Empire Lost - Andrew Stewart [116]
The British delegation only arrived the night before the Conference began and were, therefore, thrown in 'head first'. The opening days were spent squabbling over who would take the Chairmanship and listening to plenary speeches. Cockram judged the British delegation to be more efficient in organization and ahead in planning than any of the other delegations present and this had helped them to secure a leading position on the important Steering Committee. He was happy to report that, at the outset, relations with the Dominions' delegation were 'admirable', with all of them appearing to be 'as helpful and cooperative as possible'.37 Having delivered their initial speeches the delegations quickly settled down to business and the two weeks that followed proved 'unconscionably grim and earnest'. Problems were encountered due to a lack of experience amongst many of the smaller states and Cockram estimated that only one committee was effectively presided over, the 'success' being Sir Ramaswami Mudaliar, the former Mayor of Madras and leader of the Indian delegation.
Much of Cockram's time was spent trying to reconcile the proposed amendments to the draft Charter that had been submitted by each of the various Dominion delegations. From a long initial list of concerns this was whittled down to just four questions that needed to be referred for further negotiation. The first of these, as had been widely predicted, was trusteeship.38 Ultimately, however, the solution proved much less intractable than had thought would prove to be the case. Discussions between Eden and his American counterpart, who had taken over from Cordell Hull the previous November as the American secretary of state, produced an accord that appeared to safeguard British interests and was also sufficient to overcome New Zealand reservations on the issue.39 With the other three outstanding issues, the adoption of regional agreements, the manner in which the Council might call upon any member to use armed forces and the respecting of domestic jurisdiction, it was agreed that the British delegation would try and seek amendments. Cockram felt that it should prove possible to secure the agreement of the sponsoring powers to make the changes required by the Dominions, leaving the prospects for a common British Commonwealth line not unfavourable. The greatest challenge, however, remained Evatt, 'the biggest thorn in the flesh of all the British Commonwealth delegates and officials'. He had already caused considerable offence to the Americans and an official from the State Department told the British delegate privately that so long as Evatt was a member of the government in Canberra there was not 'the slightest chance of Australia being elected to the Security Council'. In Cockram's view, he was probably 'the most generally disliked man at the Conference' and had been outmanoeuvred at every turn but, with his potential supporters alienated, he had come to realize that he would have to cooperate with the British rather than work against them.40
Cockram's hopes that an early conclusion to proceedings might prove possible proved overly optimistic, two weeks later the now 'Big Five' were still struggling on the issues of regionalism, trusteeship and domestic jurisdiction. At this point hopes of an early conclusion had collapsed and events had gone 'haywire' with all sides degenerating into squabbles over those issues closest to their own national interests. At the heart of the tumult remained Evatt who had become steadily more disgruntled. His many amendments had either been voted down or emasculated; the fact that those sponsored by the other members of the British Commonwealth were generally accepted seems to have increased his ire. The State Department prophecy had also reached his