Alliance was the agreement of the United States not to construct naval bases or new fortifications in Guam and the Philippines, and the clause terminating the Anglo-Japanese Alliance might just as well have been attached to the Naval Treaty, but this would not have satisfied Japanese public opinion. Great Britain and Japan were permitted to terminate their alliance in any way that they might deem best. After the Four-Power Treaty was accepted by the American delegates, they feared that it would look too much as if the United States had merely been drawn into the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. It was decided, therefore, at the eleventh hour to give the agreement a more general character by inviting France to adhere to it. France agreed to sign, although she resented not having been consulted during the negotiation of the treaty. The achievements of the Conference, although falling far short of the extravagant claims made by the President and the American delegates, are undoubtedly of great importance. The actual scrapping of millions of dollars' worth of ships in commission or in process of construction gives the world an object lesson such as it has never had before. One of the most significant results of the Conference was the development of a complete accord between England and the United States, made possible by the settlement of the Irish question and furthered by the tact and gracious bearing of Mr. Balfour. One of the unfortunate results was the increased isolation of France, due to the failure of her delegates to grasp the essential elements of the situation and to play any but a negative role. The success of the Conference was due largely to Secretary Hughes who, though handicapped at every point by fear of the Senate and by the unfortunate commitments of President Harding during the last campaign, may be said on the whole to have played his hand reasonably well. Meanwhile we are still drifting, so far as a general European policy is concerned. President Harding's idea of holding aloof from "Europe's league," as he prefers to designate the League of Nations, and of having a little league of our own in the Pacific, will not work. The world's problems cannot be segregated in this way. Europe's league includes all of the principal American nations except the United States and Mexico, while our Pacific league includes the two leading European powers. As soon as the American people realize--and there are indications that they are already waking up to the reality--that the depression in domestic industry and foreign commerce is due to conditions in Europe and that prosperity will not return until we take a hand in the solution of European problems, there will be a general demand for a constructive policy and America will no longer hesitate to reassume the leadership which she renounced in the referendum of 1920, but which the rest of the world is ready to accord to her again. INDEX ABC alliance, 162, 165.