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COMMENTAIRES. M IN U TES. (Page 1).

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Geneva. July / 1924,

4Dear S i r ,

1 mast apolog ise for the delay in the fgswer to your l e t t e r of May 20th 1924, concerning the Vilna question. I t arrived during the rush of work attendant upon the la s t Council Session .

' # ê s y o u s t a t e , there i s an item on theagenda fo r the. forthcoming se ss io n of the Assembly concerning the Polish/Lithuanian dispute. I quite r e a l i s e what advantages there would be, from the standpoint of American opinion, i f the Lea «me should take up that problem again and tiring i t to a conclusion which would per naps seem m ore'satis-Lithu^nians Vi6W tlle comPl a i n t s made by the

p„lQ , „„wT?,e+SU€Sîi o 5 o î î he fron tier between Poland and Lithuania has, however, been s e t t l e d bv the a u th o r it ie s which haâ the power to s e t t l e i t under th e arrangements made during the Peace Con-

i nT tile Conference of Mbassa-dors and Lithuania had requested th is body to feive

I t would therefore seen to be d i f f i c u l t to re-open the question of the boundary unless both parties should be agreeable to suchΣÎÎ?S* dL not f e î ] th2t » even i f the League should r e f e r the question to the International Court o f Ju st ice - - a s proposed by the Lithuanians Î5 e 1 solution of the matter would be a l te red The A l l ie d au th or it ies who fixed the frontier did* as a matter of fact , fo llow the provisional fro n ­t ier suggested by the Council of the League, but they were not obliged to do so, and as they have f i 7 ® î he*r f in a l dec is ion on the matter, I b e l iev e that th ere might be ju s t complaints on t&e P o lish side, i f they should attempt a r e v is io n of th e ir ' f ina l dec is ion .

. , . . I ^ v e gone in to these various po ints ,not for the purpose o f showing that the present s itu a t io n i s completely sa t is fa c to ry , but to in - aicate uhat the League o f Bâtions i s an organisation §+* +imited powers. I t is not in any sense a super State - despite the assertions o f some of our

fAnguished c it ize n s - and fo r that very r eason i L i S | n. a Position to do a g r e a t many things

f îriends and perhaps i t s most ardent sup­porters in America would desire.

personally have never pretended that the

William Montryn Esq.

League of Nations was p er fe c t , but I do b e l iev e th a t i t s record shows that i t has done more to bring about international co-operation d irected towards the u lt im ate prevention of war than any other organisation which has ever ex is ted . If the United S ta te s should g iv e more of a helping hand than i t does at the present time, I f ee l convinced that the resu lts of League a c t ion would be more s a t i s fa c to r y to th ose &nericans who de­mand complete im partia lity and fairness on the part of the League.

I q u ite understand the s p ir i t in which you write your l e t t e r , and I trust you w i l l appre­c ia t e that I am replying in an equally frank and open manner, a s I believe th a t I may do so in a personal way and as a fe l lo w -Amer lean.

Yours very s incerely ,

3 6 ô v - t

422 F r a n c i s Avenue, S c h e n e c t a d y , N. Y . , 2 0 t h Lay , 1 9 2 4 .

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SIB EBIG DHUMMOUD, yS e c r e t a r y - G e n e r a l , x s e - O î L,L e a g u e of M a t i o n s , G e n e v a , S w i t z e r l a n d .

H o n o u r a b l e S i r : -

* V

We h a v e r e c e i v e d t h e m o s t welcome n e w s t h a t t h e L e a g u e o f N a t i o n s h a s s c o r e d a g r e a t t r i u m p h when L i t h u a n i a on S a t u r d a y , l a s t , r a t i ­f i e d t h e Mem e l C o n v e n t i o n f r a m e d by Mr. N orm an H. D av i s and h i s n e u t r a l c o m m i s s i o n a p p o i n t e d by t h e L e a g u e . S u c h p u b l i c i t y i s a g r e a t b o o s t f o r t h e League i n t h i s , c o u n t r y .

U n f o r t u n a t e l y , h o w e v e r , when some p r o - .League p e r i o d i c a l e m p h a s i z e s t h e Mem e l s e t t l e m e n t , t h e a n t i - L e a g a e r s p o i n t o u t w i t h g r e a t e r e m p h a s i s ’ t h e V iln a f a i l u r e , w h ic h h u r t s t h e c a u s e g r e a t l y . A p p a r e n t l y x i i t h u a n i a i s d e t e r m i n e d i n n o t a c c e p t i n g t h e d e c i s i o n o f t h e C o u n c i l o f A m b a s s a d o r s , w h i c h d e c i s i o n f l a g r a n t l y v i o l a t e s a l l p r e v i o u s d e c l a r a t i o n s o f t h e L e a g u e .

