Page:Paul Samuel Reinsch - Secret Diplomacy, How Far Can It Be Eliminated? - 1922.djvu/181



contrasts which publicity would tend to exag- gerate.

There is an ex post facto publicity of diplomatic policy. If this is afforded as soon as a new situ- ation has arisen or a new agreement has been cre- ated, some of the harm of secrecy is avoided. In such a case the statesmen, cabinet, or conference, practically give assurance that, if allowed to work quietly on a certain problem, they will produce a solution which will commegid itself in general to the sense of equity of the nation or nations con- cerned; although the sum total of the arrangement may contain details which, considered by them- selves, would be unacceptable and which might have interfered with the making of an accord, if unduly emphasized or given publicity during the negotiations.

Mr. Balfour in his speech of March 19, 1918, which has already been referred to, indeed speaks quite convincingly of the advantage of confiden- tial relations and of secrecy in negotiations, but he goes so far as strongly to deprecate a demand for information on the part of Parliament. In that he certainly shows a measure of anti-demo- cratic bias, as when he says, "Do not suppose that we can do the work better by having to ex- plain it to a lot of people who are n