Without visiting the Near East it is not possible for an American to realize even faintly the respect, faith and affection with which our country is regarded throughout that region. Whether it is the world-wide reputation which we enjoy for fair dealing, a tribute perhaps to the crusading spirit which carried us into the Great War, not untinged with hope that the same spirit may urge us into the solution of great problems growing out of that conflict, or whether due to unselfish and impartial missionary and educational influence exerted for a century, it is the one faith which is held alike by Christian and Moslem, by Jew and Gentile, by prince and peasant in the Near East. It is very gratifying to the pride of Americans far from home. But it brings with it the heavy responsibility of deciding great questions with a seriousness worthy of such faith. Burdens that might be assumed on the appeal of such sentiment would have to be carried for not less than a generation under circumstances so trying that we might easily forfeit the faith of the world. If we refuse to assume it, for no matter what reasons satisfactory to ourselves, we shall be considered by many millions of people as having left unfinished the task for which we entered the war, and as having betrayed their hopes. Respectfully submitted. JAMES G. HARBORD Major General, United States Army, Chief of Mission INTERNATIONAL CONCILIATION Published monthly by the American Association for International Conciliation. I. Documents Concerning the Accession of Switzerland to the League of Nations II. The United States and the League of Nations: Reservations of the United States Senate of AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR INTERNATIONAL CONCILIATION EDITORIAL OFFICE: 407 WEST 117TH STREET, NEW YORK CITY PUBLICATION OFFICE: GREENWICH, CONN. I Supplementary message of the Federal Council to the Federal Assembly concerning the Accession of Switzerland to the League of Nations, February 17, 1920.1 The Federal Council has already informed the Federal Assembly of the unexpected phase upon which the question of the accession of Switzerland to the League of Nations had entered after the Chambers had passed the Resolution of November 21, 1919. The history of this phase is contained in the official declaration which the President of the Confederation, acting in the name of the Federal Council, read before the National Council and before the Council of the States in their sessions of February 3. We reproduce this declaration here, to which we have nothing to add concerning what took place up to the date mentioned, February 3. We publish, in the form of an annex to this message, the diplomatic documents to which the declaration alludes or to which it is related. The examination of these documents will furnish the Federal Assembly with the most complete and most exact picture possible of all the negotiations which took place, both at Paris, before the Supreme Council of the Allied and Associated Powers, and at London before the Council of the League of Nations. These documents are as follows: I. The Federal Resolution of November 21, 1919; 2. The Memorandum of the Federal Council, dated De cember 6, 1919; 3. The Note of the Supreme Council, dated January 2, 1920; In the use of italics the editors have followed the original document. |