Secret Diplomacy/Conclusion

by Paul S. Reinsch

Conclusion

IN modern diplomacy there still persists the image of the chess players intent on their compli- cated game, planning each move with long fore- sight of all the combinations that could possibly be organized by the opponent. In the popular image, too, the great diplomat is conceived as spinning a complicated web of actions and rela- tionships in which every detail is subordinate and subservient to a general dominant purpose. Then comes the international publicist and with inge- nuity still more refined than that of the imagined diplomat, he reasons out the innermost ambitions that dominate and inspire the makers of foreign affairs. So it has remained possible for the most extravagant imaginary constructions to be put forth in volumes of sober aspect, which purport to give the key to diplomacy or to expose the per- nicious ambitions of this or that foreign office. It has become a game in which nothing is impos- sible to the constructive imagination.

To any one familiar with the usual methods of foreign offices and of diplomatic representatives,

the idea that foreign affairs are really handled in this manner, like mental legerdemain, becomes quite grotesque. Complicated manipulations with respect to movements far in the future, looking to still more distant results, that kind of diplo- matic planning exists more in the imagination than in the actual conduct of foreign affairs. In the majority of cases foreign offices meet each situation as it arises, relying indeed on prece- dents and having certain underlying aims and purposes, but giving most attention to the facts immediately present and often satisfied with any- thing that will ease a troublesome or embarrassing situation. Foreign offices indeed differ greatly in the definiteness and constancy of their objectives and the completeness with which they subordi- nate details to central aims. The Russian for- eign office always had the reputation of great con- tinuity of policy; it gave the central place to fundamental objectives to which problems that arose from day to day could be referred; and thus it solved them with a cumulative effect upon the advancement of its political aims.

From the point of view of the older traditions of diplomacy, there would be a decided advantage in definiteness of plan and in the harmonious sub- ordination of all details to the main idea. How

ever, the advantage of this method is frequently defeated through the narrowness of the objects aimed at, when diplomatic policy is conceived in this manner. Immediate purposes may indeed be achieved more readily, but the permanent results will usually be barren or lead ultimately to con- flicts of forces. In such a system there is too much abstraction from the multiform forces of actual life; and while those who pursue it may flatter themselves that they are making history, they are not often building in accordance with natural and historic forces.

The concept of diplomacy which has been criti- cized in these pages does not exclude the possibil- ity of immediate brilliant success; but its inef- fectiveness appears when we view it over longer periods of history. It is built on too narrow a foundation. We have seen that even with the greatest statesmen, any plan of action conceived in this manner has such positive limitations that the very success in executing such policies through a shrewd play of diplomatic forces, conjures up new dangers and difficulties. The wisdom of no man nor small self-contained group of men is at present sufficient to measure the needs of society and to transform its impulses into effective ac- tion. A broader basis for policy is needed. But

the greatest weakness of the old method lies in the fact that just at the very times when men are most in need of confidence and of a spirit of reason and sane judgment, this mode of action leaves the public mind in confusion, excitement and the darkest fears.

If democracy means anything, its significance for the welfare of humanity must lie in the value of allowing constantly more and more minds to participate in the great things of the world. Not only would such participation seem to be a nat- ural right of the human mind but also the things most worth while can be achieved only when the ablest and best can freely lend their efforts. To all this a narrow system of secret management by a limited hierarchy is hostile. The old diplo- macy rests entirely on skepticism as to the wis- dom and self-control of the people. The people are merely material for statesmanship. This conception is blind to the fact that everything that is great in modern life has arisen through the freedom with which talent may manifest itself wherever found and that in all pursuits of hu- manity that are worth while, innumerable minds cooperate, in a degree as warranted by their ca- pacity to bring about sound action and improve- ment. The older diplomacy assumed that the peo

pie furnished only passive material for states- manship to work upon, and it saw in the public only potentialities for vague and general influ- ences which statesmanship in turn was to mold and utilize. The greatest distance it went, was to admit that national policy must rest on popu- lar instinct; a principle which is quite compatible with the practice of secret diplomacy. When we come to talk of political instincts, however, we are dealing with one of the vaguest and most in- definite concepts known to thought. These in- stincts may be interpreted and given active ex- pression as it suits any diplomatic policy. Un- fortunately the " instincts" most to the fore are not usually helpful to calm and sound action. In international affairs, an instinctive dislike or hatred of anything different has again and again been made the basis of aggressive action, stirring up otherwise peaceful populations to warlike and murderous intent. Great national policies may often truly be said to rest on instinct in the sense that undivided popular support is given to a pol- icy from a variety of motives which are not clearly reasoned out but which all express themselves in an overpowering impulse which may be called in- stinctive. Thus the Monroe policy in which the most fundamental motive is the desire for peace

and for the safety of the continental position of the American nation, may be said to rest on the instinct of self-preservation.

But it is quite plain that unless what is here called instinct can be transformed into an intelli- gent, wise and discriminating public opinion, such instinct is but a shifting sand, affording material which may be molded into any desired form by an ambitious policy working through suggestion and propaganda. Instinct can be transformed into a true public policy only through publicity and through the training of large groups of men to see things with true eyes and to judge with rea- son and wisdom. Here is the crux of the mat- ter. Secret diplomacy treats all except the inner official ring as outsiders and "persons without re- sponsibility." Among these outsiders there may be numerous persons actually better qualified than the officials themselves, through experience and thought, to judge of international affairs. No one can here assume infallibility. Safe counsel can come only if the entire intelligence and moral sentiment of a nation can find expression and if its fittest individuals can concentrate their atten- tion upon every great problem as it arises. A sound, just, wise public policy without publicity cannot be imagined. To consider publicity an

evil, to consider it as impeding the proper flow of international influences and obstructing the solution of international difficulties, appears as an unbelievable perversion when we consider the true implications of such a thought.

It is therefore inestimably important that the facts of international 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 dan- gerous part of the system with which secret di- plomacy 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 in- ternationally important matters, is frequently sup- plied 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 mat

ter 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 en- forcement would greatly increase public confi- dence. 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 at- tempts 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 es- sential weakness of caste diplomacy lies in the fact that it does not provide means for a suffi- cient 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 con- fine 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 spe- cial 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 attaches not only for political and military af- fairs, 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 dele- gates to international technical conferences has often been criticized as importing into such con- ferences 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 co- operation 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 jeal- ously scrutinizing every international relation

ship from the point of view of abstract political independence, and assuming that it is best to make the very least possible contribution of en- ergy and cooperation, the national interest can be most promoted; so long will diplomatic action con- tinue 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 there- with, is best advanced by whole-souled coopera- tion in constructive work in commerce, industry, science and the arts, then the political factor of diplomatic rivalry will assume more just propor- tions as compared with the other interests of hu- manity.

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 au- tonomy 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 ab- sence of intrigue and secret ambitions. In a still greater measure does the happiness of the na- tional state depend on free and full cooperation with all others in all pursuits, activities and in- terests 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 re- sults.

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 dis- posing 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 inter- national affairs. We think of the armies in ser- ried 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 des- tiny 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 af- fairs 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 organ- ization of modern society. Even in the indus- tries, men are no longer satisfied with a narrowly centralized control. They call for information and accountability, they claim a share in man- agement, 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 num- bers. Under our present political system na- tions are carrying a tremendous risk in interna- tional 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 de- mand of safety that it should be more widely dis- tributed, 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 nar- row 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 sensa- tionalism. So, the inside managers of diplomatic affairs may still say with some justification, "Open discussion would too much excite the pub- lic 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 nur- tured 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 indi- vidual 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 them- selves 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.