The theocrat. [volume] (Zion City [i.e. Zion], Ill.) 1914-1949, 1919-03-29

our own affairs without the advice Or con-
sent Of the other nations the right even to
withdraw from the league without serious
complications
as nation.
President Wilson admits that the Amer
ican draft of the league was rejected by the
peace conference delegates and the British
draft accepted The shrewd cunning of
the British statesmen is apparent. By the
terms of the league we should be in honor
bound to maintain the integrity and SOW
ereignty of the British Empire everywhere.
We might be called upon at any time, to
police Europe, Asia and Africa. We should
have to leave our destirlies to a European
executive council in which we should al
ways be in a minority of one to eight. 1t
is, in fact, not our advice and counsel, says
the writer, that the other nations want -
it is our resources, Our wealth, Our man
power
In the British drawn covenant, presented
at Paris, and which President Wilson is de-
termined to force upon this country, the
principle of freedom of the seas was refused
by Great Britain because her navy must
never be restricted in war Great Britain
gives notice that her navy must always be
| twice as powerful as any other, and no
league of nations is to be allowed to change
that.
These far-seeing British statesmen have
devised peace covenant, says the writer,
which guarantees to Great Britain these
supreme advantages:
! FIRST-The sovereig gnty and integrity Of
Great Britain's far-hung pre-war possessions
an empire of thirteen million square miles
SECOND ADDITION to that vast
empire equal to nearly one-quarter of its
pre-war territory-three million MORE
square miles,
TFIIRD-British control of the seas
FOURTH-Preservati of the British
constitution by avoidance of any agreement
or Interpretation inconsistent with it.
FIFTH-British traditions everywhere
| preserved under the covenant in all their
glory and power.
| The writer remarks that other nations in
| the league are not only to assent to but must
support British predominance even in the
league of nations, where, in the body of
delegates, the 65,OOO,0OQ white people in
England and her colonies are to be repre-
sented by five votes, and the United States,
with about 100000 of people, by one
vote = an Englishnan being equal to eight
Americans under this plan.
While the constitution Of the league was
framed by English statesmen, and while the
British have five times the voice of the
United States, or any other such nation in
the league, it is obvious that she never in
tended to entrust her own safety or her
own international policies to that league, be-
cause the league might fail her - but her
navy, never.
England refuses to depend on anybody
else for her own protection At the same
time, she often goes into partnership with
others for her own safety as when she
united with France to defeat Germany but
never, even in these partnerships, does she
subordinate herself or her interests to
others, but, in the league covenant, as
drawn, her interests are paramount. She
has to be the senior partner, with posses
sions scattered all over the face of the earth,
and we, are to be the Junior working part
ner, with the greatest resources of money
and men. England thus gains much. She
gives up nothing = neither her right, her
sovereignty nor any of her traditional pol
icies.
We gain nothing. We give up much.
The writer concludes:
"Mr Wilson truly said we did not enter
the war to get anything; but surely, after
being the determining factor in winning the
war, we ought to be able to get out of the
war without surrendering, for all time, the
most precious of our possessions as an in
dependent nation"