CHAPTER III

HIGH COMMISSIONER AND AMBASSADOR TO THE
UNITED STATES

WHENEVER the most successful and leading barrister
becomes Lord Chief Justice of England it is assumed that
he has attained the height of his ambition, and that his
thoughts and efforts will be confined thenceforth to main-
taining the high traditions of his office. There is no example
to the contrary, and there is no reason to suppose for a
moment that Lord Reading had any other idea in his head
than to prove himself a worthy successor of Cockburn,
Russell, and Alverstone. Such no doubt would have been
the case but for the cataclysm in human affairs that attended
the Great War. Yet even after it had commenced the
judicial sphere seemed the least likely to be disturbed by
its shocks. Justice had to pursue its straight and even
way, the atmosphere of the Courts preserved the calm and
low temperature suitable to their functions, and judges
seemed immune from the consequences of the international
struggle that was raging everywhere outside. And such
was the truth with one exception. The exception was
Lord Reading. Fate had reserved for him strange
destinies and experiences.

He had been Lord Chief Justice little more than nine
months when the Germans invaded Belgium and France.
It was an extraordinary tribute to his financial capacity
that he was at once called into council on the pressing
problems of currency and credit which were scarcely less
urgent and imperative than the question of producing armed
men. Lord Reading was at once placed on a committee
dealing with currency and finance, and from August, 1914,
till the summer of the following year, his room at the Treasury
saw more of him than the Court of King's Bench, Some
intimation of the importance of these services was afforded
when his investiture with the Grand Cross of the Order of
the Bath was announced in February, 1915* This unusual
mark of distinction, as everyone realised, was not bestowed

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