The General Act The House of Commons on Monday agreed
by a sub- stantial majority to accede to the General Act of Inter- national Arbitration. Mr. Henderson laid great stress on the moral value of Great Britain's signature in rein- forcing " the confidence of the participants in the machinery of peace " and thus preparing the way for the Disarmament Conference. The Act merely rounded off, he said, the procedure laid down in the Pact of Paris gind the Optional Clause, The criticism of Sir Austen Chamberlain and others that the possibility of an appeal from the recommendations of the League Council would weaken the authority of the Council does not seem to be well founded, for appeal is contemplated only if the Council should fail to compose a dispute ; and there is, moreover, an interval of a year before an appeal is possible. Nor are we much disturbed by Sir Austen's statement that the Government's reservations, if they mean something, make the General Act useless, and if they mean nothing make it dangerous. For the Act, even thus limited, would certainly include, as subject to compulsory arbitration, many disputes which would not now be included ; and any advance in this field is to be welcomed.
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