life, the materials out of which policies are formed, should be known
freely and fully to the public of every nation. The manipulation
of international communications for political purposes is the most
sinister and dangerous part of the system with which secret diplomacy
is entwined. According to this theory it is not only not good for the
people to know everything but they must also be made to know things
about the truth of which we need not bother our heads but which will
stimulate the passions and arouse the instincts our policy desires
to work upon. Thus the void left by secrecy, by a concealment of the
true nature and character of internationally important matters, is
frequently supplied by an intelligence service carrying distorted
and colored versions of facts; all this confuses and discourages the
public mind to such an extent that it becomes unable to sever fact from
fiction and to form a consistent and firm judgment.
The abolition of secret diplomacy is not a matter of agreeing to
have no more secrets. It is a matter of arousing among the public so
powerful a determination to know, so strong a sentiment of the value of
truth, such a penetrating spirit of inquiry, that the secrets will fade
away as they always do when the importance of a situation is really
understood by a large number of people.
Meanwhile it need not appear futile to work for the positive
elimination of secrecy. No one can doubt that the provision of the
Covenant of the League of Nations, which requires that all treaties
shall be made public, is salutary and that its enforcement would
greatly increase public confidence. But it is necessary to go beyond
this and to outlaw any agreement which is kept secret, by making it the
public law of the world that no rights or obligations can be founded on
such attempts against the peace and common welfare of the nations.
The personal relationships of diplomacy also require attention. The
spirit of the Diplomatic Service should be transformed in accordance
with the modern organization of society. The most essential weakness
of caste diplomacy lies in the fact that it does not provide means
for a sufficient contact among the peoples of the world. Contact is
maintained only within a narrow class. The diplomatic fraternity lives
in its own realm of precedences, rivalries and traditions. To confine
the intercourse and interchange of influences so narrowly, is a great
weakness of our present political system.
The diplomatic office should be conceived as having the function to
represent not only the special national interest of the respective
country, but also, on an equal plane, its participation in all the
activities and interests which are common to the nations of the world.
The legations and embassies should be provided with a personnel
of attachés not only for political and military affairs, but for
commerce, education, science and social legislation. All these
matters are already dealt with to some extent by common action among
the nations. The sending of ministers as delegates to international
technical conferences has often been criticized as importing into
such conferences the narrow, separatist point of view of diplomatic
politics. It should be exactly the other way; participation in such
conferences ought to impart to diplomats a broad spirit of coöperation
instead of a desire to maintain intact a theoretical isolation. That is
the essence of the matter. As long as it is supposed that by jealously
scrutinizing every international relationship from the point of view
of abstract political independence, and assuming that it is best to
make the very least possible contribution of energy and coöperation,
the national interest can be most promoted; so long will diplomatic
action continue on a strained basis, always being painfully conscious
of the potential enmity among nations. But when it is realized that in
nearly every case the national interest, or the interest of the people
of the nation which ought to be synonymous therewith, is best advanced
by whole-souled coöperation in constructive work in commerce, industry,
science and the arts, then the political factor of diplomatic rivalry
will assume more just proportions as compared with the other interests
of humanity.
This borders upon a very broad subject dealing rather with general
international policy than with the specific problems we were
considering; and yet we ought to be aware of this background. We need
not give up our conviction that the autonomy of the national state
must be preserved and that each political society shall dispose of
its own affairs within its borders as its wisdom and judgment may
dictate, free from intervention from without. But complete freedom of
local self-determination can rest only upon a universal recognition
of that right in all others, in a spirit of confidence and security
engendered by the absence of intrigue and secret ambitions. In a still
greater measure does the happiness of the national state depend on
free and full coöperation with all others in all pursuits, activities
and interests common to humanity and in making the earth a place for
dignified and happy human life. Unless diplomacy looks forward to
this and helps to bring it about, it will remain ensnared in the old
practices which ever lead only to barren results.
