A few weeks ago in this space, THE SCRAPBOOK reported on remarks delivered by the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain at a luncheon in London hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce (UK). The ambassador, according to our estimable source, had remarked on the problems of governing multiethnic societies and told a joke about the Puritans that seemed to be critical of Kenneth Starr.
Not so, protests a letter from Nicholas Wills, vice president of the American Chamber of Commerce (UK) and chairman of the luncheon. THE SCRAPBOOK is willing to stipulate the accuracy of Wills's account, especially since it is far more embarrassing to the ambassador than ours. The ambassador in question, by the way, is the Honorable Philip Lader, longtime friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton and founder of the annual New Year's gabfest in Hilton Head, S.C., known as Renaissance Weekend.
Contrary to our report, writes Wills, "the Ambassador said neither that 'the United States must find a way to govern a multiethnic nation' nor that 'African-Americans make up one third of the population.' His point was the importance of promoting Anglo-American values, such as the rule of law and parliamentary democracy, among citizens whose heritage is non-British. And he emphasized this goal's importance by noting that, soon in the next century, the majority of California's population is projected to be Hispanic and non-white and almost one-third of his home state, South Carolina's population, African-American.
"Similarly, contrary to your report, the Ambassador's light-hearted remark about Thanksgiving and the Puritans was simply a turn-of-the-century quotation from the American journalist Finley Peter Dunne. I regret that the Ambassador's statements were misreported."
Well, THE SCRAPBOOK is happy to hear that speechwriters are still mining Finley Peter Dunne for anecdotes. But about the other point that Mr. Wills raises: Can it be true that Bill Clinton's ambassador to the Court of St. James believes the African-Americans of his home state and the Hispanics of California, being of non-British heritage, have special difficulty appreciating the values of democracy and the rule of law? Maybe more of them need to be invited to next year's Renaissance Weekend?