No ceremony could have been more agreeable than the presenta-
tion to Lord Cecil of his bust by Siegfried Charoux at Chatham House on Wednesday, and no tribute better deserved than that paid to the League of Nations veteran by Mr. Churchill, arriving hot-foot from a characteristic skirmish with Mr. Morrison at the House of Commons. For all his 81 years Lord Cecil spoke with astonishing vitality, and his opening reflections on the bust ("I only hope I may sometimes look like that "; "A photograph of it looked like a representation of one of the early Roman Emperors—not perhaps one of the more respectable ones") shaded rapidly off into an impressive warning of the gravity of the present situation, with the alternatives between civilisation and anarchy depending on whether international collaboration became a reality or not. Between Mr. Lionel Curtis's assertion that Lord Cecil was the founder of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, where the presentation took place, and Lord Cecil's that Mr. Curtis was, no decision is necessary. The honour may justly and properly be shared.
Previous page
