The Permanent Court at The Hague The Times of Friday,
August 2nd, published a letter from Professor J. H. Morgan upon the appointment of a successor to Lord Finlay on the Panel of Judges of the Permanent Court of International Justice. The appoint- ments are governed by the Statute of the Court, which was based on the report of the Committee of Jurists that sat in 1920. Another Committee of Jurists sat at Geneva last spring to consider amendments. Of this Sir Cecil Hurst was the most influential member. There have been rumours that he is to be the new Judge. He is already a member of the Panel of the Arbitration Court. Herein Professor Morgan finds reason to hint that the Foreign Office is guilty of humbug, and that Sir Cecil is not the right man, because he is "saturated with departrnentafism," a pretty phrase to use of a man who has, in some respects, left his mark upon European politics to a degree unrivalled by any other man! In doing so he has created for himself such a position not only in London but at Geneva, too, at The Hague and in other capitals, that even the most suspicious Contin- nental politician would not hint that he could introduce British politics or ever take a small, " departmental " view upon the Bench. We have nothing to say against an ex-Lord Chancellor, whose appointment Professor Morgan seems to favour, and Sir Cecil's relinquishment of his present duties would be a loss at first sight intoler- able (we can well imagine his chief colleague, M. Fromageot, in tears at the prospect), but that the Foreign Office should be blamed for not doing its best for the Permanent Court if Sir Cecil is recommended in the right quarter and allowed to give up his present work is altogether wrong.
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