NO ENTANGLEMENTS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 117, 20 May 1930, Page 16

NO ENTANGLEMENTS

BRITISH DIPLOMACY

LEAGUE AND ALLIANCES

MOBE PACTS OPPOSED

"No entanglements" was the cry of tho British Press just prior to the close of the Naval Conference in London, and newspaper statements to hand reveal how definite was tho feeling that Britain "had given enough pledges in her efforts to secure the poaco of the world. . "An answer which Mr. Mac Donald gave to a question in tho House of Commons is significant," says "The Times." "The Prime Minister had been asked to say whether, in view of the general undertaking of nations under the Kellogg Pact, tho Government would give an assurance that they would not enter into any liabilities in the Mediterranean based on a breach of that undertaking." "In his reply Mr. Mac Donald stated that the Government had no intention of entering into any commitments which go beyond the obligations resulting from the Covenant of the League of Nations and the Treaty of Locarno, and he added: 'I might perhaps take this opportunity of saying that the French Government do not ask, and have never asked, that.the Government should add to the burdens which already devolve upon them as the result of those instruments.' THE QUESTION AT ISSUE. "In Conference circles special importance was attached to this final sentence. It was felt that the real meaning of the answer was that tho whole question at issue between France and this country now cornea down to the interpretation of existing agreements, and it was suggested that considerable progress may already have been made in this connection." Just before the end of the Naval Conference, too, an official British spokesman emphasised the British point of view, which amounts to this: "Great Britain is anxious and willing to do everything she1 can for peace and for improving the machinery for keeping peace and safeguarding the world against war. So far as that object s is concerned, Great Britain is willing to do everything she possibly can. "But any further military commitments she regards as absolutely impossible. To undertake any further military commitments, vto the mind of the Government, would be tantamount to tying the _ country down to engaging in military operations without being in a position to control the situation from which they had arisen." "Plain men in this country/ says the "Times" in a leader, "as well as in the United States will be inclined to feel that, if Prance still feels too uneasy~to contemplate any real reduction in her naval programme in spite of the obligations to which Great Britain —and other countries —have already committed themselves by their signature of the League Covenant, of the Locarno Treaties, and of the Kellogg Pact, then she is not likely to be satisfied with anything which does npt, if not in set words at any rate implicitly, commit this couni.ry to some 'pact of mutual security,' which this country can no more consider than ran the United States. "It would clearly be an intolerable result if the Naval Conference were to impose fresh responsibilities upon the

British Government while reducing tho strength of tho British Navy." THE OTHER WAY. "Germany was disarmed and French military ascendency established," said Mr. Garvin in the "Observer." "It was not enough. British air-strength was dismantled and French air-superior-ity allowed. Not enough. Germany renounced Alsace-Lorraine, and Britain gave the Locarno Guarantee mainly to calm French apprehensions and so to promote reconciliation and disarmament. Not enough. France by military ententes with Poland and tho Little Entente keeps Germany, Austria, and Hungary ringed round by peoples armed to the teeth. Still not enough. Britain contributed an indulgent debtsettlement to restore French finances and to make our neighbours wealthier than ourselves. Enough? "By no means. While wo are bearing taxation for tho money we remitted, we are subsidising in effect the new French programme of submarinesupremacy on this side of the Atlantic and notably in the Mediterranean. Such are tho paradoxes and endless requirements of an idea which by its nature can never be satisfied. "And now it has been suggested that we shall buy sqme reduction of French tonnage by entering into another compact of 'mutual assistance.' The answer is: Never. Not a man nor a shilling shall we engage to stake again on Continental war in any contingency. - "Under the Kellogg Pact we resume by signature and conviction the absolute right to keep out of war if we choose—the right .that was ours before the League of Nations was founded. Membership of the League never was meant at the outset to lead us into supplementary commitments, weakening our power, to preserve our own peace, and annulling the sovereignty of Farliament^jn the most vital matter that can concern the fortunes of a free people. "What we have expressed in this statement is the decision of public opinion. It is unchangeable by any Government or by any party. What Britain says in this matter is what every British Dominion now^repeats, and what the people of the United States declared from long since with one voice: entanglements!'"