tion>John W. Foster
A Century of American Diplomacy
Published by Good Press, 2020
EAN 4064066404208
Table of Contents
Preface
The present work is the outgrowth of a series of lectures delivered in the School of Diplomacy of the Columbian University. Two motives have influenced their publication. The first is the hope of the author that by a study of this review of the diplomatic conduct of our most distinguished statesmen, the young men of the country may have their patriotism quickened, and be inspired with a new zeal to assist in maintaining the honorable position of our government in its foreign relations. Few may be able to enter the diplomatic service, but every citizen may exercise an influence in so shaping our foreign policy that the government shall continue to occupy a worthy position among the nations of the earth. The other motive is the belief that, in view of the recent enlarged political and commercial intercourse of the United States with other powers, a succinct history of the diplomatic affairs of the government from its foundation would be opportune, and that it might be useful in the solution of the questions of foreign policy now so urgently presented to the American people.
It has been deemed best not to include a review of the events of the last quarter of a century, as they are yet fresh in the memory of the present generation. The only exception to this course is found in the sketch of the Monroe Doctrine, in Chapter XII. To enable students to further pursue their investigations on the topics presented, citations are given of authorities or original sources of information on most important events. It is to be noted that citations of treaties of the United States are not given, for the reason that they all appear in the " Treaties and Conventions between the United States and other Powers " (government edition of 1889), arranged alphabetically as to countries and in chronological order. It is regretted that the engagements of a busy professional life have prevented the author from treating the subjects more exhaustively or from giving a more extended list of citations. Acknowledgment is made of courtesies extended, in the preparation of the work, by Mr. Andrew H. Allen, the efficient librarian of the Department of State.
WASHINGTON, September, 1900.
Chapter I
The British North American colonies sought for admission into the family of nations in a transition epoch in the development of international law and diplomacy. These were the offspring of the latter period of the Middle Ages. Diplomacy could have no existence in the Roman Empire, because Rome would permit no relation with any other state, save that of subjection on the part of the other. Diplomatic negotiations necessarily imply a certain equality of relations. It was not until the modern nations began to be evolved from the chaos resulting from the overthrow of the Roman Empire, and they assumed some degree of stability, and recognized in each other an equality in international intercourse, that international law became a formative code of principles controlling the conduct of nations. Although the treatises of Grotius had been written a hundred years, the eighteenth century, which records the revolt of the American colonies, repeatedly witnessed the disregard of this code and its principles set aside by the more powerful nations.
The definition and etymology of the word diplomacy illustrate its history. It may be at this day defined to be the art of conducting the intercourse of nations with each other. A fuller definition is found in the Century Dictionary: " The science of the forms, ceremonies, and methods to be observed in conducting the actual intercourse of one state with another, through authorized agents on the basis of international law; the art of conducting such intercourse, as in negotiating and drafting treaties, representing the interests of a state or its subjects at a foreign court," etc. It is a word of modern origin, not found in Johnson's Dictionary, issued about the middle of the last century, being derived from the word diploma, the significance of which grew out of the practice of sovereigns of the mediaeval period, following the Koman method of preservation of important documents, in having their royal warrants, decrees, and finally their treaties carefully inscribed on parchments or diplomas. The knowledge of these ancient documents became a special study by a class of officials, who, in that period, were intrusted with the framing of treaties. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, " Diplomatics.") The word is said to have been first used in French by Count de Vergennes, Minister of Louis XVI., and in English by Burke, contemporaries in our Revolutionary period.
Diplomacy and its code international law are the outgrowth of the conflict of nations in recent centuries, the slow but steady development and triumph of justice and the principles of humanity over tyranny and force, resulting in the amelioration of the horrors of war and the greater reign of reason. Diplomatic history treats of high motives and the progress of just principles, and in recent times the wars of the nations and their political disputes have resulted in the evolution of a recognized code of universal and impartial justice as applied to the governments of the world. There is no more striking illustration of this fact than the diplomatic history of the United States. A new nation in a new world, untrammeled by the traditions and institutions of past ages, born to power and greatness almost in a day from the beginning of its political existence it made itself the champion of a freer commerce, of a sincere and genuine neutrality, of respect
