therefore it is essential-indeed it is absolutely necessary-that the command of the sea should be held to enable the British Empire to exist as an Empire." Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the great commander of the greatest combination of armies the world had ever seen, was received at Ottawa on Dec. 11 with every token of official respect and popular regard. He attended the Basilica service in the morning, accepted a Reception given by the Canadian Club and Alliance Francaise, received the Hon. degree of LL.D. from Ottawa University, and visited the G. W. V. A. Club. At Montreal on Monday the Marshal was given a great reception with rounds of cheers from throngs of people as he drove in semi-state through the city or passed from one place to another. He accepted an Hon. degree from the University of Montreal and inaugurated the French Commercial Exhibition at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales; attended a reception by the French Consul and the French Colony in the Armouries, another reception by the Canadian Club in His Majesty's Theatre, and a third by the Alliance Francaise in Windsor Hall; listened to many addresses of welcome and spoke briefly at each stopping place. Then he dined with the G. O. C. and officers of Military District No. 4 at the St. James's Club, and left for Quebec by special train at 11 p.m. In his addresses the pivotal point was that while the unity of command on the Western Front was credited with having been the means to victory, that unity would have been unavailing had there not been behind it solid unity of purpose and that an equally strong feeling of unity was still necessary, in order that efforts in peace might be as fruitful in success as were the joint efforts in war. At the Canadian Club, Col. A. A. Magee presided and Sir Arthur Currie spoke as to the personality and services of their guest at some length; Marshal Foch, in reply, first declared that when action was needed "we always found reserves, a storage of energy, in certain troops, certain corps, and in the first rank of these I place the Canadian corps." To the Alliance Francaise he said: "Alliance-yes we shall have victory in peace as we had it in war, by remaining allied. I salute here that force which results from union, and which is consecrated in this country of the British and French flags, the land of the French-Canadian." Everywhere the Marshal spoke briefly and to the point, but it was response to personal welcomes and tributes; practically no reference was made to the Conference. Lack of time and, perhaps, the personal weariness of an old and greatly-worn soldier prevented acceptance of the Toronto and other invitations. More to the point as to Conference issues was the visit of General the Earl of Cavan, K.P., G.C.M.G., K.C.B., Commander of the British Forces in Italy at the critical juncture of the War, head of the British military mission at the Conference and destined a little later to be appointed to the highest military position in England. Lord Cavan was in Toronto on Dec. 19 and addressed a luncheon of the Canadian Club with J. M. Macdonnell in the chair and a joint dinner of the Empire and Young Men's Canadian Clubs with Brig.-Gen. C. H. Mitchell, C.B., C.M.G., D.S.O., presiding. At the former function he declared that "the Conference at Washington had accomplished something of vast importance regarding the Pacific area, for it "insured peace for at least ten years over one-third of the globe." At the latter the speaker referred first to the vast Imperial responsibilities of England and of the Empire's Foreign policy. Then he dealt with the Conference: "It is tremendously genuine, this business. Do you realize that three of the greatest Powers are going to give up possessions in China; France surrenders Kiao-Chao, Great Britain Wei-hei-Wei, and Japan Shantung. Two things stick right out of the Conference: First the honesty of purpose of the Powers, and, secondly, the determination to achieve. In spite of rumours, the Conference, both in committees and public meetings, has been characterized by the most astounding frankness on the part of all the nations; all the cards were put on the table." A brief visit, also, was made to Montreal. A non-official visitor and one associated with some curious incidents of the year was Henry Wickham Steed, Editor of the London Times, who addressed the Canadian Club of Montreal (Dec. 27) and of Toronto (Dec. 28) on the Conference and the Empire. On the former occasion he described Mr. Balfour as the outstanding man of the Conference and its success as "stupendous"; stated that Canada was "the fulcrum on which the great turn came in British policy"-meaning, no doubt, the attitude of the Dominion as to the Japanese Treaty. He added the