bout de papier, Vol. 22, No. 4 (2007) — Winter/Spring 2007 // Hiver/Printemps 2007, pp. 4–7
On New Year’s Day, 1969, Pierre Trudeau was interviewed by Norman Depoe for the CBC. In the course of their discussion, the Prime Minister casually questioned the justification for diplomatic representation in the modern world and he suggested that much of what was reported by Canadian diplomats abroad simply duplicated what was available – and often more quickly — in the pages of a good newspaper. Trudeau’s glib assertion predictably prompted outraged protests from retired members of the Canadian foreign service and frantic preparation of an authoritative rationale for diplomacy by planners in the Department of External Affairs.
Perhaps it is just as well that Trudeau never read the attached correspondence, in which two veterans of Canadian diplomacy, Chester Ronning and John Holmes, reflected with a typical blend of exasperation an over-staffed mission (or so it seemed to these jaundiced observers) in London to justify its establishment or find work for its surplus personnel by commenting on matters well beyond its appropriate purview. Whether or not the British government was reconciled to its loss of Empire, it was evident that the Canadian high commission in the imperial capital still regarded its mandate as global.
For readers of bout de papier, the delightful by-product of this exchange was the mock telegram prepared in New Delhi and enclosed with Ronning’s letter. To permit a better appreciation of the satire; we have also reprinted the offending telegram from London as well as the exchange of letters on this topic. These documents may be found in the John Holmes Papers in the Archives of Trinity College at the University of Toronto.
John Holmes to Chester Ronning, 27 October 1959.
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
OTTAWA,
October 27, 1959.
Chester A. Ronning, Esquire,
Canadian High Commissioner,
NEW DELHI II, India.
Dear Chester:
The long delay in acknowledging your letter of September 10, to which was attached an office report on the British Election, has nothing to do with a failure to appreciate this gem. The reason, as a matter of fact, is that I have been discreetly circulating it to a number of people for their enjoyment and enlightenment and it was inevitably stalled in someone else’s basket. The report is a sublime performance and like all good satire makes its point much more effectively than a sharp complaint. First of all let me say that I know exactly what you mean. We have not been unaware of the provocation and as a matter of fact, when I was in London in July, I had some words about their excessive reporting. In my own view, the principal cause is the gross over-staffing of Canada House: They have too many officers with too narrow spheres.
Because they are zealous officers, they send far too much stuff Needless to say I didn’t take the liberty of sending them your report, although I am sure that George Ignatieff [Deputy Canadian High Commissioner in London] and others would have enjoyed it enormously. However, when Gordon Cox [Executive Assistant to the Canadian High Commissioner in London] was spending a few days in Ottawa, I did let him have a highly confidential look at it. He thought it was quite hilarious and will, I think, without involving you, try to bring the message home.
The London performance seems only a particularly acute case of a disease which afflicts the whole service these days. We are constantly sent, and all too often sent by telegram, far more information than we can conceivably absorb or need to know. The result is that our baskets and our minds are clogged and we can’t do any useful work. There is such a deluge of paper in the office that messages from Saigon, for example, wait six days before they can be delivered to us. Much of the reporting is very good, but there is so little related to our functions as instruments of Canadian policy. It seems to me also that we are confusing our role with that of journalists. We do want to know what is happening in countries like Iraq or the Belgian Congo, but we don’t have to be kept up to date every 48 hours.
I have been crying like this for the past six years – like a voice in the wilderness, but I am happy to receive support from Delhi. Thank you very much for bringing joy to me and my colleagues. I hope that you are not similarly provoked in view, but I trust that even without further provocation you can continue that sort of flippant reporting from time to time.
With all the best wishes,
Yours sincerely,
John
J. W. Holmes
Chester Ronning (High Commissioner for Canada, New Delhi) to J.W. Holmes (Assistant Under-Secretary, DEA), 10 September 1959.
OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR CANADA
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL
4 Aurangzeb Road,
New Delhi-11, ::
September 10, 1959.
J.W. Holmes, Esq.,
Assistant Under-Secretary,
Department of External Affairs,
Ottawa, Canada.
Dear John,
We sometimes wonder at the number of subjects on which our colleagues in London feel compelled to report by telegram. Certainly we would be the last to suggest a curb on their reporting of considered reactions in the Foreign Office, Clommonwealth].R[elations].O[fficel., or the U.K. press, to events which take place in other parts of the world. Yet we wonder sometimes about the risks of confusion, not to mention the unnecessary expense, when lengthy reports are sent on events which another mission is patently in a better position to report and comment upon.
