793.94/2090: Telegram
The Consul at Geneva (Gilbert) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:11 p.m.]
193. The Council met this noon under the presidency of Madariaga.43 Madariaga handed the chairmanship over to Briand who made certain general declarations as to the necessity for the extraordinary session.
The discussion was confined to the Chinese statement of the case. Sze explained that the Japanese actions subsequent to the last session, particularly the bombing of Chinchow, prompted his request for an immediate convocation of the Council. He quoted from recent speeches by President Chiang Kai-shek as a proof that Chinese policy still remained one of “dignified calm” and implicit trust in the League for settlement. A failure in this case, he said, would involve the “tragic calm [collapse]” of the Covenant and the Briand-Kellogg Pact and also a series of “diplomatic [dire] consequences throughout the Far East.” He declared that if the League and the United States failed to cooperate successfully to avert this threat to peace the first result would be the extinction of the disarmament movement and all ideals of international security. Sze made no outright mention of a resort to war in the event of such failure but his remarks might be interpreted as conveying that implication.
The Japanese representative will be heard at the second meeting at 3:30 this afternoon.
- Spanish representative on the League of Nations Council.↩