Mr. Sullivan, one of the newspapermen who watch things in Washington, has done an excellent service in giving the public this book on the Washington Conference three months after the close of this fateful gathering, for his pictures of men and happenings, of the processes which were used to achieve results, and his conclusions should be read while the popular mind still is fresh and impressionable. And the popular mind should be the popular mind not alone of these United States, but of Europe and all the civilized world. It will do the balance of the world good to see, through Mr. Sullivan's eyes, what was done at Washington and how it was done. And if at times he sees overly enthusiastic, a tired and disillusioned world will make ample discount and yet be profited. In the first few chapters Mr. Sullivan describes the incalculably important opening sessions of the conference, in which Mr. Hughes submitted the American proposals, and the way in which they were received by the several delegations and by the press of this country and the world. A necessary part of this description is incidental pen portraits of the men who spoke in Washington for the great nations, and these will have an interest of their own for the reader, for they are done in the meticulously faithful and truthseeking manner that is Mr. Sullivan's habit and strength as a journalist. In natural sequence this description of the Hughes proposal and of the first few days of the conference leads to description of the initial differences between the French delegation and others over the question of land armaments, and therein will be found surprising and informative statements made from the secret records. In the latter part of the fourth chapter, captioned "France Says 'No,'" Mr. Sullivan tells of the meeting of the Armament Committee after the open session in which Briand had stated the position of France to the world a statement that evoked generous expressions from the leaders of the other nations' delegations. The official communique from that committee meeting was brief and colorless. Mr. Sullivan shows the meeting to have been one of almost brutal expressions from Balfour and of angry replies in kind from Briand, who had gone to the meeting in high spirits, thinking his work was well done, and who expected the gathering, so far as he was concerned, to be one of happy farewells. The world heard nothing of this affair at the time. If there were nothing else in the book, this illumination of one of the dark and secret happenings, which Mr. Sullivan has been able to give from the minutes of the meeting that were kept from the public at the time, would make the volume necessary to those who wish an understanding of the Washington Conference. Other chapters Mr. Sullivan uses to elucidate the nature of the contest between Mr. Hughes and the Japanese over the naval ratio; the crisis which developed when the naval ratio had been settled between the United States, Great Britain, and Japan, and France came forward with a demand for a larger capital-ship tonnage than the other powers were willing to grant or had contemplated; and the issue between the British and French over the submarine. Mr. Sullivan also devotes chapters to clarification of the FourPower Treaty and the differences between China and Japan that so grievously troubled the conference. His final chapter, which is entitled "Unique in History," philosophizes on the unprecedented fact that mastery of the seas was settled in conference and not in battle, and notes: "In this act, Great Britain surrendered actual dominance of naval power and we surrendered potential dominance. Great Britain gave up the heritage she had held for more than 200 years, and we gave up the ambition to take it from her for ourselves." THE MYTH OF A GUILTY NATION. By Albert Jay Nock. B. W. Huebsch, Inc., New York. Pp. 1-114. Price, fifty cents. This is a compilation, in paper back, of a series of articles written by Mr. Nock under the pseudonym of "Historicus" : and published in the Freeman, of which he is associate editor. By frequent and keenly chosen excerpts from speeches and documents of dates prior to 1914, Mr. Nock seeks to demonstrate that Germany was not guilty of bringing on the war. Whether she was part guilty, and, if so, what the measure of her guilt was, he does not argue, holding that to be immaterial. At the same time he indicates plainly that he thinks Germany less guilty than some of the nations which opposed her. Believing Germany not to be guilty of causing the war, Mr. Nock holds the Treaty of Versailles to be a monstrosity and indefensible. He argues that the treaty finds its foundation in the assumption of Germany's war guilt, and that assumption being a lie, the treaty has no stronger or more durable foundation than a lie. Hence, it must fail. Its economic error he believes to be unescapable, and he thinks the more Germany tries to pay the obligation put upon her, the worse it will be for the other nations. That, in Mr. Nock's opinion, already is a demonstrated fact. Herein is an outpouring of the heart of a non-resistant sect which suffered during the war. In the light of a short story of the Mennonite people, dating back to their arrival in this country, the nature of the heartburnings and the anxieties that came upon them with the entrance of the United States into the war, and the enactment of conscription, is told with sincerity, if with a certain too sentimental view of themselves. The doctrine of non-resistance had little hearing in the days between April, 1917, and November, 1918, and the conscientious objector had less. The government, we learn from the book, was considerate, but the mob was a thorn in the flesh. The pressure of the times must make the logical-minded reader patient with the explanations, given with a sort of pride, that the Mennonites, while refusing to draw the. sword, gave freely of their wealth. AN AMERICAN DIPLOMAT IN CHINA. By Paul S. Reinsch. Doubleday, Page & Company, Garden City, N. Y., and Toronto, 1922. Pp. I-XII, 1-387. Index. $4.00. The author of this book was appointed Minister to Peking by President Wilson in 1913. He served in that office for nearly six years, after which he became the financial adviser