The High Contracting Parties

These special organisations are in some respects the most in teresting feature of the League as an administrative machine. They consist for the most part of permanent committees, com posed of specialists and experts drawn either from the depart ments of the national Governments or from private institutions. These experts live and work normally in their own countries, and have the special knowledge of national forces and conditions, and possess the national influence, which no purely international officials can retain. But they meet periodically as members of a regular organisation. By this system, which follows closely the principles of the inter-Allied central organisation built up in the later years of the World War, the League obtains an execu tive instrument more expert, more effective and more economi cal than could possibly be obtained by the unaided service of its own whole-time officers. It binds together the national adminis trations of the world and forms them into an instrument of in ternational work. More than this, it permeates with its own spirit those who in their own countries are carrying on national work which reacts on the interests of other countries.

In these eight years thousands of such persons, no small pro portion of those who throughout the world are forming and ex ecuting the policies which determine international relations, have learnt, in regular co-operation with those of corresponding posi tion in other countries, the international point of view. It is thus a system which, apart from its direct utility, effects a peace ful penetration of the League point of view into national systems. In this elaborate and elastic system the permanent secretariat is the uniting element—the "coupling." Its importance results from the immense range and variety of the organs which it serves, and from the fact that these organs consist of councils, commis sions or committees meeting periodically, not in permanent ses sion, and consisting of persons whose main work is elsewhere, in their respective countries.

It is the task of the League to prevent political disputes caus ing war. It is most successful where it has been able by patient work in improving international relations, to remove the causes of disputes before they arise. In this wider sense most of the work of the League has a political aspect. In its mandates and minorities work, for example, the League is continually trying to establish conditions which will diminish the risks of future conflict ; and in such a piece of international co-operation as the reconstruction of Hungary, the existence of political differences constituted one of the main obstacles to success, and their settle ment one of its main rewards. The definite political disputes threatening to disturb international relations and, in some cases, the peace of the world, which have been submitted to the League of Nations are treated in this work under the individual headings, but something must be said here to illustrate the methods by which the League discharges its primary responsibility of pre serving the peace.

The first of these disputes (192o-21) was between Sweden and Finland over the Aland Islands and resulted in a most notable success. The second (192o-22) about Vilna (q.v.) was no less definitely a failure. The third issue, Upper Silesia in 1921 resulted from the incompleteness of the provision of the Treaty of Ver sailles. The settlement, of which details are given in the article SILESIA, has been considerably criticized both in Germany and Great Britain. It must be remembered, however, that the League had'no authority to fix an ideal frontier line, but only to apply the treaty provisions. At least a decision was reached, a long-standing cause of dissension between the Allies was removed, work was resumed and rioting ceased. In a further case, an invasion of Albania (q.v.) in 1921 by Yugo-Slav troops was successfully arrested. The Memel (q.v.) case (1923) is another instance of a peace treaty question handed over to the League because the Allies, acting through their normal machineries, had been unable to settle it. The Council, after enquiry through an impartial Corn mission, secured the acceptance of a convention by both parties.

The Corfu Dispute.

A much more important dispute, affect ing a principal Power, was brought before the League in the autumn of 1923. An Italian general and his staff, who were engaged as representatives of the Conference of Ambassadors in fixing the frontier between Albania and Greece, were murdered on Greek soil, by persons unknown, on Aug. 27, 1923. The Italian Government demanded reparation and apologies of the Greek Government, who accepted some of the conditions and refused others. The Italian naval authorities thereupon occupied the island of Corfu, loss of life occurring in the operation (see CORFU). Greece appealed to the League, but also stated her willingness to accept any decision of the Conference of Ambassadors. The posi tion of the Conference, as a body whose decision both parties agreed to accept and as itself directly interested, made the formal competence of the Council doubtful. The Council therefore con fined itself to discussing detailed suggestions for a settlement and forwarding them to the Conference of Ambassadors. The Con ference adopted most of these suggestions, but with an important modification on the question of reparation. With regard to this it dispatched an Allied committee of inquiry and, on receipt of its report, which it withheld from publication, it awarded Italy the full amount of reparation which she had demanded. Corfu was then evacuated. The immediate question thus settled, the Council referred to a committee of jurists the question of legal principle which the case had raised with regard to the competence of the Council, the right of coercive action and the responsibility of a State for political crimes committed on its territory. Unanimous re plies were received to these questions and were transmitted by the Council to the Assembly; and the legal position was thus more clearly established as regards similar incidents in the future.