Procedure when, for the maintenance of peace, a nation intervenes in a friendly manner between two powers whose differences might well lead to armed conflict, and offers its suggestions as to possible ways and means of settling the differences; when the third power takes an actual part in the subsequent negotiations (as the channel of communication, etc.) good offices then become mediation; more generally, the disinterested use of one's official position or office in order to help others settle their differences; the term can also refer to the acts of a diplomatic officer of a third power who takes charge of the interests of a country that has severed diplomatic relations with the state to which he is accredited.