A ridiculous and a superfluous sensation has been caused in
America by a report in some American newspapers that a high official of the British Foreign Office " had stated in a conversa- tion with American journalists that America, and Great Britain were " treading the path to war." The British Foreign Office was compelled to blow away this cloud of mischief by explaining that the report in the American Press had been published " without the authority or knowledge " of the Foreign Office. The report, it was said, did not in any way represent the views of the Foreign Office, which, as a matter of fact, was confident that " any question arising between Great Britain and the United States can and will be settled without difficulty." Further inspired explanations appeared in the British Press, and we learn that what happened was that Sir Auckland Geddes, the British Ambassador at Washington, who is at present in London, did converse with American journalists, but that what was pub- lished in America was a complete misrepresentation of the conversation.
