AMBASSADOR AND STATESMAN.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXXIII, Issue 15920, 4 May 1912, Page 10

AMBASSADOR AND STATESMAN.

Tub rumour that the Right Hon James Bryce, British Ambassador to tho United States, is proposing to resign his post and re-enter British politics has a flavour of probability. Mr Bryce," who will make a tour of Australia and New Zealand during the next month or two, is a statesman and a student of high attainments, holding very progressive views on many subjects, and it has long been known that he would welcome wider opportunities of service than aro offered by an Embassy. The British Conservatives, indeed, claim that his activities in Washington have taken him far beyond tho sphere of an Ambassador, and thej; have tried to make political capital out of his connection with the reciprocity treaty, which brought about tho downfall of the Laurier Government last year. The Opposition has never been able to forget that Mr Bryce was a member of Liberal Governments in the days of Mr Gladstone, and its prejudice seems to have made it unjust. Mr Bryce occupies a very difficult position in America, since he is required to bo the official representative of the Mother Country and at tho same time the intermediary between the United States and Canada, which demands in practice a great deal more diplomatic liberty than a selfgoverning dominion possesses in theory. But there is no evidence to show that he' has ever exceeded his duty or failed to guard jealously the interests that are entrusted to his care. It is scarcely' complimentary to Sir Wilfrid Laurier to suggest, as some critics are doing, that Mr Bryce was responsiblo for the terms of tho reciprocity agreement. . Tho .Ambassador not improbably feels that in the face of persistent attacks at home his position is unpleasant, and it has been hinted that his visit to Australasia is designed to give him knowledge that would be very useful in the Imperial Parliament. In mere years Mr Bryce is an old man, having been born in 1838, but he is still young mentally and physically. , His party opponents may regret their rashness if they draw so strong a personality again into the political arena.