THE PEACE CONFERENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22563, 6 May 1935, Page 4

THE PEACE CONFERENCE

... Mr Lloyd George and the British Peace Delegation crossed the Channel on January 10. They were accompanied by naval and military authorities. They had been preceded by a large and elaborate staff of experts and officials who filled to overflowing one of the largest hotels in Paris. The competence of this sta,fl, the fund of knowledge of history, law, and economics which it commanded, and its methods of conducting business have gained the respect both of Ally and enemy observers. "As for the slim white booklets of the English experts," says a German writer, " dealing with Belgian neutrality, with the Rhine problems, with the Danube, with the possible future of little Luxemburg, and Heaven knows what besides, the number of these books was legion. Of all the rival guides to the maze of the troubled earth which awaited reshaping, the English collection was. the amplest and was generally felt to be more ! systematically and concisely arranged than either the American or the French. Even members of the American and French delegations frequently consulted the little white books in their search for enlightenment on obscure subjects on which they were called upon to pronounce or prophesy." The great machine was directed and focussed for business by the comparatively small instrument of the "War Cabinet Secretariat which had been perfected during the preceding four years by the organising insight and measureless industry of Maurice Hankey. This officer of Marines, while still a young captain, had become in 1912 the Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence. He had been responsible for the War * Book which had been the key to the whole transition of Britain from peace to war in 1914, He had kept and arranged the reeords of all the great business which had come first before the "War Committee of the Cabinet and later before the War t Cabinet during the war and the Armistice. He knew everything; he could put his hand on anything; he knew everybody; he said nothing; he gained the confidence of all; and finally he became by the natural flow of their wishes the sole recorder for the decisive six weeks of the conversations between President Wilson, M. Clemenceau, and Mr Lloyd George by which the Peace was settled. The British Plenipotentiaries were reinforced by the British Empire Delegation consisting of the Prime Ministers of the self-governing Dominions, the representatives of India, and four or five Ministers in charge of the great executive departments, of whom I was at this time one. This body was purely consultative. It assembled in Paris only when required by the Prime Minister, and its members were wisely dispersed in other activities. In contrast to President Wilson's isolation from the Senate, it was Lloyd George's policy to fortify himself . at important moments by the counsel and agreement of the leaders of the whole British Empire. This was his Senate, and he moved through the darkness and confusion of the Paris firmament always surrounded by numerous and shining satellites. At his side,! with matchless experience and a calm, imperturbable wisdom, stood Arthur' Balfour; and (must we not add?) Louis Botha. , Were Labour questions raised, Barnes, the veteran Trade Unionist, could speak as a working man. Did he require exponents of the Liberal creed in international affairs, General Smuts and Lord Robert Cecil could meet President Wilson on his own ground and speak his language to Wilson's surprise and gratification. Was there a moment when the robust instincts of youthful conquering pioneer states deserved expression, Mr Hughes of Australia and Mr Massey of New Zealand were at hand, with Sir Robert Borden of Canada not far way. If the panorama of the East or Middle East should be lighted, maharajas and ■ emirs of a thousand years' historic descent advanced in glittering gravity. Himself singularly free from that perversion of the historic sense which degenerates into egotism, the Prime Minister parcelled out great functions and'occasions among his colleagues and those whom he wished to persuade or conciliate; and by modesty in good fortune preserved intact his own controlling power. . .•■■... f —EIGHT HON. WINSTON S. CHUKCHILL. "The World Crisis: The Aftermath." By the Rt Hon. Win/ston S. Churchill, C.H., M.P. London: Thornton Butterworth, Ltd. .