The remains of the day.

Have you seen this movie, The remains of the day, it's about a butler in a grand English home before the Second World War and what happens before and then after the war. This 1993 film is based on a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, it features Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson.

Today I attended the Annual General Meeting of my professional Association as Election Returning Officer. The meeting was held at the Foreign Ministry known in Ottawa as the Lester B. Pearson Building named after our Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and Prime Minister who helped resolve the Suez Canal Crisis in 1956 and proposed the creation of the famous UN Peace Keeper Corps.

the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson, P.C., M.P. (Prime Minister of Canada 1963-68)

It is in all likely hood my last meeting, I have been active with my professional association all my working life, so I was happy to do this little thing for them.  I arrived a bit early and went to the Cadieux auditorium. The lobby known as the O.D. Skelton room has been repainted and the furniture recovered, it had not been done since 1973 when the building first opened. It is a funny looking building it is shaped like a Sphinx in memory of the Suez Canal Crisis and the man who helped solve the crisis.  The renovations look cheap and everything was done quickly, no money and budget cuts. It use to be such an elegant room. The rooms are named after famous Canadian diplomats who started their careers in academe and then became advisors to Prime Ministers. But all this was a very long time ago in an other era, such people do not exist anymore.

I sat in the auditorium and we went through the agenda, I did my part, half way through I started to feel tired and thought to myself how all this did not relate to me anymore. I remember a time when I would have been happy and excited about being with colleagues who worked as I did on important dossiers and in our Embassies around the world. Today I really had the impression that I was living the remains of the day, no regrets really, simply that all this was now in the past. It is a very strange feeling all together, I feel no connection really. I spoke with a few colleagues, learned that two persons who were scheduled to leave this summer on posting were diagnosed with very serious illnesses. I was working with them just a few weeks ago, I had no idea. One colleague who is also retiring said to me, we were lucky you know, we served during the best of time. I agree because now the future for my younger colleagues is very clouded and uncertain. There was a small reception after the meeting but I did not stay, did not feel like mingling, would not have known what to say. I had that feeling like when you are about to take the train and it is time to board, you do not want to linger.

I do not know if I will ever go back to the Lester B. Pearson building but when I left today the late afternoon sun was  bright and I did not look back. However of my career as a diplomat I remain true to my motto, Non Sibi Sed Patriae. (Not for me but for my country)

    A small sprig of flowers on a Roman Spring day on Peter and Joe's balcony on Via Tronto.

A momentous day

Well today I handed in my resignation letter from the Canadian Foreign Service at 4:16 pm effective on 28 December 2012. I spoke with the Director of Personnel, an old colleague of mine and with my assignment officer, we reminisced about the past years, so many years and so many postings at different Canadian Embassies around the world. It all seems to me like a movie, another world, another time. When I joined the Foreign Service, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister in Britain, Ronald Reagan was President, in Canada Joe Clark was Prime Minister, a man I always like for his honest straightforward approach to things. My postings were in order: Mexico City, Cairo Egypt with accreditation to Khartoum, The Sudan, Chicago USA, Amman Jordan with accreditation to Iraq and Palestine, Warsaw Poland with accreditation to Belarus and Lithuania,in 2004 to Beijing PRC, finally in 2007 to Rome Italy with accreditation to Greece, Malta and Albania. I also served on temporary duty at the United Nations, General Assembly, Social Affairs Committee in the Fall of 1985, then in 2001 in Lagos Nigeria and  Ankara Turkey. I also organized the first Protocol Office for the Department of Citizenship and Immigration and served as first Head of Protocol and Official Visits.

I was in Mexico City on the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake of September 1985 and in Egypt during the first Gulf War when Kuwait was invaded by Iraq. I was in Khartoum on the night of the defeat of Iraq and came face to face with Tareq Aziz the Prime Minister of Iraq in the lobby of the Khartoum Hilton whose distinction was that the hotel was built at the point where the Blue Nile meets the White Nile, an impressive sight. I was stunned to meet Tareq Aziz in the lobby, a coincidence an accident really, he noticed by diplomatic passport and all he said to me was that he really like Canada and hoped to come one day to Canada. I will never forget his eyes, they were those of a man who had seen too much. They had no expression in them a bit like the eyes of a dead person, the flicker had gone out. He was as always courteous and polite, the human face of the awful Saddam Hussein Regime of Iraq. I remember in the Sudan how everything was paid for with cases of Johnnie Walker Scotch despite the fact this was suppose to be an Islamic Regime.

