"As soon as the Council has called upon the signatory States to apply sanctions, as provided in the last paragraph of Article 10 of the present Protocol, the obligations of the said States, in regard to the sanctions of all kinds mentioned in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 16 of the Covenant, will immediately become operative in order that such sanctions may forthwith be employed against the aggressor. "Those obligations shall be interpreted as obliging each of the signatory States to co-operate loyally and effectively in support of the Covenant of the League of Nations, and in resistance to any act of aggression, in the degree which its geographical position and its particular situation as regards armaments allow." On its face, paragraph 2 of Article 11 of the Protocol merely interprets paragraph 2 of Article 16 of the Covenant; but unquestionably _it greatly changes it_. Under the provisions mentioned of the Covenant, the Council had merely the duty of recommendation as to forces to be contributed by Members of the League. Undoubtedly under Article 16 of the Covenant, paragraph 1, any Member of the League had the right, if it chose, to consider itself at war with an aggressor, but equally under that paragraph any Member of the League had the right, if it chose, _not_ to consider itself at war with an aggressor. Consequently there was no duty whatever under that Article 16, not even a moral duty, in my judgment, on the part of any Member of the League to contribute any armed forces whatever. The Council had the duty (under Article 16, Paragraph 2, of the Covenant) of making a recommendation; but it was merely a recommendation, and there was no obligation of the Member of the League to which the recommendation applied; there was merely a possible privilege to the Member of the League to which the recommendation applied--and that is a very different thing. Now, let us look at paragraph 2 of Article 11 of the Protocol, quoted above. Each signatory State is "to cooperate loyally and {78} effectively" not only "in support of the Covenant," but "in resistance to any act of aggression." Well, certainly resistance to an act of aggression means force and this fact is not qualified but emphasized by the words: "in the degree which its geographical position and its situation as regards armaments allow." I grant that these words have a qualifying effect in some cases. They would mean, for example, that if Denmark had no army, she could not be under any obligation to use infantry. But they also refer to the other side of that picture, that the British do have a navy, that is their particular situation as regards armaments, a very particular situation; and under this Article, as I read it, the British would be bound "loyally and effectively" to cooperate in resistance to an act of aggression in the degree which their particular naval situation allowed.