7 JUNE 1902, Page 3

It was announced on Thursday that Mr. Michael Herbert had

been appointed to the British Embassy at Washington. We stated last week our reasons for holding that in the exceptional case of Washington it would be better to appoint a distinguished Englishman rather than a regular diplomat. Granted, however, that the appointment was to fall to a diplomat, we feel sure that no better member of the Service could have been appointed than Mr. Herbert. His career has been a most distinguished one, and he is said to be a persona grata at Washington, where he was stationed for several years. We trust that in executing his high duties Mr. Herbert will remember that he is something more than an Ambassador or the conduit-pipe for communications between the Foreign Office and the State Department. He is some- thing much more than the British counterpart of the foreign Ambassadors.