing importance of the diplomatic body. For the• protection of their closest interests, their territorial safety, and even their commerce, the nations are needing able representatives. The collapse of Russia, the increase in the weight of Germany, the momentary nervousness of France, the increased English interest in the struggle between France and Germany, the unrest in the Balkans, the intervention of America in European politics, and the possible reorganisation of China, are so altering the- conditions of effective power that the nations are beginning to struggle uneasily, and, though they do not fight as yet, to wrestle with one another with a certain energy and bitterness. A large field is opening for the special skill of Ambassadors, and their comparative force will probably for some years to come be a matter of the highest moment. The chiefs of Foreign Offices will, we fear, have reason in these circumstances to regret a certain carelessness which for some years has marked the organisation of the personnel, of their diplomacy. Not only is there no diplomatist who is acknowledged to stand head and shoulders above his fellows—that may be the accident of a time rather strikingly marked by the predominance of mediocrities—but even the second rank does not impress observers as at all specially good. In the great gathering, for instance, which commences this week there is no one of the very first calibre, unless it be the Marquis Visconti Venosta,. the Italian, who does not strictly belong to the profession. There has been, in fact, a certain laxity visible all through Europe in choosing men on the ground of sheer ability. No doubt there are in this profession peculiar difficulties in the way of that practice. Anybody may rise in a Parlia- ment to any position for which he is competent. A great soldier may be chosen, if not indeed from the ranks—that is a dream of a far-off future—at any rate from very low down. Was not Moltke a Turkish Captain when he first attracted the attention of the King of Prussia ? Anybody may force himself into the list of millionaires, though it is still a small one, or into the regiment of the great captains of labour, or into the rank of those great scientists on whom the world gazes with such vast, though vague, anticipations,—in fact, into eminence of any private kind except just now that of theological dispute. But in the case of diplomacy, almost alone among the pro- fessions, the reservoir is limited. It is dangerous not to choose men of birth, or, at any rate, men with the status analogous to that of birth, for the Courts detest "boors," and the peoples do not compensate them by any special adherence. Ambassadors must 'be masters of the art of life. They ought also, as European society is now organised, to have means of their own, for unless they spend their whole official incomes, and then, as many American Envoys have done, Complain of the parsimony of their Govern- ments,' they are alit to feel humiliated by a discordance between the power of the nations they represent and the tenuity of their means of "representation." Then the old difficulty of promotion is even exaggerated in this Service. You break the hearts of its men if you do not allow them to go upstairs, however slowly; and if you do allow them, there is difficulty in emergencies in enabling the strongest to leap suddenly over old heads. The annoyance produced by an occasional instance of such promotion may be exaggerated, or even foolish ; but it is part of human nature, and is almost always reflected in the minds of the disposers of patronage. It is, in fact, very difficult to secure beforehand that the representative at a Conference or p, Congress who may have peace and war in his hands, or if not peace and war, at least immense aggregate interests, shall be a man certainly adequate to the grave, and sometimes unexpected, task thrust upon him. Of course he has his " instructions " ; but if we may use such a pun, the " instructed " man is by no means always the most competent.
Then there is the intervention of the Kings, which is, and will be, an increasing factor in modern diplomacy. Standing in front of the great wave of democracy, the Kings cannot resist the impression that if they are to remain conspicuous as tall rocks in the tide, they must make themselves visible to the people ; and there is no channel in which they can be better seen, or which, we may add, is more attractive to their ambition and their know- ledge of their own capacities, than the diplomacy of which, by the mere circumstances of their position, they are forced to understand so much. That understanding often makes Kings good diplomatists, but it does not always fit them very well for the choice of diplomatic agents. They cannot help wishing for men acceptable to themselves as well as helpful to the State, and sometimes such men are not precisely those which Foreign Offices would have chosen. There never was a King who chose agents better than the first Emperor, of Germany— Bismarck, von Boon, and. Moltke were all of his personal selection—but the man he designed to follow Bismarck in diplomacy would not have been the equal of his predecessor. Talent for intrigue, however great, is not in diplomacy the most effective quality. We will not say that inferior men get appointed by Royal intervention anywhere, but certainly second-rate men sometimes feel the lifting influence of Royal favour behind them.
• And then there is the difficulty presented by the personality of Ambassadors. They should be, in the present position of Europe, the great promoters of peace, or, at all events, of those" consummate compromises" which, if they do not secure peace for all future time, float the great vessel over the little rocks which have such an exasperating trick of heaving themselves up in spite of the momentum of the general tide. They have temptations to forget this. It is in human nature to wish, if one is a moderately able man sure to be much criticised professionally, to strike coups; and if the master to whom he is responsible has the same wish, the desire becomes almost irresistible. Now coups mean blows, and. when a State strikes a blow the impact is liable to be rather overdeep and formidable. We think we perceive this in much recent German diplomacy ; while there is a desire in France, because of this, to make ripostes unusually effective. It is natural, as we have said, but it is also dangerous, and one wishes sometimes very heartily that self-suppression should be admitted, to be among the first duties and recommendations of an Ambassador's career. The public should admire freely a Sir Stratford Canning, but diplomatists should not. It is perhaps of little use writing this ; but still, the more attention that the limited circle in Europe which is com- petent to judge. can pay to the character, keenness, and patient adroitness of its national representatives, and to their general liking to be rivers scarcely seen but irresistible, instead of volcanoes, which are always seen and usually , destructive, the better for the permanent peace of the world.
Fortunately, what we have written need not be taken to apply to the British representative at the Algeciras Conference. Sir Arthur Nicolson, British Ambassador at Madrid, is not merely a diplomat of long and wide experience, but a man endowed with strong political sense. The nation may feel satisfied that its interests will be safe in his hands.
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