Page:The Practice of Diplomacy - Callières - Whyte - 1919.djvu/169

 royal audience, and writing out to the best of his recollection exactly what was said, how it was said, and how it was received. This diary, which is a valuable part of diplomatic equipment, will greatly assist him in composing his despatches, and will give him a means of correcting his own memory at any later date. He should draw up his despatches in the form of separate short articles, each to a single special point, for if he were to present his despatch in one unwieldy, unbroken paragraph it might never be read. A shrewd old negotiator of my acquaintance said with truth that a despatch written in an orderly fashion and in several short clear paragraphs was like a palace lighted by many windows so that there was not a dark corner in it.

Besides his diary, the negotiator should keep an exact minute of all the despatches which he writes, and should preserve them in chronological order for easy reference. He should do the same with those which he receives. A properly organised registry is a good thing for the negotiator. There are certain negotiators who on sitting at their desks at night write down everything which they have learnt or guessed during the day, so that they may always be ready to supply from this journal the raw material, so to speak, of their judgments of events. It is sometimes wise to follow the practice of the Roman Court, and to devote separate letters,