When .he said that it would have been impossible to
state: an ,explicit policy in advance, since that would have been to usurp the function of the League (which was to reach decisions through discussion), and that in. any case. ,Great Britain could 'not " order about " other nations; evetybody agreed with him. But his argument did not really touch the relevant complaints. The public genuinely believed that there was some dis- crepancy betWeen national opinion and the policy of the Foreign Secretary ; and yet when all the facts were laid bare in the debate, it became clear that the policy of the Cabinet was exactly what the nation desired it to bel Sir Austen was instructed to try to get Germany elected a • permanent member of the League without the election of any other POwer ; he was to stick to " the principle that only Great Powers should be per- inanent members of the Council, although it was admitted that Spain might have to receive exceptional treatment ; and Poland and Brazil were decisively ruled out as possible permanent members, though it was laid doWn that Poland ought to have a non-permanent seat as soon as possible. * •