This is by way of introduction to a rather startling example of second-hand reporting in the attached telegram No. 2756 of September 4 from London on “Sino Indian Relations and Indian Defence”: This confidential telegram contains, inter alia, the text of the communique issued on September I by Mr. [Jawaharlall Nehru [Prime Minister of Indial and President [Muhammad] Ayub [Khan of Pakistan] after their meeting at Palam Airport. It appeared in all local newspapers. The telegram also contains a pot pourri of views on such subjects as [V. K.] Krishna Menon, General [Kodandera Subayyal Thimayya, Kashmir, Afghanistan and the East Pakistan border.
We have, of course, reported on the Nehru-Ayub meeting by letter but did not think the cliche-clogged communique even worth sending as an attachment. We have also reported, and will continue to report, on the other matters referred to in London’s telegram. The really rather staggering aspect of that telegram (particularly paragraph 7), however, is that it was repeated to us and Karachi.
We have put together the attached telegram as an indication of our attitude towards London’s effort. We hope it helps to brighten your day. We couple this with the hope that some relief will be forthcoming in future to the Canadian tax payer and our hard-pressed communications staff
All the best,
Yours sincerely,
Chester
Copy of telegram from Canadian High Commission in London to Department of External Affairs, 4 September 1959, enclosed with Ronning to Holmes, 10 September 1959.
COPY
FM LDN SEP4/59 CONFD CDN EYES ONLY
TO EXTERNAL 2756 PRIORITY
INFO KARACHI DELHI
REF OURLET 1673 AUG28
SINO INDIAN RELATIONS AND INDIAN DEFENCE
1. HUNT, ASSISTANT UNDER SECRETARY, CRO SHOWED US LATE YESTERDAY A TEL FROM MACDONALD IN DELHI DESCRIBING AN INTERVIEW WHICH HE HAD HAD EARLIER IN THE WEEK WITH PILLAI, SECGEN EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, REGARDING CHINESE AGGRESSION ON THE NORTHEAST FRONTIER AGENCY AND IN LADAKH. WHILE THE TEL ADDED LITTLE TO WHAT HAS ALREADY BEEN REPORTED TO YOU FROM DELHI, IT WAS INTERESTING TO US BECAUSE OF PILLAIS STATEMENT, AS REPORTED BY MACDONALD, THAT MR. NEHRU WAS AT PRESENT IN A QUOTE INTROSPECTIVE SELF CRITICAL MOOD UNQUOTE AND REGARDED THE LATEST EVENTS AS HAVING SHOWN THAT HIS POLICY TOWARD CHINA HAD BEEN QUOTE A FAILURE UNQUOTE. HE WAS ALSO REPORTED BY PILLAI TO BE VERY TOUCHY AND THIS IN HUNTS VIEW MAY PERHAPS EXPLAIN THE WAY HE HANDLED THE THIMAYYA RESIGNATION
2. HUNT ADDED THAT EVENTS HAD SHOWN REPEATEDLY THAT NO RPT NO MATTER WHAT THE HOSTILITY TO MENON, NEHRU WOULD QUOTE CLEAVE TO HIM UNQUOTE: (TAYA ZINKIN, WRITING FROM DELHI IN TODAYS GUARDIAN TAKES A SOMEWHAT DIFFERENT VIEW. SHE SUGGESTS THAT NEHRU WAS FACED WITH A DILEMMA QUOTE HE DID NOT RPT NOT WANT TO GIVE THE ARMY MENONS HEAD IN PUBLIC: ON THE OTHER HAND MENON HAS BECOME A LIABILITY THE PREMIER CAN NO RPT NO LONGER CARRY. UNQUOTE NEHRU THEREFORE QUOTE DAMNED MENON WITH HIGH PRAISE AND LEFT THE REAL ISSUES CLOUDY AND SCOLDED THE COMMANDERS IN CHIEF. PUBLIC INDIGNATION WILL NOW DO THE REST UNQUOTE. COMMENTING UPON THE REPORT THAT 84 BARRISTERS AT THE CALCUTTA HIGH COURT HAD STATED THAT IT WAS IN THE INTERESTS OF INDIAN DEFENCH THAT NEHRU SHOULD HIMSELF TAKE CHARGE OF THE DEFENCE MINISTRY, TAYA ZINKIN SAYS QUOTE THIS IS UNDOUBTEDLY WHAT MR. NEHRU WILL DO. BY THE TIME MR. MENON COMES BACK FROM THE UN HE WILL BE LUCKY TO GET AN AMBASSADORSHIP OR A GOVERNORSHIP UNQUOTE).
