A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
LORD LOTHIAN abundantly deserves any short holiday he may be giving himself in Scotland. (I note, by the way, that good Scot though he is, he referred to this country as England, not Britain, throughout the interview he gave to the Press on arrival.) His fourten months' tenure of the Ambassadorship at Washington has been an unqualified and outstanding success. So far as I know the testimony to that effect has been universal, coming from Americans of all schools and parties and from an equally varied and representative selection of English (as Lord Lothian would say) visitors to the United States. The Ambassador, who was till his appointment secretary of the Rhodes Trust, knows the United States almost as well as his own country, particularly those university circles which exert so much more influence there than similar circles do here. He has, moreover, another asset of inestimable value in the United States, the capacity to make a good public speech. That is not usually an essential attribute in Ambassadors, but in an Ambas- sador in Washington it is invaluable. A richer asset still, whether on the platform or in private contacts, is the Ambassador's easy and attractive personality. It is hard to imagine that Britain could have been better served in America than it has been— though it may be better served yet before Lord Lothian lays down his office. Meanwhile, remembering the fate of one of his predecessors, he is no doubt glad to be out of the United Slates for the Presidential election.
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