* * * * We have written in a leading
article about the absurd proposal that the British Fleet should be at the unreserved disposal of the League of Nations. We are thankful to say that this misunderstanding has already been cleared up. Such a plan would have got us into trouble all over the world in the name of peace, and the poor British taxpayer would have been called upon to foot the bill for his miseries. An end, it seems, has also been put to the proposal that a majority decision of the Council of the League in its arbitral capacity should be binding. If this proposal had been carried, it would have meant that the League was in a fair way to being turned into a super-national institution instead of being, as its authors deliberately intended it to be, a body wielding influence through consultation and unanimous decision. There is no reason whatever why the League should not make its weight felt by outlawing any nation which deliberately transgresses against the laws of civilization. The pressure applied would be economic and to some extent social. There would simply be a decree of non- intercourse till the offending State came to its senses.
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