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international

Diva: How would you characterise Sir Eric Nevertheless, the League continued to achieve
Drummond, the rst Secretary General of the successful international cooperation in the
League, as a person outside his o cial role? economic and social elds, and Drummond
David: Friendly, courteous and cheerful; expressed pride in what had been accomplished
the essence of ‘L’Esprit de Genève’. Sir Eric’s in other elds, such as the codi cation of
recreations were shing and golf. Immediately international law.
a er his appointment, he went y- shing, during
which he arrived at the League’s structure. His Drummond’s departure followed Japan’s invasion
partners at the Golf-Club at Onex included of Manchuria, an external aggression against
a Japanese colleague and a Chinese delegate. the territorial integrity of a member state, and
Drummond was free of the bigoted attitudes of a breach of the Covenant. He announced his
the time towards other nationalities. He told his resignation in 1932, and it took e ect on 30 June
directors that the spirit of the Covenant implied 1933, a er 14 years of service. e reason given
‘equal liberty and independence for all races’. was that serving the League had been ‘extremely
strenuous’. ere was, however, a more banal
His wife Ela, to whom he was devoted, hosted reason -- although the League had established
delegates, League sta and spouses in La Pelouse, a sta pension scheme, he was not included
their Geneva home. One observed that, to pierce and consequently needed to build-up his UK
behind Drummond’s reserve, one had to see the pension.
ideal family life in which he found repose (see
photo). Diva: We do not hear much about Sir Eric a er Le to right
he le Geneva and League of Nations. What Angela, Margaret,
Sir Eric was the youngest of those who have happened next? Lady Drummond,
been Secretary General of either the League or John: On retirement from the League, Sir Eric David & Gillian,
the UN. Character and manners underpinned returned to the British Foreign O ce, serving as Geneva c 1925.
his achievements. Before telling the Council of Ambassador to Italy (1934-39). ere he had the Stobhall Papers,
his intention to resign he wrote to his immediate invidious job of trying to keep Fascist Italy away ‘Photos 2/8’.
colleagues to forewarn them and, a er leaving, from Nazi Germany. Mussolini hated the League Courtesy of the
wrote them hand-written letters of thanks. On and thus distrusted Drummond. British policy to Earl of Perth.
his departure, the Irish delegate said the way to
repay the debt owed to Sir Eric was to maintain
that international cooperation to which he
devoted valuable years, much labour and great
ability.

Diva: During his tenure, the rst 10 years of the
organisation’s existence, it was rather successful.
Why did Drummond leave the ship when the
tide started to turn?
David: Yes, its successes stemmed from
Drummond and those he appointed. Several,
including Jean Monnet, his rst Deputy, had
experienced transnational cooperation in
wartime interallied supply committees. Together
with the Under-Secretary Generals and Heads
of Section, they constituted a cohesive ‘board of
directors’ who created international cooperation
in many technical elds. e tide started to
turn however in 1927, when Drummond was
pressured into appointing, as Under-Secretary
General, a protégé of Mussolini, Paulucci di
Calboli. is undermined Drummond’s concept,
that the Secretariat needed to be impartial and
independent.

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