Assembly

Two Assemblies. Last week the world of diplomacy grew crosseyed with looking simultaneously towards Geneva and Aix-les-Bains. It was all due to the Protocol.* At Geneva the French were trying to revamp the Protocol before the League. At Aix, where Premier Baldwin is vacationing, France and England were prepairing to call in Germany to draw up a Security Pact,/- which would largely take the place of the League Protocol. The World stood by and wondered, as statesmen-accoucheurs labored to bring forth a robust infant, Status Quo, in two places at once.

At Geneva the League opened with a fanfare and a crush which it has never equaled. For the first time there was standing room only and not enough of that in the Press Box. Mrs. Woodrow Wilson was showered with bouquets. The Maharajah of Patralia (India) wore a blue turban, pink earrings, gold bracelets, frock coat. Senator Raoul Dandurand/= of Canada was elected President of the present League Assembly (the 6th) on the first ballot and took up his duties; to the satisfaction of the Commonwealth because he is Canadian, to the delight of France because he is of French-Canadian descent. Said he: "It is not to myself but to my country that this great honor was paid."

Three Speeches. During the week, the most notable assembly speeches all bore upon the protocal: 1) Premier Paul Painleve of France asserted that his country had in no way abandoned the Protocol, expressed a strong desire to see it revived, and added, "no project for the maintenance of Peace will be effective unless it have root in the League." 2) Mr. Austen Chamberlain then again torpedoed the Protocol, in the name of Britain, declaring that it would act merely to punish and not to prevent "international crime" (i.e., War). He implied that Britain had a distrust for "elaborate schemes" and preferred an extra-League Security Treaty, for the present. 3) He was answered by M. Paul Boncour, for France, on whom the dead Viviani's mantle as an orator has descended, in a pro-League speech of wonderful eloquence but neglegible moment.

General Business. 1) Mosul: the Turks, ever more than a match for European statesmen, muddled the whole matter (TIME, Sept. 14 and ante) by refusing to accept the League's adjudication of the Mosul border, and demanding that a plebiscite be taken, and the whole matter reopened. 2) China: Chao Hsin-Chu, Chinese Charge d'Affaires at London, begged the League to deliver his country from "the yoke of extra-territoriality." 3) Autria: a protest was entered against the Austrian budget, as set by the League, it being claimed that State employes would be paid less than starvation wages under the present arrangement.

At Aix-les-Bains. famed* spa since Roman times, Mrs. Stanley Baldwin, wife of the British Premier, had (according to despatches) set her teapot hospitably a-boiling and taken up a book of crossword puzzles. Came M. Painleve and M. Briand. The unnatural beverage burned their lips, and the foreign crosswords drove them to distraction. Relieved, they turned to lesser matters. M. Briand with an attentive ear cocked toward Premier Baldwin, Foreign Minister Vandervelde of Belgium, Signore Scialoia representing Mussolini, and not oblivious of Foreign Ministers Benes of Czecho-Slovakia and Skezynski of Poland, drafted an invitation in the name of the Allied Powers to Foreign Minister Stresemann of Germany.

The invitation sent to Germany was in the form of an Allied Note inviting the Reich to participate in security negotiations at a time and place unstated, probably in October) with a view to arriving at guarantees for the Rhine frontier. The note was so worded, however, that in accepting it Germany will be practically forced to enter into guarantees concerning the Czecho-Slovakian and Polish frontiers in which France is highly interested.

The Significance. Of course what is aimed at is a British-French-Italian-Belgian- Polish-Czecho-Slovakian-German treaty to preserve the status quo. And even Mrfl Chamberlain has guardedly admitted that with so many nations involved the whole matter, "together with other reginal agreements dealing with special relations," may eventually be welded "into one League system."

German Reaction. If foreign Minister Stresemann accepts M. Briand's invitation (and he can scarcely refuse), he will find himself in a deal of German hot water. All of the German political camps want the Rhine frontier and the Polish -Czecho-Slovakian frontier Questions settled at different conferences; in the hope that one can be played off against the other to the Reich's advantage. The Right (conservative) Party considers the Allied note to be a command and an affront to Germany, has called upon Minister Stresemann to refuse flatly to negotiate.

*During the past two years persevering efforts have been made to devise some scheme which would bring an adequate force to bear upon maintaining peace and the status quo in Europe, since it had come to be felt that the League, lacking U. S. asistance, had not this power. Numerous plans were presented before the League. One of these, "The American Plan" or "Draft Treaty of Disarmament", in which General Tasker H. Bliss, Prof. Shotwell of Columbia and numerous Americans had a leading part (TIME, May 12, 1924) was taken under advisement by the League and development into "The Protocol" (TIME, Oct. 13, 1924; March 16 and 23, 1925) which had for its keynotes: "Maintenance of the status quo by compulsory arbitration, affecting both members and non-members of the League." France and 47 other nations signed this Protocol. Britannia realizing that if it was put into effect her friend Uncle Sam, a nonmember of the League, might resent being, "compulsorily arbitrated" and make trouble refused to sign and knocked the matter on the head.

/- With the fall of the Protocol statemen abandoned the League as a valid champion of the status quo and returned toward the old system of security compacts or treaties. Germany cried aloud that she needed to be protected, and offered: a) To forget Alsace, b) To guarantee the French and possibly the Polish Czecho-Slovakia frontiers (TIME, Aug. 13) in return for guarantees as to her own safety from Britain and France. Since then the exchange of "notes" and "conversations" has been endless. Britain has shown an inclination toward the business and has talked about having Germany enter the League. Now it seems that an extra-League Security Pact is to be drawn up.

/= A former member of the British Privy Council, a noted attorney. Born at Montreal, 1861 ; atended Montreal College and McGill University. He has been a lawyer since 1883: a Senator since 1898 ; and speaker of The Dominion Senate from 1905 to 1909. France and Belgium decorated him during the War.

*The medicinal springs at Aix are famed for their efficiency in curing eczema, rheumatism, catarrh, gout, and scrofula.