793.94/5770
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hornbeck) of a Conversation With the Belgian Ambassador (May)
At a party yesterday afternoon I encountered the Belgian Ambassador. The Ambassador at once referred to the late news from the Far East and made the observation that there seemed to be nothing [Page 17] that the world could do about the matter. Inasmuch as, on every occasion when we meet, the Ambassador makes some reference to the Manchuria situation, I felt warranted this time in expressing certain views: I said that there was presumably nothing which the world could do with regard to a particular incident or development such as the Shanhaikwan hostilities, but that there was a great deal which the world might do with regard to the situation in general. The Ambassador inquired what I had in mind. I said that the world could go on record with regard to attitude and principles; the position of the United States with regard to the whole matter had been made clear; now, the League of Nations is confronted with the question of what attitude it will take and what declaration of principles, if any, it may choose to make. I said that it was obvious that the world is not in position to employ measures of force for the coercing of the disputants and the regulating of the dispute in the Far East, but that the world could go on record with an opinion in regard to the situation: the success or failure of the peace movement must depend on public opinion; to be effective, public opinion must be widespread and must be expressed; the states members of the League could, if they chose, express an opinion; the League sent out a commission, that commission did its work faithfully and well and presented a unanimous report;23 the League could, if its members chose, make use of that report by signifying their confidence in its findings of fact and indicating that they look with favor upon the principles laid down by the commissioners in its Chapter IX; if they so acted, they would be adding to the force of world public opinion; if they failed so to act, they would be subtracting from that force and would be undermining the potential effectiveness of their own Covenant24 and the other peace treaties. I said that I was of course expressing nothing but a personal opinion but I felt that it was an opinion widely held by thinking people in this country and that, regardless of political considerations which might or might not stand in the way of or even prevent such action by the world, I did not see how anyone viewing the problem could fail to envisage those possibilities and consequences. The Ambassador said that he thought that view sound.
- For the “Lytton Report”, see League of Nations, Appeal by the Chinese Government, Report of the Commission of Enquiry (Geneva, October 1, 1932).↩
- For text, see Treaties, Conventions, etc., Between the United States of America and Other Powers, 1910–1923 (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1923), vol. iii, p. 3336.↩