International cooperation; Peace; World War, 1914-1918
One of the manifestations of the rebound here mentioned was the
organization in June, 1915, of “The League to Enforce Peace.” This
society was created in a meeting of representative men assembled in
Carpenters’ Hall, Philadelphia, the place in which the Declaration
of Independence was adopted. Its principles are embraced in the
following proposals: 1. A judicial tribunal to which will be referred
judiciable disputes between the signatory powers, subject to existing
treaties, the tribunals to have power to pass on the merits of the
disputes submitted as well as on its jurisdiction over them. 2. The
reference of other disputes between the signatory states to a council
of conciliation, which will hear the cases submitted and recommend
settlements in accordance with its ideas of justice. 3. If any
signatory state threatens war before its case is submitted to the
judicial tribunal or the council of conciliation, the other states will
jointly employ diplomatic pressure to prevent war; and if hostilities
actually begin under such circumstances they will jointly use their
military forces against the power in contempt of the league. 4. The
signatory states will from time to time hold conferences to formulate
rules of international law which are to be executed by the tribunal of
arbitration unless within a stated time some state vetoes the proposal.
The system of coöperation embodied in these proposals is not a
federation, within the meaning that I have given to that term. It is
what it pretends to be, merely a league. It seems to concede the right
of a state to secede from the league at will. As to what would happen
under it if a signatory state refusing to abide the decision of the
tribunal or council of conciliation should attempt to withdraw and
make war at once, we can have little doubt. In such a case the attempt
to secede would probably be considered defiance and steps be taken to
reduce the state to submission. Nevertheless it might happen that a
state within the league, finding its action restricted so that it could
not adopt some policy which it considered essential to its welfare,
might proceed to withdraw in view of a line of conduct it intended
to take at a later time. In that case it is difficult to see how the
league could resist unless it was willing to take the position that it
had a kind of sovereignty over all interstate relations, a position
that involves more concentration than the form of the league seems to
imply.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account