In Egypt I received death threats from some disgruntled person, the regime provided me with body guards and I never had a parking problem in Cairo for the next 3 years. In Jordan, His Majesty King Hussein, a charismatic and wonderful man, one of the great leaders of the XXth century, sent me a photo of himself in a silver frame with a dedication, to my friend Mr. Laurent Beaulieu with my best wishes. I was so surprised even my ambassador was a little jealous. His brother Prince Hassan followed up a few days later with a similar gift, apparently I had done something, I do not know what, that had attracted their attention. I remember on a return flight from Egypt to Jordan, I discovered that I was seated next to Sharifa Dina Abdul Hamed, the first wife of the King and we spoke of her horses, those white Arabian stallions, she was delightful and charming.

In Chicago, the great rival of New York, but with the polish and culture the big Apple lacks. Great City with wonderful architecture and cuisine. The USA from the mid-western point of view.
In Poland, Warsaw another great city, reborn after the darkness of Nazism and Communism, the rapidity of changes in the economy and life in general were dazzling. A country of culture, opera and the arts, a people with an interesting history. Warsaw a city of beautiful parks and palaces torn between Germany and Russia, a Slavic people with a Western European accent, very unlike their Russian neighbours often described by the Poles as too Asiatic.

Then China, a country which still clings to its Imperial past and the notion of the Middle Kingdom despite its 60 years of Communism. I discovered real Chinese cuisine and a very different perspective on China which is not apparent from home. Finally my postings to Rome and Athens, to end a career one cannot ask for anything better. What an incredible opportunity to be able to live and work in what is the cradle of Western civilization. Despite the fact that we have returned from Europe one year ago, we still often think of Italy and Greece, if not daily as you can tell from my posts on this blog.

All in all not a bad career and a charmed life. So it all comes to an end, like any thing else in life.
As I said to my colleagues today, One has to know when to leave the party. It was wonderful and now let's move on.

During my career I received many honours for my work but one I truly cherish, on the occasion of my 30 years of service as a member of Canada's Foreign Service a tree was planted in Sudbury, Ontario to honour me. I did not know of this in advance nor expected it and it means the most to me as it is a permanent symbol of my years of service. This tree is part of a vast project of rejuvenation for the City and it will certainly do a lot of good.

This view of Parliament in Ottawa just down the street from where we live in Ottawa. The buildings were built in 1864 and are the symbol of Canada representing our National goal of Peace, Order and Good Government.

Japan

Recently while browsing for a book I fell on the Amazon site and a selection of books popped up, one of them was Sir Ernest Satow, A diplomat in Japan, first written in 1885 from his diaries. Satow in diplomatic circles is seen as sort of an icon, he wrote the famous Guide to Diplomatic Practice in 1917, many times updated and still used today, I have a copy I often used as reference.
Satow became Her Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to Japan and China and Head of the British Foreign Service. He also served in Siam (thailand), Uruguay and Morocco.

Sir Ernest Satow, P.C., G.C.M.G. 1843-1929

As a young man in 1865 he joined the British Foreign Service, he very much wanted to go to Japan not China, why because as he tells us, he was intrigued by those beautiful Japanese Geishas. To his credit Satow makes a point when he is hired that he absolutely wants to go Japan specifically, he wants to learn Japanese and is sent to China first. Why China, because at the time it was known that Japanese Kanji was borrowed from Chinese script so it was assumed by Westerners that Japanese was like Chinese, Satow knew this could not be but being a new hired no one would listen to him.  He will only stay in China a few months events in Japan will make it so that his presence is required and there he will study intensively Japanese and become a very resourceful translator for his Head of Mission. In all Satow will spend 21 years of his Foreign Service Career in Japan.

