Welsh Journals

ON this page a month or two ago reference was made to the Churches in Wales and Armistice Sunday­November 8, 1931. It was suggested that on that Sunday all the congregations might care to take the oppor- tunity of expressing as a corporate act their sense of the critical nature of the World Disarmament Conference and of their eagerness for its success. A form of Affirmation and Reso- lution has been drafted by the Welsu League of Nations Union which ministers taking services or Armistice Day may like to adopt. In Eng- lish it is worded as follows (To be read by the minister, the congregation remaining sitting). We, the congregation of believe that in the world of to-day war as a method of set- tling international disputes is incompatible with the teaching and example of our Lord Jesus Christ; We recall that the members of the League of Nations recognise that the maintenance of peace requires the reduction of national armaments We also remember, with gratitude, that sixty nations have renounced war as an instrument of national policy, and have undertaken never to seek the settlement of their disputes except by pacific means; We therefore for our part confidently expect the forthcoming general Disarmament Confer- ence to result in a drastic reduction of the armies, navies and air forces of the world. (At this point the congregation rises). We, the congregation of call upon all the Governments and their delegates courage- ously to labour together with the firm resolve that the Conference shall succeed. And we pledge ourselves to pray that the blessing of Al- mighty God may rest upon the Conference so that justice and peace shall be secured to all the peoples of the world. Many readers of the Welsh Outlook will be glad of the Affirmation and Resolution for Arm- istice in its Welsh form, which reads thus (I'w ddarllen gan y Gweinidog, a'r gynulleidfa yn eistedd). Yr ydym ni, cynulleidfa, yn credu fod rhyfel fel cyfrwng i benderfynnu cwerylon cydwladol yn gwbl anghyson a dysgeidiaeth ac esiampl ein Harglwydd Iesu Grist. Galwn i gof fod Aelodau Cynghrair y Cenhed- loedd wedi cydnabod fod cadw heddwch y byd yn dibynnu ar leihau arfau rhyfel y gwledydd. Atgofiwn hefyd, gyda diolchgarwch, fod 60 o wledydd wedi ymwadu a rhyfel fel cyfrwng i sicr- hau eu hamcanion cenedlaethol, ac wedi ymgyf- WALES AND THE WORLD by Rev. Gwilym Davies, M.A. amodi i benderfynnu eu holl gwerylon cydwladol ar lwybrau heddwch yn unig. Yr ydym, gan hynny, yn disgwyl gyda phob hyder a gobaith, y bydd i gynhadledd gyffredinol Diarfogiad a gynhelir Chwefror nesaf arwain i leihad dirfawr ym myddinoedd, llynghesau a galluoedd awyrol yr holl fyd. (Y Gynulleidfa yn sefyll). Yr ydym ni, cynulleidfa, yn galw ar bob llywodraeth a'i chynrychiolwyr i ymegnio yn wrol ac hyd eithaf eu gallu fel y bo'r gynhad- ledd yn llwyddiant hollol. Ac ymgyfamodwn ninnau i fod yn daer mewn gweddi ar i Fendith gyfoethog Duw orffwys ar y gynhadledd fel y delo cyfiawnder a heddwch yn feddiant i holl bobloedd v bvd. Looming in the dIstance-getting nearer and nearer-is the greatest chance for progress or the biggest risk for disaster involved in any conference since Versailles. Perhaps no one has tianslated into plainer language the alternatives than Dr. Seigmund Schultse, the German pastor now on a visit to Great Britain. "Under the Treaty of Versailles," said Dr. Schultse, "the Germans were made to disarm in order to accel- erate the general disarmament of Europe. The Central Powers had complied very fully with that arrangement: the other side had not. Unless the next Disarmament Conference achieved a far greater measure of disarmament, Europe was sentenced to death." The Welsh League oi Nations Union is to leave nothing undone to bring home to the people of Wales the serious- ness of the issue of the Conference. It is pro- ducing a "Quarterly Message"-the first num- ber devoted entirely to a brief survey, on a plan hitherto unadopted in English, of the whole field of disarmament endeavour since 1920. Here, at any rate, is an attempt at a lucid summary, for the average individual, of the main facts in what seems a maze, an intricate maze, of dis- armament Commissions and Committees, of Conventions and Resolutions during the last ten years. In these days the international sky is cultivat- ing a habit of rapid changes. So far, in 1931, there has been, in international affairs, a month- ly metamorphosis, the transformation taking place towards the end of the month. January brought the sweeping away of the dark clouds which hung over Germany and Poland. In February came the rapprochement, for the time being, of Italy and France to the accompaniment of a tumult of cheers in Rome and in Paris. Be- fore the end of March we were under the grey