Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-02
WORLD OPINION WILL NOT
TOLERATE SECRET PACTS
Perpetuation Of the Allies Covert Treaties
of 1915 Would Render League of Nations

WHILE the war endured, vital reasons
W of policy justified the taboo on the
topic of the secret treaties signed by the
Allies in the pact of London in 1915
Portals injunction, "to do a great right
do little wrong" was a policy fire.
quently applied and in variety of ways
by all the co-belligerents under pressure
of a common peril. Americas distaste
of backstairs diplomacy was of long
| standing and yet secondary in the hour
! of crisis to her adherence of German
autocracy, the foe of civilization and
sane liberty.
Wrangling over the details of covert
deals might disastrously have muddled
a problem whose solution depended first
of all upon united devotion to an imme-
diate aim, the destruction of the Hun
menace. We Stunned the pact-of- London
theme. Our Allies, too, temporarily
brushed aside certain subjects intimately
related to their tradition and designs for
the future.
1t is at once the weakness and the
strength of the Peace Conference that it
will lift many veil of reticence. Dis
agreements, heretofore sidetracked, will
receive new emphasis. There are vir-
tually none of the national pilots uncon-
fronted by the prospect Of some choppy
seas. On the other hand, frankness,
however painful, is usually of ultimate
salutary advantage. Ostrich-like tactics
at the peace table might conceivably
bring forth a pact ostensibly radiant
with moral beauty. But such pledge
would not be worth the cost of the
parchment. Failing to take cognizance
of unsettled sources of international
irritation, it would be as futile docu-
ment as any which Germany signed at
the Hague.
Happily, there is little reason to be-
lieve that sheer mockery of that sort
will be perpetrated at Paris. The very
fact that, as the opening of the sessions
draws nigh, reports of conflicting claims
grow increasingly louder is evidence that
a good many cards, on the existence of
which it was momentarily pleasant not
to dwell, will be laid on the table. Some
it is true, may, even yet, be reluctantly
revealed, but it begins to look as though
there will be sufficient electricity in the
council chamber air eventually to clear it.
The process should be wholesome. The
chance of resultant benefits ought to
cboo
when they behold current problems
bristling. Facing facts, although un-
comfortable, may be also tonic.
Chief among the specific facts, which
it would be only folly for American pub
lie opinion to ignore, is the London
agreement framed in strict accordance
with the spirit of that ancient diplomacy
which liberals throughout the world now
hope to see forever destroyed. The full
texts of those secret treaties have never
been publicly disclosed. From author
itative hints, however, it may be deduced
that three major interests animated the
gnatories-that of unified strength |
against the German terror, that of fer
vent national patriotism and that of
selfishneSs.
The result was bargain of the con-
gress of Vienna type. Italy, France and |
Russia were presumably promised ter
ritorial expansion on he attainment of |
victory. The interest of England. to !
whom the support of their armies was |
indispensable, was to see that they got |
il.
The convention was not wholly incom-
patible with certain aspects of the war
in 1915 Today, at least from the in |
atinctive American viewpoint, there are
both technical and ethical reasons WHY |
this bargain must lapse if the Peace Con-
ference is to be true to its announced |
aims.
Legally, a great hole has been torn in
the pact by the detection of Russia.
Her Adriatic ambitions are gone, and
the whole complicated relationship of
Italy to the Dalmatian coast and hinter-
land must rightly be viewed from a new
angle. RussiaS eclipse alone renders
impossible the enforcement of
the treaties as they were originally |
framed. Only by the most specious
brand of Jurisprudence could any agree
ment so elementally fractured be con-
sidered valid,
But the ethical argument is of still |
more potent appeal. A league of ma
ions, pledged to the maintenance of |
Justice and fair dealing and proclaiming
is espousal of the doctrine of open dplo-
macy, can be naught but sham if |
permitted to be organized on a basis
involving the enforcement of "insdo
agreement"
With profoundest respect for the pit