Lord Pauncefote, who had been ailing for• several weeks, died
somewhat suddenly last Saturday at Washington. At the time of his appointment to Washington in 1889 Sir Julian Pauncefote, alter a long and honourable career as a Colonial Judge and as a legal Assistant Under-Secretary at the Colonial and Foreign Offices, had been for seven years Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The ap- pointment was thus a deviation from the rule generally observed in the Diplomatic Service, but was completely justified by results. During the thirteen years he held office his powers were subjected to an almost constant strain, but he emerged from each successive ordeal with enhanced repute, his term of office being thrice extended, after the age limit was reached in 1898, at the urgent request of the American Government. Of his conspicuous services in connection with the Venezuela incident, the Arbitration Treaty, and the two Hay-Pauncefote Treaties it is enough to say that his patience and sagacity extorted the admiration of the Anglophobe Press, and that the attempt to misrepresent his attitude over the Spanish-American War only served to elicit fresh evidence of the esteem in which ho was held in America.
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