Lincoln’s simple faith in the people has not yet been adequately
applied in international affairs. International action has shown the
impersonal character of calculated manipulations coldly disposing of
the rights and lives of millions with cruel callousness. The last great
war has made us consider the relation of war sacrifices to the daily
welfare of the people. A great deal of the prevailing unrest in the
world is undoubtedly due to a lack of confidence that great affairs are
being handled with wisdom and with regard to the true, lasting welfare
of the people themselves. It is difficult to reduce to personal terms
relations so abstract and general as those obtaining in international
affairs. We think of the armies in serried ranks and are impressed
with the impact of their force and the great feats it may accomplish.
But we are too apt to forget the individual destiny carried in every
breast, the human feeling in every heart, among all the millions that
make up this engine of power and destruction. Human welfare rather than
human power has not yet been made the constant and overshadowing aim
of diplomacy. That will be done only when the people themselves demand
that international affairs shall be dealt with in a different spirit
and with other methods. Then we shall have policies that can be avowed
and understood by the people who bear the burden and who pay the bill.
The questions which we have been considering are not distinct and
isolated but are bound up with all that goes toward a more adequate
organization of modern society. Even in the industries, men are no
longer satisfied with a narrowly centralized control. They call for
information and accountability, they claim a share in management,
at least of an advisory or consultative nature. All who contribute
in bearing the risks of industry demand to be kept informed of the
policies and actions of the management. In ever extending circles
men share in the responsibility for action taken in their name.
It is a truism that risk is diminished and tends to disappear
as it is distributed over greater and greater numbers. Under our
present political system nations are carrying a tremendous risk in
international affairs--they are risking their wealth, the lives of
their citizens, their own very existence. The responsibility for
bearing these risks and for arranging the conditions of safety is now
too narrowly centralized. It is an elementary demand of safety that it
should be more widely distributed, that a larger number of competent
and representative minds should take part in carrying this burden.
And they should at all points be supported by a well-informed public
opinion throughout the nation.
But there is a condition that lies still deeper. The popular psychology
cultivated under the narrow aims of nationalism has exhausted itself
in international matters in dislike and hatred of everything alien and
of all that lies beyond the national pale. Such a state of mind is
ever ready to act the bull to any red rag of newspaper sensationalism.
So, the inside managers of diplomatic affairs may still say with some
justification, “Open discussion would too much excite the public
mind.” This fundamental condition cannot be suddenly purged of all its
potency for evil. Only by gradual degrees may an attitude be brought
about within the national communities which will be more just to the
outside world and to everything that is strange and unaccustomed. What
the great imaginative writers of the first half of the nineteenth
century accomplished in breaking down social prejudices and abuses
will have to be done for humanity by a new host of inspired molders
of human sentiment. We may not get rid of artificial hostilities now
still nurtured by nationalism, until ideals of international goodwill
and fellowship have been expressed in the form of human experience
and portrayed as part of the struggles and triumphs of the individual
human soul. Patient, sound, upbuilding influences shall have to work
powerfully on the masses of men, and on their leaders, before we
may finally overcome the evils that express themselves in practices
inherent in a system such as that we call “secret diplomacy,” before
the world may be made an abode of mutual confidence and helpfulness
instead of a house of imprisonment, suspicion and terror.
SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY
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BAGGER, E. S. Central European Conspiracy. N. Y. _Nation_, November
17, 1920.
BARTHÉLEMY, J. Démocratic et politique étrangère. 1917. Part I.
BASS, J. F. The Peace Tangle. 1920.
BROWN, PHILIP. Democracy and Diplomacy. _North American Review._
1916.
CALLIÈRES, F. DE. On the Manner of Negotiating with Princes. 1716.
Translated by A. F. Whyte. 1919.
COOLIDGE, A. C. (ED.). Secret Treaties of Austria-Hungary. 1920.
CZERNIN, COUNT. In the World War. 1919.
DICKINSON, G. L. Democratic Control of Foreign Policy. _Atlantic_,
August, 1916.
DILLON, E. J. The Inside Story of the Peace Conference. 1920.
FAY, S. B. Origins of the War. _Am. Hist. Rev._ 1920.
