THE PATHWAY TO PEACE.

Evening Star, Issue 16779, 6 July 1918, Page 2

THE PATHWAY TO PEACE.

"What shall wo, say is the pathway " ? "To make an end of Hohenzollerism," many will reply; but Hohenzollerism is merely unregciierate human nature, and there will be a vast amount of this left oven after we have put Kaiser Wilhelm and his War Lords into the safe keeping of some St. .Helena. The war will not destroy the passions and the spirit that create war, but they are bound to digappear for a generation or so; they are; however, bound to reappear until the moral and spiritual in man gets control of him. But that is a might.!}* long ..way off, even in our western civilisation, not to speak of the vast hordes of the yellow and the black races that are rising to claim their places ii! thy nun. It is considerations such as th«a that impel thoughtful men who have been dismayed by the horrors of this war, anil who would desire that never again should the world witneys their repetition, to look for some pathway to peace. So Lord Grey proposes a League of Nations, and the cables say his proposal is the sensation of the hour at Home. This must be mainly because of Viscount Grey himself, for the proposal is not altogether new.

I The idea tool: shape mainly in America. It was formulated two years ago in an ! addre.-,.* givou at the annual Mohawk Peace Conference on I'nteni'itiomil -Arbitration, under the title of a " League to Enforce Peace." The addros repeated afterwards at the National Education Association of the Unitfd States of America -Mr Taft explained that the idea was the result of the activities of three or four gentlemen who h.,d been da/el by the defeat of their peace hopes by the present war. Some twenty of them got to nether and agreed upon a platform, and then it was submitted to a great gathering at Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. Certain objections uete made to the till---a League to Enforce Peace. Some wanted to strike out the word " Ki force," others the word "Peace." But. as says, if they had done that it would have been " what Governor Allen used to call 'a damn barren ideality/ " So the name was regained *******

We ruesumo that Viscount tirey's pamphlet i- pi.uthalb on the line.* of this League to Knii.ne Pea e, bcause he told an American gentleman at the time that he was pie-ared to accept th-: .' >e l«o- ---•,•.::„„». oi >'- ie-riv ~•-,! 1c ' ' that, it some such plan hid been m o eration at the outbreak of the war, it v.u, !d have prevented that catastrophe. It is obseivaWe, h.,,ne\ei\ llwt the t'tle of Viscount Grey's pamphlet is a League of Nations ; but in subst.uue, ji'd in. by the cabled Mimmaiy of the bicchmv, it i> prai tiealh the same as the American proposal. This litl.r coutem; tales an into'iv.tiorul agieement, signed by "s m.iuv Powers as ran bo induced to do so. The agreement htvuS cs four main pro\ isioii», which are, In substance; 1. A peimanent Internalionnl Court of ,Tu-;ice. "• ltli I'P'isd'otioii to consider and decide all controversies of a justic.able chara ter aiding betv,ecu two or im le membeis of the league Thir court to be the jiuUes of whether a given i&Mie is or is not a justiciable one. 2. All questions -not. of a, jiis-Ceiable character, leaning to diii'ience, between tv.o or liiore members ot this league, are to be presented to a Commi>sioi!, whie i, nfte. heuing evidence and prguments. is to recommend something in the nature t f .» comii'omi-e. 3. It auv member of the league violating its plighted faith shall begin hostilities against any other member of the league, then all the other members of the league agree to defend the member p-p maturely attacked against the one *, ho hegips lioslilnie.' ; and t > u-e fi.&t economic means, and then, if needful, military forte for the purpo e "i. Intel national corgie - *., fh.ill be convened, with representatives from al' the members of the Vgue, v. ho t-lull con-' i" ue sn -e'd it u.' M atioua! law, and shall extend it in a legislative way, in'- l.;i i l ' ■ (hj iii'vs th f a' ived upon to tho tuitions constituting the league. If there is no objection within one year. then the ii'Vs changing existing or extending international law shall be considered as rides for the decision of the

permanent court. A.-: to what are and what are not “ justiciable ” questions, it is explained that the Utter are questions that cannot be settled by the principles of law and equity; the former are those that can be so settled. There are certain questions that can he arbitrated upon, if both parties are agreeable to that course; but there are others that conic under the rules and principle;; of law. and these lust-mentioned can be settled only by a competent court of law. * -S * * * * *

Such in the main is this plan to blaze a pathway to Peace. It has been wklcdy unproved and accepted U)roughout A mc-viVa. The adhesion o? Viscount Grey to the scheme will give it great wci.'ht in Britain, and the latter's acceptance of it will probably ensure that of the Allies also. The question is therefore likely to come soon within the. sphere of practical politics, and it is not too earlv to direct attention to it. There will be practical unanimity, wc think, recanting at least three out of the four propositions outlined above. 'Hie one that has drawn most of the hostile critical tire is tko third—thatrelating to tho employment of coercive measures against a defaulting leaguer. Those coercive measures are twofold—economic and military. If a member of the league breaks tho pledges of tho confederation of nations, it is to be practically boycotted by all tho others, if that can be carried out, it is pretty certain that a nation will think twice before it isolates itself in the world. There are great international forces on which the life of an individual nation is absolutely dependent. As one speaker at the Lake Mohawk Conference indicated, " money is international in all civilised countries, because it lias gold as tho common basis. - ’ Credit based on gold is international ; commerce based on innnev and on credit is also international. There is tho endless network of agencies by which money and credit are employed in the world. Thc.ro arc the stock exchanges or the bourses, tho cables, the wireless, tho costal service, etc. All these aro Tuternationak Thus, with the over-increasing complexities of modern existence, each nation becomes more and inure dependent for its very life on other nations. If these subtle and endlessly ramified relations arc snapped asunder, no nation can long survive such a boycott. * -x- * * * * *

