The letter went on to say that the Cabinet would
not touch this proposal till after the Election, or at all events till the "League of Nations nonsense" had been discussed. Mr. Thomas's comment was : "That is what the military people want. My God ! If that is what they get, then, so far as this country is concerned, we are irretrievably ruined." Mr. Thomas is inviting the Labour Party to follow a false scent. It is surely clear that if conscript armies continue on the Continent we must insure ourselves against the danger. The principle contained in the famous witticism, " Que messieurs les assassins commencent I " is perfectly sound. It is useless to try to laugh it away. But after all we earnestly hope and believe that under a League of Nations there will be no such huge conscript armies as have existed in the past. For all that, even under the most perfect League of Nations imaginable there will be a good deal of military police work to be done. Moreover, the British Empire has innumerable commitments in its relations with savage peoples which have nothing whatever to do with the League of Nations.
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