NETWORK OF PACTS

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 83, 7 April 1936, Page 13

NETWORK OF PACTS

-SEARCH FOR SECURITY

DIPLOMACY SINCE THE WAR

EUROPEAN HISTORY

When the modern sort of nation

State began to come into existence

,__■; some 400 years ago it had to work out r" a technique for dealing with its neigh- ".-• bours, writes Harold Stannard in the ' "Daily Telegraph." Such rapid pro-

""'.: gress was made that Sir Henry Wot- '■>'-■ tbn, who was born in Queen Elizabeth's reign, could define an Ambassador as "an honest man sent -to lie abroad for the Commonwealth." In the eighteenth century diplomacy became an elegant profession whose members were expected—as indeed they are still—to know the exact difference between a "note verbale" and an "aide-memoire." The plain man of the nineteenth century, when Britain's policy was one of splendid isolation, did not bother his head about all this technique, but • the plain man of the twentieth, who vi•- quite understands the truth of Clause- -.■;': witz's doctrine that war is diplomacy ~:.-.: carried on by other means, is anxious -.■•■ to know where he is, particularly "-'•-with regard to the treaties which he •ji' hears so often invoked. THE PAST TEN YEARS. -'-'.■■ It is not easy to satisfy him. Just .".„ two months ago a writer quoted in the '~,. "Daily Telegraph" a statement from a ,;.. German paper that the European Powers had concluded 115 pacts of one ''.'■'. sort and another during the last ten ''."■■ years; and the relations of European nations since the war did not begin ~ in 1926. They began with the Treaty # of Versailles, which was signed in June, 1919, by Germany on the one side and the twenty-seven Powers with which she had been at war on the other.' It is important to note that, though the British Empire is described as one of ,«■ these Powers, the United Kingdom, '' the Dominions, and India all signed separately. The treaty is divided into fifteen . parts, and the treaties under which Britain and the United States made . !•, an alliance with France are not a part ". of the main Treaty of Versailles,' ~! though signed on the same day. The 1-7' treaty, was weakened at the start by the refusal of the United States Senate to ratify it. Its first part consists of the Covenant of the League of Nations, under whose provisions (Art. 19) all the remaining parts of the treaty could be amended • or even annulled. But the Germans hate the Treaty of Versailles, and, if they rejoin the League, propose to .negotiate for the separation of the Covenant from the Treaty. Some provisions of this Treaty have '"•■ lapsed 'through fulfilment, the section - ■ dealing with the Saar being a con- ■• spicuous example. Part VIII, which deals with Reparations, has gradually disappeared because it proved unworkable. Part V, which deals with German Armaments, was repudiated by Germany a year ago a few weeks .after Britain and France had proposed '■ to. Germany to negotiate a new agree- "''•' ment to replace it. ONLY IN PART. Now she was reported to have ■ repudiated the sections of Part XII dealing with the internationalisation of rivers partly German, though she is actually .negotiating for their amendment.' Such is the consequence of 'Germany's assertion that, so far as ;,-.. . she" is concerned, the Treaty of Ver,.s; sailles, which she regards as a docu- ;.:'■■ ment imposed upon her by her conquerors, is valid only to the extent she chooses. ! ... But some of the most important clauses of the Treaty of Versailles were, cancelled with the full agreement of' - all parties concerned. These clauses are to be found in Parts II and III," Part II being entitled "Boundaries of Germany," and Part 111 "Political Clauses for Europe." They were re- •; placed at Locarno "in the autumn of ■•-. ' 1925 on lines suggested by Germany - .herself. ....... ... • -•' It is customary to speak of 'the ~,, Treaty of Locarno. Actually a sheaf ,-,,- of seven treaties was signed' simul- -.'. taneously. The first of these, which ■_,- Herr Hitler describes as the "Rhine Pact of Locarno," is the most import- ..-., ant, and is the only one which involves ~ England. . ; < *,-, Unlike the Treaty of Versailles, it is ~ signed by the United Kingdom alone, and not by the British Empire, and ~ .unless accepted by the Dominions and ~,- India, imposes no obligation upon . ' them. The Dominions and India, -~ .while sympathising with the Locarno policy, have not undertaken any obligations to enforce it. WESTERN FRONTIERS. The parties to the Treaty accept and guarantee the western . frontiers of Germany as determined at Versailles, and also the arrangements for the demilitarised Ehineland zone which are * laid down in Arts. 42 and 43 of the "' Treaty of Versailles, and which forbid Germany either to construct fortificar tions or to maintain troops anywhere • on the left bank of the Ehine or within fifty kilometres of the right bank. These are the articles which Ger- . many has violated, at the same time declaring the whole Locarno Pact null. '' Its other provisions are important. Germany, France, and Belgium agree that they will not go to war with one •another, but this stipulation is not to apply "to a flagrant breach of Arts 42 or. 43 of the said Treaty of Versailles if such breach constitutes an unprovoked act of aggression and by reason pi the assembly of armed forces T in the demilitarised zone immediate '' • action is necessary." *•■;- It is on this stipulation that the ■; French case, rests. The obligation of the Powers not to resort to war is however, independent of the Locarno ' Treaty, in that the treaty known as the Kejlogg Pact, to which France, ■ Belgium, and Germany are all signatories. provides in its first article that ; ."the high contracting parties solemnly "'[ declare in the names of their respec- " , tive peoples that they condemn re- ■ ' course to war for the solution of inter- , national controversies, and renounce it as.an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another." PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT. The Locarno Treaty next provides that Germany, France, and Belgium will settle by peaceful means "all _ . questions of every kind which may arise between them," and adds that "any question with regard to which the parties are in conflict as to their = respective rights shall be submitted to judicial decision." Actually Germany sighed at Locarno arbitration treaties ' not only with France and Belgium but '.with Poland and Czechoslovakia. These treaties do not appear to have been denounced; in any case their essence is maintained by Article 2 of the Kellogg Pact, whose signatories undertake that the settlement of dis- • ' putes "shall never be solved except by pacific means." So far the Locarno-Treaty has concerned Belgium, France, and Germany only. Article 4 brings in Britain and Italy. Its substance is that if Bel- ,. gium, France, or Germany breaks the ■... territorial undertakings given in the ■•; Treaty, Britain and Italy will imme- .-' diately come to the victim's assistance. The_A-ptkle alsq-<provides for.jefer-^

ence of any violation of the Treaty to the Council of the League of Nations.

The question now in- dispute is how far the Treaty of Locarno has been modified by subsequent engagements. The first of these is the Kellogg Pact, which has and can have no guarantors, and which has lost a great deal of its moral strength through the refusal of the United States, which initiated it, to take any action in regard to the Italo-Abyssinian War.

WHEN GERMANY WAS CENSURED

The second is a resolution passed by the Council of the League on France's proposal, supported by Britain and Italy, after Germany repudiated the disarmament section of the Treaty of Versailles. Denmark alone dissenting, the Council censured Germany's action as a breach of international law, and decided, to set up a committee to determine what economic and financial Sanctions would be applied to a State guilty of similar conduct in future. This Committee has been set up, but has not worked out a unanimous scheme.

It is on the basis of this resolution that France will propose to the League the application of financial and economic sanctions against Germany.

Thirdly comes the Franco-Soviet Pact, negotiated last year and just ratified. The German case is that this Pact is incompatible with the provisions of the Locarno Treaty. The French case is that the Pact with Soviet Russia is on parallel lines with the two treaties which, , with Germany's full knowledge, France signed at Locarno with Poland and Czechoslovakia respectively.