Page:Paul Samuel Reinsch - Secret Diplomacy, How Far Can It Be Eliminated? - 1922.djvu/113

 and belief that the secrecy and tortuousness of foreign pol- icy are bound to generate an air of uncertainty and suspicion which will so greatly favor mili- tarist intrigues and influence as to render the making of wars far more easy than they would otherwise be, were time and opportunity given to the public to consider the details of a critical situation. Yet it might be difficult to prove by historic evidence, the specific proposition that the war of 1914 was directly due to the fact that the development of international affairs was quite generally kept from the knowledge of the public. Nevertheless, unquestionably the atmosphere of secret diplomacy is a medium exactly suited to the most baneful influences.

Viscount Haldane has made a strong defense of the policy of Sir Edward Grey. He asserts that "the failure of those who had to make the effort to keep the peace, does not show that they would have done better had they discussed delicate de- tails in public." He continues: " There are top- ics and conjunctures in the almost daily changing relations between Governments as to which si- lence is golden. For however proper it may be in point of broad principle that the people should be fully informed of what concerns them vitally, the most important thing is that those to whom