38 - MELCHIOR: A DEFEATED ENEMY

Summary

None of the officials in London who were connected with the Peace Conference knew when it was going to start. This was in accordance with the Prime Minister's usual method. There must be plenty of officials to hang about in case he might need them; but the real business of the Conference was to be done by himself and the other two (or perhaps three) ‘getting together’, and the less the officials knew of what was going on, the freer his hands would be. On a certain date, therefore, which would not be announced beforehand, the Prime Minister would leave for Paris; but the proceedings would begin with informal conferences between the Great Ones, and when the officials would be wanted or what they were to do either eventually or in the meantime was quite uncertain.

This left them in a most awkward dilemma. An early departure for Paris probably meant that there would be nothing whatever to occupy them when they got there, while there was a great deal of business to complete in their usual offices in London. On the other hand most of those who had managed to get appointed to the Conference Staff had made themselves very important on the subject, and it would not do at all for the Conference to begin without them. Besides, as everyone's position was quite undefined in relation to the others and to the work, there was great danger that those on the spot might ‘get in’ first.