FLOUTING JAPAN
[To the Editor of THE SPEcrAzon.]
Sra,—A few days ago-I had a letter from an old and respected British resident of Tokyo from which I take the following :
" I think the League of Nations is making a mess of Far Eastern matters in flouting Japan—the only poaible preserver of peace out here. I lived in Canton and Shanghai during the anti-British boycott that ran from 1925-1927. The anti-Japanese boycott from 1927-28 onward long pro-dated any retaliatory action on the part of Japan. The Lytton Report is historically unfair to Japan and its authors would do better to take a course in tho writings of Woodhead or Bland or Dillon."
The noble Earl himself seems to be largely responsible for the League's failure to date to make peace, which will not be furthered by " pressure " and " discrimination." Manchukuo has as " efficient a Government " as any other part of China, and the Press reports of the co-operation of thirty thousand Manchukuans in clearing Jehol would show that Government to be as " acceptable to the people of the country " as any war-lord's, despite China's bluff and propaganda.—I am, The Hermitage, Worcester Park, Surrey.
[Lord Lytton's judgement, concurred in by all his four colleagues, and endorsed by the representatives of forty-two
Governments, may perhaps be held to outweigh even the dicta of Messrs. Woodlicad, Bland and Dillon.—ED. The Spectator.]
Previous page
