INTERNATIONAL COURTESY.
111HE first idea which the present quarrel between France
and Germany suggests to the mind, is that nations are very boorish to each other. Those vast corporations seem unable to acquire the fine art of manners, and even when they are old and experienced, are often intolerably rude; while they scarcely ever succeed, even when they wish, in impressing on each other a sense of corporate friendliness, or in expressing in an unmis- takable way a conviction that the other of them intends to be kindly courteous. The smile which does so much in social intercourse, can hardly be made visible between nation and nation. That ungraciousness is the more singular because it MU early seen to be inconvenient, and serious and long. continued efforts have been made to bring it under restraint. The manner of nations to each other in their corporate capacity is regulated by an elaborate code of etiquette, much of it exceedingly old, with provisions and arrange- ments in it, and things enjoined and things forbidden, which it takes a lifetime fully to understand. It may be doubted, for example, if there is a man alive who understands the whole mystery of salutes, or who could say, off-hand and with certainty, that an Archduke visiting a man-of-war would be entitled to so many guns, or who knows when the commander of an armed vessel is bound to salute a fortress as he passes, or is quite sore how each Court ought to behave itself during an incident like the Queen's Jubilee. Sovereigns again, treat each other with a courteous respect which in public documents rarely fails, and which would be most useful in cementing national friendship but for one awkward circumstance. The etiquette of Courts is so seldom broken that it has come to mean either nothing or too much. If England and Russia were going to war, Czar and Queen would address each other up to the moment of the declaration with affectionate respect as titular brother and sister; while the Emperor Nicholas, in writing to Napoleon III. as "my friend" instead of "my brother," sowed the most fruitful of all the seeds of the Crimean War. The manner of Sovereigns to each other is, in fact, so important that it has ceased to be voluntary, and a King is no more expected to be friendly because he says he is full of friendship, than an Evangelical is expected to be humble because he classes himself with worms. Sovereign and devotee is in each case using language which is purely conventional. Diplomatists, on the other hand, labour under a difficulty of another kind. The nezus between them is too strictly professional. They are bound to be courteous to one another, and they are. Rough scenes are of the rarest occur- rence, and we can hardly remember rough words in a despatch. It is most improper, as Lord Palmerston once said to Count Walewski, to allude to war in the way of a threat ; one only hints, and that most guardedly, at "serious consequences," and a refusal is never direct, "public opinion" usually playing the part of Jorkins. Even when war has been resolved on, Ambassadors only talk of passports, and an intensely dramatic scene like that which, according to Herr Meding, preceded the Prussian attack on Hanover, mast be of the rarest occurrence ("For Sceptre and Crown," Vol. I., pp. 284-85) The timepiece on his writing-table struck 12. 'Prince Ysenburg I' announced the groom of the chambers.—' Now, at this hour ?' cried Count Platen, starting back. And he hastened to meet the Prussian ambassador, who had entered the room, and advanced slowly and gravely. What good news do you bring at this late hour, dear prince ?' he asked.—' Whether I can bring good news, I know not !' replied the prince, a small slight man, with regular features and a spare black moustache, as he fixed his black eyes with a sad and enquiring look upon Count Platen ; I must first beg for your answer to the note I delivered this morning, the reply to which I was to wait for until this evening. Yon see,' he said, drawing out his watch, have given my instructions the widest possible extension ; it is now 12 o'clook—the day is ended.—' My dear prince,' said Count Platen, I gave the note to the king immediately, the reply is now with his majesty; I expect it back every moment, and I do not doubt we shall easily come to an understanding:—The prince shook his head slightly.—' Though the answer is with his majesty, yet you must know, and I must '—he laid a stress upon the word= urgently beg you to impart its purport. Is the proposition accepted, are you authorised to conclude the proffered treaty ?'—' You will allow,' said Count Platen, that such a deeply important proposal as the reform of the confederation requires a discussion that will occupy some time.'—' I most press you, Count Platen,' said the prince, 'to give me a distinct answer upon one point,—I am not authorised to com- mence a discuesion,—bas the king accepted the treaty or not?'—' No,' -said Count Platen, with great hesitation ; bat— Then I declare war !' said Prince Ysenburg solemnly. Count Platen stared blankly in his face."
