Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-26
WAR FOR DEMOCRACY
ENDS SECRET DIPLOMACY
Submission Of the Peace Treaty 10 the
British Parliament Puts Control Of
Foreign Affairs in the Hands
Of the People

| waged. the customs OF governments HuSC
be changed.
They have already been changed in
England so radically that Gladstone
would he shocked at the recognition
which Lloyd George has given to the
rights of democracy IN the control OF
foreign relations.
1t has not been customary to submit
peace treaties to Parliament for ratltca-
| ton. The British Government made the
peace treaty with the American colonies
| in 1888. under which their independence
was recognized, and Parliament was not
consulted. The government has made
war and declared peace and the only con-
| troll which Parliament has been able to
| exercise has been through its power to
grant or withhold supplies. But when
once war was begun no Parliament has
dared to withhold the necessary appropri-
ations for carrying it on.
The government has made alliances
with other powers on its own initiative
and it has not sought the support of
| Parliament, and it has made secret
treaties known only to the ministry and
has disclosed them only when the Par
lament was called upon to act under
them. Parliament had nothing to do
with the Japanese alliance of 1905. 1t
Y knew nothing about the agreements made
with Italy for the disposal Of the Aus
trian possessions on the Adriatic during
the recent war and it was not informed
Of the understanding with Japan about
| Shantung.
But when the treaty of peace was
made Lloyd George decided to submit
it to Parliament for ratification, and it
has been ratified by both houses. The
right Of the representatives of the people
to be consulted in the management of
the foreign affairs of the empire has now
been recognized and a precedent has
been set which will compel succeeding
prime ministers to take Parliament into
their confidence.
1t is not likely that Parliament will
submit in the future to be ignored. 1t
will demand that it be informed when
treaties and alliances are formed. 1t
will object to secrecy. 1t will demand
that as the spokesman of the ctizenry
of Great Britain, on whom the burden of
the war must fall, it be consulted in all
dealings with foreign powers in order
that it may decide for itself whether to
lay itself liable to be called to arms in
defense of international agreements
This is a triumph for democracy
which was not forcseen when the war
began, but it is the legitimate and logical
outcome of such a war as that which has
been fought.
Unless all signs fail the control of
foreign relations in France also will be
taken from the president and the minister
of foreign affairs and placed in the hands
of Parliament. The making of war and
peace are already committed to Parla-
ment by the French constitution. But it
was not until the present republic was
established that Parliament had this
power.
AS President Poincare says in a book
on the French Government, published the
year before he became president, "the
constitution intends that after so MANY
cruel trials France shall henceforth be
mistress of her own fate" But NJ. Poin-
care in 1912 was still arguing for the
right of the president to make secret
treaties of peace and of commerce must
be ratified by Parlamcnt-Clemence
has already submitted the treaty to the
Chamber Of Deputies-but NJ Poincare
insisted, seven years ago that the presi-
dent should continue to be the sole power
to make military conventions and ALI
ances. He said that the understanding
between France and Russia could not
have been reached if its terms were to
have been made public
AS president he made secret treaties
with Russia after the recent war began
and he came to an understanding with
Italy along with Great Britain, and with
Japan also. These secret understandings
complicated the negotiation of the peace
treaty, for both Japan and Italy insisted
that they be enforced.
The British Parliament ratified the
peace treaty with little delay because
leaders of all parties had shared in its
drafting and because the war had been
prosecuted, not by Liberal or by a Tory
government but by a government com
posed of the leaders of all parties. All
Parliament had to do was to ratify that
which its leaders, acting as its agents,
had done. The government has been at
pains to make it clear that it was not
the representative of any party but the
agent of the whole nation, and it has
been SO successful in creating this i'm
preston that men are wondering to what
party Lloyd George now belongs.
His submission of the treaty to the
popular branch of the government indi-
Gates that he is committed to the pro-
gressive characterization of British in
stitutions and 20 the complete breaking
down of the class system, which, in its