There is considerably more weight, we think, in the opinion
expressed by Sir John Fischer Williams in a letter to the Times of Monday. The proposed Board of Arbitrators would have in nearly every case to decide the matter at issue on legal principles, that is, "by con- firmation of the status quo." It is not merely that this is undesirable in itself as a confirmation of the French thesis that the League exists in order to support the Peace Treaties. It would do much to strengthen American suspicion of the League and its machinery. Some machinery is desirable for giving effect to the obligations of the Pact of Paris, but we should like to see it made clear that the body or bodies set up to deal with " non- justiciable disputes " would be competent to consider the political consequences of their decisions.
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