THE FOREIGN OFFICE AND THE NEWSPAPERS.
THERE is little use in writing this article, for it will not cure, or even help to abate, the evil complained of ; but still it ought to be written, because it will enable our readers to understand one of the grave points of the present situation. There can be no doubt that the Foreign Office and some of its most important agents abroad are terribly hampered and embarrassed by the British methods of securing information. The Press is, in fact, too well served. Almost all important negotiation, though conducted in a formal and usually very gentlemanly way, is essentially as much bargaining as the large transactions on the Stock Exchange or in Mincing Lane. The two parties "mean business," but they mean profit too ; and they try every scheme to obtain from the other side the best terms they can, sometimes asking more than they intend to take, sometimes giving hints of fresh bargains which may be made if this one comes off, and sometimes declaring roughly that if the other dealer has " such exaggerated views" the transaction cannot be carried through. No diplomatist will deny for a moment the accuracy of this description, though he will probably resent such belittling of the practices of his profession ; and it is obvious that to make such bargaining successful it must be kept secret till it is finished, because if the market hears of its progress it will fluctuate with every new detail. The English newspapers, however, are deter- mined that this condition shall not be observed. Their customers want news daily, their agents have means of learning the "news "—that is, the progress of the bar- gaining—daily from third parties, and they flash it home before the principals have really agreed to anything. The principals are astounded, or if they are foreigners are annoyed to the last degree, and at once become so dis- trustful and so stubborn that bargaining becomes impos- sible, and they are lucky if they can get away without a bitter quarrel. The market, too, gets "hot," and know- ing the details of the dispute, asks angrily in the end why the "bulling" or "bearing" bargainer has "with his appearance of firmness" let them all in for losses.
In the present negotiation in the Far East, for example, the British and Russian Governments have been troubled to exasperation by the British, and in a less degree by the American, Press. They probably could come to terms pretty readily if they only knew exactly what terms each would accept, but in their efforts to find that out they are constantly, so to speak, laid in fetters or gagged by the newspaper correspondents. The Chinese Ministers, who are all Ah Sins a little polished up, tell the corre- spondents anything which tends to make the bargainers quarrel, and the correspondents day by day, or even hour by hour, send that home. The Englishman says he will have Talienwan thrown open.' The Russian says it shall not be thrown open. The Englishman says that 'in that case he will not endorse Chinese bills.' The Russian says that 'he himself will endorse them, and who will reject his signature ? ' In that case, says the Englishman 'we fall back on the old bond." If you yield,' says 'the Russian to the Chinaman, we will have no more to do with your firm.' All this is telegraphed home and telegraphed back, the bargainers find themselves held by opinion to their words, they fancy their reputation as business men and truthful men has become involved, and they turn as obstinate as mules, or dogs sent home during a walk. There is nothing to be done on their initiative any more, and if a quarrel is avoided, or negotia- tions resumed, it is only because the employing firms at a distance are cooler, and think, as an arrangement must be profitable, their agents' feelings and the row in the market may safely be disregarded.
• What is the remedy? Well, we think there are two, but those suggested are more or less nonsensical. You can- not at this time of day prevent rumours from getting on to the wires nor can you prevent the journals from publishing those rumours. Their business, as we once heard Mr. Delane say, is publicity, and they are reminded of their business by a fact which statesmen constantly for- get,the competition of their rivals. Suppose the Times, in an access of discretion, had suppressed the fuss over Talienwan, what would have happened ? The Daily Mail, or some other much-alive paper, would have published it all with headlines, and possibly have drawn the deduction that war must immediately follow, and was, in fact, officially expected. There are plenty of journalists—honest men, too, most of them—who genuinely believe that publicity is, under all circumstances, a good thing, and their mouths cannot all be closed. Indeed, if they could the process would be useless, for publicity is in this case clearly to Chinese interest, and the Chinese Embassy cannot be ordered either to hold its tongue or to refrain from publishing its information. The two cures, and the only cures, are,—firstly, for the Foreign Office and its agents to disregard the public absolutely, relying upon the constitutional truth that they are responsible to Parliament and not to the electors ; and secondly, for the Ministry to assure everybody that the moment Parlia- ment meets they will lay before it clearly and frankly the details of any and every completed transaction. Sensible men will then wait, and the fools who will not, have not half the power which aristocratic rulers, in their dread and dislike of democracy, are apt to attribute to them.
At the same time, though much of the evil could be cured by a little more display of nerve on the part of officials, we must admit that the electors are sometimes very silly. What on earth do they think they get by screaming out before they know that they are hurt ? They are very hard on the French for their readiness to cry " Nous so »ones trah is," but they are often just as ready themselves, though they impute timidity and not corruption. This very week they have all been abusing Lord Salisbury because Le has, as they believe, sur- rendered "half Somaliland" to the Negus of Abyssinia. As it happens, he has done nothing of the kind, Menelek, who, though dark, is an astute ruler, not in the least desiring to own a coast which every maritime Power could shell, while the immense majority of those who screamed did not know where Somaliland was, had not a conception of the reasons for conciliating Menelek, and if they had ever seen Somalis would have been for giving them away to any one who asked for them. All those things, however, mattered nothing. Lord Salisbury had parted with something, on good terms or bad terms, and was conse- quently "a lath painted to look like iron." Be it understood that we do not deprecate the screaming for itself in any way. We are only too glad that even the ignorant should take an interest in the grandeur of their country, and should be prepared to resent any weak surrender of its just claims. But why cannot the screamers wait till they know the facts ? Parliament meets next week-. There are fifty men who will be eager to ask Mr. Balfour whether his uncle has or has not sold a shilling for twopence, and as he is obliged to answer, and as English- men do not agree with Bismarck that the duties of diplo- macy often involve direct lying, the answer will give the country a knowledge of the actual fact. To make up its mind beforehand is not only unwise, but it makes the task of the Foreign Office, which just now is most delicate and difficult, almost unendurable. No experience or habitude of office steels Englishmen against the charge of cowardice now so freely thrown about, and if we ever do make a big blunder it will be because some unhappy Foreign Secretary is afraid that if he adopts the sensible course or accepts the statesmanlike compromise, he will be accused by his countrymen of want of manly resolution. The English. are often singularly patient in waiting for the trial before they condemn an accused man, and it would be well if they exhibited the same self-control in discussing inter- national affairs. As yet, to say we have shrunk or have succeeded in Northern China is to decide in ignorance on imaginary facts. The only things certain are that we are not going to occupy Chinese provinces, and that we era going to keep the trade of China open to all the world. About our methods we shall know nothing till—next week.
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