4747 INTERNATIONAL CONCILIATION Published monthly by the American Association for International Conciliation. PEACE THROUGH CONFERENCES I. TEXT OF AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY MR. LLOYD II. TEXT OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE SUPREME AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INTERNATIONAL CONCILIATION PUBLICATION OFFICE: GREENWICH, CONN. It is the aim of the Association for International Conciliation to awaken interest and to seek cooperation in the movement to promote international good will. This movement depends for its ultimate success upon increased international understanding, appreciation, and sympathy. To this end, documents are printed and widely circulated, giving information as to the progress of the movement and as to matters connected therewith, in order that individual citizens, the newspaper press, and organizations of various kinds may have accurate information on these subjects readily available. The Association endeavors to avoid, as far as possible, contentious questions, and in particular questions relating to the domestic policy of any given nation. Attention is to be fixed rather upon those underlying principles of international law, international conduct, and international organization, which must be agreed upon and enforced by all nations if peaceful civilization is to continue and to be advanced. A list of publications will be found on page 30. Subscription rate: Twenty-five cents for one year, or one dollar for five years. TEXT OF AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY MR. LLOYD GEORGE AT CENTRAL HALL, WESTMINSTER, LONDON, ON JANUARY 21, 1922 (Reprinted from the New York Times, January 22, 1922) I congratulate the promoters of these meetings upon the finest gathering we have seen, representative of the Liberals who stood in the nation's need for national unity. A resolution has been moved and seconded of congratulation upon a task which if not altogether accomplished is well-nigh accomplished. Congratulations are given to myself and my colleagues on the result of our labors. The first thing I have to say is that those congratulations have been directed to the wrong address. They ought to have been sent not to those who did it, but to those who talked about it and never did it when they had the chance. It is a fact that we conducted long, difficult and delicate negotiations. It is true that we carried them to a successful issue. It is true we took serious decisions and faced grave responsibilities, some of us graver responsibilities than others, and I notably refer to my Unionist colleagues. But after all, there were others who made speeches, who said how it ought to have been done and surely the whole credit belongs to them. It is true that it could not have been done when those speeches were delivered. It is equally true it could not have been done at all in the way indicated by those speeches, and it is still more true that it would never have been done if it had been left to the authors of those speeches. However, I am very much obliged and glad to know that there are still some people who believe that those who did the work are entitled at any rate to some share of credit. On behalf of my colleagues and myself, who were present and who sat throughout all those meetings, I thank you cordially for that resolution. What matters, however, is that Irish liberty has been established within the empire. There are Irish Ministers in London today, Irish Ministers arriving with their democratic authority from the people of their own country who have taken their commission from lieutenants of his Majesty's Government and willingly on their appeal by way of peace. This is the first time for over a century that you have had an Irish Government established with the wholehearted sanction of the people of Great Britain. There are difficulties before the Irish dominion will be established. There will be difficulties after it has been established, but the good sense which the Irish people demonstrated so clearly in the recent discussions will enable them to triumph over all these difficulties and to develop a prosperous and contented Ireland which will take a high rank among the free nations that constitute the British Empire, which will be a source not of weakness but of continued and increasing strength to that empire. The thing that struck me so much when I met the leading statesmen of other lands recently in the South of France was the intense interest taken in the Irish settlement. The impression created in every country by that settlement was immense. The belief in the |