I t a k e t h e l i b e r t y t o w r i t e w h e t h e r t h r o u g h y o u r i n s t r u m e n t a l i t y t h e V i l n a d i s p u t e c o u l d n o t b e h a n d l e d s i m i l a r l y t o t h e k e r n e l c a s e . I n t h e l a s t r e p o r t o f t h e g e n e r a l m e e t i n g o f t h e L e a g u e , h e l d i n S e p t e m b e r , t h e r e i s a n i t e m r e g a r d i n g V i l n a , which i s t o be b r o u g h t up a t t h e f o r t h c o m i n g g e n e r a l m e e t ­i n g . 1 t r u s t t h a t t h e s i n i s t e r p r o p a g a n d a w h i c h h a s t h u s f a r p r e v e n t e d a m u t u a l s e t t l e m e n t o f t h e V i l n a a f f a i r w i l l n o t s e r v e t o h a v e t h e L e a g u e r e ­j e c t any r e a s o n a b l e a d v a n c e s p u t f o r t h by L i t h u a n i a i n r e g a r d t o V i l n a .

I t w o u l d a i d t h e L e a g u e c a u s e i m m e n s e l y i n t fh i s c o u n t r y , w e re t h e L e a g u e f i n a l l y s u c c e s s f u l i n s o l v i n g t h e V i ln a d i s p u t e . P e r h a p s t h e r e i s y e t a way, and c e r t a i n l y t h e Meme 1 s e t t l e m e n t o u g h t t o g i v e e n c o u r a g e m e n t .

ï h e P o l e s and L i t h u a n i a n s sh tfu ld b e made t o

r e a l i z e t h a t t h e L e a g u e s t r i v e s f o r r i g h t e o u s n e s s .The V i l n a d i s p u t e h a s b e e n p r o l o n g e d u n n e c e s s a r i l y , and t h o u g h t h e A m b a s s a d o r s would r e g a r d i t a s a s e t t l e d m a t t e r , no o n e i n t h i s c o u n t r y c o n s i d e r s i t l e g a l l y o r m o r a l l y s e t t l e d . The d e c i s i o n o f t h e C o u n c i l o f A m b a s s a d o r s , I am s u r e , i s w h o l l y one­s i d e d .

I n t h e name o f t h e L e a g u e ’ s c a u s e , m i g h t 1 a s k t h a t y o u n o t d i s r e g a r d a n y j u s t a p p e a l s f o r a m u t u a l s e t t l e m e n t o f t h e P o l i s h - L i t h u a n i a n b o u n d a r y d i s p u t e V My i n t e r e s t i s b a s e d w h o l l y on s e e i n g t h e c a u s e o f t h e L e a g u e o f N a t i o n s a d v a n c e d and c h a m p io n e d i n t h i s c o u n t r y , as I b e l i ’eve t h a t e v e n t u a l l y , i f t h e U n i t e d b t a t e s i s c o n v i n c e d t h a t t h e L e a g u e i s i m p a r t i a l and f a i r i n a l l r e s p e c t s , our c o u n t r y w i l l s e e f i t t o j o i n t h a t i n s t i t u t i o n .

I b e g of you n o t t o t h i n k i t i m p u d e n t o f m e t o a d d r e s s y o u t h u s , b u t I am s u r e y o u w i l l u n d e r s t a n d what p r o m p t s me t o w r i t e y o u .

T h a n k i n g you i n a n t i c i p a t i o n , I r em a in ,

WM: JD

Most r e s p e c t f u l l y .

P . b . 1 m i g h t m e n t i o n t h a t Mr. b a v i s h a s , i n a r e c e n t a r t i c l e i n "t h e Hew York T im es , r e m a r k e d t h a t h e b e l i e v e d t h a t t h e V i l n a q u e s t i o n i s much n e a r e r s e t t l e m e n t i n v i e w o f t h e s u c c e s s f u l n e g o t i a t i o n s w i t h r e s p e c t t o Mem e l . P e r h a p s y o u have s e e n t h i s a r t i c l e . 1 am s u r e , h o w e v e r , t h a t t h e V i ln a c a s e i s o n ly o p e n e d t o s e t t l e m e n t j u s t a s t h e Memel d i s p u t e w a s h a n d l e d .

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