be. James Bryce is essentially a man of letters. His first book, written in 1859, is entitled "Flora of the Island of Arran". The book which made his reputation is "The Holy Roman Empire" (1862), and the volume which crowned it is "The American Commonwealth".

The present Ambassador of France at Washington, Jules Jusserand, also belongs to the republic of letters, in which he holds a very high place as a critic and a biographer. His book on "The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare" is recognized as an authority, and his recent volume, entitled "With Americans of Past and Present", shows his moving eloquence as an orator who knows how to speak at once to the point and to the heart. For sixteen years he has held his important post in this country and has been more useful than any man since Lafayette in revealing the real France to the real America, and in so weaving those ties of imperishable gratitude and love which now unite the two republics in the great battle for worldwide liberty.

Among the other men of letters who have adorned French diplomacy, the names of Chateaubriand and Lamartine come instantly to mind.

Turning to the diplomatic history of America, we find that the name of Benjamin Franklin, universal genius and one of the most distinctive American authors, "leads all the rest". He stands not only first, but still foremost on the roll. His "Poor Richard's Almanac", published in 1732, and the pamphlets such as those entitled "Plain Truth" and "Cool Thoughts", which he put out from time to time, gave him even more reputation than his invention of the famous Franklin stove. His discovery of the identity of lightning and electricity, wonderful as it

was in itself, owed a considerable part of its renown to the literary simplicity and vividness with which he presented it to the world.

Franklin was diplomatic and business agent in London for the colonies of Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts at different periods between 1757 and 1775. The work which he did there in endeavoring to dissuade King George III and his Tory ministers from waging war on the American colonies, was in its way as patriotic and distinguished as the work which he afterwards did to make that war result in the liberation of the republic. Franklin was sent by Congress as Commissioner to France in 1776. In 1778 he was received by the King as American Minister. His labors in France were carried on with a tact, prudence, good humor and firmness which made them of incalculable value in securing that French sympathy and support without which the war of independence could hardly have resulted in a victorious peace. In the conclusion of that peace at Paris in 1782 and 1783, Franklin played a most important rôle as Commissioner. His autobiography, which was not published until after his death, holds a unique place in American literature. It is one of those very small books which are as sure of immortality as any human work can be.

The next man of letters to be noted in our diplomacy is one whose name and fame are not so well known. Joel Barlow was one of the so-called "Hartford Wits" and the author of a highly patriotic but rather long and dull poem called "The Columbiad". He was American Minister to France under Napoleon I and performed his duties in that difficult post with intelligence and skill.

Washington Irving, romancer, his

torian and short-story writer, was the first American whose books were widely read abroad. They deserved it. Irving loved England and wrote much about it. He also wrote in very good English-clear, simple, picturesque and restrained. In spite of these qualities-which some modern critics seem inclined to regard as blameworthy, if not distinctly unpatriotic-the work of Irving is thoroughly American in its spirit and tone. It represents, however, not the Americanism of the soap-box orator or the corner loafer, but that of the men of trained intelligence and decent manners who really founded and freed this country. Irving was appointed Chargé d'Affaires of the American Legation in London in 1831. In 1842 President Tyler sent him as Minister to Spain, where he performed his diplomatic duties for four years with diligence and success. His genial personality was a distinct factor of usefulness in his service to his country. His books dealing with Spanish subjects were written some years before his diplomatic mission to Spain.

John Lothrop Motley, the author of "The Rise of the Dutch Republic", "John of Barneveldt", and other famous books, is usually associated in our thoughts with the Netherlands, to whose history he gave a world-wide renown. But as a matter of fact, he never held a diplomatic post in that country. His first mission was as Minister at Vienna under President Lincoln, in 1861, where he remained until 1866. In 1869 President Grant appointed him Minister to Great Britain. From this post he was recalled in 1870, in consequence of an alleged diplomatic indiscretion. So far as I can remember, this is the only case in which an American man of letters in the diplomatic service has been even

accused of anything of the kind. Whether the charge against Motley was justified or not, I do not pretend to determine, but his literary fame is so high and so well assured, that his diplomatic service is of minor consequence in our general estimate of the

man.

