Page:Paul Samuel Reinsch - Secret Diplomacy, How Far Can It Be Eliminated? - 1922.djvu/217

 parently not transmitted to the American Government. The British press at the time quite generally ex- pressed great dissatisfaction with the methods followed by the diplomats. The Westminster Ga- zette wrote: "The whole of both peoples is acutely concerned in the result. We must, there- fore, register a protest against the manner in which the negotiations are being conducted. They are being carried on in secrecy, only broken by unreliable rumors, by the three principal gov- ernments. The peoples have a right to know what is being done in their name, so that they may be able to protest, if need be, against deci- sions which may affect their future relations." The Times protested: "We are not going to stand by and have our friendship and relations with America jeopardized by the proceedings of a triumvirate sitting behind closed doors. The American democracy, we imagine, will not be less resolved to assert their rights and stifle this ef- fort at secret diplomacy."

At this time Mr. Bonar Law, the government spokesman in the House of Commons, denied ab- solutely that a harsh and uncompromising reply had originally been drafted to President Wilson's despatch, and that it had subsequently been changed through the influence of Viscount Grey