Extensions of Remarks

29246 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS October 25, 1983 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS THE WORK OF PEACE As we struggle in the days ahead to negotiators were widely criticized and disap clarify our purposes and our policies in proved of at home. Benjamin Franklin said HON. CHARLES McC. MATHIAS, JR. Lebanon, for we surely must, I com of his efforts on the Treaty, "The blessing mend this speech to my colleagues, to promised to peace makers, I fancy, relates OF MARYLAND to the next world, for in this they seem to IN THE U.S. SENATE President Reagan, and to others in the have a greater chance of being cursed." administration concerned with keep Tuesday, October 25, 1983 Both sides, but especially the English, had ing the peace and to the people of the the perennial problem of hawks. In England e Mr. MATHIAS. Mr. President, one United States who will play a critical there was a strong war party, and the Gov of the wittiest Members of this body, role in sustaining whatever consensus ernment had a tenuous majority in the Par on being opportuned by another col we are able to construct. It is a bril liament. The Earl of Shelburne, the Prime league to read one of his speeches, re liant speech and, at the same time, Minister, was driven from office as a result plied: "I only read my own speeches overflows with practical advice in the of the Treaty, and David Hartley, the nego tiator, retired from public life forever. Then and I only read them once." mechanics of the peace process. as now, the options of Governments were That humorous, offhand remark ex The text of the speech follows: extremely narrow-much narrower than presses how most politicians feel about THE WORK OF PEACE I most people are willing to realize-because reading speeches-their own and <Address to the Bicentennial of the Treaty of the political constraints of their domestic others. But every now and then, ad of Paris at the National Portrait Gallery politics. mittedly very rarely, someone makes a of the Smithsonian Institution, Washing For this reason the negotiators needed speech that should not only be read ton, D.C., September 28, 1983) courage, a sense of objective and dedication, but reread, until the message is ab For someone engaged, in a modest way, in and they sometimes disregarded their in sorbed and retained. Such a speech the work of peace, it is not only an honour structions. That was much easier 200 years was given by Brian Urquhart, Under to speak on this occasion. It is also a moving ago than now, when perfect communica experience. tions are not always a blessing. A blind eye, Secretary General of the United Na which Nelson used at the battle of Copenha tions for Special Political Affairs, at The Treaty of Paris has proved of im mense and enduring benefit not only to the gen, was a privilege of bygone days. Like the observance of the Bicentennial of United States and Great Britain but also to most of the issues we deal with today, the the Treaty of Paris at the National the cause of order and civility in the world. negotiations between the United States and Portrait Gallery on September 28. Its history, its negotiation and its results are Great Britain were mixed up in other great Mr. Urquhart talked about "the and complex issues, some of which are with in many ways a microcosm of some of the us still-for example, the question of Gibral It perennial aspects of the work of peace. It is Work of Peace." is a subject he tar. Dr. Challinor has described this situa knows much about not only because of also a model of the importance of attitude tion well as follows: his long association with the United and character in this most difficult of all "Seven years after our revolution began, Nations but because his concern for political enterprises. The "returning friend ship" which John Adams referred to in rela four European nations had been drawn into the cause of peace is informed by com tion to the Treaty and the "reunion of all the struggle, and the war encompassed not prehensive knowledge of world history our ancient affections and common inter only North America, but parts of Africa, and of the human motivations that ests" by which David Hartley, the British India, the Caribbean and the Mediterrane can either destroy or create peace. an. Many of the naval and military forces of negotiator, characterized it, represent both the European powers were engaged in the Today, when the Senate and the the spirit in which it was negotiated and the fight, each pursuing her own national inter Nation are assailed with questions results it achieved. ests." about our position in Lebanon after Of course, the United States and England Things certainly don't change very much. the terrorist attack that decimated had traditions in common, but those golden phrases could also, if the spirit were there, But Benjamin Franklin and David Hartley our Marine contingent in Beirut, Mr. apply to some of our contemporary con were courageous, far-sighted and inspired by Urquhart's address speaks to our flicts-Cyprus, for example, where the the concept formulated by Franklin that hearts. And nowhere more than when Turkish and Greek Cypriots have lived to •'There never was a good war or a bad he writes: peace". Their triumph was an enduring one. gether for centuries. Or even the Middle They proved that making peace, far from It is important to remember that the work East-after all, the kingdoms of the Philis being a sign of weakness, is an investment in of peace can be physically dangerous. There tines, who are now the Palestinians, and of future strength and prosperity. are always extremists in the world, and Israel lived side by side in the ancient world Two hundred years later the stakes are sometimes they are prepared to resort to and were closely related by blood, custom higher and the issues even more complex. murder to impede the work of peace. I think and association. If only the precepts of the And what, after all, is peace? Peace is a rela of Count Bernadotte, our Mediator in the Treaty of Paris could be applied to some of tive, not an absolute, state. Dag Hammar Middle East; of King Abdullah, the most our conflicts now. skjOld, who gave more thought than most far-sighted of the post-war Arab statesmen, The Treaty of Paris is a classic example of people to the work of peace, once said that who was assassinated for his stand for peace how nothing is forgotten like success. Just the United Nations was not created to bring in the Middle East. I think of Ghandi, who because it was immensely successful in prac humanity to heaven but to save it from hell. was murdered because he preached the co tice, few people nowadays have heard of it. This is a perceptive comment on the nature existence of Hindu and Moslem. I think of When I left New York for Washington this of peace and its practical dimensions. the moderates in the Palestine Liberation afternoon, a French colleague, a man of Nowadays the basic issue is, quite literally, Organization and of President Sadat. The great learning who prides himself on his survival, without which none of our other work of peace can be violent. world view, asked me how I could leave for Washington instead of talking to President forms of progress will be very much good Mr. Urquhart prophetically points Mubarak of Egypt. When I explained that I because there will be nobody around to out that in Lebanon "the multination was going to celebrate the Bicentennial of enjoy them. For this reason we need, more al force can become very controversial. the Treaty of Paris, he asked me rather than ever, the will to peace and the degree It can become part of the problem sharply what on earth that was. of communication necessary to ensure it. Another characteristic of the Treaty is This is where organizations like the United rather than the referee of the prob Nations come in, or ought to. It is important lem, and it can come to be viewed as that, at the time, the achievements of its that we should not be distracted from this one-sided and partisan." Certainly basic requirement by red herrings, if that is part, if not all, of that forecast has 1 Quotation from Benjamin Franklin, the Ameri· the right word, like the recent flap over the now come true. can negotiator of the Treaty of Paris. suggestion that the United Nations sail into e This "bullet" symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by the Member on the floor. October 25, 1983 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS 29247 the sunset from New York. This is not what or discomfort can also help. Ralph Bunche, ful and has far greater fire power than any the world is all about. my old mentor and friend, who achieved the UN operation. At this moment it has the Two hundred years later, although the ur impossible in negotiating the Armistice support of at least three aircraft carriers. gency and the time frame have changed, the Agreements between Israel and her Arab But it also has much less flexibility, less ca basic factors remain much the same, and so neighbours in 1948 and 1949, conducted his pacity to act, and is far more vulnerable does the public attitude to those engaged in negotiations on the island of Rhodes in con when things go wrong.

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