Paris, Oct.
M. Henry de Jouvenel, one of the French delegates to the League or Navious Assembly just held at Geneva, contributes an article to the '"Mfatin" in which he expresses the conviction that the crisis raised by the conflict Between Greece and Italy was settled by the exercise of 2 polsitfive and] prnotical spirit. Some States would have liked to see the League, he says, defend its prestige more brillantly. Some even suggested putting Article 16 into operation and decreeing " blockade of the Italian coast by 51 nations, the only result of which would have been to magnify a local conflict which was already nearly settled. France did not share this warlike enthusiasm. (She pointed out patiently, through M. Hanotaux, that there have already been quite enough disasters caused by national amour-propre, and there was no need to create another cause of trouble in the form of international: wmour-propre.
Between peace and the prestige of the League, the only possible choice, M. Hanotaux argued, was peace, and this view prevailed, To refer the matter to the Ambassadors' Conference was not magnificent, but it was practical, and, without this prudent action, the inquiry in Greece and the evacuation of Corfu would probwly not have taken place so quickly. Still, the League of Nations is not a perfect Institution, and the Italo-Greek conflict has thrown a strong light on some of its weaknesses. In signing the covenant, to what did the great. Powers exactly commit themselves? To what extent does the covenant protect the weak against the strong? These are questions that will have to be answered if the League is to be really useful in the future. The League must learn by experience. The mail nations went away uneasy from the fourth assembly, not knowing whether the League is a protector of liberties or of privileges. The rights and duties of nations are still wreathed in mist. The fourth assembly accomplished nothing definite. It is a danger to peace to bring the representatives of 54 nations together for no clear purpose, and M. de Jouvenel express¢s the hope that the work of future assemblies will be better organized.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.