The Daily News. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1917. ENSURING PEACE.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 February 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1917. ENSURING PEACE.

One hopes that the demon of war will l-e absolutely and finally chained as a result of the present frightful struggle. The President of the United States told us a few weeks ago that all the Powers uri; "ready to consider the foundation of a League of Nations to ensure peace an<l j justice throughout the world." Mr. Wilson apparently believes that it will I be possible by means of treaty engage- , ments to banish war from the world, and at the same time to protect the rights of the smaller nations. The London Spectator, in a recent issue, issues a warning to those who think all the nations of the earth will be prepared to enter into such a League. No doubt they will all consider the proposal, as they would consider any other scheme which promised, however remotely, a result full of bene- ! lit to mankind. But there is only too I good ground for believing that when '; ihe nations have considered the formation of the League in question, they will, ; unless they have forgotten all the leachi ings of history and of past experience, be obliged to turn away from the sohemn .is hopelessly impracticable. This is exactly what happened in ISli. Alexander ef Russia, with perfect sincerity and without any desire to defeat the cause i.f liberty—at the time his was one of the most radical and democratic minus . in Europe, as well as the most pacific—proposed to put an end to war for liir future, and to do so by getting the Great Powers to pledge themselves that •' ihey would not only not tight among themselves, but would use all their -.(length to prevent anybody else from . Uxaking the peace of Europe. In the preliminary discussions they actually u?rd the President's own language and ! talked of a League designed to compel . the nations to refrain from war. One ! does not wonder that at first the world ' was dazzled by these proposals. When, ' however, the wiser minds of Europe began to consider the matter, they found that though the aspiration was admirable, it was impossible to carry it out. The Duke of Wellington and Lord Castlerragh. so soon as they got to work on the Emperor Alexander's scheme, saw that if it League to Enforce Peace were founded it must involve mutual guarantees for the status quo. If this were not so, i-.n excuse for making war could always be found by one Power alleging misgovernment of subjects by another Power. But a guarantee of the status quo might prove to be a guarantee of wrong and oppression of the worst kind. Lord Castlereagh, in an admirable memoran(iuri, gently pointed out to the Powers how impossible it would be for any fiiend of liberty to assent to the military force of his nation being uscu is; the crushing out of what might prove to be a wholly justifiable demand for freedom. Hence Britain could never join the Holy Alliance: Castlereagh's criticism and our ultimate refusal—for a time we were very unwilling even to ap-

pear enemies of a League of Peacewere amply justified by events. It did not take more titan a very few years for the Holy Alliance, the League for enforcing peace, to stand forth before Europe as an object loathed by every free man. Though consciously its aims were never altered by the Sovereigns who originally put their names to it or who joined it subsequently, it had become by 1820—in five years—synonymous with tyranny. 80 inimical was it, indeed, to all free government, that not only did we have to protest against it, but President .Monroe, at great risk of becoming entangled •11 Kuropean affairs, warned the whole world that the European Powers could never be allowed to extend "their system"—i.e., the Holy Alliance—to any part of the American continent. Of course, President Wilson will tell us that ho knows all about the Holy Alliance, find that we need not be afraid of Ins League of Peace ending in this sinister way. Alas! there is no reason to thmK that his venture would be more fortunate than that of the Emperor Alexander. We do not despair altogether of abolishing war, but we are eertam that by a hard-and-fast League to Enforce Peace we should purchase immunity at far too great a price. Wo should purchase it with the loss of liberty. Respect for treaties might do much, but treaties have suil'eied the severest blow in the course of the last two and a-lialf years that they ever received. When we remember, concludes the Spectator, that the United States, far more concerned us to the importance of preserving treaties than any other Power, felt compelled to stand by helplessly and see the treaties in regard to Belgium destroyed as "scraps of paper" and the Hague' Conventions ruthlessly torn up, what hope is there that the Powers, for many years to come, can really believe in the sanctity of international contract? And yet unless we can obtain a general respect for such sanctity- all our treaties will be founded on sand.