Dean

The Ministers of the various Powers represented at Peking were no longer able to postpone the day of reckoning. A solitary Ambassador was in their midst; his rank shrieked for its prerogatives ; the Ministers gave way reluc tantly and, with heavy hearts, granted him precedence as Dean of the Diplomatic Corps.

The importance of the position is mainly ceremonial and, for all practical purposes, a Minister of an important power would outrank an Ambassador of some wayward state; but, lest there should be any misunderstanding, the Ministers relegated the importance of the Dean's office to purely ceremonial affairs. The grouping of the Powers at Peking makes such a step necessary; for, in questions affecting nations which have not recognized the Dean's Government, it would be impossible for him to represent the Diplomatic Corps as a body.

The Dean, needless to say, is L. M. Karakhan, Bolshevik Ambassador to China, tall, black-bearded and suave, who was once called: "A Bolshevik who can wear white gloves gracefully."