138 J.-A. PEMBERTON
stage of the “Peaceful Change” study.’^180 Chalmers Wright’s comments
in relation to this alleged failure on the part of Bourquin, give a further
intimation of the misgivings that he entertained about the machinery of
conference preparation and indicate that he and at least one other key
figure associated with the ISC expected that the standard of debate at the
1937 session of the ISC would not be high. Chalmers Wright stated that
Bourquin had
opened the door widely for an indefinite extension of the period during
which this subject is going to be studied. There were no doubt cogent rea-
sons for leaving this question in the air, but the local of effect of this arrange-
ment on the very eve of the so-called ‘general study conference’ has been
that several people have joyfully downed tools....I hope for the sake of the
Conference, that this case is exceptional and that, in other other countries,
interest in the Conference is so intense that, no matter how little...co-ordi-
nating effort proceeds from the centre...the Conference will always have a
breathlessly expectant clientèle at its doorstop. I hope also that Manning’s
prophecy that you will have a rotten discussion in June is not borne out.^181The inaugural meeting of the ninth session of the ISC took place in
the amphithéâtre Richilieu at the Faculty of Letters of the University of
Paris. The dignitary chosen to chair the inaugural meeting was Sarraut
and thus it was he who declared the conference open. As was observed
at the meeting, Sarraut, as a former minister for the colonies and as
the author of Grandeur et servitude coloniales (1931), was an inspired
choice as chair of the opening meeting of a conference that would
spend much time discussing colonial questions.^182 Following Sarraut’s
(^180) Ibid.
(^181) Chalmers Wright to Oliver Jackson, 28 March 1937, AG 1-IICI-K-I-15.e, UA.
(^182) Jacques Nels, ‘La 10e session de la Conférence Permanente des Hautes Etudes
Internationales,’ L’Europe Nouvelle, juillet 17, 1937, 694–96, Conférence Permanente des
Hautes Etudes Internationales: ‘Peaceful Change,’ du 1er janvier 1937 au 1er juillet 1938,
AG 1-IICI- K-I-15.e., UA. For the locations of the conference’s various meetings see
International Studies Conference (Tenth Session). AG 1-IICI-K-I-3, UA. See also, Albert
Sarraut, Grandeur et servitude coloniales (Paris: Sagittaire, 1931). The proceedings of the
1937 session of the ISC offered the following observations of Grandeur et servitude coloni-
ales: ‘Fundamental work of recognized value on colonial policy in general. The author urges
colonizing nations to protect their colonies against nationalist movements.’ International
Studies Conference, Peaceful Change: Procedures, Population, Raw Materials, Colonies, 651.