Japan was that big unknown country then having opened its ports to foreign savages i.e. non-Japanese people, in 1854. Try to imagine a country totally closed to the outside world, Japanese society is highly stratified and everyone has a place and rank, all living in an ancient feudal system highly codified by honour and ancestor worship, all ruled by a Shogun or Tycoon who is a Regent, this function is occupied by the Tokugawa clan for 400 years and an Emperor or Mikado, who is kept behind high walls and is rarely seen and if heard by the aristocracy and never the people, speaks Court Japanese which is somewhat like Ancient Chinese. These ancient titles of Tycoon or high Prince and Mikado were the ones used by the British having no other point of reference. What is very funny is that in his diaries Satow explains that none of the Foreign representatives, the UK, Prussia (there is no Germany at that time), the Netherlands, France, Italy and the upstart USA have no idea how Japan is governed, who is in charge and who should they negotiate with to open up the port cities. Europeans do not speaks Japanese and must use the handful. literally of Japanese who speak Dutch, to translate from Japanese to Dutch to English. The French Minister Des Roches has one Japanese translator who does a poor job of translating and Satow is often asked to help out, thus giving the British and advantage.
Why Dutch, because being merchants like the Portuguese they had been trading in Japanese ports for centuries prior to the other Europeans.  Osaka appears to be the one area that is always more open to Europeans or Savages than any other Japanese port. Some cities like Kyoto the Imperial Capital are totally off limits, it was unthinkable that such barbarian filth should approach the capital of the Chrysanthemum throne. I visited Kyoto just a few years ago and entered the park where the Imperial Palace stands in splendid isolation, you do understand when you see it that for the Japanese the Emperor is a God, regardless what we Westerners might think of it today.

The Japanese are described as very curious of any foreigners having never seen one, it is a true novelty.
The different Princes and great Lords spend a lot of time fussing on Protocol and on receiving these Foreigners. Satow spends a lot of time as the go between his chief and the Japanese Lords, going to great feasts and drinking mountains of Sake, all the while trying to figure out what the Japanese position is to various questions the Europeans want answers too, who has authority and who can make things happen. You understand that sometimes diplomacy is a bit of a complicated dance where each party has to present its point of view in a carefully measured way. Satow's job is to try to figure out who is who and who does what, per example who is in charge in Japan after the Shogun resigns, the Europeans did not believe the Emperor was the real head of the country or that the Japanese would follow him, it just goes to show how Europeans did not understand the Japanese mind.
In this period of decline for the Shogun and the Meiji Restoration, this book by Satow written from his diaries is fascinating for the details it provides into the lives of the Japanese, dress and customs at the time. It also gives an intimate look into the British Foreign Service of the time, reading about it I can see how little as really changed, some things are exactly the same 150 years later.

A good book to read which gives a glimpse into a world forgotten today but which shaped our relationship with Japan in the XXth century.

Palazzo Farnese, Piazza Farnese, Rome

Since my arrival in Rome I have wanted to visit the Farnese Palace in central Rome near the Campo di Fiori. However given that this building is the Chancery of the Embassy of France, it is not so easily done. A few weeks ago my friend Lionel C. suggested that we visit the Palace with Professor Yannick Nexon of the Inventer Rome group. This group organize tours of sites in Rome for French speaking resident and visitors of Rome. Their staff are University professors and archaeologists, many with years of experience doing research, writing, teaching and lecturing on Art and Culture in Rome and in Italy and when appropriate how it all relates to France.

The Farnese Palace has a very long history with France and its diplomats in Rome. It all goes back to the time when the Palace was actually built by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese later known as Pope Paul III. When one thinks of the Farnese, you are also thinking of the Farnese Hercules and the Farnese Bull and other art treasures, most are now in the National Museum in Naples. Needless to say that I was very excited with the prospect of visiting this Palace with its association to the history of Rome but also of the relations between the Papal States and France in the context of European politics over several centuries.

Yannick Nexon gave a very good presentation, he first explained that he would not speak on the architecture of the Palace, its art collection or the history behind its construction. He instead concentrated on what it was like to live at the Farnese Palace in the 17th century in Rome and what Rome was like then as a City State. Under Papal authority Rome at the time of the Renaissance was a nasty little police dictatorship, teeming with papal spies ready to pounce on anyone who deviated from the strict moral code of the Papacy, it made Iran today under the mullahs look positively liberal. Rome as a city of men, governed by several Cardinals who reported directly to the Pope. Women were not seen in public and in fact it was a lucky women who could claim that she had been allowed to leave the house 6 times a year to attend mass. Everything was about power and politics covered by a veneer of religion. The Papal prisons were notoriously evil places, anyone unfortunate to become the prisoner of the Pope was sure to die in jail, there was no parole or forgiveness. As they saying went, God would forgive you but not the Pope.

