The League and its Future The hundredth meeting of the
League of Nations Council is concerning itself much less with immediate problems than with the future of the League itself. The question arises not merely in general form but in connexion with the pro- posed revision of the Covenant and with the movement of some of the smaller Powers to give so much recognition to the conquest of Abyssinia as is involved in accrediting their Ambassadors or Ministers at Rome to the King of Italy as Emperor of Ethiopia. That movement, initiated by Holland and supported by Sweden, is openly resisted by Norway and Finland ; there will therefore be no general recognition by the Oslo Powers. The reasons against recognition are decisive. No League State of any importance has yet recog- nised the Japanese conquest of Manchukuo, and Signor Mussolini's unconcealed desire for recognition is proof that to bow to his wishes would be to lend countenance and comfort to Italy in its violation of international undertakings and decencies. As for the revision of the Covenant, a moment of general uncertainty is not the moment for drastic changes, but to cut the Covenant finally away from the Treaty of Versailles would be an undeniable advantage. If, as may be hoped, the Great Powers on the Council take occasion to reaffirm their faith in the League, some of the hesitations of the lesser States may be removed. The world is in flux and the flow is by no means all in favour of the dictatorships.
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