A.—sb.

stirred by the Guernica atrocity were the joint note sent by the Labour and Socialist International and the Trade-union International and the words of condemnation pronounced by eminent British Churchmen. In contrast to the deplorable attitude of official circles in Europe, the splendid uprising of British opinion over the crime of Guernica was not only a comforting sign, but a warning which the Council could not ignore. Finally, he would mention that the Italian prisoners taken in the last battles with the rebels all were equipped with gas-masks, which gave reason for fear that gas might be used in an attempt to break into Bilbao. Speaking on the subject of the London Committee's " control " scheme, M. del Yayo said that the Spanish people could certainly not furnish any proofs of the success of the experiment. On the contrary, it was a blood-stained example of the awful efficacy of a brutal intervention wreaking its hatred on the civil population and threatening to destroy not only lives and wordly goods, but also the faith of the Spanish people in international justice. From the beginning the Spanish Government had rejected the policy of non-intervention as inadmissable and unjust. But as this policy existed, the Spanish Bepublic, in a spirit of international co-operation, had accepted the international control system de facto when it was proposed, subject always to reservations they had made. The original control scheme failed because of certain difficulties. The Non-intervention Committee then decided to impose a new method of control which could be carried out without the assent of the Spanish Government. This did not appear to be compatible with the sovereign right of the Spanish Government to procure the means necessary for ending the rebellion and the foreign invasion. "At long last the control scheme officially came into force after weeks and weeks of delay during which the rebels received supplies on a vast scale." Out of respect for the good intentions of some of its authors, the Spanish representative refrained from analysing the results of the control scheme during which time it had been applied. It was obviously destined to share the fate of the non-intervention policy as practised hitherto. There was one idea, the withdrawal of all foreign combatants, for which the Spanish Government had declared its agreement. Nevertheless, from the moral point of view it was painful to accept the lumping together, under the title of " volunteers " of two categories of men who were worlds apart. On the one hand there were those who were sent from countries where every free expression of will was crushed by the iron tyranny of the totalitarian regimes. These men were not volunteers even in name. On the other hand, there were those who come of their own free will to fight side by side with the Spanish Government. They came because they knew full well that on the battlefields of Spain were being decided the future of Europe and the fate of all free men. It would be with hearts heavy with sadness and full of gratitude if the time came that the Spanish Government would have to see these gallant men leave them. But their discipline of true volunteers would make it certain that there would be no practical difficulty in making this sacrifice. The Spanish Government would be prepared to do this in order to ensure success for the various attempts to reduce to a minimum the external consequences of the Spanish conflict. There was a tendency which may appear clever, but which was essentially vain and dangerous, to run away from the harsh realities and seek refuge in vague generalities. In this way elements of confusion were introduced into the Spanish situation, but the point was that there were hundreds of thousands of Spaniards desiring only to work for the advancement of their country through normal and legitimate means of change. In the interests of European peace it was necessary to reach a speedy and clear-cut settlement. This could only be reached by the full restoration of the national sovereignty of the power that expresses the will of the people, as manifested in the elections of February, 1936. Those who nobly concern themselves with the endeavours Known under the term " humanizing the war " should learn that the best way of humanizing the war is to end it, and that the war in Spain would end as soon as the rest of the world ceased to allow the totalitarian States to continue to intervene as they had done hitherto. For some time the League of Nations, ignoring the enormous force of world public opinion on which it ultimately depends, had taken a road that might become fatal. Often it was more concerned with its enemies than with its friends. Even so, for Spain the League continued to be the supreme international institution. If the League was to have a future, the struggle in Spain could not end unless the League adopted a clear and firm position. This might be perhaps the League's last chance to do so. M. del Vayo in conclusion said : — " I venture to believe that we Spaniards have shown that we know how to do our duty as men who are fighting not only for national independence, but for the freedom and independence of the peoples who do not wish to become victims of totalitarian tyranny. However great and grievous are the sacrifices we must still make, we shall continue to do our duty until the end. " We shall thereby be also doing our duty as a member of the League of Nations for whom the Covenant is the law. " Gentlemen, we now await serenely the decisions of the Council." M. Delbos (France) said that Spain had become a closed field wherein the Spanish people were no longer the sole masters of their own destinies. At the same time, a grave danger had become obvious —the danger to general peace which was constituted by foreign intervention. For that reason the French Government, being anxious both to respect the independence of Spain and to obviate the risks of a contagion of war,' had from the outset urged the Powers to enter into nonintervention undertakings, and if this had not had the desired effect it had nevertheless brought results which it would be unjust to overlook. After the prohibition of exports of war material and

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