SANCTIONS
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] .
SIR, —I am a bold man, and I want to make a point in deferke of the Government : a point which is, I think, of importance, and one which has not, so far as my reading goes, been made before in your columns. It is this. The whole value and utility of a more vigorous prosecution by this country of " sanctions " against Italy would have lain in the support and prestige it would or might have lent to the Covenant. That object would have been attained only if, and only so far as, it was plain to the world that our policy was dictated solely. by the motive of vindicating the League. But if this country had continued to display an isolated vigcur, to " take the lead," it may be doubted whether many people would have believed that we were not actuated by imperialistic considerations, and our energy and our risks, whatever their effect, would, from this vital point of view, have been completely thrown away. I have been told that even in America, until the Hoare-Laval proposals, we were believed to be influenced in the matter of the Abyssinia War by purely selfish motives— though after that unhappy episode we were regarded as having betrayed the cause of civilisation.—Yours, Ulpha, near Broughton-in-Purness. M. S. Amos.
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