A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THE appointment of Lord Halifax to Washington will leave everyone content—except perhaps Lord Halifax himself.
There can be no doubt that acceptance of the post of Ambassa- dor to the United States is a real sacrifice for him. His heart is in Yorkshire and the country life he might be leading there. A high sense of public duty has kept him year after year in Whitehall, and it is the same sense of duty unquestionably that has led him to accept the succession to Lord Lothian. There could hardly have been a better successor. The departure from all British precedent—for when Lord Grey became special envoy to Washington in 1919 he was called out of retirement to go there—in sending a Foreign Secretary direct to a diplomatic post is a compliment to America that Ameri- cans •will not be slow to appreciate. Lord Halifax's singular integrity of character will command general respect, and in a country where Indian firebrands often mislead audiences who are apt to believe that the Indian National Congress is a body similar to Congress in the United States the presence of an Ambassador who can speak with the authority of a former Viceroy will be a considerable advantage. As a speaker generally—and public speeches are of the first importance in the States—the new Ambassador will not fall below the high standard set by the old, and the universities and colleges will appreciate the fact that they have among them the Chancellor of the University of Oxford. Lord Halifax has one other notable asset. A year or more ago I was at a luncheon-table where a possible successor to Mr. Chamberlain was being dis- cussed. There was general agreement that Lord Halifax would be as good as anyone. Then someone suggested that Lady Halifax (who is a sister of Lord Onslow) would be better still. There was general assent to that proposition, too.
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