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aroused as during a Great War. Lawn Tennis owes so much to Mlle Lenglen, whose genius has revolutionized the game as it used to be played by her sex, that we sincerely hope she will not take the untoward incidents of this disagreeable affair too seriously-that she will realize that a certain type of American has a mania for "boosting" everything and anything done by any of his compatriots, and that one of the commonest tricks of the booster is to make anyone's opponent ridiculous by putting into their mouths absurdities they had never thought of uttering. Miss Helen Wills, we may be sure, will emerge unscathed from this trying ordealshe is not called "Little Miss Poker Face" for nothing. She realizes that Lawn Tennis is a game and not a profession, still less a tragedy, and she is credited with having said: "I would rather get a picture into the French Salon than beat Mlle Lenglen." We cannot tell from the over-excited accounts whether these ladies had a particularly good game or whether they enjoyed it, which is the essence of all games. We only know that Mlle Lenglen won-as it had been generally anticipated by competent judges-by 6-3, 8-6. The second set was close, and the American champion has nothing to regret. She is only twenty, and is far from the top of her form, but she has yet to be pitted against Mlle Lenglen at the top of hers. However, so sound a judge as Mr. S. N. Doust, who does not allow himself to be carried away by the emotions of the moment, regards Miss Wills as capable of achieving supremacy. As we go to Press it is announced that France has won two brilliant victories in the American Indoor Lawn Tennis Championship in New York, when on the same day M. Borotra beat Mr. Tilden by 13-11, 6-3, and M. Lacoste beat Mr. Vincent Richards by 6—4, 6-2. These were " feats.

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GERMANY AND THE COUNCIL

(Without being official, semi-official, or inspired, this article may be regarded as reflecting the views of competent Polish circles.)

THE League of Nations is weathering another of its periodical crises. A report has been spread abroad that three permanent members are to be added to its Council, and at once many of our leading newspapers and publicists are off in full cry. Articles are quoted from Berlin which allege a breach of faith with Germany and which go on not obscurely to hint that Germany may no longer persevere with its application to be admitted to League membership. Panic-stricken headlines, such as "Undoing Locarno,' "The Geneva Plot," and "The League in Danger the order of the day. On the assumption that Poland is one of the States thus to be preferred, much diligence is shown in disinterring certain age-worn accusations against that country. Much of this is neither accurate nor profitable, but it is amazing that a lease of immortality can be granted to entirely erroneous statements which have once gained currency.

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Why should there be so much embittered ado about perfectly honest suggestions? Is it quite impossible to get back to the genuine Locarno atmosphere ? Is it not greatly to be deplored that whenever any fresh step is proposed to be taken in the interests of European appeasement, it should be met by some kind of suggestion that it is a breach of faith with Germany? Surely these thinly veined threats are being bandied about a little too often. The gloved fist may induce dismay on the first occasion, but when it is shaken again and again it begins to lose most of its old arresting power.

Is it not amazing, too, that in such circumstances as these the Executive Committee of the League of Nations Union, with Professor Gilbert Murray in the chair, should meet and oppose all further increase at the present time of permanent seats on the Council, alleging that this would expose the League to what it nervously calls grave perils"? It is true that, in order to give some kind of support to this allegation, the assumption is imported into the text of its resolution that this change when it 4

VOL. LXXXVII

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comes will be "sudden and unconsidered." Why should it necessarily be either? If the League of Nations Union would purge itself of an unduly nervous spirit, and the others who join it in unreservedly welcoming Germany into the permanent ranks of the League Council would follow its example, then there would be ample opportunity to secure that all accusations of ill-considered haste should be falsified by the event.

No one who has made anything of a study of the evolution of post-war events can be surprised that the time has come for a consideration of the allotment of fresh permanent seats on the League Council. The addition of two to the elected members in 1922 showed that it was not intended to stereotype the initial arrangements for a considerable length of time. New States have continued to join the League, and the entry of Germany, to say the least of it, opens a new chapter in its history. A new chapter means more challenging situations, and the Constitution adequate for the old is not necessarily adequate to meet the demands of the new. Of course the League is something of a great adventure, and in the coming years it will have to cut the knot of many intricate problems. If it has not the heart to do this, it has not the heart to adapt itself to the needs of a constantly changing environment. Surely it is not, as some of its admirers would suppose, a frail, fragile thing, too precious for the light of day! And if it has to face the demands of the day, it will do its duty better with the aid of permanent members with a firsthand acquaintance of possible differences than if it were, as the Germans would have it, a second edition of the Vienna Congress.

