A Coup de Ma

NAVAL TREATIES

A Coup de Maitre

There was signed in the Diplomatic Room of the U. S. State Department the proces-verbaux of the deposit of the ratification of the Five Power Naval Treaty, concluded at Washington February 6, 1922, and of the Four Power Pacific Treaty concluded at Washington December 13, 1921. These proces-verbaux were signed as follows:

For the U. S. A., Charles E. Hughes, Secretary of State.

For the British Empire, H. G. Chilton, ChargE d'Affaires.

For France, AndrE de la Boulaye, ChargE d'Affaires.

For Italy, Signor Augusto Rosso, ChargE d'Affaires.

For Japan, His Excellency Masanao Hanihara, Ambassador for Japan.

The terms of the Naval Treaty signed by the five Great Powers bring to an end for another 13 years the competitive building of capital ships.

The Pacific Treaty is more important. Its ratification brings to a close the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of 1911 and can be regarded as a coup de maitre of U. S. diplomacy. Its greatest significance is that in the possibility of an American-Japanese war the hands of Great Britain are left untied.