We have written elsewhere about Mr. Chen's message to the
people of Great Britain. It is unnecessary to return here to that subject except to say that Mr. Chen's recognition that foreign trade is essential to China provides a good reason for hoping that there will be a diplomatic settlement with him before long. Mr. O'Malley has just made definite proposals at Hankow. Meanwhile many people arc asking why the help of the League of Nations is not invoked. The usual answer is that no Power is at war with China and that the civil war in China does not fall within the class of disputes with which the League can deal. This argument in itself does not seem to us adequate, as Article XI. of the Covenant authorizes any member to call the attention of the League to " any circumstance whatever . . . which threatens to disturb international peace."
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