New-York tribune., 1920-02-02
Viscount Grey Champions
Senate Stand ON Treaty
British Ambassador Declares Difficulties Foreseen
by Americans May Not Arise or Be Felt Once
U. ;. Is in League; Nations Participation Vital

Times" Viscount Grey British Am
bassador to the United States, who is
now in London, discusses the Amcri-
can viewpoint in regard to the peace
treaty. which is now before the Senate,
and also gives some Of his personal
views regarding the proposed Amcri-
can reservations, The letter in full
follows:
"Sir: Nothing, it seems to me. is
more desirable in international politics
than good understanding between
the democracy of the United States. on
the one hand, and the democracies Of
Great Britain and the self governing
dominions and hope, we may add, Ire
land, on the other, Nothing would be
more disastrous than misunderstand-
ing and estrangement.
There arc some aspects of the posi-
tion in the United States with regard
/ to the league of nations which are not
wholly understood in Great Britain
In the hope that az a result of my re-
cent stay IN Washington ! may be able
TO make that position better under
stood, | venture to offer the following
observations. They represent only my
own personal opinion and nothing
more, and they are given simply as
those OF private individual.
"ln Great Britain and the Allied
countries there is naturally impatience
ana disappointment at the delay OF
the United States in ratifying the
peace treaty and the covenant of the
league OF nations. 1t is perhaps not
so generally recognized here that there
is also great lmPatience and disap-
pointment in the United States. No
where is the impasse t-used by The
deadlock between the President and
the Senate more kcenly regretted than
IN the United States, where there is a
strong and even urgent desire in the
public opinion to see g ~ out of that
lmpasse found which viii be both
honorable to the United States aud
helpful to the world. 1t would be well
to understand the real difficulties with
which the people of the United States
have been confronted. In ehc clear
light of right understanding what
seemed the disagreable features Of the
situation will assume more favorable
and Ineligible aspect
Clears Senate Of Bad Faith
'Lct US first get rid of one possible
misunderstanding. No charge of bad
faith or repudiating signatures can be
brought against the action Of the
United States Senate By The Ameri-
can Constitution it IS an independent
body, an Independent element in the
treaty making power. It's refusal to
ratlfv the treaty cannot expose either
itself or the country to a charge of bad
faith or repudiAtion
"Nor is it fair to represent the
United States as holding up the treaty
solely from motives Of party politics,
and thereby sacrificing the interests of
the other nations for this petty CON
sideration.
at is true that there are party
politics and personal animosities in the
United States. An American who saw
much of England between 1890 and
1890 said that the present conditions
Of politics in the United States re
minded hlm Of what he had observed in
London when Gladstone first advocated
Home Rule for Ireland. Party politics
and personal animosities arising out Of
them operate in every democratic
country. They are factors varying
from time to time in degree, but al
ways more or less active, and they
operate upon every public question
which is at all controversial. They are,
however, not the sole or even the prime
cause of the difficulty in the United
States about the league of nations.
Se!f-Interest Not Sole Motive
"Nor IS 1t true 10 say that the
United States is moved solely by self
interest to the disregard of higher
ideals. In the United States, as in
other countries, there arc cross-cur-
rents and backwaters in. the national
life and motives. When the nation
was reused by the war these cross
currents and backwaters were swept
into the main stream Of action and
oblterated, as they were in other
countries. With the reaction to peace
and more normal conditions they are
again apparent, as they are in other
countries. But an American might
fairly reply that whereas the selt-n
tcrcst of other countries which have
conquered in the war is now apparent
in the desire to secure specia
territorial advantages, the self-interest
of the United States takes the less
aggressive form of desiring TO keep
itself free from undesirable entanrle-
ments, and that it does not lie with
other countries to reproach the United
States.
at would be well, therefore. for
the reasons both of truth and expedi
ency, to concentrate our attention on
the real underlying causes of the Sen
ate.s lnslstence upon reservations in
ratfying the covenant Of the league Of
nations.
y. There is in the United States
real conservative feeling for the ira
dltional policy, and one Of those ira
dltons fonsecrated by the advice Of
Washington is TO abstain from foreign
and particularly from European en-
tanglements. Even for nations which
have been used to European alliances
the league of nations is felt to be
something of a new departure.
Desires Caution on League
"This is still more true Cor the
United States, which has hitherto held
aloof from all outside alliances. For
the league of nations is not merely
plunge into the unknown, but a
plunge into something of which his
torical advice and traditions have
hitherto positively disapproved 1t
does not say that it will not make this
new departure. 1t recognizes that
world conditions have changed, but il
desires time to consider, to feel its way
and to act with caution. Hence this
desire for some qualification and res
ervation.
'22. The American Constitution not
only makes possible, but under certain
conditions renders inevitable, a conflict
between Executive and legislature.
1t would be possible, as the covenant
of the league of nations stands. for a
President IN some future years to com
nit the United States through the
American representative on the coun-
Gil OF the league of nations to policy
OF which the legislature at that time
might disapprove.
The contingency is one which cannot
arise IN Crnot Rri+oin u,horn A.. ~.