5. It was realised that the problem was not merely to find a general scheme of disarmament and security, but that the particular question of French security was of immediate political importance, and would shortly require a solution. The question of "security" had already been raised in conversations between Mr. MacDonald and M. Herriot in July last, at Chequers {219} and in Paris. During the latter meeting, the subject was discussed at some length, and the position as it was then left by the two Prime Ministers was set out in the Franco-British memorandum of the 9th July concerning the application of the Dawes plan. The relevant paragraph read as follows: "The two Governments have likewise proceeded to a preliminary exchange of views on the question of security. They are aware that public opinion requires pacification: they agree to co-operate in devising through the League of Nations or otherwise, as opportunity presents itself, means of securing this, and to continue the consideration of the question until the problem of general security can be finally solved." In a declaration made in the Chamber on the 21st August, reporting on the results of the London Conference, M. Herriot said "security must be the object of another Conference. He did not see why France should not take the initiative .......... For the rest, the security question would be dealt with at Geneva." 6. The debate in the League Assembly was opened by the British Prime Minister on the 4th September. Mr. Ramsay MacDonald began by explaining that it was not because they were indifferent to the problem of national security that His Majesty's Government had given an adverse opinion on the Draft Treaty of Mutual Assistance. They believed that security could not be based on military alliances, and they hesitated to become involved in any agreements which committed them to vague and indefinite obligations. In this respect the Treaty of Mutual Assistance was open to criticism, especially in its article 3 and in its definition of aggression. Mr. Ramsay MacDonald emphasised that the main problem was the problem of national security in relation to national armaments, and the initial difficulty was encountered in the definition of such terms as "security" and "aggression." In regard to the latter, he said, "the one method by which we can approximate to an accurate attribution of responsibility for aggression is arbitration," and he proposed that the article of the Statute of the Permanent Court dealing with {220} arbitration should be carefully examined by a Commission, with a view to its being placed before the Assembly in a somewhat more precise, expanded and definite form than it now had. Such a step would be necessary as a preliminary to the discussion of disarmament, which could produce no good result unless an atmosphere of confidence were previously created. To summon a Conference on disarmament without such a preparation of the ground would be to court