The Dominion WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1919. FRANCE AND' THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 124, 19 February 1919, Page 6

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1919. FRANCE AND' THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Allegations of embittered antagonisms between some of the delegates have become a standing feature of the Peace Conference reports, but if such antagonisms exist'it-is likely that , their importance has been greatly exaggerated. Against stories of this kind it is possible to set. , explicit assurances that most encouraging progress has been ; made in the preliminary work of establishing the League of Nations; In ■ presenting the draft covenant of the League to the Conference in plenary session, President Wilson, was able to state that it had been unanimously approved by the representatives of fourteen nations., Obviously this announcement heavil.v outweighs much, that has been said about _ discord and personal dissensions- in the- course of committee proceedings. It is not for a moment in doubt, however,'that there.are tremendous difficulties still to be- overcome, and as far as can be judged_ at present these difficulties centre in the problem of establishing complete agree-' ment betwen the United States and France. Known facts . uniformly support the statement in one of today s messages that the worst danger the successful creation of the League) lies in the Franco-American differences. It is. evident that these differences are an outcome not of any narrow spirit, of' antagonism; but of the'extreme contrast between the circumstances in' which the two nations are placed and from which they approach the practical: problem -of- safeguarding future peace. The United States is best .placed of all nations to rely upon a sweeping; reduction of national armaments and thp free development of international cooperation in preventing disputes or in settling them by peaceable methods if they.arise. France, on the other hand, is worst placed of all the Great Powers in this regard. To her, separated as she is from Germany only by an imaginary line, it is a matter . of life and death that the new order should embody really firm safeguards for the', maintenance of peace' and for anticipating and defeating' lawless aggression should it be attempted in future. It is bare justice to recognise that France has much better reason than- any other great nation for refusing to enter into any- , thing that could be described as a risky experiment in the- regulation of international relations. With ten departments systematically plundered and laid waste, and others harried and despoiled, shc'is well within her rights in demanding that the League of Nations, if it is established, shall give stable guarantees- of protection to , its members, with full regard to the dangers,by which they are confronted. When it is added that th'e policy of the United. States is bound to be influenced to some extent by the comparatively securo isolation that country enjoys, the chief obstacle to the establishment of the League is defined. This certainly does not mean that it is impossible to reach an effective working compromise. It is reported, no dopbt accurately, that President Wilson declined to agree to the. creation of an international army, which would he promptly available at need to defend France, because he thought the project would not. pass the American Senate, the final authority in concluding international treaties on behalf of the United States; Manifestly, however, .unless the United (States agreed to co-operate in some arrangement acceptable to France it would be begging the whole question of setting up a League of Nations. It is not merely a question of affording France the guarantee of protection to which she is plainly entitled if she agrees to a general limitation of armaments . and to the other conditions . proposed. Unless such a guarantee can bo given the most elaborate covenant would make the League nothing more than a paper force, and it would be unable to assure any nation against illegal aggression. The question at stake seems to lib purely one of practical method. In principle the guarantee which I , ranee demands is fully conceded in the draft covenant of the League.: In one of its articles it is set forth that "the high contracting parties undertake to respect and preserve against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all members of the League." Provision is made also for upholding and .enforcing the covenants of the League and the decisions of its tribunals by economic and military ' action v Such measures are applicable cither to covenant-breaking members of the League or to nonmembers. How such provisions are to be enforced without the military organisation which would make an international _ army available at short notice is not explained; it is not surprising if the fear obtains in some quarters in France that in practice the guarantee of the League might become a, dead letter. It does not follow, however, that a fatal _ obstacle has arisen to the creation of the League. It is pos- ' siblc that when the conditions of Ipeace are drawn up the difficulty which now looms so formidably may bo greatly modified. One of the essential objecte of the Allied nations 'in imposing peace terms and dealing with the reduction of armaments evidently must be to establish conditions under which the possibilities of lawless aggression by one nation upon another will be, if not eliminated, at least re.duced to.a minimum. Evidence of the trend of Allied policy- in this

connection appears both in the draft covenant of the League and in some of the latest news. Article VIII of the covenant provides not only for the reduction of armaments, but for the full and frank exchange of information regarding military and naval preparations and the condition of industries capable of being adapted to war purposes. It is reported today that the Allies are taking practical steps consonant with this policy in arranging new armistice terms with Germany, and that they avo providing not only for an extensive destruction of German land and trea armaments, but for the destruction of manufacturing processes which servo only war purposes. Considering the part that long-continued and elaborate preparations play, and are likely to play, in war a close and searching scrutiny of military preparations, following on a reduction of armaments, should in itself afford' a tangible guarantee of security to. France and other countries which possess exposed land frontiers, and go some way towards ensuring conditions in which even comparatively slow-moving international machinery would have time to operate effectively. Meantime, however, nothing can be taken for granted in this matter. What is clearly established is that all nations sincerely /desirous of setting up the League of Nations are bound to do their utmost to satisfy the'strictly reasonable demand advanced "U behalf of France.