◆ SpookStack

Some commentators; working themselves up + wa Into a legiti- ‘mae rage over the Maclean anf Burgess affair, have tried to * comppbine all these insulting wo! | buf the accusations are so mix! 4, ‘ ingbherent, that the public ts; merely ‘left, feeling that something Is wrong with the + knows what. - Nor ts this suring, No one without first-ha xperieng* ¢ reall peas hal 0 our “a ‘pomats are because nint-tenths of thelr work is done abroad, out Foreign Office and nobody 1 ot sight of the public and of. jMewspapers. ' “What Is the Tt is a Department of any other, consisting of perma- nent officials. aff are re- crujted by examination and Snterview over a period of says. of State, like % B in the rest of the Civil Service. the suc- cessful candidates @ mostly from the middle clafs, with a sprinkling and no mofe of the working Class and th aristocracy may 58! ‘Mr. X. educated perhaps at ;Manchester Grammar hoo] ‘teh @ pretty brent boy, is & ical example ‘ul enthusiasm and @ desire to bring the the world together. His first dis- -Musionment will be to Iearn that. 3" No preference © oles nf, Foreign Office? * 8 in a single spate of abuse + and the by- picture 1 a Mee attitude for a “prtish® diplo. matist, particularly dealing with foreigners ig one of aloof dis- He will learn that his Protocol must be verfect but hat his Manners ere. of Uttle account. Now. unless Mr. % os M maa ft an_ except-onal’ chi will find himself guickly Suing into the wav of life thus laid , down for him. He joined BR His work ‘during the dat’ will ; be full and absorbing—and, © make no mistake, British diplo- # for Pe ie ” at Manchester, * . the most q ae: x Peet ie 1,0r irs and graces Lite will be ve weet or’? : Mr, and Mrs. X. Before thm.” . unless, be of 25 2 makes 8 fits‘ class ie | ainbassadorsh te and te haga 3 vitably—the OMG. And 2 : .. ‘does “slir © a little f . were & cosy consul’. “cabal, those minenten who never get | bad post (Sir ¥ Jebb and Lord Hood. for: ex, @mple, have never made wh acquaintance of Bogota), .ut long as ‘as whey both obev orders—: id Mrs, XK must play her part, tos, as an Embassy hostess—th prospects are relativels golden. Relatively, because before them lies always the spectre of @ possible spell ip London, and the certainty of a, dim™ and. \underpaid retirement. Assume that Mr. X manages | to become Counsellor in Paris : ; there he will receive aigwances an) ffice as head of the American epartment—Maclean's post— | and he pot only loses bis allowances but has te pay, U.K: income tax on his salary.’ \ “s Lost friends N addition he. will finds > that he pst his Biitisn “friends, | 9 Jously ep ABOWE, all, he would gaan "that, foreigners © ju Baan by the behaviow of " Frtendshio depends on regulai mats work pretty hard like all’. association ; and life moves on, tt Te ated senior Civil Servants. His Moreover, they will be fact He pot “be sees wil be delightiul, On, wiht reminders’ of what. iiet | yefitmy But Monday there will Be cocktails” ghead, Tt will not comfort the Arla be 100 F ‘Turks, on nassey @s' to find Weir former chief, 8 aking out o! ony foreign 2 Bea inner with the Finns. on 4. B.. cooking his own supper ice the great an ted s ednesday & bal masque, per-* * his ‘three-roomed Kensinato institution tase it once wee haps, by the Veneruelans- the flat. he 20 years, ‘has, Latin-Americans have lots of : Envy Mr. X—pity him! En or money. | Mule to do. sna give the. him for his Sori Dresen! i 4 ; nih, eGo Yor i Ample allowances © graceless, self-sallsfied "ttle | -Lhis mission is not. as he th oie 3 Eto foreign peoples but to *Governments—which means (officials, e a, ‘will surprise him but he if even more surprised on . fo abroad and eoening, that 1 xpected spend bis (ee point life with hig 3 oonbunlD ries. so good, we No reference for the old School tle, and the best man for the . 105 {, ful f tion which she could never ha wane betel Llane OREOVER, his allow. . enees being ample as British: representative abroad, he will. be able to zive back as good as he gets. He will be iiving, in” short, as he could never liye at home Who will blame him, then, ti he becomes 6 very spoilt ang, apeing his superiors, a ve tude le youn man, or his wife fdr enjoying hugely'a social a ate. monkey which the system 4s Ce : busily turning nto; * He? starts: in q fat inet” i might be your son ; and has an old school’ the it, ty he. Eton.“ Long-halred .. certainly fs not. ‘And don't, blame ih ree Secretary. He has ‘best of what he shih , basically what he finds ood * af loyalty. material in terms _i > Blame the sorry succession ; And brains gt least. S permanent under - secretaries ; /¥ho have been content wl leg é ‘their young men. our imen, sl by. all but ‘nel ror a re i 4 sen el onposit Sumer and ‘thei ir" oo-dipl 3 gaat tg, A tag = Nolen