In the Canadian House of Commons at Ottawa on Monday,
Mr. Mackenzie King, the Prime Minister, made a long explanation of the attitude of Canada towards the Lausanne Treaty. According to the account of the Times correspondent, he complained that Canada was merely informed of an accomplished fact. We much regret that no invitation was sent to Canada to be represented at Lausanne, as we are convinced that Canada desires nothing but to be as helpful as possible in all Imperial discussions. She stands, quite natu- rally, for the principle that the Dominions, being self-governing nations within the Empire, should be consulted on all important points of foreign policy.
A formal invitation to be represented at Lausanne would have led to consultation ; and that consultation, as we can well believe, might have resulted in the derision of Canada to refuse the invitation on the ground that diplomatic negotiations cannot possibly be carried on by large numbers and that powers must always be dele- gated to a few.
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