The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1919. THE NEW GRAND ALLIANCE.

Auckland Star, Issue 123, 24 May 1919, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

SATURDAY, MAY 24, 1919. THE NEW GRAND ALLIANCE.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the icrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And the good that we can do.

In all probability it will be a considerable time before the world at large knows everything that it ought to know' about the diplomatic arrangements that: have been settled between the great Powers during the war and since its conclusion. It may, therefore, be premature just now to attempt any detailed discussion of the alliance which is said to have been definitely concluded between Britain, France and the United States. In the natural order of things rwe may presume the- Parliaments or national as-1 scmhliee of the various States concerned will have the terms and conditions of this new compact submitted to them for ratification or rejection. But while we agree that the nations have a right to bo consulted about the obligations they are called upon to assume, we can well understand the necessity for maintaining secrecy about diplomatic affairs until the appropriate moment has come to lay them open for discussion. In the meanwhile, however, the fact that Britain and France and America are supposed to have concluded an alliance for defensive purposes ie in itself exceedingly important, more especially in viewing its obvious bearing on the many great problems involved in the establishment of the new League of Nations. For the existence of euch an alliance must make a very material difference to the character of the settlement now being arranged, and the world's prospects of securing and maintaining permanent peace.

We have assumed that the object and purpose of this new Grand Alliance is to save the world from any recurrence of the horrors of the last five years; in other words, to prevent Germany or any other Power inspired by similar motives from planning and precipitating wars to serve its own selfish ends. Such an agreement between the leading States of Europe is, historically speaking, by no means a novelty. Many a time, in the past, the great Powers have been forced to combine against a single State determined to secure undue authority for itself and to satisfy its ambitions at the expense of its neighbours. The great coalitions against Charles V. and

Philip 11., against Louis XIV. and Napoleon arc cases in point; and the record of these compacts and alliances is part and parcel of the history of that great system of international politics usually denominated the Balance of Potter. But it has always been a standing complaint with pacifists and antimilitarists'That the Balance of Power tended to promote war and, In fact, rendered it inevitable by imposing upon the contracting parties the responsibility of intervening sooner or later in quarrels which were not their own immediate concern. The recognition of the dangers thus incurred was the chief reason, and the chief excuse, for the policy of "splendid isolation" which Britain pursued for more than half of the nineteenth century. Again, though the Monro*" Doctrine originated from quite a different source, it has been alwaye the traditional dread of '"foreign entanglements" that has induced the people and governments of the United States to hold themselves so far aloof from the course of European affairs. Now, the necessity for maintaining the Monroe principle has been one of the chief arguments employed by President Wilson in his attempt to induce his people to support his League of Nations scheme, on the ground that the only alternative is the Balance of Power. It is therefore the more surprising that at the very moment when the League of Nations has apparently come within the range of practical politics, the world should be notified, in effect, that the Balance of Power system is to be maintained, and that the American nation is to be included in its scope as well.

As a matter of fact the persistence of the doctrine of the Balance of Power, and more especially America's adhesion to it, carefully limited and conditioned though this may 'be, is a sign and a proof that though the League of Nations is now to i take visible shape and corporeal form,' even those who are chiefly responsible for its existence are still dubious about its efficacy and apprehensive about its future. For the function of the new Alliance will clearly be to make good the defects of the proposed League on iwhat is manifestly ite weakest side. Why has France, in particular, displayed so much anxiety about the effect of their new adjustment of international relations, and so much reluctance to commit herself unreservedly to President Wilson's programme? Because she fears in the first place that the authority of the League of Nations may conflict sooner or later with her own sovereign rights, even to the extent of forbidding her to arm in her own defence, and because 6he knows from bitter experience that in the hour of a dire emergency even wellmeaning friends may hesitate too long and bear help too late. But if the virtual alliance in which Britain and the United States have become bound to France during the war is prolonged and maintained, France can look to the future with confidence and hope. She need not trouble about the ascendancy of the League of Nations so long aa

she is sure that she can rely upon prompt and vigorous action by Britain and America if ever Germany or any other disturber of the world's peace ehould assail her again. Thus the weakness of the League of Nations is neutralised and remedied by appealing once more to the principle of the Balance of Power and reconstructing the system of coalitions which so often saved Europe from servitude in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is a most significant fact that President Wilson, who only a few months ago was denouncing the Balance of Power as a breeder of wars, should now acquiesce in what is practically its revival. But, in our opinion, the President's eecond thoughts are best, and it is o»ily by maintaining some such system as auxiliary to the League of Nations that the world's peace can be assured and the purposes and objects of the Allies finally attained.