Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1939, Page 292
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LE NORD
In our view it is untenable that some of the articles of the
Covenant, more especially the article dealing with the reduction
of armaments, should remain a dead letter, while other provisions
continue to be applied.” “Calling attention to the fact that direc-
tives for implementing Article 16 were passed in 1921, we declare
that as long as the Covenant as a whole is only implemented in an
imperfect and inconsistent way, we find ourselves obliged to take
this circumstance in consideration in applying the article in quest-
ion.”
During the following period the international situation be-
came more and more critical. In these circumstances, the Northern
States have time and again emphasized that conception of neu-
trality with which they have identified themselves for so manv
years. In July 1938 the foreign ministers of the Oslo powers, as-
sembled in Copenhagen to discuss the international situation, is-
sued the following declaration:
“They recognize that the present situation gives occasion for
serious apprehension, but they continue to hope and trust that
both the peoples and the statesmen concerned will take the neces-
sary steps to arrive at a peaceable solution of the various grave
problems with which they are faced. The seven countries repre-
sented in Copenhagen, for their part, are ready to take an active
share in all international endeavours at reconciliation, in a spirit
of independence and of impartiality towards the different group-
ings of powers.” “In the conviction that their States should con-
tinue to participate in the work of the League of Nations, they
note that their Governments are resolved to maintain the line of
conduct which they have defined in declaring that they regard
the sanctions system, under the present conditions and according
to the practice followed during the past years, as having a non-
obligatory character.”
Since then, the world situation has become greatly aggravated.
We in Denmark have not given up the hope that peace can be
preserved in spite of the antagonisms which divide the Great
Powers, and many other States, in mutually hostile groups. We
trust that the statesmen and the peoples of all countries are ani-
mated by a strong desire to preserve peace.
If, nevertheless, war should break out, Denmark will pursue
a policy of equeable and impartial neutrality. This is a point on
which there is complete unanimity among all sections of Danish
opinion. It is not a policy that may change according to the mood
of the moment; it is the natural consequence of Denmark’s geo-