League of Nations as Policeman.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17861, 6 September 1923, Page 8

League of Nations as Policeman.

It is unfortnnat& that the League of Nations baa been suspended for five years between Heaven and earth. Lord Eobert Cecil's warm broadcast from Geneva might have stirred the world immediately after the Armistice. Today it leaves us cold. We want to know more definitely what the League thinks about itself. Has it material powers as well as moral, a policeman's baton or only a preacher ! b text? Until the fifty-two nations make up their minds where they stand and how far they propose to go, it would be fax better* to reserve the rhapsodies £or another occasion. Yfhat, to begin 'with, is the attitude of members to Article X.—the Article that provides for coßjjulafonf The history of the

League to date suggests that the Article is dead. There has cot been one occasion on whieh an attempt has been made to coerce a Power (by military measures) into acceptance of the Council's decision; and if there is no real intention of using Article X., it is difficult to know why it should remain in 'the constitution. Canada pleaded twelve months ago for a new definition of policy, but was told m effect that it would not be wise to pull up planks too soon. If that was a proper answer to make then, it is a year less proper to-day. The League ig carrying round a toy pistoi, and the first marauder it tclh to stand who refuses to stand may damage its reputation irreparably. Of course to drop Article is to drop what the world was told once was the very heart of the Covenant. It is to admit fully, frankly, and finally that the League is wh3t the cynical so greatly mistrust —a moral force and nothing else fit all. Without Article X.. or retaining it buu not using it, the League can coldshoulder a nation economically, but it cannot even threaten to coerce it vi et arfiiis. And the more frankly that fact is faced, the more hope thero seems to be of maintaining the League as a power making for righteousness and peace. No one can really regret that the police force has never been organised. As Professor Gilbert Murray has pointed out, "The forco '•'would have been recruited £jrom'those "nations which now maintain large "armies; it would have had a French " Commander-in-Chief, and Heaven "knows where it would have been or "what it would have been doing by "this time." It is far safer to risk the clashes that may come than to chance losing control of those that t-lie League would have to start. But it is no use keeping an army on paper and dispersing it in fact. If the League is to do good it must not attempt too much or claim too much: instead of pretending to powers which it does not possess—and would be afraid to use if they were given to it —it should say quite clearly and simply what it conceives its duty to be. And the outrageous conduct of Italy affords tho League an opportunity to do this.