THE RESULTS OF SIR AUSTEN'S SPEECH.
It was something of a triumph for the constructive spirit of the League that out of these apparent contradictions com- plete and genuine unity should have been forged, on the basis not merely of an academic resolution, but of a programme of action. That result was not achieved without some sacrifice of individual desires, but it was achieved without sacrifice of essential principles. Sir Austen Chamberlain's speech, with its insistence on the gravity of the obligations already imposed by the Covenant, had the effect in the end of pointing the way to a solution, for first the Belgian delegate, M. de Brouekere, and then more reluctantly the French, M. Paul-Boncour, recognized that considerable progress could be made in the consolidation of international security by a full exploration and application of the provisions of the Covenant, which every League member has signed, and by which every League member is bound.
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