The Washington herald., 1921-12-18

difficulties which had threatened
Before 1904 Britain and France
had been over a long series OF years
rnbittered by quarrels precipitateC
oy the energy Of their Colonia
agents and the clash of their colo.
NAL aspirations Siam, West Africa
Morocco, but. above all. Fashods
had disturbed the peace and tn,
pheasant relations existing between
the two nations which are divided
only by the narrow Straits of Do.
yer. The press of the world had
begun to talk of yet another Anglo
French war.
Entente Formed.
Instead, in 1904 we had a general
agreement covering a whole va.
riety OF matters at issue, an en-.
tente which amounted, in fact, T.
the recognition on the part Of each
Of the countries concerned of Ger.
tain vital interests Of the other
and a further agreement on the
part of each to sacrifice material
claims and interests to the cause
Of peace and good relations.
Thus was constructed thai
Anglo-French Entente. which be.
came within a brief time one of tho
most important factors in Euro.
pean history and a decade after Il
was arranged saved Europe from
the German assault The Entente
was never an alliance. 1t was moi
IN any sense the commitment oil
Great Britain to defend France OF
Franco to defend Great Britain. II
was. in reality. the agreement be
tween France and Great Britain
that each would refrain from at.
lacking the other. and 1t was &C
companied by a settlement OF many
causes Of quarrels which had made
attacks seem possible.
Now, in the larger sense, il seems
me that the Washington agree
Ynsnt, affecting to be sure only the
J Islands of the Pacific must be re-
garded as a real and. perhaps. 4
conscious imitation of the Anglo,
kFrench Entente. not as 1t developed
between 1904 and 1914, but as il
was conceived and created in 1904
Two great nations were then drift.
ing patiently and rapidly toward
a war wrich was abhorrent alike Il
the statesmen and to the people Of
each. Something had to be done
and done quickly, il war were to bt
avoided: what was done was tn,
formation Of the famous entente.
Parallel in Pacific.
II ene look at the American
Japanese situation which has fl
recent years been developing in tn,
Pacific. il is plain that, while tn,
real quarrels have been few ana
the situation has never remoteI!
suggested the tension existing be
tween France and Britain half :
generation ago. none the less ther,
has been a constantly growing dan,
ger Of collision, seen by an ever
Increasing number OF statesmen
and publicists Moreover, If COLI
sion were to result, IL was plail
from the beginning that neither
Britain nor France. since both ha,
great interests in the Pacific. coul;
escape ENHANCEMENT.
Actually, then, the FourPart!
Treaty which has been made By
the present conference has its his
>torfcal antecedents in the Anglo
french Entente of 1904. More thar
his. il is designed to cover a sit
Iation which differed only in de
free from that which followed tn,
collision of Kitchener and Mar
chand in Fashoda. Happily, in tn'
reIations of the United States and
Japan we have had nothing sug
costing the temporary bad feeling
rbIcb existed in the case of Brit
ain and France.
Rut at bottom the facts are tn,
same The British people did not de
sire 10 tight tre French. the rrencr
had no wish to tight the British
Two civilized nations, perceivinl
that despite their almost unani
nous will for peace war was be
coming imminent, sat down at 4;
Green table and proceeded to elm
mate point by point, all the posi-
HE causes of war. or even OF hare
feelings. When this was done W,
had ten years during which Anglo
french relations were upon a sane
md {rfendlier basis than ever il
the history of the two nations
After that common danger
brought a real alliance
War Made Impossible.
Now. with the British and tn,
-French present, the Japanese anC
ourselves have sat down together
"a conference and have reached ar
rreement upon the matter Of the
{Pacifc islands which removes al
possibility of war arising from :
clash of interests in this area. w,
have also looked over the DToDlen
Of possible naval competition and
are sure to reach agreement and Il
dispose OF this further cause fol
Misunderstanding. Even in the mat.
ter Of China agreement as between
the United states and Japan seems
assured, at least to the extern
which will remove the danger thai
chinese problems can provoke al
American-Japanese conflict
since all this progress has beer
made in the relations of Japan ant
the United States, recognizing thai
britain and France are participating
IN the compact, the first American
question must naturally be: Why
rot try this conference and entenr,
method in the case of those Euro
mean differences which today pre-
vent economic and political peace
and reconstruction in the world
<Iave we not found the key to the
hole situation? And at the same
time we hear on other sides the as
sertfon that what has been created
in the Pacific is no more than a