The Post-War World
In the instructive debate in the House of Lo d jau plans for world settlement Lord cr.as WI-toff° n of
declaration of policy at tbe• hn-onthich we stand, must, he
r s_ the principle. tit all the nations who adhered to it. But there ..s.-:rinich force in Lord Lang's contention that the terms of the Atlantic Charter are so general that it may easily be misconceived, and that further interpretation is desirable. This is not an argument for a unilateral statement, which would present obvious dangers, but for close joint study by the principal nations concerned of the prin- ciples of the Atlantic Charter and the means of applying them. Lord Perth pressed for such joint study of the problem, and so did Lord Lang, and Viscount Cranborne clearly admitted the justice of their claim when he said that plans were already being hammered out " on various aspects of post-war problems " with the Dominions, the United States, Russia and the other United Nations. It is evident that no scheme will be acceptable which has not the full support of the British Empire, the United States, Russia and China ; these four Powers will inevitably be the strong props of any world system which comes into being. As Professor Norman Bentwich points out in an article on a later page, if law and order and peace are to be preserved, there must be something in the nature of a new common- wealth with authority and force to assert its rules. This presupposes something in the nature of a League of Nations, an improved, stronger, more versatile League—by that or any other name—with America in it (as she is the M.O.) and Russia in it, and with force at its disposal to enable it to assert its authority. This is a matter which should certainly be the subject of immediate study by the United Nations, both severally and jointly.
