My life-long friendship with your father the Old Diplomatist, must excuse me for the liberty I am now taking.
I am infinitely1 concerned that your career should be a successful one and that before you perish of senile decay you should have held the position of Ambassador in at least three great capitals of Europe. You certainly will not attain2 to such eminence3 unless you are early instructed by some competent authority in the mysteries of your trade, and as I am singularly well placed for giving you private information upon these, I shall immediately proceed to do so.
I beg you to remember at the very outset of your responsible profession what destinies will lie in your hands. The lives of countless4 [Pg 2]innocent men will depend upon your judgment5 and upon your provocation6 or restraint of some great war. The principal fortunes of our time will be largely dependent upon your decisions and will always fluctuate according to the advice you may give your Government. More important still, the honour of your country and its splendour before the world will hang upon your good sense and foresight7. Weigh, therefore, I beg of you, before you undertake so high a function, its duties and its perils8, and all that you may have to answer for at the Last Day, if indeed (as so many still pretend) human beings are answerable in the long run for the good or evil they have done upon earth. Do not, however, be deterred9 by any shirking of consequences, or by what Tennyson has well called "Craven fears of being great" from the tremendous task which your noble calling involves. Some one must undertake it, and why not you? Having well balanced in your mind these major things, next note carefully, I beg of you, the rules I am about to lay down.
[Pg 3]
The first of these is that you shall possess yourself of an income of not less than $2,000 a year. You will immediately protest, and with justice, that it is impossible upon such a revenue to impress the nobility of Austria, of Russia, or even of Montenegro, with those qualities which invariably accompany great wealth; but your objection is a youthful and improvident10 one. You will not be required at this outset of your activities to dazzle by any lavish11 expenditure12 the luxurious14 Courts of the countries I have just named. You are too young to be entrusted15 with any such duty and at the most it will be incumbent16 upon you to expend13 no more upon appearances than what is necessary for making a decent show at the dinner table of others. It is true that from time to time you will have to entertain at a meal, and at your own charges, a journalist perhaps or even a traveller, but from a narrow and cautious observation of some several hundred instances I have discovered that of an average of two hundred meals consumed by Young Diplomatists in the space of a year[Pg 4] at places of public resort, no more than 83 at the most, nor less than 51 at the least, were a burden upon their purses. And by management of the simplest sort you can enjoy the hospitality of others at least three times as often as you are compelled to extend it yourself. Moreover, you will have this great advantage, that you will know the habits of the capital in which you reside and can give your guest the impression of having dined well amid luxurious surroundings, although as a matter of fact he shall have dined exceedingly ill amid surroundings which I tremble to remember: for I also have been in Arcadia.
If I have set down such a figure as $2,000 it is merely because that sum has been decided18 upon by those experts in the profound art of International Politics who determine the minimum for the Court of St. James.
Let us leave this sordid19 matter and consider next the higher part of your mission, in which connection I will first speak of what your clothing and demeanour should be.
[Pg 5]
It is not true that the presence of a crease20 clearly emphasised down the front of each trouser leg is a necessity or even an advantage to the conduct of World-wide affairs. Upon the contrary, I have come to the settled conclusion after no little review of the matter that a mere17 hint at such a line is not only sufficient, but preferable to any emphasis of it.
You may object to me that the eminent21 man who advised and all but carried out the occupation of the South Pole by the troops of Monomotapa six years ago, stretched his trousers in a machine every night, or, to speak more accurately22, ordered his valet under pain of death to provide that detail. It is true. But it was not because of, it was in spite of, this habit that the Baron23 brought his pigs to market, and annexed24 to the dominion25 of his Sovereign those regions which were abandoned the next year with the utmost precipitation.
I yield to no one in my admiration26 of his amazing subtlety27 and comprehensive coup28 d'œil; but I have it upon unimpeachable29 [Pg 6]testimony that the too great rigidity30 of his garments formed, until the very last moment, an obstacle to the success of his plans. I give it to you, therefore, as a general rule, that you should do no more than put the trousers upon a table, and pass your hand lightly over them before putting them on; in this way you will produce such a crease as will suggest, and no more than suggest, the feature upon which I have detained you in this paragraph.
More important even than your garments will be your method of address and in particular your conversation with women. Here I can only give you the advice which I fear may seem somewhat general and vague, that you should never neglect upon the one hand to engage in a dialogue of some sort, nor venture, upon the other, to be drawn31 into a violent altercation32.
Thus, if it be your good fortune (as it was once mine) to sit upon a marble terrace overlooking the Mediterranean33 Sea, and there drink a Chianti of that sort which the French call[Pg 7] "Iron Filings" accompanied by the flesh of goats, it would be noted34 disastrously35 against you if you refused during the whole course of the meal to utter a word to the lady upon your left or to the lady upon your right. But it will advance you in no way if at the second course you allow your ungovernable temper to become your master, and to tell either of these flanking parties what you thought of them in the heat of the moment. Any attempt to retrieve36 your position after such an excess by loud appeals to the justice of your cause would but degrade you further in the eyes of your chief, and you might look in vain during all succeeding years for an appointment to the conduct of important and delicate negotiations37 between any two great powers. No: under such circumstances (to take a concrete instance) don't mention trivial things of literature or of the weather, but discover something novel in the aspect of the sea, or recite for the advantage of the company (but at intervals39 of not less than five minutes) some terse40 falsehood that[Pg 8] may have occurred to you, and preferably one damaging to the moral character of an innocent man.
