17 MAY 1946, Page 4

It is from a very notable mission that Lord Halifax

returns to this country this week, and the nation, irrespective of party, owes him deep gratitude for the way he has discharged it. Appointed Ambassador at Washington in '941, Lord Halifax had to adapt himself to the changing situations created first by America's neutrality and then by her belligerence, and finally by the baffling problems of the post-war world. If he was a little slow in impressing himself on America, he moved steadily to a full measure of success, achieved in more difficult conditions than any of his predecessors for half a Antury had to face. He is by nature a man of some reserve, and the effort to shake it off to the degree necessary in anyone called on to meet all types of Americans on their own ground cannot have been entirely congenial. But it was made, with results that are an ample reward. Now Lord Halifax presumably will join the impressive company of elder statesmen who so often raise the debates in the House of Lords to a high level. To those dis- cussions he will add weight and distinction—though what the value of the discussions is when the newspapers can do no more than sum- marise them is an arguable question.

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