The League of Nations and its Problems Part 2

IV. Every attempt at organising the desired new League of Nations must start from, and keep intact, the independence and equality of the several States, with the consequence that the establishment of a central political authority above the sovereign States is an impossibility.

V. The development of an organisation of the Community of States began before the outbreak of the World War and is to be found in the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague by the First Hague Peace Conference of 1899. But more steps will be necessary to turn the hitherto unorganised Community of States into an organised League of Nations.

VI. The organisation of the desired new League of Nations should start from the beginning made by the Hague Peace Conferences, and the League should therefore include all the independent civilised States.

VII. The objection to the reception of the Central Powers, and of Germany especially, into the League.

VIII. The objection to the reception of the minor transoceanic States into the League.

IX. The seven principles which ought to be accepted with regard to the organisation of the new League of Nations.

X. The organisation of the League of Nations is not an end in itself but only a means of attaining three objects, the first of which is International Legislation. The meaning of the term 'International Legislation' in contradistinction to Munic.i.p.al Legislation.

International Legislation in the past and in the future.

XI. The difficulty in the way of International Legislation on account of the language question.

XII. The difficulty created by the conflicting national interests of the several States.

XIII. The difficulty caused by the fact that International Statutes cannot be created by a majority vote of the States. The difference between universal and general International Law offers a way out.

XIV. The difficulty created by the fact that there are as yet no universally recognised rules concerning interpretation and construction of International Statutes and ordinary conventions. The notorious Article 23(h) of the Hague Regulations concerning Land Warfare.

THE LECTURE

I. In my first lecture on the League of Nations I recommended the following three rules to be laid down by a League of Nations:

Firstly, every State must submit all judicial disputes to an International Court of Justice and must abide by the judgment of such Court.

Secondly, every State previous to resorting to arms, must submit every political and non-judicial dispute to an International Council of Conciliation and must at any rate listen to the advice of such Council.

Thirdly, the member States must unite their forces against such State or States as should resort to arms without previously having submitted the matter in dispute to an International Court of Justice or to an International Council of Conciliation.

And I added that these three rules cannot create a satisfactory condition of affairs unless four problems are faced and solved, namely: The Organisation of the League, Legislation by the League, Administration of Justice and Mediation within the League. My lecture to-day will deal with two of these problems, namely the Organisation and the Legislation of the League.

Let us first consider the Organisation of the League. Hitherto the body of civilised States which form the Family of Nations and which, as I pointed out in my first lecture, is really a League of Nations evolved by custom, has been an unorganised Community. This means that, although there are plenty of legal rules for the intercourse of the several States one with another, the Community of civilised States does not possess any permanently established organs or agents for the conduct of its common affairs. At present these affairs, if they are peaceably settled, are either settled by ordinary diplomatic negotiation or, if the matter is pressing and of the greatest importance, by temporarily convened International Conferences or Congresses.

II. It is true there are the so-called Great Powers which are the leaders of the Family of Nations, and it is therefore a.s.serted by some authorities that the Community of States has acquired a certain amount of organisation because the Great Powers are the legally recognised superiors of the minor States.

But is this a.s.sertion correct? The Great Powers, are they really the legally recognised superiors of the minor States?

I deny it. A Great Power is any large-sized State possessing a large population which gains such economic, military, and naval strength that its political influence must be reckoned with by all the other Powers.

At the time of the outbreak of the World War eight States had to be considered as Great Powers, namely Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the United States of America, and j.a.pan.

But it is very probable that the end of the World War will see the number of Great Powers reduced to six. The collapse and break up of Russia has surely for the present eliminated her from the number of Great Powers. And it is quite certain that Austria-Hungary will not emerge from the struggle as a Great Power, if she emerges from it as a whole at all. History teaches that the number of the Great Powers is by no means stable, and changes occasionally take place. Look at the condition of affairs during the nineteenth century. Whereas at the time of the Vienna Congress in 1815 eight States, namely Great Britain, Austria, France, Portugal, Prussia, Spain, Sweden, and Russia were still considered Great Powers, their number soon decreased to five, because Portugal, Spain, and Sweden ceased to be Great Powers. On the other hand, Italy joined the number of the Great Powers after her unification in 1860; the United States of America joined the Great Powers after the American Civil War in 1865; and j.a.pan emerged as a Great Power from her war with China in 1895.

Be that as it may, so much is certain, a State is a Great Power not by law but only by its political influence. The Great Powers are the leaders of the Family of Nations because their political influence is so great. Their political and economic influence is in the long run irresistible; therefore all arrangements made by the Great Powers naturally in most cases gain, either at once or in time, the consent of the minor States. It may be said that the Great Powers exercise a kind of political hegemony within the Family of Nations. Yet this hegemony is not based on law, it is simply a political fact, and it is certainly not a consequence of an organisation of the Family of Nations.

