Part 14 (2/2)

DIPLOMATIST

Diplomacy as a profession is a product of es, the dividing walls between State and State were broken down, and Governents resident at foreign courts to conduct the questions of growing importance which arose between them Churchmen were at first best qualified to undertake such duties, and Nicholas Wotton, Dean of Canterbury, who enjoyed the confidence of four Tudor sovereigns, came to be as much at home in France or in the Netherlands as he was in his own Deanery It was his great nephew Sir Henry (who began his days as a scholar at Winchester, and ended them as Provost at Eton) who did his profession a notable disservice by indulging his hu the diplomatist as 'one as sent to lie abroad for his country'[42] Since then many a politician and writer has let fly his shafts at diploard diplomats as veritable children of the devil But this prejudice is chiefly due to ignorance, and can easily be cured by a patient study of history In the nineteenth century, in particular, English diplomacy can point to a noble roll of ambassadors, orked for European peace as well as for the triuher claim to such praise than Sir Robert Morier, the subject of this sketch

[Note 42: The Latin forinally couched--_uity]

The traditions of his fain to connexions in the Consular service at Smyrna, where Isaac Morier hteenth century Swiss grandfather and Dutch grandmother becaht up four sons to win distinction in its service Of these the third, David, hter of Robert Burnet Jones--a descendant of the famous Bishop Burnet, and himself a servant of the Crown--and held important diplomatic appointments for over thirty years at Paris and Berne So it was that his only son Robert David Burnet Morier was born in France, spent much of his childhood in Switzerland, and acquired early in life a rees To his schooling in England he seems to have owed little of positive value His father and uncles had been sent to Harrow; but perhaps it was as well that the son did not, in this, follow in his father's footsteps Howevertutors, he preserved his freshness and originality and ran no danger of being drilled into a type If he had as a boy undue self-confidence, no one was better fitted to correct it than hisintellectual force The letters which passed between them display, on his part, enerous, affectionate nature of both; and till her death in 1855 she re to e he met with a momentary check, due to the casual nature of his education; but, after retrieving this, he rapidly ood his deficiency in Greek and Latin, and ended by taking a creditable degree His ti, ell spent He er dons: Temple, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, and Jowett, the future Master of Balliol The forhest position in the Church; the latter won a peculiar place, in Oxford and in the world outside, by his gifts of judging character and sti intellectual interest Morier becarave, the friend of both, tells us how 'Morier went up to Balliol a lax and ireat natural capacity, took hi Vacation of 1848 and practically ”converted” hi-point in Morier's life' Together the two friends spent many a holiday in Germany, Scotland, and elsewhere, and e contrast to one another: Jowett, s in every way, exuberant and full of vitality It ith Jowett and Stanley (afterwards Dean of Wester to study the Revolutionary spirit in its most lively raduate of gigantic size, who speaks French better than English, is to wear a blouse, and to go about disguised to the clubs'

He took his degree in Nove Dresden and Berlin,hih his British patriotistheir e of Gerlishmen of his day rivalled only by Odo Russell, afterwards Ambassador at Berlin Morier's father had for many years represented Great Britain in Switzerland and could guide him both by precept and by example Free intercourse with the most liberal minds in Oxford had developed the lessons which he had learnt at hoy and application effectedHe was not satisfied till he had mastered a problem; and books, places, and people were laid under contribution unsparingly He started on his tour carrying letters of introduction to soreat traveller and scientist, Alexander von Huist Max Muller, as a frequent co him back to health when he was taken ill with quinsy He found friends in all professions, but chiefly aenbach, who rose to be Premier of Baden in the years 1861 to 1865, when the destinies of Ger-pot Baden was in so state in South Ger liberal ideals with a fervent advocacy of national union, and the views of Roggenbach on political questions attracted Morier's warenuinely at ho, from which Prince Albert had come to wed our own Queen Victoria The Prince's brother, the reigning Duke, treated Morier as a personal friend; and here, too, he found Baron Stock Ger to proland and Germany He received Morier into his family circle and adopted him as the heir to his policy This intimacy led to further results; and, thanks in part to Morier's subsequent friendshi+p with the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia, generous ideals and a liberal spirit were to be found surviving in a few places even after 1870, though Biseneration by the material successes which he achieved

In 1849 the doors of the Foreign Office were closed to Morier The Secretary of State, Lord Palht, some years before, and Morier would ask no favours of hi in close touch with Jowett and Te politics at first hand, he eagerly availed hi-Holstein, too intricate to be explained briefly, had been brewing for some time In 1850, the dispute, to which Prussia, Denmark, and the German Diet were all parties, came to a head The Duchies were overrun by Prussian troops, while the Danish Navy held the sea Morier rushed off to see for hi days at Kiel, talking to those who could instruct hieen Radicals, ere trying to assert by force their supremacy over a Gerave way to the wishes of other powers, no satisfactory decision could be reached; but ten years later the issue was in the ruthless hands of Bismarck, and was settled by 'blood and iron'

