ENDURING PEACE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 280, 23 August 1944, Page 5

ENDURING PEACE

International Unity Of Action (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 21. “We meet at a time when the war is moving toward overwhelming triumphs for the forces of freedom. It is our task to help lay the foundations upon which peace, freedom, and growing prosperity may be built for generations to come,” said the American Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull, at the opening of the Dumbarton Oaks conference. “The very character of this war moves us to search for enduring peace founded upon justice aud fair dealing for individuals aud nations. We are witnessing a sweep of forces of savagery and barbarism of a kind that civilized men hoped and believed would not rise again. Armed with the' weapons of modern science and technology, qud with bte equally powerful weapons of coercion qjid deceit, these forces almost succeeded in enslaving mankind because the peace-loving nations wore unprepared. , “The lessons of earlier disunity and weakness should be indelibly stamped upon the minds aud hearts of this generation and generations to come. So should the lessons of unity aud its resultant strength achieved by the United Nations.” Policing Peace. Peace required the acceptance of the idea that its maintenance was a common interest so precious and so overwhelmingly important that all differences and controversies among the nations could and must be resolved by pacific menus. But peace also required institutions through which the will to peace could be translated into action. The devising of such institutions was a challenge to the wisdom aud ingenuity of men and women everywhere. The foundations for peace must support an. arrangement for a peaceful settlement of international disputes and for the joint use of force, if necessary, to prevent or suppress threats to peace or breaches of the peace. They must also support arrangements for promoting, by co-operative effort, the development of conditions of stability and well-being necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations and essential to the maintenance of security and peace. The Governments represented at the conference —Britain, Russia, and the United States —were fully agreed in their convictions that the future maintenance of peace and security must be a joint task and joint responsibility of N* peaceloving nations, large and small. It could not be emphasized too often that the principle of sovereign equality of all the peace-loving States, irrespective of their size and strength, as partners in a. system of order under law must constitute the foundation of a future international organization for the maintenance of peace and security. There must be agreement among all Iwhereby each could play a part to the best mutual advantage and bear a responsibility Commensurate with 1 s capacity. Force must ibe available promptly, iu adequate measure nnd with certainty. The nations of the world should maintain, according to their capacities, sufficient forces available for joint action, when necessary, to prevent breaches of the peace. Saying that the conclusions of the conference would be made available for public study and debate, Mr. Hull added that the'will to peace must spring from the hearts and minds of men and women everywhere. Three Powers’ Views.

Sir Alexander Cadogan, leader of the British delegation, said there seemed to be a general will ou the part of what at present were the three most powerful States in the world to achieve some kind of world organization, and, what was more, to achieve it soon. AVith China joining in the subsequent discussions, the conference .. might hope to achieve agreement on principles between officials from States comprising about half the inhabitants of the globe. He paid a tribute to Mr. Hull for his indefatigable efforts in the cause of international understanding, and also to Russia, which “attaches the highest importance to the establishment of a system designed to prevent a recurrence of Nazi and Fascist aggression.” Britain had been most happy to find that in the papers of all three Governments there was such a large measure of agreement.