Hot though the engagement was on Thursday in the House of Commons between the Government and_ the various groups of the Opposition it was only: preliminary skirmish, The main battle Will be fought on Tuesday when Mr, C, R. Aillee's vole of censure will come up for discussion, Mr, Anthony Eden has. stated th case for the removal of "sanctions with impressive Adelity to logic and facts, Both he and Mr, Stanley Baldwin seem to have been on firmer ground than any of their critics. The Government all along have expressed their view that support of the League was conditional on the effectiveness of that holy. They insisted on the applica Won of "sanctions" with the object of testing the eMeacy of the restraining articles of the Covenant. They also made it clear that British support of the League would be strictly on a collective basis. Even than they ran great risks because the elecumstances tended to place Gros Britain In the van of the League's opposition to Italy's aggression, They must have been fortified in this policy by the conviction that it gave the only possible means of proving the Longue's worth, Had they not agreed to press for "sanctions" the argument would have been that they did not-make all. possible use of the League's machinery. And It is, cer~ fain in the light of the attitude of some of the other members, that Great Britain could not possibly have Induced the League to go further than It did, Therefore the failure to avert the conquest of Abyssinia was all the more significant, Before seeking. the remedies, the logical course withdraw from an untenable position, That is exactly what the Government propose and they give, through Mr, Eden, the solemn assurtance that they will press for the reform and consequent strengthening of the League, Mr, Eden's important retference to the prospect of bringing Germany and France together to the conference table shows that this intention ig not merely a pious wish But a definite pledge of policy. This altitude of the Government compares favo trahly with the inconsistency of the Oppusition, Mr. David Lloyd George thoroughly, enjoyed himself in charging Mr. Baldwin with coward: ice and the Labour Party's manifesto may glibly talk of a betrayal of the League," Yet would either of those fauthorliles give the Government unequivocal support if the further application of sanctions impelled a declaration of war? Judging from the behaviour and comments of many of Mr. Alllee's supporters the answer is emphatically in the negative for they have taken the Tine that the Government is unnecessarily increasing the nation's defences and have given their countenance to various gestures disapproval of military training. Mr, Lloyd George would have had every right 10 describe the Government as cowardly if it had left the: issue of the removal of sanctions for settlement on the motion of some other member at the forthcoming meeting at Geneva, Great Britain has no reason to be ashamed of her Teadetship in the peculiar elreum-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.