General Smuts on the World
4s a veteran both of wars and of Peace Conferences, General Smuts speaks with unique authority on such a subject as world-settlement. His broadcast of last Sunday, moreover, is commended by the speaker's refusal to relapse into any facile optimism. It may, indeed, seem optimistic to affirm that the world is probably safe from inter- national war for a generation, and perhaps for two, but when it comes to surveying the initial work of U.N.O., General Smuts, familiar with the theory and practice of international organisation since the days when he was helping to shape the League of Nations in 1919, is ruthlessly candid in his judgements. The debates in the Security Council, the insistence on the power of veto and its irresponsible use by certain Powers, have made the worst impression on the world, and speakers at the thousands of meetings held in support of the United Nations this week have found their difficulties considerably accentuated thereby. But the grounds for hope very definitely exceed the grounds for pessimism. It is a solid advantage to have Russia within the Organisation, whatever problems her presence there may create. It. is a greater advantage that America, absent from the League of Nations, is supporting the United Nations with energy and conviction. It is of equal importance, and from no, one does the testimony come better than from General Smuts, that British policy is -consistently disinterested and constructive. None the less, the eternal bickering at the Security Council and the Paris Conference does beyond question create profound uneasiness in the world, and every means of ensuring its discontinuance must be sought. General Smuts assigns that task to the four Foreign Ministers. It may be that the General Assembly of the United Nations, when it meets this month, will succeed in expressing the collective opinion of the world on that subject even more effectively..