George Bancroft was another American historian who entered diplomatic life, having previously served as Secretary of the Navy in the cabinet of President Polk. He was appointed Minister to the Court of St. James in 1846 and filled the position with great credit until 1849, receiving from Oxford University the honorary degree of D.C.L. In 1867 he was appointed Minister to Berlin, and made a high record by his ability and usefulness there, resigning in 1874. Bancroft began his life as a Unitarian preacher and a schoolteacher.

Another man of letters who filled the post of American representative at Berlin was Bayard Taylor, traveler and poet. Having served as Secretary of Legation in St. Petersburg, 18621863, he was sent to Germany as our Ambassador in 1878, and died at his post in the same year. I had the pleasure of seeing him often and intimately while he was there, and can bear witness to the honor in which he was held by the best Germans of the old-and alas, now practically extinct-school. His translation of "Goethe's "Faust" in English verse is still the best.

Other American men of letters who have been sent in our diplomatic serIvice to Berlin are Andrew D. White, historian and philosopher, and David Jayne Hill, philosopher and historian. Dr. White filled the position of Minister to Germany from 1879 to 1881, and to Russia from 1892 to 1894. He was sent back as Ambassador to Berlin in 1897 and remained there, universally

honored and greatly useful in his work, until 1902. His service was distinguished by its breadth and discretion.

Dr. Hill began life as a Baptist clergyman and college president, served as American Minister to Switzerland from 1903 to 1905, and to the Netherlands from 1905 to 1907, and as Ambassador to Germany from 1908 to 1911. I had the pleasure of being his guest in this last period, and again had an opportunity of seeing with my own eyes how well the diplomatic functions can be performed by an American man of letters, who has broad intelligence, good common sense and a ready spirit to master the details of his task. Dr. Hill's book, "A History of European Diplomacy", is monumental in character.

When we come to consider the American diplomatic representation in London, the service of men of letters appears in its full value. I have already spoken of Irving and Bancroft in this connection. John Hay, poet, essayist and biographer, after having served as Secretary of Legation at Paris, Vienna and Madrid, was appointed Ambassador to the Court of St. James in 1897. The record of his work there in negotiating the HayPauncefote Treaty, and in supporting the open-door policy for China, is well known. It was continued splendidly in his service as Secretary of State under President McKinley and President Roosevelt.

James Russell Lowell, poet and essayist of the first order, was made Minister to Spain by President Hayes in 1877 and Minister to Great Britain in 1880. He remained in the latter post until the close of President Arthur's administration in 1885. The Encyclopædia Britannica says of him: "As a man of letters he was already

well known in England, and he was much in demand as an orator on public occasions, especially of a literary nature. He had also proved himself a sagacious publicist and made himself a wise interpreter of each country to the other." This is a very moderate description of the inestimable service which Lowell, by the charm of his temperament and by the wit of his wisdom, rendered to both countries.

Whitelaw Reid, who was Minister to France under President Harrison, and Ambassador to Great Britain under President Roosevelt, is better known as a journalist than as a man of letters. But any one who will read carefully the addresses which he made on public occasions in England will find in them that fine literary quality which gave distinction to his conversation and to his editorial writing. He belongs in fact to that group of distinguished men like Edward Everett, Reverdy Johnson, Joseph H. Choate and Edward J. Phelps, who while not strictly speaking literary men, owed to their love of literature and their familiarity with what is best in it, much of the power which they showed as diplomats at the Court of St. James.

Among those who have done excellent work in the American Consular Service, three of our foremost writers of prose fiction should not be forgotten.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was Consul at Liverpool from 1853 to 1857. Bret Harte was Consul at Krefeld, Germany, in 1878, and at Glasgow in 1880. William D. Howells was Consul at Venice from 1861 to 1865.

There are two American authors who have rendered a long and valuable service in diplomacy. Arthur Sherburne Hardy, author of exquisite and delightful novels, was Minister to Persia from 1897 to 1899, to Greece,

Roumania and Servia from 1899 to 1901, to Switzerland from 1901 to 1903 and to Spain from 1903 to 1905.

Maurice Francis Egan, poet and essayist, was appointed Minister to Denmark in 1907 and did admirable work there for more than ten years. His resignation on the ground of ill-health has just been accepted and his retirement is a distinct loss to the service. Again I can bear witness from personal observation to the substantial worth of an American author-diplomat. Mr. Egan was the Dean of the diplomatic corps at Copenhagen when I visited him in 1916. He was honored and trusted by everybody. He had the great satisfaction of working out a problem which had previously baffled many attempts at solution. The sale and transfer of the Danish West Indian Islands to the United States was accomplished through his patient skill and resourcefulness.