FITZMAURICE, LORD. Life of Lord Granville. 1905.
GORIČAR and L. B. STOWE. Inside Story of Austro-German Intrigue.
1920.
HARRIS, JOHN H. The Chartered Millions. Swarthmore Press, London.
HAYASHI, COUNT. Secret Memoirs. Ed. A. M. Pooley. 1915.
HEATLY, D. P. Diplomacy and the Study of International Relations.
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ISVOLSKY, ALEXANDER. Memoirs. 1921.
LABOUCHERE, HENRY. Life of. 1916.
LANE-POOLE, STANLEY. The Life of Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. 1890.
LANSING, ROBERT. The Peace Negotiations. 1921. Chapter 17.
LEUTRUM, COUNTESS. Court and Diplomacy in Austria. 1920.
LOFTUS, LORD AUGUSTUS. Diplomatic Reminiscences. 1837–1862.
LOREBURN, EARL. How the War Came. 1919.
MACKNIGHT, THOMAS. Thirty Years of Foreign Policy. 1855.
MALMESBURY, EARL OF. Diaries and Correspondence. 1844.
MAXWELL, SIR HERBERT. Life of Lord Clarendon. 1913.
METTERNICH. Memoirs.
MOREL, E. D. Ten Years of Secret Diplomacy. 6th Edition. 1920.
MOREL, E. D. Pre-War Diplomacy. 1920.
MURRAY, SIR GILBERT. Faith, War and Policy. 1917. Part 6.
MYERS, D. P. Legislatures and Foreign Relations. _Am. Political
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PONSONBY, A. Democracy and Diplomacy. 1919.
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SÉGUR. Politique de tous les cabinets. 3rd Edition, 1802.
SMITH, MUNRO. Militarism and Statecraft. 1918.
THOMPSON, G. C. Public Opinion and Lord Beaconsfield. 1886.
Union for Democratic Control. London. Publications. 1920–1921.
WITTE, COUNT. Memoirs. 1921.
YOUNG, GEORGE. Diplomacy, Old and New. 1921.
ZURLINDEN, S. The World War. Chapter IV. Zurich, 1917.
INDEX
Absolutism, survival of, 181 ff., 208
Absolutist politics, 148
Absolutist tradition in diplomacy, 208
Adams, John Quincy, 24
Adriatic memorandum, 201, 203
Aehrenthal, 106
Afghanistan, 157
Afghan war, 69
Agadir, 81
Algeciras, Act of, 80
American government, 16, 18, 119, 173, 194 ff., 196
American idealism, 207
Alexander I, 46
Alliances, 70, 73
Alsace-Lorraine, 64, 121, 123
Anglo-French Entente, 79, 89, 93
Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 73, 74
Antwerp, 91
Apathy of the public, 172, 173
Appearances, 32
Archives, 51
Armament interests, 147
Asquith, Herbert H., 85, 87, 88
Australia, 210
Austria-Hungary, 48, 49, 61, 62, 65, 70, 104, 105, 107, 109, 110, 120,
121, 123, 124, 132
Balfour, Arthur J., 140, 141, 161, 162, 168, 176, 187
Balkans, 97, 104, 113, 146
Barnardiston, Colonel, 91
Bavaria, 61
Beaconsfield, Lord, 67, 68, 69
Belgian General Staff, 91
Belgian neutrality, 62, 91
Benedetti, 53, 62
Berchtold, Count, 104, 105, 106, 114
Beresford, Lord, 87
Bethmann-Hollweg, 104, 106, 107
Beyens, Baron, 114
Bismarck, 5, 11, 31, 49, 51, 53, 61, 63, 64, 70, 140, 184
Bjorkoe meeting, 1905, 76
Blue Books, 156
Borgo, Pozzo di, 46
Bosnia, 114
Bosnia and Herzegovina, 65, 105
Bribery, 41, 42, 48
Bright, John, 55, 67, 157
British diplomacy, 20
Buchanan, William J., 138
Buelow, Prince, 76
Bulgaria, 122
Byles, Sir W., 88
Cabinet, 158
Cabinet and Parliament, 56