statement that four months before the Washington Conference the British Government told the American Government that if they, in their scheme for the limitation of naval armaments, counted upon equality, Britain would make no difficulty. In Toronto he described the possibility of an American-Japanese war as chiefly a British issue because of Canada's geographical position; declared that Mr. Meighen at the Imperial Conference had been sensible of the danger, had advised against the renewal of the Anglo-Japanese pact and by that advice had greatly served Canada and the Empire. The American Delegation at Washington had "played the game" in every respect, even to the extent of insisting that press notices should be given out to the American papers, only through Lord Riddell, the British press agent! The Results of the Conference. Though the meeting ran on into January, 1922, its main issues were settled at the close of the year. The great central question was focussed into a Treaty and signed by the 4 great Powers on Dec. 13, 1921-the United States, the British Empire, France, and Japan. Under this agreement the four Powers mentioned, "with a view to the preservation of the general peace and the maintenance of their rights in relation to their insular possessions and insular dominions in the regions of the Pacific Ocean," decided and agreed (1) that if a dispute should arise out of any Pacific question and not be settled by diplomacy, a joint Conference should be held "to which the whole subject will be referred for consideration and adjustment"; (2) that if the rights of any of these Powers in Pacific regions should be threatened by any other Power, council would be taken "fully and frankly" as to the most efficient measures to be taken, jointly or separately, to meet the exigencies of the particular situation; (3) that the term of this Treaty should be for 10 years from date of coming into operation and continue thereafter subject to 12 months' notice by any one of the high contracting parties; (4) that upon the deposit of ratification at Washington the agreement between Great Britain and Japan, which was concluded at London on July 13, 1911, should terminate. The Treaty was signed by the American Delegates on behalf of the President of the United States of America; by the British Empire Delegates on behalf of "His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India-and for the Dominion of Canada, for the Commonwealth of Australia, for the Dominion of New Zealand, for India"; by the French Delegate on behalf of the President of the French Republic, and by the Japanese on behalf of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan. Mr. Balfour, Sir Auckland Geddes, and Lord Lee of Fareham signed for Great Britain, Sir Robert Borden for Canada, Senator Pearce for Australia, and Sir John Salmond for New Zealand. Mr. Secretary Hughes, Senators Lodge and Underwood and Mr. Root signed for the United States. In his address to the Conference announcing acceptance of the Treaty, on Dec. 10, Senator Lodge described it as removing some of the causes of war and as "a great experiment" resting upon the will and honour of those who signed it; Mr. Balfourwho was at the head of the Government which negotiated the first Japanese Treaty and arranged the Entente Cordiale between Great Britain and France-paid tribute to the Anglo-Japanese Treaty as having served "a great purpose in two great wars" and, for 20 years, "stood the strain of common sacrifices, common anxieties, common efforts, common triumphs." René Viviani accepted for France in a speech of pathos and hope. As to the new Treaty there was no promise of force in it; there was abundance of co-operative action pledged. It removed causes of friction and did not apparently create any; it was not an alliance, it was merely an understanding along lines of peace and harmony; it, however, did bring the United States into a formal recognition of common obligations entailed by common international action. The United States, however, had a Reservation which expressed non-assent to the terms of the Versailles Treaty in respect to Mandated Islands in the Pacific and retained the liberty to make arrangements with the Powers concerned as to these Islands. Other results of the Conference were as follows: 1. An agreement to limit Naval armament-the_acceptance by the United States, the British Empire and Japan of the 5-5-3 ratio, whereby 1,775,000 tons of warships would be scrapped by the United States, Britain and Japan. 