IMPERIAL POLICY

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 56, 9 March 1929, Page 17

IMPERIAL POLICY

SOME PROBLEMS

THE LEAGUE AND U.S.A.

A-HOPEFUL NOTE

(By Viscountess Gladstone.)

The year 1028"hus.been an anxious, onu for the- British 1 Commonwealth of Nations aiid, if it has closed on a note rather more hopeful than seemed likely even so recently as two months ago, it has bequeathed to its successor a formidable legacy of''unsolved-problems. Perhaps the best thing that can be said of '1928 is that it has at least clarified issues even if it has failed to answer them. The recent discussions and pronouncements, acrimonious, tactless, and unhappy as they have often been, have at any rate shown each party what the'-.other resents m its attitude rind, have.- brought • with ' them a dawning comprehension' of the other's difficulties and point of view.

The key to.the political situation in the world to-day lies in the position of the British Empire.' Can the Empire reconcile its. obligations, towards its fellowmembers .of ■ the League of Nations,: comprising <is they -do the vast majority of the States of the world, with the necessity; so 'vital, .for.-itself, of preserving_:its old good.relations with the United States? If it can do so it fias saved not only itself buL'tho -world: ■' Jf.it fails: tlic result.-must be a return of international anarchy.

It is indeed neither wholly just • nov ; wholly reasojiable, that the whole .burden of the pr.eseut diftieiilt situation should be resting on oiii-.'shpulders. After the-wav, ill their Tcaetion: against President Wilson's policy;'the United States declared •that, they :wer.e .'-'cutting tlie painter" and re verting. to a position ■ of splendid isolation: The whole ..course of events sinco that . t.imb; lias' .shown ■.that the "painter never" was and .never could again.be cut. America, is .linked . to-day to every -Slate. iii.Ttuewoi'ldby. a ..tliousaiid ties of cominei'cQ, and fiuanevi wlitih no gesture can sever:' 'It is precisely because, shii is. so lirikeilaiid because there is not one country with' whose welfare, her interests.arc not bound, up.-.i'a-.la degree which' iucveases with, the passage o£ .every year.-, that "she regards'with-apjßrehousibn. the possibility of a blockade, imposed: :by 'the British Navy, arid-impeding -thg; course, of- Americaiv^p'innierce, ;as a consequence of a- dispute in 1 which she- herself Is neither plain-t-iff ;n'or jury. - ■■■ '■' .-:..'■.'. .■':•.■ ■'■ .. ' : ' IN A DIFFICULT POSITioN. . - The British' Empire would notbo in: the difficult position in which' she now stands and would not stand, in fear of incurring the; hostility of the States ovei.' some dispute which would certainly not have arisen Qiit ,of.: any.'direct disagreement between,,the States and. the Empire had she adopted'the aaiuefpolicy as.the States; but if j'isolatipn^'- has proved,a 'myth tor the United States,-with their vast and homogeneous, territory,, their rich reserves of natural resources, their secure island communications, and complete immunity from any danger .of. invasion, the nations of. the British 1 Empire,, .with their fur-flung and highly vulnerable system of communications,", their ,Sv6rl(l'-wide; interests: and the proximity:. of 'their; members the. one to Europe,' another to.. Japan,, another to the States.themselves,:-could, not even dream of" -sViclv .a ■ possibility. 'In entering the ■ League we were "following the policy which corresponded to. the real facts. The welfare of the'"Empire'and the League are bound inextricably together, and were Ue: to withdraw 'from it now, international, chaos woulit ensue. s '„- There is; one.: and only one way out ot. the spreseut-impasse..;- "It is, a-way which calls for. true ■statesmanship conducted on 'lines'which are imperial in the best sense, of the-word.;.: it, is difficult but not .impossible. It lies not iv diminishing or seeking to evade, 1 obligations to the League, but.-.'rather,'iu 'following a policy 'more wholly-'and'more unmistakably imbued by the spirit of the League than we have■ y'e.t-.. dpiie. „ What, .after all, is the essehc'fr:6f; the League- system 1?"'' It is the substitution of an ihternational order i directed -by an international conscience for that system of private alliances, private rivalries, hatreds, and intrigues which brought about.the World War, and earned for itself the name of international anarchy. In this respect .our interests are- precisely the same as those, of the United-States.' The Empire is not in the same position as a nation of the European Continent^ ■'■'. No. one Power weighs with us so strongly in the balance that we should wish to'take special measures of 'precaution or to.' call, for special guarantees against it. Our iuterests are universal. v , They lie in the ■ preservation. of peace' eVery:vhe.re.; Tftfithout" distinction, iv China!and 'in.-A'tghanistan/rtp'Jess.than on the Eliineland 'frontier.;;-, : . -> -. NO SPECIAL ENEMY. It is essential that we should make this •point' abiini-lantly clear in* our policy. AYe have no .special :enemy or special friend; our friends are.; the :;friends of peace everywhere, pur enemies the disturbers of peace. .-. When the United States come to. understand this' fact aright there will be up. :lpriger iany redsoi! to fear .that iv the :.eyient--.o£:',p.uf" l undei itakiiig a League blockade- o£%,'a ;Covenant-breaking. State American-"resentments'; shall. lie diverted : from ■ the true ': to, ourselves. - The United States', will i-eepgnise ■■ that in acting ,as we do -vye,'are'protecting their in- • tevest/;, as well,as our .own; They will not resent our action but. applaud it.

