Evening star., 1938-04-03

4N IGfCM1oS1ON IN EUROPE. b
Vernon Bartlett. New York: Oxfor
University Press.
~ F THE two books mentione.
above, all of the first and ,
large section of the secont
treat Of the League Of Ma
tions and those efforts toward inter
national settlements which are carrie,
on in Geneva. Both works are b,
English newspaper men. Georg,
Slocombe was for many years foreign
correspondent for the London Heralt
and later was foreign editor of tn,
London Evening Standard. Vernon
Bartlett, too, has been on the staff O.
the Herald and has also covered
European news for the London Time.
and Reuters. More recently he has
combined news reporting with new!
broadcasting for the British Broad.
casting Corp. The two books, although
dissimilar in manner, are not unlike
in spirit and certainly not unlike ir
matter. The same personalities are
described in both and, in some cases
the identical incidents are reported
To review the two together, therefore,
seems indicated
Mr.. Slocombe's book is nothing more
nor less than a popularity written
history of the League. 1t is not, to be
sure, history of the subjects OF
which the League has treated: it is
not history, that is, of League busi-
ness. 1t is a history of the League
itself as an instrument of inter-
national power and the manner in
which Mr.. Slocombe views that history
can be deduced from his subtitle,
which is. Its Growth, Grandeur and
Decay"
AS Mr.. Slocombe sees it, the League
has had its heroic period, its period
of success and its decline The men
who have been identified with it he
groups as prophets, visionaries
martyrs, critics and opportunlsts. He
has seen them all at close range and
he has seen them in the Geneva
environment. He is able therefore,
to give his history a fresh personal
quality, quality which has been
painfully lacking from most estima-
tions of League accomplishments. The
book is neither the villain nor saint
which its propagandists have made of
u heretofore, nor yet that monster of
graphs and tables by which delighted
statisticians have represented it. 1t
is. rather, the tragi-comic hero of a
drama of good intentions, certainly
not the successful champion of the
general good, as it had been conceived
to be, but not an utter failure either.
In Mr. Slocombes own closing words,
the League is analogous to another
organization which likewise was
planned to bring salvation to mankind
He says: In this modern temple of
the new religion of peace but one
spectator is lacking, representative
of that other and more ancient uni
versal institution, the Church of Rome.
A papal legate, possessed of the spirit
of paradox and endowed with the his
toric sense, might see in this late
Towering of the League curious
analogy to the history of his own great
Church. In the case of one, as in
the case of the other, teacher had
arisen in distant country, in a time
of universal trouble and confusion of
spirits. In each case the teacher had
found followers, had preached world
had been betrayed, and had
died abandoned by his friends. In each
case a Church had been founded
In the name of the dead prophet,
had arisen to its greatest glory through
the zeal of men who knew not the
Founder, had known its saints, its
martyrs. its zealots and its heretics,
had suffered and been derided of
men, had itself condemned and ex-
had been poor and
was now rich. And in each case the
people from whom the teacher had
sprung, and in whose name he had
founded his Church, would not enter
therein, but denied him and all his
works"
In such spirit of mingled irony
and understanding the whole book
Is set down. 1t is without reverence,
but also without rancor. 1t is popu-
larly written, as said but also digni-
fed. In its Interpretation the Leagues
brief existence has already had three
periods-one of growth in prestige and
influence from 1920 to 1925 one of
apotheosis as peace-promoting or
ganization from 1925 to 1880 and one
of decline since the Sino-Japanese
dispute which began in 1881. AS to
Its future, Mr.. Slocombe makes no
but one understands that
he is not optimistic. His book is the
best account of which the reviewer
knows of the personalities which have
gone into the making of the complex
of the League itself and of
the environment in which those per-
sonalities have functioned.
Mr.. Bartlett's book, as said, is very
different in spirit 1t is not history
Of any one except Mr.. Bartlett him.
self, but as he has cotton around
over Europe in a very lively fashion
in these postwar years, he has natu-
rally something to say about the Or
ganization to which SO many of the
postwar troubles were carried-the
League, that is. AS matter of fact,
he was for some time a League corre-
spondent stationed in Geneva. He de-
votes fair portion of his autobiogra-
ply to this experience, and it is in
teresting to compare his impressions
with those of his colleagues.
Mr.. Slocombe saw Geneva as a city
Of mystery and reserve; Mr.. Bartlett
as spot of oppressive dullness. MIR.
Slocombe viewed the League statesmen
as priests of international welfare,
unworthy sometimes, to be sure, but
invested with the dignity of an Or
ganized purpose nonetheless. Mr..
Bartlett saw them as plain politicians,
as politicians occasionally who were
striving for justice, but still as men
belonging to that opportunistic tribe.
Mr.. Slocombe viewed League business,
even in its most schoolmistressy