Now the terrors of the future have made the League the cornerstone of the foreign policy of several states including France. It is flouted still by the nationalists of every country when it stands in their way; but even they do not dare try to destroy it. Without it no one sees any hope ahead—nothing but universal warfare and wholesale extermination until the end.
GROWING PUBLIC OPINION BEHIND LEAGUE
The change, be it noted, has been in public opinion. The small nations saw in the attack on Greece the fact that their existence rests with the League. French liberals perceived that they could reduce the burden of armaments and achieve security only through the League. Statesmen, leaders of thought everywhere, discovered that they were leaning upon it more and more heavily as they looked ahead into the dark.
Winston Churchill, sincere imperialist though he be, writes: “It is through the League of Nations alone that the path to safety and salvation can be found. To sustain and aid the League of Nations is the duty of all.” His government failed to live up to his wise admonition in the recent crisis in Egypt, but it is something that he should have recognized the obligation in principle. The League will progressively destroy imperialism, one may hope.
BUILDING WORLD OPINION
We have only to read our morning paper thoughtfully to become aware that the sound world opinion required to make the new machinery of justice effective will not come of itself. It must be built by the conscious and purposeful cooperation of governments and of all good citizens.
ENGLAND AND EGYPT
England’s conservative government has just thrown away a precious opportunity of this kind in refusing to submit to the League her quarrel with Egypt and resorting to the coercive policy of the old diplomacy, seizing the opportunity of a murder to advance the interests of the empire.
The thirst for liberty that is stirring North Africa, the Near East, and India cannot be quenched by repression. “Only a few agitators are to blame for this unrest,” say the old-school imperialists. That is what they said with some justice of the American Colonies once. England would have been wiser to strengthen the League now against the difficult days that everyone can see ahead of the British Empire.
It is by such voluntary submission of important matters to the Court and League by governments strong enough to evade doing so that in the last instance our world opinion must be built.