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LEAGUE OF NATIONS

» AMERICAN WAR CORRESPONDENT ON THE PROSPECT EUROPE'S POINT OF VIEW t ,The weakest League of Nations, that is, tfie form which carries least protection against attack, will bo sufficiently strong for America (states Mr,. Frank 11. Sunowls, the American' war correspondent). Wo (the writer states) can run risks which no other great nation can think of rhnning, but havo we got the right to ask other nations with far greater immediate dangers to surrender, their means of defence because we, immune from those dangers ourselves, havo decided that such a course is the one thing that will satisfy us? Shall wo ask the British to turn over the Grand Fleet.' to ..tho direction of au international body? Shall we ask tliem to agree that if tho German embarks on another war, with its ruthless circumstances, that they will still refrain from taking, tho only course which can defeat Gorman i barbarism ?

Will tho people of tho United States agreo that we should keep a standing: army of 500,000 men in Europe indefinitely to enforce the decisions of a I.eaguo of Nations? Will tho Senate ratify a treaty which binds us to preserve the integrity of Czechoslovakia, of Poland, of the Tyrolean Republic? Unless we guarantee tho French against tho Germans they will have to protect themselves, and tho British will havo to stand .ready to aid them again if Germany goes off the reservation. Are wo ready to. fight Italy to protect tho right of the Jugo-Slavs, or fight tho Jugo-Slavs to protect Italy? We shall have to bo ready,-too, if -tho .League of Nations undertakes to regulata world affairs. We l lav ® l' a( l the Concert of Europe, and it never was effective. The more one examines tho question ■ of the League of Nations tho more often one comes back to the point of view of tin Europeans. If all nations were equally bound by the ordinary conventions of good faith and humatfity rfo League of Nations would bo necessary.But as long as any nation holds to the ideas and morals Germany has held to for more than a century, no League of Nations can protect any hatioii .against a German assault, because -with- Germany a member of that league tho league will 'bs obliged to accept German pledges as honest, wlion they may prove as worthless as before. i Wo have to make peace with a nation which hao committed innumerable and unspeakable crimes against civilised man* kind. -Wo have beaten Germany by arms and by concerted effort. But wo have not changed the German. At least we-shall need some good and sufficient proof that] he is changed before wo can believe it> and for that titae )6 necessary, - Notwithstanding this, notwithstanding the injuries Vhich our &1* lies have suffered, and the long and intimate acquaintance with' German methods which they have had, wo are now coming dangerously near to an attitudo in which at least ap« pear to demand that our friends disarm in the presence of their enemies and ours. We aro running -.the risk 6f quarrelling with those wlio have fought shoulder to shoulder with us,, .having held the line against our coihmoii/enemy, over the years before we could' mako up our minds to fight. Why?

Last of all there is one thing . I would say to' the readers of my articles, for whom I have been siting now for many,' many months, and that is .that " the greatest conceivable misfortune' that' could'befall us all—Americans, Frenchmen. and Britons-ris that the Pcaco-Con-, • Kress should create a new atmosphere of t misunderstanding, and resentment between the Allies. Wo have Geeft'-in recent days a deliberate effort ,-made, for l what reason I do not pretend te/ray, to excite American resentment against the British and the Frenoh by rehearsing old scandals and manufacturing new. strictures upon our Allies by asserting that the French aM British dislike us, that wo 6hould distrust them, and that German morals are. tho dominating force with tho Erenchi:and ,tho British, Now this is all'false; but' it is' mora than falso...it,is'poisonous; it leads straight if) quarrels with tho French and the British, ' and quarrels of our own' making. Il;»6eems liko aq attempt to discredit our 'AHles" in,""ndvanccr- that' American -sentiment...' may be aroused against them in- tho'ovcht that they de-' cline to .accept ,as commands American, suggestions at -tho Peaco Congress. Ibis instdnot with tho idea, that we Ameri-! cans have the right tp'impose our ideas, upon our allies, and that any differ* 1 l onco of opinion, is proof of lower morality on their part. ' , • Such a spirit ia tho beginning of 'difH cord. It-leads straight to tho tion of-that friondehip which the war has created between America and that rest of the civilised nations. It brings us back to tho position of 1914 and 1915,| when we pretended to bo a superior people "too proud to fight," and above the smoko of the European struggle.., It abolishes all the lessons learned elow-j ly and bitterly in tho pest two voara, and paid- for by tho beet blood of ounj youth.. .. It. is..o_no thiig to 'go to Ver-y! sailleaasanequal, with plans to proposal and ideas to suggest, with principles to advocate loyally, but with a readiness to', accept the deoisioris of.tiioso who.have! made greater.sacrifices and have far mora' accurate knowledgo of tho bottom facts' of the European conditions. It is quits■a different thing to" go mth-iho-of imposing a. set,of principles, fourteen! or four, upon our ('associates by sheer i force of power,-because wo are richer and stronger. tliWr:any:::other nation in the world, using- our? great power as a club to force Franco and Britain to suprender their rights to "our theories. This, is tho great danger, increasing, as the days go by. ' • ■

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19190215.2.66

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 121, 15 February 1919, Page 9

Word count
Tapeke kupu
962

LEAGUE OF NATIONS Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 121, 15 February 1919, Page 9

LEAGUE OF NATIONS Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 121, 15 February 1919, Page 9

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