REESE

LIBRARY

OF THE

UNITED

A CENTURY OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY.

CHAPTER I.

THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.

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 mediæval period, following the Roman 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.' 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 1 Encyclopædia Britannica, "Diplomatics."

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 for private property in war, of the most advanced ideas of natural rights and justice; and in its brief existence of a century, by its example and its persistent diplomatic advocacy, it has exerted a greater influence in the recognition of these elevated principles than any other nation of the world.

The study, therefore, of our diplomatic history becomes most important and profitable. In view of its past record, the United States occupies to-day a conspicuous and interesting position among the nations. Called by the fortunes of war and its enlarged wealth and power to great responsibilities, if it shall prove true to its past history, it must not lower its standard of universal justice, or lose its interest in the betterment of the human race. It has been well said that it is impossible to separate the policy of the government from the conscience of the nation.

The diplomatic record which our country has made

in the first century of its existence is one in which any American citizen may take just pride, and in the following pages I propose to direct the attention of the reader, although within a brief compass, to the salient features of that record.

In entering upon this review, the first epoch which calls for examination is that which embraces the period from the earliest formation of the union of the colonies to the adoption of the Constitution of 1787. The diplomatic relations of the rising nation were of slow growth, and were gradually developed by the necessities of the struggle for independence. By the Articles of Confederation the Continental Congress was empowered to make peace and declare war, to send and receive ambassadors and make treaties and alliances, but it could only enter upon the latter with the assent of nine of the thirteen States. It is doubtless from this provision that the Federal Constitution took the clause requiring all treaties for their ratification to receive a two-third vote of the Senate.

Originally the Confederation was without executive officers, and all its business, both foreign and domestic, was conducted through committees. In 1775 a "Secret Committee on Foreign Correspondence was appointed, of which Benjamin Franklin and John Jay V were members, and in 1777 it was changed to the "Committee on Foreign Affairs." The personnel of this committee was frequently changed; Thomas Paine acted as its secretary for some time, but he was finally dismissed for misconduct in office. Through these committees all the foreign relations of the Colonies

were conducted up to 1781, when the committee was abolished, and a "Department of Foreign Affairs" was established. By that time a considerable diplomatic representation had been sent to Europe, the treaties of alliance and of commerce with France had been negotiated, and important relations with other nations were being established. The conduct of these relations through a committee had proved most unsatisfactory. Mr. Lovell, the only member at that time who seemed to take an interest in its business, wrote in August, 1779, "There is really no such thing as a Committee of Foreign Affairs existing — no secretary or clerk further than I persevere to be one and the other. The books and the papers of that extinguished body lay yet on the table of Congress, or rather are locked up in the secretary's private box." 1

Congress finally took the matter in hand, and appointed a committee which submitted the plan for the organization of the department, and in its report states: "That the extent and rising power of the United States entitle them to a place among the great potentates of Europe, while our political and commercial interests point out the propriety of cultivating with them a friendly correspondence and connection. That, to render such an intercourse advantageous, the necessity of competent knowledge of the interests, views, relations, and systems of those potentates, is obvious. That to answer those essential purposes the committee are of opinion that a fixed and permanent office for the Department of Foreign Affairs ought forthwith to be 1 The Department of State, its History and Functions (1893), pp. 7, 15.