Revieic of Reviews. l/7f06. 



Character Sketch. 



49 



presence of such a National Consul for all foreign 

 visitors at the ports where our guests arrive. Let 

 us, at least, have on the national doorstep one repre- 

 sentative of John Bull who has something else to 

 do than to search the pockets and dispute the stand- 

 ing and reputation of his visitors. 



Begin well, end well. If we gave our neighbours 

 a friendly hand of greeting at Dover and Har\vich, 

 and saw to it that everything was done to make 

 them warm, comfortable and at ease on their first 

 entry into the country, we should at least have made 

 a good start, have reversed an evil tradition, and 

 ha^-e set an example to the world which it would not 

 be slow to follow. But this is onlv the beginning 

 of the duties which hospitality imposes upon us if 

 once we resolutely recognise the duty of showing 

 ourselves friendly to our neighbours. 



If John Bull means to act as host, there must 

 be some centre easily accessible to all his guests, 

 where they can find him or his representatives, and 

 where he in his turn can meet them and place his 

 services at their disposal. John Bull as host must 

 have a postal address and an office where he is con- 

 stantly at home. We ought to have in London, as 

 near Charing Cross as possible, a central office or 

 place of call for all foreigners, where every stranger 

 within our gates could go with the certainty that 

 he would be received courteouslv and supplied 

 promptly with all the information that he desires. 

 The nation ought to have a representative who 

 would do for all our foreign visitors what the major- 

 domo at an hotel does for its guests, what the vari- 

 ous tourist agencies do for their clients in foreign 

 towns, what the Agents-General do for their Colonists, 

 and the American Exchange does for Americans. 

 There is nothing strange, difficult, or unprecedented 

 about such a scheme. All that needs to be done is 

 to adopt and apply in the name of the nation, for 

 ' the benefit of all foreign visitors, the facilities and 

 arrangements already provided on a small scale 

 for the convenience of sections. All who have pro- 

 fited by the existing agencies, and who have found 

 them indispensable, will recognise the opportunity 

 which is offered by the provision of such facilities 

 as an act of national hospitality. 



If this principle be once accepted, we shall soon 

 find it to our advantage to go a step further. A 

 Bureau of Information, with capable interpreters 

 and civil assistants, ought to be provided for the 

 use of every foreign visitor. But the time has surely 

 come when we should recognise that now King 

 Demos has entered into possession he should do as 

 other monarchs do in offering hospitality to foreign 

 princes. Who are the Princes in the Court of King 

 Demos? They are the men who are in the service 

 of the people, men who are at the head of great 

 public associations, men who, in one way or the 

 other, have been elected to posts of public service. 

 \\'hen these men come to see John Bull, they ought 

 to be received with the respect due to their position 



and their ser\'ices to the people. At present they 

 come and go and no one in all the land does them 

 reverence or renders them service of honour and 

 respect. 



^^^lat is proposed is that, besides the general 

 Bureau of Information open for all foreign visitors, 

 there should be established in the heart of the capi- 

 tal an International Rendezvous free to all foreign 

 guests of certain specified categories and their 

 friends. These categories might ,be roughly defined 

 as follows: — Senators, Deputies, Magistrates, Civil 

 Ser\-ants, Officers in the Army and Navy, Delegates 

 of Trades Unions, Ministers of Religion, Journalists, 

 Members of Learned and Scientific Societies, Uni- 

 \-ersity men. School Teachers, Members of Chambers 

 of Commerce, Members of International Congresses, 

 all persons recommended by their Ambassadors, 

 Consuls, or National Governments, etc. 



At the proposed Rendezvous anv of the members 

 of those categories who found themselves in Lon- 

 don would only need to present themselves with 

 credentials to be welcomed as honorarv members 

 of the Rendezvous, which would be in all resj)ects, 

 except the kitchen, a first-class Club, where they 

 would find every facility for meeting their friends 

 and of obtaining the information they need to be 

 at home in London. The advantages which such 

 an International Rendezvous would be able to offer 

 its members are obvious. If all foreign guests of 

 recognised standing were registered at a convenient 

 centre an opportunity would be afforded for private 

 hospitality which at present is impossible. No one 

 knows where foreigners come from whom they would 

 like to meet, and often when arrivals are announced 

 no one can find their addresses. Hence thousands 

 of interesting and important visitors come and go 

 without any one ever offering them as much hos- 

 pitality as a cup of tea. '• I was a stranger, and ye 

 took me not in." It would be the duty of the Direc- 

 tor of the Rendezvous, acting under instructions 

 from the Hospitality Committee, to keep those who 

 are interested in this or that foreign country — and 

 who are, moreo'^-er, hospitably disposed towards 

 foreigners — advised of the arrival of foreign guests 

 who ought to be looked after. Foreign ambassadors 

 do that for distinguished foreigners, if they are of 

 high enough rank. They invite their friends to 

 meet them, and so, the introduction being effected, 

 the distinguished foreigner is launched. In these 

 democratic days the same process needs to be ap- 

 plied to the nouvcllcs couches sociales, to borrow Gam- 

 betta's phrase. 



Apart from the opportunitv which such a centre 

 would afford private citizens of extending hospitality 

 to the foreign guest, it would, within its own re- 

 sources, constitute no small addition to the ameni- 

 ties of international civilisation. The Rendezvous 

 would be equipped with a good library of reference 

 in all languages, and well-furnished reading-rooms 

 with all the important foreign newspapers and 



