500.A4a/a: Circular telegram

The Secretary of State to Certain Diplomatic and Consular Officers 31

Conference. At fourth Plenary Session of Conference on Limitation of Armament held today Senator Lodge made public following draft of a treaty and accompanying reservations.

[Here follows the text of the draft annexed to the memorandum of the meeting of December 9, 10 a.m., printed on page 28.]

Reservations.—The signing of this treaty is, on the part of the United States, subject to the making of a convention with Japan concerning the status of the island of Yap and what are termed the mandated islands in the Pacific Ocean north of the Equator, the negotiations in regard to which are almost concluded, and also to the reservations with respect to what are termed the mandated islands in the Pacific Ocean south of the Equator.

It should also be observed that the controversies to which the proposed treaty refers do not embrace questions which, according to principles of international law, lie exclusively within the domestic jurisdiction of the respective powers.”

In the course of his address Senator Lodge stated:

“To put it in a few words, the treaty provides that the four signatory powers will agree as between themselves to respect their [Page 31] insular possessions and dominions in the region of the Pacific, and that if any controversy should arise as to such rights all the high contracting parties shall be invited to a joint conference looking to the adjustment of such controversy. They agree to take similar action in the case of aggression by any other power upon these insular possessions or dominions. The agreement is to remain in force for 10 years, and after ratification under the constitutional methods of the high contracting parties the existing agreement between Great Britain and Japan, which was concluded at London on July 13, 1911, shall terminate. And that is all. Each signer is bound to respect the rights of the others and before taking action in any controversy to consult with them. There is no provision for the use of force to carry out any of the terms of the agreement, and no military or naval sanction lurks anywhere in the background or under cover of these plain and direct clauses.

The surest way to prevent war is to remove the causes of war. This is an attempt to remove causes of w’ar over a great area of the globe’s surface by reliance upon the good faith and honest intentions of the nations which sign the treaty, solving all differences through the processes of diplomacy and joint consideration and conciliation.”

Secure widest publicity.

Hughes
  1. To the diplomatic representatives in Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, and the Netherlands, and the Commissioner at Berlin; also to the Ambassador in Japan, with instructions for forwarding to the Minister in China, the consul general at Shanghai, and the consul general at Hongkong (file no. 500.A4a/b).