3. HUNT ALSO SHOWED US TELS FROM KARACHI AND DELHI CONTAINING THEIR ASSESSMENTS OF THE AYUB NEHRU MEETING. ALTHOUGH THIS MEETING WILL NO RPT NO DOUBT HAVE BEEN REPORTED ON BY OUR OWN MISSIONS IN KARACHI AND DELHI WE ARE REPEATING THE TEXTS OF THE UK TELS TO YOU SINCE EVEN THAT OF THE COMMUNIQUE HAS RECEIVED SCANT ATTENTION IN THE PRESS HERE.
4. FOLLOWING IS THE TEXT OF UK TEL 1410 SEPT2 FROM KARACHI QUOTE ON ARRIVAL IN DACCA, PRESIDENT AYUB IS REPORTED TO HAVE SAID THAT IF INDIA AND PAKISTAN WENT ON FIGHTING WITH EACH OTHER THEY WOULD ONLY BE LAYING THE FOUNDATION OF THEIR DEFEAT IN DETAIL, AND ADDED THAT THIS WAS THE BURDEN OF CERTAIN POINTS WHICH HE HAD LEFT WITH MR. NEHRU WHEN HE HAD MET HIM AT DELHI. IT HAD BEEN VERY HEARTENING TO MEET MR. NEHRU WHO HAD BEEN VERY KIND TO HIM. MR. NEHRU WAS OLDER AND MORE EXPERIENCED WHILE HE HIMSELF WAS A NEW HAND.
2. THE PRESIDENT SAID THAT THE SUB CONTINENT HAD BEEN INVADED A NUMBER OF TIMES FROM OUTSIDE AND THAT SOMEBODY FROM WITHIN THE COUNTRY HAD INVITED OUTSIDERS. IF INDIA AND PAKISTAN CONTINUED TO FIGHT EACH OTHER SUCH A CONTINGENCY COULD NOT RPT NOT BE RULED OUT ALTOGETHER. HE THOUGHT THAT MR. NEHRU WAS IN GENERAL AGREEMENT, BUT UNFORTUNATELY THERE WAS A BACKLOG OF HISTORY OF MUTUAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES AND IT WAS THEREFORE NECESSARY THAT THEY SHOULD SHOW A SIGN OF GOOD FAITH IN EACH OTHER. AS A START, THE INCIDENTS ON THE EAST PAKISTAN BORDER MUST BE ELIMINATED.
3. IN REPLY TO A QUESTION, THE PRESIDENT SAID THAT HE DID NOT RPT NOT DISCUSS THE QUESTION OF JOINT DEFENCE WITH MR. NEHRU.
4. ASKED IF HE HAD FOUND MR. NEHRU DISTURBED OVER: THE PRESENT SITUATION CONFRONTING HIS COUNTRY ON HER FRONTIERS, THE PRESIDENT SAID THAT MR. NEHRU WAS A BRAVE MAN AND HE HAD FOUND HIM CALM, BUT MR. NEHRU WAS CERTAINLY CONCERNED, AS ANY RESPONSIBLE MAN WOULD BE.
5. THE PRESIDENT DISCLOSED THAT HE HAD DISCUSSED KASHMIR WITH MR. NEHRU AND HAD MADE IT QUITE CLEAR THAT IT WAS NOT RPT NOT AN INSOLUBLE PROBLEM. HE ADDED THAT TO HIM AS A SOLDIER THE SOLUTION WAS VERY SIMPLE IF APPROACHED IN THE RIGHT SPIRIT
6. THE PRESIDENT WAS ASKED HOW CONTACT WOULD BE MAINTAINED BETWEEN INDIA AND PAKISTAN AS AGREED AT THE DELHI TALKS HE REPLIED QUOTE THROUGH THE EMBASSIES, UNQUOTE
7. REFERRING TO THE SITUATION IN AFGHANISTAN, THE PRESIDENT SAID THAT THE RUSSIANS WERE BUILDING COMMUNICATIONS AND ROAD FACILITIES WHICH, IN A FEW YEARS, WOULD ENABLE ANY ARMY TO MARCH UP TO PAKISTANS BORDERS. TRANSIT FROM AFGHANISTAN WOULD NOT RPT NOT BE AS DIFFICULT AS IT USED TO BE. PAKISTAN WANTED TO IMPROVE RELATIONS WITH AFGHANISTAN BUT AFGHANISTAN WANTED CONTINUING TO PAKHTUNISTAN SLOGAN, NOT RPT NOT WITH THE OBJECT OF BENEFITING THE PAKHTUNS IN PAKISTAN BUT TO USE IT TO BOLSTER THEIR PRESENT REGIME. THEY WERE USING THE PAKHTUNISTAN SLOGAN AS A COMOFLAGE WHICH COULD NOT RPT NOT CONTINUE FOR LONG. UNQUOTE
