The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1911. AMERICA AND INTERVENTION

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2345, 30 December 1914, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1911. AMERICA AND INTERVENTION

Attempts which have been made by some of the leading ' American newspapers to explain- and justify the apparent failure of the United States to carry out its obligations under Tho Hague Convention aro not very convincing. Even able advocacy cannot set aside the fact that America has witnessed, without' protest, repeated violations of an international treaty which she is pledged as a nation to uphold. The_ American Government has noli unwisely resorted to a.policy of silence regarding its international obligations, leaving it to be assumed' that new factors may bs operating which tend to explain or extenuate its inaction. But when an > attempt is made to settle tho question upon a simple basis of right and wrong the position of Amorica is a far from happy one. Such an attempt was made recently by the Springfield Republican, and while its article on the subject is ostensibly a defence of American foreign policy, it makes some curious admission. Its remarks . were intended -primarily as a reply to an article in 'the New York Times in which , Mr. Roosevelt denounced President Wilson's poliey in regard to'thewar'as "supinely immoral." "It will," Mr. Roosevelt said on that occasion, "never be possible; to commit a'clearer breach of international, morality than that committed by Germany in the invasion and subjugation 'of Belgium, ... no steps have been taken to redress the wrongs of the Belgians. . . • Peesident "Wilson's Administration shirked the duty_ plainly imposed on it by the obligations of Tho Hague Convention." Me. ROOSEVELT did not say how far he thought the United States should havo gone in' the matter of intervention, but remarked that, having informed itself of the facts, tho Government "Should at least have put itself on record in reference thereto." Thai; is an opinion in which most people in and out of America might oe .expected tp concur, but the Springfield Republican takes an oppbsite view. America, it 'submits, is not bonnd to take any steps towards supporting The Hague Convention of 1907 because its delegates ligned that treaty with reservations. The conditions under which America signed the treaty aro shown in a resolution passed by the Senate on April 2, 1908:—

"That the Senate advise and oonsent to a ratification subject to tlie declaration made by the delegates of the Uni'ted States before signing the said Convention, namely "Nothing contained in this Convention shall l>o so construed aa to require tho United States of America to depart from, its traditional policy of not intruding upon, interfering \rith, or ohtangliDg itself in the political questions of policy or internal administration of any foreign Stato, nor shall anything contained in the said Convention be' «on6truetf to imply a relinquishment by the United States of its traditional attitude towards purely American questions."

According to the Springfield Republican these reservations absolve America of all obligations to 6tand by Tho Hague Convontion. "Tho present European war, of which the violation of Belgium wa-s an incident," it remarks, "is pre-eminently a struggle, for political supremacy on that Continent between two great groups of nations, and the conditions are now precisely those which American statesmen have always had in mind as forbidding_ intrusion or interference by the United States in any manner whatsoever, most of all forbidding 'tho support of one side or the other, whether by force or by diplomacy." America has often been accused of a narrow and technical interpretation of her treaty obligations, Dut it is surely something new to find an American journal of standing and repute openly advocating their repudiation. Tho crimes that Germany has committed in violation of The Hague Convent-ion are in no sense matters of domestic European concern; they are crimes against civilisation. In her treatment oE Belgium, iiud on other occasions, Germany has trampled The Haguo Convention underfoot in a fashion that has revolted the whole world, and to suggest that a great country such as Amcrica is prepared to take advantage of a technical loophole in order to escape its obligations to humanity reads like an insult to, rather than a deCbdm of. the American nation; No doubt the ijreaJj, attitude, of the

American Government and the equally weak attempts that have been made to defend it in no sense represent tlio spirit and opinions of tho great bulk of the American people. In contrast with the impotent silence of their govornors, ireo expression is given to the detestation with which a large majority of the people regard the atrocious crimes of which Germany has been guilty. More than that, and .apart from Germany's overturning of The Hague Convention and reversion from civilisation to barbarism, there is a growing-recognition that America cannot afford to view with indifference the progress of events in the world without. At present England and .'her Allies present an efficient barrier to German aggression, but if this barrier were thrown down the world might witness what Mr. Hoosevelt has called a TransAtlantic application of the doctrine that might is right. It is not without good reason that leaders of thought in America are beginning to .turn their attention increasingly to the problem of evolving a Btrong foreign policy, and there is no reason to doubt that when such a policy is put forward it will prove a much better title to the support of the American people than tho weak avoidance of responsibility which characterises the foreign- policy of the Wilson Administration. At_ present politics in America are in a somewhat unsettled condition, but one striking development in recent times is the growing agitation for a better defence system, on land and sea, than America can at present boast. Taking this with the res'; it seems not at all _ that the weakness in American foreign polity wlfich has befin so painfully apparent since the war began will before long be the undoing of President Wilson and th'o Democratic Party.