Lord Cushendun was careful to say, and to repeat, that
the proposals must be carefully examined, not rejected out of hand, and that there might be good points in them. But he boldly attacked the Muscovite attitude towards the League. For years the League had sought peace and, so far from receiving help from Moscow, had been consistently reviled ; even now there was no mention of the League in the new proposals, only of a rival Com- mission of Control. He pointed out that armed insurrec- tion in other countries had, been the aim of the Soviet foreign policy, and he asked whether civil war was con- demned in these peace proposals or not. Then he reminded the Commission of the difficulties, not of the Eritish Empire alone, that existed where savage or hostile races lived on the borders of lands for which members of the League are responsible. He ended with words of hope and praise for the evolution of peace and won applause that is rarely given at Geneva. We like to see such vigorous resistance to error, and now we hope that Lord Cushendun will support with no less vigour the true advance, for we confess that we have thought him too cautious in the past. On Wednesday every speaker seems to have condemned the proposals. Mr. Gibson was for rejection without consideration. * * *
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