Callières, practice of diplomacy, 27, 29, 32
Canada, 210
Canning, Stratford, 54, 57
Caste, diplomatic, 184
Castlereagh, 47
Catherine, Empress, 36, 42, 43, 44
Cavour, 60
Cecil, Lord Hugh, 86
Censure of news, 145
Central Powers, 120
Charles, Emperor of Austria, 121, 123
Charles II, 152
Cheradame, M., 177
Chili-Argentinian boundary dispute, 138
China, 117, 126, 127, 143, 199, 208
China, breaking off relations with Germany, 127, 128
Chinese people, 20
Chinese public opinion, 21
Chino-Japanese war, 72
Christian ideal, 190
Clarendon, Earl of, 55, 57, 155, 157
Comité du Maroc, 80
Common interests, 14, 219
Communist Party and international affairs, 179
“Compensations,” 65, 98, 123
Conference diplomacy, 15, 219
Conferences, international technical, 219
Congress, 150
Constantinople, 54, 201
Continental system, 84
Council of Five, 130
Counter-Insurance Treaty, 70
Crimean war, 54, 55, 56, 59
Cromer, Lord, 101, 171, 172
Cromwell, 34
Crown, prerogative of the, 153, 154
Cyprus protectorate, 67
Czecho-Slovakia, 132
Czernin, Count, 106, 121, 123, 124, 169, 189
_Daily Mail_, London, 205
De Bass, 34
De Tocqueville, 170
De Torcy, 31, 41
Deceit, 28, 29, 39
Deception, 136
Declarations, general, 142, 144, 186
Delcassé, M., 78
_Dementi_, 66, 125
Democracy, 10, 158, 159, 170, 172, 214, 221
Denmark, 37
Derby, Lord, 69
D’Estournelles de Constant, Baron, 82
Dickinson, G. Lowes, 178
Digest of International Law, 196
Dillon, Dr. E. J., 130
Dillon, John, 81, 82, 158
Diplomacy, personal, 23, 52, 55, 184
Diplomacy of authority, 64
Diplomacy resembling war, 49
Diplomatic fraternity, 219
Diplomatic literature, 51
Diplomatic Service, spirit of the, 218
Disillusionment, 200, 202
Disraeli, 50, 67, 68, 69
d’Orsat, Cardinal, 30, 33
Double-dealing, 73
Drake, 33
Du Luc, Count, 31
Dual Alliance, 71
“Empire,” 68
Ems dispatch, 63
English-speaking powers, 119, 204, 210
Experts, 8, 111
Falsiloquy, 26
Far Eastern situation, 72, 199, 201
_Federalist_, 150
Ferdinand of Bulgaria, 113
Feria, Duke of, 33
Fez, 80
Forgach, Count, 105
France, 48, 60, 61, 62, 70, 75, 78, 85, 87, 88, 89, 90, 95, 97,
117, 132, 133
Francis Joseph, Emperor, 105, 107
Franco-Hungarian intrigues, 132
Franco-Prussian war, 64
Franco-Russian Alliance, 97
Franco-Russian military convention of August, 1912, 93
“Frankness,” 32, 40, 64, 143
Frederick II, 38, 39, 42, 103
French Parliament, 82
“Friends of liberty,” 38
Foreign Office Vote, 186
Foreign Relations of the United States, 195
Fox, Charles James, 43
German diplomacy, 103
German-Russian agreement, 76, 77
Germany, 62, 64, 70, 71, 78, 81, 89, 95, 102, 103, 106, 176
Giolliti, Signor, 187
Gladstone, 67
Golden Rule, 47, 195
Gossip, 137
Granville, Lord, 55, 66, 157
Great Britain, 48, 65, 67, 72, 84, 88, 97, 117, 119, 143, 210
Great War, 6, 99, 112, 174, 178
Greindl, Baron, 94
Grey, Sir Edward, 80, 88, 89, 90, 96, 97, 100, 160, 178
Gross, M., 38
Grotius, 11, 14, 15, 24, 26
Guillaume, Baron, 94
Haldane, Viscount, 88, 100
Harris, Sir James, 29, 38, 40, 42
Harvey, T. Edmund, 97
Hayashi, Count, 73
Holy Alliance, 46
Honor, 110
