Mystery at Geneva: An Improbable Tale of Singular HappeningsMacaulay, Rose
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Mystery at Geneva: An Improbable Tale of Singular Happenings
Macaulay, Rose
Detective and mystery stories; Geneva (Switzerland) -- Fiction
Every one turned next morning with interest to the day's issue of
"Press Opinions" to discover what the world's newspapers were saying
of the tragic and extraordinary state of affairs in Geneva. They were
saying, it seemed, on the whole, very much what might be expected of
them. The American press, for instance, observed that the League,
without the support of the United States, was obviously falling into
the state of disruption and disintegration which had long since been
prophesied. What was to be expected, when the Monroe Doctrine was
being threatened continually by the bringing before the League of
disputes between the South and Central American republics, disputes
which, being purely American, could not possibly be settled by
European intervention in any shape or form? On this question of the
Monroe Doctrine, the security and utility of the whole League
rested.... It was rumoured that it was the shaky attitude of the
League on this point that was responsible for its present collapse....
("Seems very like saying that America is behind the whole game,"
commented many readers.)
The French press commented on the fact that no one had yet dared to
lay a hand on the French delegates. "Whatever," it said, "may be
thought of the other delegates, the whole world has agreed to see in
France a nation so strong, so beneficent, and so humane, that it
merits the confidence of humanity at large. Without it, no affairs
could flourish. The tribute to the prestige of France evinced by this
notable omission of assault cannot but be gratifying to all who love
France. With the tragic disappearance of several English-speaking
delegates, it might perhaps be natural to dispense with the tedious
use of two languages where only one is necessary. No one listens to
the interpretations into English of French speakers; the general
chatter of voices and movement which immediately starts when the
English interpreter begins, is surely sign enough of the general
feeling on this point...."
The more nationalist section of the Italian press--the _Popolo
d'Italia_, for instance--prophesied, with tragic accuracy, that the
Albanian delegate would very soon be among the victims of this
criminal plot, in which it was not, surely, malicious to detect
Yugo-Slav agency. It also spoke with admiration of the poet Dante.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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