§ Then one other thing. It is essential to such an agreement, in my opinion, and in the opinion of all with whom I have spoken, that Germany should enter the League of Nations, taking her place as she would assuredly do in the Council of the League, on a footing of equality, both of obligations and of rights, with the other great and small nations. I know that Germany has raised objections to particular Articles. We discussed them at a Council meeting of the League the other day, and we replied. The real answer is that it is of the essence of the League, without which there is no League, that all the nations within the League are equal, owing equal obligations, possessing equal rights. If you once begin to make exceptions in the obligations, you of course at the same time make exceptions in respect of the rights, and the equality which lies at the root of the League, which is of the essence of its spirit, would be destroyed, and the League itself would be paralysed and defeated. Let me add one other word about this proposal. As I understand, as I can well foresee, no fruitful issue can come of it, unless we can deal successfully and expeditiously on the one side and the other with the remaining obligations of disarmament and with the evacuation of the Cologne area. But it is no part of the German proposal, and no condition, that the period of occupation fixed for the remaining zones by the Treaty of Versailles should be shortened or altered in any way.