8. The clauses in which provision is made for the settlement of differences between members of the League by arbitration or mediation and a covenant of the nations not to begin war until machinery for settling differences peacefully shall have been tried. (Article XII.) The same objections, are made to this step as to that of Article X, that it will involve us in trouble with remote nations, and possibly wars. There is the same answer, namely, that the knowledge of this union of the nations to enforce this obligation of the League will prevent its violation by reckless members. 4. Open diplomacy, the fourth great step, means that the cards will be played face up on the table. There is no transfer of sovereignty under this League to the Council or the Assembly. The Council only recommends and proposes and advises. It does not command or direct or order. The chief attacks upon the League rest entirely on the claim that the word "recommend" means to "command," and that the word "advise" means to "direct," and that the word "propose" means to "order." This is an utterly unwarranted and strained construction of the League which every fair-minded man should see. The Monroe Doctrine is specifically recognized by all nations as a regional understanding in the constitution of the League by a provision that nothing in the League shall affect it. This is the first time in the history of the doctrine that the Monroe Doctrine has been recognized by the world as a customary convention. It is a great achievement for us. This covenant is not a mere fad of Mr. Wilson. It is demanded by the peoples of France, Great Britain, and Italy. Neither Lloyd George nor Clemenceau originally advocated it. They were driven to it by two things-one that their constituents demanded it, the other that the treaty of peace, which the terms of the armistice foreshadowed, could not be enforced without it. The opponents of the League, however, have aroused protest against the League among business men and partisan Republicans by asserting that Mr. Wilson is seeking personal credit and party advantage in making a League of Nations and is sacrificing the interests of this country, and delaying peace and prosperity to secure the League. The reasons for delay are now demonstrated to have been acute differences in respect to the terms of peace and not the covenant of the League, which was agreed to long before the treaty. This is not a partisan question. We should be for or against the League without respect to whether we are Democrats or Republicans. We should be for or against the League without regard to whether we think it will bring credit to our party or credit to any man. Personal and partisan considerations of this kind are reasons which should have no influence with us in determining an issue so fateful in the world's history and so likely to affect the future welfare of the people of the United States and of all mankind. When, therefore, you come to consider the question whether you are in favor of the treaty or not, you should search your hearts and souls and your consciences to see whether you are approaching it in the proper patriotic and humane spirit or whether you are against it because Mr. Wilson is for it and you may fear that he will gain credit for its adoption, or because you may suppose that his party may gain party credit for it. These are small reasons for supporting or opposing the League. The question is, will it do good for this country or mankind? If it will, let us favor it. If it endangers our country or interferes with mankind let's oppose it, but let's base our action and our view on high and patriotic reasons. When we approach the question of the League of Nations from that standpoint, I do not doubt that the great majority of the people of the United States, and the needed majority of the Senators of the United States will approve this League. TEXT OF THE KNOX RESOLUTION Reported favorably by the Senate Commit tee on Foreign Relations, June 11: Whereas the Congress of the United States in declaring, pursuant to its exclusive authority under the Constitution, the existence of a state of war between the United States and the Imperial German Government solemnly affirmed that the imperial Government has so "committed repeated acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States," that a state of war has been thrust upon them by that Government, and thereupon formally pledged the whole military and naval resources of the country "to bring the conflict to a successful termination"; and Whereas the Senate of the United States, being a coequal part of the treaty-making power of this Government and therefore coequally responsible for any treaty which is concluded and ratified, is deeply concerned over the draft treaty of peace negotiated at Versailles, by which it is proposed to end our victorious war, and is gravely impressed by the fact that its provisions appear calculated to force upon us undesirable and far-reaching covenants inimical to our free institutions under the penalty that failing to accept these we shall continue in a state of war while our cobelligerents shall be at peace and enjoying its blessings; that it is proposed to make us parties to a League of Nations under a plan as to which the people of the United States have had neither time to examine and consider nor opportunity to express regarding it a matured and deliberate judgment, whereas the treaty may be easily so drawn as to permit the making of immediate peace, leaving the question of the establishment of a League of Nations for later determination; and that the treaty as drawn contains principles, guarantees and undertaking obliterative of legitimate race and national aspirations, oppressive of weak nations and peoples and destructive of human progress and liberty; therefore be it Resolved by the Senate of the United States, That it will regard as fully adequate for our national needs and as completely responsive to the duties and obligations we owe to our cobelligerents and to humanity a peace treaty which shall assure to the United States and its people the attainment of those ends for which we entered the war, and that it will look with disfavor upon all treaty provisions going beyond these ends. 2. That since the people of the United States have themselves determined and provided in their Constitution the only ways in which the Constitution may be amended, and since amendment by treaty stipulation is not one of the methods by which the people have so prescribed, the treaty making power of the United States has no authority to make a treaty which in effect amends the Consti tution of the United States, and the Senate of the United States cannot advise and consent to any treaty provision which would have such effect if enforced. 