The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1932. A GREAT IDEALIST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 290, 8 December 1932, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1932. A GREAT IDEALIST.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that wc can do.

In unveiling a portrait of Viscount Cecil at University College, London, Mr. Baldwin referred to him as a. great idealist, who "\vas bound to clash at times with those engaged in practical politics. Many might regard Lord Cecil's enthusiasm for and devotion to the League of Nations as showing his idealism rather than liis grasp of realities. Vev, it is to idealists that much of the world's progress is due. Lord Cecil's attitude to the League was often contrasted with that of the late Lord Balfour. In the House •of Commons debate on the League at the time of its formation the elder man directed a series of telling sentences about fanatics against the younger, and in the first Assembly he adopted an ironical note, as when he said: "We stand like people on the shore, looking at the survivors of a wreck. We give them words of encouragement, but so fai* we have not been fortunate enough to find a method of giving them effective aid." Yet the driving force of Lord Cecil's absolute sincerity and devotion to the cause of peace and better relations between the nations has resulted in the recognition of the League as a great force in international polities, and has helped forward the practical solution of many difficulties that have arisen.

This unveiling of his portrait has come at a time of crisis in the history of the League. The Lytton Report has declared against the present status of Manchukuo, and has laid it down that in Manchuria the international foundation must rest on the Covenant of the League, the Pact of Paris, and the Nine Power Treaty of 1922. It has suggested that the whole relationship of China and Japan should be restated in a new and comprehensive treaty which should supersede all others, and has recognised Chinese sovereignty in Manchuria. Japan has accorded recognition to Manchukuo, and refuses to withdraw it. She has no intention of withdrawing from Manchuria, and has threatened that if her position in this territory is not recognised she will leave the League. " This is a plain challenge to the League's authority. If this infringement is allowed to pass, and the fruits of it to go to the Power making the infringement, then the while integrity and authority of the League will be almost irretrievably damaged. This is where Lord Cecil's motto comes in. "Be just and fear not" has a peculiar application just now.-, The principle of regard for treaties is of far wider import than any question of Manchukuo or of the rights or wrongs of either China or Japan. The present tribute to Lord Cecil is also a tribute t6 the high principles of justice for which he has consistently stood, and which are always in danger of being sacrificed to opportunist considerations. He has been a great Englishman, a great European and a great citizen of the world.