How the League arose. CHAPTER IV THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS EMBODYING THE I BIRTH AND GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE LEAGUE § 167a. The League of Nations owes its existence, in the first instance, to private initiative. Soon after the World War had broken out, a group of men in England, under the chairmanship of Viscount Bryce, combined for the purpose of working out a draft scheme of a League for the avoidance of war, and they published, in February 1915, Proposals for the Avoidance of War, with a prefatory note by Viscount Bryce. The text of these proposals was sent to a number of publicists for criticism, and in 1917 the same group of men published the final result of their work in a pamphlet under the heading, Proposals for the Prevention of Future Wars, by Viscount Bryce and others. The movement initiated by the so-called Bryce Committee led to the foundation of 'The League of Nations Society' in London, in 1915, whose programme was in the main: That a treaty should be made to establish a League of Nations; that all disputes between the members of the League should be settled either by arbitration or by a Council of Conciliation; that Conferences of the League should be held from time to time to consider international matters and to codify rules of International Law. In 1918 a rival of the League of Nations Society was founded— 'The League of Free Nations Association'; but soon afterwards the two rival societies amalgamated, under the title of The League of Nations Union.' A similar movement arose in the United States of America, where in 1916 was founded The League to enforce Peace,' under the chairmanship of ex-President H. Taft, which demanded the foundation of a League whose programme should be in the main: That all justiciable disputes between the members of the League should be settled by an International Court of Justice; that all other disputes should be submitted to a Council of Conciliation; that economic and military forces should be used against any member that should resort to hostilities without previously having submitted the dispute either to an International Court of Justice or to a Council of Conciliation; and that Conferences of the members of the League should take place from time to time to formulate and codify rules of International Law. A great number of drafts of a Constitution of the proposed League were published by private individuals, and several Governments also began to give their attention to the movement. Thus the Governments of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway each appointed a committee whose combined labours resulted in the Avantprojet de Convention relatif à une Organisation juridique internationale, Stockholm, 1919. And the Swiss Government likewise appointed a committee, and published, in 1919, an Avant-projet d'un Pacte fédéral de la Ligue des Nations. Meanwhile the Government of the United States, under President Wilson, as well as the British Government, became interested in the movement, and pledged themselves to found a League of Nations as soon as the war should come to an end. Accordingly, when the Peace Conference met in Paris in 1919, a separate committee was appointed to work out a draft The Mem bership of the League. treaty of a League of Nations. This committee comprised the representatives of fourteen Powers, namely, the British Empire, America, France, Italy, Japan-the five Great Powers—and Belgium, Brazil, China, CzechoSlovakia, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, and Serbia. This committee laid a draft of a Covenant of the League of Nations before the Conference, which was adopted on February 14, 1919. The draft was published, and then representatives of the following thirteen neutral Powers were interrogated by the committee for the purpose of hearing their views, namely: Argentina, Chili, Colombia, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Paraguay, Persia, Salvador, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Venezuela. At the same time a number of publicists were asked to send in observations on the draft, which was then amended. A second draft was worked out, and was adopted by the Conference on April 28, 1919. Thus came into existence the Covenant of the League of Nations, which forms Part I of the Treaties of Peace.1 § 1676. According to Article 1 of the Covenant, the League is to consist of original members, and of such members as are admitted later. Original members of the League are the Allied and Associated Powers-signatories of the Treaties of Peace, -and such neutral States as were invited to become, and became members within two months of the coming into force of the Covenant. Accordingly the following States and self-governing Dominions became original members: [The United States of America,]3 Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, the British Empire, Canada, Australia, South Africa, 1 See below, $$ 568e-568g. Both French and English texts are authoritative. The English text of the Covenant has been separately published as a Parliamentary Paper (Misc., No. 3 (1919), Cmd. 151), and should be in the hands of every student. 2 January 10, 1920. 3 The United States is named in the treaties as an original member of the League; but as it has not so far ratified any of them, it is not at present a member. New Zealand, India, China,1 Cuba, Ecuador, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, the Hedjaz, Honduras, Italy, Japan, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, the Serb-Croat-Slovene State, Siam, Czecho-Slovakia, Uruguay-signatories of the Treaties of Peace; and the Argentine Republic, Chili, Colombia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay, Persia, Salvador, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Venezuela-neutral States which accepted the invitation to become members. As regards States which desire to join the League later, paragraph 2 of Article 1 lays down the rule that any fully self-governing State, dominion, or colony may become a member of the League, if its admission is agreed to by two-thirds of the Assembly of the League, provided that it shall give effective guarantees of its sincere intention to observe its international obligations, and shall accept such regulations as may be prescribed by the League in regard to its military, naval, and air forces and armaments. It is apparent that thereby the door is left open for every civilised State to become in time a member of the League. However this may be, any member of the League may, according to paragraph 3 of Article 1, cease to be a member, provided it gives two years' notice in advance, and has, at the time of its withdrawal, fulfilled all its international obligations, and all its obligations under the Covenant of the League. Further, according to paragraph 4 of Article 16, any member of the League which has violated any clause of the Covenant may be expelled from the League. Again, according to Article 26, no future amendment of the Covenant shall bind any member of the League which signifies its dissent, but in that case it shall cease to be a member of the League. 1 China signed the Treaty of Peace with Austria, but not the Treaty of Peace with Germany. Character Essential § 167c. Since the Covenant of the League distinguishes between original members and others, and League. since a small number of civilised States are not yet of the members of the League, the character of the League appears at the first glance to be somewhat doubtful. It is asserted that the League is a mere confederation of States (Staatenbund), but it is certainly not. One speaks of a confederation of States (Staatenbund) when a number of full sovereign States link themselves together into a union for the maintenance of their external and internal independence, such union possessing organs of its own which are vested with a certain amount of power over the member-States.1 However, the Covenant of the League of Nations in no way gives the three constitutional organs of the League any power whatever over the member-States of the League. The chief organ of the League, the Assembly, requires, apart from matters of mere procedure, unanimity for all its decisions; and the Council, although it is, so to say, the Executive of the League, and possesses very great influence, does not possess any compulsory powers over the member-States, since its decisions are in the main only recommendations. It is likewise asserted that the League is a mere alliance. However, although the League shows traces of an alliance, because the members (Article 10 of the Covenant) guarantee to one another their territorial integrity against external aggression, it is nothing of the kind. One speaks of an alliance 2 when two or more States conclude a treaty for offence or defence or both. Although alliances create a union between the allies, such a union does not possess any organs of its own, nor is there anything else but defence or offence within the sphere of action of an alliance. On the other hand, the League of Nations possesses a number 1 See above, § 88. 2 See below, § 569. |