Aug. 22.
The importance of the stand taken by Mr. Snowden at The: Hague goes very much farther than the question immediately under discussion. - So far as the Owen Young plan is concerned, it is plain that Mr, Snowden has! scored all along the line. Surprise was felt a few days ago that he had agreed to refer to a committee of experts the question of the value of the concessions offered by the other Powers. He probably foresaw what] has now occurred, namely, that the experts would be unable to agree on what that value wa Truly an offer worth having! Twelve days ago Mr. Snowden emphasized that no attempt had been made to answer his arguments or challenge his figures. Nor has it yet been made. The the great Powers was to filch something from the small ones to appease Great Britain, a proposal which Mr. Snowden.rejected with the scorn it deserved.
But what has probably been apparent all through to the diplomatists as it is now to the outside world, and the explanation of their dismayed contortions and anguished wriggling, fs that the reparations question is only an incident, What Mr. Snowden has done is to proclaim a new turn in British foreign Policy, That there shall be no mistake on this point, we see him informing the British and American journalists that "the prestige of Britain is at stok we are trying to assert the right of Great Britain to a place in international diplomacy and international affairs. In recent. years Britain's position h:
weak that it has, ce count, The ti will come when Britain must june the position in the world which she is entitled to occupy." of ti ness of Great Britain's foreign policy in recent years there is no manner of doubt, It must seem inexplicable. to most, people that the British financial experts ever gave their assent to the Owen Young plan, The reason is probably the same as that for which British chants in China have long found it a mere waste of time to go to their consuls for help lawless taxation and vip of treaties, 80 cowed and dis-pinted have our diplomatic representatives been made by the utter refusal of Government to give them any' support. Thus: we actually hear of one British firm, which has dealings in several ports, being officially advised to protest against a new illegal imposition where they see any chance of doing so eff ly, but otherwise to pay; and in another case, the consul tells, his nationals that, if they don't like to pay, they had better get] out, These and other similar' weaknesses, are part of the evil fruit of the surrender of Hankow to a Bolshevized Soviet-directed junta of madmen, whom China has since repudiated and expelled. 'That enormous folly' was equally a blunder and a crime. It appears to have been based on the belief that there! was no alternative but war or surrender. But, as any competent adviser in China could have shown, there was, a third course which would have been both dignified and effective. Great Britain could have said the Chinese: "We don't propose to hit you, although we could; nevertheless, your seizure of our} concession is monstrous and you cannot suppose we shall tolerate it, "For the moment, you are out of your minds. By-and-bye you will recover your senses, and we shall then expect the Concession, to be handed back." All the weight of the best opinion and lof the Government's highest representatives was expressed against signing the" Chen-O'Malley agreement. But the order, from the Foreign Office] came back "Sign."
The "Locarno spirit" has got into the heads of a certain class of politician-and publicist, completely warping their powers of perception, so that they see {things only through a fog - of crazed sentimentality which is actually destructive of the ends they would promote. For a case jin point, in the "Fortnightly" for July, "Augur", writing on Anglo-American relations, which he desires, very properly, to put upon a basis of permanent peace, says: "Great Britain is in the fortunate position of being able to render America a signal service" by way of proving _her entirely pacific intentions, which] in fact cannot seriously be in doubt; and "Augur" goes on to propose that Great Britain should declare the neutralization lof her possessions in the Caribbean Sea, in which "Americans see potential bases for a hostile] attack against the Panama Canal." We can hardly believe Americans to be guilty of such folly. The West Indies are over 500 mile? from the Canal, are not fortified and, if they were, could be as easily swept by the guns of a battle fleet lying comfortably out of range as our only] fortified point in these regions could be—Bermuda, which lies far away up the Atlantic, In any ease, why should America regard our possession of the West Indies as potentially hostile to herself, more than we might have similar feelings xbout her! deciding to lay down fifteen large cruisers in the next three or]
2 Furthermore, with picious of all British actions as the United States] Congress, "Augur's" suggestion, if acted on, would probably have the reverse effect of what hopes, and would set, everyone looking for "a nigger in the wood pile.'
The only way to win respect, whether for states or individuals, is to begin by having a proper respect for oneself. But that} is just what the directors of British foreign policy seem in recent years to have forgotten. It is notorious that under the last Conservative administration, the guiding principle was acquiescence in French wishes] under all conditions. In respect lof Italy, it is well known that} Signor Mussolini's one thought} fs to make her prosperous and powerful, and assuredly should be the last not to respect] him for it, But a good deal of Italy's influence rests on a basis still slightly insecure, which! time and freedom are needed to} strengthen and solidify. It is, therefore, easily understood that} Paris and Rome have realized with considerable concern that} the halcyon days of Great Britain's ductile subservience are over and that she too has rights which she means to assert and a self-respect for which she desires due acknowledgment.
To the British people the change proclaimed by Mr. Snowden is an inexpressible relief. British people have feelings quite independently of what, their newspapers may say, as they have repeatedly shown! when given the chance of expressing their thoughts in action, and the: apparent inability! of their representatives to "Bo" even to the mildest goose has been intensely galling and repugnant to them. They are the most heavily taxed people in the world and peace is of all] things to them most needful. But neither peace nor prosperity is to be won by grovelling, and Mr. Snowden's brave words are a clarion call to which the whole [British nation will respond and the "world cannot afford to] ignore,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.