of the recognized Chinese Government. Dr. Reinsch has written upon "The Common Law in the Early American Colonies," "World Politics at the End of the Nineteenth Century as Influenced by the Oriental Situation," "Colonial Government," "Colonial Administration," "American Legislatures and Legislative Methods," "Intellectual Currents in the Far East," "International Unions," "Essentials of Government" (published in Chinese), and "Secret Diplomacy." In the present book he tells of old China and the new republic, of the passing of Yuan-Shi-Kai, of the war in China, and of the last year of war and the aftermath. These together make up an interesting and informing picture of that Far Eastern diplomacy in which all of the great powers are taking an active hand. We have here a significant account of those modern proposals by two cabinet ministers, which proposals enabled an American minister unofficially to frustrate the intrigues of Russia and Japan. But perhaps most significant of all is the author's account of the new international consciousness in China and the aims, methods, and results of the new idealisms. BOOKS RECEIVED SHANTUNG: Treaties and Agreements. Published by the Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D. C., 1921. Pp. I-VIII, 1-68. MANCHURIA: Treaties and Agreements. Published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D. C., 1921. Pp. I-XIV, 1-220. PRESS OF JUDD & DETWEILER, INC., WASHINGTON, D. C. (Adopted by the American Peace Society May 27, 1921) The American l'eace Society, mindful of the precepts of its founders-precepts which have been confirmed by the experience of the past hundred years-recurs, in these days of storm and stress at home and of confusion and discord abroad, to these precepts and its own traditions, and, confessing anew its faith in their feasibility and necessity, restates and resubmits to a hesitant, à suffering, and a war-torn world: That the voluntary Union of States and their helpful co-operation for the attainment of their common ideals can only be effective if, and only so far as, "The rules of conduct governing individual relations between citizens or subjects of a civilized State are equally applicable as between enlightened nations"; That the rules of conduct governing individual relations, and which must needs be expressed in terms of international law, relate to "the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety"; and That these concepts, which are the very life and breath of reason and justice, upon which the Law of Nations is founded, must be a chief concern of nations, inasmuch as "justice," and its administration, "is the great interest of man on earth.' Therefore, realizing the conditions which confront the world at the termination of its greatest of wars; conscious that permanent relief can only come through standards of morality and principles of justice expressed in rules of law, to the end that the conduct of nations shall be a regulated conduct, and that the government of the Union of States, as well as the government of each member thereof, shall be a government of laws and not of men; and desiring to contribute to the extent of its capacity, the American Peace Society ventures, at its ninety-third annual meeting, held in the city of Washington, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one, to suggest, as calculated to incorporate these principles in the practice of nations, an international agreement: I. To institute Conferences of Nations, to meet at stated intervals, in continuation of the first two conferences of The Hague; and To facilitate the labors of such conferences; to invite accredited institutions devoted to the study of international law, to prepare projects for the consideration of governments, in advance of submission to the conferences; in order To restate and amend, reconcile and clarify, extend and advance, the rules of international law, which are indispensable to the permanent establishment and the successful administration of justice between and among nations. II. To convoke, as soon as practicable, a conference for the advancement of international law; to provide for its organization outside of the domination of any one nation or any limited group of nations; to which conference every nation recognizing, accepting, and applying international law in its relations with other nations shall be invited and in which all shall participate upon a footing of equality. III. To establish an Administrative Council, to be composed of the diplomatic representatives accredited to the government of the State in which the conference for the advancement of international law convenes; which representatives shall, in addition to their ordinary functions as diplomatic agents, represent the common interests of the nations during the interval between successive conferences; and to provide that The president of the Administrative Council shall, according to diplomatic usage, be the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the country in which the conference convenes; An advisory committee shall be appointed by the Administrative Council from among its members, which shall meet at short, regular, and stated periods; The chairman of the advisory committee shall be elected by its members; The advisory committee shall report the result of its labors to the Administrative Council; The members of the Administrative Council, having considered the report of the advisory committee, shall transmit their findings or recommendations to their respective governments, together with their collective or individual opinions, and that they shall act thereafter upon such findings and recommendations only in accordance with instructions from the governments which they represent. IV. To authorize the Administrative Council to appoint, outside its own members, an executive committee or secretary's office to perform such duties as the conference for the advancement of international law, or the nations shall from time to time prescribe; and to provide that The executive committee or secretary's office shall be under the supervision of the Administrative Council; The executive committee or secretary's office shall report to the Administrative Council at stated periods. V. To