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THE WELSH OUTLOOK The Editor does not necessarily identify himself with the opinions of contributors to The Welsh Outlook" Editorial responsibility is limited to the views expressed in: the" Notes oj the Month," and in the unsigned article immediately following. NOTES OF THE MONTH The League When we realize that it is hoped that the of Nations' original members of the League of Covenant Nations will consist of the thirty-two Allied and Associated Powers signatories of the Treaty of Peace, and of thirteen Neutral States, the League Covenant which has now been settled upon begins to take the shape of a concrete fact in the mind. It is so great a project and so ideal a conception that it has been difficult to grasp it as so great a fact. It is part of the Peace Treaty, and its first article is so worded as to enable the enemy Powers to agree to the constitution of the League without at once becoming members of it, while the fourth article allows for the admission of Germany and Russia to the Council, the central organ of the League, when they have established themselves as Great Powers that can be trusted to honour their obligations. This principle of development is the most characteristic feature of the Covenant, and it is the point we desire most to emphasize here the League of Nations' Covenant is not the last word on the League of Nations, and the Paris Conference does not mean it to be so. We must not lose sight of the fundamental fact that the Commission responsible for the document has sought only to create a framework which should make possible and encourage an indefinite develop- ment in accordance with the ideas of the future. It has been deliberate policy to leave the hands of the statesmen of the future as free as possible, and to allow the League, as a living organism, to discover its own best lines of development. In a word, the Covenant is a solemn agree- ment between sovereign States, which consent to limit their complete freedom of action on certain points for the greater good of themselves and the world at large. Re- cognizing that one generation cannot hope to bind its successors by written words, the Commission has worked throughout on the assumption that the League must con- tinue to depend on the free consent, in the last resort, of JUNE, 1919. its component States. The League Covenant, therefore, is only a beginning. It needs the closest attention and the study of every citizen. It is the child of Britain and America, and only the child. Britain and America have to rear it, and it should be the loving task of each of us in this generation in respect of our sufferings and our sacrifices. An Inter" In every country there should be a national voluntary society whose business it is Police Force to seek out and suggest improvements which will make the League of Nations a secure and permanent institution. One of the directions in which this development will arise will be in connection with the sanctions for enforcing the decisions of the League. The creation of an International Police Force in the near tuture will be imperative, if the League is to accomplish its objects. As in all civilized countries, ·the reign of Law has been founded upon an adequate force to give effect to the decisions of Justice, so we cannot expect to secure the reign of Justice between the nations, until the peoples have declared their willingness to pool their police resources and to create an armed force, whose sole duty is to carry out the decisions of the League. It is not suggested that the older arms of the national services-the Infantry, the Cavalry, Field Artillery, the Battle-ships and Cruisers should be handed over. They will still remain under the control of the individual nations and members of the League, who will undertake to supply their quotas of all these branches of the service when called upon to assist the International Force, if the necessity arises. But it is suggested that the control of the newer arms of the services should be given to the League. During the war inventive genius has supplied new weapons of destruction which are capable of vast improvements and developments, as in the case of the aeroplane, the submarine, heavy artillery, the