FOLLOWING IS TEXT OF UK TEL 1325 SEP2 FROM DELHI QUOTE FOLLOWING IS TEXT OF JOINT STATEMENT ISSUED AT END OF MEETING: THE PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN AND THE PRIME MINISTER OF INDIA MET INFORMALLY IN A VERY CORDIAL ATMOSPHERE AT PALAM AIRPORT THIS MORNING. MATTERS OF MUTUAL INTEREST WERE DISCUSSED. THEY AGREED THAT THERE WAS NEED TO CONDUCT THEIR RELATIONS WITH EACH OTHER ON A RATIONAL AND PLANNED BASIS AND NOT RPT NOT ACCORDING TO THE DAY TO DAY EXIGENCIES AS THEY AROSE, AND THAT THEIR OUTSTANDING ISSUES AND OTHER PROBLEMS, IN MUTUAL INTEREST, BE SETTLED IN ACCORDANCE WITH JUSTICE AND FAIR PLAY IN A SPIRIT OF FRIENDLINESS, COOPERATION AND GOOD NEIGHBOURLINESS. THEY WERE GLAD TO HAVE HAD THIS OPPORTUNITY OF AN INFORMAL EXCHANGE OF VIEWS AND THEY AGREED TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH EACH OTHER TO FURTHER THEIR COMMON OBJECTIVES:
2. GENERAL AYUB MADE FOLLOWING ADDITIONAL POINTS TO PRESS AT AIRPORT, (I) AS A MILITARY MAN HE FORESAW DANGER THAT IF INDIA AND PAKISTAN CONTINUED TO SQUABBLE THEY WOULD BE DEFEATED QUOTE ON DETAILS UNQUOTE PAST HISTORY HAD BROUGHT INVASIONS TO THE SUB CONTINENT IN THIS WAY. (II) HE AND NEHRU HAD DECIDED TO HAVE A HIGH LEVEL CONFERENCE OR CONFERENCES, ATTENDED BY MINISTERS AND MILITARY COMMANDERS, TO FIND WAYS OF STOPPING INCIDENTS ON THE EASTERN INDO PAKISTAN BORDER. (III) HE EXPRESSED HIS PLEASURE AT HAVING MET MR. NEHRU, SAYING QUOTE I AM REALLY INSPIRED BY HIS PERSONALITY, BY HIS THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS OF GOODWILL. UNQUOTE
Draft Message from Canadian High Commission in New Delhi to Department of External Affairs, 10 September 1959, enclosed with Ronning to Holmes, 10 September 1959.
NOT SENT
DEPARTMENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
OUTGOING MESSAGE
FROM DOMCANADA, NEW DELHI
TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS,
CANADA
REPEAT: LONDON
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: CONFIDENTIAL CANADIAN
EYES ONLY
PRIORITY: OPIMMEDIATE
REFERENCE
SUBJECT: MR. MACMILLAN, MR. GAITSKELL, MR. BEVAN,
UNCLE TOM COBBLEY AND THE GENERAL ELECTION
1. WHILE AT FIRST IT MAY SEEM A LITTLE STRANGE FOR US IN DELHI TO BE REPORTING TO YOU ON THE U.K. POLITICAL SITUATION, WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO SEND YOU THIS TELEGRAM TO SUPPLEMENT THE REPORTS WHICH YOU WILL NO DOUBT BE RECHIVING OCCASIONALLY FROM OUR PEOPLE IN LONDON NOW THAT THE U.K. ELECTION DATE HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED. WE DECIDED TO SEND A TELEGRAM RATHER THAN A DESPATCH BECAUSE THE DATE IS LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY AND AFTER ALL ONE NEVER KNOWS WHO IS GOING TO READ A DESPATCH. A TELEGRAM, ON THE OTHER HAND, RECEIVES GENERAL DISTRIBUTION TO EVERYONE SO THERE REALLY IS NO EXCUSE FOR SOMEBODY NOT READING IT. WE ARE SURE YOU WILL AGREE.
