MR. VINCENT MASSEY AS CANADA'S REPRESENTATIVE AT WASHINGTON
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—May I be allowed as an old friend and warm admirer of Mr. Vincent Massey to say something about him and his new appointment to the readers of the Spectator ? He deserves their close attention, as a patriotic Canadian, as an Imperialist of the best type, as a believer in a permanent understanding between all who speak the English tongue, as an advocate of the University spirit, as a potent element in social and political life, and finally as one who deserves the poignant, if old- fashioned, description of "a scholar and a gentleman."
His appointment by Mr. Mackenzie King, the new Canadian Prime Minister, to be the diplomatic representative of the Dominion at Washington is a happy event, judged not only by the personality and record of the man appointed, but also as being a new departure in the development of the British Commonwealth of Nations. It signalizes, not a weakening, but a strengthening of the ties that bind the nations of the Empire.
That Mr. Vincent Massey will exercise an important influ- ence in Washington cannot be doubted, and exercise it without in the least impairing the position of the British Ambassador. The American people as a whole will find in Mr. Massey as strong an adherent as they are of the University spirit. Mr. Massey's father, working through his son, endowed the great and growing University of Toronto—the largest seat of learning in the British Empire—with a notable feature in Hart House. Hart House is an institution half-way between a " Union " such as we know at Oxford and Cambridge and a College of Athletics. Its splendid "Great Hall" (a dozen feet or so longer than Wolsey " Great Hall" at Christ Church), its noble Library, its Lecture ROoms • and Conlmon ROOMS, and its Theatre, all go to make it a princely home for the undergraduates that flock to Toronto.
It only remains to be said, and it is by no means an unim- portant item, that Mrs. Massey, the daughter of Sir George Parkin, one of Canada's chief inspirers in the Imperial tradi- tion, is certain to prove in the future, as in the past, the best of helpers in the good causes served by Mr. Vincent Massey.
Thus all the omens seem favourable. That Mr. Massey will have a prosperous tenure of office at Washington and set a good tradition is the hope and sure belief of all his friends. He certainly will deserve success. No more can he said of any man.—! am, Sir, &c., J. ST. L. S.
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