"Carriages at 8"

Diplomatic parties, like diplomatic conferences, are leftovers from the days when diplomacy implied ambassadors and politically influential ballerinas making history behind champagne and potted palms. Those were the days when agreement between nations was possible. Now that diplomacy has become a matter of political philosophies which by definition cannot agree with each other, both the conferences and the parties have assumed the unreal air of a costume play in modern dress.

One day last week, the Foreign Ministers' conference broke up early. It mattered little, for only disagreement was on the order of the day (see below). King George and Queen Elizabeth were giving an "evening party" at Buckingham Palace. The Russians arrived with their bodyguards, but left them in the courtyard. In the lofty Blue Drawing Room, Molotov and colleagues stuck together in a tight little knot and touched neither the champagne cup nor the whiskey and sherry. They did not even smoke. George Marshall stuck with U.S. Ambassador Douglas. Winston Churchill, looking as gloomy as his frock coat, left early. The King talked to Molotov a little longer than to his other visitors.

The invitations to the party had warned: "Carriages at 8." Just before this appointed hour, Their Majesties retired. The limousines drove up and everyone left, bodyguards and all, in a faint cloud of gasoline fumes and ill will.

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