The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-11-26


mons on Thursday, Mr.. Eden said
that he was ''unable to see any
final solution that will make the
world safe from atomic power
other than that we all abate our
present ideas of sovereignty" All
will agree that any plan to outlaw,
regulate, CONTROL. inspect, must in
volve some modification of the
idea that within it's territory each
national state is the supreme au.
thority. The question is how this
abatement of sovereignty should
be worked out.
Students of government, and par
ticularly of our own constitutional
history, will recognize that this is
a question about which a great
deal is already known. We must
use what we know if we are to FIND
out what we need to know. The
scientists who developed the atom
ic bomb did not start from
scratch: they drew upon the vast
store Of scientific knowledge &C
cumulated over generations. In de-
veloping the political control O.
the atomic bomb, we too can &c
forward into the unknown only BY
starting from what is known.
There are now two main school:
of thought as to how to modify ma
tional sovereignty in order tt
control atomic energy. The one
to which Mr.. Eden belongs, holds
that the national states should TT
nounce their veto under the Sar
Francisco charter, agreeing to BIZ
bound by the decisions and judg
ments of a majority Of other ma.
tional states. The other school
which seems to me the wiser, is
seeking ways to make the rule
regulating the production and use
of atomic energy binding upon in.
dividuals.
I believe-it can be demonstrated
that this is the true principle by
which sovereignty can be, as Mr..
Eden puts it, abated.
A writer who conducts column
in a New York newspaper seems to
be under the impression that while
this second line, which 1 argued
for in a recent article, sounds per-
suasive," it is really half-baked
notion which would not stand ex-
animation by authorities on in
ternational law" The matter is
much too important to be brushed
off in this fashion, and SO am
venturing to remind him and the
authorities on International law
whom he has consulted Of certain
political truths which they ought
to remember but appear to have
forgotten.
These truths are. stated most
clearly in the "Federaist'' paper,
No. 49, which is attributed to Alex
ander Hamilton, though there can
be no doubt that Madison and Jay,
and indeed all the founding fathers
held the same view. Nothing that
has been said in our contemporary
discussion of the atomic bomb, of
the San Francisco charter, and Of
the Truman-Attlee-King proposals,
poses the real issue so clearly.
It is this: IF we still adhere to
the design :. =. of a superintend-
ing power, under the direction of
a common council, we must. re-
solve to incorporate into our plan
those ingredients which may be
considered as forming the charac-
teristic difference between league
and l government; we must ex-
tend the authority of the union to
the persons of the citizens-the
only proper objects of govern
ment." Without a firm grasp Of
this proposition, without a clear
understanding Of the difference
between league and govern
:nent,r the discussion of national
sovereignty and atomic energy, is
bound to be confused and abortive.
Mr.. Eden's own proposal is an
illustration. He is trying to make
a league Of sovereign states be-
have as if it were world govern
ment.. All history proves that this
is impossible. Mr.. Eden's plan is
to give a majority of states the
right to coerce minority of states.
On this proposal George Mason. of
Virginia, had this to say in the
Philadelphia convention a hun
dred and fifty years ago: punish
ment could not in the nature II
things be executed on the states
collectively, and therefore that
such a government was necessary
as could directly operate on in
dlvlduals, and would punish those
only whose. guilt required it,"
j James Madison, speaking on the
same question. said that 1.-The use
OF force against a state would look
. moro like