BRAINS AT VERSAILLES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXIX, Issue 9631, 11 June 1919, Page 8

BRAINS AT VERSAILLES.

TRIBUTE TO lUUTISH. "What is dascrii>'>d by a London newspaper as "t!:*" •'.uu->L lucid and informative article yet published on the hearing of the L-eague of Nations,; . to the British policy is that by Mr Frank H. Simond-. {the ivell-Unown American, war. corespondent), in the New- York 'Time-'.'" "Britain." he Mays, in opening, "is incomparably better represented as Paris on the technical and on the diplomatic side ■ than any ' other of the Groat Powers. There are more brains and better brains in the Brirish delegation than in any other, and these brains are concentrated upon ? clearly thought--' lout programme. The lessons of the Hvar.havu been more clearly understood by British statesmen than any other; they alone realise that the relations -of great nations have been changed. The decisive rolt* in the war and in the peace belongs to America for precisely Ihe same rc-ioon that Great Britain held it so often in the past. We .have come relatively fresh upon the stricken field. Wo aioue are till strong, fighting, a-; well as otherwise. Therefore it is nev«Nssary to recognise America.. British policy has accepted tin's situation skii'iully. .' "The..keynote or British policy is that there* shall be no break of any kind between America and England, that every conceivable concession shall he wa.de,'large or small, on the poKcical, as contrast';'*' with the economic -phase, to the end that Anglo-Ameri-can relations ar.d Anglo-American .friendship may be- placed en a solid basis for the iuturo. In the matter of .the League of Nations the thing was little more than, a vague formula, .even aiicr Mr VV'its.on had outlined his 14 points. At the moment- when the .President came to Europe it became the mission of the British to work out the IVrsideut's id-.>a> and give them form, to givo*nhem coherence, and thev'have done'this. The scheme of the 'League of Nations which the British, have formulated seeks to preserve eertahi influences in the world, it is designed to serve certain thinsis in the world. Before this great conflict came- -Britain had reached the point of saturation in the matter of Imperial expansion. Her great problem had become to pmserve, not to increase, and the burden of her Empire was. more and more heavily felt as ■domestic conditions foreshadowed, the ■complete transformation at home. Germany struck at the moment when she believed both, the 'domestic problems and tho Imperial weariness would combine .io ensure her success. She failed, but even in her failure she transformed many conditions. She upset tho world 'vhafc had existed, and she hr..s stream three continents with the ruins of ancient systems which.must be revised." . "N'.'W ihe chief concern of Great Britain as an Empire is 'India-. India •begins .'it Gibraltar, and, at- least, extends io' Hong-Kong To protect India, now that Turkey is eliminated, it will b-.- necessary to deal with Mesopotamia ami .Palestine and S'-'ria just as it -.vas. m-'.vessar.y' a generation ago to deal v.hh Egy?-. Ur.le>.s tle.ro van be some sy.stem devised which divides responsibiiitv for the maiu>.eminee oi States like' Syria and Mesopotamia and Armenia, and strategic points like -.Constantinople,' England, will have to' take most vi' them to protect India, or else surrender some of them to States .who may develop colonies of their own across the vita! pathway to the Near East. Th* Briton has taken to the League of Nations as a practical man. H* war- nearer to -Such, an adjustment before the w^-r'd war than any o&lier l'hii»oue;>,n nation. He hopes that the League of Nations will' place the Til:ted! Stc.tes.aa a mandatory ot the Great Powers in Constantinople, in Asia Minor, and h\ Central Africa. His air.hition is ivA o tali..' German territory, but to prevent Gennaii tor- , i-iiorv i'ro'm returning to the German or becoming for ..him a. .burden beyonu his resources. Very .frankly, therefore, Greet Britain at Paris is using/ the licagne. of Nations and the association of .America to supply guarantees, ana buttresses . i.->■• the - immediate am.* not too eneo;:..aguig future. She let-is her^e'l -. L >t -.-rong chough to iidd to her burdens, so coioNSL«i on _ the imperial side beioiv the war, whioii in iu-.v--.it exhat:SL«l such aia jlnrnmig traction of her resources in men and uumc<>. She fc-'.'ls iln'l, aitme among the Powers in th« world, America could take o\er a portion oi tlifsc bi.n.iw without threatening iinusk •^'■'^. vThe" L.,re i'rom the tirs'i moment after I Vevelied' Kurope >i heard on all sides ir-^n ii.-i'.i-h people the -;-nme iormula. It'was the duly .iU.-.w!,!! to y.qnare their Mnmnp-es wr.h '-heir words v. ap»J.v the Humanity and idealism, Aid: wa, instinct m Mr \ nson* *, we ,.\;,... T --> .stand r«.-vly to do em pan in the world to bring order ana liistie- a-; once, and 'liberation *'<■ <-he proper time, l 0 oppressed nations. "T""- l.'.'iu-v.e. of Nations a.-, it will Of worked out'"\viH-,. unfinotiunnbly, hv a guarantee against war m the lutnre withi-' limi«s'! H will'have a beneficial elfcct --.pon Lhe. and the principle, expressed in .t will have much t., d"» with the facts that are developed in maklne- the pe'ice itself:. But fundai)ieuu ,;iy''tid, L^gp ■of . MitioM amounts to an Anglo-American liance. And its- chier models ha.c been found i:i the machinery o the British I'mpire as it listed and have been die rontribntio:; o? the British. The League <d Nation* is an. expert' raent in'idealism for America. It. is a fixed doctrine of foreign policy with Ore-. Britain—tho one possible means of os-ape from a burden great now, and hoend to become greater in. -the future, an escape achieved by dividing the burden without increasing political conipliea-Jons."'