ned immediately to Washington. He was able to walk from the
train to his automobile, but a few days later he was partially
paralyzed. The full extent and seriousness of his illness was
carefully concealed from the public. He was confined to the White
House for five months, and had to abandon all efforts in behalf of the
treaty.

On September 10 the Committee on Foreign Relations reported the treaty
to the Senate with a number of amendments and reservations. The
Committee declared that the League was an alliance, and that it would
"breed wars instead of securing peace." They also declared that the
Covenant demanded "sacrifices of American independence and sovereignty
which would in no way promote the world's peace," and that the
amendments and reservations which they proposed were intended "to guard
American rights and American sovereignty." The following day the
minority members of the Committee submitted a report opposing both
amendments and reservations. A few days later Senator McCumber
presented a third report representing the views of the "mild
reservationists." It objected to the phraseology of the Committee's
reservations as unnecessarily severe and recommended substitute
reservations. The treaty then became the regular order in the Senate
and was read section by section and debated each day for over two
months. The amendments of the text of the treaty were all rejected by
substantial majorities for the reason that their adoption would have
made it necessary to resubmit the treaty not only to the Allies but
also to Germany. The majority of the senators were opposed to such a
course. The Committee, therefore, decided to substitute reservations
for amendments, and Senator Lodge finally submitted, on behalf of the
Committee, fourteen reservations preceded by a preamble, which declared
that the ratification of the treaty was not to take effect or bind the
United States until these reservations had been accepted as a condition
of ratification by at least three of the four principal Allied and
associated powers, namely, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Japan.

The first reservation provided that in case of withdrawal from the
League the United States should be the sole judge as to whether its
international obligations under the Covenant had been fulfilled. This
reservation was adopted by a vote of 50 to 35.

The second reservation declared that the United States assumed no
obligation to preserve the te