The supposed object of the League was the substitution of right for force, by debarring each individual state from employing violence against any of the others, and by the use of arbitration as a means of settling disputes.  This entails the suppression of the right to declare war and to prepare for it, and, as a corollary, a system of deterrents to hinder, and of penalties to punish rebellion on the part of a community.  That in those cases where the law is set at naught efficacious means should be available to enforce it will hardly be denied; but whether economic pressure would suffice in all cases is doubtful.  To me it seems that without a supernational army, under the direct orders of the League, it might under conceivable circumstances become impossible to uphold the decisions of the tribunal, and that, on the other hand, the coexistence of such a military force with national armaments would condemn the undertaking to failure.

An analysis of the Covenant lies beyond the limits of my task, but it may not be amiss to point out a few of its inherent defects.  One of the principal organs of the League will be the Assembly and the Council.  The former, a very numerous and mainly political body, will necessarily be out of touch with the peoples, their needs and their aspirations.  It will meet at most three or four times a year.  And its members alone will be invested with all the power, which they will be chary of delegating.  On the other hand, the Council, consisting at first of nine members, will meet at least once a year.  The members of both bodies will presumably be appointed by the governments,[351] who will certainly not renounce their sovereignty in a matter that concerns them so closely.  Such a system may be wise and conducive to the highest aims, but it can hardly be termed democratic.  The military Powers who command twelve million soldiers will possess a majority in the Council.[352] The Secretariat alone will be permanent, and will naturally be appointed by the Great Powers.

Instead of abolishing war, the Conference described its abolition as beyond the power of man to compass.  Disarmament, which was to have been one of its main achievements, is eliminated from the Covenant.  As the war that was to have been the last will admittedly be followed by others, the delegates of the Great Powers worked conscientiously, as behooved patriotic statesmen, to obtain in advance all possible advantages for their respective countries by way of preparing for it.  The new order, which in theory reposes upon right, justice, and moral fellowship, in reality depends upon powerful armies and navies.  France must remain under arms, seeing that she has to keep watch on the Rhine.  Britain and the United States are to go on building warships and aircraft, besides training their youth for the coming Armageddon.  The article of the Covenant which lays it down that “the members of the League recognize that the maintenance of peace requires the reduction of national