CONTROL OF FOREIGN POLICY

One cannot feel sure that diplomacy as hitherto recognised will be able,
or, indeed, ought to be able, to survive the shock. In this country, as in
others, diplomacy has been considered a highly specialised science, which
can only be conducted by trained men and by methods of entire secrecy. As
a mere matter of fact, England has far less control over her foreign
policy than any of the continental Powers. In Germany foreign affairs come
before the Reichstag, in France they are surveyed by the Senate, in
America there is a special department of the Senate empowered to deal
with foreign concerns. In Great Britain there is nothing of the kind.
Parliament has practically no control whatsoever over foreign affairs, it
is not even consulted in the formation of treaties and arrangements with
other nations. Nor yet has the Cabinet any real control, because it must
act together as a whole, and a determined criticism of a foreign secretary
means the resignation of the Government. Fortunately, our diplomacy has
been left for the most part in very able hands. Nevertheless, it is surely
a paradox that the English people should know so little about foreign
affairs as to be absolutely incapable of any control in questions that
affect their life or death. Democracy, though it is supposed to be
incompetent to manage foreign relations, could hardly have made a worse
mess of it than the highly-trained Chancelleries. When the new Europe
arises out of the ashes of the old, it is not very hazardous to prophesy
that diplomacy, with its secret methods, its belief in phrases and
abstract principles, and its assumption of a special professional
knowledge, will find the range of its powers and the sphere of its
authority sensibly curtailed.