Evening star., 1921-12-29

the creation Dy FRANCE OF a. defensive
weapon involving a certain tonnage
a menace to any of her friends. II
such a thought were to weigh all too
heavily on our deliberations. IL 1
found myself obliged to defend my
country here against such suspiclon,
this would. indeed, result in eliminat-
ing the hopefulness and the enthus-
iasm with which l have so far COL
iaborated in the work of relieving the
burden of armaments, in accord with
the desire of France as clearly mani
tested by the sacrifice to which she
mas consented in the matter of cap
ital ships. But to tell the truth. l
am not likely to be discouraged in
this matter. The work Is too line and
too generously humanitarian to per-
nit our efforts and our good will to
grow weary They will rem ,in faith
full to the end to the noble projects
aimed at by this conference
No Hostile Intentions.
Mr. Balfour assured NJ. Sarrau>
that he was the last man in the WORLD
whom he (Mr. Balfour) would suspect
Of hostile intentions toward his
country, but the speech which Mr.
Sarraut had just delivered was sui
ficient to show that he had not really
understood the way in which Britain
regarded the question now undo
consideration. Mr.. Ealfour beggeu
him to consider one or two elemen
tary facts without which he woulu
not understand the position taken up
by the British empire delegation.
While 1t was almost unthinkable that
their respective countries could be on
anything but the most cordial terms.
one must not overlook the teaching
of history. Britain had had many
conflicts with France, though happily
in the distant past. Britain had al
ways been superior In naval arma-
ment. and always inferior in land
forces. Never in the history of
France had she had to fear the power
of Great Britain to strike a blow at
her heart. In the nature Of things
that must be so. No inferior military
power had ever yet been able to in
p, wade or seriously imperil superior
military power merely because she
had more ships. Suppose the almost
inconceivable happened and close al
lies became enemies it was perfectly
clear that in that case no British su-
periority Of capital ships would i'm
peril the life of France for an hour.
TO be fair. he must admit that II
might conceivably imperil some re-
mote islands belonging to France, but
France, with her land armament.
would remain secure in the face OF
superior sea power. Now compare the
position of France in the face Of
superior British surface feet with the
position of Britain in the face OF
France with the largest submarine
, fleet in the world. She could use that
fleet If she chose for commerce de-
] struction. and 1t was difficult to be-
!ieve that in time OF stress she would
not so use it. Ii Britain were un-
armed against submarines 1t was evil
! dent that France. using that felonious
weapon, could destroy her very ex-
| istence Therefore 1t was quite I'M
possible for Britain to treat the sub
marine feet with the serene and
friendly philosophy shown by NJ. Sar-
raut in connection with the British
! talked of the absolute necessity io iod
France of possessing a feet OF 9o.Ooo
| tons of submarines. For what pur-
pose? Not to cooperate with nee'
of $4,000 tons of capital ships.
! 1t was altogether out Of proportion
| What did he want the 10000 tons OF
| submarines for? According to him
it was not for commerce destruction
| it was for the protection OF France
| lines of communication. There was
no doubt that submarines were pow.
| erful for the destruction OF lines ol
communications; but they were pow.
| erless to protect them. NJ. Sarraui
would not obtain security for his lines
! of communication by those means
For those purposes they were useles:
| or nearly useless. They were power
| full weapons for one purpose. and foi
| one purpose onfy-nameiy, the des,roc'
tion of commerce; and it was not un'
reasonable for Great Britain. wher
threatened by the establishment with
In few miles of her coasts of vas
| feet of submarines which were or ne
use except to destroy commerce, tt
say candidly that she could not lool
with Indifference upon the situation
h. nH
Fails to Yield.
He regretted that he had been com
PEELED to insist upon an aspect of thu
question which he would gladly haV'
left undealt with. He did not yield tt
NJ Sarraut in his conviction that th'
good feeling existing between his OWL
country and their great ally across
the channel would remain unshakeI
! through all the changes which time
might bring.
With regard to the resolution which
had been proposed by the chairman
he desired to intimate that Lord Let
would address the committee on tina
| subject.
Lord Lee said he would pass to the
resolution which the chairman hac
proposed a few minutes before. ant
! which he hoped would be regarded by
his colleagues as on-controversial
I
Of the agreement to limit capita
ships. that there should also be &
| limitation on the size of other classes
! of ships. Otherwise it would be pos
sible to build so-called light cruiser:
which would be capital ships in dis
| guise and which would impose upor
the world fresh competition OF
armament which would be as costly
as that which had preceded 1t. He
understood there had been certain
amount of conversation between the
naval experts of the countries rep
was led to suppose that there was
an agreement that 10000 legend tons
i-or whatever kind of tons were
agreed upon-would be a reasonable
| maximum size for all ships othel
than capital ships or aircraft car
riers. He thought also that ther.
was general agreement regarding
the limitation of guns to eight inches
So far as Britain was concerned sh'
..ud no gun in excess of 7E 1ncneS
He understood France had a gun o!
| approximately similar size. namely
7.6. That seemed a reasonable figure
to fix, but II for any strong reason
| it was desired to fix eight inche
Britain would not oppose any seri
Gus objection to that size. He though,
it was essential that the Limitation o.
armament should apply also to tn
7 aircraft carrier; otherwise. whil'
prohibiting capital ships, ono nigh
have what would be in effect a CAPT
tai ship with the addition Of fyint
appliances. He did not want to dis
cuss, on this occasion. the matter o.
the Limitation of tonnage of the air
craft carrier, but he thought tn,
resolution should be amended to reas
as follows:
| mo ship Of war other than q capi
tai ship or aircraft carrier hereafte
built shall exceed a total tonnag
! displacement of 10000 tons, and n
gun shall be carried by any such shil
| other than a capital ship, with q call
Der in excess Of eight Inches"