The Dominion SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1928. A QUESTION FOR THE DOMINIONS

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 189, 12 May 1928, Page 8

The Dominion SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1928. A QUESTION FOR THE DOMINIONS

The discussions between the’ British and United States Governments on the subject of a pact outlawing war have reached an interesting point. The approval of the overseas Dominions to a definite Imperial commitment is now a condition precedent to a further advance towards the objective. It is an arresting development, far exceeding the anticipations of the international spectators of the American anti-war gesture. The first impressions of Mr. Kellogg’s proposal were somewhat prejudiced by the previous policy of aloofness pursued by the United States Government. From the various conflicting views, however, there have latterly emerged two important points, of influential significance. The first is a general expression of satisfaction at the evident abandonment .of the American policy of isolation; the second, the moral effect produced upon international opinion by the readiness with which the British Government agreed to participate in the movement. These are of constructive value to the future progress of the negotiations. Mr. Kellogg’s original proposal might easily have been interpreted in Britain and Europe as a political gesture intended purely for the edification of his own fellow-citizens. Fortunately for the cause of international amity, it has been taken as a serious proposition, and studied in that spirit. The British response has been spontaneous and encouraging to American sentiment. It has probably gone very far to ameliorate a condition of public opinion on both sides of the Atlantic, which, if allowed to develop/ might possibly have led to a definite estrangement. There is no reason to suppose that the overseas Dominions will hesitate to endorse the Imperial Government’s policy in these important and far-reaching negotiations. The most they will probably require is a clear understanding of what the ratification of such a pact would imply. The basis of the American proposition is simply this: If A and B agreed not to make war upon each other, and A and C, and B and C, by mutual agreements between each other similarly pledged themselves, it follows that war as an argument would disappear from that particular group. The whole structure would be built up in this way by a system of mutual pacts between single nations. There would be no general pact, to which all were signatories, but the result, in effect, would be the same. Hence it follows that while any two nations might be free to compose their mutual differences by whatever process they might elect to adopt, war excepted, the commitments entered into in respect of existing treaties would not be affected. That as contingencies they might become more remote cannot, however, be doubted.

The arrangement'if consummated would not necessarily dispose finally of war. . That contingency must always exist so long as any nation or nations remain out of it. But it would very greatly limit its scope. More important, it would materially multiply the opportunities and functions of the League of. Nations. It is a most pregnant situation in the history of the peace movement, and one may be surfc that the attention of the world will be fixed upon the next phase with feelings of profound expectancy.