TO KEEP THE PEACE

Evening Star, Issue 20023, 14 November 1928, Page 4

TO KEEP THE PEACE

BITAI’S Dim

DOMINION'S RESPONSIBILITY

Pre« Association—By Telegraph-Copyright.

OTTAWA, November 12

When he was addressing the Canadian Club Sir Austen Chamberlain reviewed the European conditions that led up to the Treaty of Locarno, and pleaded with the people of the 'British dominions to interest themselves in foreign affairs so that the politics of London might represent not only the British Government, but also respond to sentiment in all the constituent parts of tho Empire. Outlining tho fears after tho war in Europe prior to tho famous meetings, ho said that tho increase in armaments was not due to a further desire for military glory, but to feliQ fear which reigned, in tho seats of government and in tho hearts of the people. Ho explained tho rejection hy tho Baldwin Government of tho protocol of Geneva, which was negotiated by Mr Ramsay MacDonald, and said linn such an agreement would have entirely altered tho character of tho League of Nations, making it an instrument of war rather than an agency for tho preservation of peace. Tho League would have become a super-state, infringing and overriding the rights of sovereign States which belonged to it. Groat Britain could not bo indifferent to conditions on tho Continent of Europe, for in tho past lack of interest had always resulted in misfortune and disaster. However, the position of Britain was still to a certain extent one of detachment. Tho people of tho dominions woro further off, and saw European affairs in a truer light. “You bring the opinions of the new world to correct the errors of the old," he said. “ Thus the British Commonwealth of Nations brings a contribution to the peace of the world which no other Power can bring”—Australian Press Association.