If that should happen, each new. Government would try to
undo in foreign affairs the work of its predecessor. However successful a self-styled pro-League Government might be, the average speed forward in the development of the League would be very slow indeed, because each period of progress would be followed by a paralysis if not by retrogression. A " Tory " Government would hardly get the consent of the Opposition to any policy, even if it were in the true spirit of the League, when the whole of Parliament had become blinded by partisanship. Lord Rosebery was perfectly right and did the nation an invaluable service when he emphasized the principle of continuity in our foreign policy. Lord Lansdowne worked on that principle with a smoothness and a mastery of his subject which nobody had predicted for him when he was Secretary for War. Subsequently con- tinuity ceased to be a disputed doctrine in all its main aspects. The foreign policy of Mr. MacDonald's Labour Government was faithful to that of his predecessors.
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