Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1938, Page 206

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LE NORD
of the Mandates Commission and gave to that body the moral
support without which it might not have been able to discharge
with impartiality its duty to see that the Mandatory Powers were
carrying out their fiduciary obligations towards “peoples not yet
able to stand by themselves.”
Finally, it was very largely through Nansen’s help that the
Slavery Convention was framed and agreed to, and one more step
was taken towards the eradication of this secular Evil. Slavery
properly so-called may be said to have almost ceased to exist,
though there are still a number of conditions such as those of some
forms of Forced Labour in Africa, of the Mui Tsai in the Far
East and of the Peons in some of the South American States,
which approach unpleasantly near to servitude. Fiowever, com-
pared to the old days of the African slave trade with its horrible
mixture of greed and cruelty, we may hope that in this respect
at least humanity has made real progress.
Such, in very brief outline, is the history of Nansen’s work
at Geneva. It was of supreme value to his country, to Europe and
to the World. Fie stood for Peace and Progress with unfalling
sincerity and courage. A critic once described him as the enfant
terrible of the League. It is the fact that the truths he uttered were
not always agreeable to the ostriches of public life who believe
that by ignoring dangers and difficulties they can get rid of them.
Unfortunately, Nansen has, as I have said, left no successor.
FFe died in the Spring of 1930 at the very zenith of the League’s
influence and power. Since then it has steadily declined and the
reason is that the principles for which Nansen stood have been
abandoned. In the very next year after his death came the Man-
churian Crisis. Japan, without an excuse except territorial greed
and national ambition, invaded China. She chose her moment
well. Stresemann was dead; Briand was dying. The British Go-
vernment was in confusion. The Labour Government — the best
friends of the League that ever held office in my country — were
shattered by an economic crisis and internal dissensions. They
had been succeeded by a coalition Government whose Prime Mi-
nister was personally antipathetic to Geneva and whose Foreign
Secretary, a man of wide cultivation and great ability, unhappily
proved to be deficient in those qualities of courage and decision
which were essential to deal with Japanese aggression. For the
position was very difficult. Russia was not yet a member of the
League, and the Government of the United States was obsessed