House of Lords and foreign affairs, 66, 153
Hughes, Secretary, 16
Human equation, 9
Human welfare, 222
Humanitarian professions, 142
Hungarian railways, 133
Ideals professed, 117, 142, 186
India, 20, 210
India, frontier of, 69
Indifference, public, 172, 173
Infallibility does not exist, 176
Instincts, 215
Isvolsky, 75, 93, 114
Italy, 117, 124
Ito, Marquis, 73
Japan, 19, 72, 73, 117, 119, 124, 126, 127, 142, 143, 199, 202
Japan, absolutism, 185
Janushkevich, General, 115
Jay, John, 150, 194, 195
Jowett, F. W., 85
Jungbluth, General, 91
Kinloch-Cooke, Sir C., 87
Knox, Secretary, 19, 143
Korea, 143
Krupp Iron Works, 147
Labouchere, 50, 51, 55
Lalaing, Count de, 94
Lamsdorff, Count, 76, 77
Lansdowne, Lord, 73, 79, 96
Lansing-Ishii notes, 199
Law, Bonar, 204
League of Nations, 7, 188, 218
Leutrum, Countess, 105
Liberal theory of state, 3
Lincoln, 221
Lloyd-George, 122
London, Pact of, 120, 123
Loreburn, Lord, 95, 96, 98, 116
Lords, House of, 66, 153
Louis XI, 28
Louis XV, 52
Lowell, J. R., 182
Lytton, Lord, 172
Macartney, Sir George, 37
Machiavelli, 11, 14, 24, 28, 40, 182
MacNeill, Swift, 160
Malmesbury, Lord, 29, 38, 40
Manchuria, 143
Manchurian railway neutralization, 19
Mandates, 131
Manipulations, 212, 221
Mankind, underlying unity of, 191
Manteuffel, 50
Marcy, Secretary, 50
Marlborough, Duke of, 41
“Material for statesmanship,” 215
_Matin_, 82
Mazarin, Cardinal, 33
Mediterranean situation, 87, 88
Mehée de la Touche, 33
Memoirs, Eighteenth Century, 25
Methods of diplomacy and of private business, 4, 140, 163, 169
Metternich, 35, 46, 47
Militarists, German, 105, 185
Militarists, Russian, 105, 115
Military assistance, 85, 90, 92, 93
Minority interests, 183
Monarchist diplomacy, 23
Monroe Doctrine, 18, 215
Moore, John Bassett, 196, 197
Morny, Duc de, 53
Morocco, 60, 71, 78, 79, 82, 89, 101, 143
Murray, Gilbert, 172
Napoleon I, 35, 46, 48
Napoleon III, 5, 52, 53, 56, 60, 62, 63
Naval assistance, 87, 90, 92, 93
Nationalism, 11
Near East, 134
Necessity of war, 118
Newspapers, 171, 223
Nicholas II, 56
Nicholas III, 75, 77, 115
North Pacific islands, 19, 128, 202
Notes, exchange of, November, 1912, 92
Objectives, constancy of, 212
Open covenants, 130
Open Door, 18, 144
Pact of London, 120, 123
Palmerston, 31, 54, 56, 59, 68
Panin, 37, 42, 43
Parliament and foreign affairs, 149 ff.
Parliament and secret diplomacy, 82, 85, 94, 95, 98, 149 ff.
Peace Conference of Paris, 129, 130
“Peace of Asia,” 143
Pelham, 154
“People who are not responsible,” 168, 216
_Pester Lloyd_, 110
Pinckney, 44
Plutocratic control, 183
Poincaré, President, 93, 121
Poland, 47, 118
Policy, diplomatic, 48, 58, 166
Polish Question, 118
Politics, essence of, 13, 39
Polk, Undersecretary, 203
Port Arthur, surrender, 72
Portugal, 15, 190
Potemkin, Prince, 41, 43
Press, control of, 145, 171
Pressensé, Francis de, 80
Prestige, 176
Preventive war, 13, 64, 106, 108
Private business and diplomatic affairs, 4, 140, 163, 169
Propaganda, 216
Prussia, 49, 53, 61, 62
Public opinion, crime against, 144
Public opinion and diplomacy, 58, 102, 112, 144, 166 ff.
