Mr. Henderson concluded from these rather ambiguous retorts that though
both Germany and Austria were reluctant to bring their project before the League, neither of them really stood in the way. Clearly the League ought to decide. There is no other course now that Germany and Austria are convinced of the legality of the Customs Union and France is convinced of its illegality. Great Britain has not expressed an opinion either way, and for our part we hope that the scheme may prove to be legal. All believers in the League, however, must take the risk of a decision going against their particular wishes. The point is that the near future of the relations of Germany and Austria must be governed by the machinery of the League and in no other way. Mr. Henderson reflected gratefully on the contrast between a world which has a League and the former world which had not. It will be right for the League Council, when Mr. Henderson lays the subject before it, to aim at a more impartial opinion than can be got from the members of the Council them- selves, some of whom are, of course, principals in the dispute. A ruling should be asked from the Permanent Court.