Nexon then went on to explain that the Farnese Palace is one of the largest palaces in Rome, it was not just a palace but a Papal residence, this is why all the State rooms which occupy all of the first floor are double the normal size of such rooms and go all around this enormous building. Construction first started in 1515, the palace was designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, who had been appointed as a cardinal in 1493 at age 25 (thanks to his sister, who was Pope Alexander VI Borgia's official mistress) and was living a princely lifestyle.

When, in January 1534, Cardinal Alessandro became Pope Paul III, the size of the palace was increased significantly and he employed Michelangelo who completed the redesigned third story with its deep cornice and revised the courtyard as well. The post-1534 developments were not only a reflection of Alessandro's change in status but employed architecture to express the power of the Farnese family, much as at their Villa Farnese at Caprarola. The massive palace block and its facade dominate the Piazza Farnese.

During the 16th century, two large granite basins from the Baths of Caracalla were adapted as fountains in the Piazza Farnese, the "urban" face of the palace.
The palazzo was further modified for the papal nephew Ranuccio Farnese by Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola. It was finally completed by Giacomo della Porta.

Following the death of Cardinal Odoardo Farnese in 1626, the palazzo stood empty. No Pope ever lived in it and this is how Cardinal Alphonse de Richelieu, the older brother of the famous Cardinal de Richelieu became interested in finding lodgings for himself as the new French ambassador to Rome.

Since that period and until 1685 French Ambassadors lived in the Palace, at one point 2 French Ambassadors lived with their entourage of about 150 persons each in the Palace. In those days, ambassadors were sent to a foreign Capital with one brief and so you could have many ambassadors at one time all working on very different briefs for their Sovereign, France had 3 ambassadors at one period in time.
After Odoardo's death, Pope Alexander VII allowed Queen Christina of Sweden, who had converted from Lutheranism to become a Roman Catholic, to lodge in the palace for 7 months, but she "proved a tenant from hell". After her departure for Paris, the papal authorities discovered that her servants not only had stolen the silver, tapestries, but also had "smashed up doors for firewood".

At this point the French Ambassadors return to live in the Palace and will pay for all the repairs and up-keep as part of the lease. Nexon then went on to explain some of the politics of the time. Per example the Pope had 2 dangerous enemies the Turks (Muslims) and the Protestants in Northern Europe. The King of France had also 2 enemies, the Spanish Royal House and the Hapsburg in southern Germany and Austria. On the other hand France was friendly with the Turks and ready to support the Protestant against other Catholic monarchs like the Hapsburg.
Try explaining that to the Pope, yes France is a Catholic country but you see your enemies are helpful to us.

The French diplomatic staff in the entourage of the Ambassador were seen as libertines by the authorities in Rome, given to challenge Papal authority, but since they were covered by diplomatic immunity, not much could be done about their parties, drinking bouts and free thinking. Not that the Pope and his Cardinals were any more upstanding morally speaking, but appearances were important.

Nexon also went into details about the lease and rent payments for the Palace and things the French Ambassadors brought with them on their assignment or how much would be spent on a party and how. An ambassador would bring with him 150 barrels of good French wine duty free of course. They would also bring with them musicians and artists to entertain. This would lead to confrontation on musical evenings, Italian music at the time was considered the top in terms of style and fashion but French music which was different in composition and style was nonetheless trying to make in-roads amongst the powerful rulers and the elite. He explained how as part of the job, Ambassadors had to give sumptuous parties often involving fireworks, parades and concerts. With the use of surviving contracts and bills of sale, we were able to see expenses. Candles at the time were expensive and since all had to be illuminated by candle light this was a major cost of receptions and parties, sometimes up to 800 people of distinction would be invited and you had to light up not just the inside of the building but also the entire Piazza Farnese and side streets with thousands of candles. You also had to give something the general population who would receive goblets of cheap local wine spewing from the two fountains in the Piazza Farnese.