empower the Administrative Council to appoint other committees for the performance of such duties as the nations in their wisdom or discretion shall find it desirable to impose. VI. To furnish technical advisers to assist the Administrative Council, the advisory committee, or other committees appointed by the council, in the performance of their respective duties, whenever the appointment of such technical advisers may be necessary or desirable, with the understanding that the request for the appointment of such experts may be made by the conference for the advancement of international law or by the Administrative Council. VII. To employ good offices, mediation, and friendly composition wherever feasible and practicable, in their own disputes, and to urge their employment wherever feasible and practicable, in disputes between other nations. VIII. To organize a Commission of Inquiry of limited membership, which may be enlarged by the nations in dispute, to which commission they may refer, for investigation and report, their differences of an international character, unless they are otherwise bound to submit them to arbitration or to other form of peaceful settlement; and To pledge their good faith to abstain from any act of force against one another pending the investigation of the commission and the receipt of its report; and To reserve the right to act on the report as their respective interests may seem to them to demand; and To provide that the Commission of Inquiry shall submit its report to the nations in controversy for their action, and to the Administrative Council for its information. IX. To create a Council of Conciliation of limited membership, with power on behalf of the nations in dispute to add to its members, to consider and to report upon such questions of a non-justiciable character, the settlement whereof is not otherwise prescribed, which shall from time to time be submitted to the Council of Conciliation, either by the powers in dispute or by the Administrative Council; and to provide that The Council of Conciliation shall transmit its proposals to the nations in dispute, for such action as they may deem advisable, and to the Council of Administration for its information. X. To arbitrate differences of an international character not otherwise provided for, and in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, to submit them to the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, in order that they may be adjusted upon a basis of respect for law, with the understanding that disputes of a justiciable nature may likewise be referred to the Permanent Court of Arbitration when the parties in controversy prefer to have their differences settled by judges of their own choice, appointed for the occasion. XI. To set up an international court of justice with obligatory jurisdiction, to which, upon the failure of diplomacy to adjust their disputes of a justiciable nature, all States shall have direct access-a court whose decisions shall bind the litigating States, and, eventually, all parties to its creation, and to which the States in controversy may submit, by special agreement, disputes beyond the scope of obligatory jurisdiction. XII. To enlarge from time to time the obligatory jurisdiction of the Permanent Court of International Justice by framing rules of law in the conferences for the advancement of international law, to be applied by the court for the decision of questions which fall either beyond its present obligatory jurisdiction or which nations have not hitherto submitted to judicial decision. XIII. To apply inwardly international law as a rule of law for the decision of all questions involving its principles, and outwardly to apply international law to all questions arising between and among all nations, so far as they involve the Law of Nations. XIV. To furnish their citizens or subjects adequate instruction in their international obligations and duties, as well as in their rights and prerogatives; To take all necessary steps to render such instruction effective: and thus To create that "international mind" and enlightened public opinion which shall persuade in the future, where force has failed to compel in the past, the observance of those standards of honor, morality, and justice which obtain between and among individuals, bringing in their train law and order, through which, and through which alone, peace between nations may become practicable, attainable, and desirable. VOL. 84 PARVARD COLLEGE JUN 28 1922 Advocate of Peace ADVOCATE OF PEACE Edited by ARTHUR DEERIN CALL Published since 1834 by THE AMERICAN PEACE SOCIETY (1815-1828) JUNE, 1922 No. 6 THE NINETY-FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING HE NINETY-FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING of the American Peace Society is officially recorded elsewhere in these columns. The facts relating to the purposes of the Society, its membership, its magazine, officers, and finances are all carefully set forth. The reports of the President, Secretary, and Treasurer are selfexplanatory. Special attention is called to the addresses delivered at the banquet Friday evening, May 26. Mr. Hyde pleaded for constructive, definite, simple, understandable suggestions, indicative of methods for the maintenance of peace, and then, as is inevitable when thoughtful men apply their minds to the problem of peace, he turned instinctively to the processes of international justice. Mr. Hyde's suggestion with reference to the matter inspired President Montague to express the hope that America will take her part in some way by becoming a real live member of the international juridical tribunal. Captain Gordon Gordon-Smith also rendered a service by calling attention to the perversion of the principle of propaganda which as conducted today is both "dangerous and insidious." The American Peace Society may well adopt his suggestion and go forth to combat it. Professor Seashore's scientific attention to consciously directed evolution, buttressing his argument upon the fact that man is adaptable and that he is improving, is an encouragement from a source both competent and convincing. His Excellency Joannes Gennadius, of Greece, and His Excellency Señor Don