observed that if, as some think, final awards cannot be enforced by the League, it is illogical that interlocutory awards should be enforced; and without the power of enforcement an injunction would be useless.

Still, where the injury is serious and is continuous, where, for instance, the subjects of one State are being improperly detained in prison, or threatened with execution, or suffering grievous injury at the hands of the other State, one can hardly expect the sufferer to wait during a long process of arbitration, or a still longer hearing before the Council of the League. Perhaps some procedure might be arranged so that the suffering State might apply to the Council of the League to be relieved of the moratorium on the ground that its condition was nendurable, and the Council might then put the other tate under terms which would give a modus vivendi till he actual decision was arrived at, threatening that othervise the sufferer would be relieved of the moratorium nd allowed to take the law into his own hands.

With regard to the second objection, it must be borne n mind that any prohibition of future war establishes nd crystallises the status quo. If the last Conference t The Hague had resulted in a League of Peace without home provision for future change, France would still be without Alsace-Lorraine; there would still have been an Italia Irredenta; Turkey would have kept Macedonia; and here would be no Poland. This objection to any League f Peace is a serious one and cannot be evaded. It is a eason why the greatest care should be taken, in framing the present Peace, that the constitution of States and eir boundaries should be reasonable and natural, so rawn as to satisfy all legitimate claims of nationalities d not to stifle any State or impede its natural access a sea-board. It is a reason, also, why no lasting inmbrances, obligations, or, as writers on the Civil Law gould express it, servitudes, should be imposed on any rate. But, notwithstanding the utmost care and forebrht, the need for change will arise from time to time; d national growth and development must be provided Some of the writers whose names appear at the ad of this article provide elaborate schemes by which Council of the League is first to treat itself as a rliament, passing measures of repeal or amendment Vol. 231.-No. 458.

8.

T

of existing treaties and rules of International La and then to convert itself into a tribunal, or remit t dispute to a tribunal which should apply, not the law e force when the dispute arose, but an ex post facto law, modelled as to insure that the party which would he lost under the old law shall succeed under the new! would surely be better to treat the Council of the Leag as a mediating rather than a judicial body, and let decide disputes upon broad principles.

Lastly, for the period during which the League is: world-wide, there must be some provision for dispr between parties to the League and outside Stat and possibly also, though this is less important, for prevention of war between two outside States. In former case the League might well require its member to submit its complaint to the Council of League, and it might invite the external State to c before it and submit its case also. If the external S is not willing, or if, after a decision has been rendere is non-compliant, and if in either case it attacks member of the League, what should happen?

C

Most writers of the American school have hithe been unwilling to admit that there would be any c on the States of the League to defend their men against aggression from the outside. This is no do due to the old American idea of international politic the worship of the Monroe doctrine and the drea treaties which would entangle the nation in war with the previous constitutional assent of the Senate to of the Executive; but it is submitted that the propo of the English League of Peace are better. The Les should be, as against outsiders, a defensive though an offensive alliance.

So far this article has been confined to the prin objects of a League of Nations, but there is ano wide field for its activities not hitherto discussed. such a League gets itself established, it may well t charge of, or at least exercise some supervision o the more backward portions of the earth, as als those places or districts where the interests of sev nations meet or collide, and which therefore are subjects for international control. This task is ind closely connected with those primary objects, for i

1

The

just these backward areas and these disputed places and redistricts which have in the past been fruitful sources of he war, and may easily become so again. They must always to be an anxious care to the civilised nations; and the charge of them will not only eliminate causes of war, 마 but will give the League positive duties and regular e employment which will keep it active and vital.

d

In conclusion, it is suggested that the Treaty which forms the League should be as simple and, so to speak, as preparatory as possible, affirming only the two broad principles: (1) That there shall not be war; and (2) that there shall be provision for settling differences. Further details will have to be settled as occasions may arise. Workers like Dr Evans Darby and other members of the Peace Society, old labourers in the cause of peace, would have us rely on the moral law and the moral sense alone, and have no coercive force applied; but, as human nature is constituted, there must be force behind. 'Quid leges sine moribus'? says Horace, and truly; but unfortunately one must add, 'Quid mores sine legibus,' and every law, as Austin long ago observed, requires a sanction to support it.

