The Problem of Danzig The decision reached by the League
of Nations Council regarding Danzig, consisting as it does of the appoint- ment of a new High Commissioner, whose main business it will be to hold the balance even between Germans and Poles in the Free City, and intervene as little as possible in the differences of the Germans, is the best that could be hoped for in the circumstances. It is, moreover, in full accord with the intentions of the framers of the clauses regarding Danzig in the Treaty of Versailles.- Danzig under that treaty was made a Free City—as free in most of its internal affairs as Berlin—and the League was -introduced solely as arbiter between GerMans and Poles.- So long as Polish rights were respected the Germans, who formed and still form over 90 per cent. of the population, could govern themselves as they would. But a Constitution framed to safeguard a Polish- minority can be invoked to safeguard a German minority, though the existence of a German minority was in the first instance never conceived of. The League, which has no administrative role at Danzig as it had in the Saar, has been placed by events in an impossible position, and all it can do is to make the best of the worst task it has ever had to discharge. Danzig will always bring criticism, never credit.
Previous page
