ON DIPLOMATS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 727, 30 December 1933, Page 7

ON DIPLOMATS

SIR JOHN SIMON'S SPEECH AT MANSION HOUSE BANQUET TRIBUTE TO PREMIERLon^on, Nov. 11. . Proposing the toast of the foreign diplomats during the Mansion House banquet on the retirement of the Lord Mayor (Sir Percy Greenaway), the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Sir J.ohn Simon) said: — ;"Durin)gi the year four new Ambassadors have come to Lon'don — iM-r. iBdngham from the United Ptates, M. Corhin from Frar.iee, Sig. Tooornal from Chile, andi Dr- Uliich from Por-i tugal. "The "work of a modern Dilpomatic Envoyvdoes not, indeed, differ greatly from the tasks which were discharged by his predecessors in earlier times, largely on his own respons.ibility and without frequ'&nt communication v/ith his Government. "Indeed, I recall that rather more th'aini 200 years ago there was a French Amhassadcr in Turkey — Ithe Marquis de Bonac was his name — ' who, in spite_ of constantly writing to his chief, received no instructions for eighteen months on end. But then Ihis • chief • was that remarkable charaeter Cardinal Dubois, who disposed «f a mass of husinless hy the simple expedienlt of thriov/ing the kttera which he received into the fire unread. "My namesake, S,adnt Simon (if, indeed, on this occasion I may appropriate th'e prefix), records that on one occasion Cardinal Dubois ,'threw into the fire a prodigious quantity of unopened letters and congratulated himself upon having got rid of all his business at once. At his death thousands of letters were found unopened. Thus everything was in ddsorder, and nobody, not even the Foreign Ministers, dared to complain. tlncreasing Work "Complain! I should think nott. I sometimes fear that the Foreign Ministers in London feel that they are aslced to communicate with the Foreign Office too frequently, and I can imagine .the simplification of husiness which would ensure if we returned to the simpler 'hahits of an earlier age and abjured the telegraph and the typewriter, and, at distant intervals, indicted our despatches with quill peh on parehment in a fair clerkly hand. "It is the ever-increasing mass of business which constitutes part of the hurden of foreign affairs to-day and which calls for so large a range of qualities in the great Auibassador — judgment combdned with quickness, clesrness ccmhined with' detail, firmness combdned with a spirit of accommodation, and, above all, that quintessence of loyalty which makes him equally trusted by the eountry which sends him and welcome to the eountry which receives him. It has been my happy fa'te to work in close contact with men of these qualities-" Brazilian Tribute The Brazilian Ambassador, replying, referred to the visit paid to his eountry hy Sir John and Lady Simon. "We admire the high qualities of your great people as well as the spirit of individual diseipline and true understanding which has enabled them calmly to face a world crisis certainly without precedent. and to have been able in so sliort a time to improve the si'tuation and now face the future with renewed confidence." The Lord Mayor, proposing the toast of His Majesty's Iviiinisters, said "For centuries this has heen the toast •of the evening on Novembcr 9, but Ithis distfcguished and representative company must more than ever realise the importance of this occasion when I say that it is the third suecessive year a Lord Mayor invites you to pay tribute to tha Ministers of this National Government. "The City Corporation knows no politics, but there can be no one here who does not rejoice in. the continuity of work in these difficult times by a Government representingi nearly all shades cf national opinion. "I would take this opportunity to eongratulate the Prime Minister on the courage with which he and his •National Gslbir.et have often, in the "face of the greatest difficultiss through two long years, carried great burdens, and wrestled with probdems which might weU have daun'ted them. /Tf I may respectfully say so, ths Prime Minister has always had the vision of the ideal behind the idea. "This Assembly's Message" "The Prime Minister can certainly look back with legitimate pride upon ithe gestoi-ation of confidence. He may rejoice in 'the ever-increasing total of those who, in spite of the collapse of world trade, have suc•ceeded in finding places of useful employment to enahle the humblest labourer to find that work without which there is no real health to enjoy life. '"The messaige of this great assemhly to-night, in the heart of this ancient City, is one of good wishes to His Majesty's Ministers in: their Work and heart-felt thanks for their | lahours in their crusade for prosper- j ity."