LANGUAGE OF PEACE

Evening Post, Volume 105, Issue 4, 6 January 1928, Page 7

LANGUAGE OF PEACE

ARBITRATION PRINCIPLE EMBODIED IN COVENANT (British Official Wireless.) BUGBY, sth January. The text has been communicated to tho Foreign Offico of tho reply which Mr. Kellogg (tho United States Secretary of State) has made to the French Government proposal of last Juno for a "Pact of perpetual friendship between Prance and the United States." In this reply, Mr. Kellogg proposes, firstly, the enlargement of tho Arbitration Treaty of 190S —which requires ronewal next month in the case of Prance, and in June in the case of Great Britain—and, secondly, that the United States and France should sponsor a' i "Treaty among the principal countries of the world, open to signature by all nations, condemning war and renouncing it as an instrument of national policy in favour of a pacific settlement of international disputes." The text of tho American communication is reproduced in the Press. Tho French Foreign Minister (M. Briand) has sent a reply, in which he is understood to have expressed satisfaction that his own proposal "to outlaw war" should have received the United States' approval, and adding that if tho treaty now proposed by Washington is to be open to other nations it would require to be carefully i-studicd in order that the rights and duties of nations -which are parties to the League Covenant may not be prejudiced. M. Briand is stated also to have requested more detailed information regarding the form in which it is proposed to renew the Arbitration Treaty, and a3 to the position which would arise in the event of the United States Senate refusing to ratify it after its sig-' nature. In London, official comment is withheld upon tho United States' communication pending its careful study. SATISFACTION EXPRESSED. The newspapers generally express satisfaction that America should thns be "talking the language of peace," pointing out at the same time thatHhe League of Nations owes its very existence to a similar inspiration. The principle, it is recalled, is expressed in Article 12 of the League Covenant, by which members agree to submit any dispute likely to lead to rupture cither to arbitration, or to judicial settlement, or to inquiry by the League Council, and not to resort to war until three months after the award. At tho League Assembly last September a unanimous vote for outlawing war was also carried. It ran: —■ Firstly, that all war is and remains prohibited. Secondly, that all pacific means must be employed for the settlement of disputes, no matter of what nature, that may arise among the various States. Members of the League of Nations are under an obligation to conform to these principles. The newspapers await with particular interest the text of the proposed Treaty of Arbitration to replace tho terms of tho Boot Treaty of 1908.