During the visit of the Palace we heard 2 very good musicians perform pieces of the time as we progressed from one State Room to the other. Many of the songs they performed were satirical and composed to make a political points against the brother of the king of France or their cousin Orleans. There was also Italian music on love. So we were able to compare and appreciate both style.


I was wondering how can anyone work in this building today, we went through offices which are decorated with great frescoes and beautiful fine furniture, silverware and fine porcelain, statuary and great Cristal chandeliers. The Ambassadors office is a a very large room with ceiling 8 meters high, truly magnificent, I though I would have a problem concentrating on work, the frescoed walls are witnesses to history.

Nexon gave us also much detail on life including riots in Rome against the French Ambassador and his wife organized by the guards of the Pope and his Cardinals in trying to force a change in French diplomatic policy, it did not work, King Louis XIV would have none of it and would resort to sending his army to occupy a Papal territory like Avignon and jailing a few bishops.

All in all a fascinating visit, rich in details of the life at the time at the Farnese Palace. Today the French Government has a lease on the Palace and pay a rent of 1 euro per month to the Italian government, however they are responsible for the up-keep which is considerable.

Visit at the Office

Today our former Governor General and Commander of the Armed Forces, the Right Honorable Madame Adrienne Clarkson and her husband J.Ralston Saul came to visit the Embassy. They are on a tour of China, the first since their last visit in 1979. She told us that she remember back then meeting all these old Communist Party Officials who spoke French and English and smoked cigarettes from Ivory holders. How things had changed since, indeed no one speaks F. or E. nowadays. The elegance of the old revolutionnaries is out replaced by the crass corruption of the current crowd. She is writing a book on Norman Bethune the celebrated Canadian doctor who gave his life to China and to help poor Chinese people during the hard years of the revolution prior to 1949. It will be a book in a serie of 18 books to be published by Penguin in 2008. All written by famous Canadians on famous dead Canadians. John Ralston Saul is the editor of this series. She came to China at the invitation of President and Party Secretary Hu Jin Tao. He had visited Canada in 2005 and extended the invitation to her.
She spoke beautifully in both French and English, her voice is clear and soothing and has charm and elegance. She looked like a little bird today, he looked like the Prince Regent (George IV) very 18 century in his light gray business suit. She told us in an answer to a question that they had been married now for 31 yrs. She thought that in any relationship the one that work out are the one were each person complements the other. You each bring something to the table.
On Bethune and how she wants to portray him, she said, some people seek to live their lives other seek their destiny, that is what he was seeking.
Both came across as Liberals of the Trudeau era, L.B. Pearson fans. They were young back then and he worked for Maurice Strong. A very different time all together from today's. I thought J. Ralston Saul said interesting things about Canada. He said why is it that we always seek to minimize who we are as Canadians. Why not say that we are one of the oldest Parliamentary democracy in the world. With one of the oldest Constitutions, comparing us to Germany (1870), or Italy (1870) or France who only got an elected chamber of representatives after 1870.
We (Canada) are a member of the G-8 because we sit on most of all strategic reserves of mineral wealth in the World. He then went on to compare our society in terms of people seeking Canadian citizenship 82% after immigrating to Canada to the USA where only 40% will take-up citizenship, the rest preferring to keep a Green card (permanent resident). As proof of better integration and identification with the new nation.

He spoke of Mike Pearson, (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate) as being a visionary in terms of diplomacy after the WWII.
Both mentionned how important it was for Canada to work at integrating successfully our immigrants and continuing to recognize what they contribute to Canada by immigrating. She thought that the Press in general was overblowing the negative news about racism and social tensions in Canada. She did not remember in all her visits to different communities in Canada during her time as G.G. being aware of social tension. They both felt that we had been succesfull at mixing peoples and communities in Canada and having people live in peace despite their differences. She mentionned that one of her favourite shows now on TV was on CBC, Little Mosque on the Prairie, a comedy about a village in Saskatchewan where different people live together.


It certainly lifted the tone at the Embassy from the ho hum of everyday work. I am happy to have had this opportunity to have met them, after hearing about them for so many years. I will look forward to this Penguin serie of books on Canadians and on her book on Bethune.