A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
BY the time these words appear in print we shall probably know whether Mr. Eden has had what is known in show-jumping circles as a clear round; but even if the French prove unco-operative the Foreign Secretary's perform- ance will have been something of a technical tour de force. Mr. Eden's gifts as an emissary are an international asset which' we are apt to take too much for granted, forgetting how delicate and exacting such missions must be and how easily. they could be fumbled. The Americans seem to have no one in quite the same class. They suffer from an incurable tendency, aggravated by modern developments in long range flying, to confuse movement with action. Mr. Robert Murphy, plodding behind Mr. Eden like King Wenceslas's page, is perhaps a symptom of this boot-and-saddle technique; and although Mr. Dulles practically lives in aeroplanes, the actual results produced by his spectacular transits are not atways easy to discern. As most sportsmen know, one good retriever makes more difference to the bag than half a dozen keen but inadequately trained ones.
Previous page
