Abyssinia and the League The decision of the League of
Nations Assembly to permit the Ethiopian Delegation to retain its place during the present session, without prejudice to the future, is a welcome assertion of the League's independ- ence against the attempts of Signor Mussolini to force the delegation's expulsion as price of the return of Italian delegates to Cein6va.. It has to be recognised that the League was faced with a real dilemma. It cannot be said that no Abyssinian Government exists, for there is undoubtedly an administration of a kind functioning at Gore. But whether, with the Emperor a ' fugitive in Europe, it can be claimed to be a government qualified for representation at Geneva is quite another matter. And there is every likelihood that as soon as the rains end, which will be soon now, the Italians will advance to Gore and beyond ; at any rate their aeroplanes can make Gore untenable. Moreover the League's concession to the Ethiopians of " the benefit of the doubt " comes late and means little. The League long ago abandoned Abyssinia to her fate. The Assembly resolution of lait July calling sanctions off robbed the Emperor of his last hope. Unless League States propose now to reverse their policy and organise resistance to Italy afresh, which is, of course, unbelievable, it is hard to see whit is gained by maintaining the fiction of Abyssinian integrity and independence after allowing it, in fact, to be destroyed. Having thrown over. idealism the League might as well have stuck to realism. None the less there are few of us who do not feel emotional satis- faction at its decision.
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