XII. The Turkish portions of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nations which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity for autonomous development, and the Dardanelles should be permanently opened as a free passage to the ships and commerce of all nations under international guarantees. XIII. An independent Polish state should be erected which should include the territories inhabited by indisputably Polish populations, which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea, and whose political and economic independence and territorial integrity should be guaranteed by international covenants. XIV. A genuine association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity of great and small states alike. At the session of the supreme council on February 1, 1919, a decision was reached concerning the German colonies and the conditions were later confirmed by the covenant of the League of Nations. President Wilson presided at the opening meeting of the League of Nations Commission on February 3, 1919, held at the residence of Colonel Edward House in Paris. The United States was represented by Mr. Wilson, Colonel House, and Mr. Miller, technical expert. Lord Robert Cecil and General Christian Smuts represented Great Britain; for France, Leon Bourgeois and Ferdinand Larnaude; for Italy Premier Orlando, and for Japan Baron Chinda; also delegates from Belgium, Serbia, Brazil, Portugal, and China. The discussion in which Mr. Wilson took a leading part was not general but specific, as the printed text of the agreed plan for the formation of the League of Nations was before the meeting. On the same date important committees on reparation, ports, waterways and railways held their first formal meetings. The French and British presented a program recognizing the right of nations to control international waterways and international railways, which was accepted by the commission. The commission of the Allied Nations held daily sessions beginning February 4, 1919, and made continued progress. The delegates were unanimous in believing that a League of Nations was desirable, but some doubted its immediate efficiency and favored maintaining the old order of balance of power until the new plan had demonstrated its capacity and workability, to meet the needs of nations loving peace. Much time was spent in winning over these dissenters, and it was only accomplished after long and patient endeavors. The final session of the League of Nations Commission was held on February 13, 1919, when a French delegate offered a clause for an interallied military force to compel peace, and the Japanese presented an amendment providing that racial discrimination should not be tolerated. Both proposals were defeated.