Evening star., 1921-07-17
DECLARES FRANCE EVER
READY TO LIMIT ARlNzNC
Tqrdieu Discloses Peace Conference Discus
sions, Shouting His Nation Was Pre-
4. pared for Drastic Measures.

compelling compliance on thes
other. France in these two arti-
cles proved the absolute sincerity
of her, intentions.
Proposals Defeated.
The allies would not follow her.
think it interesting 20 disclose
the hitherto unpublished minutes
of the commission, showing Presi-
dent Wilson's and Lord Robert
Cecirs objections. l shall quote
teXually.
At the meeting Of February II,
1913: -.
President Wi!son-No nation
will consent to an outside investi-
cation Of its farmaments. We
Americans cannot consent on ac-
count~of our Constitution. AS tor
constructing uniued military
machine III time of peace 1T is
unthinkabie. II We now organ
lied an internationa. fore. it
would seem ..ial ne were suus,l-
tutIng inteln.,ional i..iII.a..,in
accept .oiI.C-.-s IN cv-trdu.ctIUn
o. our IOnS.It.L.oA.
Lo.o ..o.Jerl ASG..-There would
be strong ooJec.io.. III england to
an ou.s!ue. checking up on the
.numoer OI Bstisi soldiers under
arms. / do not tnInk this formula
is Adaptable.
Meeting OF February 13:
Lord Robert Cecil-I ask our
French colleagues not to insist.
The drafting committee tried to
get as close as possible to their
point of view, but under the pres
ent system 1t seems to me impos-
sible to adopt In entirety their idea
of a verification of armaments. l
assure you our parliament never
would vote the laws necessary to
render such a verifcation effective.
Similarly. no country would accept
an international general stan hav-
ing the right to meddle with its
naval and military plans.
Meeting of March 21:
Lord Robert Cecilia majority
of our public thinks this project
already too radical and too
menae4hg to the sovereignty of
the state. Let US not go farther.
Meeting of March "a:
President wilson, fear the Wis
its of such commission as that
provided for in the French amend
ment to examine whether nations
were keeping their engagements
or not would be unfavorably
looked upon in many countries.
Such a procedure is not comparable
to a similar process within one
state. If we were considering
union of states. with common
legislature, we might consider such
a mechanism, but our constant
thought has been to get away
from the concept of superstate.
and in these conditions 1t seems
difficult TO make certain verifica-
tions in the interior of associated
nations. ...
Bourgeois finally was beaten IL
to 3. No verincations were pro-
vided,' no sanctions enyisaged.
nothing practical accomplished for
the limitation of armaments.
At moment when President
Harding is proposing a question
before which President Wilson re-
treated through fear of Senate op-
position. Frances readiness re-
mains invariable. France cannot
forget, in the face of Germany's
failure to fulfill her obligations,
that she is the most menaced coun-
try in Europe. But she is always
ready to agree to the reduction OF
military burdens provided such an
agreement will afford real and not
hypothetical security. Such was
the meaning of the 1919 proposals
which I have deemed essential to
recall to the American public to-
day.
Copyright. 1921. by The Washington star)