Mn Balfour on Friday week took occasion to reply at
some length to the complaints directed against " secret . diplomacy." He urged that reticence was as necessary in dealing with the domestic life of nations as it was in the home. " We all know in private life that if. everything was said everywhere and by everybody domestic life would be impossible." He declared that the Foreign Office, no far as lie knew, had never carried reticence too far. He re- called with approval Lord Grey of Fallodon's remark that he could tell the secrets of the Foreign Office, but ho could only do it once, since the outraged Ambassadors would not give him a second chance• At the present moment reticence as to our dealings with neutrals as well as with our Allies was imperative. He saw no advantage in having a Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Relations. " Secret diplomacy" was, after all, the ordinary practice of men applied to international affairs in smoothing over difficulties between nations. Mr. Balfour might have added, if he had been a detached observer, that many of those who denounced our Foreign Office for its secrecy were really inspired by the belief that it had failed—and that is another question.
Previous page
