Satow

Abstract

‘Tradition’, Gustav Mahler is reported to have remarked, ‘is Schlamperei’. Whatever the validity of this remark in matters of music, in the often cacophonous political life tradition is certainly a factor to be reckoned with; none more so than in diplomacy. Indeed, reflecting on the nature of diplomacy, Harold Nicolson identified several markedly different national traditions of European diplomacy. Of the British version he observed that its representatives abroad

display little initiative, take no pains to impress others with their intellectual brilliance, and are to all appearance unimaginative, uninformative, lethargic and slow. On the other hand ... the British diplomatist is exceptionally well informed, manages to acquire and to retain the confidence of foreign governments, is imperturbable in times of crisis, and almost always succeeds. ²

What Nicolson omitted in this impressive list is the one strand of British diplomatic tradition of which he himself was a prominent representat­ive: its literary tradition. In this, British diplomacy is probably unrivalled.

‘mentis subtilitate curiosa sicco lumine ingenii praestitit.’¹