Evening Post. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1925. THE INTERNATIONAL BAROMETER

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 65, 14 September 1925, Page 4

Evening Post. MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1925. THE INTERNATIONAL BAROMETER

/ ■'■„■',■.'...■. . . ■■ The fear that the proceedings of the League of Nations Assembly would bo robbed of/present interest by the reservation of its principal business for ,the pro-, posed Conference of Foreign Ministers has not'been realised. The chief work of the Fifth Assembly was the Arbitration Protocol, and it had been hoped that the Sixth Assembly, would confirm,that document and the proceedings of the Disarmament Conference by which it was to have been followed up. But the Protocol has gone, the" basis of tha Disarmament Conference went with it, and no proposed substitute is yet available/ for;the consideration of the League. Since the death of the Protocol Europe's hopes of peace have been centred in the negotiations • for a Security Pact which Britain, France, and Germany; have; had in hand for about six months, and it;will not be till an ' agreement /is reached that, the matter will come before\ the League. The general expectar tion on the opening day ;of the Sixth Assembly was• that.it would be "the briefest and tamest session" ever' held..

,: Nobody, we-were told", expect* a fulldress debate on the Prptocpl or, the active continuation of the discussions, which^will arise out of it, though so.'i.'c headway on arbitration is possible. N

The adjournment of the Assembly on the. second d^.y after spending a bare hour, in the discharge of formal business confirmed the impression that the League would find little to. do and, would: get through it quietly and quickly.

But this note of subdued expectation, or even; resignation; did riot last/ long. Mr. Chamberlain and M. Painleve addressed a meeting of international journalists, on the second day of the Assembly, and afterwards motored to a, conference with Mr. Baldwin at Aix-les-Bains.; JT6 report of the talk on either of these occasions' has been supplied, but the result is sufficiently indicated.by the extraordinary rise of the international barometer at Geneva^a rise which should greatly lighten the task both of the Conference and of tho. Assembly, but naturally suggests to an outsider the fear tjiat it was so great and so rapid that its benefits may be soon set-off by a depression. A strong reaction is, however, far from certain, "'and in the meantime let us, cheerfully recognise 'that the atmosphere'of chill and negation to .which the Assembly.and even the Conference seemed likely to be condemned has been exchanged for something much mprei favoura 1 v ble to; good work. -"A mood of high optimism" followed the unreported speeches at the journalists' luncheon, and the hope was created that the Conference would have such success that it would have the details of a draft Pact approved by the.Powers immediately concerned and the question of Germany's admission to the League ready for submission to a special session of the League about the beginning of November. .'.■

The Foreign Ministers' Conference probably supplies-a better basis for hope at present than the League itself. It is the Conference and not the League that must determine the fate of the Security Pact, and the Conference may be relied upon to observe the distinction between tho practicable and'the visionary in a manner which is sometimes -'beyond the power I'of the League. The favourable impression- which the journalists have received, of the prospects, of the. Conference is, moreover, the work, in large measure, of. Mr. Chamberlain, who is one Of the most sure-footed and cautious of diplomats and . much more given to understating than to 7overstating his case. Mr. Chamberlain has certainly . not been, stampeded into the estimate -which ho has formed of tho ekaiyo.es p| .Uie jSec.Mrity, Pact^ mv

will the Conference be stampeded into adopting it. But neither of the Assembly.of the League, nor of the Latin orators who .are able to lift its members off their feet in a way which their less emotional British brethren cannot emulate, can the same be said. -We heard much last year of the spirit of unity and concord and enthusiasm which made the Fifth Assembly so happy a family and enabled it to draft, settle, and carry unanimously that tremendous "scheme for the abolition of war in a single session of a few weeks' duration. A little less en-, thusiasm on the part of' Lord Parmoor and his colleagues and a little more critical power might have marred the fine atmospheric effect, but would probably have left^ us to-day a good deal hearer to our goal. . . ■'- '

In M. Boncour, one of the French delegates, the' Sixth Assembly has evidently- got as poweriul a. master of the emotions as even Paris has ever sent to Geneva. Jj.Viviani, whos.e death was reported on the very day of the opening of the present ses^ sion, was reputed to be the-first orator in Europe, and the eloquence with which he encountered the logic and the subtlety of Lord Balfour in the Third Assembly of the League provided one •of the most memorable episodes in 'its history. 'But as M. Boncour is credited with "the most brilliant speech .ever heard in the League Assembly," he must bY taken to have passed the high-water mark of his distinguished, fellow-coun-tryman. M. .Boncoxir is said .to have .' 'thrjlled' the packed. Assembly' '■ .with his passionate plea! for "security as an ".essential preliminary of disarmament." Neither this nor any other of the remarks' attributed; to l|im expressly sets up the.Proto.col, in, opposition to the .Security Pact, but there; is a fear that by starting, fan avalanche for the resurrection of the Protocol" he may complicate the position.' Emotion is an invaluable servant; but a dangerous maater.