GENEVA IMPRESSIONS
Sta,—As a historian who is also a great admirer of Scandi- navian civilisation, I have read Mr. Bjame Braatoy's com- ments on my "Geneva Impressions" with sympathy and respect. I think that the inevitable compression of some of my remarks may, as he suggests, have given a wrong impression. I ought to have written " no vote would be taken by roll call in the Assembly on the question of the exclusion of the Soviet Union from the League," and I ought to have made it clear that the abstentions to which I more particularly referred were abstentions from the proposed application of the sub- section of Article 16 by which the Council subsequently declared that State to be no longer a member. That the Assembly's vote to provide material and humanitarian aid to Finland was unanimous was, I thought, common know- ledge, but I should have stated the fact explicitly. I con- fess, however, that it was precisely the question of exclusion which appeared to me to provide the (much diluted) acid test of the reality of the League as a political force. Perhaps, as Mr. Braatoy says, such a limited application of the sanc- tions clause " could hardly arouse any enthusiasm," but in that case one might also have expected it not to rouse any dissent.
As to the question of neutrals in a major war I agree, of course, with Mr. Braatoy that the problem is one of intoler- able difficulty. I purported only to give the impression left upon me by some of the individuals with whom I talked. It is, as he says, " within the bounds of possibility that present arrangements are welcome rather than otherwise "; it is also within the bounds of possibility that they are not. In this matter I conceive that when Mr. Braatoy and I desire to go behind appearances we both apply the same microscope— to wit, our individual judgements—and I see no reason why he should assume either that mine is based upon less careful inquiry than his own or that it must necessarily lead me to the same conclusion.—Yours 'faithfully, EILEEN POWER. Sm,—The brilliant article you publish by Prof. Eileen Power, " Geneva Impressions," makes sad and mordant reading. There is poor human nature expressed in all its tragically pitiable weaknesses : no wonder your contributor describes the marionettes as " The perpetual movement of maggots on the body of a corpse."
With regard to the Scandinavians, their attitude is perfectly clear : so long as they can get England and France to do their fighting for them they are perfectly content. Then, don't you see, they can follow the admirable practice they set up in the last war and wax fat and exceeding rich through their trade! It isn't working out quite like that this time, of course, which is one reason why they are so annoyed.
Their present indifference to the fate of their gallant neigh- bour, Finland, surpasses all understanding ; but overnight the situation will probably be changed—and then what?
Why, they will have something else to occupy their time and attention, and they will be fully occupied in pulling their own chestnuts out of the fire.—I am, &c., Sandridge, Newquay, Cornwall. SYDNEY HORLER.
Previous page
