What exactly Sir George Paish did say to Senator Wheeler
of Montana will probably never be known. When two versions of a conversation a deux disagree there is no known means of de- ciding between them, except on the ground of inherent proba- bilities. Sir George appears to concede that he said he was largely responsible for bringing America into the last war. I can well believe it. *ir George is an altogether amiable person. No one can help liking him. But if he had made an observation like that to an acquaintance here the acquaintance would have listened with all proper gravity,—and asked the next friend he met " Have you heard Paish's latest? " Unfortunately Paish's latest, which may do no harm where its author is well known and understood, may do incalculable harm in the United States, where a title, and the fact that its bearer went on a Treasury mission to America twenty-six years ago, invest his words with a significance no one would dream of ascribing to them here. Sir George Paish is by no means the only British visitor to the United States who would better serve the national cause by staying at home. But he can still serve it by abandoning the lecture-tour he is said to have arranged.
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