The Helena Independent

Sir Julian Paunceforte

London Special: The new English minister to Washington, Sir Julian Paunceforte, cannot probably be of less weight there than Lord Sackville, and indeed he has a certain repute in diplomatic and legal circles. He is a big man physically, with an amiable face and a long, gray white beard, courteous manners, fond of good dinners, but mentally dry as a bone. He is really appointed as a result of a foreign office intrigue to get him out of the way and thus make room for Sir Philip Currie, who is a live man, and will be of vastly more use than Paunceforte in the post of assistant under secretary of state, which the latter has held for over twelve years. Currie has for years, ever since, in fact, he served under Disraeli and Lord Salisbury at the Berlin congress, been the principal man in the foreign office, transacting a mass of important business of which Paunceforte, his nominal superior, never knew a word. Now, when this anomaly has grown tiresome, Paunceforte is given the American mission to get rid of him.