Article XI?

France and Britain, who between them call most of the League's tunes, abruptly reversed last week their lenient attitude of the past 16 months toward Japan.

France, alarmed by the sudden pole vault to power of Adolf Hitler, began to stickle for Japanese observance of the "sanctity of treaties," preparatory to stickling later for German respect of the treaty-created Polish Corridor, etc. Britain was said to have taken her new line because: 1) President-elect Roosevelt was reported by Ambassador Sir Ronald Lindsay to be resolved to continue the so-called "Stimson Doctrine" of nonrecognition of Manchukuo; and 2) Sir Miles Lampson, British Minister to China, was said to have cabled warnings that if the League fails to deal with Japan, China may declare in desperation a boycott so sweeping as to choke off not only Japanese but also other foreign exports to China.

Whatever his motives, French League Delegate Rene Massigli startled the League Committee of Nineteen by proposing that the League Assembly (expected to meet this week or next) should declare not only for nonrecognition of Manchukuo by any League state, but should back this up by a declaration of noncooperation by League states with Manchukuo. In a strong speech British Delegate Captain Anthony Eden urged the Committee to urge the Assembly to declare "essential" the nonrecognition of Manchukuo.

Meanwhile, during the past month, the Committee of Nineteen's sub-Committee of Nine had been playing a diddling game of questions & answers with Japanese Delegate Yosuke Matsuoka, each side trying to outdo the other in feats of diplomatic finesse. This parlor pastime abruptly ceased as the sub-Committee buckled down to drafting the suggestions of M. Massigli and Captain Eden into form for action by the Assembly.

In Tokyo the abrupt Geneva volte-face put fear into Foreign Minister Count Yasuya Uchida, who was most earnestly counseled by the Last of the Genro ("Elder Statesmen") Prince Saionji not to break with the League "until every possibility of compromise has been exhausted." The Count flashed fresh instructions to Japan's Geneva Delegation. Soon with a face all crinkling smiles Delegate Matsuoka announced that Japan accepts the League's Lytton Report as a basis for conciliation, merely stipulating that the League shall "take into consideration actual conditions in Manchuria since the conclusion of the Lytton Report."

Fair enough? Geneva's statesmen did not think so. Since the Lytton Report was drafted, they pointed out, Japan has recognized Manchukuo, has seized Shanhaikwan south of the Great Wall, has occupied parts of Jehol and launched a campaign to occupy the rest. If all those "circumstances" were to be considered by the League another Lytton Report would have to be made, and by the time it was finished there would be fresh "circumstances." Angrily the Committee of Nineteen proceeded to pop a big, blunt question back at the Japanese Government, would they or would they not agree to restoration of Chinese sovereignty in Manchukuo as provided in Chapter IX of the Lytton Report?

In Tokyo this question touched off a passionate Cabinet powwow, with War Minister Araki shrilling for instant Japanese withdrawal from the League and calmed down with difficulty by Count Uchida. Signs multiplied that Japan's Fighting Services considered the League Committee to be playing into their hands, providing just the occasion for arousing Japan to break with the whole Occident, which the more Orient-minded of her sabre-rattlers desire. Numerous Japanese patriotic societies staged open air demonstrations last week, huzzaed as orators proclaimed: "It is the will of the whole nation that Japan secede from the League!"

Ultimately Delegate Matsuoka drafted a 17-page "no" to the League Committee's question whether Japan would consent to restoration of Chinese sovereignty in Manchukuo and cabled it to Tokyo for the Cabinet's approval. This "no," actually a rehash of Japan's entire diplomatic position with respect to China, Manchukuo and the League, will face the Assembly with two alternatives: 1) further quibbling and procrastination in familiar League vein; or 2) formal invocation of an article of the League Covenant such as Article XI under which the 57 League states, while avoiding armed action, would mutually agree to ban arms shipments to Japan, refuse loans and withdraw from Tokyo their diplomatic representatives.

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