The British Government appears to have decided that a repre-
sentative at the Vatican, formal or informal, is no longer required, and Mr. Jervoise has been promoted to Lisbon. The measure might perhaps have been expected from this Ministry, though Mr. Disraeli is magniloquent over " the immemorial Throne," but it does not strike us as wise. Papal policy affects us, and is there- fore worth watching, and the Vatican is not a bad school for a diplomatist. Lord Odo Russell owes much to his long tenancy of Mr. Jervoise's post, and there is little going on in the world which does not somehow or other make itself felt in Rome. The disposition to do away with embassies at weak Courts produces economy, but it does not make a well-informed Diplomatic Ser- vice. There is more to be learned at the Hague than at Vienna.
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