The Dominion. TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1919. A CONFERENCE WITHOUT PRECEDENT

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 99, 21 January 1919, Page 4

The Dominion. TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1919. A CONFERENCE WITHOUT PRECEDENT

At Versailles for some weeks, if not months,, to come, there will be such a shaping and reshaping of national fortunes and international relations as the world has never yet seen. The Congress which was officially, inaugurated on Saturday is incomparably the greatest and moßt important kriown to history. It is distinguished from all that has gone before first of all by the magnitude of the issues with which its assembled delegates are to deal, but still more by the spirit in which they are called upon to act and the objects they are required to set before them. Tfie Congress of Vienna, though it has often been cited for purposes of comparison, presents in fact an almost complete contrast to the Congress which has just opened. At the close of the Napoleonic wars the representatives of the Powers assembled to arrange a settlement chiefly with an eye to dynastic interests. Even where the interests at stake were : ostensibly national rather than dynastic, the outlook of those to whom they were entrusted was such as would to-day be described as hopelessly narrowband limited. The almost indefinite demands now made v upon the Peace Congress are a measure of the difficulty of its task, but onexlong step at least towards the hoped-for goal is implied in the eager and widespread desire manifested in most countries for a settlement which will safeguard not merely the interests of nations and countries, but: those of humanity—a settlement of the war and of the affairs of nation's which will not.only re-estab-lish peace, but will lay permanently and .in strength the foundations of a new and Trotter order in the world. Looking only at the magnitude of. the major problems'they are called upon to solve and the complexity of the innumerable detail Sucstions they, are asked to settle to le satisfaction' of a multitude of hostile partisans, the Congress delegates might well shrink nack appalled. But there is much to hearten and inspire them to ungrudging effort in the new spirit of international fraternity that-is abroad in the world, as definitely present as the darker trail of misery and anarchy the war has in many places left behind it. It would be easy enough to conjure up such a picture of the obstacles and difficulties that strew the path of the Congress as would impart to its deliberations the aspect.of mere futility and make the attainment of its declared objects seem hopeless. But thetru'' is that there are still some weeks oi - months in which all the valiant sacrifices of life and hope and happiness which the war witnessed may_ be made to bear noble and enduring results. It will not beilong before the proceedings; of •the Congress will demonstrate plainly enough whether or not this outcome is to be realised.

So far as. a number of its essential objects are concerned, the preliminaries leading up to the regular sittings of the Congress have thrown little light upon the outlook. There has been a.-great deal' of talk during the last few weeks' upon a variety of peace topics, but we are practically where_ we were at the beginning of that time in regard to such questions of commanding importance as. that of establishing a League "Of Nations and laying down conditions to govern the future polioing of ■ the seas. There has been upon the whote a satisfactory hardening of opinion in Allied countries in regard to exacting just reparation and secure guarantees from Germany and her late vassals, but otherwise recent comments by the statesmen and publicists .of these countries have not been remarkable for their constructive quality. But within the last few days one great question— a question of procedure at the Congress, but one which touches a vital principle—has been talked almost threadbare. This is the question of publicity. _ Its commanding importance is obvious. Nqt all of President Wilson's much-discussed "Fourteen Points" are unreservedly accepted by Allied nations and their representatives, but it is safe' to say that the point he sot first in the. list commands ■ to-day_ almost universal acceptance. In its briefest form it reads: "Open covenants of peace without privato international understandings." It is agreed on all hands that secret diplomacy has had its day, and that the Congress must register all its decisions openly as they arc formed. Manifestly if it in the slightest degree lent itself to secret understandings or reservations it would bo piloting the world, not into c a < now and ' brighter age, but back into the age of darkness from which the nations are eager to escape. Tho principle of publicity in regard to the work of the Congress is one upon which no compromise is possible.' Secrecy is incompatible with tho objects it is pledged to aim at. But in applying the principle of publicity it is necessary to be reasonable, and it would be foolish to quarrel over non-essential details when the principle itself is not challenged. Apparently tho decision of delegates in regard to the reporting of their deliberations is epitomised in the statement of a correspondent that the Congress agreed to admit the Press, with reservations with regard to sitting in camera. , The provision for sitting in camera, that is to say, for committee proceedings, need not conflict with the fullest publicity in regard to all th.it is done and determined by the Congress. So long as it is understood that each decision will be disclosed when it is made, and that the Congress will complete its task without

tolerating any secret understanding, small or great, there can be no real ground for complaint on the score of lack of publicity. It would be carrying tilings to an extreme point to demand that the Peace Congress should sit always in formal array with a gallery of roporters noting down its speeches. Practically all the deliberative assemblies in the world rely to an extent upon comparatively informal committee proeither unreported or under conditions which put reporting at a discount. Such methods are favoured as tending to eliminate the element of ''talking tc the gallery" and as making for - effective concentration upon the matter in hand and for free and fruitful discussion. They are as much in vogue with the national and international bodies which claim to be most radical in their outlook as by those of more conservative tendency. More especially in view of the vexed and complex issues which are laid before it for settlement it would be abto 1 deny the Peace Congress legitimate facilities of this character as an aid to practical discussion and' agreement. To permit it these facilities may greatly lighten its task and improve its prospects of success, and certainly, involves no departure from the standard of "open covenants_ of peace without private international understandings."