10 MARCH 1917, Page 2

If Mr. Page had ever shown pro-Ally leanings, or had

been that very dangerous person, an Ambassador with a policy of his owns it would have been most improper and most dangerous for us to- praise him. It is his judicial impartiality that gives us the right to congratulate Mr. Wilson upon having discovered, and the American people upon having reaped the benefit of, so serviceable a repre- sentative. To invert a famous epigram of the Elizabethan age, he has spoken the truth abroad for the good of his country. How- ever, we must not pursue this vein, for we can imagine Mr. Page,- who is understood to have something of the humour which belonged to Wotton (the author of the remark we have parodied), askew what folly he had unconsciously committed to earn the supreme discredit of a diplomatist—newspaper praise.