ng the necessary consent of two thirds of
the Senators.

The sincerity of Mr. Wilson's belief in the absolute necessity of the
guaranty, which he proposed, to the preservation of international peace
cannot be doubted. While his advisers were practically unanimous in the
opinion that policy, as well as principle, demanded a change in the
guaranty, he clung tenaciously to the affirmative form. The result was
that which was feared and predicted by his colleagues. The President,
and the President alone, must bear the responsibility for the result.

CHAPTER XI

INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION

On the day that the Commission on the League of Nations held its first
meeting and before I had reason to suspect that Mr. Wilson intended to
ignore the letter which I had sent him with the suggested resolution
enclosed, I determined to appeal to him in behalf of international
arbitration. I decided to do this on the assumption that, even if the
plan for a resolution was approved, the Commission would continue its
sessions in preparation for the subsequent negotiation of an agreement
of some sort providing for world organization. The provision as to
arbitration in the President's original draft of a Covenant was so wrong
from my point of view and showed such a lack of knowledge of the
practical side of the subject that I was impelled to make an effort to
induce him to change the provision. Except for the fact that the matter
was wholly legal in character and invited an opinion based on technical
knowledge, I would have remained silent in accordance with my feeling
that it would be inadvisable for me to have anything to do with drafting
the Covenant. I felt, however, that the constitution and procedure of
international courts were subjects which did not affect the general
theory of organization and concerning which my views might influence the
President and be of aid to him in the formulation of the judicial
feature of any plan adopted.

With this object in view I wrote to him the following letter:

"_Hotel Crillon, Paris

"February_ 3, 1919

"My Dear Mr. President:

"I am deeply interested, as you know, in the constitution and
procedure of international courts of arbitration, and having
participated in five proceedings of this sort I feel that I can speak
with a measure of authority.

"In the first place let me say that a tribunal, on which
representatives of the litigants sit as judges, has no