6—The League of Nations.

Of the Allied structure of world Peace the League of Nations was considered to be both the foundation and the coping stone. The foundation was laid at the second plenary session of the Peace Conference held on January 25th, at the French Foreign Office, Quai d'Orsay, Paris, when and where it was decided to appoint a Commission of the page 212Conference to examine the question of creating the League of Nations. President Wilson, the chief architect, so to speak, insisted during the discussion on the question, that the League must be made a vital thing with vital continuity and continuing functions, and that it should be the eye of the nations to keep watch upon the common interest, an eye "that does not slumber, an eye that is everywhere watchful and attentive." The Commission entered upon its work with earnest enthusiasm and energy, and the first draft of the Covenant of the League was presented to the third plenary session of the Peace Conference on February 14. The report was received with complete approval as to the principles and aims of the League, but it was obvious that almost all of the twenty-six Articles of the Covenant would have to be reconstructed in order to make the League a "vital thing with vital continuity."

And so it proved. From the first publication of the crude Covenant to its acceptance in amended and immeasurably improved form, the League of Nations Commission had the benefit of an exchange of views with the representatives of thirteen neutral Governments, and also of much criticism on both sides of the Atlantic. It should be recorded that the most earnest advocates of the League were never at any time shy of criticism, and welcomed censure of weaknesses, and advice as means to a desirable end. They realised that in order to attain a practical issue to an ideal many difficulties must be grappled with and overcome. The document that emerged from the protracted discussions was not, as was officially confessed, the Constitution of a super-State, but a solemn agreement between sovereign States, which consented to limit their complete freedom of action on certain points for the greater good of themselves and the world at large. The Covenant was constructed on the assumption that the League must continue to depend on the free consent, in the last resort, of its component States, the ultimate and effective sanction being essentially the public opinion of the civilised world. And it was decided with prudence and practical common-sense to allow the League, as a living organism, to discover its own best lines of development. It was agreed, on page 213the understanding that the Covenant was to form part of the Treaty of Peace, that the Article dealing with the question of membership of the League should be so worded as to enable the enemy powers to agree to the League's constitution, without, at once, becoming members of it. It was hoped that the original members of the League would consist of the thirty-two Allied and Associated Powers, signatories of the Treaty of Peace, and of thirteen neutral States, the original members joining without reservation and all accepting the same obligations.

The principal obligations accepted by members were the provisions designed to secure international confidence and the avoidance of war. These comprised:—(1) Limitation of armaments; (2) A mutual guarantee of territory and independence; (3) An admission that any circumstance which threatens international peace is an international interest; (4) An agreement not to go to war till a peaceful settlement of a dispute has been tried; (5) Machinery for securing a peaceful settlement, with provision for publicity; (6) The sanctions to be employed to punish a breach of agreement in (4); (7) Similar provisions for settling disputes where States not members of the League are concerned.

The Covenant made it plain that there was to be no dictation by the Council of the League or by anyone else as to the size of national forces. Provision was also made for functions of the League in peace; including an undertaking to throw the aegis of the League over the Labour Convention; the care and development of backward peoples in former enemy territories to be forthwith administered under the mandatory system of control; the regulation of the arms traffic with uncivilised and semi-civilised countries; and many questions affecting the peace of the world. The Covenant of the League was adopted unanimously at the fifth plenary session of the Peace Conference on Monday, April 28th, both New Zealand Ministers being present.