It is probably true that such a union would make for the peace of the whole world, by the establishment of what would amount almost (0 a benevolent tyranny—an Anglo-'American hegemony for the purpose of peace over the whole world. But, that is not isolation, It represents merely' a re-orienta~ tion of the foreign policies of both nations and nothing more. Isolation for Great Britain must forever remain a dream. Her position in Europe requires that she shall enter into commitments preserving something like the old balance of power calculated to preserve 'a sort of partial collective security in place of the complete system which was sought in the Covenant of the League of Nations. Had it been possible to secure unanimity of purpose amongst the members of the League, over 'Manchuria and' Abyssinia, or even one of them, what is happening' in China at the. moment would never have occurred. It was impossible to do so, and Great Britain has been obliged to make such arrangements as will fortify her position in the world in general and Europe in particular. Because of that lack of unanimity, as demonstrated repeatedly at Geneva, the League of Nations has suffered grievous damage. That does not! necessarily mean that it is completely destroy-jed or that the principles for which it stands are wrong. Collective security may be a very high, if not completely unattainable ideal, but it is apparent that the modification, consisting of defensive undertakings, is exactly the same thing in a restricted form: It is true that the possibility of Great Britain being foreed into common action with Russia does not commend itself to a large section of the British people, but the breakdown of collective security, and the necessity for preserving the balance of power is a misfortune which has provided Great Britain with strange bedfellows. 'There are many who hope that in the future there will be a considerable change in that respect, but much has still to be done before thai change can be brought about, and oven if it were it' would.not bring isolation, but a limited collective security.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.