Diplomatically Speaking

REMINISCENCES of a cub diplomatist; Mr. Griscom reached the apex of his career at thirty-four as ambassador to Italy, having previously served as ambassador to Brazil and minister to Japan. In a pleasant gossiping fashion this book recounts his various experiences with the great of the earth, and a very entertaining narrative he makes of it; never indiscreet, not too informative, obviously meant to be taken as light reading of an unusually high order, which it is. Mr. Jefferson was against establishing a diplomatic service for this country, thinking it would be only an ornamental folly, costing far more than its worth. Mr. Griscom’s book leaves one with the same impression; but it also gives evidence that the exercise of a vestigial function may be made more or less naïvely amusing, and thereby perhaps not wholly unserviceable to the public.