If an economic blockade was applied
to a. nation which defied the league,
he said, he could not believe that na
tion would toe oJble to resist for long.
"No nation would destroy itself in
these civilized times by inviting' such
a penalty," he added.' "It is not likely
it will often toe used since it is not
probable the league will often toe de
fied" Mr. Balfour gave it as his opinion
that the league was suffering from
two dangers on the one hand, from
those people who said it was a use
less creatiori, and on the other hand
from those who .believed that in the
league had been found a remedy for
all international difficulties. If all the
nations threw all their problems on it
in these early days before its objects
had been ingrained in the people's
minds, he asserted, the league could
not function properly; it must be
given time to develop.
