MR. JOHN HAY. T HE news that arrangements have been made
for the signing of the Commercial Treaty between the United States and China, including a clause providing for the opening of the ports of Mukden and Ta-tung- tao, on October 8th, is a great triumph for Mr. Hay. It is, indeed, a crowning proof that he is one of the ablest and most successful of living diplomatists, or rather of Foreign Ministers. The incident affords a useful opportunity for considering Mr. Hay's place among the statesmen of the world, and for noting the qualities which have raised him to that great position. Those who have watched his public career and have known him personally will, we venture to think, say that his ruling qualities are serenity, firmness, a high sense of honour as well as of public duty, and a wide knowledge of men and affairs. Without a trace of the bully or the blusterer in his composition, he is never awed, not merely by other men, for that kind of courage is not uncommon, but also never awed by rumour," by circumstance, or by the creation of bogeys of one kind or another. He is not the sort of statesman who one day thinks that this or that Power will be a terrible danger to the Union if it is not shown its place, or that some particular interest is going to carry all before it unless it is instantly checked or controlled. In other words, he is not one of the men who are always in a fuss about something or somebody. Yet like the able and high-minded President in whose Administration he holds so pre-eminent a place, his serenity of temper never degenerates into cynicism or indifference. His mental attitude is as far as possible from that of the man who thinks that nothing matters. He feels strongly on all vital points, and though he makes no parade of earnestness, is often far more in earnest than men who proclaim their earnestness from the house-tops. A superficial observer, indeed, might possibly think that he was a disciple of Talleyrand, and had taken to heart his maxim of surtout pas de zele; but in reality there is plenty of zeal for worthy objects, and plenty of scorn for what is mean, petty, and contemptible, below the calm and unimpassioned attitude of the Secretary of State.
This serenity and moderation of temper Might possibly have proved a snare to a statesman obliged to mix in the rough-and-tumble of politics, and to take action and judge great questions swiftly, if it had not been joined with a deep knowledge of men and things. Fortunately for his country, Mr. Hay possesses this knowledge. When he was appointed Ambassador to Britain by Mr. McKinley it was thought that America had sent us a brilliant man of letters, who would be certain to endear himself to all Englishmen with whom he might come in contact— a man, in fact, who would fill worthily the position occupied by Lowell—but little more was expected of him. Yet when the Spanish-American War came, and With it the threats of European intervention, and the deep Continental jealousy of the United States for the first time became visible, men saw with astonishment that in its Ambassador in London the United States possessed a true statesman, and one endowed with a wise and com- prehensive outlook on affairs, a diplomat who could cross swords with the ablest foreign diplomats and easily hold his own. Instead, as was prophesied, of the man of letters being puzzled and perturbed by the task of meeting the finesse and the veiled hostility of a dexterous professional diplomacy, Mr. 7:lay showed himself at once perfectly self- possessed, and able to parry and thrust in the great game with the utmost assurance. He showed that should occasion arise he would know bow to meet the bully with firmness, how to take fulsome declarations of friendship at their trnevalue, and how to run great apparent risks without showing a trace Of uneasiness. With a spectacle so novel and so interesting before them, men asked m astonishment how it was that the poet and virtuoso could show such qualities and exhibit such perfect calmness in a position of anxiety, difficulty., and. complication. Those who asked such a question forgot Mr. Hay's training. They forgot that when young he had received;-the - possible education -in affairs, had come under the influence of one of the ablest political minds of the century, and became acquainted at first' hand with great affairs during an epoch of stress and strain and of political danger and diffieulty'compared With which the Spanish War can have seemed hardly more than a storm in a tea-cup. Mr. Hay had stood by Lincoln's side when. the very existence of the Motherland was at stake. Think what that three years' vigil at Washington' .must have taught the private secretary of the President:— a private secretary who shared to the full the confidence of his chief, knew his inmost mind, an4 watched how every crushing blow of disaster in the field, or of folly and' panic, doubt and suspicion, and even treachery at home.' fell on the heroic Soul of Lincoln. A continent Was on fire, and men seemed to feel the years reel and stagger beneath them as one disaster came huddling on another. Washington was like an Outpost pushed into the enemy's, country. From the heights around had even thundered the cannon of the South, and the dead had been buried where they fell within a few Miles of the town. Any night' during the war a watcher from the white dome of the Capitol might have seen the camp-fires of the enemy. It was in such a place and in such an atmosphere of fierce war and fiercer intrigue that the young Hay, watched and' shared the serenity with which Mr. Lincoln faced and came victorious out of crisis after crisis. Though, On the whole, the American people backed Mi. Lincoln nobly., there were moments when he had to confront a people angry, sullen, and hysterical by turns, and when even" the good and the wise" seemed doubt the ability of the pilot to weather the storm. At such times, and when to public distraction were 'added: failures in the field and foreign complications, it Must indeed have been an education in affairs to see Mr: Lincoln turn his calm and uneager face "home to the instant need of things," and deal bravely with the actual and practical point in hand rather than with fears and hopes for the future. After such a training under such a' master Mr. Hay had little to learn. A shallower man might possibly have unlearned, this great lesson in a generation of leisured ease. But spirits are finely touched to fine issues, and the true steel of Mr. Hay's character was brought by those terrible years to a :temper which it has never lost.
We have perhaps said enough in praise of Mr. Hay— certainly more than enough if we were to consider Mr, Hay's own feelings—and of the wise and clear-eyed statesmanship with which he serves his country. We desire to add a word or two on the general question of political training in Atherica. There are too few men trained as Mr. Hay was,—i.e., by being brought early into contact with affairs. Mr. .Roosevelt, it is true, is an exception, for he took part in publid affairs at an early age, and so justifies every word that we desire to i say n favour of early training in statesmanship. As a rule, however, an American statesman knows nothing of great affair till he has reached middle life. To put our meaning into a concrete shape, there are not enough political private secretaries in America ; and by " priVate secretaries" we mean, of course, private secretaries in the British sense, not mere confidential clerks. . We are speaking, that is, of young -men of ability and ambition, and with the desire to serve their, country, who go to school, as it were, to the great men in the :nation, are attached to their, persons in a Confidential capacity? and who while they are 'keen and .impressionable see close and at first hand how great affairs are con- ducted. A :very lane number almost indeed a majority: of our leading statesmen throughout the last hundred years have at One time or another served an apprenticeship in statesmanship as private seoretaries. It is very rare to find such a case in America. Indeed, for the moment we can only think of Mr. Hay. Yet we cannot doubt that Mt Hay would admit that he owed immense benefits to his iterlY association with Mr. Lincoln. In our view, then, it is a great waste of opportunities that Mj. Roosevelt; Mr. Hay, and the otter leading statesmen should not collect round them young men, chosen often, though not, of ,course, ex- clusively, from the wealthy classes, whO for a year or two 'should see at their sides something of public life. Such young men would not necessarily remain in public life. Most of them would go. into or "back to business, or the Bar or private life. If, however, in later life they were called on to serve the State as Senators, as members of the Administration, , as :Judges, as AmbaSsadors or Ministers, as State Governors or as servants of the Republic in the Philippines. they would find their early, training and. acquaintance with affairs of the utmost help. We can- not, indeed, imagine a more stimulating or useful train- ing for a young min of Ability and ambition than to be attached, for example, to Mr. Roosevelt, and to learn in so noble a school the work of government at first hand. Yet unless we are mistaken, there is no such school of public service open in the. White,House. It is a great pity, and if it did not appear to savour. Of impertinence in an English newapaper, we should like to suggest 'that the want is one which ought to be met without delay.
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