In other words the Government point out that they are
committed to consideration of the League's scheme (which aims at a reduction of all armaments by all members of the League), and that they could not even in form commit an act of disloyalty. In our judgment, however, the American proposal will grow in importance as time passes. Sir Austen Chamberlain said that the Government's reply to Mr. Coolidge had been sanctioned by all the Governments of the Empire except the Irish Free State, from which no answer had been received. The . British reply has given _ profound satisfaCtiOn to the American State Department. The difficulties are not underrated at Washington, but there is an unwavering hope that sooner or later Great Britain, the United States and Japan will agree to further naval limitation. mr. Coolidge is careful to insist on the word " limitation it does not necessarily mean reduction: A reasonable objection to the whole project is that any one of the three limiting nations might be placed in a position of extreme danger by sudden naval expansion on the part of an - outside Power. -That danger, however,- could be easily provided against by making the agreement as to limitation subject to immediate revision if the existing scale of naval strengths were seriously upset.
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