New-York tribune., 1921-12-06
Hughes Speech
Surprised Me,
Asserts Balforlr.
British Delegate, Guest Of
English Speaking Union
Here, Says He Had No Ad-
vance Hint of Proposal
John w. Davis Presides
Lloyd George Sends Cable
gram; Guest Predicts
Success of Conference

Britain's delegation to the Washington
conference, gave official confirmation
last night of the optimistic reports
from the capital Of an agreement on
the Hughes proposal for reduction of
naval armament. 1t was the first pub
lie utterancc Of the British statesman
outside the conference. The occasion
was dinner given by the English
Speaking Union at the Waldorf Astoria
in honor of the British delegates. Mr..
words:
"What think, what feel is neces-
sity about recent events is this, that
those who had tlf9 guidance of the
destinies of the United States, who
summoned this conference, who ar
ranged its program, who have guided
Its proceedings; that they have shown
imagination, insight, the need for sac
rifce, the gains which sacrifice SO often
brings, and that they have with mas
terly and statesmanlike courage ap-
lproached the question of the diminVtion
of naval armaments in the only manner
IN which we can approach it with a
certainty of success, and as | believe
success, the certainty of success, is
within their grasp
Applause Interrupts Speech
Mr.. Balfour was not given an op-
portuni.y to complete his sentence.
His audience seized upon the word
success and broke in on his speech
with a storm of applause. When he
resumed it was to give an intimate
| picture of phase of the conference
that belongs to history, and which but
! for his statement last night might
! have became part of the great mass
of inaccurate history. The head of the
British delegation denied having had
advance information Of the scheme
the world three weeks ago at the
opening of the conference. For days
Washington has buzzed with gossip
that the British and the United States
delegates had agreed in advance on the
Hughes proposal for reduction accord
ing to the five-fiye-three ratio. This
was based on a pre-conference inter-
view between Hughes and Balfour.
II shall never, speaking for myself"
| said Mr.. Balfour, forget the first day
Of the conference. | remember, I
talked over the proceedings of that
day with the Secretary OF State on the
RACSSoAi6 SvSAAAASj <AiIA VO Ni''NASSSN
he explained to me the general course
that was to be pursued and the Presi
dents address; the motion which he
asked me to make of inviting himself
into the chair. And then he said:
After that I propose to speak for
thirty or thirty-fve minutes, but
shall not tell you what l propose to
say
Proposal Not Anticipated
What he proposed to say is one Of
the most remarkable utterances which
has ever been made by any statesman
under any circumstances. 1t struck
home, and it struck directly. 1t was,
so far as am aware, unanticipated, cx-
cept to the three other members Of the
American delegation. SO far as l know
he had told nobody the line he was 60
ing to take. He must have consulted
before with his advisers, but l am con-
fdent that nobody outside of that
room knew in the least of the line he
was going to take, nor did the earlier
part of his speech obviously lead up to
the great climax.
appropriateness of the preface was OBJ
vious, but while the preface was being
spoken he gave no hint of the climax.
don't know whether Mr.. Hughes was
conscious that he was at that moment
not merely great statesman but a
great artist, but to speak perfectly im-
partially, | say that he was both.
"The branch of the English-speaking
peoples for whom | more particularly
speak tonight can claim no share of
the glory of this move; but we can do
our best to cooperate with it, and we
can feel and do feel-at least ! speak
Gov of+ ,,tf 10
up what the world owes TO the English
speaking peoples, we should get some
reflective credit from the fact that we
belong ourselves to that great body.
New Achievement Forecast
~ hope and believe that the CO.
operation, that the international CO.
operation toward which all these pow
ers are honestly working with the
United States for a common end is 60
ing to be prelude to-other great in
ternational actions directed with equal
genius and equal unselfshness
"And that always whether the
initiative come from the Western side
of the Atlantic or from the Eastern
side, two branches, two great branches
of the race to which we all belong, will
always be found on the same side and
will show how great is the game of in
ternational cooperation, for, ladies
and gentlemen, it is to that sort Of
cooperation am not, of course, talk
ing of treaties or former agreements.
am talking of cooperation, moral,
spiritual, practical cooper eration---on
that the future Of the world depends.
And if there are two nations, in
their character, in their origin, in their
common body of tradition, which con-
sciously or unconscicusly every one
of us shares--if there are two nations
who surely ought to understand each
other-they are those of the British
There were but two flags displayed
in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf
Astoria last night. the flags of the two
great English-speaking peoples. If the