[To the Editor of the SrEctforoa.] SIR,—I shall be glad
if you will allow me a little space to express my concurrence with the views of Sir Robert Gower, M.P., and Mr. R. Hopkin Morris, M.P., given in their letters to you on the subject of the refusal by the Council of the League of Nations to exercise the function assigned to it by Article 289 of the Treaty of Trianon.
I agree with them that such refusal must inevitably result in far-reaching consequences, as it strikes at the root of the Principle that treaty undertakings are inviolate, and the system of adjusting international disputes by recourse to Mixed Arbitral Tribunals. It is consequently to be hoped that the decision to refuse is not irrevocable.
It seems to me that the point at issue is quite a simple one, namely, whether Rumania is entitled to insist on the obser- Vance of the Treaty of Trianon in so far as it operates to her advantage, and at the same time to repudiate and avoid that part of it which she finds it inconvenient to perform.
It must be borne in mind that all that Hungary has asked the League to do is to perform what Sir John Simon in his opinion states is contemplated by the Treaty to be a purely " automatic ministerial act," to enable the machinery created by the Treaty for the adjustment of the dispute to function. By not performing this " automatic ministerial act," or refusing to do so save on terms the imposition of which Sir John Simon has characterized as " not legitimate," the Council will go far to destroy the solidarity of the public law of Europe which it was hoped the Peace Treaties had created.
In endeavouring to bring the disputant States into agreement through its conciliation offices, the Council has undoubtedly acted wisely. On such offices failing, however, the duty still remains for the Council to take the steps definitely allotted to it by the Treaty to ensure that the dispute shall be determined by the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal set up for the purpose by the Treaty. That it will not fail to act up to its responsibilities in that respect is the earnest desire of everyone who believes that international arbitration does afford a satisfactory substitute for armed hostilities for the settlement of interstate
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