Publicity, 216, 217
Rashness, alleged, of the people, 177
“Raw material for brilliant careers,” 185
Realpolitik, 103
Reichstag, 102
Representative government, 58
Ribot, Alexander, 123
Roosevelt, President, 151
Rosebery, Lord, 66
Rosebery, Lord, on Anglo-Japanese treaty, 74
Rosebery, Lord, on Entente, 84
Rosen, Baron, 74
Roumania, 118
Russell, Lord John, 52, 57
Russia, 7, 37, 55, 65, 67, 70, 75, 78, 97, 104, 105, 108, 109, 114,
143, 146, 208, 212
Russian diplomatic policy, 112
Russian local agents, 54
Russo-French Alliance, 70
Russo-Turkish war, 65
Salisbury, Marquis of, 66, 157
San Domingo, 151
San Stefano, treaty of, 65
Sandwich, Earl of, 37
Savoy and Nice, 60
Sazonov, 112, 115, 133
Schleswig-Holstein, 61
Schuvalof agreement, 156
Secret diplomacy, abolition of, 127, 218
“Secret diplomacy” used in a special sense, 52, 57
Secret procedure, Paris Conference, 7
Secret service, 22, 28, 41, 50, 136, 137
Secret treaties, 48, 61, 65, 67, 71, 76, 78, 79, 113, 116 ff.,
119, 134, 164
Senate and foreign affairs, 151, 197
Servian question, 104, 108, 113
Shantung, 117, 125, 128
Sixtus, Prince, of Bourbon, 120
South Pacific Islands, 119
Soviet Russia, 133, 179
Speech of August 3, 1914, 89, 96
Spheres of influence, 79
St. Petersburg, 40, 52, 73
Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs, proposed, 162, 164, 186
Standing committee on foreign and colonial affairs in France, 187
Stanhope, Lord, 31
Stratagem, 138
Stratford de Redcliffe, 54, 55, 57
Survival, 13
Suspicion, 6, 17, 54, 72, 100, 126, 136, 141
Sweden, 37
Talleyrand, 44, 46
_Temps_, 82
Tibet, 144
_Times_, London, 204, 205
Traité de diplomatie, Garden, 48
Treaties, publication of all, 188, 205, 206
Treaty of Versailles, 129
Triple Alliance, 70
Trotsky, 179
Truthfulness of diplomacy, 12, 30
Tschirsky, Von, 77, 106, 107
Turkey, 38, 67
Turkish Empire, 60
Twenty-one demands, 117, 125
Two-party system, 152
United Colonies of America, 149
United States, 119, 151, 174, 186, 194 ff., 201, 209
Vattel, 26
Vienna, Congress of, 45
Viviani, M., 115
Walpole, Sir Robert, 154
Walpole, Horace, 45
War, declaration of, 186, 187
Washington, Conference of, 1921, 16
Wells, H. G., 185
_Westminster Gazette_, 204
Whist, 50
William I, 63
William II, 75, 76, 78
William III of England, 153
Willy-Nicky correspondence, 75
Wilson, President, 21, 129, 169, 200, 201, 203, 204
Wotton, Sir Henry, 28
Wyndham, 153
Xavier, Prince of Bourbon, 120, 123
Yap, 201, 202
Yerburgh, Mr., 85
Yugo-Slavia and France, 133
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
predominant preference was found in the original book; otherwise they
were not changed.
Simple typographical errors were corrected; unbalanced quotation
marks were remedied when the change was obvious, and otherwise left
unbalanced.
The index was not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page
references.
Page 225: The “č” in “Goričar” may have been printed with a breve (̆),
not with a caron (̌).