3. That the Senate advises, in accordance with its constitutional right and duty, that the great paramount, if not the sole, duty of the Peace Conference is quickly to bring all the belligerents a full and complete peace; that to this end the treaty shall be so drawn as to permit any nation to reserve without prejudice to itself for future separate and full consideration by its people the question of any League of Nations; that neither such an article nor the exercise of the rights reserved thereunder, whether at the time of signature, the time of ratification, or at any other time, shall affect the substance of the obligations of Germany and its cobellig- ' erents under the treaty, nor the validity of signature and ratification on their behalf; and that any indispensable participation by the United States in matters covered by the league covenant shall, pending the entry of the United States into the league, be accomplished through diplomatic commissions which shall be created with full power in the premises. 4. That this resolution indicates and gives notice of the limits of the present obligations against the United States in which the Senate of the United States is now prepared to acquiesce by consenting to the ratification of a treaty embodying peace conditions that may be found otherwise acceptable to its judgment, and that the adoption by the Peace Conference of the foregoing reasonable limitations and positions will facilitate the early acceptance of the treaty of peace by the Senate of the United States, will in nowise interfere with the League of Nations, as between these countries prepared to ratify the treaty without further consideration and will afford such a manifestation of real respect for the wishes of a great people as cannot fail more firmly to cement the friendship already existing between ourselves and our cobelligerents. [Paragraph 5 of the original resolution was stricken out by the Senate Committee. It read: That finally it shall be the declared policy of our Government in order to meet fully and fairly our obligations to ourselves and to the world that the freedom and peace of Europe being again threatened by any Power or combination of Powers the United States will regard such a situation with grave concern as a menace to its own peace and freedom, will consult with other Powers affected with a view to devising means for the removal of such menace, and will, the necessity arising in the future, carry out the same complete accord and cooperation with our chief cobelligerents for the defence of civilization.] League Covenant T By EDWARD L. CONN Washington Correspondent of the LEAGUE OF NATIONS MAGAZINE HERE is increasing pessimism in Washington. There is doubt and uncertainty, and an ever - growing sentiment that "things are not right," either here or at Paris. Most important in the situation is the unwillingness and possibly the refusal of the Republican majority in the Senate, whose votes are vital to the ratification of the treaty, to accept President Wilson's voice as the voice of the people, and that majority's seeming determination to amend, if not to reject altogether, the Covenant of the proposed League of Nations. The Covenant question is freely dissociated on Capitol Hill from the other portions of the treaty. There is a positive inclination to accede to whatever disposition of enemy territories and enemy wealth the Entente Powers agree upon, although instances in the published text of the treaty indicate a peace of superior physical might and not a peace of the Fourteen Points enunciated by President Wilson and accepted by the major belligerents as the basis of the peace to be concluded. The treaty will be submitted to most critical examination and discussion before the Senate, more for the purpose, however, of revealing the League of Nations provisions in the light of the principles upon which the peace terms have been arrived at than with any design to attack it in any other respect. An effort will be made to convince the American people that the Paris Treaty contains the seeds of future wars, which are as certain to germinate as are the seeds planted in the fields in the spring. When President Wilson called-the present extraordinary session of Congress, he did not change his previous attitude or seek to especially inform and placate the Senate as a coequal treaty-making power, in the interest of domestic harmony as well as the European peace. In the controversy over publication of the full draft of the treaty as presented to Germany, May 7, the only semi-official explanation of his course which has been available here was that the ministries of Lloyd George and Clemenceau were trembling and such publication of the treaty text might precipitate their fall. Supporters of President Wilsonand it is remarkable that the proponents of the League here are usually referred to as the President's supporters or followers — affirm that hostility to the League will collapse upon President Wilson's return, that he will capture public opinion by storm, and that Senatorial opposition to him will crumble. It is hardly to be doubted that President Wilson will earnestly seek to win popu lar support for the treaty's ratification as it shall be submitted. That seems to be the hope and purpose of all the peace delegations. But the belief is no longer entertained here that the United States Senate can be whipped into ratifying the treaty. It appears to make no difference to opposition Senators whether Great Britain, France and Italy ratify the treaty containing the League Covenant: that is a European concern; they take the ground that they are