Unfortunately, all diplomatic courtesy is private, and passes nu. noticed, and is replaced in public—that is, in despatches intended to see the light—by written arguments which, as they must be -courteous and are intended to be effective, are often keenly satirical. How are you, in fact, to get the better of an opponent to whom you must be more than civil, unless you can give him now and then a gentle reminder ander the fifth rib ? Nations are exasperated by each documents, reading a meaning into them which is often not intended for their address, but o nly for that of some individual diplomatist, or even Sovereign. We can hardly remember such a paper which gave pleasure to the people receiving it, and cannot remember one at all -that glowed with friendship or good-will. A diplomatist, in fact, would feel a little ridiculous in writing a despatch of -that kind, just as a lawyer would under the same circumstances. The expression of good.will is left to the client, and the -diplomatist's client is, unfortunately, a nation which is either inarticulate, or speaks with too many tongues to be thoroughly understood.
The etiquettes being rigid, the Sovereigns formal, and the -diplomatists given at once to reticence and to sarcasm, it is a tittle difficult for a nation to express its friendly feeling. It -cannot call on the other nation. It cannot ask pleasantly after its wife. It cannot invite it to dinner. It cannot send it a little present. It cannot even write an appreciative note, or do it a small service, or in any way show that readiness to oblige and to be intimate which, if it does not produce friendship, -certainly helps to make it firm. England and Italy, for example, are very good friends indeed. As a French writer has recently said in the Deux Howlett, there is a liking between the nations which is not explicable by national character, and which is, partly at least, instinctive ; but if England wanted to -express that, she would find it very difficult, while a habitual and permanent expression of it would be next to impos- sible. Of course, she could support her Government in paying all honour to Italy, in protecting her interests, in smoothing her path abroad, and generally in making life easier f or her; but directly she could do nothing. Her amity must be expressed through the journalists ; the journalists are -divided, and in foreign affairs they find it hard to express friendliness without a criticism which friends, unless very *intimate indeed, are apt in their intercourse to avoid. They hurt, too, without knowing it, from mere want of compre- hension, and are apt to think sympathy expressed in words .rather an artificial kind of thing. Consequently, the moment any cause of dispute springs up, each nation, unaware that the other is friendly, regards it as a serious quarrel; or, if aware of hostility, exaggerates the fracas into a cause of war. It would be worth millions if England could say to America : "Bother the cod ! You must pay if you take my fish, but we have no .quarrel about that ;"—or if Germany could say to France ." We shall fight, I know, some day, but not about a kid- napping case. What will you think civil abont that ?" No informal utterance such as keeps up friendship between friends, or makes courtesy possible between enemies, can be devised for nations, and neither Governments nor diplo- -matists are quite successful go-betweens. That is to say, they do not succeed in establishing the understanding which indi- viduals do, and which, when it is complete, makes intercourse pleasant, and even a sharp tiff no cause of parting. We cannot suggest a method of supplying the want ; but if each nation would take a little more trouble to show friendliness, much of the world's business would go more smoothly. Certainly -every opportunity of doing an international courtesy should he seized ; and we think public men who are so ready to "wave the flag" on occasion, might also, when oppor- tunity serves, say a few words of appreciation, sufficient .to show that the ally, present or potential, is at least well under- stood. Such words sink deep—at least as deep as they do in private life—and statesmen are far too chary of their utterance. Nothing has helped to the friendliness between the United States and Britain like a few occasional words from the Queen ; and statesmen at the head of affairs have nearly the same power. They can express, if they like, as diplomatists cannot, the permanent and underlying sentiment of the people, and speak to another nation almost as a man speaks to his friend, his .acquaintance, or his foe.
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