The Press Monday, October 31, 1927. Britain and America.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19145, 31 October 1927, Page 10

The Press Monday, October 31, 1927. Britain and America.

It is not very easy to explain why even Pacifists and Radicals should be especially concerning themselves at present with the future of the British Empire. Yet it is a fact that they are doing this. Saturday morning's cables, for example, contained some extracts from a book by Commander J. M. Kenworthy, M.P., just out, in which the future not only of the Empire but of " human culture " was made to depend on a "treaty between England and ••America outlawing war." Then in Friday's cables we had a summary of a speech at Oxford by Professor Gilbert Murray the burden of which was that "the British Empire is iu a "critical condition." Before the Great ! War, Professor Murray said, our Empire was "increasing by general im- " petus," but now it was " in retreat," so that although we were "on the up ! " grade as a nation " we must " play ; " for caution and avoid war, revolution, . "or any great shock to our credit." More specifically and intelligibly we were warned that the dislike felt against the four great Empires which existed before the war is now concentrated against our own which alone still stands. Commander Kenworthy is also specific with regard to one danger, and outspoken to a sensational degree even for him. "It is "awful," he says, "to think of an " Anglo-Japanese Alliance against "America, but we 7niist think about " it." If, after 1931, there is no renewal of the Washington Treaty, " the " world will accept the possibility of a "war between Britain and America." And then to complete the series of alarms we have an introduction to Commander Kenworthy's book by Mr H. G. Wells, though it is H. G. Wells at his worst. Indeed H. G. Wells is always at his worst nowadays, or perhaps we should say always was at his worst when he turned to politics, and if his were the only voice of woe at present being raised in the Empire there would be nothing much to worry about. But the point of his introduction is the point also of Commander Kenworthy's book, and also, though ooscured, of Professor Gilbert Murray's speech. And it is this: that if peace depends on common sense, it has a rather precarious foundation. If there had been even the beginnings of common sense on both sides of the Atlantic a hundred and fifty years ago, the .feelings of "hostility, mistrust, "fear, and jealousy," which Commander Kenworthy says now separate Britons and Americans, would never ihave been generated; or at any rate would not have received their first great encouragement, since we must not forget that the people of America today are as little like the colonists of 1770 as the Argentinians, say, are like the people of Spain. But if there is not enough common sense anywhere in the world to outlaw war without treaties, there must be enough fear and mistrust of the consequences to keep it from breaking out between the two great branches of the English-speaking race. For if Commander Kenworthy is justified in saying that Britain would accept assistance from anyone if she "were fighting with her back to the wall, the fact that she •would do so must, to the extent to which it is believed in America, be a stronger influence for peace than any treaty could be which was based merely Jon idealistic considerations. It is after all not much use having new treaties outlawing war. War is outlawed now, formally and informally, by all the leading Western Powers except Russia, and to have another solemn declaration on the subject, even though it took the form of an inter-s national treaty, could not in practice carry us much further than the publication of a book the other day by an American professor to prove that " the "indispensable pre-requisite of a last- " ing peace is the creation of the inter- " national mind." Even H. G. Wells, though he says that he is more " anti- " nationalist" to-day than ever he was, does nut want the British Empire to. end, while ninety-nine out of a hundred of his countrymen are so determined to keep it going that neither general nor specific treaties would be allowed to stand in the way of its preservation if it seemed to be in genuine danger. It would be more perilous to attempt to bind Britain and America at their present stage of development* in a holy alliance'for peace than it is to allow them to tlrif t on, risking the possible consequences of whatever latent fears and jealousies they may still have, but pondering every day on the appalling consequences to each and to tho world at large-if they do not control these feelings and ultimately eradicate them.