TREATY OF PERPETUAL PEACE

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 17, 26 April 1911, Page 8

TREATY OF PERPETUAL PEACE

LONDON, March 17. A remarkable speech was made in the House of Commons on Monday by the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey. His subject was the possibility of a perpetual peace treaty with the United States, and he sounded a note of idealism rarely heard from the lips of a Foreign Secretary. His speech made a profound impression, and it has been received sympathetically both here and in the United States.

The president of the United States had sketched out a plan for an International Arbitration Court, whereby nations might agree to settle 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 conn try, he went on; and he attached such great importance to it that, besides the signatures of the Governments concerned, it should be brought before the two Houses of Parliament for their sanction. It was a proposal t'he consummation of which lay in the distant future. “We shall never live to see it!” interrupted a pessimist on the back benches. “1 think we shall live to see some progress made,” retorted Sir Edward Grey. The Foreign Secretary before broaching the topic of a peace treaty had spoken long and seriously on the general growth of European armaments. It must in the long run, he said, break down civilisation, and he believed relief would be sought, not in war, but in revolution —a declaration which deeply impressed the House. The only 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 honour should not be referred to a court of arbitration. He has also expressed the opinion that if the United States could put through a positive agreement with some other nation to abide by the adjudication of an international arbitral court, in every issue which could not be settled by negotiation,’ no matter what the issue involved, a long step forward would be taken. (Cheers.) Those were 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 in the opinion of the world, it cannot be carried out. (Cheers.)

A VISTA OF PEACE. But. supposing two of the greatest nations of the world were to make it dear 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 the world at large, in example, will be bound to have beneficial consequences. (Cheers.) The nations who marie 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 ease in which one of them had a quarrel with a third nation in which arbitration was refused. Ido not think a statement of the kind made by a man in President Taft’s position should go without a response. (Cheers.) In entering into an agreement of that kind there would be risks. You must be prepared for some sacrifice 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 deliberately 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 opinion has risen to heights which a generation previous would have thought impossible. It was so when public opinion abolished slavery — (Ministerial cheers) —with all its vested interests. In such an enormous change progress may 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 have 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 the police of the world. Some hon. members say we should not live to see that day. But I think we shall live to see 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 we should not press forward in the direction in which we see a possible means of relief. What is impossible in one generation may be possible in another. NATIONS IN BONDAGE. The 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 the prison door has been locked on the inside. If you think that visionary, and not within the region of polities, I reply that at any rate we ought not to leave what the President of the United States has said without response. (Ministerial cheers.) MR BALOUR’S SPEECH. 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, “lias 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. The 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.”