ABSTRACT
The first impression of the observer in England in the summer of 1921 was that no one outside of a narrow official and parliamentary circle had yet taken cognizance of the fact that an elaborate play was about to be staged. Coming from Canada and the United States, where the problem of the Pacific was no idle matter but a burning issue which might flame up with the utmost fierceness at any moment and involve every shore washed by the waters of that mighty ocean, it was extraordinary to note the indifference. England, mother of nations, was immersed in her own affairs. The Imperial Conference, with its complicated agenda, was plainly an unwelcome guest. Here were not only routine departmental matters requiring profound peace adequately to discuss, but foreign and imperial questions the details of which were so complicated that only experts could be expected to work their way through the maze of facts and know what importance to give them.
