ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 106, 29 January 1929, Page 11

ANGLO-AMERICAN RELATIONS

PROBLEM OF NAVAL STRENGTH NOT A DIFFERENCE OF PRINCIPLE SPEECH BY SIR AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN In a speech dealing with Anglo-American relations. Sir Austen Chamberlain said the only difference which ' the two • Governments had encountered concerned the limitation of, naval armaments, and even then it was not a difference of principle. (British Official Wireless.) ' Rugby, January 27. References to Anglo-American relations were made by Sir Austen Chamberlain and Mr. A. B. Houghton, the United States Ambassador, at a dinner in Birmingham last night. Mr. Houghton, who first expressed the deep thankfulness felt in America that King George was now apparently on the high roild to recovery, referred to the ancient ties of friendship between Britain and the United States and the goodwill which needed no discussion and remained fundamentally unimpaired. Relations Not Impaired. Sir Austen Chamberlain, referring to the great extent to which AngloAmerican relations were discussed in Britain, said: “The reason is not that these relations are impaired, but that we are peculiarly sensitive as a people to anything which even tends to deviate from the close and warm friendship which is the traditional policy of every British Government and the fundamental desire of our people to maintain with the United States." There was, he said, only one difference which the two Governments had encountered. and that was how ' they should apply the limitation of naval armaments fairly and justly to their different circumstances and conditions. “But it is-important to’ observe,” lie added, “that the difference between us even then is not a difference of principle. We admit freely and willingly parity between United States forces and our own. It' is an admission which we have never made to any other nation and which we should have made to no other nation, and such differences as have occurred have not therefore been differences of principle, but merely differences arising out of the difficulties of applying that principle to the very different circumstances and. conditions of our two countries. It is inconceivable that with patience at the proper and opportune moment friends should not be able to resolve technical difficulties which have hitherto prevented them reaching an agreement.

Widely Different Circumstances.

“We have widely-scattered Empire connections, piost of .which pass across the oceans. The United States is a coinpact nation upon a continent separated by the ocean from the troubles; passions, hatreds, and prejudices of the Old World, and it is self-supporting, self-contained, and independent. Between America’s circumstances and ours there is an immense gulf fixed by history and geography. The problem is to find some conclusion by which we can measure' naval strength so that the parity which both nations desire may be reached at a level which will produce not an Increase in the armaments of the world but a reduction.”