THE BROTHERHOOD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 314, 14 June 1915, Page 4

THE BROTHERHOOD.

INTERNATIONAL TREATIES. Owing to the unfavorable weather, there was a rather small at the Good Templar Hall yesterday afternoon, when Mr. Hurst presided over the usual weekly meeting of the New Plymouth Brotherhood. The address for the afternoon was given by Mr. Bottrill, who took as his subject "International Treaties." In opening his addrcs.*. the speaker pointed out that the necessity for treaties was caused by the number of different Powers, and that when the Homan Emperor and Pope respectively were the temporal and spiritual heads of Europe treaties were unnecessary. A brief outline of the trend of international politics by the speaker showed that the balance of power had long been the controlling factor among the nations, and that treaties were made to preservo this balance. There were, he said, two principles governing these treaties. One, observed by Britain and some of the other nations, was honor, and the other —a purely German idea—was the force of necessity. The originator of treaties was the great Cardinal Wolsey, but many treaties had proved fruitless because they were not founded on a racial basis. Mr. Bottrill then gave a resume of Belgian history, first governed by the Burgundian dukes, then by the Spanish, later by the French, and finally by the Austrians. Then Belgium was made an independent nation in order to provide a buffer State between the. four great Powers—'Britain, France, Cennany and Austria. This was arranged at the great Vienna Conference, it being agreed that Belgium should be a neutral State, and allowed to form defensive treaties only, to defend her neutrality. Such was the treaty that (iermany had broken, but which Britain had considered she must, for honor's sake, maintain. ('Applause.) "When treaties were formed, said the speaker, nations signing it were considered ethically equal, and the end in view was the maintenance of peace, but, in his opinion, this object could never be secured until there was provided a judiciary before which those who broke treaties could be brought, or, in other words an international policeman.