jealously guarding America's independence. The first test is likely to come if and when the Senate votes on the Knox Resolution. The vote of the committee in favorably reporting the resolution is not a sure index to the vote on the Resolution in the Senate. Neither will the vote on the resolution be a sure index to the vote on the League constitution. It was significant, nevertheless, that the resolution was ordered favorably reported and that the section of the resolution which would declare it to be a policy of the United States Government that whenever the peace of Europe became again threatened the United States would regard it with grave concern and would co-operate with the principal belligerents to remove such a menace was stricken out. If impressions gathered at the Capitol in these days mean anything, they foreshow that the League of Nations Covenant will be either stricken entirely from the peace treaty, or so amended as to leave the hands of the United States completely free to decide for itself its own future responsibilities in respect of its relations with other nations. While the League Covenant, among other things, is denominated a superConstitution, the Senate must lay before the American people intelligible arguments; President Wilson must likewise go before the people with convincing arguments. Here is an opposition putting of the case: "Mr. Wilson will be called upon to justify the peace he has helped to frame in Paris, to justify it in all its questioned phases, in respect of the various settlements which the unmilitaristic press of the Allied countries condemns as being everything but democratic and equitable. The burden will be placed squarely upon President Wilson to prove that the peace settlements as they erect German irredentism in East Prussia, as they arbitrarily prevent the union of the German people, as they create a new AlsaceLorraine in the Saar valley, as they satisfy the utmost capacity of Allied appetite, or preferably of Allied digestion, and as they abandon what was of first importance to America, namely the freedom of the seas, are settlements which give assurance of a permanent peace. That will be difficult. He will have to prove that these settlements are just. They are settlements based upon the strength of the victorious Powers to enforce them. He will be called upon to show the American people wherein it is their duty to guarantee the beneficiaries of these settlements, many of which are artificial and unnatural, and to convince them that it is to the interest of the United States to give bond that this country will place at the disposal of the present victors the use of its military forces and of its wealth at any future time. "To those who had supremest faith in President Wilson when he first went to Paris, the trend of events has been somewhat disappointing. Many feel that they have been disillusioned, that President Wil son's high purposes were not sufficient to convert the Old World from its selfish dip lomacy, and that he has acquiesced in settlements which he did not favor but assented to as of necessity in order to make certain the creation of a League of Nations, regardless of the dangerous foundations upon which it might be erected. President Wilson must undertake to win back the faith of these people on the merits of the Paris achievement. Fetwahs from the White House will not meet the need. Persuasion will fall short of winning the fight for the League in America. The Senate will not blindly ratify any treaty submitted to it. President Wilson has arrived at the great crisis of his career. He must vindicate the claim that he has spoken for America. It seems that America has not yet spoken for itself. The Senate, no less than President Wilson, is desirous of responding to the will and purpose of the American people. That will and that purpose are yet to be discovered. They are yet to be formed. It has seemed as if President Wilson on occasions has regarded himself as sole spokesman for the country. The Republican Senate will disillusion him on this point, if it has not already done so." Senatorial opposition to the League continues upon the same grounds upon which Republican Senators, with a smattering of Democrats, declared it by "round robin" months ago: upon "Americanism" and "Washingtonian and Jeffersonian principles." It is an opposition to "entangling alliances" under any guise whatsoever. It is determination to retain for America her freedom of conscience and freedom of action. Senators plan to make of the peace treaty a weapon to be turned against the League itself. Other attacks will be directed upon special alliances existing between certain of the Allied nations, alliances which, notice has been given, will persist in spite of the League; of special ententes that are about to be concluded between others of the Allied and newly-created States; of the commentaries of Premier Clemenceau on the principles which France holds sacred and which are antagonistic to the very conception of a League of Nations; of the Peace Conference's definition of the Monroe Doctrine as a "regional understanding"; of the British delegation's utterances respecting that Doctrine; and of the Allied treatment of Russia, of Persia and other weak peoples. The battle for the League of Nations is really just beginning in the United States. It has been neither won nor lost. The decision is in the vote of the Senate on ratifying the treaty, and the vote of the Senate will be dictated by the Senate's understanding of the wishes of the people. Conciliation between the President and the Senate is not counted on. It is literally an appeal to the people on each side of the question. "I believe there is no body of people in the world more universally favorable to world federation than are the Christian forces of the United States. We visualize the League in terms of the Kingdom of God as a step toward realization of the brother hood of man-ideals which the church has preached for centuries. And for more than two years now the church in America has been preaching specifically the League of Nations as a practical application of Christian ideals to modern world conditions."Rev. Dr. William Pierson Merrill. |