2. Acceptance of general principles to be followed toward China as follows: (a) to respect its sovereignty, independence and territorial and administrative integrity; (b) to give China every opportunity to develop and maintain for herself an effective and stable government; (c) to establish and maintain equality of commercial opportunity for all nations throughout the territory of China; (d) to refrain from taking advantage of the present situation in order to seek special rights or privileges which would abridge the rights of the subjects or citizens of friendly States and from countenancing action inimicable to the security of certain States; (e) not to enter into any arrangements with each other or with other Powers which would infringe or impair the foregoing principles. 3. Assent of the Powers to the principle that the rights of China as a neutral should be fully protected in case of a war in which China did not take part. 4. Agreement of eight Powers to appoint a Commission to report on the question of extra-territoriality and the present judicial system in China with a view to preparing the way for the ultimate abolition of this principle. 5. The institution of direct negotiations between China and Japan as to the settlement of the Shantung question; the expressed willingness of Great Britain to relinquish her Naval base at Wei-hai-Wei and of France to surrender its leasehold in Kwantung; the settlement of the Yap controversy by Japan retaining political control of the Island, with American cable rights for the Yap-Guam line and assuring potential rights for a Radio station with engagements that the Island would not be fortified. 6. Recognition of Japan's mandatory rights over the former German islands north of the equator, with the specific understanding that these islands should not be used as military or naval bases, nor fortifications erected upon them. 7. Agreement as to limit on Aircraft Navy carriers to 135,000 tons for Great Britain and for the United States, 81,000 for Japan, 60,000 for France and 54,000 for Italy. 8. Approving the prohibition of use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and all analogous liquids or materials or devices. 9. Permission to China to increase its Tariff so as to raise $46,167,000 of additional revenue and pledge to withdraw Foreign troops from that country whenever the security of foreigners in China was assured. The settlement of many of these issues was affected by the powers and policy of the Committee on the Pacific and Far Eastern questions of which Sir Robert Borden was a most active member. The 5-Power Naval Treaty or Agreement as to Naval reduction, finally announced on Dec. 16, scrapped 28 United. States ships of 845,740 tons; 17 Japanese ships of 447,308 tons; 23 British ships of 605,975 tons. The total was 68 ships of 1,876,423 tons compared with 66 ships of 1,878,043 under the orig inal proposals. The maximum tonnage of capital ships was fixed, for the purpose of replacement, on the basis of American standards of calculation, as follows: United States 525,000 tons; Great Britain, 525,000 tons; Japan, 315,000 tons. The Treaty as eventually signed, included all the great Naval Powers-the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan. The British Empire signatures were those of Mr. Balfour, Lord Lee and Sir A. C. Geddes for Great Britain; Sir R. Borden for Canada; Hon. G. F. Pearce for Australia; Sir J. W. Salmond for New Zealand; Mr. Balfour for South Africa, and Srinivasa Sastri for India. LIST OF TREATIES ACCEPTED AND SIGNED BY CANADA FOLLOWING THE TREATY OF VERSAILLES AND UP TO JAN. 1st, 1921. Treaty with Denmark regarding Slesvig. July 5 1920. Sir George Perley Treaty between Principal Allied and Associated Powers and The relations of these two great countries had alThe Relations ways been important to Canada; during the world-war of Great they became absolutely vital; in the particular year under consideration all kinds of issues developed and States in 1921. culminated in the Washington Conference just de Britain and the United scribed. There was and had been for over a century one broad line of demarkation between the Republic and the Empire in memories of the Revolution; these memòries were fostered by school-books, 4th of July orations, journals of the Hearst type, extremist Irishmen, German agitators. Civil war conditions and memories also proved a source of contention. At the beginning of the World war it looked, for a couple of years, as if new and serious issues might develop. There was acrid correspondence between the Governments, there was the Hearst press, there were increasing evidences of German and Irish hostility and propaganda, there was the De Valera tour of the United States, there were the Senate Resolutions as to Ireland, there were Admiral Sims' revelations to the Senate committee (Mch. 22, 1920) as to the utterance of Admiral Benson, Chief of Naval Operations during the War: "Not to let the British pull the wool over your eyes; we would as soon fight them as the Germans." |