A TREATY OF PERPETUAL PEACE

Evening Star, Issue 14548, 24 April 1911, Page 5

A TREATY OF PERPETUAL PEACE

ENGLAND AND AMERICA. SIR EDWARD GREY'S NOTABLE SPEECH. [From Oca SrtcuL Cobbespootent.] LONDON, March 17. A remarkable speech was made in tho Hou6o of Commons on Monday by the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey. His lubjocfc was tho possibility of a perpetual peace treaty with tho United States, and tie sounded a note- of idealism rarely heaTd from the lips of a Foreign Secretary. His ipeech made a profound impression, and it has been received sympathetically both here and in the United States. The President of the United States had eketched oat a plan for an International Arbitration Court, whereby nations might agree to fettle their differences by peaceful methods. Loud and prolonged cheers continually broke upon Sir Edward Grey's significant remarks Such a proposal would be warmly welcomed if made to us by another country, he went on ; and ho attached such great importance to it that, besides the signatures of tho Governments concerned, it 6hould bo brought before the two Houses of Parliament for their sanction. It was a proposal the consummation of which lay in tho distantfuture. "We shall never live to see it!" interrupted a pessimist on the back benches. " I think we shall live to tec progress made," retorted Sir Edward Grey. Tho Foreign Secretary, before broaching tho topic of a peace treaty, had Bpoken long and seriously on the general growth of European armament, 1 -. It must m the long run, he said, h;vik down civilisation, and bo believed relief would be sought, not in war, but in revolution —a declaration which deeply impressed the House. The oiilv other hope, he continued, was the growth of international law and arbitration, and especially an Anglo-American agreement never to go to war, which he would ■■> welcome. "President Taft," he said, "has recently made the statement that he does not see personally any reason why matters of national honor should not be referred to a Court of Arbitration. He has also expressed the opinion that if the United States could put through a pesitive agreement with some other nation to abide by the _ adjudication of an International Arbitral Court in every i«-'io which could not be settled by negotiation,, no matter what tho iesue involved, a long step for ward would be taken.—(Cheers.) 'Thosewere bold and courageous words.— (Cheers.) We have no proposal before us, and unless public opinion rises to the height of discussing such a proposal as a great movement m tho opinion of the world, it cannot be carried out..—(Cheers.) —A Vista of Peace.— "Butsupposing two of the greatest nations of the world were to make it clear to the whole world by such an agreement that in no circumstances were they going to war again. —(Cheers.) I venture to say that the effect in tho world at large, in example, will he bound to havo beneficial consequences.—(Cheers.) The nations who made such an agreement might be exposed to attack by a third nation. This would probably lead to their following the agreement up with another to join with each other in any case in which one of them had a quarrel wth a third ration in which arbitration was refused. " I do not think a statement of tho kind made by a man in President Taft's position should go without a response.— (Cheers.) h\ entering into an agreement of that kind there would be risks. You must be prepared for some sacriiico of national pride. Were such an. agreement proposed to us—we should be delighted to have such a proposal.—(Cheers.) I should feel it was something so far-reaching in its possible consequences that it would require not only the signature of both Governments, but the deliberateiy-decided sanction of Parliament. That, I believe, would be obtained.—(Cheers.) I know that to bring about changes of this kind public opinion has to rise to a high plane of ideal—higher than it could rise to in ordinary times. But the times are not ordinary. They will become still less ordinary as" expenditure increases. The minds of men are working for these things, and if you look back into history you will find that there do come times when public i opinion has risen to heights which a generation previous would havo thought- impossible. It was so when public opinion abolished slavery—(Ministerial cheers)— with all its vested interests. In such an enormous change progress mav be slow, but it is not impossible that public opinion in the world at large may insist, if it is fortunate enough to find leaders who havo the courage —such a courage as has been shown in the speeches I have quoted—upon finding relief in this direction.— (Ministerial cheers.) Armies and navies would remain, no doubt; but they would remain then, not in rivalry, but as tho police of tho world. Some lion, members say we should not live to seo that- day. But I think we shall live to **o the'day when some progress will have been made. Even if our hopes may not be realised in our time, that is no reason why wo should not press forward in the direction in which we see a possible means of relief. What is impossible in one generation may be r.os-5-iblo in another. —Nations in Bondage. — "Tho great nations of the world are in bondage at the present moment—increasing bondage—but it is not impossible that in some future year they may discover, as individuals have discovered, that law is a better remedy than force, and that all the time they have been in bondage to this enormous expenditure tho prison door has been locked on the inside. If you think that visionary, and not within the region of politics, I reply that at any rate we ought not to leave" what the President of the United States has said without response."—(Ministerial cheer.--.) Mr Balfour, in a weighty speech last night, supported Sir Edward Grey's welcome of Mr Taft's peace proposals. It was, he said, a continuation of Unionist policy, and he placed behind Sir Edward the whole of the Unionist forces. Mr Balfour's speech thrilled the House. "Never in recent times,'' says an onlooker, " has the House heard a more lucid, appealing, and powerful speech from Mr Balfour. His face was touched with a flush of feeling, his voice rang clear as a bell. It was one of those occasions when the quality of a great man makes itself felt. 'Hie members were all conscious of the fact, and as the musical sentences of Mr Balfour began to take on unusual warmth and dignity there was a silence throughout the Chamber which is only secured on dramatic occasions."