The Evening Star SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1935. PRIVATE DIPLOMATS.

Evening Star, Issue 22026, 11 May 1935, Page 14

The Evening Star SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1935. PRIVATE DIPLOMATS.

Replying to congratulations of the Diplomatic Corps on. his Silver Jubilee the King uttered a prayer that ‘ 1 the unity of purpose which brought you here to-day may be a symbol of enduring peace in the world at large.” That is the consummation for which the best men in every country have been struggling, and which seems to be the most difficult to attain. So far there has been small realisation of the hope that, as the nations learned to know one another better, their feelings towards one another would become more kindly disposed. There has never been so much intercourse between peoples, or so many attempts to arrive at bases of agreement, as in the last seventeen years, and yet we have the spectacle, lamented by His Majesty, that “ fear and preparation for war are again astir in the world.” It would scarcely be untrue to say that they have never ceased to be so. The British Empire has no fear that war will ever arise between its parts; no nation iu the world regards the British nation as a possible aggressor. But that will be no more than,a limited consolation, and Englishmen will not be wholly unafraid, until the quiet government and peace prevailing over their large part of the earth’s surface can be communicated to the rest. Perhaps the intercourse up to the present has been too random and fortuitous to make the best influence for understanding. A Frenchman, one may imagine, is not necessarily stirred to the most friendly thoughts when he sees a German airman flying in his skies, and some members of most races do not ingratiate themselves when they travel. Not to do so was a fault of the British in days gone by, and may be a fault of some less educated Britons still. Goldsmith's lines, “ Pride in their port, defiance in’their eye, we see the lords of human kind pass by,” were in his day supposed to describe British manners towards foreigners. And a recent writer complains: “A curious change in the demeanour of the English takes place directly they set foot on the continent of Europe. An aggressiveness which one would have believed to be quite foreign to their nature begins to assort itself, and a mean-spirited disposition to haggle, which they would blush to exhibit at home. This is due, I think, to a deep-rooted conviction that all foreigners are, in the first place, despicable, and, in the second place, intent upon getting the better of the guileless English who venture to travel abroad.” Nevertheless the English-speaking races have developed some ideas which it would be well for the rest of the world to absorb, and every other race, doubtless, has its own traits to be admired. It is half knowledge that breeds enmities; what every nation needs is better facilities for spreading its most congenial ideas and receiving those of others, Certain, if knowledge bring the sword, ■ That knowledge takes the svvordi away.. , ,

A new English body, the “ British Council for Relations with Other Countries,” has just been established with this intent. Its object has been explained to be “ to promote abroad a wider knowledge of the English language, literature, art, music, science, educational institutions, and other aspects of our national life, and thereby to encourage a better appreciation of Great Britain and to maintain closer relations between this and other countries.” . Lord Tyrrell, former Ambassador to France, who won golden opinions in that country, will be the chairman of the new organisation, and representatives of all the interests indicated, as well as of commerce and in-, dustry, will be included. The council will co-operate with the Travel Association, which exists to attract foreign visitors to Great Britain and to cater for them after their arrival, and with other institutions which work to keep British communities in foreign lands in touch with the Mother Country. It would seem that these efforts for separated Britons have been all too small hitherto —much smaller than those conducted by some other countries on behalf of their nationals abroad. For over a hundred years there has been a school for British children in Paris, whose pupils, when they grow up, are in the best position to cement the ties between the two nations, but in recent years times have gone hard with it, and it receives no assistance from the British Government. A secondary school in London, which provides for 300 French pupils, on the other hand, is maintained- by the French , Government, and receives £1,500 a year from that of Great Britain. The Italian colony in England contains twenty primary schools and a secondary school. Another disability which will receive the attention of the council is the poor facilities for, English studies, as compared with others, in many foreign universities, where the former have been allowed to decline owing to British indifference. It will also make available in other countries a knowledge of the educational facilities for foreign students which Great Britain can supply. ■ It will spread a wider knowledge of English literature, general and technical, either by founding English libraries abroad or by supplying information on English books to institutions able to use. it. Official diplomats have been doing their work for peace. It is time that that should bo supplemented by the influence of the best kind of private diplomats, and who could be so well fitted for that purpose as the citizens brought up in a foreign country, who are able to appeal to one nationality with the fullest understanding of tho other? Foreign policy alone, it has been pointed out, however wisely conceived, cannot remove misunderstandings unless it can work on a backgi’ound of knowledge. It is that knowledge, in regard to British ideals and inspirations, which the new council is intended to encourage. The British Government will assist the inception of this new movement with a grant of

£6,000, and that will not mean that Great Britain will be doing more than France and Italy, for example, in the cause of “ intellectual co-operation.” In this particular field of internationalism it is other Powers that have set the pace.