DIPLOMATIC STANDARDS
T HE appointment of the Marquess of Lothian to suc- -1 ceed Sir Ronald Lindsay as British Ambassador at Washington lends considerable pertinence to an article on a later page of this issue dealing with the delicate but highly important question of the efficiency of the British diplomatic service, particularly in Europe. The choice of Lord Lothian implies, of course, no kind of reflection on professional diplomatists. Sir Ronald Lindsay, who is about to leave Washington, has by general consent discharged his functions admirably, and if he is little known personally in the United States out- side Washington—that political capital which has so little in common with the Union as a whole—he is in that respect only following the tradition set by a long line of predecessors. Of Lord Lothian something dif- ferent and (it is not invidious to say) something better will be expected. He is almost as familiar with the United States as with this country, and he will take there a personality which could never adapt itself to the narrow confinement of Embassy routine. It may be ex- pected that, like Lord Bryce, he will make it his business to interpret British policy, British purposes and British ideals by word of mouth from tune to time in the great academic and business centres in the Middle West and West as well as in the Eastern States, whose contacts with this country are normally the closest.
The importance of such activities can hardly be exaggerated. British Ambassadors and Ministers are not propaganda agents, and it may be hoped they never will be ; most of them are now provided with Press attaches charged with fulfilling that function as far as it is desirable that it should be fnlfilled at all. But it is none the less one of their chief duties to interpret their country not merely to the Foreign Offices, but, so far as opportunity can be made, to the citizens of the State to which they are accredited. And the writer of the article published on a later page is deeply concerned at both the incapacity and the disinclination of many of them to do anything of the kind. That concern is based on wide experience, and all that is doubtful is the number of the cases to which the verdict properly applies. These are days when not only high qualities but varied qualities are called for in a British diplomat abroad. The fact that commercial attaches are now part of a regular Embassy or Legation staff does not absolve the Minister from the duty of sufficient general acquaintance with finance and economics to qualify him to lunch with busi- ness men as well as dine with diplomats. He must, moreover, possess sufficient strength of character to be able to impress the views he has to voice on the Foreign Minister or Prime Minister or even the Dictator of the State where he is stationed at least as effectively as the representative of a rival Power whose endeavours are being exerted in a precisely opposite direction. These may be rare qualities, but it is essential that men possess- ing them should be found to represent this country in European and other capitals. As it is, a contemplation of some at least of the capitals in question recalls irresis- tibly the aphorism of a British King about British generals: "I don't know what effect they may have on the enemy, but they terrify me."
It may be said with justice that we get as good diplo- matists as can be expected from the system. In most professions—medicine, the bar, journalism, to some ex- tent the Church—men make their way to the top by industry and ability in the face of competition always keen enough to preclude any relaxation of effort. In diplomacy that is to only a very limited extent the case. Entry is by a competitive examination combined with a personal interview, and it may be accepted that no one secures admission to the Foreign Office of whom it cannot be said that there are good prima facie grounds for assuming he will make an efficient diplomat. But early promise may or may not find fulfilment, and the vice of the system lies in the fact that promotion goes so largely by seniority whether promise is fulfilled or not. The practice of interchange between the Foreign Office in Whitehall and Embassies and Legations abroad is sound, but the more or less automatic progress from third to second and first secretary, to counsellor and then to head of a Mission is not sound at all. The tradition that no one is dropped from the service except for inefficiency too flagrant to be ignored, and that there are always Legations in some little country where a man of a certain seniority can lead a quiet life and do no great harm, is in these days disastrous. No country today is too small to be a storm-centre, and while it would be unreasonable to expect to find men of the calibre of a Lyons or a Stratford Canning in a British Legation in the capital of a third-rank State, it is vital that there shall be in such Legations men, it may be young in years, but alert, informed, open-minded and intent on making, the widest contacts in the country where for the moment their duty lies.
That is very far from universally the case today. British diplomatists as a whole may possess the seven qualities—truth, accuracy, calm, patience, good temper, modesty and loyalty—attributed by Mr. Harold Nicol- son to his ideal diplomat. Innate and genuine courtesy almost certainly underlies the characteristic British chill which most find so unfamiliar and uncongenial. But if it be asked how the twenty or thirty foremost figures in diplomacy at a given moment compare in general quality with as many of the foremost figures in, say, law or medicine, the advantage is not with the diplomats. That is a situation that calls for remedy, and the first step needed is a considerable restric- tion of the principle of automatic promotion. There - are many men in the service of whom it can be predicted with considerable assurance that despite the possession of many good qualities they will never make first-rate Ministers. Instead of leaving them to become second- ate Ministers the Foreign Secretary of the day should permit, and in some cases require, them to retire on generous pension terms. Diplomacy has for better or worse—from many points of view the latter—become a much more vigorous affair since Germany adopted her present tactics, and other countries must inevitably adapt themselves to the new conditions. British dip- lomatic standards can and should be raised, and will be if searching consideration is given, before any forth- coming vacancy is filled, both to the general qualifica- tions of a possible appointee and—what is hardly less important—to his fitness for that particular post with its special problems. In some appointments of the not very distant past such consideration was not obvious.
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