What really, then, was the dominating idea in the minds of the first founders of the Council of the League ? This first Council comprised four permanent and four temporary members, but as it was always assumed that Germany and the United States would be given a place at no distant date, this practically meant that the permanent members were intended to constitute a constant majority. Neither Germany nor the United States, however, were in any hurry to enter, and the increase in the temporary membership, which followed in 1922, disturbed the original conception. But it was only natural that, on the occurrence of such a decisive event as Germany's actual entry into the League, some reversion should be proposed to the original conception. And once the inevitability of such a proposal is conceded, it cannot be deemed surprising that,

in the search for the new recruits, those who assumed the responsibility for determining the League policy should have inclined their favour towards the nations which, in area and population, came nearest to those already known as the Powers. Poland, for example, is the fifth European State in population and also the fifth in superficial area. Spain, on the other hand, though less than Poland in population, comes even higher in superficial area.

The critics in the Press, however, discover in this natural concourse of events the materials of a deep-seated plot. The admission of these other Powers to the permanent sanctities of the League Council would mean the first step to the initiation of a "Latin block," which is for ever to bar the progress of Germany towards an effective realization of her just claims. France, in the views of this oversuspicious coterie, is the head and front of the offending. It is she especially who is assumed to have pushed forward the claims of Poland, while Spain and Brazil are brought into the account because, if they had not, it was feared that ultimately they might spoil the game. But once any one of these is added to the permanent Board, the additional member or members would act in co-operation with France in the interest of self and friends. How ridiculous it all appears! And how hopeless is the condition of mind to which such suspicions testify! One might almost imagine that those who fondly cherish such desperate thoughts had forgotten that unanimity is the rule in the Council and not the domination of a manufactured majority. Already these same critics are telling us that Sweden may interpose her "Liberum Veto" to the new proposals. If that is so, how could France and her assumed satellites lord it in the Council?

After all, there is no occasion for panic or despair. It cannot be forgotten, as has already been mentioned, that several times in the past when some course was proposed disagreeable to influential sections of German opinion, sinister suggestions were made and meticulous dispatches issued from Berlin which seemed to herald the failure of every attempt made to discover a settlement for the postwar difficulties. Were there not, even before Locarno, mutterings which appeared to be the prelude of revolt ? And did it not appear to be the right course then, as it certainly appears to be the right course now, to continue enlightened consideration of the new suggestions in the broadest and most comprehensive spirit, convinced that the solution, when it comes as a result of all such a searching

of hearts, will commend itself by its own inherent reasonableness?

What, in fact, is the underlying motive of all these suggestions for an increase in the permanent personnel of the Council? What, to come to the root of the matter, is the whole aim and object of the League of Nations itself ? Not even in the opinion of any of those States believed to be manoeuvring for place to serve as the arena for dark intrigues, but to serve as a humble instrument for the general pacification of Europe. For such an assumed peace Europe eagerly longs. It is the condition of all progress. It is the only guarantee for the resumption and perpetuation of normal trade relations over the European continent. At the same time, it cannot be denied or ignored that there are obstacles towards the resumption of normal political or trade relations which have inevitably to be faced and overcome. And of these, perhaps, the most formidable is the attitude of Germany towards her territorial losses on her eastern frontiers. Not many days ago a Nationalist meeting was held at Königsberg which telephoned an infuriated resolution to President Hindenburg demanding the restitution to the Fatherland of all the territory which has been taken from Germany as the result of the war. Two swallows do not make a summer, and there are no doubt other influences in Germany working in quite a contrary direction. But it cannot truthfully be denied that the pre-war conception of a Germany with contiguous territories in uninterrupted railway communication, which can most effectively be organized for military purposes-the idea which haunted the mind and inspired the policy of Frederick the Great and the Great Electorstill to this day exerts its fascination on German habits of thought, and it is practically certain that, under the influence of this idea, the Council of the League of Nations will, earlier or later, have to come to the wisest decisions on proposals to reopen certain vexed territorial questions which may be urged by Germany on its acceptance.

How, in the presence of such contingencies as this, is it most advisable that the Council of the League should be constituted? Apparently, in the opinion of those who have engineered the present panic, it is most desirable that the Council should have as its permanent members a strictly limited number of pre-eminent Powers who would act as the Big Five, and because of their continual presence and consequently their uninterrupted experience at the Council Board, should practically dictate the whole

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