Aii American ■jrcntleniau tells that when (he German Kmporor despatched the gin* boat Panther to Agadir, thus bringing on th.c nru'e crisis v.'illi France in 1909. 1113 happened to bo having hm. hj in Paris with a French banker. The Amerhan remarked on the fact that the crisis was becoming less acute, and inquired the, reason. The banker replied : " Wo arc withdrawing our investments from Germarfy, and Unit economic pressure is rel'.-ivint,' the situation." As a matter of fact, we know now that it practically stopped the outbreak of war tlrsn. If such powerful influence can be exerted by one nation, how much more w'hen there is a great League of Nations united for a similar purpose? It is just here that we come face to face with the crux of the position. As the *~nvld knows, Germany tore up iter treaties

and broke her promises when it suited her. New conditions, slio argued, mado that nwessary. That is the peril that lies in tho future. ITow can it be g 'arded against? Jt is clear we must be able to overawo any nation that might bo tempted to act similarly. We may hope, perhaps), that fcfe suffering's and horrors of the present war shall teach tho nations that war does not pay; but th.cr.e must ba tt long process of moral education hefore wo can safely trust the peco of tha world to any scrap of paper. Meanwhile, however, wo must have some force that in the l;)|St resort we can use aginst a. na~ lion that is recreant to its pledges and imperils the safety of tha world. And these provisions of economic and military pressure seem proper and effective.

I But perhaps the ai-gamient that (jives most hope for tho success of some such i Leaguo of Nations, or League to Enforce I Peace, is the one that history teaches. Tho evolution of organised society seem? to demand some such goal as the nest I stage of development. In the original state of society every man was a law unto himself. Then came tho family (with the father as head), then the tidbe, then the nation. In this evolution o-ne function after another was absorbed into the larger units. 'l!ha rights of each were not destmyod, hut subserved in tho righto of tiie whole. The vendetta, the duel, pri vate -ijiw, disputes b"tween individuals, families, clans, tribe*-—those gradually were taken out of tho hands of the individual, or the individual groups, ai.d made the business of the whole, nation. Tho next stage in the evolution is to make n. group of nations tho preservers of law and order among the separate units, looking at last towards tho grout international unity in which All men's good Shall be each man's rule, and universal peace Lie like a- shaft of light across the land. And like a hue of beams atrvwait the ."ea, TLiot.l,li .1! tho cyele of the golden year.

* * * # * * * Dr Lyrn.au Abbott argues that this is the ] lan oiruidlited long ego by the Fonider of ("lu'bti tnily in these words. "If thy brother shall trepis» agiin,t thee, go and tell him his faults l,etwo;n then and him .alono. If lie will not health ee, then take with thee two or more. A' J if he shall ne-gka t to hear thee, tell it unto the Church ; hut if he wiJI not henr the (iii-ndi, let him bo unto thee as a heathen man and a publican." Translated into international languaje, that means (according to Dr Abbott) that if vou have a, qii'tiiel w'th another nation rry p-o-iceful negotiation by diplomacy, and if you cannot settle it by diplomacy then ca.ll in s oino impartial nation and en f Dice that nation to .-c-tt-le it by -arbitration. If, howeser, you cannot settle i before a congregation of civilised nations, what tVn? War? No; non-intercourse. If the nations of tho world had adopted this wise counsel and a uiuversal boycott of Germany she a old not have stood alone for three months. If they will agreo to do it again.it any othea' nation that may tiy to breal; tho peace of tho woild they can compel obedience ; if they have a sullicient armament to enable them to back up their policy of non-intercourse disarmament will not bring peace. Disbanding our soldier* and scrapping our navies will not. bring peace. It will bring back in. tead tho bully and the pirate. It is not the abandonment of force, but its transference into other channels—its transfereneo from sclf-itikre-*fc into impautial and disinterested hands—that is tho sine pathway to peace. Just as we have taken tho knife and the sword and the revolver out of the hands of tho individual and made tho State his protector, so with tho larger group of tho nations. "Take the in. •strum en is by which jus-t.icc is enforced a/ d rigiiteou-ness is determined out of tho hands of selfishness, or even only self-interest, and put them into the hands cf disinterested and impartial arbitrators. If the .State does that the pcarehil dlver> are at if fie n<v t'ou that the piiu'tul States arc at ;o:cc; if the world does that the peaceful nation' - , aie al po.ne." All that teems axiomatic. ; but there are diiticidl es, and the-o \\< .-hall discuss in another article.