President Wilson appointed a number of men of letters to diplomatic positions. Walter Hines Page, essayist and publicist, former editor of "The Atlantic Monthly" and "The World's Work", was sent to London. Thomas Nelson Page, admirable novelist and short-story writer, was sent to Rome. Brand Whitlock, novelist and publicist, was sent to Brussels. The labor which these men have performed at their different posts need not fear comparison with the work of those who have been specially trained for the service of the Department of State. They They may not be diplomats de carrière, to use the technical phrase; but they are diplomats de nature.

Valuable contributions in regard to the history and aspects of the great war in Europe have already been made, and more will undoubtedly be made, not only by these men, but also by others not to be classified as liter

ary men. Judge James W. Gerard has not only performed his duties as Ambassador at Berlin with distinguished success during a most trying period, but he has also written a book called "My Four Years in Germany", which is full of interesting news and observations, and which lifts the curtain behind which Germany's arrogance and duplicity mixed this hell-broth of war which she has forced upon the world.

Mr. Morgenthau, our late Ambassador to Turkey, has since his return written many articles of the most interesting and informing character in regard to his experiences there, where he did so much in maintaining and safeguarding American and humane interests amid the tempestuous times of strife and peril. His voice, like that of an old Hebrew prophet, was always lifted in defense of righteousness and mercy.

Brand Whitlock, who held his hard post at Brussels with admirable and calm courage, tenacity and skill, is giving in his book a most convincing and memorable picture of the martyrdom of Belgium by the ruthless German invaders.

Mr. Page in London, having won the admiration and confidence of the whole British people, and having handled many delicate and difficult affairs with wonderful firmness and discretion, will doubtless have a great story to tell when the time comes. Mr. Page in Rome has already written some excellent articles for the magazines during his residence in the immortal city, and he has carried on his official work there with unfailing devotion and capital results, adding to it that unofficial touch of true courtesy and friendship which alone can make a diplomat really persona grata. No man could be better fitted than he to

write of the extraordinary aspects of the war in Italy-that conflict among the clouds, in which the Italian people have shown such marvelous bravery

and resourcefulness. It is to be hoped that we shall have in due time a great war novel from the hand of Thomas Nelson Page.

I

The students of the earnest school of American "literary" autobiography can have but an overwhelming condemnation for the course which led me to the publication of my books and stories. I am certain that, in addition, they would be affronted. The actual facts are rather an amazing refutation of a number of celebrated "moral truths". Men with a nice sense of performing long-drawn and disagreeable duties will find nothing here to reassure them that virtue is its own reward, or rather that such virtue only is rewarded. The room where I am writing is low with rafters and a wide stone fireplace darkening since 1712; there is old mahogany, early Empire and Heppelwhite, dull rose, the deep blue of Staffordshire china and wrought iron. The windows look out on uninterrupted greenery, maples ruffling in a delightful morning air, and terraced grass. Behind the long low gray stone house the peas are in pod; there is a gardener like a crusted English clay pipe; Airedales are on the lawn and communicative brown owls in a willow. From a reasonable angle this is a great deal, it is perfect of its kind, and it is all, all, the result of perversity.

There was hardly a stage in the process of its realization that would not serve as an illustration of the ways

that lead to ruin. Practically every young man who in the lessons comes on disaster arrives by the route which brought me, under forty, to this verdant tranquillity. In the first place, largely through persistent illness, I spent a complete childhood doing nothing in the world. I did it very well indeed, in a large mid-Victorian house, with a clashing bell and prayers morning and evening, and walls—the library, the halls, the music-roomlined with distinguished books; every book a successful Scotch Presbyterian type-founder would possess. During this period my mother subscribed for a series of paper-bound love stories.

After a number of pleasant years in the company of the Duchess and a stainless Indian named Deerfoot, I was introduced to school. I was a timid, fattish boy, with an incurable aversion to study and a surpassing clumsiness at games. It was a Quaker school with both girls and boys, and my failure with one was as dismal as with the other. But this didn't last long for, in the consistency I have set out to reveal, at the end of two or perhaps three terms I definitely withdrew myself from the field of education.

Advancing from the Duchess to Ouida, I went on as I had before; at seventeen, I entered an Academy of Fine Arts. There I did one day's work