THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1936 THE FOREIGN OFFICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22350, 22 February 1936, Page 12

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1936 THE FOREIGN OFFICE

On a memorable occasion in recent years—it was when Mr. Anthony Eden was paying Moscow an important social call as an Under-Secretary of State—M. Stalin expressed his wonder at the power of "a little island" to dictate so much of what the big world should do. This was more than a bit of pleasant flattery : no doubt the presiding genius of all the Russias was just then wishing that he had a portion of the spirit with which the British realm, and particularly the British Foreign Office, was endowed. His words are brought to mind by the announcement that "His Majesty's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in China" has been appointed Deputy Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs. The high-sounding title of the post Sir Alexander Cadogan is vacating tells part of the story of the expansive influence wielded by the British Isles; the rest is suggested by the designation of the position he is promoted to fill. The influence stretches into distant lands, the organisation of its exercise is the care of no small department of State; the Far East is no longer distant, and the Foreign Office needs many men of authority. Of these facts, the second, with its implications, is the more easily forgotten. The Foreign Office to-day requires much more extensive and capable manning than when it was founded a little more than a century and a half ago. From the days of the Revolution until then there were only two Secretaries of State. One, known as the Southern, had control of affairs comprised in an interesting and illuminating listHome, Irish, American, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Barbary States, Italian, Swiss and Turkish; the other, the Northern, looked after the rest of Europe. In 1782 the Southern department became the Home Office and retained oversight of Ireland and such few colonies as were left after the secession of the United States, and the Northern became the Foreign Office, with Charles James Fox as the first Foreign Secretary. That was the small beginning of a new order now grown to vast dimensions.

The two facts are, of course, intimately related. It was, "the expansion of England," to use Seeley's well-remembered phrase, that compelled readjustment in that year of the late eighteenth century, and ,the same expansion, continued by means that make the phrase no longer appropriate, has produced the Foreign Office as it now fills so large a place in governmental business. Side by side with this development—indeed, an integral part of it —has been the creation of the Colonial Office, recently divided to allow for a Secretary of Dominion Affairs in order to facilitate dealing with the emergent self-governing units of the composite Empire. The total effect has been to present a historic picture of "a little island" become eminent in power, producing a far-flung commonwealth and influencing, largely in consequence, all the peoples of the earth. The staffing of the Foreign Office bears witness to this consequent feat. Its parliamentary head, although usage neglects to call him Principal Secretary of State as was once the practice, is always among the leading' Cabinet Ministers and directs the service of many lieutenants—a parliamentary private secretary, a parliamentary undersecretary who l also has a private secretary of high standing, a permanent undersecretary, a deputy under-secretary, a number of assistant under-secre-taries, a legal adviser, a press officer, a group of counsellors all distinguished in gifts for their auxiliary task, and an additional retinue of responsible officials. Other Ministers have similar recourse to assistance, but in these instances separate spheres of duty are definitely allotted ; in the Foreign Office all are engaged in one momentous activity; it has different facets but a single interest combines them all. The only departure attempted was the creation lately of a Minister for League Affairs, and that has been abandoned for a remerging of its service in the department from which it sprang.

Even so matter-of-fact a recall of the organisation of the Foreign Office is enough to show that British policy takes serious account of the outside world. At present Mr. Eden, as Foreign Secretary, directs the policy, in consultation with other members of Cabinet and in vital contact with the House of Commons; in the Lords is Earl Stanhope as Parliamentary Under-Secretary. Thus both houses are kept directly apprised of foreign affairs, although it is wisely customary to allow the Foreign Office a large measure of discretion as to what it makes publicly known. Another valuable practice is to keep foreign policy as free as possible from partisan discussion on the floor of Parliament. In all this is recognition of the importance of the subject, an importance greatly increased in a world where points of the compass and distances are fast losing their political significance. The old days of "splendid isolation" are gone, never to return, and in the selection of an ambassador to China for the deputy under-secretaryship is a hint that the Orient, which now means also the Pacific, is not to be neglected in the time of European crisis. In the story of the Foreign Office is an assurance that British policy is destined to play a permanent part on the international stage.