The representatives of the Balkan Allies and of Turkey have
arrived in London for the Peace Conference at St. James's Palace, and the proceedings will begin on Monday. Among the representatives we may note the names of M. Gueshoff (the Bulgarian Prime Minister), M. Novakovitch (for Servia), M. Venezelos, under whose administration Greece has undergone a remarkable revival and won the esteem of the world, and Reshid Pasha (for Turkey). Tewfik Pasha refused to serve. We trust that the Government will entertain the distinguished guests in a manner worthy of the honour which they have done to Great Britain in coming here. Englishmen—except at Royal ceremonies, where the entertainment is always admirable—have been in the past the worst official entertainers in the world. Paris, Berlin, and Vienna have all put London to shame. There is a story—apocryphal, of course—that the Treasury once proposed to entertain some official foreign guests at a luncheon of the kind usually supplied to Royal Commissions—cold meat and hot potatoes, with light claret and beer to drink ! What was lost on the claret was to be saved on the beer. Money spent freely on these occasions is not wasted. It, is an expenditure highly productive of international goodwill. When international conferences are entertained in Paris the dijeuners are said to be beyond the dreams of Lucullus. Even if we say with Mrs. Gashley, "Never in a Christian household shall such sinful waste be committed:. we might at least "try to have things nice."
