Statement by Francis T. Cremins to the League of Nations Assembly Committee of Twelve on the Russian invasion of Finland

I desire to make one or two observations regarding the attitude of my Government in this important matter. First of all, I wish to say that the statements made at the Assembly of 1934 by the Irish representative, Mr. de Valera, defining the attitude of the Irish Government towards the entrance of the U.S.S.R. to the League,¹ and the statement made at the Assembly last year by the Irish delegation defining the attitude of the Irish Government in matters of a political nature which come before the League, retain all their meaning.²

The appeal of Finland which is now being considered by this Session of the Assembly is not at all a simple matter. The wrong done to Finland is in no sense obscure, and, in ordinary times, most States would, I imagine, have no difficulty in formulating a policy. But in these times which bristle with difficulties for many States, it is no simple matter for a State which is situated far from the scene of action easily to fix its attitude, in view of the general complexities of the situation and of the conflict of interests which exists for many countries.

In general, I may say that the instructions which I have received in connection with the Finnish appeal is to take very fully into account first the views and requirements of Finland, but also of those States which are her neighbours and especially the Scandinavian States. That is one of the reasons why I was happy to support yesterday M. Unden's appeal that the first act of this Committee should be an attempt to bring about conciliation and the cessation of hostilities.