Languages Used in Treaties

non-amicable, others hold that pacific means refer only to amicable methods of the kind referred to in the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 for the "pacific settlement of international disputes." This interpretation appears to have been accepted by M. Briand in his statement before the League of Nations Council on October 24,1931, in reference to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, that "public opinion would not readily admit that a military occupation under these circumstances could be regarded as coming under the heading of pacific means." Thus it would appear that this term "pacific means" is not the reciprocal of war in the legal sense, but of "armed force" referred to in the II Hague Convention of 1907. This interpretation appears to be supported by the statement in Secretary Stimson's letter to Senator Borah on February 24, 1932, that "it is clear beyond peradventure that a situation has developed which cannot under any circumstances be reconciled with the obligations of the covenants of these two treaties (Nine Power Treaty and Kellogg Pact) and that if the treaties had been faithfully observed, such a situation could not have arisen."