LEAGUE OF NATIONS 436 LEAGUE OF NATIONS were to be worth while. Five bases for the League he laid down in this address : "First, the impartial justice meted out must involve no discrimination between those to whom we wish to be just and those to whom we do not wish to be just. It must be a justice that plays no favor- ites and knows no standard but the equal rights of the peoples concerned ; "Second, no special or separate inter- est of any single nation or any group of nations can be made the basis of any part of the settlement which is not con- sistent with the common interest of all; "Third, there can be no leagues or al- liances or special covenants and under- standings within the general and com- mon family of the League of Nations. "Fourth, and more specifically, there can be no special, selfish economic com- binations within the league and no em- ployment of any form of economic boy- cott or exclusion except as the power of economic penalty by exclusion from the markets of the world may be vested in the League of Nations itself as a means of discipline and control; "Fifth, all international agreements and treaties of every kind must be made known in their entirety to the rest of the world." While the President thus put himself in the forefront of the movement to es- tablish a League of Nations, he was not alone among the statesmen of the world in this position. Prominent among other leaders was General Smuts of the Union of South Africa whose draft of a league was actually made the basis of discussion in the negotiations at Paris. Viscount Grey and Lord Robert Cecil in England both pronounced in favor of the idea, the latter being appointed by the British Premier to have charge of the "League of Nations Department" of the British Government's staff at the Peace Conference. Premier Clemenceau exhib- ited no enthusiasm for the idea from the first, although Leon Bourgeois, a sup- porter of the League, was placed in charge of the matter at the Peace Con- ference. After the President had arrived in Paris there was considerable discussion as to whether the terms of peace should not first be settled and then the cove- nant of the League of Nations be drafted. Most of the European statesmen took this view, but the President was obdu- rate in demanding that the first business of the Peace Conference should be the drafting of a constitution of a League of Nations. In this he carried his point and on Jan. 18, 1918, at the first session of the Conference it was announced that the first business would be the adoption of a covenant of a league. On Feb. 14, 1919, just before sailing for the United States to transact necessary business, the President read the Covenant of the Leag^ue of Nations to the Peace Confer- ence which adopted it. The preamble is as follows: — "In or- der to promote international co-opera- tion and to secure international peace and security by the acceptance of obligations not to resort to war, by the prescription of open, just and honorable relations be- tween nations, by the firm establish- ment of the understandings of interna- tional law as the actual rule of conduct among governments, and by the main- tenance of justice and scrupulous re- spect for all treaty obligations in the dealings of organized peoples with one another, the Powers signatory to this covenant adopt this Constitution of the League of Nations." The document then establishes an Ex- ecutive Council and a permanent Secre- tariat to be established at the seat of the League, provides for the arbitration of matters that are considered by the parties concerned to be proper subjects for arbitration, and also provides that nations shall not go to war without a previous resort to the arbitration of the League. In case of any assault by one of the members of the League against any other member all the nations signa- tory to the Covenant are to proceed by what means they choose to punish the offender. "Mandates" for the former German colonies are to be assigned by the executive council, and all treaties are to be deposited with the Secretary- General of the League. Perhaps the most important article in the Covenant aiid certainly the one most discussed was Article X which reads as follows: "The high contracting parties shall undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the terri- torial integrity and existing political in- dependence of all states members of the League. In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or danger of such aggression the Executive Council shall advise upon the means by which the obligation shall be fulfilled," This first draft of the Covenant en- countered severe criticism especially in the United States, where many Senators held that a distinct recognition of the Monroe Doctrine should have been in- corporated in the document: that the League would involve us in many petty wars and that it was placing the sov- ereignty over Americans in the hands of foreigners. The Japanese demanded an amendment in favor of racial equality, while the French wished a permanent
