REPORT OF THE SPECIAL MEETING OF THE NEW YORK STATE BAR ASSOCIATION, HELD IN THE AUDITORIUM OF THE ASSOCIATION OF THE BAR OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, NEW YORK CITY, AT 10:00 A. M. ON SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1919 PROCEEDINGS The Association met in the auditorium of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, 42 West 44th Street, New York City, on Saturday, April 12, 1919, at 10:00 A. M., pursuant to the call of the Secretary, issued upon the request of more than fifty members of the Association, presented to the Secretary in writing, specifying the purpose thereof as provided by the Constitution. The meeting was called to order by the President, Henry W. Taft. The Secretary read the request for the calling of and the call for the Special Meeting. Everett P. Wheeler, of New York, Chairman of the Committee on International Arbitration, presented the report of the Committee, as follows: REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION To the New York State Bar Association: Your Committee on International Arbitration respectfully reports as follows: The situation contemplated by the resolution of this Association, unanimously adopted at its Annual Meeting in January, 1919, has arisen. A plan for a League of Nations was finally recommended and urged by the American representatives at the Peace Conference at Paris. It has seemed to many mem bers of the Association that it was the duty of members of the Bar to consider this plan. For this purpose a special meeting has been called. The resolution before mentioned adhered to the following resolutions previously adopted by the Association: 1915 "Resolved, That the New York State Bar Association respectfully urges the President to consider and submit for the consideration of the next international Congress or Convention the following propositions: (1) That all the nations, parties to such Congress, shall by treaty limit their armaments, both on land and sea. (2) That there shall be established an international police force which shall have power to enforce the judgments of the international Court of arbitration at the Hague, and which may be called upon by that at the instance of any party to such treaty, to intervene in case of a threatened violation of any treaty existing between the nations who are parties to the Congress, and to prevent such violation. 1916 Resolved, That the events of the past year, especially the extension of the area of warfare and the losses on both sides surpassing all previous experience, confirm the judgment expressed in 1915 by the Bar Association of the State of New York in reference to the necessity of international agreement upon mutual limitation of armaments and the establishment of a Court of Arbitral Justice, of which the decrees shall be enforceable by an international police. Resolved, That this Association respect fully urges the President to use the good offices of the United States to promote the objects mentioned in the foregoing resolution." The Convention for the proposed League of Nations was read at the Peace Conference on the 14th day of February last by the President of the United States. The text of the Convention was immediately cabled to this country and has been under consideration ever since. It has been discussed in Congress and in innumerable public meetings. When the President arrived in America he invited the members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Senate and the House of Representatives to meet with him at the White House and consider with them the proposed Convention, giving, as we are told, an opportunity for questions which he answered fully. The general conception of a League of Nations has been under consideration in this country for several years. It was part of the program of the Association known as the League to Enforce Peace and of the World's Court League, which were formed in the year 1915. The Act of Congress of August 29, 1916 (c. 417) declares it "to be the policy of the United States to adjust and settle its international disputes through mediation or arbitration." It provides for calling a conference of the great governments of the world to formulate a "plan for a Court of Arbitration or other tribunal to which disputed questions between nations shall be referred for adjudication and peaceful settlement and to consider the question of disarmament." On the 8th of January, 1918, after war had been declared, the President addressed Congress and presented what he called "The Program of the World's Peace." This incluled the famous fourteen propositions, the last of which was as follows: "A general association of nations must be formed under specific covenants for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike." When in November, 1918, the armistice was agreed to and hostilities were suspended, the Peace Conference took up the consideration of these fourteen propositions. It was clear to the delegates from the various nations that it was necessary to have some sanction for the continuance of the peace, the terms of which they were considering. It would appear that our Ally, the French Republic, was the most strenuous on this point. It had suffered most; its Eastern frontier was the most exposed; it naturally was especially solicitous that the blood and treasure that had been lavished unsparingly should not have been spent in vain. The representatives of all the Powers, however, took part in the Conference, and the text of this Connvention was the subject of very careful discussion by representatives of the five greater parties. Naturally in framing the final text of the Convention, concessions were made by each. To say that this particular Convention was imposed upon the nations by any one of the high contracting parties is a mistake. The proposed Convention contains no provision for an international police. It had seemed to your Committee that provision for this was desirable and we had so reported more than once to the Association. But if the reported interview with Mr. Straus correctly states the views of the American delegates, they were of opinion that a provision for international police would not be approved in this country and therefore objected to it. It was stated in this interview that the French Republic had been especially desirous that special provision should be made on this subject. In every such Convention there must be concessions. No one power can expect to have its desires completely satisfied. All students of American history know that this was true when the Constitution of the United States was framed. Delegates from different Colonies presented plans widely differing from each other. In framing the Constitution, mutual concessions were made. The result on the whole has been an unqualified success. We respectfully submit that a Convention of this sort can only be framed in the manner that has been described. The proposition, therefore, that has been gravely advanced by very respectable authority, that the Convention should first have been submitted to the United States Senate and debated by that body, seems to your Committee unreasonable. It might have been wiser if the President had summoned some Senators from their duty at the Capitol and had taken them to France with him. Your Committee sees no occasion to express any opinion on that subject. Wilson was elected President of the United States by the people of this Republic in November, 1916. He was confronted by a situation of unprecedented difficulty. He has discharged his duties with courage and wisdom. It seems to us inexpedient to spend time in the criticism of the details of his conduct. He is our President. real point for us to consider is whether the Convention which has been agreed to by the delegates of all the powers who are parties to the Peace Conference, including the American delegates, should be rejected by us. We cannot but agree with what the President said on his return to this country: The * * * The arrangements of the present peace cannot stand a generation unless they are guaranteed by the united forces of the civilized world and if we do not guarantee them, can you not see the picture? Your hearts have instructed you where the burden of this war fell. It fell upon the victims' homes everywhere where women were toiling in the hope that their men would come back. When I think of the homes upon which such despair would settle with this great hope disappointed, I should wish for my part never to have had America play any part whatever in this attempt to emancipate the world. * * I have come back to report progress and I do not believe that the progress is going to stop short of the goal." * It does not follow from what we have said that we do not believe that the proposed Convention is not open in any respect to amendment. We do not refer to verbal amendments. Very possibly a committee on this subject might improve the diction of this Convention. But there are two important particulars |