2. IT CERTAINLY WAS INTERESTING THAT THE MEETING BETWEEN MR. MACMILLAN AND MR. EISENHOWER TOOK PLACE AT THE SAME TIME THAT MR. GAITSKELL AND MR. BEVAN WERE IN MOSCOW. NATURALLY ENOUGH, THIS HAS CAUSED COMMENT IN THE ENGLISH-SPEAKING PRESS IN INDIA (WHICH, AS A MATTER OF FACT, IS THE ONLY SECTION OF THE INDIAN PRESS THAT WE ARE EQUIPPED TO READ). TYPICAL OF MANY OF THE PRESS COMMENTS WE HAVE SEEN WAS THAT OF THE HYDERABAD HERALD, DATED SEPT 5, WHICH SAID IN PART (THE COMPLETE ARTICLE IS REPEATED IN MY IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING TELEGRAM) “MACMILLAN SCORES AGAIN”, FROM APPROXIMATELY THE SAME STANDPOINT YOU MIGHT ALSO CONSIDER THE AMRITSAR BUGLE WHICH TOOK THE LINE THAT MR. MACMILLAN’S POSITION WITH THE TORY RANK-AND-FILE HAS NEVER BEEN STRONGER. THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS AN ACCOUNT OF MR. MACMILLAN’S VISIT TO MILLFORD-ON-SEA ON SEPT 4 AND QUOTES THE PRIME MINISTER AS STATING “IT IS CERTAINLY A GREAT PLEASURE FOR ME TO BE HERE ONCE AGAIN AT MILLFORD-ON-SEA AND PARTICULARLY TO SEE THAT THE PARTY WORKERS ARE IN SUCH A CHEERFUL MOOD AS THE APPROACHING ELECTION CONTEST DEVELOPS” OF COURSE THIS PARTICULAR SPEECH MAY HAVE ALREADY BEEN REPORTED TO YOU FROM LONDON BUT WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU SAW IT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.
3. AN INTERESTING ASPECT OF THE REPORTING ON MR. GAITSKELL’S VISIT TO MOSCOW WAS AN ACCOUNT IN THE MADRAS GUARDIAN OF SEPT 6 WHICH DESCRIBES HIS VISIT TO THE PETAGORSK STEEL MILLS. APPARENTLY WHEN SOMEONE ASKED MR. GAITSKELL WHETHER THE STEEL WORKERS IN ENGLAND WOULD FAVOUR THE ELECTION OF A LABOUR GOVERNMENT HE REPLIED “YES”. MR. BEVAN IS REPORTED TO HAVE BEEN STANDING NEAR MR. GAITSKELL WHEN HE MADE THIS STATEMENT BUT MOVED AWAY, APPARENTLY TO INSPECT AN INGOT MOULD, A FEW MOMENTS LATER. THIS HAS GIVEN RISE TO SOME SPECULATION THAT A RIFT MAY BE DEVELOPING IN THE LABOUR PARTY LEADERSHIP AT THIS CRITICAL TIME. THIS SPECULATION HAS BEEN HEIGHTENED BY AN INFORMANT IN THE EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTRY HERE (WHOSE WIFE’S COUSIN IS STUDYING STEEL MAKING AT PETAGORSK AND WAS AN EYE WITNESS TO THIS EVENT) WHO SAID THAT THE SOVIET LABOURERS WERE SHOCKED WHEN MR. GAITSKELL FAILED TO JOIN MR. BEVAN WHEN THE LATTER OFFERED TO SING THE CHORUS OF UNCLE TOM COBBLEY IN THE FACTORY CANTEEN. IT IS POSSIBLE, HOWEVER, THAT NOT TOO MUCH SIGNIFICANCE SHOULD BE ATTACHED TO THESE INCIDENTS FOR WE HAVE SEEN A PHOTOGRAPH IN THE PRESS OF MR. GAITSKELL AND MR. BEVAN STANDING TOGETHER. THEY WERE BOTH SMILING, THOUGH IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THEY WERE NOT LOOKING AT EACH OTHER AT THE TIME. PERHAPS OUR MISSION IN MOSCOW WILL BE ABLE TO PROVIDE SOME INFORMATION AS TO JUST WHAT HAD CAUGHT THEIR ATTENTION AND COMMENT ON THIS ASPECT OF THE COMING ELECTION CAMPAIGN, NEVERTHELESS, THE FACT THAT SUCH SPECULATION HAS ARISEN IN INDIA MUST INDICATE SOMETHING. AS THE NAGPUR CLARION PUT IT IN A RECENT EDITORIAL, “WE MUST REMAIN VIGILANT”.
4. WE HAVE QUITE A FEW MORE TELEGRAMS IN PREPARATION ON THIS SUBJECT AND I WILL SEND THEM ALONG TO YOU AS SOON AS I CAN FIND SOMEONE TO TYPE THEM.
RONNING 3
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 22, No. 4 (2007) — Winter/Spring 2007 // Hiver/Printemps 2007, pp. 4–7. Read the rest of this issue →
