The Reminiscences of Zafrulla Khan — Page 125
125 REMINISCENCES OF SIR MUHAMMAD ZAFRULLA KHAN the later part of the afternoon, it had been a long day and, no doubt, he was tired. Suddenly, he inquired of his staff officer, "What do we do next when we finish this round?" The officer said, "We go on to Lille, where the Mayor is giving a reception, and then after dinner, there is a concert. I do not know whether Your Royal Highness would like to go to the concert. " His Royal Highness' reaction was sharp and conclusive, "What I say is 'Damn the concert!'" I had no intention of going to the concert either. I, too, was getting tired. While I was still in England at the Dominions Ministers' Conference, a session of the Assembly of the League of Nations was called at the request of Finland, to deal with Russian aggressions against Finland. I received instructions from the Viceroy that I should represent India at this session. I took with me one of the officials in India Office, as my secretary. The secretary who had accompanied me from India became the delegation, and I became the head of the delegation to the Assembly. We went along to Geneva, where again the contrast between the brilliantly-lighted lakefront at night and the complete blackout in England was shattering. We had to go through Paris. We flew to Paris and then took a train to Geneva. I found that in Paris they had a much more sensible system of blackout. It was complete in the sense that you could not notice anything from above, but the streets were dimly lit by heavily shaded lights, which provided just enough of a glow to enable people to find their way. I wondered why the British had not adopted that system. During this session of the Assembly at Geneva, we solemnly expelled Russia from the League. The Assembly and the Council unanimously passed a resolution to that effect. But it was all hush-hush; nobody wished to speak out. I was the only one who did. R. A. Butler, who is now Foreign Secretary, was leading the British delegation. The Duke of Devonshire, Under Secretary of State for the Dominions, was one of the members. I had known R. A. Butler for a long time. I told him I would have to speak out. "For heaven's sake, do! We dare not, but you are free, go ahead. " They did not know what Hitler was going to do next and they did not want to offend him. They were ready to expel Russia from the League on account of its aggression against Finland, but they did not wish to be too outspoken in their condemnation of aggression lest Hitler should be offended. That was something I could not understand at all. So I spoke out.