Never contradict any statement whatsoever41 that may be made in your presence, at least in public. Nor, upon your part, make any affirmation which might lead to a contradiction but, after waiting until you have heard an expression of opinion from that person whom you would address, agree with it, differing only in just so much as will lend salt to the remainder of the delightful42 interchange. Let it appear in all you say that you are at once more learned than those about you, and yet believe them to be more learned than yourself. When you allude43 to the Great never do so in terms of familiarity, even if the Great be your own Uncle, but rather in terms of distant admiration or of still more distant contempt. Above all—this I most urgently charge you—confess in the most open manner a complete ignorance of how money is made, whether honourably44 or dishonourably. This last precept45 is the[Pg 9] more difficult to fulfil when you consider that in the high-bred world of European gentlemen in which you will find yourself, money is very nearly the sole subject of discourse46.
There remains47 to be dealt with the last exercise whereby some important mission confided48 to you may be brought to an issue.
I will suppose that a cautious Government is making an experiment of your abilities and has despatched you for the negotiation38 of a Commercial Treaty with the Viceroy of Seringapatam: a very usual test for the judging of a man's capacities.
You will, during the weeks in which sundry49 varlets draft letters, exchange views, consider schedules, and argue tariffs50, make it your particular care to visit His Excellency and His Excellency's Wife, to play tennis with His Excellency's daughters once or twice, but more certainly to pursue in company with His Excellency's sons some animal which may be killed without any serious risk.
When the preliminaries of the Treaty have[Pg 10] been agreed to and the moment has come for fixing your signature thereto, it is in the essence of good breeding that you should perform the act quite simply with some ordinary pen, such for instance as the fountain pen which you carry in your pocket, and I need hardly say that jokes framed for the occasion, or any flippancy51 of demeanour during the solemnity would be in equally bad taste. You shall (if my memory of many such occasions serves me right) spread your left hand (which you will previously52 have washed very carefully) outwards53 over the paper, arch your eyebrows54 somewhat, say to your salaried friend, "Where do I sign?" and then quickly put down your name in the place indicated, and that in a very ordinary manner. These are the little things that betray not only the Gentleman but the Arbiter55 of the World's Destinies.
Space forbids me to deal with the minor56 matters of religion, affection and morals. I only beg you to keep all three under a severe restraint, and in particular the first, too great a[Pg 11] zeal57 in which has early ruined many a rising young fellow.
Good-bye, my dear Young Diplomatist. If they send you to Paris ask for Berlin; and if they send you to Berlin kill yourself.
I am, in fond remembrance of your father,
Your devoted58 friend,
H. Belloc.
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1
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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eminence
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| n.卓越，显赫；高地，高处；名家 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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5
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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6
provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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7
foresight
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| n.先见之明，深谋远虑 | |
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perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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9
deterred
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| v.阻止，制止( deter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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10
improvident
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| adj.不顾将来的，不节俭的，无远见的 | |
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11
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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12
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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13
expend
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| vt.花费，消费，消耗 | |
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14
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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15
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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16
incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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17
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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18
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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19
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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20
crease
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| n.折缝，褶痕，皱褶；v.(使)起皱 | |
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21
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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24
annexed
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| [法] 附加的，附属的 | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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26
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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27
subtlety
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| n.微妙，敏锐，精巧；微妙之处，细微的区别 | |
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28
coup
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| n.政变；突然而成功的行动 | |
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29
unimpeachable
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| adj.无可指责的；adv.无可怀疑地 | |
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30
rigidity
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| adj.钢性，坚硬 | |
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31
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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32
altercation
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| n.争吵，争论 | |
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33
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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34
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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35
disastrously
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| ad.灾难性地 | |
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36
retrieve
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| vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索 | |
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negotiations
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| 协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过 | |
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38
negotiation
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| n.谈判，协商 | |
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39
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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40
terse
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| adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的 | |
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41
whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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42
delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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43
allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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honourably
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| adv.可尊敬地，光荣地，体面地 | |
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45
precept
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| n.戒律；格言 | |
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46
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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47
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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48
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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49
sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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50
tariffs
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| 关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准 | |
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51
flippancy
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| n.轻率；浮躁；无礼的行动 | |
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52
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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53
outwards
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| adj.外面的，公开的，向外的；adv.向外；n.外形 | |
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54
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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55
arbiter
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| n.仲裁人，公断人 | |
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56
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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57
zeal
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| n.热心，热情，热忱 | |
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58
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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