Evening star., 1934-02-25
Does Hitler Want Peace?
IT" and the use

between the use Of war" and the use
of force"
Such are the gaps that can be de-
tected in the treaties put in shape
during the last few yearS-treaties
that are supposed to have materially
contributed to the maintenance Of in
ternational peace. How could the new
pacts of non-aggreSsion offered by the
German government fill these gaps?
The pacts of non-aggression to be
signed as part of the eventual treaty
of disarmament ought not to be sub
stituted for the treaties Of Locarno
as they exist today, but should be re-
garded as additions to them. On this
point it must be said that more than
a hint has been given in the German
press that the real purpose Of the new
suggestion was to pave the way to the
suppression of Articles AZ and 43 Of
the treaty of Versailles-that is, OF
the demilitarized zone Of the Rhine
land. No French government would
ever buy a pact Of non-aggression at
the price Of the demilitarized zone.
Not only should resort to warfare
be forbidden, but the use of forces In
any way ought to be considered an
infringement upon the pacts of non
aggression, and the restrictions ought
to be extended in such manner as to
make 1t unlawful for the Berlin gov
ernment to subsidize or promote the
so-called Hitlerian popular movements
in territories outside German sover-
L: H., }ria I@
Danzig-not to speak, OF course, OF
more remote countries like Rumania.
The treaties signed last July by Soviet
Russia with most of her bordering
states contain a clause to that effect.
Those pacts of non-aggression ought
not to be concluded with France
alone, but with Germany's eastern
neighbors as well. So far, as indi-
Gated before, these states have not
aggression valid in legal sense.
Moreover, the pactS' effectiveness
should not be limited to 10 years, as
such time limit might be interpreted
as an admission that, at the end OF
that short period, war would become
the natural right of every signatory.
Such are the conditions which Ger
many should meet, in the view Of the
French government, to give some
value to the pacts Of non-aggression.
Otherwise such treaties would only
weaken the diplomatic treaties already
in existence, instead of strengthening
them. The British government is re-
ported to be OF opinion that, even II
drafted in vague and loose terms, the
new pacts of non-aggression ought
not to be rejected or undervalued.
For, the British feel, they would COM
NIT Chancellor Hitler personally to a
peaceful policy, whereas the Locarno
conventions, the Briand-Kellogg pact,
ETC., having been signed by his pred
ecessor, Stresemann. do not arouse
any sense of responsibility in him.
In Paris such a theory as this Is
condemned as destructive OF interna-
tional law. Were it to be admitted
directly or indirectly that in a given
country the government of the day is
not bound by the promise of the gov
ernment which existed before it, in
ternational relations would regress
toward mere savagery and there would
be an attractive premium upon all
forms of diplomatic bullying.
But were the German government
to comply with the above requests,
would the French ministry go further
than it already has gone toward the
solution of the Franco German mill
tary problem? The answer is no
Only the introduction of executive
clauses in the non-aggression pactS
would modify the terms of the Paris
cabinet as defined in the memoran-
dunn delivered in Berlin on January j.
BY executive clauses mean some ar
rangement whereby there would be q
reasonable certainty that in case Ger
many should break those pacts, inter-
national sanctions would be arranged.
1t can be seen at once that on that
ground all the old Geneva controver-
sizes would be revived about the desig-
nation of the aggressor, and SO on.
On the whole, my conviction re-
mains that there is no way for France
to arrive at a fundamental agreement
with Germany except by leaving the
German Reich practically free hand
in Central and Eastern Europe. And
this would be a boomerang that in q
few years time would prove danger
GUS to her, for, besides q Hitlerian
empire numbering some millions OF
inhabitants, she possibly would find
herself without an ally or friend.