III. The demand for a proper organisation of the Community of States had, up to the outbreak of the World War, been raised exclusively on the part of the so-called Pacifists in order to make the abolition of war a possibility. It is a common a.s.sertion on the part of the Pacifists that War cannot die out so long as there is no Central Political Authority in existence above the several States which could compel them to bring their disputes before an International Court and also compel them to carry out the judgments of such a Court. For this reason many Pacifists aim at such an organisation of the Community of States as would bring all the civilised States of the world within the bonds of a federation.

They demand a World Federation of all the civilised States, or at any rate a federation of the States of Europe, on the model of the United States of America.

If such a Federal World State were practically possible, there would be no objection to it, although International Law as such would cease to exist and be replaced by the Const.i.tutional Law of this Federal World State. But in my first lecture I pointed out that such a Federal World State is practically impossible. And it is not even desirable.

The development of mankind would seem in the main to be indissolubly connected with the national development of the peoples. Most peoples possessing a strong national consciousness desire an independent State in which they can live according to their own ideals. They want to be their own masters, and not to be part and parcel of a Federal World State to which they would have to surrender a great part of their independence. Moreover--as I likewise pointed out in my first lecture (pp. 18-20)--it would be impossible to establish a strong Government and a strong Parliament in a Federal World State.

However this may be, it is not at all certain that war would altogether disappear in a Federal World State. The history of Federal States teaches that wars do occasionally break out between their member States.

Think of the war between the Roman Catholic and the Protestant member States of the Swiss Confederation in 1847, of the war in 1863 between the Northern and the Southern member States within the Federation which is called the United States of America, and of the war between Prussia and Austria within the German Confederation in 1866.

IV. But what kind of organisation of the League of Nations is possible if we reject the idea of a Federal State?

Neither I, nor anyone else who does not like to build castles in the air, can answer this question directly by making a detailed proposal. It is at present quite impossible to work out a practical scheme according to which a more detailed organisation of the League of Nations could be realised. But so much is certain that every attempt at organising this League must start from, and must keep intact, the independence and the equality of all civilised States. It is for this reason that a Central Political Authority above the sovereign States can never be thought of.

Every attempt to organise a League of Nations on the model of a Federal State is futile. If a detailed organisation of the League should ever come, it will be one _sui generis_, one absolutely of its own kind; such as has never been seen before. And it is at present quite impossible to map out a detailed plan of such an organisation although, as I shall have to show you later, the first step towards an organisation has already been made, and further steps towards the ideal can be taken. The reason that it is at present impossible is that the growth and the final shape of the organisation of the League of Nations will, and must, go hand in hand with the progress of International Law. But the progress of International Law is conditioned by the growth, the strengthening, and the deepening of international economic and other interests, and of international morality. It is a matter of course that this progress can only be realised very slowly, for there is concerned a process of development through many generations and perhaps through centuries, a development whose end no one can foresee. It is sufficient for us to state that the development had already begun before the World War, and to try to foster it, as far as is in our power, after the conclusion of peace.

V. I said that this development has begun. Where is this beginning of the development to be found?

It is to be found in the establishment of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Hague and the Office therewith connected. The Permanent Court of Arbitration is not an inst.i.tution of the several States, but an inst.i.tution of the Community of States in contradistinction to its several members. Had the International Prize Court agreed upon by the Second Hague Peace Conference of 1907 been established, there would have come into existence another inst.i.tution of the Community of States.

But the establishment of International Courts would not justify the a.s.sertion that thereby the Community of States has turned from an unorganised community into an organised community. To reach this goal another step is required, namely an agreement amongst the Powers, according to which the Hague Peace Conferences would be made a permanent inst.i.tution which periodically, within fixed intervals, a.s.semble without being convened by one Power or another. If this were done, we could say that the hitherto unorganised Community of States had turned into an organised League of Nations, for by such periodically a.s.sembling Hague Peace Conferences there would be established an organ for the conduct of all such international matters as require international legislation or other international action.

However that may be, the organisation created by the fact that the Hague Peace Conferences periodically a.s.sembled, would only be an immature one; more steps would be necessary in order that the organisation of the Community of States might become more perfect and more efficient. Yet progress would be slow, for every attempt at a progressive step meets with opposition, and it would be only when the _international_ interests of the civilised States become victorious over their particular _national_ interests that the Community of States would gradually receive a more perfect organisation.

VI. There is no doubt that the experiences of mankind during the World War have been quickening development more than could have been expected in normal times. The universal demand for a new League of Nations accepting the principles that every judicial dispute amongst nations must be settled by International Courts and that every political dispute must, before the parties resort to arms, be brought before a Council of Conciliation, demonstrates clearly that the Community of States must now deliberately give itself some kind of organisation, because without it the principles just mentioned cannot be realised.

