A SPECTATOR 'S NOTEBOOK
THE idea that Mr. Churchill might be the first Secretary-General of U.N.O. lends a certain zest to life. I see that optimistic stress is laid on the fact that when die suggestion was put to him on his arrival in America he practised tactics of evasion rather than of direct denial. But it would need some faith on the part of the Security Council to nominate for a five-year term a man who is already seventy-one, even if that man be the ex-Premier. Mr. Eden is a different case. He combines with youth experience and wide popularity. If he is willing to be considered, as there is some reason to think he may be, he is obviously a strong candidate. With the examples of such chivalry as Canada and New Zealand have set in the last few days, the British Government could hardly take excep- tion to the late Foreign Secretary on party grounds. Meanwhile, the Russians are credited with favouring one or two quite different candidates on the interesting principle of pushing A or B with the idea of keeping out C or D. But with it all I am inclined to think that if there is to be money on anyone it should be on Mr. Lester Pearson of Canada.
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The announcement that Sir Arnold McNair, Professor of Com- parative Law at Cambridge, is to be the British nominee for the Bench of the International Court of Justice raises questions not of personality but of principle. If a Professor is to be chosen at all no one would cavil for a moment at Sir Arnold. He has a great deal of valuable experience as secretary and chairman of many official committees. But a Bench of Professors would wear a rather un- impressively academic look, and the case for appointing a Judge who has attained distinction in municipal legal practice is strong. It is peculiarly strong, indeed, for one particular reason. Never in the world's history has there been so notable an example of the administration of international law as is taking place today at Nuremberg. By the time the trial there ends the eight Nuremberg Judges will have acquired experience unique among the jurists of the world. Nothing would confer on the new International Court of Justice weight and prestige comparable to what it would achieve if Great Britain nominated to it Sir Geoffrey Lawrence or Sir Norman Birkett and the United States Mr. Francis Biddle or Judge Parker, and France and Russia followed suit.
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The attainment of a century of existence—which the News Chronicle, so far as concerns one of the strands of its quadruple thread of life, achieves on Monday—confers an air of venerable respectability ; as one who, in a manner of speaking, reached that notable milestone some seventeen years ago, I speak what I know. But the News Chronicle spokesmen would be wise not to play Charles Dickens too hard. It is true that he was the first editor of the Daily News when it came to birth on January 21, 1846, but he 'held the office for rather less than three weeks, and by all accounts sat singu- larly light to his duties during that brief period. The fact is that the great novelist was about as well qualified for a daily paper editor- ship as Mr. Mantalini, and if he had stayed where he was much longer the News Chronicle would be celebrating no centenary today. The great names in the Daily News' career are those of Sir John Robinson, Sir E. T. Cook and A. G. Gardiner as editors, and of Archibald Forbes, whose despatches to the News during the Franco- Prussian war rivalled those of W. H. Russell to The Times in the Crimean War. As long as it was the Daily News pure and simple, down, that is to say, to 1909, the paper was the mouthpiece of a vigorous and uncompromising Liberalism. Subsequent changes of one kind and another have shifted it, as the News Chronicle, to
what may perhaps best be described as indeterminate Lib.-Lab. Left. * * * It is riot very clear ,why it should have been thought necessary to appoint a committee to consider "from all aspects" the future of the John Nash terraces adjoining Regent's Park. From the architectural and town-planning aspects there is surely nothing to consider except their speedy restoration to their earlier state. Internal modifications there will no doubt have to be. There is no reason why the interiors of these houses should not be as comfortable and up-to-date as their exteriors are elegant and mellow. These are the day-to-day tasks of competent architects and builders, and will no doubt be assigned to them in due course. Presumably the committee will be more closely occupied with the more ominous of its terms of reference— the "financial aspects" and the question of "future adaptation or replacement to meet modern requirements." It is to be hoped that the modern requirement that as much as possible of Regency England shall remain will be given due consideration. There is not much else, indeed, worth considering.
An old desk emerging from store has yielded up a forgotten picture- postcard of some interest. It was addressed to the Editor of this journal in 1936 from Bad Nauheim, and bears on its back a picture of "German youth greeting the Fiihrer," who is benevolently con- versing with one of the four small boys (very attractive small boys) depicted, and on its front the communication: "Dear Sir,
The English people have much to learn about Hitler. Hitler is loved by the children of Germany. There must be a reason. Rulers inspire awe, not love."
I withhold the signature, which is that of an Englishman ; he may possibly have changed his view by this time, after ten years' .oppor- tunity to "learn about Hitler." But those ten-year-old German boys—what, one wonders, have they turned into meanwhile? * * * *
Never was there a better example of the fallacy of judging pro- fessional capacity by calendar years than is provided by Mr. W. Hadley, the editor of the Sunday Times, who keeps his eightieth birthday on the day this issue of The Spectator appears. He has held his present office since 1932, and during a short illness a month or two ago some question did cross his mind as to whether he was good for another decade. But I imagine he no more entertains soch a doubt now than any of his friends do or could, for he manifests not the smallest abatement of vigour, mental or physical. After all, Le Sage, of the Daily Telegraph, was in harness well after 86; and no
doubt there are other precedents. * * *
A reference was made in this column a few weeks ago to the flotation of a company styling itself British Universities Press, Ltd., though it had no connection of any kind with any British university. I gather that as a result of the attention drawn to the matter in various quarters, it has been definitely decided that the name of the company may be changed. So proper a decision on the part of its directors will win general appreciation—and should incidentally set a good example to other publishing-houses which have incorporated in their title the word "university" without the smallest warrant.
JANUS.
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