THE SUCCESS OF THE - LEAGUE: [To the Editor of the
SPECTATOR.] SIR,—I was delighted on my return from a few days' visit to Geneva to read your article on " Italy and the League " ; but I was surprised to see in the same number that you be-' lievcd that the Treaty of Rapallo had never been registered by the League, for, in my humble judgment, the registering of that Treaty jointly by the Jugoslays and the Italians indicated in a very marked way the extent to which League principles have triumphed in the conflict with Mussolini.
For eight or nine months past Italy had let it be understood that she would consider the registering of that Treaty by Jugoslavia with the League of Nations as a hostile act on the part of Jugoslavia.
After the Corfu incident and Mussolini's defiance of the League, Jugoslavia gave notice of her intention to register the Treaty with the League. The Italians, so far from daring
to treat it as a hostile act, asked for three days' grace in order that they might register the Treaty jointly with Jugoslavia.
People over here seem to be obsessed with what Mussolini says for home consumption, and overlook deeds like the foregoing, which are far more impressive, to my mind, as an indication of the quiet pressure that the League has exerted.
Again, when I heard Signor Salandra's defence before the Council, what impressed me even more than the cynicism of the speech was his entire change of ground. Up to that moment Italy had maintained that no one was competent to interfere with her affairs ; but before the Council Salandra took the line that it was precisely because the whole question was being dealt with by another International Body—viz., the Conference of Ambassadors, that the question of the compe- tence of the League did not arise. Surely a very complete voile face.
Despite superficial appearances to the contrary, therefore, the League seems to me to have had a very distinct triumph- not of the dramatic sort, certainly, but of a much more permanent kind.
The League has provided the means of focussing the light of world public opinion upon the wrong-doer, and the workers of evil have always feared the light.—I am, Sir, &c.,
6 Windmill Hill, Hampstead, N.W. 3. STANLEY UNWIN.
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