Sir Auckland Geddes has been appointed British Ambassador to the
United States. We cannot conceal our regret at this appointment. Sir Auckland Geddes has of course many good qualities, but he is precisely the type of man who through no fault of his own is not suitable for the Ambassadorship at Washington. Experience has always shown that both in America and France Great Britain is best served by men who are as little like Frenchmen and Americans as can be. The present writer once heard it said that Frenchmen " do not like Englishmen to talk French too well," and though the remark was a humorous overstatement, it had a certain truth and wisdom. In France the most efficient British Ambassadors —efficient largely because popularity aided them—have been men who were characteristically Englishmen, even old-fashioned Englishmen, men with, as it were, the proverbial marks of Englishmen. The present Ambassador in Paris, Lord Derby, is a case in point.
Previous page
