SANCTA SIMPLICITA . S.
When the expenses of the International Labour Office were questioned, the criticisms elicited a magnificent speech froin its Director in reply. In logic and dialectic, in imagery and vigour, it left its hearers astounded and convinced, Nit against their will. M. Thomas was unanswerable but bitter. Then Sir Eric rose to defend his budget. He seemed diffident and hesitant. His appeal was a double one, in part to the intellect, but mainly to the sympathy of his hearers. Everyone at once felt sorry for him. No one wanted to hamper the poor Secretary-General in his difficult task. Had he asked for twice as much it.would not have been grudged, for Sir Eric has the shrewdness to turn his shortcomings into an asset. He is net an orator, but his 'counsels have more effect than any elOqiience could achieve.
In all this I am conscious of not having touched on the human side of Sir Eric. He give up about £2,500 a year of entertainment allowance, not so much on the ground of its being excessive but lest carping criticism' might do harm to the League itself. He has made himself indispensable at Geneva. The small nations trust him implicitly. Everyone likes him. Yet he slips through the lines of definition, a simple man, apparently, doing his duty, smoking his pipe, playing his golf. Is he as simple as he looks ? Perhaps the truth is that he is the pr6duct of an ancient and very subtle form of education, little understood even by those who have evolved the training of the English gentleman. Count Keyserling in his solemn German way calls it a system of yoga, in which the training of character makes up for defi- ciencies in intellectual equipment. Whether this is true of Sir Eric I do not know. Until the need .comes for cleverness, no one will ever know whether he is clever or not.
F. YEters-BROWN.
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