The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-12-29
Colonel House Has Sailed.

Colonel House Has Sailed.
Yesterday we had the supreme sat
isfactiOn Of disclosing the true In
wardness Of Colonel HOUSES mission.
This was upon the adequate author
ity Of our neighbor the World, whose
intimate and even confidential rela-
tons with Alba Domus (although
o necessarily with MAGMA DoMUs)
are known to all diligent readers Of
that admirable journal.
With the World explaining every
thing. Colonel HOUSE sailed yesterday
on the Rotterdam: sailed forth into
the tempestuous seas Of winter toward
the mOmentous beyond.
We wish that our neighbours author
itative explanation Of the mission
might have been left u~ndisturbed. for
it would have given us pure Joy to
record a little later the diplomatic
triumphs Of the Colonel In bringing
WALTER HINES PAGE to a full sense Of
his responsibilities concerning Mrs.
P%ENrIELD's wardrobe in Vienna and
the %exigencies of Judge GERARD's
evening attire near the German Kali
ser's court.
Unfortunately. yer as the much
laden Colonel was sailing OF the
Dutch boat, public certainty as to
the exact nature Of his present job
was shaken TO the foundations by
equally authoritative but frightfully
conflicting disclosures regarding the
particulars.
We are sorry to say that everything
the World so convincingly disclosed
about Colonel HousE's interesting
mission is wiped clean of the slate
by our neighbor the Erening Posi-.
whose facilities for ascertaining the
exact truth will he doubted by no
we'll Informed citizen. Indeed. we
violate no confidence when we an
nounce that n very slight change In
the competitive score Of the middle
innings. a trifling increase. 90 to
speak, in the readings of Mr.. OSWALD
q. VLLARD's speedometer, might have
resulted in n December voyage for
that gentleman in the place of MAGMA
DoMUs.
This circumstance will make plain
ave to the dullest comprehension the
honorable eason which compel our
neighbor the Post to Confine itself
to n sweeping denial of all hat the
other intimate of the Alba DOmus dis
closes on the subject. without at
tempting an affirmative statement of
any special value. Mr.. OSWALD G. W.
IAID's newspaper. however, does go
so far as to declare in guarded but
not incredible phrase that Colonel
HoUsE's mission docs not meet with
unanimous approval"
As for ourselves, THE Sun would
I've perfectly willing ia see either Colo
mel HOUSE or Mr.. WILLARD go abroad
oSVSy uou'u " tiN NVuI 1T tiC pun
lie expense to fix things. But we are
confronted with the lucid text of an
unrepealed and clearly mandatory
clause of the Constitution which re-
quires that the agents Of high d.
plomacy. the representatives Of the
President in the administration of
foreign affairs. shall he subject to
confirmation by the Senate of the
United States.
It is true that the Constitution also
provides that "the Congress may by
Jaw vest the appointment of such in.
serior officers as they think proper in
The President alone; hut in the face
81 the credentials Of paramountcy 1t
X diflcult to consider the atmospheric
Colonel House as an inferior officer.
And even II he could he so regarded
by any sophistry of classification or
nomenclature, the fact remains that
the Congress has not yet vested by
law the appointment of a Magma
DOmus In the President alone.