Sir Michael Herbert

Michael Henry Herbert entered the diplomatic service in 1877 and began work at the British embassy in Paris in 1879. He moved to Washington in 1888, married the American Leila Wilson that November, and formed a friendship with Theodore Roosevelt during Roosevelt’s years on the Civil Service Commission. His subsequent postings took him to The Hague, Constantinople, Rome, and Paris. In 1902 he returned to the United States as ambassador. ^{1, 2}

Herbert’s first period in charge of the Washington legation followed the collapse of Lord Sackville’s position during the American presidential election of 1888. Sackville’s private reply to a purported British born American voter had been published and used in the campaign. On 5 November, Salisbury instructed Herbert to notify the State Department that he had been placed in charge. Four days later Herbert forwarded Sackville’s account of the affair to London. ^{3, 4}

On 24 January 1903, Herbert and Secretary of State John Hay signed the convention that submitted the Alaska boundary dispute to a six member tribunal, with three jurists appointed by each government. The tribunal was to interpret the earlier Anglo-Russian boundary agreement and decide disputed geographical questions. Herbert also handled the arrangements for exchanging the two governments’ cases: in April he conveyed British agreement to Hay’s proposal to exchange them through the embassies, avoiding unnecessary journeys across the Atlantic. ^{5, 6}

Herbert also signed Britain’s agreement with Venezuela on 13 February 1903, negotiating with Herbert W. Bowen, the American minister who had been authorized to represent Venezuela. The protocol provided for settlement of British claims through immediate payments and a mixed commission, and assigned part of the customs revenue of La Guaira and Puerto Cabello to meet foreign claims. Britain undertook to arrange with Germany and Italy to lift the naval blockade. The agreement left the contested priority of the blockading powers’ claims for determination at The Hague. ⁷

His ambassadorship ended after little more than a year. Suffering from tuberculosis, Herbert died at Davos, Switzerland, on 30 September 1903, aged forty-six. Contemporary reporting recalled his outdoor pursuits with Roosevelt and identified his wife and two sons among his survivors. His death came before the Alaska tribunal delivered its award the following month. ^{1, 5}