MR. ARNOLD WHITE AND THE FOREIGN OFFICE. TO THE EDITOR
OP THE "SPECTATOR.] StE,—Mr. Scoones assumes that I object to the "sweeping condemnation "of my Daily Chronicle letter of February 36. On the contrary, I welcome anything, however "sweeping," that turns public attention to the Foreign Office. Having said nothing about "scions of the aristocracy," it is scarcely diplomatic of the Foreign Office champion to attribute to me a statement I never made. Mr. Scoones assumes that a "tiny privileged class " must necessarily mean the aristocracy. Nothing of the kind. By "tiny privileged class" I meant the candidates qualified for entry into the diplomatic service, who must pass an examination, possess a nomina- tion, and be men of means, but need not necessarily be gently born. Mr. Scoones is not the only one in these days to regard plutocracy and aristocracy as convertible terms. There is, however, popularly supposed to be a fourth condition of success preliminary to successful candidature',- i.e., to be "coached" for the examination by Mr. W. Baptiste Scoones, so great is his deserved reputation for skilled in- struction in a diplomatic career. If I am not wrong in assuming the identity of your correspondent with the eminent Foreign Office coach, his evidence is not only that of a partisan, but of a partisan interested in preventing open
competition.—I am, Sir, 8cc., ARNOLD WHITE. 2 Windmill Hill, Hampstead.
[The notion that Mr. Scoones is interestel in preventing open competition for the Foreign Office is as unfair and dis- courteous as it is ridiculous. His successes have been quite as great in the open as in the close examinations, and we regret that Mr. Arnold White should have thought of sug- gesting such a consideration.—ED. Spectator.]
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