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THE WELSH OUTLOOK The Editor does not necessarily identify himself with the opinions of contributors to The Welsh Outlook." Editorial responsibility is limited to the views expressed in the Notes of the Month," and in the unsigned article immediately following. NOTES OF THE MONTH The meeting of the League of The League Nations at Geneva was a remarkable 01 Nations event, and with a little more goodwill at Geneva. and understanding in Europe, may turn out to be one of the great historical landmarks in the history of our civilization. Yet the matters which it discussed, as well as those it did not, showed alike how much it would have gained in force if it had been sitting in Constantinople. Take, first, the question of Armenia. Here the League showed a most praiseworthy desire to save the remnant of a perse- cuted race from the terrible fate that threatens it, and in spite of the Presidential election results, we trust that the appeal it made to the United States will not be ignored, but the position to our mind would have been much stronger if it had been addressed from Contsanti- nople. Then there is the other question, which appa- rently the League did not discuss,-the defeat at the Greek elections of M. Venizelos, and its effect in destroying the attempts of the Peace Conference to establish equilibrium of some kind in the Near East. It will not be a pleasant position for the Entente if Constantine returns to Greece, although it may prove a difficult matter for them to thwart it. But if the League were established at Constantinople his return might be viewed with comparative equanimity, as it could, with- out much confusion, have fulfilled the function of a moral policeman over the situation. The League is attempting to do something in Lithuania, but what hope is there of its accomplishing anything so long as Russia is outside the League. The defeat of Wrangel surely makes it clear to the wildest anti-Bolshevik that little as we may like it, the present Russian Government is, at least, a de facto government, which will do less harm inside the League than outside it. And the same remark applies to Germany. We understand French feeling towards the admission of Germany, but, after all, the League of Nations is not a select club of those DECEMBER, 1920. peoples who, in the opinion of the Entente, have always been well-behaved, but an organisation to get rid of war. For it to exclude Germany and Russia is to stultify itself. Still, we believe that the Geneva meeting has done a great deal to strengthen the position of the League. The reign of terror in Ireland grows Ireland. worse. Most terrible in its dramatic horror was the murder of a number of British officers on the morning of Sunday, the 2 1st of November. This is aji outrage that cannot be too strongly condemned, and it has distressed the truest friends of Ireland beyond measure. It recalls in horror that mediæval, atrocity known as the Vespers of Palermo, when, as the vesper bell sounded. the Sicilians rose and murdered their French governors. In no wise do we extenuate the atrocity of the Irish crime, and we devoutly hope that the Sinn Fein leaders will denounce it as a terrible disgrace upon a great and holy cause. At the same time it does not follow that such a condemnation would necessarily result in the cessa- tion of these atrocities, for it is a doubtful matter how far the organisation prompting them is connected with Sinn Fein.. The Government has a duty to see that the organisation-whatever it is-is completely and effect- ively suppressed, and in that it will have the support of every decent citizen, but there is a civilised way of doing this,-however stem the methods. At present we cannot escape from the fact that the government of Ireland is to a very considerable extent responsible for the crimes of both sides. It governs in defiance of the popular will, it has thrown all semblance of civil justice to the winds, it connives at wild and indiscrimi- nate revenge by its own agents even if inflicted on the innocent, and its main object seems to be to terrorise a whole people and not to bring crime to judgment, and establish a reign of law. We have mentioned the Vespers of Palermo--one of the most horrible atrocities