In 1850 Morier accepted a clerkshi+p in the Education Office at 120 a year The as not to his taste, but at least it was public service, and he saw no hope of en Office He found some distractions in London society He kept up relations with his old friends, and he took a leading part in establishi+ng the Cosan its existence in Morier's own roo, and wrote with enthusiasht into the real Hero-world, as one fro of the Divine' But Morier's spirits were mercurial, and between moments of elation he was apt to fall into fits of ies

Waiting for his true profession tried hi himself to the prospect of a visit to Australia as a professional journalist, when fortune at last sn Office, and when Clarendon succeeded him, Morier's name was placed on the list of candidates for an attacheshi+p At Easter 1853 he started for another visit to the Continent, full of hope and more than ever determined to qualify himself for the profession which he loved

He was rewarded for his zeal a feeeks later, when he paid a visit to Vienna, won the favour of the An Office At the age of twenty-seven he was appointed to serve Her Majesty as unpaid attache, having already acquired a knowledge of European politics which ure he was tall, with a tendency already enial and sympathetic inand society, an excellent talker or listener as the occasion de details and of grasping broad principles were alike remarkable He wrote with ease, clearness, and precision; he knehat hard work meant and revelled in it Unfortunately he was subject already to rheuout, which was to -places, and was to handicap hi could check his ardour in his profession, and during his five years at Vienna he took every chance of studying foreign lands and of ures in the diplomatic world

He enjoyed talks with Baron Jellacic, who had saved the monarchy in 1848, and with Prince Metternich, whose political career ended in that year of revolutions and as now only a figure in society After the Crih South-east Hungary and to study for hiyar, and Teutonic races inhabiting that district He followed this up by another tour of three ra prepared for it by working ten to twelve hours a day for soe of the southern Slavs

Incidentally he enjoyed so expeditions with Turkish pashas, and obtained soht into the weakness of the British consular systely in the value of such tours to obtain first-hand infored his secretaries to fa districts of the Russian ee of thirty-two, Morier passed from Vienna to Berlin

It was the year in which the Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, married the Crown Prince of Prussia[43] Her father, the Prince Consort, was very anxious that Morier should be at hand to advise the young couple, and the appointment to Berlin was his work Then it was that Morier becale between Bismarck and the Liberal influences in Ger Court This conflict only showed itself later, and at first the young English attache must have seemed a sufficiently uni ho E the nature of Morier's character, had declared that it was desirable to remove such an influence fro Liberal Germany under the yoke of a Prussia which had no sympathy for democratic ideals

[Note 43: The ill-fated Emperor Frederick III, who died of cancer in 1888]

For the ht currents of air were perceptible; sails were filling in one parliamentary boat or another; but the chief movement was to be seen not in parliamentary circles but in the excellent civil service, which preserved that honesty and efficiency which it had acquired in the days of Stein There were marked tendencies towards Liberalism and towards unification in different parts of Germany; and, if the Liberal party could have produced one ht have triumphed over the reactionary Prussian clique In this conflict Morier was bound to be a passionate sympathiser with the parties which included so many of his personal friends and which advocated principles so dear to his heart With the triumph of his friends, too, were associated the prospects of a good understanding between England and Ger; and he was accused of havingWilliam broke with the Liberals over the Army Bill, caution was doubly necessary Bish he was, he was capable of any pettiness when he had once declared war on an opponent Frolo-Prussian _entente_ was a losing game, not only because Bismarck detested the parlialand, but also because, on our side too, extre In his letters Morier makes frequent reference to the 'John Bullishness' of _The Times_ When this journal, to which European i the editorshi+p of Delane, was not openly flouting Prussia, it was displaying reckless ignorance of a people erethemselves by steady industry from the losses due to centuries of Continental warfare

From time to time he paid visits to friends at Dresden, at Baden, and elsewhere One year he was sent to Naples on a special mission, another year he was su In 1859 he is la the monotony of existence at Berlin, which he calls 'a Dutch mud canal of a life, without even the tulip beds on the banks' But when later in that year Lord John Russell, who knew and appreciated his talents, becan Secretary and called on him for frequent reports on important subjects, Morier found solace in work

He was only too willing to put his wide knowledge of the country in which he was serving at the disposal of his superiors at horarian, and financial subjects That he could take into account the personal factor is shown by the long letter which he wrote in 1861 to Sir Henry Layard, then Political Under-Secretary of State[44] It contained aWillia how his intellectual narrowness had ha in the ar the aims of Junker politicians and ministers of war

[Note 44: _Mehter, Lady Rosslyn Wemyss, vol i, p 303 (Edward Arnold, 1911)]

