The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1928. THE PEACE PACT.

Hokitika Guardian, 22 December 1928, Page 4

The Guardian And Evening Star, with which is incorporated the West Coast Times. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1928. THE PEACE PACT.

A tiednito move in favour ol ratifying the. Kellogg Peace Pact has been made in the Foreign Relations Committee of the American Senate. It is proposed that the Pnited States shall become a contracting party to the agreement, hut with certain reservat ions. 'I he Americans are to accept the Pact only on the understanding that their right

of self-defence remains unimpaired, tli.it they .shall not be involved in tin* conserjuenee.s of any treaty to whirl! the I nited States is not a parly, that the scone ol the .Monroe Doctrine shall he in no way limited, and that nothing in the I’act shall he interpreted as imposing upon the Americans any obligation to punish or coerce offending nations. So far as the tone and purpose

of these reservations are eorneeruetl, says an exchange, there is little fault to find with them. Whatever may • thought of the value or the wisdom of the Monroe Doctrine, Britain justified file American attitude when our Foreign Minister explained to Mr Kellogg that Britain could not under any circumstances permit the interlerenco of other Dowers in certain regions where she possesses interests of paramount importance to I lie Empire. The American Press at once retorted that Britain has inveiito da Monroe Doctrine for herself in repaid to Egypt. and possibly other States and territories in whieh she is interested. Nor could Britain lie. expected to become a party to the Pact if it limited in any way her ny;hi to defend herself or her Empire against. aggression. As regards the American, refusal to participate in any attempt to coerce or punish a recalcitrant nation, this is at least consistent with the policy that both Republicans and Democrats have favoured since the war. and any deviation from it would render \morion's rejection of I lie Dengue of Nations Covenant even more inexplicable and unintelligible. It, should ho observed that the resolutions submitted to the Foreign Relations Committee are not to ho embodied in the Pact, hut are to lie regarded as an interpretation of its terms from the American point of view. To that extent they are closely analogous to the conditions which Sir Austen Chamberlain originally laid down for Britain’s acceptance of fix' 1 'act. Of course, if is still problematical whether the Senate will ratify the Pact, even if the reservations are adopted by its committee: and the difficulty that has now arisen should remind the pacifists who greeted the announcement of the Pact with sue 1 ' enthusiasm that neither the American (loveriiment nor the President is ever in a position to commit irrevocably to anv proposal or promise without consulting Congress. But oven if the Pact were accepted unconditionally hv the Americans, we must not forget that it amounts to nothing hut a rejection of war. in general forms, as an instrument of national policy. It leaves still absolutely unsettled the purposes and intentions of the contracting Powers towards any State that insists on breaking the peace, and in lids respect it presents much the same weakness and defects as the Covenant of the League which (la l Americans apparently expect it to supersede.