It is doubtless true that no treaty, however carefully framed, and whatever sanctions may be put on paper, will make the League of Nations an absolute and certain security of future peace; and that no covenants can be relied upon as certain to be fulfilled, because at the root of everything lie faith and justice and goodwill, just as no laws will prevail if the citizens of a State are anarchical and lawless. Yet, since in every civilised State the reign of law, supported by the resources of civilisation,' does on the whole prevail, and since law helps morals, and morals help law, we may humbly trust that a well-framed cheme of a League of Nations will at once perpetuate hat holy horror of war which all at this moment feel, and furnish an adequate coercive system to restrain any ach future crime against humanity.

་

PHILLIMORE.

II.

LA SOCIÉTÉ DES NATIONS ET L'OPINION FRANÇAISE.

L'IDÉE politique dont la réalisation fait l'objet quatorzième point du message présidentiel adressé 8 janvier 1918 au Congrès des Etats-Unis n'est pas no velle en France. A différentes époques de notre histoi au Moyen âge sous la forme religieuse, pendant le règ d'Henri IV sous la forme politique, dans la seconde moi du XVIII siécle sous la forme philosophique, elle a con préconisée et traduite en projets plus ou moins détaill On peut dire qu'après chacune des grandes phases m taires de l'histoire européenne on s'est préoccupé en Frar de prévenir le retour des misères d'où l'on venait de sor à grand peine. Comme aujourd'hui, des hommes se sco alors bercés de l'espoir de construire un système pr tégeant à jamais le monde contre le fleau de la guer C'est peut-être à cause de l'échec de ces tentatives su cessives que la Société des Nations, telle qu'elle est pr sentée maintenant, est accueillie sans enthousiasme.

En effet, il ne servirait à rien de le cacher, malgré zèle d'hommes d'élite et l'active propagande de plusieu sociétés importantes, notre public se montre plut sceptique sur l'efficacité du remède proposé pour clc définitivement l'ère des guerres. Non seulement leçons de l'histoire le mettent en garde contre l'adopti d'une nouvelle combinaison politique fondée principa ment sur des engagements moraux, mais encore s tempérament individualiste l'indispose contre la créati d'une sorte de phalanstère international. L'expressi de "Société des Nations" l'agace. Les Français qui, contraire des Allemands, n'aiment point à vivre group en associations de toute sorte, se hérissent instinctiv ment à l'idée qu'on veut les mettre en ménage avec to les peuples de la terre. Ils se trompent peut-être sur l intentions des promoteurs de la Société des Nation Mais on est obligé de constater que, pour l'instant, i éprouvent en général une prévention contre le quato zième point du président Wilson. Ce n'est point la faut

de celui-ci, qui s'est servi, le 8 janvier, de l'expression "a general association of nations," et qui a pris soin d'assigner comme but à cette association la conclusion d'accords spéciaux destinés à garantir mutuellement l'indépendance politique et territoriale des petits et des grands Etats sans distinction. Tout le monde chez nous désire voir conclure ces accords. Seulement, avant le message du 8 janvier, la question avait été posée par M. Wilson lui-même en d'autres termes plus compréhensifs et plus vagues, que des admirateurs trop ardents avaient encore élargis. En France on est resté sur les premières impressions produites par les déclarations de 1915, 1916, 1917; et la confusion n'est pas encore dissipée.

Elle à même été augmentée par les commentaires de la presse socialiste. Jusqu'à la veille de l'armistice du 11 novembre, ceux des publicistes socialistes dont les anciennes tendances à un rapprochement de la France et de l'Allemagne inspiraient aux masses la plus forte méfiance ont recommandé comme solution de la guerre la formation d'une Société des Nations comprenant aussi Allemagne. On a vu là un moyen détourné d'aboutir à une paix blanche, à un " coup nul," sous les auspices des pacifistes zimmerwaldiens. Or l'immense majorité des Français ressentait une profonde antipathie à la fois contre le "coup nul" et contre l'internationalisme zimmerwaldien. Ce double sentiment était si fort que dans certains milieux on engloba dans la même réprobation les socialistes les plus exaltés et les écrivains modérés qui réclamaient la publication du rapport de la Commison chargée par notre ministre des affaires etrangères e préparer, sous la direction de M. Léon Bourgeois, un rojet de Société des Nations. Ce projet reste enfoui ans un tiroir ministériel. Mais il en est d'autres dûs à initiative privée. Il convient d'en signaler plusieurs.

Le premier, très complet, et publié dès 1915, a pour arateur un écrivain qui signe Jean Lhomme.* Il contient but un plan de reconstitution territoriale et politique e l'Europe. Il est d'inspiration messianique. Il commence par transformer l'empire allemand en Etats-Unis

En 1916: une Europe renouée, la Charte des nations.' 1 vol. in-8° ave eux cartes.

Editions Delandre, Paris.