We earnestly hope that our own Government will not dream
of approaching the American proposal in this spirit. The French reservations have clearly estranged Washington because it is felt that they reveal a tendency to make difficulties rather than a will to agree. In our judgment it is wholly unnecessary to emphasize by means of tedious phrases the obvious truth that Mr. Kellogg's proposal does not clash with the League of Nations,. The Covenant exists to keep the peace, and a declaratory Treaty which says in the broadest terms that the con- tracting nations will not resort to war as an instrument of policy cannot conceivably be undermining the Covenant or any of its obligations. That is the real point, and there is no other. Of course, the Treaties which France has made with the Little Entente. and Poland are in a different category from the Locarno Treaties, and may need more careful treatment, but even in that case it is plain that if (as America would wish) Germany and Poland and the countries of the Little Entente join in, a general Peace Pact, the Treaties which France has made for the defence of herself and her friends would in practice be superseded to the great benefit of herself and the world,
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