HOVAEB MVB TIBBYKA

TREATY OF PEACE WITH GERMANY.

PRELIMINARY NOTE.

The Austrian declaration of war against Serbia on July 28, 1914, was followed by many other declarations.1

The United States declared war against Germany April 6, 1917. An armistice between Germany and the allied and associated powers was agreed upon on November 11, 1918. The representatives of the allied and associated powers assembled at Paris on January 18, 1919, for drawing up a treaty of peace. This treaty was handed to the German representatives on May 7, 1919. The treaty was signed at Versailles on June 28, 1919. The treaty was submitted to the Senate of the United States on July 10, 1919. The "advice and consent" of the Senate was necessary for putting the treaty into operation. After long debate this advice and consent was not given and accordingly for the United States the treaty was not operative.

According to the provisions of Article 440 of the treaty

A first procès-verbal of the deposit of ratification will be drawn up as soon as the treaty has been ratified by Germany on the one hand, and by three of the principal allied and associated powers on the other hand.

From the date of this first procès-verbal the treaty will come into force between the high contracting parties who have ratified it. For the determination of all periods of time provided for in the present treaty this date will be the date of the coming into force of the treaty.

In all other respects the treaty will enter into force for each power at the date of the deposit of its ratification.

Under the provisions of the treaty (Art. 5) the first meeting of the Council of the League of Nations was held at Paris, January 16, 1920, and representatives of the following members of the League of Nations were present: Belgium, Brazil, the British Empire, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Spain. The following States had also adhered to the League of Nations Covenant: The Argentine Republic, July 18, 1919; Paraguay, October 29, 1919; Chile, November 14, 1919; Persia, November 21, 1919.

1 See Naval War College, International Law Documents, 1917, p. 15, and 1918, p. 11.

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TREATY OF PEACE WITH GERMANY.

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, THE BRITISH EMPIRE, FRANCE, ITALY and JAPAN,

These Powers being described in the present Treaty as the Principal Allied and Associated Powers,

BELGIUM, BOLIVIA, BRAZIL, CHINA, CUBA, ECUADOR, GREECE, GUATEMALA, HAITI, THE HEDJAZ, HONDURAS, LIBERIA, NICARAGUA, PANAMA, PERU, POLAND, PORTUGAL, ROUMANIA, THE SERB-CROAT-SLOVENE STATE, SIAM, CZECHO-SLOVAKIA and URUGUAY, These Powers constituting with the Principal Powers mentioned above the Allied and Associated Powers,

And GERMANY,

of the one part;

of the other part;

Bearing in mind that on the request of the Imperial German Government an Armistice was granted on November 11, 1918, to Germany by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers in order that a Treaty of Peace might be concluded with her, and

The Allied and Associated Powers being equally desirous that the war in which they were successively involved directly or indirectly and which originated in the declaration of war by Austria-Hungary on July 28, 1914, against Serbia, the declaration of war by Germany against Russia on August 1, 1914, and against France on August 3, 1914, and in the invasion of Belgium, should be replaced by a firm, just and durable Peace,

For this purpose the HIGH CONTRACTING PARTIES represented as follows:

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, by:

The Honourable Woodrow WILSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES, acting in his own name and by his own proper
authority;

The Honourable Robert LANSING, Secretary of State;
The Honourable Henry WHITE, formerly Ambassador Ex-
traordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States at
Rome and Paris;

The Honourable Edward M. HOUSE;

General Tasker H. BLISS, Military Representative of the
United States on the Supreme War Council;

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HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND OF THE BRIT-
ISH DOMINIONS BEYOND THE SEAS, EMPEROR OF
INDIA, by:

The Right Honourable David LLOYD GEORGE, M. P., First
Lord of His Treasury and Prime Minister;

The Right Honourable Andrew BONAR LAW, M. P., His Lord
Privy Seal;

The Right Honourable Viscount MILNER, G. C. B., G. C.
M. G., His Secretary of State for the Colonies;

The Right Honourable Arthur James BALFOUR, O. M., M. P.,
His Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs;

The Right Honourable George Nicoll BARNES, M. P., Minister
without portfolio;

And

for the DOMINION of CANADA, by:

The Honourable Charles Joseph DOHERTY, Minister of Justice;

The Honourable Arthur Lewis SIFTON, Minister of Customs; for the COMMONWEALTH of AUSTRALIA, by:

The Right Honourable William Morris HUGHES, Attorney
General and Prime Minister;

The Right Honourable Sir Joseph Cook, G. C. M. G., Minister
for the Navy;

for the UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA, by :

General the Right Honourable Louis BOTHA, Minister of Na-
tive Affairs and Prime Minister;

Lieutenant-General the Right Honourable Jan Christiaan
SMUTS, K. C., Minister of Defence;

for the DOMINION of NEW ZEALAND, by:

The Right Honourable William Ferguson MASSEY, Minister of
Labour and Prime Minister;

for INDIA, by:

The Right Honourable Edwin Samuel MONTAGU, M. P., His
Secretary of State for India;

Major-General His Highness Maharaja Sir Ganga Singh
Bahadur, Maharaja of BIKANER, G. C. S. I., G. C. I. E.,
G. C. V. O., K. C. B., A. D. C.;

THE PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC, by:
Mr. Georges CLEMENCEAU, President of the Council, Minister
of War;

Mr. Stephen PICHON, Minister for Foreign Affairs;

Mr. Louis-Lucien KLOTZ, Minister of Finance;

Mr. André TARDIEU, Commissary General for Franco-American Military Affairs;

Mr. Jules CAMBON, Ambassador of France;