Page:The Practice of Diplomacy - Callières - Whyte - 1919.djvu/20

 The reasons for this state of affairs are two: first, the fact that the whole Foreign Service is small in numbers and held together by a combination of discipline and the strong esprit de corps of the caste from which it has been recruited; second, that criticism of the institution, even when well informed, has been sporadic, and has lacked the driving force of an instructed public opinion. A competent writer, himself a diplomatist, commented on an article on diplomacy in The New Europe in the following terms: 'It is doubtful whether such broad criticisms, fundamental and incontestable as they are, will avail to secure the reforms they imply; for lay criticism usually fails for lack of technical knowledge, while discipline, loyalty, and tradition combine to impose reticence upon members of the institution itself. Censure is apt to be disarmed by a natural sympathy for the overworked and conscientious public servant; and reform is postponed on the plea that a crisis is no time for judicious changes. Most Englishmen would prefer to drown on a familiar though worn-out steed rather than change horses in mid-stream. Thus the crisis is allowed to pass, and with it the memory of the shortcomings which produced it. xiv