A BRITISH PEACE' LEAD
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] Sin,—Sir E. Grigg and Viscount Cecil have made it clear that little progress, either towards disarmament or towards durable peace,' is possible unless the problem of security, a political problem, is solved. The danger of war will continue, and no country will be prepared to reduce its armaments. unless it can rely upon others for help in the event of attack by another country. On paper such help is provided by the Covenant, but recent events have shown that nations cannot rely upon it, nor will they be able to rely upon it until the benefits of a generally secured peace and the conditions upon which it can be ensured are more generally recognized and accepted. This requires time, and, while we wait, dangerously, for this general recognition, can we do nothing to build up security, at any rate for Europe ?
The Covenant principle of pooled security has been incarnated in the Treaty of Locarno, but this Treaty regards only a few countries and its scope is too narrow to affect the problem of the general peace.
The Covenant obligations are too wide to be reliable ; Locarno is too narrow to be effective on the required scale. Can we devise a plan that is neither too wide nor too narrow ? We have Locarno ; the Balkan countries are building up a system of mutual respect ; and Russia has concluded treaties of non-aggression with her neighbours. Could we not combine these systems into one instrument for the preservation of peace in Europe ? Such an instrument would lay upon each European State the duty of immediate succour to a victim of aggression in Europe : the definition of aggression is no longer a difficulty ; the intractability of Japan and the monasticism of the United States would be irrelevant ; and Great Britain would be called upon, not to add to its present obligations, but only to make them more precise.
If such a proposal were adopted, peace would be secure in Europe and substantial disarmament would be possible ; in particular the French would be able to realize the reductions of armaments which they evidently desire and the Franco- German situation would be eased forthwith. The principle involved was laid down in the Covenant ; the first regional application was made at Locarno ; let this European pact of guarantee be the second, and the example will be irresistible.
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