ent racial
conditions and aspirations or present social and political
relationships, pursuant to the principle of self-determination, and
also such territorial readjustments as may in the judgment of three
fourths of the Delegates be demanded by the welfare and manifest
interest of the peoples concerned, may be effected if agreeable to
those peoples; and that territorial changes may in equity involve
material compensation. The Contracting Powers accept without
reservation the principle that the peace of the world is superior in
importance to every question of political jurisdiction or boundary."

In the revised draft, which he laid before the Commission
on the League of Nations at its first session Article III
became Article 7. It is as follows:

"ARTICLE 7

"The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and preserve as
against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing
political independence of all States members of the League."

The guaranty was finally incorporated in the Treaty of Peace as Article
10. It reads:

"ARTICLE 10

"The members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as
against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing
political independence of all Members of the League. In case of any
such aggression or in case of any threat or danger of such aggression
the Council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation
shall be fulfilled."

In the revision of the original draft the modifying clause providing for
future territorial readjustments was omitted. It does not appear in
Article 7 of the draft which was presented to the Commission on the
League of Nations and which formed the basis of its deliberations. In
addition to this modification the words "unite in guaranteeing" in
Article III became "undertake to respect and preserve" in Article 7.
These changes are only important in that they indicate a disposition to
revise the article to meet the wishes, and to remove to an extent the
objections, of some of the foreign delegates who had prepared plans for
a League or at least had definite ideas as to the purposes and functions
of an international organization.

It was generally believed that the elimination of the modifying clause
from the President's original form of guaranty was chiefly due to the
opposition of the statesmen who represented the British Empire in
contradistinction to those