Now a number of schemes for the organisation of a new League of Nations have been made public. They all agree upon the three aims of the League and the three rules for the realisation of these aims which I mentioned in my first lecture, namely compulsory settlement of all judicial disputes by International Courts of Justice, compulsory mediation in cases of political disputes by an International Council of Conciliation, and the duty of the members of the League to turn against any one member which should resort to arms in violation of the principles laid down by the League. However, these schemes differ very much with regard to the _organisation_ of the League. I cannot now discuss the various schemes in detail. It must suffice to say that some of them embody proposals for a more or less state-like organisation and are therefore not acceptable to those who share my opinion that any state-like organisation of the League is practically impossible. But though some of the schemes, as for instance that of Lord Bryce and that of Sir Willoughby d.i.c.kinson, avoid this mistake, none of them take as their starting point that which I consider to be the right one, namely the beginning made at the two Hague Peace Conferences. _In my opinion the organisation of a new League of Nations should start from the beginning made by the two Hague Peace Conferences._

VII. However, there is much objection to this, because it would necessitate the admission into the new League of all those States which took part in the Second Hague Peace Conference, including, of course, the Central Powers. The objections to such a wide range of the League are two-fold.

In the first instance, the admission of the Central Powers, and especially of Germany, into the League is deprecated. By her attack on Belgium at the outbreak of the war, and by her general conduct of the war, Germany has deliberately taken up an att.i.tude which proves that, when her military interests are concerned, she does not consider herself bound by any treaty, by any rule of law, or by any principle of humanity. How can we expect that she will carry out the engagements into which she might enter by becoming a member of the League of Nations?

My answer is that, provided she be utterly defeated and no peace of compromise be made with her, militarism in Germany will be doomed, the reparation to be exacted from her for the many cruel wrongs must lead to a change of Const.i.tution and Government, and this change of Const.i.tution and Government will make Germany a more acceptable member of a new League of Nations. The utter defeat of Germany is a necessary preliminary condition to the possibility of her entrance into a League of Nations. Those who speak of the foundation of a League of Nations as a means of ending the World War by a peace of compromise with Germany are mistaken. The necessary presuppositions of such a League are entirely incompatible with an unbroken Prussian militarism.

But while her utter defeat is the necessary preliminary condition to her entrance into a League of Nations, the inclusion of Germany in the League, after her utter defeat, is likewise a necessity. The reason is that, as I pointed out in my first lecture (p. 17), in case the Central Powers were excluded from the League, they would enter into a League of their own, and the world would then be divided into two rival camps, in the same way as before the war the Triple Alliance was faced by the Entente. _The world would be proved not ripe for a new League of Nations if peace were concluded with an undefeated Germany; and the League would miss its purpose if to a defeated and repenting Germany entrance into it were refused._

VIII. In the second instance, the entrance of the great number of minor transoceanic States into the League is deprecated because these States would claim an equal vote with the European Powers and thereby obstruct progress within the League.

It is a.s.serted that some of the minor transatlantic States made the discussions at the Hague Conferences futile by their claim to an equal vote. Now it is true that some of these States have to a certain extent impeded the work of the Hague Conferences, but some of the minor States of Europe, and even some of the Great Powers, have done likewise. The Community of States consisting of sovereign States does not possess any means of compelling a minority of States to fall in with the views of the majority, but I shall show you very soon, when I approach the problem of International Legislation, that International Legislation of a kind is possible in spite of this fact. And so much is certain that the minimum of organisation of the new League which is now necessary, cannot be considered to be endangered by the admittance of the minor transoceanic States into the League. Progress will in any case be slow, and perfect unanimity among the Powers will in any and every case only be possible where the _international_ interests of all the Powers compel them to put aside their real or imaginary particular _national_ interests.

IX. For these reasons I take it for granted that the organisation of a new League of Nations should start from the beginning made by the Hague Peace Conferences. Therefore the following seven principles ought to be accepted:

First principle: The League of Nations is composed of all civilised States which recognise one another's external and internal independence and absolute equality before International Law.

Second principle: The chief organ of the League is the Peace Conference at the Hague. The Peace Conferences meet periodically--say every two or three years--without being convened by any special Power. Their task is the gradual codification of International Law and the agreement upon such International Conventions as are from time to time necessitated by new circ.u.mstances and conditions.

Third principle: A permanent Council of the Conference is to be created, the members of which are to be resident at the Hague and are to conduct all the current business of the League of Nations.

This current business comprises: The preparation of the meetings of the Peace Conference; the conduct of communications with the several members of the League with regard to the preparation of the work of the Peace Conferences; and all other matters of international interest which the Conference from time to time hands over to the Council.

Fourth principle: Every recognised sovereign State has a right to take part in the Peace Conferences.