* • To return to the Birmingham speech, Sir Austen
pointed out that enormous moral authority belonged to any decision of the Council and that it was therefore most important that it should never be the decision of a minority. Yet that might happen—since, even with Germany included, the Council would consist of only eleven members, permanent and non:permanent. Suppose. that some subject Should be discussed which vitally interested six members of the Council who therefore would not be allowed to vote. Would. the decision of the five members who could vote carry sufficient weight ? In fine, Sir Austen thought that not enough attention had been paid in this country to the importance of the principle of having a larger Council. Nor was it true, he went on to say, that additions beyond that of Germany would violate the Loca,rno agreement. The fact was that the question of such additions had been in the air for a long time and had merely been postponed till Germany became a member of the League.
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