Page:Paul Samuel Reinsch - Secret Diplomacy, How Far Can It Be Eliminated? - 1922.djvu/171



fairs is going ill, and that our Government has misman- aged, that faults are being committed and dangers are being incurred, we have no absolute Sovereign to whom we can appeal in order to correct the evil; our abso- lute Sovereign is the people of this country, and it is they, and they alone, who can bring a remedy to the mischief which is going on. You have a form of Gov- ernment which in many points is purely democratic, and you must take it with the incidents which naturally adhere to it, and one of these incidents is publicity of deliberation. The Cabinet is the people, and their de- liberations are conducted in the open field. If they are to be rightly informed, you must deal fully and frankly with the subjects which form the basis of their deter- mination. It is, no doubt, a drawback so far as it goes, but it is a drawback you must face, and you cannot help it if Foreign Powers overhear, so to speak, the privi- leged communications between you and those by whose verdict you must stand. You cannot suppress the argu- ment because somebody else outside hears it and you may be adversely affected by it. . . ."

The concealment of important obligations and the growing secrecy of diplomatic affairs during the first decade of the Twentieth Century brought on many expressions of dissatisfaction in the House of Commons. After the secret agreement concerning Morocco became known, Mr. John Dillon expressed himself as follows, in a speech in the House of Commons in September, 1911 :

"I do not believe any representative assembly in the history of the world has ever been called upon to dis-