Office Without Power: Secretary-General Sir Eric Drummond, 1919-1933

435 Pages·1979·7.682 MB·English

by  James Barros

OFFICE W ITHOUT POWER
Secretary-General
Sir Eric Drummond
I9I9-I933
Sir Eric Drummond
by
Sir Gerald Kelly
,
(Palais des Nations Geneva. Reproduced by
courtesy of the United Nations and Lady Kelly).
OFFICE WITHOUT
POWER
Secretary-General
Sir Eric Drummond
By
JAMES BARROS
CLARENDON PRESS • OXFORD
1979
Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford 0x2 6dp
OXFORD LONDON GLASGOW
NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE WELLINGTON
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IBADAN NAIROBI DAR ES SALAAM CAPE TOWN
Published in the United States
by Oxford University Press, New York
© James Banos, igyg
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Barros, James
Office without power,
i. Drummond, Sir Eric
I. Title
341.220924 JX1975 70-403Ï2
ISBN 0-19-822551-2
Typeset by CCC and printed and bound at
William Clowes & Sons Limited
Beccles and London
TO
LELAND M. GOODRICH
James T. Shot well Professor Emeritus
Columbia University
Gentleman, Teacher, Scholar

PREFACE
This volume examines the tenure of Sir Eric Drummond as the
first Secretary-General of the League of Nations. Of the
secretaries-general who have served the world community since
1919 Drummond’s fourteen years of service was the longest. He
organized the League’s multinational Secretariat in 1919-20 and
during the years that followed acquired the reputation, at least
to the uninitiated, of an unflappable and efficient administrator—
which he surely was—but nothing more. How Drummond used
his office, the range of his influence, his personal and political
contacts, and his intervention behind the scenes in political issues
facing the world organization will be examined in the pages that
follow. By investigating how Drummond actually operated, as
opposed to how people thought he operated, I hope that
Drummond’s role as Secretary-General can be evaluated.
Moreover, Drummond’s use of his high office and the precedents
he established will perhaps give us a better understanding of the
possibilities and limitations inherent in the office, and help frame
some generalizations about its use in international politics.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the trustees of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace whose support made it possible for me to
examine the League of Nations Archives during the period
1966-7. In particular I am indebted to the Carnegie Endowment’s
Geneva Office, its director, John Goormaghtigh, and his
associate, Jean Siotis, for their great assistance during the period
I worked in Switzerland. I am especially obligated to the Canada
Council whose generosity made it possible on two separate
occasions to consult papers in London, Ottawa, and Washington.
Research in Edinburgh was made possible by the International
Studies Programme of the University of Toronto. The time
needed to write this volume was made possible by the Earhart
Foundation of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and I would like to thank
the trustees of the foundation for their invaluable assistance.
For critical comments and suggestions which did much to
improve this study I would like to thank Leland M. Goodrich,
James T. Shot well Professor Emeritus of Columbia University,
and Leon Gordenker of the Department of Politics of Princeton
University. Sir Eric Drummond’s son, the present Lord Perth,
also found time in a busy schedule to read the study and to clarify
certain factual matters.
Lastly, it should be noted that the views and opinions expressed
in this study are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of
the institutions or persons who have assisted me in this endeavour.
Erindale College J.B.
Department of Political Economy
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
CONTENTS
ABBREVIATIONS xi
I PARIS 1919 I
The Chancellor
Drummond*s Selection
II JAMES ERIC DRUMMOND: ATTITUDES,
APPROACHES, AND PERCEPTIONS 20
Realism’s Restraint
The American Problem
The Security Question
Relations with London
The Myth of the Secretariat
III DRUMMOND IN POWER, 1919-1920 75
Establishing the League
Danzig and the Saar
Mandates and Humanitarian Endeavours
The War’s Aftermath
IV THE GERMAN QUESTION 131
From Versailles to Upper Silesia
Germany’s Admission to the League
The Saar, Danzig, and Memel
The Road to Locarno
A Permanent Council Seat
Germany in the League
V DRUMMOND AND LATIN AMERICA 209
The League and Latin America
The Wayward States
The Brazilian Problem
Latin American Disputes
VI ITALY AND THE STATUS QUO 262
From Versailles to Corfu
X Contents
The Balkans and East Africa
The Appointment of Paulucci de Calboli Barone
The Duce in World Politics
VII THE MANCHURIAN CRISIS 311
The League in China
The Manchurian Occupation
Establishing the Lytton Commission
Non-Recognition of Manchukuo
VIII SOME THOUGHTS ON DRUMMOND AND
HIS SUCCESSORS 383
APPENDIX: Covenant of the League of Nations 403
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE 413
INDEX 415