Lord Robert Cecil, whose special taskin Paris is concerned with
a League of Nations, has stated, according to the DailyExpress, that our Government deprecate unduly ambitious schemes. "The British view is that the League should avoid rigid machinery, that it should begin modestly and develop with events, the main object being to prevent the world suffering again from a *udders outbreak of aggressive war." We italicize the significant word "sudden," which shows that Mr. Lloyd George is in agreement with President Wilson as to the supreme necessity of a compulsory " moratorium " or period of delay before a nation proceeds to fight out a quarrel. We have repeatedly urged that, if the Conference can achieve as much as this and no more, it will have established the peace of the world on a solid foundation.
The elaborate plans for International Tribunals can be discussed at leisure, and reconciled, if that be possible, with the main- tenance of national sovereignty. The really important thing is to save the world from the conditions which allowed the present war to come like a thief in the night.
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