"A qnearchange,"saida foreign Minister ab Poking two or three years ago, "has Intely come over diplomatic procedure. Formerly, it was the object of every diplorantist to preserve an impenetrable silence, and to disclose nothing; that was the old diplomacy. The new diplomuvy—boo taken frankness-for-ite key-word, and the diplomatist of this new school tells everything." It is sonrooly necessary to ridd that the speaker was one of those charming people who talk incessantly and freely, but never impart the smallest grain of information on the very subject of which they arediscoursing, And todo Uhia requires no small talent. A Min. later of ordinary ability can ensily refuse to be drawn, when the stronghold of his secrecy is approached by innuendo and suggestion; but it takes a far readier and shrewder man to parry direct enquiry without appearing brusque, and to avoid replying to a lamp Deweyy-ye tte noe Ps te-ouvlen as to ailonoo the questioner without administering a snub, Now whether our friend was simply indulging in a little diplomatic chaff, or whether he was honestly referring to the fact that much of the myster, affected by members of the diplomatic services Lad actually begun to be discarded, there certainly seem to be some grounds for believing that a change has come over the methods of diplomacy during the past few years. It is no longer considered of supreme importance that nogotintions which affect the for. tunes of whole nations should be conducted in the dark, A return tothe old hold virtually in secret would be to-day impossible, "Even such delicate and dificult transactions as are now iv progress between the Chinese Ambassador in Paris and the French Ministers are by no moans altogether hidden from our eyes. Wo are able to watch them through a veil of no very impenetrable thickness, and ever aid anon there seems to be a rent in the fabric through which we cun see what is going on clearly enough, Nor, when we case to think of it, enn there be much practical advantage in keeping the public entirely uninformed of what is going on. That negotiations in a delicate and ticklish stage may be ruined altogether by pro-mature disclosure is of course self-evident; but instances are on record in which the gravest misunderstandings have arisen, the most undeserved reproaches have been passed, and the most unnecessary apprehensions have been undergone, simply from the want of one reassuring word from the person who was able to give it, An instance which common-sense triumphed over conservatism took place not very long ago in France. The French Cnbinet published, in official form, a selection of despatches upon the Franco-Chinese difficulty, This selection was of such a nature as to throw an improper light upon the, nections of the Chinese Go. vernment; it amounted, in fact, to an ez parte statement, calculated to m Tead the public, and was a suppression veri which appeared to the Marquis Tsing to involve a serious suggestiofalsi. Iumedintoly the Marquis published the coun. for-despatches in the Parisian press, with an utter disregard for all proper diplomatio reticence. Ho preferred to break the old rales of diplomacy rather than permit what he considered an un. deserved stigma to rest upon his Government, and thereby gave the European public an opportunity of j merits of the question which they not had before. The French Ministry were couraged, but the Ambassador was porfectly in the right. What good or useful end would have been served by permitting a one-sided and therefore false and mischievous impression to prevail, when a little frankness, a sim. plo atntoment of facts, was all that was necessary to clear the atmosphere In view of the prominent part played by public. iw position! matters, it ig an advantage to all that Ministers should take the public into their confidence to a certain extent. The Chinese Government has recognised this trath, and ay itself of both the foreign and vernacular press through which to address the world. It knows how to convey impressions and intelligence informally, without incurring the re. sponsibilities which gro attached to an official utterance; the public curiosity la gratified, facts are placed before as on which we eau base opinions, and a certain measure of sympathy is aroused for ® country whose rulers are not above appealing to the verdict of the world at large. Many diplomatic agents lave not yet boon converted to this The Into British Minister at Peking would have been horrified at such heretical irregularity. We all remember the celebrated occasion on which he condescended to make a communication to the public. This took the form of an advertisement in the Shanghai papers, announcing that a Convention had been concluded at Chefoo on such-and-such a day, between himself and Li Hung-chang, to such-and-such an effect' We had all known about the Convention seeks before, and had far more details at our command than Sir Thomas put into advertisement, which was greeted with much irreverent and ungrateful Inughter on all sides, We are not prepared to say how much sharp and biting criticism Sir Thomas Wade would have been spared if he had only abstained feom playing the Man in an Iron Mask. It is possible that we often blamed him undeservedly; that wher: we in Shanghai imagined hi to be dallying in the lotus-gardens of Chinese lexicography, in reality he was fighting our battles in the unsavoury precincts of the Tsung-li Yamen, uncheered by any reward beyond that which sprang from a comfortable consciousness of his own virtue. Had he been less hostile to newspapers, less jealous of that secrecy which has its rise the somewhat arrogant assumption that a Minister owes no kindness to a mercantile community, and that public opinion and public anxiety, even, count for nothing in the affairs of life, it is possible that Sir Thomas might have gained something approaching pope larity among foreign residents in Chin, Ina word: while a very considerable amount of resorgo in diplomatic matters is an incontrovertible necessity, that reserve may be, and frequently is, very much exaggerated; and we trust that anew system will soon be accepted in the various Courts of nations, by which such matters as may reasonably be divulged to the satisfaction of popular anxiety, and the right understanding of measures affecting the public weal, will no longer be kept secret.
We cannot resist the temptation of concluding with an anecdote which, though it claims a laugh on the side of 8 Minister, is oe good to be omitted, The scene is Peking; the time, three years or 80 ago, when a certain eminent Chinese ambassador had been con. demned to lose his head. Rumoura of foreign intervention wore rife, and ant inquisitive person asked one of the Ministers, point-blank, whether it was trae Unt the Diplomatic Body wns going to protest against his execution, The Minister shook his head. "That," he suid, " would scarcely come within our scope, in my opinion." A few weeks afterwards, it became an open secret that the Ministers had protested, and successfully. i son Uheronpon (axed his friend with gz misled him. "Why," he exe "you told me that you did not consider sucha step waa within the scope of your duties " Well," was the duly Lumorons rejoinder, "no more I do."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.