WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 1917

IMPERIAL WAR CABINET AND CONFERENCE 61
policy of aggression and domination, nothing will serve but
adequate force." The effectiveness of a League of Nations
is ultimately a military problem.
This leads Sir Eyre Crowe to discuss the possibility of
limitation of armaments as a means of reducing the horrors
of war and increasing the power of a League of Nations as
against any individual nation. Such limitation must be in
terms of quantity of arms; kinds of arms; or expenditure
of arms; or all three.
None of these methods is effective by itself. The possible
size of armies is limited only by national man power. Lack
of it can be met by using more potent weapons, and the
prohibition of certain categories would only stimulate invention
of new types; and even financial limitation may be
defeated by discovery of cheaper and more deadly weapons.
Suppose all three were used together; even then certain
further conditions are essential if genuine disarmament is to
be carried out.
The first condition is confidence in the good faith of all
parties. This does not exist and is not likely to. Any nation
could evade disarmament agreements, and none will trust its
neighbour not to attempt evasion.
The second and fundamental condition is for each State
to accept for itself a standard of force which it will not exceed.
Since nations differ widely in size, defensibility of
frontiers, and responsibilities, the standard must be different
for each. What shall the comparative standard be? Not that
existing before the War, which has proved itself a danger to
world peace. Not that which we can impose on the Central
Powers after the War, if we defeat them, for they will not
submit permanently to helpless inferiority. We cannot
stereotype the relative armament strength of nations because
they grow and decline and change, as do their relations
with each other. "Who will undertake to fix the standard of