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GOOD MANNERS

BY THE HON.

Ex-Secretary

AND DIPLOMACY

WILLIAM R. DAY

of State

P

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GOOD MANNERS AND

DIPLOMACY

A

BY WILLIAM R. DAY

EX-SECRETARY OF STATE

N incident is told of a trader who, believing himself deceived and cheated by those in whom he had had confidence, exlaimed, "Well, this is diplomacy!"

It is not uncommon to think of diplomacy as a profession for which duplicity is the chief qualification, and this impression has probably been strengthened by the frequent quotation of Wotton's definition of an ambassador as "an honest man sent to lie abroad for the commonwealth."

Permanent ambassadors to foreign courts are said to have originated with Louis XI of France, whose reign ended in 1483. His purpose was not so much to have business representatives abroad as to have the benefit of chartered spies at the court of each of his powerful neighbors. "By the middle of the seventeenth century, says Lawrence in his treatise on International Law, "it had become recognized as the regular manner of carrying on diplomatic intercourse. But it had to win its way against a mass of jealousy and suspicion, largely caused by the unscrupulous character of the early diplomatists. If they lie to you, lie still more to them,' said Louis XI to his ambassadors."

However well this method of conducting foreign intercourse would serve for the day in which it was adopted, the world has made such progress that fairness and candor are now as essential to success in a diplomatic capacity as in any

of the private walks of life. A country could not do itself any worse service in the modern courts of nations than to send or to retain a representative whose personal character was not above reproach and whose word could not be implicitly relied upon.

It is, of course, necessary that diplomatic agents should be familiar with the customs, practice, and special forms which are used in diplomatic intercourse. The business of nations, no less than the conduct of parliamentary bodies and the transaction of legal business in the courts, is best conducted with some regard for the essential customs and usages which have been established. But observance of ceremonial requirements is one thing, and that kind of good manners which comes from kindliness of feeling and sincerity of purpose is quite another. A moment's reflection will show how utterly ruinous it would be for a representative of a nation to depart from

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