We had not space to mention last week the fifth
Report of the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, which deals with the Diplomatic and Consular Services and the Foreign Office. The Report recommends the abolition of the rule which restricts the Diplomatic Service to those who have independent means of £400 a year. The effect of the present plan is to limit the Service to a narrow society; between 1908 and 1913 twenty-five out of thirty-seven men appointed to Attache-ships came from Eton, while all but a very small fraction had been educated at one of the more expensive schools. It is recom- mended that all diplomatists should be able to live upon their pay, and the Commissioners express their surprise that the existing arrangement should have been tolerated so long. IL is further recommended that the Diplomatio Service and the Foreign Office should be amalgamated, and that no nomination by the Foreign Secretary should be required by candidates before they submit themselves to the Board of Selection. We quite agree with the recommendation as to pay, but we trust that nothing, will ever be done that will destroy the peculiar tradition and ethos of our Diplomatio Service—the most honourable and, within the proper sphere of diplomacy, the moat efficient in the world.
Previous page
