Page:The Practice of Diplomacy - Callières - Whyte - 1919.djvu/25

 the tree itself new life. There is great talent hidden within it even now, and nowhere are there to be found more ardent advocates of reform than among junior diplomatists. They have suffered from depression and discouragement in their own persons; and they would be the first to welcome the new era. In such a matter as the intelligent observation of political phenomena in the country of their service, for instance, many of them only await the necessary instruction and encouragement from headquarters. The point to observe is that the present organisation of the Diplomatic Service provides little time or opportunity, and practically no encouragement for such work. Before the Royal Commission on the Civil Service Sir Arthur Hardinge, British Ambassador at Madrid, gave the following opinion in evidence: 'I think it is exceedingly difficult both for Foreign Embassies in London and for British Embassies abroad to have any real or close touch with democratic movements in the modern world.' This is a weighty opinion, but it is coloured by the ambassador's training under what I may call the old regime; and a comparatively brief experiment in the new method would probably show that the difficulty is xix