The Washington herald., 1917-02-12
A Message from London.

1t is a deep satisfaction to the
American people to know that in the
greatest war of modern times Ameri-
can diplomacy has acquitted itself so
creditably. 1t has stood the test the
past three years with scarcely single
demerit mark against it. The nation
is soon to reap rich dividends on its
splendid work.
The British foreign office has frc-
quently recognized the quality of the
service that James W. Gerard, retir-
ing American Ambassador to Ger
many, has performed in Berlin. When
war broke out the burden of caring
for British interests in the German
Empire was thrown upon the Ameri-
can envoy, and how we'll the task
has been discharged Sve have learned
not from Americans, who might we'll
be prejudiced, but from the English,
who have never been addicted to flat
terry so far as Americans were con-
cerned.
The State Department was form
ally thanked yesterday for the serv-
ices that Mr.. Gerard had rendered to
Great Britain. 1t was a simple mes
sage, and yet it constituted the high
est vindication for that formerly de-
spised and easily muck-raked institu-
ton, American diplomacy, which had
never completely lived down the tra-
ditions of its shirt sleeves" days.
More than one intimation has come
from London that the government
will recognize Mr.. Gerard's services
to the empire in even more striking
fashion; possibly by the erection oil
a memorial in the heart of the metro
polls. Britons do not take lightly the
brilliant American who less than FIVE
years ago was as innocent of diplo-
matte knowledge as. lark in spring
time, and yet who has risen to ono
of the most exacting jobs assumed
by any diplomat since Mettcrnich in
rlgued IN vienna.
There are others who have shed
equal luster on the American foreign
service. 1t is needless to refer to the
miracle of Whitlock in Belgium. He
has been no mere diplomat, but
ulinistering angel, a symbol of civili-
zation where the feudal taint Of Prus-
sianism had not corroded the soul.
Less we'll known, but equally miraes-
lous are the services of that greatest
unofficial diplomat" of modern times,
Herbert c. Hoover, who has held the
wolf from the Belgian threshold and
kept forsaken people from starving
into eternity.
The work of these men-all chosen
from private walks of life in America
has been dwarfed by the over
whelming nature of the cataclysm of
which it is but the smallest part But
il has not passed unnoticed. It forms
the truest basis for Americas future
role as a restorer, a healing force,
for the fabric of civilization so ut
terly battered and broken by war;
it gives US a right to plead for de-
mocracy in Europe, a right to have
some say when the time to talk peace
comes.
Gerard is coming home now, his
work finished. For Great Britain his
leave-taking of Berlin has been a sad
day, the true consequences of which
have not yet been appraised. For
the British prisoners, the British
civilians in concentration camps, dur
ing the darkest and most desperate
days of the war to come, there will
be no spokesman adequate to the
one which has just said his farewell
to German soil because his govern
ment has repudiated Germany.
A prayer from all Americans will
be heard that Whitlock will not be
forced out of Belgium. God help the
hapless Belgians if he isl