Michael MacWhite to Desmond FitzGerald (Dublin)
(M.L. 03/019)

A Chara,

The Council of the League of Nations met yesterday, February 12th in a special Session in order to deal with the application of Germany for Membership of the League. The Members of the Council were of the unanimous opinion that the Assembly should be convened in extraordinary Session on the 8th of March at 3 o'clock in the afternoon to deal with the matter.

The Agenda of the extraordinary Assembly, which has been approved by the Council, will comprise four questions:-

(1) The admission of Germany,

(2) Consideration by the Assembly of proposals made by the Council concerning the application of Article 4 of the Covenant,

(3) Budget questions,

(4) Building of an Assembly Hall.

From the Agenda it may be inferred that only two Commissions - the Sixth and the Fourth - will be constituted by the Assembly. The Sixth will naturally deal with the formalities connected with the admission of Germany to Membership of the League as well as her election to a permanent seat on the Council. The Fourth Commission will fix the German contribution to the expenses of the League and decide how it is to be expended. It will also have to deal with the Architects' reports on the proposed construction of an Assembly Hall and examine this question from the commencement, as the decision arrived at by the last Assembly on this matter has been upset owing to the fact that no offer has been received for the present Secretariat Buildings.

It is thus anticipated that the Members of the League will be represented at the forthcoming Assembly by two delegates each. The big powers will very likely have larger delegations and the small and distant States will probably send only their local Representative or their Minister at Berne or at Paris.

The first question on the Agenda will not give rise to any particular difficulties, but the second item dealing with the composition of the Council is much more delicate. In view of the Locarno Agreements nobody is likely to contest the right of Germany to a Permanent Seat on the Council, but the debate can scarcely be limited there, as the composition of the Council is one of the most difficult of the constitutional questions which the League has to face, and carries with it germs of innumerable complications. Other States besides Germany have already posed their candidature for a Permanent Seat on the Council and amongst those may be cited in particular the Republic of Poland. But neither Spain nor Brazil will accept an increase in the number of Permanent Seats, outside of that accorded to Germany, unless they also fall within the same category. In order to facilitate her own candidature Poland proposes that Spain and Brazil be also given permanent representation on the Council. This proposition has the support of France and the Petite Entente, but it seems to be opposed by Great Britain and Sweden. According to the rules of procedure, a permanent seat on the Council is accorded to a Member of the League only on the unanimous recommendation of the Council and by a two-thirds majority of the Assembly.

Even if the Extraordinary Assembly is called upon to pronounce on the question of enlarging the number of permanent seats, the great problem of the composition of the Council will not be resolved, because the creation of new permanent seats would take away from the non-permanent Members, or the small countries, the numerical superiority which they, at present, enjoy. Nowadays, the latter are in the proportion of six to four. After the admission of Germany, they will be only six to five. Any further change would upset the equilibrium, which would mean that the Permanent Members of the Council would have all the organisation of the League between their hands. This, in my opinion, would create an intolerable situation, which would be incompatible with the democratic principles on which the Covenant is based and constitute a menace to the small States.