19 FEBRUARY 1876, Page 3

We observe with pleasure that Lord Lytton is to be

succeeded as Minister at Lisbon by one of the ablest of our diplomatists, who has hitherto filled the post of British Chargé d'Affairs of Munich. Germany has recently been one of the best schools of diplomacy for Great Britain. The want of homogeneity between the different parts of the Empire, the heat with which Prince Bismarck's policy has been canvassed in all the minor Courts, and the standing controversy between Germany and Rome, have all introduced elements of interest and, to a certain extent, of subtlety into the diplomatic field, on which the powers of observation and the wits of our Envoys have been sharpened.