On Schleswig-Holstein, above all, Morier exerted hiuided opinion in London, whether newspaper editors or responsible ministers He appealed to the saainst Austria

The inhabitants of the disputed Duchies were for the most part Germans, and the Danish Government had done violence to their national sentiland could have extended its syht have been settled peacefully before 1862, and Bismarck could never have availed himself of such a lever to overthrow his Liberal opponents As it was, Prussia ignored the Danish sylish press, went her oay and invaded the Duchies, dragging in her train Austria, her confederate and her dupe Paln policy at the time, waited till the last moment, blustered, found himself impotent towith a sense of betrayal which lasted till 1914 By such bungling Morier knew that ere incurring ene as well as for statesmanshi+p

In 1865 he was chosen as one of the Special Cootiate a treaty of commerce between Great Britain and Austria He had always been a Free-trader, and he was convinced that such econoreethen the bonds of peace

So he was ready and willing to do hard work in this sphere, and finding a congenial colleague in Sir Louis Mallet, one of the best economists of the day, he spent soood opinion of all associated with hih coht pro it was uncertain where he would go In August he accepted the offer of First Secretary to the Legation in japan, e of Germany would be wasted there Ten days later this offer was changed for a similar position at the Court of Greece, which was equally uncongenial; but at the end of the year the Foreign Office decided that he would be most useful in the field which he had chosen for himself, and after a few e d'affaires to the Grand Ducal Court of Hesse-Darmstadt

Froreat conflicts by which Bismarck established the union of North Germany and its primacy in Europe Morier detested the means by which this end was achieved, but he had consistently ht to be, and could only be, achieved by Prussia, and he rereat tribute to his intellectual force that he was able to control his personal sy events with reference to the past and the future He had liked the statesood faith in the difficult negotiations of 1865 But for the good of Europe, he thought the Austrian Government should now look eastwards It could not do double work at Vienna and at Frankfort The impotence of the Frankfort Diet could be cured only by the North Gerood patriots, fro directed towards Prussia But it was no easy task to land realize the justice of this view or the certainty that Prussia was strong enough to carry through the work Led by _The Tirown accustomed to use a contemptuous tone towards Prussia; and when in the decisive hour this could no longer be maintained, and British sentiment, as is its nature, declared for Austria as the beaten side, this sentiment was attributed at Berlin to the basest envy Relations between the two peoples steadily greorse during these years, despite the efforts of Morier and other friends of peace

The Franco-Gerreater bitterness between Prussia and Great Britain The neutrality, which the latter power observed, was misunderstood in both camps; and the position of a British diplomat abroad became really unpleasant Morier in particular, as aandhis duty and uard those dependent on hianized medical aid for the wounded on both sides He took a journey in Septe of the inhabitants, that he ive the best possible advice to his Government if the cession of these districts became a European question He caeneous unit--that language, religion, and sentiment varied in different districts, and that it was desirable to work for a compromise

But Bismarck was determined in 1870, as in 1866, that the settleress should spoil his plans Morier found that he was being talked of at Berlin as 'the enemy of Prussia', and atrocious calumnies were circulated One of these was revived some years later when Bismarck wished to discredit hi betrayed to Marshal Bazaine military secrets which he discovered in Hesse Morier obtained froe, and he gave it the widest publicity The plot recoiled on its author, and Morier was spoken of in France as 'le grand ambassadeur qui a roule Bis partisan of France, with six cousins fighting in the French Arland only too ready to quarrel with hi for fair judgement, for reason, for a wise policy which should soften the bitterness of the settlenized, he pleaded, and the French claim for peculiar consideration and their traditional _a the miseries of war At the sa fro victories of the German armies No one sawplace in German character, or depicted it in more trenchant terms But it was his business to work for the future and not to let senti fresh disasters upon Europe

Apart from this critical period, life at Darmstadt bored hihly by Queen Victoria, one of whose daughters had married the Grand Duke; but Morier felt himself to be in a backwater, far from the main stream of European politics, and society there was dull So he welcoart, and a few months later to Munich, the capital of the second state in the new Ereat centre of literary culture Here lived Dr Dollinger, historian and divine, a man suspected at Rome for his liberal Catholicism even before his definite severance from the Roman Church, but honoured everywhere else for the width and depth of his knowledge With him Morier enjoyed many conversations on Church councils and other subjects which interested them both; and in 1874, lured by the prospect of such society, Gladstone paid him a visit of ten days Morier did not adn policy, but he was open-ifts and to enjoy his company, and he writes home with enthusiasm about his conversational powers A still more welcome visitor in 1873 was Jowett, his old Oxford friend, who never lost his place in Morier's affections

Ailance in political matters, and there was often need for it, since the Ger its sword', and threatening its neighbours hich disquieted Europe for another forty years