Beltran Mathieu, of Chile, reaffirmed with genuine eloquence and from out civilizations far removed the essential importance of law and order and of justice and freedom. Dr. Leo S. Rowe, Director of Pan American Union, fittingly brought the evening to a close by pointing to the concrete nature of any effective movement in behalf of international peace. All in all, the dinner ranks as one of the most successful in the history of the Society. Attention is also called to the constitution of the American Peace Society as adopted at the annual meeting, May 26. This constitution, submitted by a special committee made up of George A. Finch, Jackson H. Ralston, and Thomas E. Green, is an adequate expression of the work of the American Peace Society as it is conducted today. Every friend of the American Peace Society will wish to read it with care. THE BRIGHT SPOT IN THE HAGUE CONFERENCE HE "economic conference" convening at The Hague Tis is referred to in some quarters of our country as a "humbug." It is largely that. The resumption of industry and commerce in Europe, peace, cannot be secured by coquetting with the Russian terrorists. Russia's army, repudiation of debts and private property, confiscations, and tragic failure to run her own affairs do not, cannot commend her as a possible co-operating sister in the society of nations. Furthermore, if Britain despairs over Ireland, America wonders over Europe. It is difficult to see what the conference at The Hague can accomplish, so messy is the mess. Evidently Lloyd-George favors an emasculated Russia in order that English interests may obtain and control industrial concessions over the vast stretches of Russia's enormous resources. On the other hand, Poincaré would have a virile Russia capable of paying the debts Russia owes to the French people. Evidently Germany is not to sit in the conference. The Soviets will meet at The Hague, but only as a private party. Belgium seems to treat the whole affair with a degree of hauteur. Some of the nations are sending plenipotentiaries with powers to negotiate treaties; others economic experts only, with no such powers. With such mixed representation the conference at The Hague can be little better than impotent. Because of these facts the semiofficial Washington Post of June 14 referred to the whole affair as follows: "A grotesque, a ridiculous, and at the same time a sad spectacle is presented at The Hague. The times are tragic, and the world needs giants as never before; yet Europe has gone to seed in greatness. Her governments are destitute of statesmanship. The futility and confusion of their plans are pitiful, and most pitiful of all is the mixture of bravado and duplicity which constitutes the false front of the pretentious humbug at The Hague." There is, however, one hopeful thing about the conference. It is meeting at The Hague. Anything that draws men to that place, that calls again the attention of the world to the land of William the Silent and of Hugo Grotius, whose bodies rest now side by side in Delft, to The Hague of the International Conference of 1899 and of that other and larger gathering of 1907, is pat and worth while. No one can study that capital of Holland without catching something of those vital and enduring things at the heart of any successful international achievement. The men meeting at The Hague will not be able to reconcile communism with the ways of civilized society. Those two things will not mix. The attempt to mix them at Genoa failed. There is no alchemy by which they can be made to merge at The Hague. But if those men will allow themselves to medi tate there upon what the world has already done there, some little good may be accomplished. T THE RED VICTORY HE GENOA CONFERENCE, opening April 10 and closing May 19, is now revealed as little more or less than a Russian victory. Rather flippantly conceived as an attempt to unite the divergent European interests, it has tragically achieved the opposite. The conference was opposed by France and by an influential portion of the English press. There was no co-operation of equal States. Statesmanship did not rise above political intrigue. All reference to interallied debts, reparations, and disarmament were officially excluded from the deliberations, although they had to be the main subjects of practically every unofficial conversation. When the allied experts presented their claims against Russia, Russia presented counter-claims showing a balance due to Russia of some ten billions of dollars. And then there appeared the Treaty of Rappalo between Germany and Russia, by the terms of which Germany gave de jure recognition to the so-called Soviet Republic, both reother, and each granted to the other most-favored-nation nounced the public and private war claims against each privileges. Whereupon Lloyd-George gave voice to his "fear of a hungry Russia equipped by an angry Germany." Certain it is that the Russian revolutionary army is a constant threat against Poland, Roumania, and the other border States. In the meantime, Russia, having gained an ally in Germany, has walked away with an enormous amount of free advertising. National suspicion and despair, fear and hate, were probably never more widespread in Europe than today. The Genoa Conference seems to have increased them all. But Russia has lost nothing. The intelligence of Europe needs to be strengthened to renew its efforts toward a stabilization of the currencies, a return to a gold standard for Europe, a balance of the budgets, the devaluation of currencies where such devaluation is inevitable, the end of artificial control of exchange. The adoption of the recommendations of the financial commission, the encouragement of the conference of central banks in London, and the enlargement of that developing European zollverein typified by the International Trade Corporation, registered in Great Britain, interested to achieve a financial reconstruction, especially in eastern Europe, and such other seemingly hopeful efforts as the British Trade Facilities Act, these things are all very essential ingredients of any American hope in Europe. But the Genoa Conference-that still appears as little more than an organized publicity bureau for Soviet Russia. |