Friday, July 4, 2003

When a former British diplomat, Archie Mackenzie, led a British group on a mission to China, he told his Chinese hosts that he wanted the group to be taken to the old ruined summer palace of the Emperor. This sensitivity to the feelings of others marked Mackenzie’s work in his 32 years of diplomatic postings around the world.

When a former British diplomat, Archie Mackenzie, led a British group on a mission to China, he told his Chinese hosts that he wanted the group to be taken to the old ruined summer palace of the Emperor. This was a palace outside the city which a British and French force looted and destroyed in 1860 as the final act of humiliation of China at the end of the second Opium War. His hosts protested that there was nothing to see, it was just a park. Mackenzie persisted and the British group went and stood for some minutes recalling what had happened. A man who was with them told me last week that the whole atmosphere between hosts and guests altered from that moment. ‘We only learned later,’ he said, ‘that the Chinese often find spoken apologies embarrassing because they then feel they owe something in return. The simple gesture of acknowledgment is very much appreciated and heals the past.’

This sensitivity to the feelings of others marked Mackenzie’s work in his 32 years of diplomatic postings around the world. Karol Thaler, when chief diplomatic correspondent of UPI told me that of all the diplomats he had observed at the United Nations Mackenzie was responsible for more compromise solutions than any. Britain has been well served over the years by the professional expertise of its diplomatic representatives, particularly Scottish ones. Mackenzie brought to it a further dimension.

So I am glad that Mackenzie, now 87, has brought out a memoir entitled Faith in Diplomacy. He has just been on an American tour speaking in a number of cities including Washington where in 1944 he participated in the creation of the United Nations at Dumbarton Oaks (and later in San Francisco) and New York where he was British minister in 1973. As one of the few survivors of those crucial founding days of the United Nations and after a lifetime closely associated with its work, his views on the reform of the world body are particularly apposite.

After gaining honours degrees in philosophy from Glasgow and Oxford Universities Mackenzie was awarded a Harkness Commonwealth Fellowship to the United States where he did postgraduate work at Harvard and Chicago Universities. With the outbreak of World war 11 he was recruited by the British embassy and worked closely with Isaiah Berlin in keeping the British Government apprised of thinking in the United States. After the war he formally joined the British diplomatic service and subsequently had postings all over the world including Burma, Thailand, Yugoslavia and Tunisia where he was ambassador. His last posting was back at the UN where he worked under Ivor Richard, later Lord Richard, Leader of the House of Lords, who describes Mackenzie as ‘a diplomat of the highest quality.’

After retiring from diplomatic service Mackenzie worked as assistant to former British Prime Minister on the Brandt Commission whose report he helped draft and where his work to overcome differences between personalities was crucial. Heath, who finds Mackenzie’s book ‘enjoyable and impressive reading’ describes how he ‘succeeds in combining his working principles with his deeply held beliefs.’

It is Mackenzie’s deeply held beliefs which permeate the chapters and perhaps explain his effectiveness. For some the most intriguing parts in his book is where he speaks of his deepest religious convictions and the way they are given expression in his work, and his interaction with a vital spiritual network around the world, giving the double meaning to his book’s title, Faith in Diplomacy*.

I visited Archie and his wife Ruth at their home on the shores of Loch Lomond and found that he is still active in what is called ‘track two diplomacy’ the work of unofficial men and women to resolve conflict and was preparing for a mission to Turkey. He has always been a strong believer in the need for peoplework as much as paperwork. He is known around the world for his remark that at international conferences he often found the problems round the table more crucial than those on it. He underlines the importance of ‘preventive diplomacy’

In his humble way he says, ‘In retirement when I now awake in the morning and look across Loch Lomond from our home on the eastern shore, my first thought is often one of gratitude. Not achievement. Not failure. Not frustration. And certainly not boredom. Just gratitude.’

Since Mackenzie is a truthful man it is also intriguing to read his description of when as a young boy he saw ‘something’ in the exact place where many other people have since said they saw the Loch Ness Monster.

*Faith in Diplomacy (Grosvenor Books ISBN 1-85239-030-1)