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.