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Otago Daily Times, Issue 20385, 17 April 1928, Page 8

THE OUTLAWRY OF WAR. The proposal of the Government of the United States, contained in a note addressed to various Foreign Offices, that the great Powers, of the world and all others interested should join in a treaty for the outlawry of war, is the latest development of the somewhat desultory conversations on this subject which were inaugurated some time ago between the Secretary of State at Washington and the French Government. In J me last M. Briand submitted to Mr Kellogg the draft of a pact of perpetual friendship between France and the United States. It provided for the renunciation of war on the part of the two countries as an instrument., of their national policy towards each other. There was no eager acceptance of the idea on the American side. But in January last a Note was issued from Washington proposing that, instead of a bilateral declaration of the nature suggested by M. Briand, the effort should be made to secure the adherence of all the principal Powers to a declaration renouncing war n* a factor in national policy. M. Briand’s reply was that the French Government wa s ready to join with the Government of the United States in submitting for the approval of all nations an agreement of the kind suggested, to be signed beforehand by France and the United States, by the terms of which the contracting parties should bind themselves to retrain from any war of aggression. The answer was regarded as a clever piece of diplomacy in face of a somewhat embarrassing proposal, since M, Briand, by qualifying the typ© of war to be outlawed, safeguarded tho essential obligations of the signatories of the Covenant of the League of Nations. Mr Kellogg’s reply was to the effect that the French Note was in two respects not in harmony with the idea which tho American Government had in mind—in the first place a s regards the preliminary signature of tho projected multilateral treaty by Prance and the United States, and again as regards the qualification that the treaty of renunciation should be limited to wars of aggression. Mr

Kellogg suggested that the terms of the multilateral treaty should be based upon the original proposal submitted by M. Briand —which had reference to France and the United States alone. Subsequent conversations have, however, not brought France into agreement respecting the possibility of giving this wider application to the terms. Not deterred, the United States Government has now addressed itself to the other important Powers in order to ascertain whether a multilateral treaty for the outlawry of war on the lines already indicated cannot be brought into operation.' On the face of things it would be an encouraging international development were the leading Powers to enter into a solemn agreement condemning recourse to war for the solution of international controversies and renouncing war as an instrument of national policy in their relations with one another. The principle expressed in the proposal is one with which British opinion, official and otherwise, must be very much in accord. International commitments may, however, stand to some extent in the way of acceptance of the American plan. There are the obligations of States that are members of the League of Nations, among which the United States is not, of course, included. On the other hand, the American Government would produce a strong argument if it could show that its proposal would not conflict with, but would lend support to, the policy and operations of the League. Clearly, however, the scheme is not one which the other Powers, however sympathetically they may regard it, can accept off hand. If the Governments to which the American Note is addressed do not express their readiness to enter into the suggested treaty with the United States and with each other, their policy may bo the subject of some misconception and misinterpretation, and for that reason the proposal will require careful consideration by them before an actual decision is reached respecting its merits. A s The Times observes, the responsibility which the United States has assumed in making an offer of a scope so far reaching is more or less shared by those to whom the invitation to commit themselves to a continuous policy of peace, and definitely to put war out of consideration, is now formally extended. But many complexities must be unravelled before the Powers even arrive at an understanding of all that they would be committed to in subscribing to such a proposal. War will not be eliminated merely because a certain group of nations declare that they will have no more of it. “War will be outlawed when international law provides an effective sanction against it,” the writer on foreign affairs in the Contemporary Review recently observed. “The best means so far available,” he continues, “ for providing tho necessary sane .on is the Geneva League of Nations. Its chief limitation is the aloofness of the United States. The most effective immediate thing Mr Kellogg could do to give substance to his own ideal would be' to induce the United States to become a member of the League.”