The task, is the^easier.since the TJnitod States themselves; ill the Kellogg Pact.' at this'-inomerjt' linder.'discussioii in the Senate, have ,recognised the.'distinction between police action .that, is: undertaken inexecution of -thel world conscience and 'war as -gn instrument of national pol-. icy/- thus admitting the 'compatibility pi' the" Covenant.' with - the Pact.. ■ Merc acceptance of the Kellogg Pact docs Dot however, solve our difficulty. Iv any individual cose, which -may arise it will be necessary" to make clear . beyond any shadow of doubt that any act-ion which we' 'may;'undertake! is .free from, the least suspicion. of. b.oing: .an instrument of na- 1 tional.'policy. .',: We shall have to make.: clear; to a nation Which is,often unduly suspicious of-our motives and often lacking in comprehension- of the tangles' and ■iifliculties of "politics in -less fortunate

regions, of ..tlie. world,.. Ilia t our policy henceforward is that of the League and the Pact und uoue other. There is one. way. in. which, this can be done, and that i.s by concluding with the United States au early and generous reducliou of naval armaments.' The dimciillies (ire not really insuperable. We must take as a basis the declarations repeated many times by the responsible statesmen of both countries that it is unthinkable that the naval armaments, of either nation could ever be used against the other. The apprehensions" entertained at present by the United States that theucommcrce might be" injured through our Navy in the event of a war with the outbreak of which they were not connected would vanish if (hey could acquire sutlicient confidence in .the true impartial-, ity of our motives—if they could be assured that our only policy is. the preservation of peace everywhere and without distinction.. The most binding assurance which we could give in this respect would be our willingness to accept v generous reduction of na,val armaments. It would have, moreover,, the most, far-reaching consequences in. the rest of. the world. It 'would'" give an entirely now start to the work of disarmament in .Europe. Before, this .'gesture".' tlie nations .of '. the Continent will ip :16nger be able- to) cloak ■their, hesi^ tatioits. ; -Any ■ one. ariiong theiii whiclv fails to "follow our lead will stand "revealed as the true obstacle"iir the way of lasting peace, and'the burden, of the-difficulties arising out of the situation now existing between the United States and the League will be transferred.from the shoulders ot the British Empire, upon which lt^now unjustly rests, to that nation which by, its failure to implement to the Jast jot the Pact and the Covenant is endangering the common interests of the League, the United States, aiid the British Commonwealth of-Nations.